 CHAPTER XII. About the year 1636 a certain London Mariner, named Dunton, had an experience somewhat similar to that which we related in the last chapter, concerning Rawlins. Dunton had the bad luck to be taken by the sally pirates, who then sent him out as a master and pilot of a sally pirate ship containing twenty-one moors and five Flemish renegados. The instructions were that Dunton should sail to the English coast, and there capture Christian prisoners. He had arrived from Barbary in the English Channel, and was off Hearst Castle by the needles, Isle of Wight, when he was promptly arrested as a pirate, and sent to Winchester to be tried by law. He was given his release at a later date, but his ten-year-old boy was still a slave with the Algerians. Now, about the year that this was taking place, there was born into the world Henry Morgan, who has become celebrated in history and fiction as one of the greatest sea-rovers who ever stepped aboard a ship. His career is one of continual success, of cruelties and amassing of wealth. He was a buccaneer, and a remarkably clever fellow, who rose to the position of Governor General of one of our most important colonial possessions. Adventures are to the adventurous, and if ever there was a Britisher who longed for and obtained a life of excitement, here you have it in the story of Henry Morgan. It would be easy enough to fill the whole of this book and more with his activities afloat. But as our space is limited, and there are still many other pirates of different seas to be considered, it is necessary to confine ourselves to the main facts of his career. The date of his birth is not quite certain, but it is generally supposed to belong to the year 1635. He first saw Lighting Le Morganshire, and his existence was tinged with adventure almost from the first. For whilst he was a mere boy he was kidnapped and sold as a servant at Barbados. Thus it was that he was thrust on to the region of the West Indies, and in this corner of the world so rich in romance, so historic, for its association with Spanish treasureships of Elizabethan times, so reminiscent of Drake and others, he was to perform deeds of daring which, as such, are not unworthy to be ranked alongside the achievements of the great Elizabethan seamen. But he differed from Drake in one important respect. The Elizabethan was severe even to harshness, but he was a more humane being than Morgan. All the wonderful things which the Welshman performed are overshadowed by his cruel, brutish atrocities. In a cruel, inhuman age, Morgan, unhappily, stands out as one of the wickedest sailors of his time. And yet, although we live in an epoch which is somewhat prone to whitewashing the world's most notorious criminals, yet we must modify the popular judgment which prevails in regard to Morgan. To say that he was a pirate, and nothing else, is not accurate. At heart he certainly was this. But as Sir John Lawton, our greatest modern naval historian, has already pointed out, he attacked only those who were the recognized enemies of England. I admit that in practice, especially in the case of men of such piratical character as Henry Morgan, the difference between privateering and piracy is very slight. The mere possession of a permission to capture the ships belonging to other people is nothing compared to a real sea-robbing intention. Morgan was lucky in having been required for a series of certain peculiar emergencies. This help happened at the time to be indispensable, and so he was able to do legally what otherwise he would have done illegally. All those seizures were legalized by the commission which he was granted at various times, but this is not to say that without these commissions he would not have acted in a somewhat similar manner. We are accustomed to speak of Morgan and his associates as buccaneers. Now, let us understand at once the meaning of this term. Originally the word meant one who dried and smoked meat on a buccane. A buccane was a hurdle made of sticks on which strips of beef newly salted were smoked by the West Indians, but the name of buccaneers was first given to the French hunters of Santo Domingo who prepared their meat according to this Indian custom. From the fact that these men who so prepared the flesh of oxen and wild boars were also known for another characteristic, namely piracy, the name was applied in its widest sense to those English and French sea rovers of the 17th and 18th centuries who employed their time in depredating Spanish ships and territory of the Caribbean Sea. Hence, from signifying a man who treated his food in a certain fashion, the word buccaneer came to mean nothing more or less than a robber of the sea. After young Morgan had finished his time in service at Barbados, he joined himself to these buccaneer robbers after arriving at Jamaica. It should be added that Morgan's uncle, Colonel Edward Morgan, went out from England in 1664 to become Governor-General of Jamaica, but his death occurred in the following year. There are gaps in Morgan's life, and there has been some confusion caused by others possessing the same surname, but it appears pretty certain now that in the year 1663 Henry Morgan was at sea in command of a privateer. Even by this time he had begun to be an expert in depredation and in sacking some of the Caribbean towns and striking terror into the hearts of the wretched inhabitants. We may pass over these minor events and come to the time when, his uncle having died, Sir Thomas Modiford was sent out from England as Lieutenant Governor. Bear in mind that intense hatred of the Spanish prevailing at this time, and which had not been by any means quenched by the defeat of the Armada. To put it mildly, the Caribbean Sea was an Anglo-Spanish cockpit where many and many a fight had taken and was still to take place. Modiford wanted the island of Curacao to be taken, and there was then no better man to do the job than a very celebrated buccaneer named Edward Mansfield. Sir Thomas therefore commissioned Mansfield to seize this island. He got together a strong naval expedition and accomplished the task early in the year 1666, Henry Morgan being in command of one of Mansfield's ships. Off the Nicaraguan coast lies an island which has been called at different times Santa Catalina or Providence Island. This had been taken from the English by the Spaniards more than twenty years before, and Morgan was also present when Mansfield now recaptured it. A small garrison was left to occupy it, and Mansfield returned with his ships to Jamaica. But before long Santa Catalina fell again into the hands of the Spaniards, and Mansfield died. It is now that Morgan's career begins to come into the limelight. For after Mansfield's decease, the buccaneers bereft of their leader thought the matter over and decided to make Morgan his successor, and the commissions which Mansfield had been accustomed to receive from Modiford now fell to the Welshman. The first of these duties occurred when Modiford became aware of a rumor that the Spaniards were contemplating an invasion of Jamaica. It was nothing more than a rumor, but as Governor he desired to find out the truth. He therefore dispatched Morgan to ascertain the facts. He was directed to get ten ships together, and to carry five hundred men in this fleet. The ships gathered on the south side of Cuba, and then, having accomplished their voyage, Morgan landed his men, and found that the people had fled from the coast, driving all their cattle away. Morgan marched inland, plundered the town of Puerto Príncipe, and then was able to send information to Modiford that considerable forces were being collected, and that an expedition against Jamaica was, in truth, being planned. He had fulfilled his commission as instructed. His next big achievement occurred when he sailed to the mainland in order to attack Portobello, where levies were being made to attack Jamaica. Several Englishmen were also known to be confined here in grim dungeons, and if any further incentive were required this would certainly rouse the ire and sharpen the keenness of Morgan and his men. Portobello relied for its defense on three forts, and it was likely to be no easy work to compel these to yield. But Morgan succeeded in his object, and this was how he went to work. Arrived in the vicinity of Portobello he left his ships, and under the cover of night proceeded towards the shore with his men in about two dozen canoes. By three o'clock in the morning his force had crept into the shore and landed. The first fort was assaulted by the aid of ladders, and the garrison was slaughtered. So too the second fort was attacked. Hither the Spanish governor had been taken himself. For a time it offered a stout resistance, but Morgan had a number of ladders so made that they were wide enough to allow several men to climb up abreast of each other. By this means the castle walls were overcome, the castle itself taken, and the governor slain. The third fort surrendered, the town was sacked, and then for over a fortnight the buccaneers indulged themselves as was their want in debauchery. I have no intention of suggesting the details, either of these excesses nor of the abominable tortures to which the inhabitants were now subjected, in order to compel them to reveal the places where their treasures were hidden. Not even the most unprincipled admirer of the buccaneers could honestly find it possible to defend Morgan and his associates against the most serious charges on the ground of common justice. Morgan may not have been any worse than some of his contemporaries at heart, but whatever else he was he was an unmerciful tyrant. As for his enemies we cannot regard them with much admiration, either. This Dago crowd were morally not much better than the Welshmen, and though sometimes they put up a good fight they were too often cowards. In this present instance they adopted that futile and weak plan of buying off the aggressor. You will remember that, unfortunately, our ancestors adopted this plan many hundreds of years ago, when they sought to ward off the Viking depredators by buying peace. It was a foolish and ineffectual method, both then and in the seventeenth century in the case of Morgan. For what else does such an action mean than a confession of inferiority? This at this price is out of all proportion to the ultimate value obtained, and the condition is merely a temptation to the aggressor to come back for more. Stripped of any technicality, Morgan blackmailed these Panamanians to the extent of one hundred thousand pieces of eight and three hundred negroes. On these conditions, which were agreed upon, he consented to withdraw. So, very well rewarded for his trouble, Morgan returned joyfully to Jamaica, and for some time the buccaneers were able to indulge themselves in the pleasures which this