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CHAPTER III
Ships of different European Nations frequent the West Indies. Opposition experienced by them from the Spaniards. Hunting of Cattle in Hispaniola
1518. Adventure of an English Ship. In the year 1517 or 1518, some Spaniards in a caravela going from St. Domingo to the Island Porto Rico, to take in a lading of cassava, were surprised at seeing a ship there of about 250 tons, armed with cannon, which did not appear to belong to the Spanish nation; and on sending a boat to make enquiry, she was found to be English. The account given by the English Commander was, that two ships had sailed from England in company, with the intention to discover the country of the Great Cham; that they were soon separated from each other by a tempest, and that this ship was afterwards in a sea almost covered with ice; that thence she had sailed southward to Brasil, and, after various adventures, had found the way to Porto Rico. This same English ship, being provided with merchandise, went afterwards to Hispaniola, and anchored near the entrance of the port of San Domingo, where the Captain sent on shore to demand leave to sell their goods. The demand was forwarded to the Audiencia, or superior court in San Domingo; but the Castellana, or Governor of the Castle, Francisco de Tapia, could not endure with patience to see a ship of another nation in that part of the world, and, without waiting for the determination of the Audiencia, ordered the cannon of the fort to be fired against her; on which she took up her anchor and returned to Porto Rico, where she purchased provisions, paying for what she got with wrought iron, and afterwards departed for Europe3. When this visit of an English ship to the West Indies was known in Spain, it caused there great inquietude; and the Governor of the Castle of San Domingo, it is said, was much blamed, because he had not, instead of forcing the ship to depart by firing his cannon, contrived to seize her, so that no one might have returned to teach others of their nation the route to the Spanish Indies.
The French and other Europeans resort to the West Indies; The English were not the only people of whom the Spaniards had cause to be jealous, nor those from whom the most mischief was to be apprehended. The French, as already noticed, had very early made expeditions to Brasil, and they now began to look at the West Indies; so that in a short time the sight of other European ships than those of Spain became no novelty there. Hakluyt mentions a Thomas Tyson, an Englishman, who went to the West Indies in 1526, as factor to some English merchants. Are regarded as Interlopers by the Spaniards. 1529. Regulation proposed by the Government in Hispaniola, for protection against Pirates. When the Spaniards met any of these intruders, if able to master them, they made prisoners of them, and many they treated as pirates. The new comers soon began to retaliate. In 1529, the Governor and Council at San Domingo drew up the plan of a regulation for the security of their ships against the increasing dangers from pirates in the West Indies. In this, they recommended, that a central port of commerce should be established in the West Indies, to which every ship from Spain should be obliged to go first, as to a general rendezvous, and thence be dispatched, as might suit circumstances, to her farther destination; also, that all their ships homeward bound, from whatsoever part of the West Indies, should first rendezvous at the same port; by which regulation their ships, both outward and homeward bound, would form escorts to each other, and have the benefit of mutual support; and they proposed that some port in Hispaniola should be appointed for the purpose, as most conveniently situated. This plan appears to have been approved by the Council of the Indies; but, from indolence, or some other cause, no farther measures were taken for its adoption.
The attention of the Spaniards was at this time almost wholly engrossed by the conquest and plunder of the American Continent, which it might have been supposed would have sufficed them, according to the opinion of Francisco Preciado, a Spanish discoverer, who observed, that there was country enough to conquer for a thousand years. The continental pursuits caused much diminution in the importance of the West India Islands to the Spaniards. The mines of the Islands were not comparable in richness with those of the Continent, and, for want of labourers, many were left unworked. Hunting of Cattle in Hispaniola. The colonists in Hispaniola, however, had applied themselves to the cultivation of the sugar-cane, and to manufacture sugar; also to hunting cattle, which was found a profitable employment, the skins and the suet turning to good account. Matadores. The Spaniards denominated their hunters Matadores, which in the Spanish language signifies killers or slaughterers.
That the English, French, and Hollanders, in their early voyages to the West Indies, went in expectation of meeting hostility from the Spaniards, and with a determination therefore to commit hostility if they could with advantage, appears by an ingenious phrase of the French adventurers, who, if the first opportunity was in their favour, termed their profiting by it 'se dedomager par avance.'
