Chapter I (12)

[Sidenote: Value of the Plunder.] The value of the plunder is variously reported. Much of the riches of the city had been carried away on the first alarm of the approach of an enemy. De Pointis says 110 mules laden with gold went out in the course of four days. 'Nevertheless, the honour acquired to his Majesty's arms, besides near eight or nine millions that could not escape us, consoled us for the rest.' Whether these eight or nine millions were crowns or livres M. de Pointis' account does not specify. It is not improbable he meant it should be understood as livres. Many were of opinion that the value of the booty was not less than forty millions of livres; M. du Casse estimated it at above twenty millions, besides merchandise.

M. de Pointis now made known that on account of the unhealthiness of the situation, he had changed his intention of leaving a garrison and keeping _Carthagena_, for that already more Frenchmen had died there by sickness than he had lost in the siege. He ordered the cannon of the _Bocca-chica Castle_ to be taken on board the ships, and the Castle to be demolished. On the 25th of May, orders were issued for the troops to embark; and at the same time he embarked himself without having given any previous notice of his intention so to do to M. du Casse, from whom he had parted but a few minutes before. The ships of the King's fleet began to take up their anchors to move towards the entrance of the harbour, and M. de. Pointis sent an order to M. du Casse for the Buccaneers and the people of the Colony to embark on board their own vessels.

M. du Casse sent two of his principal officers to the General to demand that justice should be done to the Colonists. Still the accounts were said not to be ready; but on the 29th, the King's fleet being ready for sea, M. du Pointis sent to M. du Casse the Commissary's account, which stated the share of the booty due to the Colonists, including the Governor and the Buccaneers, to be 40,000 crowns.

What the customary manner of dividing prize money in the French navy was at that time, is not to be understood from the statement given by De Pointis, which says, 'that the King had been pleased to allow to the several ships companies, a tenth of the first million, and a thirtieth part of all the rest.' Here it is not specified whether the million of which the ships companies were to be allowed one-tenth, is to be understood a million of _Louis_, a million crowns, or a million livres. The difference of construction in a large capture would be nearly as three to one. It requires explanation likewise what persons are meant to be included in the term 'ships companies.' Sometimes it is used to signify the common seamen, without including the officers; and for them, the one-tenth is certainly not too large a share. That in any military service, public or private, one-tenth of captures or of plunder should be deemed adequate gratification for the services of all the captors, officers included, seems scarcely credible. In the _Carthagena_ expedition it is also to be observed, that the dues of the crown were in some measure compromised by the admission of private contributions towards defraying the expence. The Flibustiers had contributed by furnishing their own vessels to the service.

Du Casse when he saw the account, did not immediately communicate it to his Colonists, deterred at first probably by something like shame, and an apprehension that they would reproach him with weakness for having yielded so much as he had all along done to the insulting and imperious pretensions of De Pointis. Afterwards through discretion, he delayed making the matter public until the Colonists had all embarked and their vessels had sailed from the city. He then sent for the Captains, and acquainted them with the distribution intended by M. de Pointis, and they informed their crews.

CHAP. XXVII.

_Second Plunder of =Carthagena=. Peace of =Ryswick, in 1697=.
Entire Suppression of the =Buccaneers= and =Flibustiers=._

[Sidenote: 1697. May.] The share which M. de Pointis had allotted of the plunder of _Carthagena_ to the Buccaneers, fell so short of their calculations, and was felt as so great an aggravation of the contemptuous treatment they had before received, that their rage was excessive, and in their first transports they proposed to board the Sceptre, a ship of 84 guns, on board which M. de Pointis carried his flag. This was too desperate a scheme to be persevered in. After much deliberation, one among them exclaimed, 'It is useless to trouble ourselves any farther about such a villain as De Pointis; let him go with what he has got; he has left us our share at _Carthagena_, and thither we must return to seek it.' The proposition was received with general applause by these remorseless robbers, whose desire for vengeance on De Pointis was all at once obliterated by the mention of an object that awakened their greediness for plunder. They got their vessels under sail, and stood back to the devoted city, doomed by them to pay the forfeit for the dishonesty of their countryman.

