Buccaneers at Santo Domingo—Tortuga the Head-quarters of the Pirates—Their Modes of Life—François L'Olonnois the Filibuster—His Vessel Cast on the Shore of Campeche—He Escapes to Tortuga—And Reappears in the Bay of Honduras—He Captures San Pedro—He Plans a Raid on Guatemala—His Comrades Desert Him—His Vessel Wrecked off Cape Gracias á Dios—His Expedition to Desaguadero—And to Costa Rica—He is Hacked to Pieces—Mansvelt Captures the Island of Santa Catarina—And Attacks Cartago—Santa Catarina Retaken by the Spaniards.
About the year 1518 an English trading ship touching at Santo Domingo was fired upon by order of the governor, and thence setting sail for Porto Rico bartered wrought iron for provisions.[XXVI‑1] A few years later the passage to the Indies became known among the nations of western Europe, and foreign vessels were often seen in the waters of the North Sea. In 1529 guarda costas were procured by the governor of Santo Domingo, and their captains commissioned to seize all craft which sailed under any flag but that of Spain, and to enslave their crews. But in that island are many excellent harbors, and the Spaniards seemed not averse to obtain at smaller cost from foreigners goods such as those on which the merchants of Seville made enormous profits; and vessels from several countries, more especially from England, France, and Holland, continued to make voyages to the New World, their captains combining for mutual protection, and not unfrequently making raids on the Spanish settlements.
In 1531 French corsairs were seen off the coast of Tierra Firme; and in 1537 Bishop Marroquin, when about to depart for Spain, was dissuaded as we have observed from making the journey by his friends in Mexico,[XXVI‑2] for even at that date the North Sea was infested by pirates. Santo Domingo was the favorite calling-place of foreign marauders; for wild cattle abounded in every part of the island, and there the pirates could revictual their ships without expense.
At the close of the sixteenth century the island on which the great discoverer founded his first settlement had been thinned of its inhabitants. Moreover the mines had become exhausted and the vast wealth of Mexico and Peru had drawn away all the most enterprising of the Spaniards, and the few that remained dwelt for the most part in small villages, where they cured at their boucans, or drying establishments, the flesh of cattle and hogs, giving to the cured meat the same name as to the place where it was prepared.[XXVI‑3] Hence also the origin of the word bucaniers, or buccaneers, the latter term being used by Dampier,[XXVI‑4] whose raids will be described later.
THE PHILOSOPHY OF PIRACY.
English, French, and Dutch adventurers found in Santo Domingo places where they could lead an idle roving life, the monotony of which was relieved by an occasional fight with the Spaniards, the French being termed flibustiers,[XXVI‑5] or as we shall call them filibusters, though this word was not used till the seventeenth century, and the Dutch styling themselves zee roovers.
In 1623 James I. of England granted to one Thomas Warner the island of San Cristóbal, though by what authority is not recorded by the chroniclers of the period. Warner associated with him fourteen others, who were to share the profits of the expedition, and sailed in charge of a band of adventurers for the Indies. His vessel arrived off San Cristóbal in 1625, and during that year a party of Frenchmen landed on the island, which was then inhabited by Caribs. The Spaniards had never formed a settlement there, and the English and French divided the territory between them. Fearing that the Caribs might be incited to rise against them by the crews of Spanish vessels, which frequently called there to obtain provisions, these licensed marauders attacked the savages by night, massacred the chiefs, and drove the rest from the island. Warner soon afterward returned to England, and for this gallant exploit was knighted by his learned Majesty, thus justifying the title which James I. has gained in the page of history as the greatest fool in christendom. A powerful armament was despatched to San Cristóbal by order of the court of Spain, and the intruders were dispersed; those who escaped the swords of the Spaniards taking refuge in the adjacent islands, and returning a year or two later.
Trading companies were now organized, and licenses granted to establish colonies. The islet of Tortuga, lying to the north-west of Santo Domingo, was captured almost without resistance. There storehouses were built, and there for a time were the head-quarters of the pirates. Tortuga was recaptured by the Spaniards in 1638, and the freebooters received no quarter; a few of them escaped to the woods; others were away on piratical or other expeditions; and though some of them fell into the hands of the Spaniards and were massacred, the latter soon abandoned the island, and in the following year the freebooters at Tortuga mustered three hundred men. For the first time the pirates now elected a leader, and their numbers were soon recruited by French, English, and Dutch volunteers.
Though they were regarded by the Spaniards as foes, they were esteemed by other European nations as allies and champions, and so rapid was the growth of their settlements that in 1641 we find governors appointed, and at San Cristóbal a governor-general named De Poincy, in charge of the French filibusters, in the Indies. During that year Tortuga was garrisoned by French troops, and the English were driven out, both from that islet and from Santo Domingo, securing harborage elsewhere in the islands. Nevertheless, corsairs of both nations often made common cause; and in 1654 a large party of buccaneers and filibusters, ascending a river a little to the south of Cape Gracias á Dios, plundered the settlement of Nueva Segovia. In the same year Tortuga was again recaptured by the Spaniards, but in 1660 fell once more into the hands of the French; and in their conquest of Jamaica in 1655 the British troops were reënforced by a large party of buccaneers.
CUSTOMS OF CORSAIRS.