booty was capable of affording them. You will generally find that a buccaneer, a highwayman, a gambler, a smuggler, or any kind of pirate by land or by sea is a spin-thrift. There are certainly exceptions, but this is the rule. A man who knows that he can easily get more money when he runs short shows no reserve in spending, provided it affords him gratification. So with these buccaneers, at length they came to the end of their resources and were ready to go forth again. It is true that Mottiford had been in two minds after Morgan's return from Portobello. He rejoiced at the success of his arms, but he was nervous of the consequences. The Welshman had certainly exceeded his commission, and there might be trouble as a result at headquarters. And yet there was work to be done, and Morgan was the only man who could do it. So once more Mottiford had to commission him to carry out hostilities against the Spaniards. To the eastward of Jamaica lies the island of Santo Domingo, or, as it was known in those days, Hispaniola. If you were to examine a chart of Hispaniola you would see in the southwest corner a bay and a small island. The latter is known as Vash Island. This was to be the meeting place where Morgan was now to collect his ships. Apart from being a good anchorage it was a convenient starting place if one wished to attack either the mainland of Central America or Cuba. In the present instance the objective was in the latter. The ships got under way, Morgan arrived at the scene of operations, and positively ravaged the Cuban coast, again striking terror wherever he went. But as important as this was it is not to be reckoned alongside the achievement which he performed in the early part of 1669. On the north coast of South America is a wide gulf which opens out into the Caribbean Sea. But as this gulf extends southward the shores on either side narrow so closely that the shape resembles the neck of a bottle. The town here is named Maracaibo, but a little distance still farther south the shores on either side recede considerably like the lower portion of a bottle, and there extends a vast lagoon which takes its name from the town mentioned. It is obvious to anyone that the strategic point is at the neck. And when I mentioned that here the navigation was both tricky and shallow, and that the channel was protected by a strong castle, the reader will instantly appreciate that anyone who tried to bring his ships into the lake would have a very difficult task. Now in the month of March Morgan, with eight ships and five hundred men, had arrived off this entrance. With great daring and dogged determination he was able to force his way in through this narrow entrance. He not only dismantled the fort, but he sacked the town of Maracaibo in his own ruthless manner. Then he followed up his attack by scouring the neighboring woods, and put the captured and terrified inhabitants to cruel tortures in order to compel them to reveal the hiding places of their valuables. He captured many a prisoner, and at length very well satisfied with his success, after the lapse of three weeks decided to advance still farther. He had got his ships through the most difficult portion, and now he intended to navigate the lagoon itself. At length he arrived at a town called by the inhabitants Gibraltar, after the European place of that name. Here again Morgan satiated himself with plunder, with cruelties and with debauchery, until the time came for him to take his ships away with all the booty they could carry. But the serious news reached them that awaiting them off the entrance to the Gulf were three Spanish men of war. Still more serious was the information that the castle at Maracaibo had now been efficiently manned and armed. That was more than awkward, for without the permission of the fort it was quite impossible for his ships to make their exit in safety. The situation would have puzzled many a fine strategist. More was the buccaneer positively trapped with no means of escape. But Morgan was quite equal to the occasion, and he set to work. His first object was to gain time, and so he began by opening negotiations with the Spanish admiral Don Alonso del Campo y Espanosa. He knew these negotiations would prove fruitless, as indeed they did, but in the meantime Morgan had been busily employing his men in getting ready a fire ship. In our modern days of steel hulls fire ships play no part in naval tactics, but in the time of oak and hemp this mode of aggression continued till very late. The fire ship would first be filled with combustible material and then released, the wind or current taking her down to the enemy's ships. The grapnel irons projecting from her side would foul the enemy, and it would be no easy matter to thrust the fire ship off until she had done considerable damage by conflagration. This method of warfare was one of the oldest tactics in the history of naval fighting. It was successful over and over again, and the reader can well imagine that the sight of a flaming ship rapidly approaching a fleet of anchored ships with the tide was really terrifying. And even if the attacked ships were underway and not brought up, it made little difference. For the flames would immediately set on fire ship's sails, and the tarred rigging would soon be ablazed, rendering the attacked ship disabled. Of course it was possible, at times, for a fleet under way so to maneuver as to get out of the direction towards which the fire vessel was travelling. But Morgan was up to every eventuality. The fire ship he disguised as a man of war, and she was not yet set alight. With this craft looking just like one of his own, he took his fleet to look for the Spanish men of war. On the first of May he found them, just within the entrance to the lagoon. He now made straight for them, and setting the fire ship alight when quite near sent her right alongside the Spanish flagship, a vessel of forty guns. The latter was too late to shake her off, burst into flames, and soon foundered. Another Spanish ship was so terror-stricken that her crew ran ashore, and she was burnt by her own men, lest she should fall into the hands of the buccaneers. The third was captured after heavy slaughter. Some of the Spaniards succeeded in swimming ashore, among whom was the admiral Don Alonso himself. Morgan was able to capture a number of prisoners, and from these men he learned tidings which must have sent a thrill of great joy through his avaricious mind. The sunken ship had gone down with forty thousand pieces of eight. So the buccaneer took steps to recover as much of this treasure as he could, and salved no less than fifteen thousand, in addition to a quantity of melted silver. His next work was to have the prize ship refitted, and her he adopted as his own flagship. So far so good. But he was still in the lagoon, and the door of the trap was yet closed as before, although the enemy ships had now been disposed of. He again opened negotiations with Don Alonso, and it is surprisingly true that the latter actually paid Morgan the sum of twenty thousand pieces of eight and five hundred head of cattle as a ransom for Maracaibo. But, on the other hand, Don Alonso declined to demean himself by granting Morgan permission to take his ships out. That, of course, set Morgan's brain working. He was determined to put to sea, and it was only a question of stratagem. He therefore allowed the Spaniards to gain the impression that he was landing his men so as to attack the fort from the landward side. This caused the Spaniards to move the guns of the fort to that direction, leaving the seaward side practically unarmed. That was Morgan's chance, and he fully availed himself thereof. It was night time, and there was the moon to help him. He waited till the tide was ebbing, and then, allowing his ships to drop down with the current, he held on until he was off the fort, when he spread sail, and before long was well on his way to the northward. It was a clever device for getting out of a very tight corner. So he sailed over the Spanish main, with rich booty from Gibraltar, with fifteen thousand pieces of eight from the wreck, with another twenty thousand from Alonso, with a new ship and other possessions. Certainly the voyage had been most fortunate and remunerative. He reached Jamaica in safety, but again, Modiford was compelled to reprove him for having exceeded his commission. But the same thing happened as before. The Spaniards were becoming more and more aggressive toward the English in the West Indies, and it was essential that they should be given a severe lesson before worse events occurred. Morgan was the only man for the task, and he was now appointed Commander-in-Chief of the warships of the Jamaican Station, and sent forth with full authority to seize and destroy all the enemy's vessels that could be found. He was further to destroy all stores and magazines, and for his pay he was to have all the goods and merchandise which he could lay his hands on. His men being paid the customary share that was usual on buccaneering expeditions. We find him then, at the middle of August 1670, leaving Port Royal, now better known as Kingston, Jamaica, and as before his rendezvous was Vash Island. With this as his base he sent ships for several months to ravage Cuba in the mainland, and as usual refreshed himself, as an Elizabethan would have said, with the things he was in most need, such as provisions. But he was able also to obtain a great deal of valuable information, and at length sailed in a southwest direction till he came to that island of Santa Catalina, which we mentioned earlier in this chapter, as having been taken by the Spaniards. This he now recaptured, and thereafter he was to perform another wonderful feat. The object he had conceived was to capture Panama. It was another bold idea, boldly carried out. First of all, then, he sent from Santa Catalina four of his ships, and a boat, and nearly five hundred men, under the leadership of Captain Brodley. These after a three-day voyage arrived off Chagras Castle, which is at the mouth of the River Chagras, not far from where the modern Panama Canal comes out. In a remarkably short time Brodley was able to capture this castle, and presently Morgan arrived with the rest of his expedition. Having made security doubly sure, he proceeded inland, taking his ships up the River Chagras, but after he had gone some distance it was found that through lack of rain the river had dried considerably. He therefore left two hundred men behind to hold the place, and with the rest of his forces he set out to march on foot. He did not hamper his expedition with provisions, as he trusted to obtain supplies from the inhabitants whose dwellings he passed. On the tenth day he arrived at his destination. Before him lay Panama and the Pacific. But the Spaniards were