The matter was consulted and determined upon without M. du Casse being present, and the ship in which he had embarked was left by the rest without company. When he perceived what they were bent upon, he sent orders to them to desist, which he accompanied with a promise to demand redress for them in _France_; but neither the doubtful prospect of distant redress held out, nor respect for his orders, had any effect in restraining them. M. du Casse sent an officer to M. de Pointis, who had not yet sailed from the entrance of _Carthagena Harbour_, to inform him that the Buccaneers, in defiance of all order and in breach of the capitulation which had been granted to the city, were returning thither to plunder it again; but M. de Pointis in sending the Commissary's account had closed his intercourse with the Buccaneers and with the Colonists, at least for the remainder of his expedition. M. du Casse's officer was told that the General was so ill that he could not be spoken with. The Officer went to the next senior Captain in command of the fleet, who, on being informed of the matter, said, 'the Buccaneers were great rogues, and ought to be hanged;' but as no step could be taken to prevent the mischief, without delaying the sailing of the fleet, the chief commanders of which were impatient to see their booty in a place of greater security, none was taken, and [Sidenote: June.] on the 1st of June the King's fleet sailed for _France_, leaving _Carthagena_ to the discretion of the Buccaneers. M. de Pointis claims being ignorant of what was transacting. 'On the 30th of May,' he says, 'I was taken so ill, that all I could do, before I fell into a condition that deprived me of my intellect, was to acquaint Captain Levi that I committed the care of the squadron to him.'

If M. de Pointis acted fairly by the people who came from _France_ and returned with him, it must be supposed that in his sense of right and wrong he held the belief, that 'to rob a rogue is no breach of honesty.' But it was said of him, '_Il etoit capable de former un grand dessein, et de rien epargner pour le faire reussir_;' the English phrase for which is, 'he would stick at nothing.'

On the 1st of June, M. du Casse also sailed from _Carthagena_ to return to _St. Domingo_. Thus were the Flibustiers abandoned to their own will by all the authorities whose duty it was to have restrained them.

The inhabitants of _Carthagena_ seeing the buccaneer ships returning to the city, waited in the most anxious suspense to learn the cause. The Flibustiers on landing, seized on all the male inhabitants they could lay hold of, and shut them up in the great church. They posted up a kind of manifesto in different parts of the city, setting forth the justice of their second invasion of _Carthagena_, which they grounded on the perfidy of the French General De Pointis ('_que nous vous permettons de charger de toutes les maledictions imaginables_,') and on their own necessities. Finally, they demanded five millions of livres as the price of their departing again without committing disorder. It seems strange that the Buccaneers could expect to raise so much money in a place so recently plundered. Nevertheless, by terrifying their prisoners, putting some to the torture, ransacking the tombs, and other means equally abhorrent, in four days time they had nearly made up the proposed sum. It happened that two Flibustiers killed two women of _Carthagena_ in some manner, or under some circumstances, that gave general offence, and raised indignation in the rest of the Flibustiers, who held a kind of trial and condemned them to be shot, which was done in presence of many of the inhabitants. The Buccaneer histories praise this as an act of extraordinary justice, and a set-off against their cruelties and robberies, such as gained them the esteem even of the Spaniards. The punishment, however merited, was a matter of caprice. It is no where pretended that they ever made a law to themselves to forbid their murdering their prisoners; in very many instances they had not refrained, and in no former instance had it been attended with punishment. The putting these two murderers to death therefore, as it related to themselves, was an arbitrary and lawless act. If the women had been murdered for the purpose of coming at their money, it could not have incurred blame from the rest. These remarks are not intended in disapprobation of the act, which was very well; but too highly extolled.

