BUCCANEERS. 



Bucc- under the cannon of Porto Bcllo, a Spanish ship of 

 ' war, whose cargo was estimated at one million of 

 -*~-~ '-^ crowns. These two adventurers concerted an expe- 

 A-l>. 1667. ftti on against the Spanish towns in Terra Firma ; 

 ami having invited ail the Buccaneers then in Tor- 

 tuga to join in this glorious enterpri/e, they soon 

 collected a force of 600 men. Michael, being 

 well acquainted with the places which they meant 

 to invade, was to have the command of this force by 

 land ; and of the fleet, consisting of about eight ves- 

 sels, L'Olonois embarked as admiral, in a ship which 

 mounted ten guns. This armament, the largest which 

 the Buccaneers had ever been able to raise, had 

 scarcely set sail, when it fell in with and captured 

 two large Spanish ships, one of which, besides an 

 immense cargo of cocoa nuts, contained money and 

 jewels to the value of 50,000 crowns, and the other 

 furnished them with a large store of gunpowder, be- 

 sides muskets and arms of various descriptions. En- 

 couraged by these captures, which seemed to augur 

 well of the enter prize, they proceeded to the bay of 

 Venezuela, which runs up the country for about fif- 

 ty leagues. At the mouth of this bay, which is like- 

 wise called the lake of Maracaibo, are two small 

 islands, on one of which were erected a watch tower 

 and a fort, to guard the entrance against any hostile 

 fleet. The first achievement of the Buccaneers was 

 to carry this fort by storm, to spike the cannon, and 

 to put to the sword the whole garrison, consisting 

 of two hundred men. They next proceeded to Ma- 

 racaibo, which they found deserted by the inhabitants, 

 who had retired with their effects to the small town 

 of Gibraltar on the other side of the bay. 



The adventurers, on entering Maracaibo, found 

 its houses well supplied with provisions, and its cel- 

 lars stored with excellent wines. Fifteen days were 

 lost by the pirates in riot and debauchery, and 

 the Spaniards had improved the interval in fortifying 

 Gibraltar by powerful batteries along the shore, bar- 

 ricading the highways, and protecting, by strong 

 entrenchments, every approach to the town. One 

 narrow path alone had been left open for the conve- 

 nience of the inhabitants, and that path, too, was 

 commanded by a battery. By these obstacles, how- 

 ever, formidable as they were, the intrepid adven- 

 turers were not to be discouraged. *' Here," cried 

 L'Olonois to his comrades, * are the richest of the 

 Spaniards ; we must take them and their treasure, 

 or perish in the attempt." When they had approach- 

 ed within pistol-shot of the entrenchments, whole 

 ranks of them were cut down by the artillery and 

 musketry, which the Spaniards levelled against them 

 with a cool and certain aim. But their danger only 

 roused them to more desperate efforts of courage ; 

 and the last breath of the fallen was spent in animat- 

 ing their comrades to conquer, or to die gloriously 

 like them. Their perseverance was crowned with 

 victory ; with the help of large branches which they 

 had carried with them on purpose, they forced the 

 entrenchments in several places ; and, after a furious 

 combat, in which the Spaniards displayed unusual 

 valour, they at last becarqe masters of the town. 

 Of a garrison of six hundred men, four hundred 

 were killed upon the spot, one hundred were wound- 

 ed, and scarcely a single officer survived the carange 

 of that dreadful day. , 



The booty, though large, was insufficient to sa- 

 tisfy the rapacity of these unprincipled robbers, who 



inflicted on many of their prisoners the cruellest tor- Buct*. 

 tureg, in order to extort from them a diicoTcry of ncCT *" 

 the places in which they supposed their treasure to ' ~""V~ 

 be concealed. They remained four weeks in Gibral- 

 tar, during which tum- their numbers were consider- 

 ably diminished by a violent fever, occasioned chief- 

 ly by the putrefaction of dead bodies which they 

 had left uuburied on the ground. At length, after 

 setting fire to the town, they returned to Maracaibo, 

 which would have shared the same fate, had not the 

 inhabitants agreed to pay them a ransom of thirty 

 thousand crowns. Not content, however, with this 

 sum, for which they themselves had stipulated, they 

 robbed the churches of their bells, images, and pic t u res, 

 for the pretended purpose of decorating a chapel 

 which they designed to build in Tortuga. When they 

 came to share the plunder which had accrued from this 

 expedition, they found it amount, in all, to 260,000 

 crowns in money, plate, and jewels ; besides other 

 commodities, equivalent to at least 100,000 more. 



With this booty they returned to Tortuga, whert 

 L'Olonois had not continued long when his necessi- 

 ties again compelled him to undertake some new ad- 

 venture. He soon saw himself at the head of eight 

 hundred resolute fellows, ready for any daring enter- 

 prize. When they were out at sea, he disclosed to 

 them his intention of making a descent on the shores 

 of the lake Nicaragua, where they could not fail ta 

 find such quantities of treasure as would amply com pen* 

 sate for any hardships or perils they might encounter 

 in their undertaking. His fleet was forced into the 

 bay of Honduras by a current, which baffled all his 

 efforts to get out again to sea. It was therefore re- 

 solved to remain there during the rest of the season ; 

 and, in the mean time, to plunder all the Spanish 

 towns and villages situated on the two shores of the 

 bay. L'Olonois, with about three hundred of his fol- 

 lowers, set out for the town of St Pedro. After a 

 feeble resistance, the town surrendered on condition 

 that the inhabitants should be allowed two hours to re- 

 tire. That short space of time they employed so well, 

 that the adventurers found but little left behind for 

 them to plunder. On his return to the rest of his 

 comrades, L'Olonois found them extremely dissatis- 

 fied with the result of their enterprize, and chagri- 

 ned at the state of inactivity in which the current 

 forced them to remain. Many of them even secret- 

 ly resolved to take the lirst opportunity of returning 

 to Tortuga ; and when L'Olonois proposed to sail 

 to the river Guatimala, they openly abandoned him, 

 and under the direction of two of their captains, 

 steered their course towards home. Notwithstand- 

 ing this defection, L'Olonois proceeded on his enter- 

 prize ; and arrived at the mouth of the Nicaragua. 

 Here he was immediately discovered by the Indians, 

 who, in conjunction with the Spaniards, suddenly 

 fell on the small band of adventurers, and put most 

 of them to the sword. L'Olonois, with a handful 

 of his followers, escaped into their boats, but were 

 only reserved for more dreadful misfortunes. Com- 

 pelled by want of provisions to land on the shores 

 of Darien Straits, they were seized by the Indians, 

 who, exasperated by their depredations, tore L'Olo- 

 nois limb from limb ; threw his members, yet quiver- 

 ing, into a fire, and scattered his ashes in the air. 



By far the most celebrated, however, of all these Morgaa. 

 adventurers, was a Welshman, named Morgan, gene- 

 rally distinguished by the title of Sir Henry Morgan. 



