The boys' book of buccaneers

by A. Hyatt Verrill

“The next day the buccaneers captured a poor farmer and his two daughters and threatened them with torture, but the cowering wretches agreed to lead the buccaneers to the hiding places [[72]]of the inhabitants. Seeing their enemies coming, the Spaniards fled still farther, and the disgruntled Englishmen hanged the peasant and his daughters to trees by the wayside. The buccaneers then set diligently at work, scouring the countryside for prisoners. In one spot they captured a slave, and, promising him freedom and vast amounts of gold if he would show them the hiding places of the Dons, he readily agreed and led them to a secluded house where the buccaneers made prisoners of a number of Spaniards. Then, to make sure that their slave guide would not dare desert them, the buccaneers forced him to murder a number of the helpless Dons before the eyes of the others. This party of Spaniards totaled nearly two hundred and fifty and these the buccaneers examined one at a time, torturing those who denied knowledge of treasure. One man, over seventy years old, a Portuguese by birth, was reported by the treacherous slave to be rich. This the old fellow stoutly denied, claiming that his total wealth was but one hundred pieces of eight and that this had been stolen from him two days previously. In spite of this and his age, the buccaneers, under Morgan’s personal orders, broke both his arms and then stretched him between stakes by cords from his [[73]]thumbs and great toes. Then, while suspended in this way, the inhuman monsters beat upon the cords with sticks. Not content with this, they placed a two hundred pound stone upon his body, passed blazing palm leaves over his face and head, and then, finding no confession could be wrung from him they carried him to the church and lashed him fast to a pillar where he was left for several days with only a few drops of water to keep him alive. How any mortal could have survived—much less an aged man—is miraculous, but live he did and finally consented to raise five hundred pieces of eight to buy his liberty. The buccaneers, however, scoffed at this, beat him with cudgels and told him it would take five thousand pieces of eight to save his life. Finally he bargained for freedom for one thousand pieces, and a few days later, the money having been paid, he was set at liberty, though, as Esquemeling tells us, ‘so horribly maimed in body that ’tis scarce to be believed he survived many weeks after.’

“But even these fearful and disgusting torments were mild as compared to some that Morgan inflicted on the men and women in his mad lust to wring their riches from them. Dozens were crucified, others were staked out by pointed sticks [[74]]driven through them into the earth; others were bound with their feet in fires, others roasted alive. For five long, awful weeks they continued their unspeakable atrocities until, finding further efforts useless, and fearing that his retreat to sea would be cut off, Morgan left the stricken town, carrying a number of prisoners for hostages.

“At Maracaibo they learned that Spanish warships had arrived and that three armed vessels were blockading the harbor mouth. The largest of these carried forty guns, the second thirty and the smallest twenty-four. That the buccaneers, with no heavy guns and with only small vessels, could escape seemed impossible, but Morgan once more showed himself the resourceful commander and sent a Spanish prisoner to the Admiral in command of the ships demanding a free passage to sea as well as a ransom if Maracaibo was not to be burned. To this the Admiral replied contemptuously, telling Morgan that, provided he would surrender all the plunder and prisoners he had taken, he would allow him and his men to depart, but otherwise would totally destroy them and give no quarter. This letter Morgan read aloud to his men, asking them whether they preferred to fight or lose their plunder. The [[75]]reply was unanimously that they had rather fight till their last drop of blood rather than abandon what they had won. Then one of the men suggested that they fit up a fire ship, disguise her by logs of wood dressed as men on deck and with dummy cannon at the ports, and let her drift down on the Spanish vessels. Although all approved the idea, still Morgan decided to try guile and diplomacy—with a deal of bluff—before resorting to strenuous measures. Consequently he dispatched another messenger to the Admiral, offering to quit Maracaibo without firing it or exacting ransom, and agreeing to liberate all the prisoners if he and his men were allowed to pass. But the doughty old Spanish commander would have none of this and replied that unless Morgan surrendered according to the original terms within two days he would come and take him.

“Finding cajolery useless, Morgan at once hustled about to make the most of his time and to try to escape by force. A ship taken at Gibraltar was loaded with brimstone, powder, palm leaves soaked in pitch and other combustibles. Kegs of powder were placed under the dummy guns and dressed and armed logs were posed upon the decks to resemble buccaneers. Then all the male prisoners [[76]]were loaded into one boat; all the women, the plate and the jewels into another; the merchandise and things of lesser value in a third. Then, all being ready, the little fleet set forth with the fireship in the lead. It was on the 30th of April, 1669, that the buccaneers started from Maracaibo on this desperate, dare-devil effort to escape, and night was falling as they sighted the three Spanish warships riding at anchor in the middle of the entry to the lake. Unwilling to proceed farther, Morgan anchored his boats, maintained a sharp watch and at daybreak hoisted anchors and headed directly for the Spanish ships. Realizing that Morgan was actually about to attempt to battle with them, the Dons hoisted anchors and prepared to attack. Manned by its courageous if villainous crew, the fireship crashed straight into the Spanish flagship and instantly its men threw grappling irons, binding their combustible vessel to the warship and then, touching match to fuses, took to the small boats. Before the Dons realized what had happened the fireship was a blazing mass; the powder exploding threw flaming tar and brimstone far and near; and in an incredibly short space of time the Spanish flagship was a seething, roaring furnace and, blowing in [[77]]two, sank to the bottom of the lake. Meanwhile the second warship, fearing a like fate, was run ashore by its crew and was set afire by the Spaniards to prevent her falling into the buccaneer’s hands, while the third ship was captured by Morgan’s men.

Sir Henry Morgan, the most famous of the buccaneers, with one of his crew

Burning the galleon

“But Morgan and his men were not out of the trap yet. The forts controlled the harbor entrance and, flushed with their easy victory over the ships, the buccaneers landed and attacked the castle. But they failed miserably in this and after heavy losses withdrew to their boats.

“The following day Morgan, having made a prisoner of a Spanish pilot and learning from him that the sunken ships carried vast riches, left a portion of his men to recover what they could and sailed back to Maracaibo with the captured warship. Here, being once more in a position to dictate terms, he sent a demand to the Admiral, who had escaped and was in the castle, demanding thirty thousand pieces of eight and five hundred head of cattle as his price for sparing the town and his prisoners. He finally consented to accept twenty thousand pieces of eight with the cattle, however, and the following day this was paid. [[78]]But Morgan was shrewd and refused to deliver the prisoners until he was out of danger and had cleared the harbor, and with his captives set sail. To his delight he found that his men had recovered nearly twenty thousand pieces of eight in coins and bullion from the sunken ships, but he was still doubtful of being able to pass the forts. He thereupon notified his prisoners that unless they persuaded the Governor to guarantee him safe passage he would hang all the captives on his ships. In view of this dire threat a committee of the prisoners went to His Excellency, beseeching him to grant Morgan’s demands. But Don Alonso was no weakling. His reply was to the effect that, had they been as loyal to their King in hindering the buccaneer’s entry as he intended to be in preventing their going out that they would not have found themselves in such troubles. Very crestfallen the poor fellows returned with the ill news. But for once Morgan was not as ruthless as was his wont and forgot all about his threat to execute the blameless captives. He, however, sent word to Don Alonso that if he was not permitted to pass he would get by without a permit and, feeling that he might fail, he at once proceeded to divide the [[79]]booty. This totaled over a quarter of a million pieces of eight in money, vast quantities of plate and jewels, silks, merchandise of various kinds and many slaves.