Having almost completed their collection, they began to dispute about the division, the Flibustiers pretending that the more regular settlers of the colony (being but landsmen) were not entitled to an equal share with themselves, when a bark arrived from _Martinico_ which was sent expressly to give them notice that a fleet of English and Dutch ships of war had just arrived in the _West Indies_. This news made them hasten their departure, and shortened or put an end to their disputes; for previous to sailing, they made a division of the gold and silver, in which each man shared nearly a thousand crowns; the merchandise and negroes being reserved for future division, and which it was expected would produce much more.

The Commanders of the English and Dutch squadrons, on arriving at _Barbadoes_, learnt that the French had taken _Carthagena_. They sailed on for that place, and had almost reached it, when they got sight of De Pointis' squadron, to which they gave chase, but which escaped from them by superior sailing.

[Sidenote: An English and Dutch Squadron fall in with the Buccaneers.] On the 3d or 4th of June, the Flibustiers sailed from _Carthagena_ in nine vessels, and had proceeded thirty leagues of their route towards _Hispaniola_, when they came in sight of the English and Dutch fleet. They dispersed, every one using his best endeavours to save himself by flight. The two richest ships were taken; two were driven on shore and wrecked, one of them near _Carthagena_, and her crew fell into the hands of the Spaniards, who would have been justified in treating them as pirates; but they were only made to work on the fortifications. The five others had the good fortune to reach _Isle Avache_. To conclude the history of the Carthagena expedition, a suit was instituted in _France_ against M. de Pointis and the _armateurs_, in behalf of the Colonists and Flibustiers, and a decree was obtained in their favour for 1,400,000 livres; but the greater part of the sum was swallowed up by the expenses of the suit, and the embezzlements of agents.

The Carthagena expedition was the last transaction in which the Flibustiers or Buccaneers made a conspicuous figure. It turned out to their disadvantage in many respects; but chiefly in stripping them of public favour. [Sidenote: September. Peace of Ryswick.] In September 1697, an end was put to the war, by a Treaty signed at _Ryswick_. By this treaty, the part of the Island _St. Christopher_ which had belonged to the French was restored to them.

In earlier times, peace, by releasing the Buccaneers from public demands on their services, left them free to pursue their own projects, with an understood license or privilege to cruise or form any other enterprise against the Spaniards, without danger of being subjected to enquiry; but the aspect of affairs in this respect was now greatly altered. [Sidenote: Causes which led to the suppression of the Buccaneers.] The Treaty of 1670 between _Great Britain_ and _Spain_, with the late alliance of those powers against _France_, had put an end to buccaneering in _Jamaica_; the scandal of the second plunder of _Carthagena_ lay heavy on the Flibustiers of _St. Domingo_; and a circumstance in which both _Great Britain_ and _France_ were deeply interested, went yet more strongly to the entire suppression of the cruisings of the Buccaneers, and to the dissolution of their piratical union; which was, the King of _Spain_, Charles the IId. being in a weak state of health, without issue, and the succession to the crown of _Spain_ believed to depend upon his will. On this last account, the kings of _Great Britain_ and _France_ were earnest in their endeavours to give satisfaction to _Spain_. Louis XIV. sent back from _France_ to _Carthagena_ the silver ornaments of which the churches there had been stripped; and distinction was no longer admitted in the French Settlements between Flibustier and Pirate. The Flibustiers themselves had grown tired of preserving the distinction; for after the Peace of _Ryswick_ had been fully notified in the _West Indies_, they continued to seize and plunder the ships of the English and Dutch, till complaint was made to the French Governor of _Saint Domingo_, M. du Casse, who thought proper to make indemnification to the sufferers. Fresh prohibitions and proclamations were issued, and _encouragement_ was given to the adventurers to become planters. The French were desirous to obtain permission to trade in the Spanish ports of the _Terra Firma_. Charlevoix says, 'the Spaniards were charmed by the sending back the ornaments taken from the churches at _Carthagena_, and it was hoped to gain them entirely by putting a stop to the cruisings of the Flibustiers. The commands of the King were strict and precise on this head; that the Governor should persuade the Flibustiers to make themselves inhabitants, and in default of prevailing by persuasion, to use force.'