there on the plane to meet his forces, with a considerable strength, consisting of three thousand infantry and cavalry, as well as some guns. But the Spaniards had also ready a unique tactic which seems almost ludicrous. We have already referred slightly to the cattle, which were a feature of this region of the globe. The Spaniards decided to employ such in battle, so between themselves and the English they interposed a vast herd of wild bulls, which were driven on in the hope of breaking the English ranks. The wild stampede of creatures of this sort is not likely to make for order, but like the boomerang on land and the ram in naval warfare, such a device is capable of being less damaging to the attacked than to the attacker. For as it happened many of these bulls were shot dead by the English, and the rest of the animals turned their heads round and made for the Spanish, trampling many of them underfoot. The English gained the day, the Spaniards were put to flight, and although the buccaneers lost heavily, yet the other side had lost six hundred dead. The city of Panama was captured early in the afternoon, and yet again Morgan scooped in an amazing amount of booty. There was the same series of tortures, of threats, and there was a total absence of anything noble-minded in the way Morgan went about his way, satisfying his greed for gold. But he had just missed one very big haul, and this annoyed him exceedingly. For when the Spaniards saw their men were being defeated, they sent to see a Spanish galleon which was full of money, church plate and other valuables, worth far more than ever Morgan had obtained from what was left in Panama. The expedition started on its return journey overland, and after twelve days arrived at Chagras. Here the great quantity of booty was divided up among the crews, but the men were not satisfied with their share, protested that they had been cheated of their full amount, and much discontent ensued. There can be little doubt but that this was so, and that Morgan had enriched himself at the expense of his men. However he managed to slip away to his ship, followed by only a handful of his former fleet, and once again found himself in Jamaica. Here he received the formal thanks of the Governor, but there was trouble brewing. For while Morgan had been away, a treaty had been signed at Madrid concerning Spanish America. It is true that Madofford had, in those days of slow communication, known nothing of it. But he was recalled, and he returned to England a prisoner to answer for his having supported and encouraged buccaneering. The following year Morgan was also sent to England in a frigate, but Charles II took a great liking to this daredevil, and in 1674 sent him back again to Jamaica, this time with the rank of Colonel, and with the title of Nighthood, to be not a buccaneer, but the Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica. If ever there was an instance of the ungodly flourishing, here it is. Fourteen years longer did Morgan continue to live in this island, as a rich man possessing social prestige. It is true that he made a good Governor, but although he had defeated Alonso, reduced Panama, made a clever escape from Maracaibo, taken Santa Catalina, and become a veritable thorn in the side of the Spaniards, yet he had been a brute, and he died a brute. He was a blackmailer on a large scale, he was unmercifully a tyrant, and he was a profligate. It is only because he attacked the enemies of his own government, and because he was lucky to obtain the commissions demanded by law, that he is prevented from being reckoned as a mere common pirate. But if there is honour among most thieves, what shall we say of Morgan's dishonesty and harshness in cheating the very men who had fought under him of their fair share of plunder when the battle was won? It is perhaps hardly fair to judge even a Morgan, except by the prevailing standard of his time, but those who care to look up the details of Morgan's private life will find much to condemn, even if there is something to admire in his exceptional cleverness and undoubted courage. The sea is a hard school, and makes hard men harder, and in those days when might was right, and every ocean more or less in a chaotic state of lawlessness, when poverty, or chance, or despair, or the irresistible longing for adventure drove men to become pirates, there was no living for a soft-hearted sailor. He had to fight or be fought. He had to swim with the tide or else sink. The luckiest and cleverest became the worst terrors of the sea, while the least fortunate had either to submit to the strong or else end their days in captivity. Morgan having been kidnapped while young may have been driven to kidnap others by sea, or there may have been other causes at work. One thing, however, is certain. The world is not made the richer by the advent of such a man as this Welsh buccaneer. END OF CHAPTER XII. CHAPTER XIII OF THE ROMANCE OF PIRACY. THE ROMANCE OF PIRACY by Edward Keeble-Chatterton. BLACKBEARD TEACH. The sea-rovers whom we know by the name of buccaneers had an origin somewhat similar to that of the Muslim Corsairs of Barbary. The reader will not have forgotten that the latter, after being driven out of Spain, settled on the north coast of Africa, and then after being instructed in the nautical arts by the semen of different nationalities, rose to the rank of grand Corsairs. So likewise the buccaneers were at first inoffensive settlers in Hispaniola, but after having been driven from their habitations by the Spaniards, developed an implacable hatred of the latter, and devoted themselves to infesting the shores of Spanish America, and intercepting ships on their way over the sea. And just as the Muslim Corsairs were a mixture of several nations – English, Dutch, Levantine, Italian, and so on – in like manner the company of buccaneers, before long, was made up of various European seamen from many a different port. But among the English buccaneers a special place must be reserved for a Bristol seamen named Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard Teach, just as we remember the great Muslim Corsair, known as Redbeard Urge or Barbarossa. Teach left the west of England, and having arrived at Jamaica, shipped as one of the crew of a privateer during the French War, and was not long in showing that he was made of the right stuff of which those who rode the seas for booty are supposed to be. But it was not until a captain Benjamin Hornigold gave him the command of a prize which he had taken that Teach began to have his full opportunity. In the spring of 1717 Hornigold and Teach sailed away from the West Indies for North America. Before they had reached their destination they had captured a vessel with 120 barrels of flour, which they distributed between their two vessels. A little later they seized two more vessels, from which they obtained a quantity of wine and treasure. The pirates next proceeded to the coast of Virginia, where they cleaned ship, and then, after these diversions, they captured a ship bound for Martinique. Hornigold now returned with his prizes to the island of Providence, and presently surrendered himself to the King's clemency. But Teach went about his business as an independent pirate now. The vessel in which he sailed was fitted with 40 guns, and he named her the Queen Anne's Revenge. And he began rapidly to accumulate wealth. One day, while cruising near the island of St. Vincent, he captured a large vessel called the Great Allen, pillaged her of what he fancied, and then set her on fire. Only a few days later the Scarborough man of war hoved in sight, and for several hours the two ships engaged. The former recognized that Teach was a pirate, and was endeavoring to conquer him. But it is a fact that after a time the Scarborough, seeing she was not a match for the Queen Anne's revenge, deemed it better to retire from the contest, thus allowing Teach to resume his piratical profession. He next found himself encountering a sloop, which was commanded by a major bonnet, and Teach and Bonnet agreed to throw in their lot together. But as Blackbeard soon saw that Bonnet was inexperienced in naval matters, the former gave command of the sloop to one of the crew, named Richards, whilst Bonnet transferred to the larger ship. And then the two craft went roaming over the seas with singular success. Indeed, were one to mention every ship that Teach captured, the reader would find the catalog to be one of mere monotony. The pirate had but to give chase after a sail, hoist his black flag, and the fleeing ship would heave to and surrender. But as I believe the reader would find it more interesting to become acquainted with the more interesting episodes, rather than a complete list of every single engagement, I proposed to confine myself to the former. Teach cruised about the West Indies and off the southern portion of what are now the United States. He would anchor off Charleston, South Carolina, wait till an outward bound ship emerged from the harbor, and then promptly seize her. Or just to vary matters, he would capture a couple of others as they were about to enter Charleston. The impudence of the man was amazing, and his audacity spread terror in the town and paralyzed the trade of the port. No vessel dared to show her nose outside the harbor, and a whole fleet of ships was thus tied up inside, unable to move. And then, like many of these pirates, Teach showed how remarkably clever and resourcefully was. By this time he had captured quite a large number of prisoners, and it became essential that medicine supplies should be procured by some means. To this end he had the remarkable impudence to demand a medicine chest from the governor. And this request was made neither diplomatically nor even politely. He asked for it with consummate insolence. He sent some of his own crew ashore, together with several of the prisoners, demanding these medical stores, and it was made quite clear to the governor that if these were not forthcoming, and a safe return made to the ships, every prisoner should instantly be put to death, and the captured ships burnt to ashes. Whilst these negotiations were being carried on by the little deputation of prisoners, the pirate's crew were swaggering up and down the streets of Charleston, and not a hand dared to touch them. The governor was in a dilemma, and listened carefully to the insolent demand. But as he was anxious to prevent human carnage, he got together medicinal supplies to the value of over three hundred pounds, and sent them aboard. But to show you what sort of a man Teach was, let it be said that as soon as the pirate obtained these goods, and the safe return of his own men, he pillaged the captured vessels of all their golden provisions, then put the prisoners back on their respective ships, and set