Much of Hispaniola had become desert. There were long ranges of coast, with good ports, that were unfrequented by any inhabitant whatever, and the land in every part abounded with cattle. These were such great conveniencies to the ships of the interlopers, that the Western coast, which was the most distant part from the Spanish capital, became a place of common resort to them when in want of provisions. Another great attraction to them was the encouragement they received from Spanish settlers along the coast; who, from the contracted and monopolizing spirit of their government in the management of their colonies, have at all times been eager to have communication with foreigners, that they might obtain supplies of European goods on terms less exorbitant than those which the royal regulations of Spain imposed. Guarda-Costas. The government at San Domingo employed armed ships to prevent clandestine trade, and to clear the coasts of Hispaniola of interlopers, which ships were called guarda costas; and it is said their commanders were instructed not to take prisoners. On the other hand, the intruders formed combinations, came in collected numbers, and made descents on different parts of the coast, ravaging the Spanish towns and settlements.
In the customary course, such transactions would have come under the cognizance of the governments in Europe; but matters here took a different turn. The Spaniards, when they had the upper hand, did not fail to deal out their own pleasure for law; and in like manner, the English, French, and Dutch, when masters, determined their own measure of retaliation. The different European governments were glad to avoid being involved in the settlement of disorders they had no inclination to repress. In answer to representations made by Spain, they said, 'that the people complained against had acted entirely on their own authority, not as the subjects of any prince, and that the King of Spain was at liberty to proceed against them according to his own pleasure.' Queen Elizabeth of England, with more open asperity answered a complaint made by the Spanish ambassador, of Spanish ships being plundered by the English in the West Indies, 'That the Spaniards had drawn these inconveniencies upon themselves, by their severe and unjust dealings in their American commerce; for she did not understand why either her subjects, or those of any other European prince, should be debarred from traffic in the Indies. That as she did not acknowledge the Spaniards to have any title by the donation of the Bishop of Rome, so she knew no right they had to any places other than those they were in actual possession of; for that their having touched only here and there upon a coast, and given names to a few rivers or capes, were such insignificant things as could no ways entitle them to a propriety further than in the parts where they actually settled, and continued to inhabit4.' A warfare was thus established between Europeans in the West Indies, local and confined, which had no dependence upon transactions in Europe. Brethren of the Coast. All Europeans not Spaniards, whether it was war or peace between their nations in Europe, on their meeting in the West Indies, regarded each other as friends and allies, knowing then no other enemy than the Spaniards; and, as a kind of public avowal of this confederation, they called themselves Brethren of the Coast.
The first European intruders upon the Spaniards in the West Indies were accordingly mariners, the greater number of whom, it is supposed, were French, and next to them the English. Their first hunting of cattle in Hayti, was for provisioning their ships. The time they began to form factories or establishments, to hunt cattle for the skins, and to cure the flesh as an article of traffic, is not certain; but it may be concluded that these occupations were began by the crews of wrecked vessels, or by seamen who had disagreed with their commander; and that the ease, plenty, and freedom from all command and subordination, enjoyed in such a life, soon drew others to quit their ships, and join in the same occupations. The ships that touched on the coast supplied the hunters with European commodities, for which they received in return hides, tallow, and cured meat. The appellation of Boucanier or Buccaneer was not invented, or at least not applied to these adventurers, till long after their first footing in Hayti. At the time of Oxnam's expedition across the Isthmus of America to the South Sea, A. D. 1575, it does not appear to have been known.
There is no particular account of the events which took place on the coasts of Hispaniola in the early part of the contest between the Spaniards and the new settlers. It is however certain, that it was a war of the severest retaliation; and in this disorderly state was continued the intercourse of the English, French, and Dutch with the West Indies, carried on by individuals neither authorized nor controlled by their governments, for more than a century.
In 1586, the English Captain, Francis Drake, plundered the city of San Domingo; and the numbers of the English and French in the West Indies increased so much, that shortly afterwards the Spaniards found themselves necessitated to abandon all the Western and North-western parts of Hispaniola.