Many Flibustiers and Buccaneers did turn planters, or followed their profession of mariner in the ships of merchants. Attachment to old habits, difficulties in finding employment, and being provided with vessels fit for cruising, made many persist in their former courses. The evil most grievously felt by them was their proscribed state, which left them no place in the _West Indies_ where they might riot with safety and to their liking, in the expenditure of their booty. Not having the same inducement as formerly to limit themselves to the plundering one people, they extended their scope of action, and robbed vessels of all nations. Most of those who were in good vessels, quitted the West Indian Seas, and went roving to different parts of the world. Mention is made of pirates or buccaneers being in the _South Sea_ in the year 1697, but their particular deeds are not related; and Robert Drury, who was shipwrecked at _Madagascar_ in the year 1702, relates, 'King Samuel's messenger then desired to know what they demanded for me? To which, Deaan Crindo sent word that they required two _buccaneer_ guns.'

At the time of the Peace of _Ryswick_, the Darien Indians, having quarrelled with the Spaniards, had become reconciled to the Flibustiers, and several of the old Flibustiers afterwards settled on the _Isthmus_ and married Darien women.

[Sidenote: Providence Island.] One of the _Lucayas_, or _Bahama Islands_, had been settled by the English, under the name of _Providence Island_. It afforded good anchorage, and the strength of the settlement was small, which were conveniencies to pirates that induced them to frequent it; and, according to the proverbial effect of evil communication, the inhabitants were tempted to partake of their plunder, and assist in their robberies, by purchasing their prize goods, and supplying them with all kinds of stores and necessaries. This was for several years so gainful a business to the Settlement, as to cause it to be proverbial in the _West Indies_; that 'Shipwrecks and Pirates were the only hopes of the _Island Providence_.'

[Sidenote: 1700-1. Accession of Philip Vth. to the Throne of Spain.] In three years after the Peace of _Ryswick_, Charles the IId of Spain died, and a Prince of the House of Bourbon mounted the Spanish Throne, which produced a close union of interests between _France_ and _Spain_. The ports of Spanish America, both in the _West Indies_ and in the _South Sea_, were laid open to the merchants of _France_. The _Noticia de las Expediciones al Magalhanes_ notices the great resort of the French to the _Pacific Ocean_, 'who in an extraordinary manner enriched themselves during the war of the Spanish succession.' In the French Settlements in the _West Indies_ the name of Flibustier, because it implied enmity to the Spaniards, was no longer tolerated.

On the breaking out of the war between _Great Britain_ and _France_ which followed the Spanish succession, the English drove the French out of _St. Christopher_, and it has since remained wholly to _Great Britain_. M. le Comte de Gennes, a Commander in the French Navy, who a few years before had made an unsuccessful voyage to the _Strait of Magalhanes_, was the Governor of the French part of the Island at the time of the surrender[90].

During this war, the Governors of _Providence_ exercised their authority in granting commissions, or _letters of reprisal_; and created Admiralty Courts, for the _condemnation_ of captured vessels: for under some of the Governors no vessels brought to the adjudication of the Court escaped that sentence. These were indirect acts of piracy.

The last achievement related of the Flibustiers, happened in 1702, when a party of Englishmen, having commission from the Governor of _Jamaica_, landed on the _Isthmus_ near the _Samballas Isles_, where they were joined by some of the old Flibustiers who lived among the Darien Indians, and also by 300 of the Indians. They marched to some mines from which they drove the Spaniards, and took 70 negroes. They kept the negroes at work in the mines twenty-one days; but in all this exploit they obtained no more than about eighty pounds weight of gold.

Here then terminates the History of the Buccaneers of _America_. Their distinctive mark, which they undeviatingly preserved nearly two centuries, was, their waging constant war against the Spaniards, and against them only. Many peculiarities have been attributed to the Buccaneers in other respects, some of which can apply only to their situation as hunters of cattle, and some existed rather in the writer's fancy than in reality. Mariners are generally credited for being more eccentric in their caprices than other men; which, if true, is to be accounted for by the circumstances of their profession; and it happens that they are most subjected to observation at the times when they are fresh in the possession of liberty and money, earned by long confinement and labour.