sail for North Carolina. On the way, Zither, Teach began to consider how he could best secure the spoil, for himself and a few of his special friends among the crew. So he pretended that he was about to give his ships bottom a scrub, and headed for the shore, where she grounded. He then called to the sloop to come to his assistance. As they attempted, but the sloop also took the ground badly, and both ships became total wrecks. Teach then took the tender, put forty hands therein, had about half of them landed on a lonely, sandy island, three miles from the shore, where there was neither bird, nor beast, nor herb for their subsistence. Had it not been for Major Bonnet, who afterwards sent a longboat for them, they would have died. Meanwhile, Teach, now very rich, with the rest of his crew, went and surrendered himself to the governor of North Carolina. Why? Not for any other reason than in order to plan out bigger piracies. For he knew that the governor would succumb to bribery, and by this official's influence a court of vice admiralty was held, and the Queen Anne's revenge condemned as a lawful prize and the legal property of Teach, although it was a well-known fact that she belonged to English merchants. It was not long before Teach was at sea again, and setting a course for premutas, he pillaged four or five English and French merchant men, and brought one of the ships back to North Carolina, where he shared the prizes with the governor who had already obliged him. Teach also made an affidavit that he found this French ship at sea with not a soul on board, so the court allowed him to keep her, and the governor received sixty hogsheads of sugar for his kindly assistance. Teach was very nervous lest someone might arrive in the harbor and prove that the pirate was lying, so on the excuse that this ship was leaky and likely to stop up the entrance to the harbor, if she sank, permission was obtained from the governor to burn her, and when that had been done her bottom was sunk so that she might never exist as a witness against him. But the time came when the piracies of this Teach could no longer be endured. Skippers of trading-craft had already lost so heavily that it was resolved to take concerted action. The Skippers knew that the governor of Virginia was an honorable man, and they laid the matter before him, begging that an armed force might be sent from the men of war to settle these infesting pirates. The governor consulted the men of war captains as to what had best be done, and it was decided to hire two small vessels which could pursue Blackbeard into all those inlets and creeks which exist on the American coast. These were to be manned by men from the warships, and placed under the command of Lieutenant May. A proclamation was also issued offering a handsome reward to any who within a year should capture or destroy a pirate. But before we go on to watch the exciting events with which this punitive expedition was concerned, I want the reader to realize something more of the kind of pirate they were to chase. A few actual incidents will reveal his character better than many words. The story is told that on a certain night when Blackbeard was drinking in his cabin with Israel Hans, who was the master of the Queen Anne's Revenge, the ship's pilot and a fourth man, Teach suddenly took up a pair of pistols and cocked them underneath the table. When the fourth man perceived this, he went up on deck, leaving Teach, Hans, and the pilot together. As soon as the pistols were ready, Teach blew out the light, crossed his arms, and fired at the two men. The first pistol did not harm, but the other wounded Hans in the knee. When Teach was asked why he did this, he replied with an oath, If I didn't now and then kill one of you, you would forget who I was. And there is another anecdote which shows his vanity in a curious manner. Like most Blackhearts, he was anxious to pose as a person who set no limits to his endurance. Those were the days of braggadocio, of pomposity and hard drinking and hard swearing. It happened that on this particular occasion the ship was doing a passage, and Teach was somewhat high-spirited through the effect of the wine, and he became obsessed with the idea of making his crew believe that he was a devil incarnate. Come, he roared to some of his men, let us make a hell of our own and try how long we can bear it. It was obviously the prank of a drunken braggart, but with several others he went down into the hold of the ship and closed up all the hatches. He then filled several pots full of brimstone and other combustible matter, and set it on fire. Quickly the hold became so bad that the men almost suffocated, and some of them clamoured for air. The hatches were at last open, and Teach was as proud of having been able to hold out longest as if he had just captured a well-frated prize. And finally, you can also appreciate the man's vanity in a totally different manner. His name was derived from his long black beard, which caused him to look exceedingly repellent, but he would sometimes even stick lighted matches under his hat, which, burning on either side of his face, lit up his wild, fierce eyes and made his general appearance so repulsive that he exactly reflected his own character. But to resume our story at the point where we digressed, about the middle of November, 1717, Lieutenant Maynard set out in quest of black beard, and four days later came inside of the pirate. The expedition had been fitted out with every secrecy, and care was taken to prevent information reaching Teach. But the tidings had reached Teach's friend, the governor of Bermudas, and his secretary. The latter therefore sent a letter to warn Teach to be on his guard. But Teach had before now been the recipient of false news, and he declined to believe that he was being hunted down. In fact, it was not until he actually saw the sloops, which had been sent to catch him, that he could realize the true state of affairs. Maynard had arrived with his sloops in the evening of a November day, and deemed it wiser to wait till morning before attack. Teach was so little concerned, however, that he spent the night in drinking with the skipper of a traitor. Blackbeard's men fully realized that there would be an engagement the next day, and one of them ventured to ask him a certain question. If, inquired the man, anything should happen to Teach during the engagement, would his wife know where he had buried his money? Blackbeard's reply was short and concise. Nobody but the devil and myself, he answered, knows where it is, and the longest liver shall take all. When the morning came, Maynard weighed anchor and sent his boat to sound the depth of water, around where the pirate was lying. Teach then promptly fired at the boat, but Maynard then hoisted his royal colors, and made towards Blackbeard as fast as oars and sails could carry him. Before long both the pirate and two sloops were aground, but Maynard lightened his vessel of her ballast and water, and then advanced toward Blackbeard, whereupon the pirate began to roar and rant. Who are you, he hailed, and whence come you? The naval officer quietly answered him, you see from our colors we are no pirates. Maynard then made him send his boat aboard that he might see who he was, but Maynard simply answered this impudent request by replying, I cannot spare my boat, but I will come aboard you as soon as I can with my sloop. The swaggering pirate then raised his glass of grog and insolently drank to the officer, saying, I'll give no quarter nor take any from you. Maynard replied that he expected no quarter from him, nor for his part did he intend to give any. But whilst this exchange of courtesies went on, the tide had risen, and the pirate ship floated off. As fast as they could the sloops were being rode toward teacher's ship, but as the ship's drew near, teach fired a broadside, and so killed or wounded twenty of the navalmen. A little later Blackbeard's ship drifted into the shore, and one of the sloops fell astern. But Maynard, finding that his own sloop was carrying way on, and that he, would fetch along teacher's ship, ordered all his own men below, while he and the helmsmen were the only two who remained on deck. The latter he managed to conceal so that only the officer was visible. But he ordered his crew to take their pistols, cutlasses, and swords, and to be ready for any duty immediately, and in order to make it possible for the men to regain the deck in the minimum time he caused two ladders to be placed in the hatchway. The sloop now came alongside the pirate, whereupon the latter had case-boxes, such as were discharged from cannon, thrown on board, having first been filled with powder, small shot, slugs, and pieces of lead and iron. A quick match was placed in the mouth of these, and then they were dropped onto the sloop's deck. These would of course be exceedingly destructive, but in as much as the naval crew were below at the time, they did but little harm. And when Blackbeard saw that by now there were only a few hands on deck, he believed that these three or four were the sole survivors. He exalted greatly and cried, Let us jump on board and cut to pieces those that are alive. Now one of these case-boxes was causing a great cloud of smoke, so that Blackbeard was able, together with fourteen of his men, to leap on the sloop's deck without being immediately perceived. But as soon as the smoke began to clear, Maynard ordered his men up from below, who were on deck in a flash. Then there began a fierce fight, and between Maynard and Blackbeard there was a magnificent hand-to-hand encounter. At first they exchanged shots, and the pirate was wounded. Then they drew their swords, and each man lunged at the other. Matters were proceeding in an exciting manner until, by ill luck, the lieutenant had the misfortune to break his sword. In a moment Blackbeard would have dealt him a fatal blow, had not one of Maynard's men instantly given the pirate a terrible wound in the neck and throat. After this the onslaught became fiercer and fiercer. Both sides were releasing their pent-up rage, and it was by no means certain who would win the fight. There were twelve servicemen against fourteen of the pirates, not counting Maynard or Teach. It is to be stated that neither side lacked bravery, and the greatest valor was displayed on both sides. The deck presented a sickening sight, and blood was seen spilt everywhere. Teach, though he had been wounded by the shot from Maynard and the blow from one of the latter's men, as well as sundry other ugly cuts, still fought splendidly. But he was employing the very utmost of his physical resources, and finally, while in the act of caulking his pistol, fell down with a heavy thud to the deck dead. In the meantime eight of his men had also perished, and most of