CHAPTER IV
Iniquitous Settlement of the Island Saint Christopher by the English and French. Tortuga seized by the Hunters. Origin of the name Buccaneer. The name Flibustier. Customs attributed to the Buccaneers
The increase of trade of the English and French to the West Indies, and the growing importance of the freebooters or adventurers concerned in it, who, unassisted but by each other, had begun to acquire territory and to form establishments in spite of all opposition from the Spaniards, attracted the attention of the British and French governments, and suggested to them a scheme of confederacy, in which some of the principal adventurers were consulted. The project adopted by them was, to plant a royal colony of each nation, on some one island, and at the same time; by which a constant mutual support would be secured. In as far as regarded the concerns of Europeans with each other, this plan was unimpeachable.
The Island chosen by the projectors, as the best suited to their purpose, was one of the Small Antilles or Caribbee Islands, known by the name of St. Christopher, which is in length about seven leagues, and in breadth two and a half.
1625. The Island Saint Christopher settled by the English and French. Thus the governments of Great Britain and France, like friendly fellow-travellers, and not like rivals who were to contend in a race, began their West-Indian career by joint consent at the same point both in time and place. In the year 1625, and on the same day, a colony of British and a colony of French, in the names and on the behalf of their respective nations, landed on this small island, the division of which had been settled by previous agreement.
The Island St. Christopher was at that time inhabited by Caribbe Indians. The Spaniards had never possessed a settlement on it, but their ships had been accustomed to stop there, to traffic for provisions and refreshments. The French and English who came to take possession, landed without obtaining the consent of the native Caribbe inhabitants; and, because danger was apprehended from their discontent, under pretence that the Caribbs were friends to the Spaniards, these new colonists fell upon them by surprise in the night, killed their principal leaders, and forced the rest to quit the Island and seek another home. De Rochefort, in his Histoire Morale des Isles Antilles (p. 284.) mentions the English and French killing the Caribb Chiefs, in the following terms: 'Ils se defirent en une nuit de tous les plus factieux de cette nation!' Thus in usurpation and barbarity was founded the first colony established under the authority of the British and French governments in the West Indies; which colony was the parent of our African slave trade. When accounts of the conquest and of the proceedings at Saint Christopher were transmitted to Europe, they were approved; West-India companies were established, and licences granted to take out colonists. De Rochefort has oddly enough remarked, that the French, English, and Dutch, in their first establishments in the West Indies, did not follow the cruel maxims of the Spaniards. True it is, however, that they only copied in part. In their usurpations their aim went no farther than to dispossess, and they did not seek to make slaves of the people whom they deprived of their land.
The English and French in a short time had disagreements, and began to make complaints of each other. The English took possession of the small Island Nevis, which is separated only by a narrow channel from the South end of St. Christopher. P. Charlevoix says, 'the ambition of the English disturbed the good understanding between the colonists of the two nations; but M. de Cusac arriving with a squadron of the French King's ships, by taking and sinking some British ships lying there, brought the English Governor to reason, and to confine himself to the treaty of Partition.' 1629. The English and French driven from Saint Christopher by the Spaniards. After effecting this amicable adjustment, De Cusac sailed from St. Christopher; and was scarcely clear of the Island when a powerful fleet, consisting of thirty-nine large ships, arrived from Spain, and anchored in the Road. Almost without opposition the Spaniards became masters of the Island, although the English and French, if they had cordially joined, could have mustered a force of twelve hundred men. Intelligence that the Spaniards intended this attack, had been timely received in France; and M. de Cusac's squadron had in consequence been dispatched to assist in the defence of St. Christopher; but the Spaniards being slow in their preparations, their fleet did not arrive at the time expected, and De Cusac, hearing no news of them, presumed that they had given up their design against St. Christopher. Without strengthening the joint colony, he gave the English a lesson on moderation, little calculated to incline them to co-operate heartily with the French in defence of the Island, and sailed on a cruise to the Gulf of Mexico. Shortly after his departure, towards the end of the year 1629, the Spanish fleet arrived. The colonists almost immediately despaired of being able to oppose so great a force. Many of the French embarked in their ships in time to effect their escape, and to take refuge among the islands northward. The remainder, with the English, lay at the disposal of the Spanish commander, Don Frederic de Toledo. At this time Spain was at war with England, France, and Holland; and this armament was designed ultimately to act against the Hollanders in Brasil, but was ordered by the way to drive the English and the French from the Island of Saint Christopher. Don Frederic would not weaken his force by leaving a garrison there, and was in haste to prosecute his voyage to Brasil. As the settlement of Saint Christopher had been established on regular government authorities, the settlers were treated as prisoners of war. To clear the Island in the most speedy manner, Don Frederic took many of the English on board his own fleet, and made as many of the other colonists embark as could be crowded in any vessels which could be found for them. He saw them get under sail, and leave the Island; and from those who remained, he required their parole, that they would depart by the earliest opportunity which should present itself, warning them, at the same time, that if, on his return from Brasil, he found any Englishmen or Frenchmen at Saint Christopher, they should be put to the sword. 1630. They return. After this, he sailed for Brasil. As soon, however, as it was known that the Spanish fleet had left the West-Indian sea, the colonists, both English and French, returned to Saint Christopher, and repossessed themselves of their old quarters.
