The boys' book of buccaneers

by A. Hyatt Verrill

“Hastily lading his ships with provisions and the unfortunate prisoners he had taken, Morgan left a garrison of his own men in the strongest fort, burned the town, destroyed the other forts, cast the cannon into the sea and set sail for the Chagres. Eight days after the fall of the castle he arrived, but his men were so elated at seeing the British flag flying from the castle that they succeeded in running four of the ships onto a bar at the river’s mouth. One of these was Morgan’s flagship, and while all the goods and persons on the vessels were saved the ships were a total loss. As soon as he landed, Morgan ordered his St. Catherine prisoners to be put to work repairing the fort and setting up new palisades and, leaving a force of five hundred men at the fort and with [[92]]one hundred and fifty more upon his ships, Morgan set sail up the Chagres in small boats with a force of two thousand two hundred men. Thinking to be able to supply himself and his men with provisions taken from the Spaniards, Morgan carried practically no supplies and this very nearly caused the utter failure of his expedition.

“It was on the 18th of January, 1671, that Morgan left San Lorenzo in his five boats and thirty-two canoes, with several pieces of light artillery and all the pomp of a military organization, even to drummers and trumpeters. The first day they covered barely twenty miles, reaching a spot known as Los Bracos. But already the men were suffering from hunger and being cramped and crowded in the small boats. Landing, they went in search of food, but the Dons, having been forewarned, had fled, carrying with them or destroying everything edible, and the buccaneers were ‘forced to stay their bellies with a pipe of tobacco.’

“The following day they continued to Cruz de Juan Gallego, but, finding the river very low and choked by fallen trees, they were here compelled to forsake the boats and march overland, leaving one hundred and sixty men to guard the boats and [[93]]their retreat. After a long march they reached a spot on the river where canoes could be used, and with infinite labor the company was transported up stream to Cedro Bueno. The buccaneers were by now on the verge of starvation, but there was nothing to do but keep on, and at noon on the fourth day they discovered a settlement. But not a soul was there and not a morsel to eat, save a few crumbs of bread and a number of leather bags. Famished, the buccaneers fell upon the leathern sacks and devoured them. For an account of this I can do no better than read you Esquemeling’s narrative. He says: ‘Thus they made a huge banquet of the bags of leather which doubtless would have been more grateful unto them if divers quarrels had not arisen concerning who should have the greatest share. They conjectured that five hundred Spaniards had been there, more or less, and these they were now infinitely desirous to meet, intending to devour some of them rather than perish. Whom they would certainly in that occasion have roasted or boiled had they been able to take them. Some persons who were never out of their mothers’ kitchens may ask how these pirates could eat, swallow and digest those pieces of leather so hard and dry. To whom I only answer: [[94]]That could they once experiment with hunger, or rather famine, they would certainly find the manner, by their own necessity, as the pirates did. For these first took the leather and sliced it in pieces. Then did they beat it between stones and rub it, often dipping it in the water of the river to render it supple and tender. Lastly they scraped off the hair and roasted or broiled it over a fire. And thus being cooked they cut it in small morsels and eat it, helping it down with frequent gulps of water, which by good fortune they had near at hand.’

“And when night fell on the close of the fourth day and not a scrap of food had been found in any of the deserted settlements and camps, the pirate who had had the foresight to retain a small piece of leather was indeed a happy man, for the others went supperless to sleep.

“At noon of the fifth day they reached Barbacoas, where in a cave, the buccaneers, to their intense joy, discovered two sacks of meal, two jars of wine and some bananas. These Morgan divided among the men who were suffering the most, and somewhat encouraged they proceeded on that terrible march. On the sixth day the men proceeded very slowly, partly from weakness and partly [[95]]owing to the rough character of the land, and to keep themselves alive they devoured grasses, leaves and roots. But at noon they found a barrel of corn at a deserted plantation and without waiting devoured it dry and raw. Hardly an hour later they met an ambuscade of Indians, and feeling confident that they would be victors and would secure plentiful provisions they threw away the precious corn. But to their chagrin the Indians, after discharging a shower of arrows, disappeared like shadows in the forest, leaving no food and nothing to mark their presence save half a dozen dead buccaneers.

“On the seventh day the buccaneers prepared and cleaned their arms, expecting to meet resistance just ahead, and then, crossing the river, they hurried forward to the village of La Cruz. As they approached they saw smoke rising above the trees, and, convinced that this meant the place was occupied, they made all haste towards it. Judge of their disgust when they found the village deserted and in flames, with, as Esquemeling humorously remarks, ‘nothing wherewith to refresh themselves unless it were good fires to warm themselves, which they wanted not.’

“But a search revealed something to eat—a [[96]]few stray dogs and cats which they butchered and devoured raw and bleeding, and hardly had they completed this horrid repast when a party of the men found a sack of bread and sixteen jars of wine in the ruins of a stable. Scarcely had they commenced to eat and drink, however, when they were taken violently ill, and they at once decided the wine had been poisoned, although, as their chronicler very wisely says, it was more probable that it was ‘their huge want of sustenance in that whole voyage and the manifold sorts of trash they had eaten.’

“Whatever the cause, it compelled the expedition to remain there for an entire day. This village, then called La Cruz, was on the site of the present Las Cruces, the head of navigation on the Chagres and from which a branch of the Gold Road led to Panama about twenty-five miles distant. On the eighth day, Morgan sent forward a scouting party of two hundred men to find the best route and to learn of any ambuscades. This they did to their sorrow when, at Quebrada Obscura, they were met with a hurricane of arrows shot by Indians from hiding places in the deep forest on the summits of the cañon’s walls. A number of the buccaneers were killed and many wounded and [[97]]a few Indians fell, but seeing such overwhelming numbers of the British approaching they soon took to their heels, and the buccaneers passed on and entered the savanna country.

“Here they suffered greatly, being compelled to pass the night in the open in a pouring rain and enduring agonies from biting insects and mosquitoes. On the morning of the ninth day they came to a steep hill from the summit of which they saw the Pacific gleaming in the sun and with two ships sailing from Panama to Taboga. Elated at finding themselves so near their goal they hurried down the slope and in a little meadow discovered a number of cattle, horses and asses. Hastily butchering and dressing these they kindled huge fires, half cooked the still warm flesh over the flames and gorged themselves like beasts. Indeed, to once more quote Esquemeling, ‘they more resembled cannibals than Europeans at this banquet, the blood many times running down from their beards to their middles.’

“Continuing, they came at evening in sight of a party of two hundred Spaniards, who challenged them and then retreated, and before nightfall they saw the tower of the cathedral of Old Panama looming against the sky. Sounding their trumpets, [[98]]beating their drums, throwing hats in air; leaping and shouting with joy, the buccaneers, knowing the end of their awful march was over, pitched their camp for the night in preparation of an assault on the morrow.