the rest being wounded they clamored for a quarter, a request which was granted, seeing that Teach himself had been slain. Maynard severed the pirate's head from his body, and after affixing it to the end of his bow-sprit, sailed away to Bathtown in order to obtain medical aid for his wounded men. On ransacking the pirate ship there were found a number of incriminating documents which showed the close connection between Teach and the Governor of Bermudas. After Maynard's men had their wounds attended to, the sloop left Bathtown, and with Blackbeard's head still swinging at the bow-sprit end, proceeded to Virginia, where there was great rejoicing that the pirate pest had at last been killed. The prisoners were brought off from the sloop, tried, condemned, and executed, with the exception of two. Of these one had been taken by Teach from a trading-ship only the day before the fight, and he was suffering severely from no less than seventy wounds, but of these he presently recovered. The other man not executed was Israel Hands, who was master of the Queen Anne's Revenge, who had remained on shore at Bathtown, where he was recovering from that wound we mentioned just now, which Blackbeard one night in a playful humor had dealt him from his pistol in the dark. So the American colonists were able to breathe again, and the trading-ships were allowed to go about once more without fear of this scoundrel. The blow had been dealt decisively and neatly. It only remains to add one other fact, which well indicates the desperate nature of this pirate. When, during the engagement, it seemed likely that he would be overcome, he had placed a negro at the gunpowder door, with instructions to blow the ship up the moment Maynard's men should come aboard. But in as much as Maynard's clever stratagem lured the pirate and his men on board the sloop, a terrible disaster was avoided, which would have involved both ships, and doubtless all the men of each contesting party. Captain Kidd. We come now to another historical pirate, who, both in America and England, will long be remembered for his very interesting exploits. Following the modern tendency of endeavouring to whitewash notorious criminals of a bygone age, a recent writer has sought to dismiss the idea that Kidd was to be numbered among the pirates. I admit that at one time this man was an honest seamen, and that force of circumstances caused his career to become completely altered. But a pirate who certainly became, and no amount of juggling with facts can alter this. The story of his life is as follows. He was a Scotsman who was born in Greenock, which has given to the world so many fine seamen in different generations, and so many handsome new ships, both of wood and of steel. Sailing ships and steam-propelled liners have been built here during the past two hundred years by the score. After a while we find Kidd in North America. He became a resident of New York, and in 1691 married a widow. He became a prosperous shipmaster sailing out of New York, and they say that in his house in Liberty Street was the first turkey carpet ever seen in New York. He was a man well known to the local merchants, and for a time had command of a privateer cruising against the French in West Indian waters. This was the period during which William III was at war with our French neighbors. In the year 1695, Kidd had crossed to England and was in London having command of the Brigantine Antigo of New York. Now, about this time, the King had appointed the Earl of Bellamond to be governor of New England and New York. And the latter was especially instructed to suppress the prevailing piracy, which was causing so much distress along the coast. Lord Bellamond, who had been governor of Barbados, suggested that Kidd should be entrusted with a man of war as he was a most suitable person to send against these sea rovers, knowing as he did every inch of the coast and the favorite hiding places of the pirates. But the admiralty did not esteem it suitable for Kidd to have a government ship under him, and there the matter ended. But Bellamond was one of those farsighted men who ever had an eye for the main chance. He and his friends were well aware of the enormous amount of money which these pirates accumulated, and since the admiralty would not give of him a frigate, he resolved to form a small syndicate among his friends and fit out a private ship. He decided to appoint Kidd as captain. The latter was not anxious to accept this appointment, but Bellamond pointed out that if he did not, Kidd's own vessel would be detained in the Thames, so at last he consented. In order to give the project a certain amount of status, and in order to be able to enforce greater discipline over the crew, a King's commission was obtained for Kidd, authorizing him to apprehend, seize, and take into your custody all pirates, rebooters and sea rovers, being our subjects or of other nations associated with them. But he was also given a commission of recrisals, as it was then time of war, this second commission gave him justification for capturing any French ships he might encounter. The ship, which had been purchased for him, was called the Adventure of 287 tons, 34 guns and 70 or 80 men. In the month of May 1796, we find her sailing out of Plymouth Sound, bound for New York. It should be mentioned that Kidd and a man named Robert Livingstone had undertaken to pay one-fifth of the expenses, whilst Bellamond, with the First Lord of Admiralty, the Lord Chancellor, and certain other gentlemen had put up the other four-fifths of the capital. On the voyage out, Kidd fell in with a French fishing craft of the Newfoundland banks and annexed her. Owing to the second of his commissions just mentioned, this was no act of piracy, but perfectly legal as a privateer. Arrived in New York, Kidd made it known that he needed a number of additional hands as crew, and, as an incentive, he offered each man a share, reserving for himself and owners 40 shares. He got an additional number of men, comprising now 155, and then sailed away. He had shipped a miscellaneous lot of rascals, naval deserters, pirates out of employment, fugitives from justice, brawlers, thieves, rows and vagabonds. They had signed on, attracted by the chance of obtaining plenty of booty. He set a course across the Atlantic, and his first call was at Madeira, where he took on board wine and other necessaries. From there he proceeded to the Cape Verde Islands, where he obtained salt and provisions, and having all this done, steered in a southerly direction, rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and hauled up into the Indian Ocean, till he found himself off Madagascar, which was a notorious hunting ground for pirates. It was now February of 1697, the adventure having left Plymouth for New York at the previous May. But, as it happened, there were no pirate ships to be found off Madagascar, for they were somewhere out at sea looking for spoil. Therefore, after watering and taking on board more provisions, he steered to the northeast across the Indian Ocean, till he came to the Malabar Coast in the month of June. His ship was sadly in need of repairs, and he was in serious need of further stores. He had come a long way from New York to India, and his ship had not earned a penny since he left America. But he managed to borrow a sum of money from some Frenchman who had lost their ship, but had saved their effects, and with this he was able to buy materials for putting his ship in a sea-worthy condition. And now there came a change, and from being a privateer, he became a pirate. Once more he crossed the Indian Ocean and arrived at Babskay, which is on an island at the entrance to the Red Sea. He began to open his mind to his crew and to let them understand that he was making a change. So far he had acted according to the law and his commission, though not a single pirate had been seen. He knew that the Mokka fleet would presently come sailing that way, and he addressed his men in these wards. We have been uncessful his art too, but courage, my boys, we will make our fortunes out of this fleet. There can be little doubt, but that kid had been working at this idea as he came across the Indian Ocean. Before a man becomes a robber, either by land or by sea, there is a previous mental process. A man cannot say that he acted on the spur of the moment without confessing that he had been entertaining the suggestion of robbery some time before. It would seem that kid originally had every intention of keeping to the terms and spirit of his two commissions. But as he has been sailing across the world without luck, he became despondent. He thought not merely of himself or of his crew, but of Belomond and the rest of the syndicate. Time and expenses had been running on, and there was nothing on the credit side beyond that one French ship of a year ago. He was utterly despondent, and as a man down on his luck, thieves on land, so he would now act on sea. The intention was thoroughly wrong, but it was comprehensible. He waited for the mocha fleet, but it came not. Though he had a boat hoisted out and sent her, well manned along the coast to bring back a prisoner, or at any rate obtain intelligence somehow. In a few days the boat returned, announcing, there were fourteen ships ready to sail, English, Dutch and Moorish. He therefore kept a man continually on the lookout at the mast head, lest the fleet should sail past without being seen, for kid was well-nigh desperate. And one evening, about four days later, the ships appeared in sight, being convoyed by two men of war, one English and one Dutch. Kid soon fell in with them, got among them, and fired at the Moorish ship, which happened to be nearest to him. Thereupon the two convoys bore down on him, engaged him hotly, and compelled him to shear off. So as he had begun to play a pirate, he resolved to go on. He crossed the Indian Ocean to the eastward yet again, and cruised along the Malabar coast, and at last he got a prize. She was a Moorish vessel owned by Moorish merchants, but her master was an Englishman named Parker, and there was also a Portuguese named Don Antonio on board. These two men kid forced to join him, the former as pilot and the latter as interpreter. Thus the commissioned privateer was now a full-fledged pirate. He had sunk deep down into the mire, and he acted with all the customary cruelty of the pirate. He hoisted his prisoners up by the arms, and dropped them with a naked cutlass in order that they might reveal where the money was hidden. But all that he obtained was a bale of pepper and a bale of coffee. But then he sailed along and touched at Caravar, where he discovered that already the news of the assault on the Moorish ship had arrived and was being discussed with great excitement by the merchants. Kid was suspected, and