It may be said of the Buccaneers that they were, in general, courageous according to the character of their leader; often rash, alternately negligent and vigilant, and always addicted to pleasure and idleness. It will help to illustrate the manners and qualifications of the Buccaneers in the _South Sea_, to give an extract from the concluding part of Dampier's manuscript journal of his Voyage round the World with the Buccaneers, and will also establish a fact which has been mentioned before only as a matter surmised[91]. Dampier says,

[Sidenote: Extract from Dampier.] 'September the 20th, 1691, arrived in the _Downs_ to my great joy and satisfaction, having in my voyage ran clear round the Globe.--I might have been master of the ship we first sailed in if I would have accepted it, for it was known to most men on board that I kept a Journal, and all that knew me did ever judge my accounts were kept as correct as any man's. Besides, that most, if not all others who kept journals in the voyage, lost them before they got to _Europe_, whereas I preserved my writing. Yet I see that some men are not so well pleased with my account as if it came from any of the Commanders that were in the _South Sea_, though most of them, I think all but Captain Swan, were incapable of keeping a sea journal, and took no account of any action, neither did they make any observations. But I am only to answer for myself, and if I have not given satisfaction to my friends in what I have written, the fault is in the meanness of my information, and not in me who have been faithful as to what came to my knowledge.'

Countenanced as the Buccaneers were, it is not in the least surprising that they became so numerous. With the same degree of encouragement at the present time, the Seas would be filled with such adventurers. It was fortunate for the Spaniards, and perhaps for the other maritime Nations of _Europe_, that the Buccaneers did not make conquest and settlement so much their object as they did plunder; and that they took no step towards making themselves independent, whilst it was in their power. Among their Chiefs were some of good capacity; but only two of them, Mansvelt and Morgan, appear to have contemplated any scheme of regular settlement independent of the European Governments, and the time was then gone by. Before _Tortuga_ was taken possession of for the Crown of _France_, such a project might have been undertaken with great advantage. The English and French Buccaneers were then united; _England_ was deeply engaged and fully occupied by a civil war; and the jealousy which the Spaniards entertained of the encroachments of the French in the _West Indies_, kept at a distance all probability of their coalescing to suppress the Buccaneers. If they had chosen at that time to have formed for themselves any regular mode of government, it appears not very improbable that they might have become a powerful independent State.

In the history of so much robbery and outrage, the rapacity shewn in some instances by the European Governments in their West-India transactions, and by Governors of their appointment, appears in a worse light than that of the Buccaneers, from whom, they being professed ruffians, nothing better was expected. The superior attainments of Europeans, though they have done much towards their own civilization, chiefly in humanising their institutions, have, in their dealings with the inhabitants of the rest of the globe, with few exceptions, been made the instruments of usurpation and extortion.

After the suppression of the Buccaneers, and partly from their relicks, arose a race of pirates of a more desperate cast, so rendered by the increased danger of their occupation, who for a number of years preyed upon the commerce of all nations, till they were hunted down, and, it may be said, exterminated. Of one crew of pirates who were brought before a Court of Justice, fifty-two men were condemned and executed at one time, in the year 1722.

FINIS.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] _Lebreles de pressa._

[2] The name _Saint Domingo_ was afterwards applied to the whole Island by the French, who, whilst they contested the possession with the Spaniards, were desirous to supersede the use of the name _Espanola_ or _Hispaniola_.

[3] _Historia General de las Indias_, por _Gonc. Hernandez de Oviedo_, lib. 19. cap. 13. Also _Hakluyt_, vol. iii. p. 499, edit. 1600.

[4] _Camden's Elizabeth_, A. D. 1680.

[5] _Hist. des Antilles, par P. du Tertre._ Paris, 1667. Tome I. p. 415.

[6] _La Rochefort, sur le Repas des Carribes._

[7] _History of Brasil, by Robert Southey_, p. 17.

