The Gallery of Rogues, Part I: Bartholomew Portugues

         

 
          Bartholomew Portugues was an early Buccaneer who is well known to have had fortunes which changed like the wind.  If Lady Luck was his mistress, than to this particular Buccaneer, she was a fickle one indeed.  Portugues was probably not his birth name, assuming that he ever had one.  These homeless sea rovers often named each other from the areas of the world they claimed to come from, and Bartholomew was no exception. On his adventures, he seemed to prefer prowling the north coast of Cuba looking for prey that he could easily overcome with his small ship.  A ship that carried a mere four cannon, but was crowded with men. 

            On one bright, hot day at sea, Bartholomew spied a great galleon on its way to Havana, from Cartagena.  The Spanish vessel carried 20 cannon and 70 men.  It was a prize which Bartholomew's men advised was far too big to successfully capture.  Dauntless and arrogant, Bartholomew ordered them to attack anyway.  History records that "after a long and dangerous fight" Bartholomew "became master of the great vessel."  He had lost half his men, which was about 10, and another 4 wounded.   With such casualties, it was unclear how such a vessel might be manned, but as fate would have it, the few Spaniards that survived readily volunteered to join his crew.  The reason was beneath the deck.  In the hold was 100,000 golden pieces of eight and 120,000 pounds of cocoa beans.  Betraying their country meant reaping some of the rewards.

            The wind wasn't right for a quick return to Jamaica however, so the successful raiders anchored near Cape San Antonio, Cuba, where they celebrated, took on fresh water, and waited for the wind to change.  Just as they lifted anchor again, however, round the cape came 3 Spanish war galleons.  Realizing that their galleon had been pirated, the Spanish warships suddenly bore down on the hapless corsairs.  

            This, unfortunately for Bartholomew, is where Lady Luck changed her mind. 

            Bartholomew Portugues was never terribly admired for his seamanship, and during his attempted escape from the Spaniards, he dramatically put on an excessive amount of sail and down crashed the mainmast, leaving his vessel stranded.  He and his men, along with the galleon, were easily taken.  Bartholomew's boys and his Spanish help were all thrown into a seaside dungeon at Campeche.  Bartholomew was held on board ship though, where a gibbet was being erected.  The Spaniards, never feeling much in a merciful mood, planned to hang him straight in the morning. 

            This, once more, is where the winds of his fortune changed yet again.  It is told through the historian Esquemeling that as his jailer fell off to sleep, Bartholomew slipped out the man's knife and stabbed him to death through the bars, then took the key and unlocked himself.  He was still far out in the bay however and he couldn't swim.  Coming to the ship stores, he found two wine jugs, poured out the wine, corked them again, tied them together and used them as floats, whereupon he kicked himself to safety in the dense mangroves of the coast.  By morning search parties were combing the countryside for him, while Bartholomew watched gleefully from inside a hollow mangrove tree.  After three days, when he saw that the Spaniards had called off  the search he slipped away through the woods and turned up two weeks later and 120 miles away, where he came upon a moored vessel and some old shipmates.  He told his tale of riches, of his miraculous escape, and became a captain once again.

            It is said from here that he sailed back with his new crew and captured the very ship he was held captive on, seizing the prize for a second time.  On their way back to Port Royal however (and after, perhaps, a premature, drunken celebration aboard) he wrecked the ship on a small island near Southern Cuba, losing the entire cargo.  But that was not the end of Bartholomew Portugues.  He would be back again prowling the coasts, looking for Spanish prey.  Regardless of the fact that vast fortunes slipped in and out of the Bartholomew's hands, he was said to have died penniless and miserable.

For much more on the subject, you can also read my historical novel, The Brethren Prince, available as an e-book at the Amazon Kindle store, Apple iBooks, Barnes and Noble, and other major e-book retailers.

The Holy Spanish Empire, Part 2: The Jeweled Cross Begins to Crumble

     By the time the Dutch, English and French had come to the islands of the eastern Caribbean in the late 1500’s, the Spanish had moved their headquarters westward to the mainland of Central and South America, where their silver and gold mines were located.  There, the cities of Cartagena, Porto Bello, Vera Cruz, Campeche and Havana were thriving, where the wealth was conglomerated.  This vast expanse of land was referred to as the ‘Spanish Main,’ ‘main’ being short for ‘mainland.’ The treasure fleet made its run through these coastal cities of the Caribbean on its annual tour, carrying the wealth of the new world back to Spain.

     The Empire and their far flung cities were spread wide and thin however, making them relatively easy targets.  Spanish refusal to set up trade with any other nation in the Caribbean and their brutal treatment of "infidels" (aka, Protestants) fostered resentment among the other rising powers of the day like France, Britain, and Holland.  What enflamed the situation ever more was Spain’s insistence that the eastern islands of the Caribbean were still their property, even though most of them had been settled by English, French, or Dutch.  Spain even undertook efforts to rid St. Christopher and other islands of their non-Spanish, European inhabitants. These efforts were authorized by the Spanish Crown and instituted by the best military man of the day, Don Fradrique de Toledo.

