The boys' book of buccaneers

by A. Hyatt Verrill

“To provision the fleet, Morgan equipped four ships with four hundred men and dispatched them to La Rancheria near the present port of Rio de la Hacha in Colombia. His plan was for them to raid the coast towns, seize what maize and cattle were required and come back with supplies and salted meat, thus obtained free of cost. In this the ships were more than successful, for, at the end of five weeks, they returned laden with maize and beef and with a huge amount of loot, for they had taken a Spanish ship, had seized the town and had robbed it and the inhabitants, and had resorted to all their customary barbarities to wring the last piece of eight from the people.

“Everything was now in readiness, and Morgan set sail for Cape Tiburón, Haiti, where vessels from Jamaica were to join him. These brought his force up to thirty-seven ships and two thousand fighting men, exclusive of sailors and boys, [[84]]by far the greatest buccaneer force that ever had set sail to ravish the Spanish cities. Morgan’s flagship carried twenty-two large and six small guns, there were several ships of twenty, eighteen and sixteen guns and the smallest mounted four. Finding it impossible to command such a huge fleet by himself, Morgan divided it into two squadrons with a vice admiral, commanders and captains for each, and to these he issued elaborate commissions to act against the Spaniards, for all the world as though he were the King of England.

“The next matter to attend to was the agreement as to compensation for death or accidents, and the trip was considered so hazardous that the amounts to be paid were double the usual sums. Then the fleet set sail for Old Providence or, as the buccaneers called it, St. Catherine, for in order to be sure that his retreat was not cut off, Morgan realized he must destroy this heavily fortified spot and leave a garrison of his own in charge. Moreover, he knew that outlaws and brigands were imprisoned there, and that these men, if released, would join his forces and would be invaluable as guides in crossing the Isthmus of Panama.

“On the 29th of December, 1670, they reached [[85]]St. Catherine, which Morgan expected to take easily. However, since his former attack under Mansvelt, the Dons had greatly strengthened the forts. Landing about one thousand men, Morgan attempted to take the place by land, but the Spaniards kept up a galling fire, the buccaneers were without provisions—as they had expected to live off their enemies—and at night a pouring rain came on, drenching the buccaneers to the skin. At this time, so tired, hungry and miserable were the men that, had the Dons but known it, they could easily have wiped out the buccaneers with a force of less than one hundred men, and no doubt had they done so Panama would have been saved. The rain continued incessantly the next day and the buccaneers were able to do nothing. So starved and desperate were they that when an old horse was discovered in a field they instantly killed it and fought over it like wolves, devouring even the offal. By this time the men began to grumble, and even suggested giving up and became mutinous. Morgan, seeing that unless something was done at once his expedition would be a failure, resorted to his old game of bluff, and sent a canoe with a flag of truce to the Governor, demanding the surrender of the island and threatening to give [[86]]no quarter unless it was done at once. So terrified were the Dons that the Governor merely asked two hours to consider and at the end of that time sent to Morgan and offered to deliver the place provided Morgan would agree to carry out a deception by which it would appear that the Governor was overpowered.

“The proposition was that Morgan should come at night and open an attack on St. Jerome fort, while at the same time his fleet approached Santa Teresa fort and landed men at the battery of St. Matthew. The Governor was then to pass from one fort to the other and purposely fall into the buccaneer’s hands. He was then to pretend that the English forced him to betray his men and was to lead the buccaneers into St. Jerome. But he stipulated that no bullets should be used in the buccaneers’ guns and guaranteed that his men would fire into the air. To this treacherous scheme Morgan agreed and the island was of course taken in a sham battle. But within a short time His Excellency bitterly repented of his deed. The buccaneers looted right and left, they tore down houses to make fires for cooking the stolen poultry and livestock and they made prisoners of all the Spaniards on the island. These totaled [[87]]four hundred and fifty, including one hundred and ninety soldiers and eight bandits who at once joined Morgan’s force. As there was nothing in the way of valuables in the place the people escaped the customary tortures, and, shutting the women in the churches, Morgan ordered the men into the country to secure provisions.