[8] In some of the English accounts the name is written _Bucanier_; but uniformity in spelling was not much attended to at that time. Dampier wrote _Buccaneer_, which agrees with the present manner of pronouncing the word, and is to be esteemed the best authority.

[9] The French account says, that after taking possession of _Tortuga_, the Adventurers divided into three classes: that those who occupied themselves in the chase, took the name of Boucaniers; those who went on cruises, the name of Flibustiers; and a third class, who cultivated the soil, called themselves _Habitans_ (Inhabitants.) See _Histoire des Avanturiers qui se sont signalez dans les Indes. Par. Alex. Ol. Oexmelin_. Paris 1688, vol. i. p. 22.

[10] The Governor or Admiral, who granted the commission, claimed one tenth of all prizes made under its authority.

[11] It is proper to mention, that an erroneously printed date, in the English edition of the _Buccaneers of America_, occasioned a mistake to be made in the account given of Narbrough's Voyage, respecting the time the Buccaneers kept possession of _Panama_. See Vol. III. of _Voyages and Discoveries in the South Sea_, p. 374.

[12] _Theatro Naval Hydrographico._ Cap. xi. See also of Peche, in Vol. III. of _South Sea Voyages and Discoveries_, p. 392.

[13] _Not. de las Exp. Magal._ p. 268, of _Ult. Viage al Estrecho_.

[14] _Buccaneers of America_, Part III. Ch. xi.

[15] 'They never forfeit their word. The King has his commission from the Governor of _Jamaica_, and at every new Governor's arrival, they come over to know his pleasure. The King of the Mosquitos was received by his Grace the Duke of Portland (Governor of _Jamaica_, A. D. 1722-3) with that courtesy which was natural to him, and with more ceremony than seemed to be due to a Monarch who held his sovereignty by commission.'--'The Mosquito Indians had a victory over the Spanish Indians about 30 years ago, and cut off a number; but gave a Negro who was with them, his life purely on account of his speaking English.' _History of Jamaica._ London 1774. Book i. Ch, 12. And _British Empire in America_, Vol. II. pp. 367 & 371.

[16] _Case of His Majesty's Subjects upon the Mosquito Shore, most humbly submitted_, &c. London, 1789.

[17] _Narrative by Basil Ringrose_, p. 5.

[18] _De Rochfort_ describes this animal under the name _Javaris_. _Hist. Nat. des Isles Antilles_, p. 138, edit. 1665. It is also described by _Pennant_, in his _Synopsis of Quadrupeds_, Art. _Mexican Wild Hog_.

[19] _Ringrose._ _Buccaneers of America_, Part IV. p. 10. The early morning drum has, in our time, been called the _Reveiller_. Either that or _a travailler_ seems applicable; for according to _Boyer_, _travailler_ signifies to trouble, or disturb, as well as to work; and it is probable, from the age of the authority above cited, that the original term was _a travailler_.

[20] _Narrative by Basil Ringrose_, p. 3.

[21] _Ringrose_, p. 11.

[22] _Ringrose_, Chap. ix.

[23] No. 48 in the same collection is a manuscript copy of Ringrose's Journal, but varied in the same manner from the Original as the printed Narrative.

[24] _Ringrose_, p. 44.

[25] _Ringrose_ and _Sharp_.

[26] _Sharp's Journal_, p. 72.

[27] _Buccaneers of America_, Part III, p. 80.

[28] Nos. 239. and 44. in the _Sloane Collection of Manuscripts_ in the _British Museum_, are probably the charts and translation spoken of above. No. 239. is a book of Spanish charts of the sea-coast of _New Spain_, _Peru_, and _Chili_, each chart containing a small portion of coast, on which is drawn a rude likeness of the appearance of the land, making it at the same time both landscape and chart. They are generally without compass, latitude, or divisions of any kind by lines, and with no appearance of correctness, but apparently with knowledge of the coast.--No. 44. is a copy of the same, or of similar Spanish charts of the same coast, and is dedicated to King Charles II. by Bartholomew Sharp.