     Spain’s highly protectionist attitude toward commerce and their religious intolerance ultimately doomed them to perpetual resentment.  It was a resentment that encouraged the other rising imperial powers of the day to happily use, and even authorize the Buccaneers through official letters of Marque for raiding Spanish shipping.  In time, robbery of Spain’s empire became so lucrative that entire port cities emerged that were dedicated to contraband inventories.  One of the most famous ports was Tortuga, as we've already heard, and later, Port Royal, Jamaica, at the heart of the Spanish Empire where raids against Spanish cities became a common occurrence throughout the later part of the 17th century.

For much more on the subject, you can also read my historical novel, The Brethren Prince, available as an e-book at the Amazon Kindle store, Apple iBooks, Barnes and Noble, and other major e-book retailers.

Port Royal: the Pirate Port, Sanctioned by the King of England

     Nothing is more synonymous with the romance of piracy than the name ‘Port Royal’, yet there is much misconception about this small finger of land at the end of a long causeway on the south shore of Jamaica.  For example: No one who sailed from that port would have dared call themselves a pirate.  Instead, they considered themselves (or at least pretended to be) faithful soldiers of England.  And they carried letters of Marque to prove it.

      In 1657, two bumbling English admirals, William Penn (father of the founder of Pennsylvania) and Robert Venables were authorized by Lord Cromwell to sail to the Caribbean and take Santo Domingo for the British.  They failed miserably at this assignment and in other places in the Caribbean as well.  Many of their force died of disease and were casualties of badly planned battles.  So with their tea supply running perilously low and fearing the wrath of Oliver Cromwell back home in England if they produced no results, they decided to pluck the lowest hanging fruit they could find.  Jamaica was an easy target, since it was poorly defended and mistakenly regarded by the Spanish to generally be "an unimportant hole of pestilence."  They took it, or rather walked ashore, stuck a flag in the ground, and claimed the entire island for the British before scurrying back to England.  But when they offered it to Cromwell, hats in hand, he threw them into the Tower of London for incompetence. 

     However, had Cromwell known how large and naturally protected the harbor was--- or how perfectly positioned Jamaica sat on the map--- he might have been more lenient.  Nay, he would have given his admirals commendations.  Jamaica would not only become a central point for future British Shipping, it was also a highly strategic refuge for robbing Spanish commerce. 

     In a matter of only a few short years, English, Dutch and French ships flocked to the new port, dubbed ‘Cagway’.  Ships arrived from England with bricks as ballast to build the new port city on what was then a tiny spit of sand, not more than about 50 acres.  By the early 1660’s the place had been renamed Port Royal by enthusiasts for the newly restored crown.  Oliver Cromwell was dead and Charles II would soon be upon the throne once again.  Three forts were built, then a watch tower.  Then, of course, taverns, stews, wheel-rights, bakers, sail makers, etc, etc.  Ships of all nations currently at peace with England eagerly paid the steep moorage rates (even as high as London on the Thames), for once inside the great harbor they were protected from any Spanish threat by a narrow entrance guarded by bristling cannons and treacherous reefs.  Even English ships had to be rowed into port by harbor navigators for fear of running aground.  Here was the perfect spot for a successful business, built on both stolen goods as well as legitimate sources.

     By 1658 Cromwell had sent his first Governor of Port Royal, Edward D'Oyly, and soon after a Commodore to direct military action, Christopher Myngs, who had distinguished himself in action back home against the Dutch.  Myngs was a Royalist, and one of those thoroughly military fighting men who disliked Cromwell and the Parliamentarians, but disliked the Spanish even more.  With Myngs in charge, he lead a patchwork band of English soldiers and self-serving Buccaneers to sack the Spanish cities along the Spanish Main.  According to Myngs, he did it to secure England a place in the Caribbean.  He probably believed it, too.  But the Buccaneers flocked to Port Royal for a different reason: the promise of much bigger prizes; precious goods, gold, and silver in vast quantities.  Myngs used the Buccaneers to his personal, patriotic ends, though he was not one of them.  The Spanish couldn't see the difference however, and Myngs was soon nicknamed "el Diablo:" 'the Devil'.

     Myngs' career in the Caribbean was relatively short, however.  In the early 1660's he was ordered back to England by Oliver Cromwell to stand trial for excesses and overreaching his authority.  When he got home, however, he found Cromwell dead and Charles II in charge.  He was promptly exonerated and knighted by the new king 'for deeds of securing the sea lanes for Britain'.  As further reward for his services, he was sent off to fight a war against the Dutch, where he was soon killed in a battle at sea.

     However, Christopher Myngs had opened the floodgates of robbing Spanish cities in the name of English security.  Far more dangerous and treacherous characters followed soon afterward.  Myngs first officer of sorts, Henry Morgan, became one of the most infamous names in English demagoguery.  There was also Edward Mansveld, a Dutchman; Francois L'lonais, a French psychopath; Roche Braziliano, a parentless Mestizo; Bartholomew Portuguese, from Portugal.  They and many more were all remembered in the annals of wanton brutality which lasted another 20 years.  We will discuss them and their wake of wreckage in our Gallery of Rogues, later in this series.  Their plundering, murderous adventures involve the most colorful and lawless of historical times, when a fast life of stolen wealth and threat of Spanish gallows nipping at their heels was more appealing than a miserable existence of laboring on a tropical plantation for a rich lord.  Small wonder that they have remained so repulsively fascinating to us throughout the centuries.    

For much more on the subject, you can also read my historical novel, The Brethren Prince, available as an e-book at the Amazon Kindle store, Apple iBooks, Barnes and Noble, and other major e-book retailers.

Criminals and Clergy; Cutlasses and Crosses

     "Man is a Religious Animal," Mark Twain once wrote.  "He is the only religious animal.  He is the only animal that has the True Religion... several of them.  He is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself and cuts his throat if his theology isn't straight."  

     A circumstance that seems perfectly made for Mark Twain's humorous but deadly serious statement was the religious intolerance between Catholicism and the Protestant reformers since Martin Luther.  This deep schism in the Christian faith very often led to religious strife and war on the European continent.  So dire was this turmoil that many people were forced to seek a new life across the ocean in the Caribbean islands and later, in North America.  Unfortunately, and perhaps not surprisingly, these same religious wars and persecution that they sought to escape were waiting for them in the Caribbean as soon as they arrived. 

     Since the Spanish were the first Europeans to discover the tropical shores, they declared the formal faith of the New World (to which all residents must accept) to be Catholic.  Naturally, when people of Protestant nationalities arrived, their religious affiliations didn't suddenly change.  The struggle between the Christian faiths resumed with no less ferocity.  However, the protestant English, Dutch, and French had a no less forgiving point of view.  They saw the Spanish Catholics as Papists and Idolaters.  In other words, regardless of what side one might be on, it was common, if not expected, to condemn the other side to flames of damnation.  Ironically, differences in faith became a prime and convenient excuse for wanton robbery of one's fellow man.
     So concerned was Spain of religious purity in the New World that it imported its infamous Inquisition to deal with heretics, i.e., Protestants, Jews (Judaizers),  Islamists (Moriscos), and Indians (heathens or alleged devil worshipers).

     In 1492, when the Spanish first came to the Caribbean, the Inquisition was at the height of its influence in Spain.  Torquemada was the creative monster that dreamed up the idea of torturing the truth out of suspected heretics for the sake of preservation and purity of the Catholic faith.   Though he had been dead for over a century by this time, Torquemada's inventive torture techniques and patient gathering of information on infidels had far outlived him and would continue to for the next three hundred years.  It only seemed natural, then, that this black current of suspicion would find its way to the Caribbean.  The thought of the aforementioned fates at the hands of the Spanish Inquisition lived fearfully in the hearts of most Buccaneers.  Spanish fortresses all along the Main were honeycombed with prison cells and nasty little pits, many at sea level, in which captive infidels were held, sometimes for years, until they were sentenced or until they died and the crabs had picked their bones clean. 

     But religious condemnation did not merely pass between people of European descent.  At the worst of times, the Spanish saw the natives as soulless devil worshipers.  At best, they were considered uncivilized people incapable of properly managing their own land.  While Spanish soldiers explored the New World, their Dominican priests went with them, bringing finely sculpted icons of the Madonna, the Saints, and Christ on the Cross.  These were all objects with which to impress upon the native people the true faith.  Unfortunately, and perhaps ironically, this faith was more often than not used to relieve one's conscience of terrible deeds, rather than the other way around.  For example, the Spaniards did consider their mistreatment of the natives sinful because "people without souls" did not deserve full measure of moral consideration.  This was manifested in many ways.  For instance, since Indian women had no souls, copulation, or even rape may not be considered sinful for a soldier.

     As for the Buccaneers, they were primarily of the Protestant faith, which is to say, Anglican, Huguenot, Puritan, Quaker and so forth.  At Port Royal there were a number of churches, both Protestant and Catholic, and there was even a Mosque.  No doubt, many of them were not terribly focused about the fine details of their faith given their chosen profession of thievery (or at least didn't see the irony of their ways).  But while the Buccaneers may have been lacking in religious commitment, they more than made up for it when it came to superstitions.  Among them, luck was a very important trait, especially for a leader.  All manner of rumors could multiply rapidly if conditions warranted.  If a man had been successful at inspiring them on a raid and it was profitable, it was not enough to merely elect him again to lead them on the next adventure on the merits of his success.  If his good luck was consistent, rumors might multiply that he had been born with a caul, a thin membrane covering the face at birth, which was a sure sign of a leader.  If the captain had some unusual attribute, like being left-handed, this might be cited as a lucky condition.  An indication of good fortune on a dark and cloudy night at sea was the appearance of a ