BUCCANEERS. 



Bucca- 

 neer*. 



Pierre 

 Franc. 



Bartholo- 

 mew. 



was natural, and their character would have been con- 

 sistent had they made no pretence to religion. We 

 may apply the same remark to the enormous cruel- 

 ties which they committed against the Spaniards; for 

 which the law of retaliation, though it affords no 

 apology, would very naturally account ; but which 

 were altogether irreconcileable with the mild spirit of 

 that religion, for which they professed a profound 

 regard. If the ships which they captured contained 

 a cargo that pleased them, they generally sent their 

 crews on shore without farther injury : if the prize 

 was of little value, they took revenge for their dis- 

 appointment on the unfortunate mariners, whom they 

 inhumanly butchered, or threw into the sea. 



Having thus attempted a general delineation of the 

 character and manners of these singular pirates, we 

 shall now give a short and hasty narrative of the 

 most remarkable of their romantic adventures. The 

 first of their captains who distinguished himself, after 

 Pierre le Grand, was Pierre Franc, a native of Dun- 

 kirk. He had cruized, without success, before the 

 Cape de la Vella, in the hope of intercepting some of 

 the merchant vessels bound from Maracaibo to Cam- 

 peachy, till his store of provisions was nearly ex- 

 hausted, and his boat became so leaky as to be scarce- 

 ly able to weather the sea. In this extremity he 

 formed the desperate resolution of attacking the Spa- 

 nish barks, which were then engaged in the pearl 

 fishery, in the stream de la Hacha, near the river de la 

 Plata. About a dozen of these barks used to sail 

 annually from Carthagena, protected by an Armadilla, 

 or war ship, mounting from 24> to 30 pieces of cannon, 

 with a suitable crew. The command of this fleet 

 was entrusted to a captain, into whose ship were 

 brought every evening all the pearls which had been 

 fished by the whole fleet during the day. With only 

 twenty-six comrades, as resohite as himself, Pierre 

 Franc attacked the captain's ship, which carried 

 eight guns, and was manned with a crew of three- 

 score well armed men. The Spaniards, after a stout 

 resistance, were compelled to surrender. But the 

 triumph of Pierre was of short duration ; he was 

 pursued by the Armadilla, and having lost his main- 

 mast in a squall, was speedily overtaken. The pi- 

 rates, now only 22 in number, defended themselves 

 with the most obstinate valour ; and though compel- 

 led at length to yield to such superior force, their 

 enemies were fain to grant them honourable terms of 

 surrender. 



Equally daring and more varied were the adven- 

 tures of Bartholomew, a Portuguese, who had fitted 

 out, iu Jamaica, at his own expense, a small brigan- 

 tine, carrying four guns, and 30 men. He was crui- 

 zing in this brigantine off Cape Corientes, in the 

 island of Cuba, when he fell in with a large Spanish 

 ship, mounting 20 guns, bound from Maracaibo for 

 the Havannah. Undaunted by the superior strength 

 of this vessel, Bartholomew immediately came up with 

 it ; and after an obstinate combat, he at length suceed- 

 ed in making it his prize. Its cargo was extremely va- 

 luable, and the pirates were exulting in their success, 

 when three large Spanish ships unexpectedly bore 

 in sight, and seemed to give them chace. As their 

 prize was heavily laden, it was impossible to escape ; 

 and their strength being too inferior to afford them 

 any hope in resistance, they surrendered at discre- 

 tion. Two days after this disaster, the ships were 

 separated from each other by a furious tempest, 



j: u <.-. 



r> i-ri 



which drove the pirates upon the shore of Cam- 

 peachy. The inhabitants recognised Bartholomew, 

 and immediately condemned him to be hanged. 

 He had already been their prisoner on a former 

 occasion, and found means to escape. Afraid, 

 therefore, to bring him on shore, lest he should 

 again elude their vengeance, they kept him, loaded 

 with irons, in the ship in which he was taken, till 

 they had prepared a gibbet for his public execution. 

 Bartholomew, apprised of their intentions, resolved 

 still to make an effort for his escape. Having by some 

 means disengaged himself from his fetters, he fasten- 

 ed to his sides two empty jars, so closely corked as 

 to be completely water-tight, and after murdering 

 his centinel, committed himself to the waves. Though 

 unaccustomed to swimming, the jars supported him 

 till he had reached the shore, where he concealed 

 himself in a thick forest, not far from the town. 

 Here he remained for three days, subsisting upon 

 wild herbs and roots, and afraid every moment of 

 being taken by the Spaniards. He chose for his re- 

 treat the hollow of an old tree, from which he dis- 

 covered his enemies searching for him through the 

 forest ; and when he thought himself safe from their 

 pursuit, he sallied forth towards the shore, with a 

 view of travelling to Golfo Triste, from which he 

 was then about thirty leagues distant. Here he ar- 

 rived after incredible hardships, and having found 

 there some vessels of pirates, to whom he was known, 

 he related to them his misfortunes, and requested 

 them to furnish him with a boat, and 20 men, with 

 whose assistance he engaged to seize the ship in 

 which he had been detained as prisoner, and thus to 

 have some revenge for his wrongs. His request be- 

 ing immediately granted, he came to the harbour of 

 Campeachy by night, and springing on board of the 

 vessel with his comrades, murdered the centinel and 

 the rest of the crew, cut the cables by which she was 

 moored, and before day light was out of view of the 

 town. His triumph on this occasion, however, was as 

 transient as the last ; for, while sailing towards Jamaica 

 with his prize, he was overtaken by a violent storm, 

 which dashed the ship to pieces against the rocks 

 of Pinos, and all his newly acquired treasure perished 

 in the waves. Bartholomew, with his companions, 

 reached Jamaica in a canoe ; and he engaged in va- 

 rious other enterprises, but was unfortunate in them 

 all. 



It would be endless to detail all the romantic exploits 

 of these daring advent urers. In such terror did they keep 

 the Spanish colonists, that they would no longer ven- 

 ture to sail from their harbours ; but resigning all the 

 advantages of their situation and connections, formed 

 themselves into so many distinct and separate states. 

 " This" says Raynal, " was the origin of that spirit 

 of inactivity, which continues to this day." This in- 

 activity, however, served only to open new tempta- 

 tions to the enterprize of the Buccaneers. No longer 

 successful in their cruises, they determined to try 

 what they could plunder on shore. The most fertile 

 provinces of New Spain were pillaged and laid waste. 

 Agriculture became as much neglected as navigation ; 

 and the dastardly Spaniards were as afraid to appear 

 in the public roads, as to traverse the seas by which 

 their various colonies were disjoined. 



In this new species of excursions, Montbar, a gen- Montbai. 

 tleman of good family in Languedoc, was particularly 

 distinguished. While yet a mere qhild,- he had acci- 



