30 



BUCCANEERS. 



Disliking the occupation of his father, who was a 

 wealthy yeoman, Morgan had eloped from home, 

 while yet a boy, and had engaged himself on board 

 a ship bound for the island of Barbadoes. As soon 

 as he reached that place, his master sold him into 

 bondage ; and during his servitude, Morgan heard 

 much of the adventures of the Buccaneers, whom 

 he resolved to join as soon as he should recover 

 his liberty. With this view he repaired to Ja- 

 maica, the rendezvous of the English pirates ; and 

 finding there two vessels ready to sail on a crtii/e, he 

 offered his services to one of the captains, and was 

 willingly received. After distinguishing himself in 

 several voyages, he proposed to some of his compa- 

 nions that they should conjointly purchase and equip 

 a vessel for themselves, to which proposal they at 

 once agreed, and unanimously appointed Morgan 

 their captain. On his first cruize, he took several 

 valuable prizes, which he carried into Jamaica. Mans- 

 velt, an old experienced adventurer, was then em- 

 ployed in equipping a considerable fleet, with a de- 

 sign of making a descent upon the continent, and 

 pillaging some of its richest towns. The distin- 

 guished success of Morgan recommended him to 

 Mansvelt as a most desirable coadjutor, and he ac- 

 cordingly appointed him his vice-admival in his pro- 

 jected expedition. 



With a force amounting to five hundred men, they 

 proceeded first to the island of St Catherine's, and 

 demolished all its fortifications, except one small cas- 

 tle, which they garrisoned with a hundred of their 

 own men, along with the slaves whom they had taken 

 from the Spaniards. After this conquest, they again 

 set sail, and proceeded to the town of Nata. The 

 governor of Panama having been apprised of their 

 design, they returned to St Catherine's, which they 

 found in the same state in which they had left it. 

 Mansvelt, fully aware of the advantages of this island, 

 as a place of shelter and rendezvous to the pirates, 

 applied to the governor of Jamaica for a force suffi- 

 cient for its protection. With this request, however, 

 the governor declined to comply ; and, in a short 

 time after, the island was retaken by the Spaniards. 



The death of Mansvelt having now left Morgan 

 the principal hero among the pirates, he proclaimed 

 his design of making another descent on the Spanish 

 territories, and soon saw himself at the head of seven 

 hundred men. His first expedition was directed 

 against Port-au-Prince, a village in the island of St 

 Cuba, whose extensive commerce, carried on through 

 the medium of the other towns in the island, seemed 

 to promise a booty as rich, 'as its conquest would 

 be easy. Warned of his design, the inhabitants 

 of Port-au-Prince concealed their treasure, and con- 

 veyed their nioveable effects to a place of safety. 

 They next prepared for the reception of their in- 

 vaders, by mustering all the inhabitants capable of 

 bearing arms, barricading the highways, and pla- 

 cing several parties in ambush, each supported by 

 ome pieces of artillery. The adventurers, finding 

 the roads impracticable, made a path for themselves 

 through the woods, and, thus escaping the ambus- 

 cades, came to a plain before the town, where the 

 Spaniards were drawn up in order of battle. A sharp 

 conflict ensued, in which the Spaniards were com- 

 pletely routed, and most of them either left dead on 

 the field, or overtaken and slain in their flight. 

 Those within the town defended themselves with ob- 



stinate valour, but were at length compelled to sur- Bucea- 

 render. When the adventurers saw themselves mas- n eer. 

 ters of the towns, they shut up all the inhabitants in >" -v~-- ' 

 the churches, ransacked every house for plunder, and 

 laid waste all the country round. 



Morgan next resolved to attack Portobello, a A D. 1668. 

 strongly fortified town in the province of Costa Ri- 

 ca. His plan of operations was so well concerted, 

 and so ably executed, that he came upon the city by 

 surprise, and took it almost without opposition. 

 But the most respectable of the inhabitants had re- 

 tired within the castle, where they were determined 

 to defend themselves to the last extremity. In or- 

 der to reduce them with greater facility, he compel- 

 led the women and the priests, many of whom he 

 had taken prisoners, to fix the scaling ladders to the 

 walls, persuaded that the gallantry and superstition 

 of the Spaniards would prevent them from firing 

 upon these objects of their affection and veneration. 

 The governor, however, seeing through the device, 

 desired his soldiers to fire upon all who should at- 

 tempt to fix a ladder against the walls ; and it was 

 not till many of these unhappy persons, as well 

 as of their tyrants, had perished in the assault, 

 that the castle was stormed, and all the Spaniards, 

 except the governor, threw themselves at the mercy 

 of^ the conquerors. That valiant man resolutely re- 

 jected every condition of surrender which they could 

 propose, and, in spite of the tears and entreaties of 

 his wife and daughters, resolved rather to die as a 

 hero, than purchase his life by submission to ruffians. 



The adventurers having thus obtained possession 

 of the whole town and its forts, spent some days in 

 collecting all the plunder they could find ; and in tor- 

 turing, with ingenious cruelty, their wretched prison- 

 ers, to extort from them a discovery of their hidden 

 treasures. Having loaded his ships with all the booty 

 he could procure, Morgan next compelled the inha- 

 bitants to ransom their city from the flames, by the 

 enormous sum of 100,000 crowns ; and with this 

 treasure he prepared to return to Jamaica. Before 

 he set sail, a messenger came to his fleet from the 

 governor of Panama, who requested to know by 

 what kind of arms the adventurers were enabled to 

 achieve such splendid exploits. Morgan received the 

 messenger politely, and sent him back to his master 

 with a musket and a few balls, as a specimen of the 

 arms which he employed. The governor, pleased 

 with this mark of civility which he did not expect, 

 charged his messenger with a beautiful emerald ring, 

 as a present to Morgan ; and with a letter, expressing 

 his regret that such valour as his should not be em- 

 ployed in a more honourable cause. " Carry my 

 thanks to your master," said Morgan, " for his obli- 

 ging present ; and inform him, that, as I sent a spe- 

 cimen of our arms to gratify his curiosity, he shall 

 soon have the additional satisfaction of seeing in Pa- 

 nama with what address we can use them." 



Morgan next proceeded to Maracaibo, which he 

 took without much difficulty, and the spoil of which, 

 with the sum he exacted for its ransom, was estima- 

 ted at 250,000 crowns. On his return to Jamaica, 

 he was received with great joy by the inhabitants ; 

 and new adventurers crowded to him in such num- 

 bers, that he soon collected a force of 1000 men. 

 With those he sailed to the island of St Catherine's, 

 which he was anxious to wrest out of the hands of 

 the Spaniards, and to retain as a place of rendezvous, 