The settlement of the Island Saint Christopher gave great encouragement to the hunters on the West coast of Hispaniola. Their manufactories for the curing of meat, and for drying the skins, multiplied; and as the value of them increased, they began to think it of consequence to provide for their security. The Island Tortuga seized by the English and French Hunters. To this end they took possession of the small Island Tortuga, near the North-west end of Hispaniola, where the Spaniards had placed a garrison, but which was too small to make opposition. There was a road for shipping, with good anchorage, at Tortuga; and its separation from the main land of Hispaniola seemed to be a good guarantee from sudden and unexpected attack. They built magazines there, for the lodgement of their goods, and regarded this Island as their head quarters, or place of general rendezvous to which to repair in times of danger. They elected no chief, erected no fortification, set up no authorities, nor fettered themselves by any engagement. All was voluntary; and they were negligently contented at having done so much towards their security.
Whence the Name Buccaneer. About the time of their taking possession of Tortuga, they began to be known by the name of Buccaneers, of which appellation it will be proper to speak at some length.
The flesh of the cattle killed by the hunters, was cured to keep good for use, after a manner learnt from the Caribbe Indians, which was as follows: The meat was laid to be dried upon a wooden grate or hurdle (grille de bois) which the Indians called barbecu, placed at a good distance over a slow fire. The meat when cured was called boucan, and the same name was given to the place of their cookery. Père Labat describes Viande boucannée to be, Viande seché a petit feu et a la fumée. The Caribbes are said to have sometimes served their prisoners after this fashion, 'Ils les mangent après les avoir bien boucannée, c'est a dire, rotis bien sec5.' The boucan was a very favourite method of cooking among these Indians. A Caribbe has been known, on returning home from fishing, fatigued and pressed with hunger, to have had the patience to wait the roasting of a fish on a wooden grate fixed two feet above the ground, over a fire so small as sometimes to require the whole day to dress it6.
The flesh of the cattle was in general dried in the smoke, without being salted. The Dictionnaire de Trevoux explains Boucaner to be 'faire sorer sans sel,' to dry red without salt. But the flesh of wild hogs, and also of the beeves when intended for keeping a length of time, was first salted. The same thing was practised among the Brasilians. It was remarked in one of the earliest visits of the Portuguese to Brasil, that the natives (who were cannibals) kept human flesh salted and smoked, hanging up in their houses7. The meat cured by the Buccaneers to sell to shipping for sea-store, it is probable was all salted. The process is thus described: 'The bones being taken out, the flesh was cut into convenient pieces and salted, and the next day was taken to the boucan.' Sometimes, to give a peculiar relish to the meat, the skin of the animal was cast into the fire under it. The meat thus cured was of a fine red colour, and of excellent flavour; but in six months after it was boucanned, it had little taste left, except of salt. The boucanned hog's flesh continued good a much longer time than the flesh of the beeves, if kept in dry places.
From adopting the boucan of the Caribbes, the hunters in Hispaniola, the Spaniards excepted, came to be called Boucaniers, but afterwards, according to a pronunciation more in favour with the English, Buccaneers8. Many of the French hunters were natives of Normandy; whence it became proverbial in some of the sea-ports of Normandy to say of a smoky house, c'est un vrai Boucan.
