BUCCANEERS. 



Bucca- 

 Jieer. 



ter. 



singular character of their society renders their his- 

 tory an anomale in the annals of the world. 



Drawn together by a common dislike to -the re- 

 and charac- straints of regular society, independence and licen- 

 tiousness were the leading features in the character 

 of these adventurers. To act in concert, indeed, it 

 was necessary that they should submit to some regu- 

 lations ; but these were dictated, not by the autho- 

 rity of a superior, but by some general feeling of 

 propriety, or sense of expedience. They were gene- 

 rally divided into companies of thirty, forty, or fifty 

 men, electing from themselves, as their captain, the 

 person on whose conduct and valour they placed the 

 greatest reliance. The authority of this captain was 

 seldom acknowledged, except in the moment of bat- 

 tle, when his orders were most implicitly obeyed. 

 Each individual of the crew was obliged to furnish a 

 certain quantity of powder and balls, and to provide 

 himself with a musket, a pair of pistols, and a cut- 

 lass or sabre. Having laid in a sufficient stock of 

 provisions, and having determined, by mutual con- 

 sent, in what place they should cruise, they next 

 bound themselves to agree to certain articles, speci- 

 fied in a written contract, which each of them signed; 

 nor was it ever known that the articles, which they 

 had thus sanctioned, suffered the slightest violation. 

 The purpose of these contracts was to regulate, with 

 precision, the share of any prize to which they should 

 be respectively entitled ; and to make provision for 

 those who should happen to be wounded or disabled 

 during the cruize. If the boat, or vessel, in which 

 they set out, was the common property of the crew, 

 the first vessel which they captured was to be given 

 to the captain, with a single share of the booty which 

 it contained : if the captain had furnished the boat, 

 he was not only entitled to the first ship which was 

 taken, but likewise to a double share of its cargo. 

 The surgeon was allowed a certain sum, generally 200 

 crowns, for his chest of medicines, besides one share 

 of the prize. And whoever had the good fortune to 

 discover a ship which was captured, received a reward 

 of one hundred crowns. The remainder of the spoils 

 was distributed in equal shares among the crew. Be- 

 fore this distribution, every man, placing his hand on 

 a New Testament, solemnly swore that he had not 

 appropriated or concealed any part of the plunder ; 

 and if any of them was convicted of perjury, a case 

 which very rarely occurred, he was conveyed to 

 some desert rocks, as a person unfit for society, and 

 his portion of the prize was either divided among the 

 rest of the company, or appropriated to some reli- 

 gious or charitable use. The loss of an eye entitled 

 the sufferer to 100 crowns, or a slave : the loss of both 

 eyes to 600 crowns, or six slaves. A person maim- 

 ed of a right hand, or right leg, received a donation 

 of 200 crowns, or two slaves : the loss of both hands, 

 or both legs, was supposed equivalent to the loss of 

 both eyes, and gave a claim to the same sum. If any 

 one happened merely to- be disabled in any of his 

 limbs, he was entitled to the same compensation as if he 

 had lost it entirely. So sacred were these claims held, 

 that if they had not money enough to answer them, 

 the whole company voluntarily undertook a fresh ex- 

 pedition, till they realized a sufficient sum to enable 

 them to satisfy such honourable obligations. Their 

 justice and fidelity extended even to those who had 

 fallen in the common cause. Each of them, before 

 setting sail, attached himself ' to a comrade, with 



whom he was to exchange every good office during 

 the voyage ; if either of them happened to be wound- 

 ed, or fall sick, the other tended him with the most " 

 affectionate care ; and a formal will was made be- 

 tween them, that if one of them should die on the 

 expedition, his companion might inherit whatever he 

 possessed. In the distribution of their plunder, the 

 share which should have fallen to the deceased was 

 faithfully assigned to his comrade ; and if both of 

 them had perished, their effects, with their portions 

 of the spoil, were sent, without any diminution, to 

 their nearest relations. 



We form, in truth, a very unfair estimate of the 

 character of the Buccaneers, when we regard them 

 merely as a set of robbers, leagued together by an 

 indiscriminate love of rapacity and violence. Their 

 piratical adventures originated in a natural wish to 

 retaliate the many and grievous injuries which they 

 had suffered from the Spaniards, whom they always 

 continued to regard as their only fair and lawful 

 prey ; though, in cases of extreme necessity, they 

 were sometimes compelled to attack the ships of other 

 nations. It may be difficult to vindicate, on any 

 maxim of morality, an avowed system of plunder. 

 Yet it is certain that this system appeared to them- 

 selves, at least, perfectly compatible with the laws of 

 justice and religion ; and the regularity of their de- 

 votions, and their confidence in the protection of 

 heaven, would have done honour to the champions of 

 the purest cause. They never partook of a repast 

 without solemnly acknowledging their dependence on 

 the Giver of all good. On the appearance of a ship 

 which they meant to attack, they offered up a fervent 

 prayer for success ; and, when the conflict had ter- 

 minated in their favour, their first care was to ex- 

 press their gratitude to the God of battles, for the 

 victory which he had enabled them to gain. The 

 character of the Buccaneers, however, was formed of 

 inconsistencies : with all this appearance of religion, 

 they indulged in the grossest vices, and were guilty 

 of atrocities, the bare recital of which makes huma- 

 nity shudder. Their vices arose naturally enough, 

 indeed, out of their situation ; for to spend with pro- 

 fusion, and to riot in the wildest excess, was exactly 

 what might be expected of men, who had a constant 

 resource in their valour, who spurned the restraints of 

 regular society, who were inured to continual vicissi- 

 tudes of privation and abundance, of hardship and 

 ease ; and whose occupation exposed them to the 

 constant peril of their lives. Instances of their pro- 

 fi sion are recorded, which appear hardly credible. 

 It was no uncommon thing with them to spend two 

 or three thousand crowns in one night. Their cap- 

 tains, on returning from a cruise, would sometimes 

 buy whole pipes of wine, and breaking them up in 

 the street, compel every person that passed to assist 

 them in drinking it. One of them, who had return- 

 ed from an expedition with three thousand dollars, 

 was, in three months after, sold into slavery for a 

 debt of forty shillings, which he had contracted in a 

 tavern. In short, the maxim on which they uniform- 

 ly acted was to enjoy the present moment, without 

 regard to the future. Exposed as we are, said they, 

 to such a variety of dangers, our life is totally differ- 

 ent from that of other men. Why should we, who 

 are alive to-day, and may be dead to morrow, think 

 of hoarding up ? Our concern is to squander life 

 away, rather than to preserve it. The reasoning 



Bucca. 

 neers. 