two Englishmen came aboard and inquired for Parker and Don Antonio. Kid denied that he knew such persons, and as he had taken the precaution to hide them away in a secret place down the hold, the visitors, still suspicious, went ashore without any definite tidings. For over a week these two wretched men were kept in their hiding place, and once more kid put to sea. A Portuguese man of war having been sent to cruise after him, he engaged her for six hours, but as he could not take her, and as he was the swifter sailor he cleared off. Soon afterwards he became possessor of a Moorish ship by a very supple quibble, which indicated the man's astuteness. The vessel was under the command of a Dutch skipper, and as soon as Kid gave her chase, the pirate hoisted French colors. When the merchant ship saw this, she also showed the French and sign. The adventurers soon overtook her and hailed her in French. The merchant ship having a Frenchman board answered in that language. Kid ordered her to send her boat aboard, and then asked the Frenchman, a passenger, if he had a pass for himself. The latter replied in the affirmative. Kid then told the Frenchman he must pass as captain, and he added, you are captain. His intention was simply this. Remembering the terms of his commission, he was untruthfully insisting that the merchant man was French, and therefore legally his prize. It was a bare-faced quibble, and one wonders why so unprincipled a man should deem it necessary to go out of his way to make such a pretense. So he relieved the ship of her cargo and sold it later on. Presently, as he began to suffer from qualms of conscience and declined to attack a Dutch ship with which they came up, his crew mutinied. And one day, whilst a man named Moor, his gunner, was on deck discussing the Dutch ship, Moor so far lost control of his tongue as to accuse Kid of having ruined them all. The pirate answered this complaint by calling him a dog, taking up a bucket and breaking the man's skull therewith, so that he died the next day. Kid now cruised about the Malabar coast, plundering craft, taking in water and supplies from the shore and pillaging when he liked. And now he came up with a fine, 400-ton Moorish merchant named the Queda, whose master was an Englishman named Wright, for it was by no means rare for these Eastern owners to employ English or Dutch skippers as the latter were such good seamen and navigators. Kid, as before, chased her under French colors and having got abreast of her, compelled her to hoist out her boat and send it aboard. He then informed Wright he has to consider himself a prisoner and he learned that there were only three Europeans on board, two Dutch and one Frenchman, the rest being either Indians or Armenians. The last mentioned were also part owners of the cargo. Kid set the crew of his vessel ashore at different places along the coast and soon sold about 10,000 pounds worth of the captured cargo so that each man had about 200 pounds whilst Kid got 8,000 pounds. Putting part of his own crew into the Queda, Kid took the adventure and the prize southwards to Madgeskar and when he had come to anchor, a ludicrous incident occurred. For there came off to him a canoe containing several Englishmen who had previously known Kid well. They now saluted him and said they understood that he had come to take them and hang them which would be a little unkind in such an old acquaintance. But Kid at once put them at their ease swearing he had no such intention and that he was now in every respect their brother and just as bad as they and calling for alcohol he drank their captain's house. The men then returned on board their ship resolution. But by now after all her travels backwards and forwards of the ocean, the adventure had become very leaky and her two pumps had to be kept going continuously. So Kid transferred all the tackle and guns from her to the Queda and in future made her his home. He then divided up the spoil on the sharing principle as before. About a hundred of his men now deserted him and with his 40 men and about 20,000 pounds in his ship, he put to sea bound at last for America again for he was under orders to report to Bellamond at the end of the cruise. He arrived at the West Indies called at one of the leeward islands and learned that the news of his piracies had spread over the civilized world and he was wanted as a pirate. The date was now April 1699. He handed over the Queda to a man named Bolton who was a merchant at Antiqua and bought from him a sloop named the San Antonio into which he put all his treasure. He must now press on and swear to Bellamond that he was innocent of piracy. Being anxious to communicate with his wife, Kid steered for Long Island Sound, proceeded as far as Oyster Bay, landed and sent her a message and after going on his northward voyaging transferred some of his treasure into three sloops. Towards the end of June, he headed for Boston arriving there on the 1st of July where he had various interviews with Bellamond, the sloop and her contents as well as the other three sloops goods were arrested and Kid was afterwards taken across to England. He and six others were tried at a sessions of admirality at the Old Bailey in May 1701 for piracy and robbery on the high seas and found guilty. Kid was further charged with the murder of the man Moore in the bucket incident and also found guilty. Kid's defense was that the man mutinied against him, that his accusers had committed perjury and that he was the most innocent person of them all. But the court thought otherwise and a week or so later he and the other six men were executed at the execution dock and afterwards their bodies were hung up in chains at intervals along the river where they remained for a long time. Of the treasure which was brought by Kid to America and has frequently been sought for by treasure hunters unavailingly, the exact total of gold dust, gold coins, gold bars, silver rings, silver buttons, broken silver, silver bars, precious stones, diamonds, rubies, green stones, and so on, reached the following enormous amount. Gold, 1,111 ounces, silver, 2,353 ounces, jewels, 17 ounces. A certain amount of plate and money was successfully retained by Kid's wife and of what was left of the booty after payment of the legal fees involved in his trial, the sum of 6,472 pounds was by special act of parliament handed over to the Greenwich Hospital. Footnote, I wish to acknowledge my in-depthness for some of the facts here mentioned to an interesting article by Mr. Winfield M. Thompson in The Rudder for the year 1909. End of footnote. Surely with such facts as these before one, it is a hopeless case for any modern enthusiast to pretend for a moment that the famous Captain Kid was not a pirate. If his luck had turned out better, probably he would have contendingly remained a privateer. But opportunity is illustrative of the man and if ever a sailor succeeded in showing himself to be a pirate with all the avariciousness and cruelty which the word suggests, here you have it in the life of Captain Kid. End of section 14 If the 16th century was the grand period of the Muslim corsairs of the Mediterranean, the 18th will ever remain memorable for the many-fold activities of those English seamen who took to piracy as a far more remunerative profession than carrying frates. If we look for any explanation of this, I think it is not far to seek. You have to take into consideration several points. Firstly, it seems to me in all phases, whether political or otherwise, whether concerned with the sea or with land affairs, you must get at personal and national character, the very fount and origin of all human energies. Whatever else the 17th century was, it was not a very distinguished era. There were, of course, exceptions, but speaking broadly it was a most disappointing period. Morally it was corrupt, politically it was degenerate, and artistically it was insincere and pompous. You have only to read the history of that period and its various aspects to realize this. This was the time when the reaction after the Puritan period had led to a dereliction of high principles, when intrigue and bribery had made such an onslaught on political life that votes were bought for money, that even admirals allowed petty politics to interfere with their loyalty when fighting at sea the nation's enemies. Smug respectability was the dominating high ideal, and there was no greater sin than that of being found out. High-handed actions by those in power and lawlessness, by those who were covetous of obtaining wealth were significant of this period. And if you want to realize the humbug and insincerity of the 18th century, you have only to go into the nearest art gallery and examine the pictures of that period, accepting, perhaps, some portraiture, or to read the letters which the men and women wrote, or to read the books which the educated people of that time esteemed so highly. Religion and politics, domestic life, art, and literature were in an unhealthy condition. Now a man, whether a sailor or a politician, or whatever else, is very largely the child of his age. That is to say, given a lawless, unprincipled, corrupt period, it is more than likely that any particular individual will be found to exhibit in his activities the marks of that age. And therefore, bearing such facts as these in mind, it becomes perfectly comprehensible that the 18th century should have been the flourishing period of English sea robbery. Add just one more item, the continual period of unrest caused by years of international wars and the rumors of war, and you are not surprised that the call of the sea was accepted by so many more hundreds of men than ever before in the history of the nation. But naval wars did not mean merely that more men were wanted to work the ship which fought our battles. There was such an encouragement and incentive to skippers and capitalists to undertake privateering that not even in the Elizabethan age had so many ships and men taken part in that kind of undertaking. So instead of privateering being merely an exceptional activity during an occasional period of hostilities, it became owing to long drawn out wars a regular definite profession. There was in it every opportunity to indulge both personal and national hatred of the foreigner, to enjoy a series of fine adventures and then to return home with an accumulation of glory and prizes. Side by side with this and well illustrating the tone of the age, smuggling had become an almost irrepressible national evil. In the history of smuggling, you not infrequently found that the preliminary steps to this dishonest livelihood were as follows. First, the man was employed as an honest fisherman. Then, finding this did not pay him, he became a privateer or else in the king's service serving on board a revenue