[29] _Sharp's Manuscript Journal. Brit. Mus._

[30] Morgan continued in office at _Jamaica_ during the remainder of the reign of King Charles the IId.; but was suspected by the Spaniards of connivance with the Buccaneers, and in the next reign, the Court of _Spain_ had influence to procure his being sent home prisoner from the _West Indies_. He was kept three years in prison; but without charge being brought forward against him.

[31] _British Empire in America_, Vol. II. p. 319.

[32] _Dampier_, Vol. I, p. 73.

[33] In the Sloane Collection, _Brit. Mus._

[34] _Cowley's MS. Journal. Sloane Collection_, No. 54.

[35] See also _Pernety's Journal_, p. 179, English translation.

[36] _Dampier's Manuscript Journal_, No. 3236, _Sloane Collection, British Museum_.

[37] The writer of Commodore Anson's Voyage informs us that Juan Fernandez resided some time on the Island, and afterwards abandoned it.

[38] _Dampier's Voyages_, Vol. I, Chap. 5.

[39] The latter part of the above extract is from Cowley's Manuscript.--Captain Colnet when at the _Galapagos_ made a similar remark. He says, 'I was perplexed to form a conjecture how the small birds which appeared to remain in one spot, supported themselves without water; but some of our men informed me that as they were reposing beneath a prickly pear-tree, they observed an old bird in the act of supplying three young ones with drink, by squeezing the berry of a tree into their mouths. It was about the size of a pea, and contained a watery juice of an acid and not unpleasant taste. The bark of the tree yields moisture, and being eaten allays the thirst. The land tortoise gnaw and suck it. The leaf of this tree is like that of the bay-tree, the fruit grows like cherries; the juice of the bark dies the flesh of a deep purple.' _Colnet's Voyage to the South Sea_, p. 53.

[40] _Dampier_, Vol. I, p. 112.

[41] _Dampier_, Vol. I, Chap. 5. This description does not agree with the Spanish Charts; but no complete regular survey appears yet to have been made of the Coast of _New Spain_.

[42] _Dampier_, Vol. I, Chap. 5.

[43] _Ibid._

[44] _Dampier_, Vol. I, Chap. 6.

[45] _Dampier_, Vol. I, Chap. 6. To search for this wreck with a view to recover the treasure in her, was one of the objects of an expedition from _England_ to the _South Sea_, which was made a few years subsequent to this Buccaneer expedition.

[46] _Dampier_, Vol. I, Chap. 6.

[47] _Manuscript Journal in the Sloane Collection._

[48] See _Cowley's Voyage_, p. 34. Also, Vol. III. of _South Sea Discoveries_, p. 305.

[49] _Dampier_, Vol. I, Chap. 6.

[50] Dampier.

[51] _Wafer's Voyages_, p. 196.

[52] _Dampier_, Vol. I, Chap. 7.

[53] _Journal du Voyage au Mer du Sud, par Rav. de Lussan_, p. 25.

[54] _Dampier_, Vol. I, Chap. 8.

[55] _Dampier._

[56] _Voyage and Description_, &c. _by Lionel Wafer_, p. 191, and seq. London, 1699.

[57] _Dampier. Manuscript Journal._

[58] _Wafer's Voyages_, p. 208.

[59] _Colnet's Voyage to the Pacific_, pp. 156-7.

[60] _Journal of a Cruize to the Pacific Ocean, by Captain David Porter, in the years 1812-13 & 1814._

[61] _Cruising Voyage round the World, by Captain Woodes Rogers, in the years 1708 to 1711_, pp. 211 and 265, 2d edition. London, 1718.

[62] _Wafer's Voyages_, p. 214 & seq.

[63] _Dampier_, Vol. I. Chap. 13, p. 352.

[64] _Wafer's Voyages_, p. 220.

[65] _Dampier_, Vol. I, Chap. 8.

[66] _Dampier_, Vol. I, Chap. 9.

[67] Late Observations place _Acapulco_ in latitude 16 deg. 50' 41'' N, and longitude 100 deg. 0' West of _Greenwich_.