The name Flibustier. The French Buccaneers and Adventurers were also called Flibustiers, and more frequently by that than by any other name. The word Flibustier is merely the French mariner's mode of pronouncing the English word Freebooter, a name which long preceded that of Boucanier or Buccaneer, as the occupation of cruising against the Spaniards preceded that of hunting and curing meat. Some authors have given a derivation to the name Flibustier from the word Flyboat, because, say they, the French hunters in Hispaniola bought vessels of the Dutch, called Flyboats, to cruise upon the Spaniards. There are two objections to this derivation. First, the word flyboat, is only an English translation of the Dutch word fluyt, which is the proper denomination of the vessel intended by it. Secondly, it would not very readily occur to any one to purchase Dutch fluyts, or flyboats, for chasing vessels.
Some have understood the Boucanier and Flibustier to be distinct both in person and character9. This was probably the case with a few, after the settlement of Tortuga; but before, and very generally afterwards, the occupations were joined, making one of amphibious character. Ships from all parts of the West Indies frequented Tortuga, and it continually happened that some among the crews quitted their ships to turn Buccaneers; whilst among the Buccaneers some would be desirous to quit their hunting employment, to go on a cruise, to make a voyage, or to return to Europe. The two occupations of hunting and cruising being so common to the same person, caused the names Flibustier and Buccaneer to be esteemed synonimous, signifying always and principally the being at war with the Spaniards. The Buccaneer and Flibustier therefore, as long as they continued in a state of independence, are to be considered as the same character, exercising sometimes one, sometimes the other employment; and either name was taken by them indifferently, whether they were employed on the sea or on the land. But a fanciful kind of inversion took place, through the different caprices of the French and English adventurers. The greater part of the first cattle hunters were French, and the greater number of the first cruisers against the Spaniards were English. The French adventurers, nevertheless, had a partiality for the name of Flibustier; whilst the English shewed a like preference for the name of Buccaneer, which, as will be seen, was assumed by many hundred seamen of their nation, who were never employed either in hunting or in the boucan.
Customs attributed to the Buccaneers. A propensity to make things which are extraordinary appear more so, has caused many peculiar customs to be attributed to the Buccaneers, which, it is pretended, were observed as strictly as if they had been established laws. It is said that every Buccaneer had his chosen and declared comrade, between whom property was in common, and if one died, the survivor was inheritor of the whole. This was called by the French Matelotage. It is however acknowledged that the Matelotage was not a compulsatory regulation; and that the Buccaneers sometimes bequeathed by will. A general right of participation in some things, among which was meat for present consumption, was acknowledged among them; and it is said, that bolts, locks, and every species of fastening, were prohibited, it being held that the use of such securities would have impeached the honour of their vocation. Yet on commencing Buccaneer, it was customary with those who were of respectable lineage, to relinquish their family name, and assume some other, as a nom de guerre. Their dress, which was uniformly slovenly when engaged in the business of hunting or of the boucan, is mentioned as a prescribed costume, but which doubtless was prescribed only by their own negligence and indolence; in particular, that they wore an unwashed shirt and pantaloons dyed in the blood of the animals they had killed. Other distinctions, equally capricious, and to little purpose, are related, which have no connexion with their history. Some curious anecdotes are produced, to shew the great respect some among them entertained for religion and for morality. A certain Flibustier captain, named Daniel, shot one of his crew in the church, for behaving irreverently during the performance of mass. Raveneau de Lussan (whose adventures will be frequently mentioned) took the occupation of a Buccaneer, because he was in debt, and wished, as every honest man should do, to have wherewithal to satisfy his creditors.
In their sea enterprises, they followed most of the customs which are generally observed in private ships of war; and sometimes were held together by a subscribed written agreement, by the English called Charter-party; by the French Chasse-partie, which might in this case be construed a Chasing agreement. Whenever it happened that Spain was at open and declared war with any of the maritime nations of Europe, the Buccaneers who were natives of the country at war with her, obtained commissions, which rendered the vessels in which they cruised, regular privateers.
The English adventurers sometimes, as is seen in Dampier, called themselves Privateers, applying the term to persons in the same manner we now apply it to private ships of war. The Dutch, whose terms are generally faithful to the meaning intended, called the adventurers Zee Roovers; the word roover in the Dutch language comprising the joint sense of the two English words rover and robber.