cutter. Then, being more anxious for wealth, he threw in his lot with the very men he had been chasing and became either an out-and-out smuggler or else a pirate. For as has been insisted on more than once in previous chapters, the line of demarcation between privateering and piracy, though perfectly visible to lawyers, was not always sufficiently strong to keep the roving seamen within the limitations of legal livelihood. In a word, as it is always difficult suddenly to break a habit, and as this immense body of seamen had so long been accustomed to earning their money by attacking other ships, so in an age that had but little respect for what was lawful, it was really not surprising that dozens of ships put to sea as downright pirates or else as acknowledged smugglers. In this present volume, we are concerned only with the first of these two classes. Typical of the period was a notorious captain Avery, whose doings became known throughout Europe. There was nothing petty in these 18th century corsairs they had in them the attributes which go to making a great admiral. They were born rulers of men, they were good strategists, hard fighters, brave and valorous, daring and determined. But as against this, they were tyrannical, cruel and brutal. And as is so frequently the case with all men, the acquisition of wealth ruined them, made them still more overbearing and swollen-headed, so that with no high principles, no lofty aims, they descended by degrees into debauchery and callousness. It was a thousand pitties in many ways, for these were magnificent seamen who took their ill-designed bluff old tubs practically all around the world, keeping the sea for months at a time and surviving terrible weather and many changes of climate. If these great disciplinarians had not become tyrants and if their inquest and abilities could have been legitimately employed, they had in them the ability which has produced great empire-makers, brilliant admirals and magnificent administrators. But their misfortune consisted in having belonged to the eighteenth century. Avery, like many of the world's greatest seamen, was born in Devonshire, went to sea when quite young and rose to the rank of mate in a merchant ship. It happened that there was a good deal of smuggling going on by the French of Martinique with the Spaniards of the American colonies. And in order to put a stop to this, the Spanish government hired foreigners to act against the delinquents. A number of Bristol merchants, accordingly, fitted out a couple of thirty gunships and well-manned, well-found in everything, sent them to Caruna to await orders. One of these ships was commanded by a captain Gibson and in the year 1715, Avery happened to be his mate. The Devonshire man possessed all the traditional seafaring instincts and that love of adventure for which his county was famous, and he was evidently not unpopular with the rest of the crew. For after he had won their confidence, he began to point out to them what immense riches could be obtained on the Spanish coast and suggested that they should throw in their lot with him and run off with the ship. The suggestion was heartily agreed upon and it was resolved to make the attempt the following evening at ten o'clock. It should be mentioned that Gibson, like many another eighteenth-century skipper, was rather too fond of his grog and on the eventful night he had imbibed somewhat freely and turned into his bunk instead of going ashore for his usual refreshment. Those of the crew, who were not in the present plot, had also turned in, but the others remained on deck. At ten o'clock the long boat from the other ship rode off to them. Avery gave her a hail and the boat answered by the agreed watchword, thus, is your drunken bosun on board? Avery replied in the affirmative and then sixteen able men came on board. The first thing was to secure the hatches and then very quietly they hauled up the anchor and put to sea without making much noise. After they had been under way some time the captain awoke from his drunken sleep and rang his bell. Avery and one other confederate then went into the cabin. What's the matter with the ship? queried the old man. Does she drive? What weather is it? For as he realized she was on the move he naturally was forced to the conclusion that the ship was shearing about at her anchor and that a strong wind had sprung up. Avery quickly reassured him and incidentally gave his waking mind something of a shock. No, answered the former mate. No, we're at sea with a fair wind and good weather. At sea, gasped the captain, how can that be? Come, don't be in a fright, but put on your clothes and I'll let you into a secret. You must know, he went on, that I am captain of this ship now and this is my captain, therefore you must walk out. I am bound for Madagascar with the design of making my own fortune and that of all the brave fellows joined with me. The captain began to recover his senses and to understand what was being said but he was still very frightened. Avery begged him not to be afraid and that if he liked to join their confederacy they were willing to receive him. If you turn sober and attend a business, perhaps in time I may make you one of my lieutenants. If not, here's a boat and you shall be set on shore. Gibson preferred to choose this last alternative and the whole crew being called up to know who was willing to go ashore with the captain. There were only about half a dozen who decide to accompany him to the land. So Avery took his ship to Madagascar without making any captures. On arriving at the northeast portion of the island he found a couple of sloops at anchor but when these aspired him they slipped their cables and ran their ships ashore while the men rushed inland and hid themselves in the woods. For these men had guilty consciences. They had stolen the sloops from the East Indies and on seeing Avery's ship arrive they imagined that he had been sent to punish them. But Avery sent some of his own men ashore to say that the sloops men were his friends and suggested that they should form an amalgamation for their common benefit and safety. The men were well armed and had taken up positions in the wood and outposts had been stationed to watch whether they were pursued ashore. But when the latter perceived that two or three men were approaching unarmed there was no opposition offered and on learning that they were friends the messengers were led to the main body where they delivered Avery's message. At first the fugitives had feared this was just a stratagem to entrap them but when they heard that Avery too had run away with his ship they conferred and decided to throw in their lot. The next thing was to get the two sloops refloated and then the trio sailed towards the Arabian coast. When they arrived at length off the mouth of the Indus a man at the mast had aspired to sail so orders were given to chase. As they came on nearer the strange vessel was observed to be a fine tall craft and probably an East India man. But when they came closer she was found to be far more valuable and more worth fighting. On firing at her the latter hoisted the colors of the great mogul and seemed prepared to fight the matter out. But Avery declined getting at close quarters and preferred to bombard from a safe distance whereupon some of his men began to suspect that he was not the dashing hero they had taken him for. But the sloops attacked the strange ship vigorously one at the bow and the other on her quarter. After a while they succeeded in boarding her when she was now compelled to strike colors. It was found that she was one of the great mogul ships carrying a number of important members of his court on a pilgrimage to Mecca and most valuable articles to be offered at the Shrine of Muhammad. There were large quantities of magnificent gold and silver vessels, immense sums of money and altogether the plunder was very considerable. Everything of value having been taken out of her and the entire treasure having been transferred on board the three ships the vessel was permitted to depart. When at last the ship returned to her home and the mogul learned the news he was exceedingly wrathful and threatened to send a mighty army to drive out the English from their settlements along the Indian coast. This greatly alarmed the East India Company but the latter managed to calm him down by promising to send ships after the robbers and deliver him into their hands. The incident caused great excitement in Europe and all sorts of extravagant rumors spread about so that at one time it was intended to fit out a powerful squadron and have him captured while another suggestion was that he should be invited home with his riches and receive the offer of his Majesty's pardon for he was reputed now to be about to found a new monarchy. But eventually these foolish notions were discovered to be baseless. Meanwhile the three treasure-laden ships were returning to Madagascar where it was hoped to build a small fort keep a few men there permanently and their deposit their ill-gotten treasure. But Avery had another plan in his mind and this well exhibits his true character. On the voyage he sent out a boat to each of the sloops inviting each skipper to repair on board him. They came and he laid before them the following proposition. If either of the sloops were to be attacked alone they could not be able to offer any great resistance and so their treasure would vanish. As regards his own ship he went on she was such a swift ship that he could not conceive of any other craft overtaking her. Therefore he suggested that all the treasure should be sealed up in three separate chests that each of the three captains should have keys that they should not be opened until all were present that these chests should then be kept on his own ship and afterwards deposited in a safe place ashore. It seems very curious that such wide awake pirates should not have been able to see through such an obvious trick. But without hesitation they agreed with the idea and all the treasure was placed aboard Avery's ship as had been suggested. The little fleet sailed on and now Avery began to approach his crew in his usual underhand manner. Here was sufficient wealth on board to make them all happy for the rest of their lives. What he asked shall hinder us from going to some country where we are not known and living on shore to the end of our days in affluence. The crew thoroughly appreciated the hint so during the night Avery's ship got clear away, altered her course, sailed round the Cape of Good Hope and made for America. They were strangers in that land. They would divide up the booty and they would separate so that each man would be able to live uncomfortably without working. They arrived at the island of Providence when it was decided that it would be wiser to