“Having accumulated a vast supply of food, many tons of powder, immense quantities of arms and many cannon, Morgan prepared to attack San Lorenzo at the Chagres mouth. He had no mind to risk his own precious neck in this desperate venture, however; but making himself comfortable at St. Catherine, he dispatched four ships with about four hundred men under Captain Brodely, a notorious buccaneer who had served with Morgan under Mansvelt. Anchoring his ships about three miles from the mouth of the Chagres, Brodely landed his men and attempted to attack the castle by land. But despite their brigand guides the buccaneers discovered that it was impossible to approach the fort under cover, the country having been cleared for a long distance about the fort, while in addition the deep mangrove swamps made progress next to impossible. But the buccaneers dared not turn back and face [[88]]Morgan, and so, although fully exposed to the fire from the fort, they rushed across the open space with drawn swords in one hand and fireballs in the other, but the firing was terrific. The Dons had erected heavy palisades outside of the fortress walls, and presently the buccaneers were compelled to retreat. At nightfall, however, they made another assault, throwing their fire balls at the palisades, attempting to scale them and fighting like demons. But they were beaten off again and again, and their case seemed hopeless when, by the merest accident, fate played into their hands. In the heat of the assault, one of the buccaneers was struck by an arrow in the back, which completely penetrated his body. Mad with pain, the fellow drew the missile out through his breast, wrapped a bit of rag around it and, dropping it into his musket, fired it back into the fort.

“But the buccaneer’s hasty and unthinking act won the day for the corsairs. The cotton rag about the arrow caught fire from the powder, it fell unnoticed upon some palm-thatched houses within the fort, and ere the Dons realized what had happened the buildings were ablaze. Madly the Spaniards strove to quench the flames, but the fire was beyond control, it reached a magazine, [[89]]and there was terrific explosion. During the confusion and panic that ensued the buccaneers rushed to the palisades and, piling inflammable material about them, soon had them burning furiously. Presently the stakes began to fall, carrying down masses of earth that had been piled between them, and over these the yelling buccaneers swarmed to the assault. Under a rain of stink pots and fire balls, boiling oil and molten lead hurled at them by the garrison, the English fell everywhere, and at last, seeing they could not gain the inner works, they withdrew once more.

“But despite their losses they were elated, for the palisades were blazing everywhere and by midnight they were entirely consumed. When morning dawned only the charred and fallen stakes remained and great masses of earth had filled the ditch. The commandant, however, had stationed his men upon these mounds and both sides kept up an incessant fire of musketry. Within the castle the flames still raged, for the only available water in the fort was contained in a huge cistern in the lower part of the castle. Moreover, a party of the buccaneers was detailed to snipe the Spaniards fighting the fire and carrying water, while the others, hiding as best they could, picked off the [[90]]men at the guns and those guarding the fallen palisades. Noticing one spot where the Governor himself was stationed in command of twenty-five picked troops, Captain Brodely led a sudden charge and succeeded in taking the breach.

“Even the buccaneers were amazed at the valiant resistance they met, and, in his chronicles of the battle, Esquemeling particularly calls attention to the courageousness of the Dons. Once within the walls, however, the battle was practically won and, fighting hand to hand with pistols, pikes, daggers, swords and even stones, the British and the Spaniards battled furiously. Not a Spaniard asked for quarter; the Governor fell, fighting to the last, with a bullet through his brain, and when finally the few survivors saw that their cause was hopeless they leaped from the parapets into the river rather than surrender. And when the buccaneers found themselves masters of the fortress they discovered that of the three hundred and fourteen soldiers who had formed the garrison only thirty remained alive, and of these over twenty were seriously wounded, while not a single living officer was to be found.

“The buccaneers, however, were greatly troubled, despite their hard-won victory—which had [[91]]cost them nearly two hundred men—for the prisoners informed them that a party of volunteers had managed to steal from the fort, had passed through the buccaneers’ lines and had carried word of the attack and of Morgan’s coming to Panama. All plans of a surprise were now hopeless and realizing that quick work was necessary Captain Brodely at once sent a ship to St. Catherine bearing word to Morgan of the taking of San Lorenzo.