[68] _Dampier._

[69] See Chart in Spilbergen's Voyage.

[70] _Dampier's Manuscript Journal._

[71] _Dampier_, Vol. I, p. 257.

[72] In some old manuscript Spanish Charts, the _Chametly Isles_ are laid down SE-1/2S about 12 leagues distant from _Cape Corrientes_.

[73] According to Captain Vancouver, _Point Ponteque_ and _Cape Corrientes_ are nearly North and South of each other. Dampier was nearest in-shore.

[74] The Manuscript says, the farthest of the _Chametlan Isles_ from the main-land is not more than four miles distant.

[75] _Dampier_, Vol. I, Chap. 9.

[76] _Manuscript Journal._

[77] Dampier's Reckoning made the difference of longitude between _Cape Corrientes_ and the _Island Guahan_, 125 degrees; which is 16 degrees more than it has been found by modern observations.

[78] _Dampier._ _Manuscript Journal_, and Vol. I, Chap. 10. of his printed Voyages.

[79] The Ladrone flying proa described in Commodore Anson's voyage, sailed with the belly or rounded side and its small canoe to windward; by which it appears that these proas were occasionally managed either way, probably according to the strength of the wind; the little parallel boat or canoe preserving the large one upright by its weight when to windward, and by its buoyancy when to leeward.

[80] _Dampier_, Vol. I, Chap. 11.

[81] _Dampier_, Vol. I, Chap. 14. The long Island is named _Basseelan_ in the charts; but the shape there given it does not agree well with Dampier's description.

[82] M. de Surville in 1769, and much more lately Captain A. Murray of the English E. I. Company's Service, found the South end of _Monmouth Island_ to be in 20 deg. 17' N.

[83] _Manuscript Journal._

[84] In the printed Voyage, the shoal is mistakenly said to lie SbW from the East end of _Timor_. The Manuscript Journal, and the track of the ship as marked in the charts to the 1st volume of _Dampier's Voyages_, agree in making the place of the shoal SbW from the West end of _Timor_; whence they had last taken their departure, and from which their reckoning was kept.

[85] _A Voyage by Edward Cooke_, Vol. I, p. 371. London, 1712.

[86] _Raveneau de Lussan_, p. 117.

[87] _'Ce moyen etoit a la verite un peu violent, mais c'etoit l'unique pour mettre les Espagnols a la raison.'_

[88] _Theatro Naval._ fol. 61, 1.

[89] _Relation du Voyage de M. de Gennes_, p. 106. Paris, 1698.

[90] Pere Labat relates a story of a ridiculous effort in mechanical ingenuity, in which M. de Gennes succeeded whilst he was Governor at _Saint Christopher_. 'He made an Automaton in the likeness of a soldier, which marched and performed sundry actions. It was jocosely said that M. de Gennes might have defended his government with troops of his own making. His automaton soldier eat victuals placed before it, which he digested, by means of a dissolvent,'--_P. Labat_, Vol. V. p. 349.

[91] See p. 207, near the bottom.

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Transcriber's Note: Illustrations have been moved. Some sidenotes have been moved, separated or merged. Some repetitive sidenotes have been deleted. The following changes were made in the transcription of this work:

to settle what constitues[constitutes] occupancy. recommended to King Ferdinand to recal[recall] Ovando. Pere[Pere] Labat describes first cruisers againt[against] the Spaniards were English ['Camoes de Gama': Macron on e in Camoes is now omitted.] Vattel has decribed[described] this case. during a time of peace betwen[between] apppearance[appearance] of the land and was no[not] otherwise clad than the rest of his sqadron[squadron] The fruit is like the sea chesnut[chestnut] The same kind of maoeuvring[manoeuvring] of the _S[ta] Maria de l'Aguada_ and it was in[an] honour due from him who granted the commisson[commission] at _Saint Christopher_. [']He made an Automaton by means of a dissolvent,[']--_P. Labat_, [oe ligatures: ligature now omitted.]

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