get rid of such a large vessel. So pretending she had been fitted out for privateering and that having had an unsuccessful voyage, Avery had received orders from his owners to sell her as best he could, he soon found a merchant who bought her and Avery then purchased a small sloop. In this craft he and his crew embarked with their treasure and after landing at different places on the American coast where no one suspected them, they dispersed and settled down in the country. Avery had now immense wealth but as most thereof consisted of diamonds and he was afraid of being unable to get rid of them in America without being suspected as a pirate, he then crossed to the north of Ireland where some of his men settled and obtained the king's pardon and now began a series of incidents which might well be taken to show the folly of ill-gotten gain. The reader has already seen that in spite of the vast affluence which these 18th century pirates obtained, yet in the end such wealth brought them nothing but anxiety and final wretchedness. Avery could no more dispose of his precious stones in Ireland than in America so thinking that perhaps there might be someone in that big west country town of Bristol who would purchase them, he proceeded to his native county of Devonshire and sent to one of his friends to meet him at Bideford. The friend introduced other friends and Avery informed them of his business. It was agreed that the best plan would be to place the diamonds in the hands of some wealthy merchants who would ask no questions as to their origin. One of the friends asserted that he knew some merchants who would be able to transact the business and provided they allowed a handsome commission the diamonds would be turned into money. As Avery could think of no other solution to the difficulty he agreed with this so presently the merchants came down to Bideford and after strongly protesting their integrity they were handed both diamonds and vessels of gold for which they gave him a small sum in advance. Avery then changed his name and lived quietly at Bideford but in a short time he had spent all his money and in spite of repeated letters to the wily merchants he could get no answer. But at last they sent him a small sum though quite inadequate for paying his debts and as he could barely subsist he resolved to go to Bristol and interview the merchants. He arrived but instead of money he was met with a firm refusal and a threat that they would give information that he was a pirate. This frightened him so much that he returned to Ireland and from there kept writing for his money which however never came. He was reduced to such a condition of abject poverty that he resolved in his misery to go back to Bristol and throw himself on the merchants' mercy. He therefore shipped on board a trading ship worked his passage to Plymouth and then walked to Bideford. He had arrived there not many days when he fell ill and died without so much as the money to buy him a burial. So it was true that there be land rats and water rats, land thieves and water thieves, I mean pirates. Avery had met a company of men who treated him in the way he had robbed others. Thus the whole of his long voyaging from sea to sea the entire series of events from the time when he had seized Gibson's ship had been not only profitless but brought upon him the utmost terror, starvation and ultimate death. He had fought, he had schemed, he had done underhand tricks, he had told lies and he had endured bitter anxiety but all to no purpose whatever. End of Chapter 15. Recording by Joan Wendell Hampshire, Illinois. But Avery declined getting at close quarters and preferred to bombard from a safe distance whereupon some of his men began to suspect that he was not the dashing hero they had taken him for. But the sloops attacked a strange ship vigorously, one at the bow and the other on her quarter. After a while they succeeded in boarding her when she was now compelled to strike colors. It was found that she was one of the great mogul ships carrying a number of important members of his court on a pilgrimage to Mecca and most valuable articles were to be offered at the Shrine of Muhammad. There were large quantities of magnificent gold and silver vessels, immense sums of money and altogether the plunder was very considerable. Everything of value having been taken out of her and the entire treasure having been transferred on board the three ships, the vessel was permitted to depart. When at last the ship returned to her home and the mogul learned the news he was exceedingly wrathful and threatened to send a mighty army to drive out the English from the settlements along the Indian coast. This greatly alarmed the East India Company but the latter managed to calm him down by promising to send ships after the robbers and deliver them into his hands. The incident caused great excitement in Europe and all sorts of extravagant rumors spread about so that at one time it was intended to fit out a powerful squadron and have him captured while another suggestion was that he should be invited home with his riches and receive the offer of his majesty's pardon for he was reputed now to be about to found a new monarchy. But eventually these foolish notions were discovered to be baseless. Meanwhile three treasure-laden ships were returning to Madagascar where it was hoped to build a small fort to keep a few men there permanently and their deposit their ill-gotten treasure. But Avery had another plan in his mind and this well exhibits his true character. On the voyage he sent out a boat to each of the sloops inviting each skipper to repair on board him. Avery came and he laid before them the following proposition. If either of the sloops were to be attacked alone they could not be able to offer any great resistance and so their treasure would vanish. As regards his own ship he went on she was such a swift ship that he could not conceive of any other craft overtaking her. Therefore he suggested that all the treasures should be sealed up in three separate chests that each of the three captains should have keys that they should not be opened until all were present that these chests should then be kept on his own ship and afterwards deposited in a safe place ashore. It seems very curious that such wide-awake pirates should not have been able to see through such an obvious trick but without hesitation they agreed with the idea and all the treasure was placed aboard Avery's ship as had been suggested. The little fleet sailed on and now Avery began to approach his crew in his usual underhand manner. Here was sufficient wealth on board to make them all happy for the rest of their lives. What he asked shall hinder us from going to some country where we are not known and living on shore to the end of our days in affluence. The crew thoroughly appreciated the hint so during the night Avery's ship got clear away, altered her course, sailed around the Cape of Good Hope and made for America. They were strangers in that land. They would divide up the booty and they would separate so that each man would be able to live on comfortably without working. They arrived at the island of Providence when it was decided that it would be wiser to get rid of such a large vessel. So pretending that she had been fitted out for privateering and that having had an unsuccessful voyage Avery had received orders from his owners to sell her as best he could, he soon found a merchant who bought her and Avery then purchased a small sloop. In this craft he and his crew embarked with their treasure and after landing at different places on the American coast where no one suspected them, they dispersed and settled down in the country. Avery had now immense wealth but as most thereof consisted of diamonds and he was afraid of being unable to get rid of them in America without being suspected as a pirate, he then crossed to the north of Ireland where some of his men settled and obtained the king's pardon and now began a series of incidents which might well be taken to show the folly of ill-gotten gain. The reader has already seen that in spite of the vast affluence which these 18th century pirates obtained yet in the end such wealth brought them nothing but anxiety and final wretchedness. Avery could no more dispose of his precious stones in Ireland than in America so thinking that perhaps there might be someone in that big west country town of Bristol who would purchase them, he proceeded to his native county of Devonshire and sent to one of his friends to meet him at Bideford. The friend introduced other friends and Avery informed them of his business. It was agreed that the best plan would be to place the diamonds in the hands of some wealthy merchants who would ask no awkward questions as to their origin. One of the friends asserted that he knew some merchants who would be able to transact the business and provided they allowed a handsome commission, the diamonds would be turned into money. As Avery could think of no other solution to the difficulty, he agreed with this so presently the merchants came down to Bideford and after strongly protesting their integrity they were handed both diamonds and vessels of gold for which they gave him a small sum in advance. Avery then changed his name and lived quietly at Bideford but in a short time he had spent all his money and in spite of repeated letters to the wily merchants he could get no answer. But at last they sent him a small sum though quite inadequate for paying his debts and as he could barely subsist he resolved to go to Bristol and interview the merchants. He arrived but instead of money he was met with a firm refusal and a threat that they would give information that he was a pirate. This frightened him so much that he returned to Ireland and from there kept writing for his money which however never came. He was reduced to such a condition of abject poverty that he resolved in his misery to go back to Bristol and throw himself on the merchant's mercy. He therefore shipped on board a trading ship, worked his passage to Plymouth and walked to Bideford. He had arrived there not many days when he fell ill and died without so much as the money to buy him a burial. So it was true that there be land rats and water rats, land thieves and water thieves, I mean pirates. Avery had met a company of men who treated him in the way he had robbed others. Thus the whole of his long voyaging from sea to sea, the entire series of events from the time when he had seized Gibson's ship had been not only profitless but brought upon him the utmost misery, terror, starvation and ultimate death. He had fought, he had schemed, he had done underhand tricks, he had told lies and he had endured bitter anxiety but all to no purpose whatever. End of Chapter 15. Recording by Joan Wendell, Hampshire, Illinois.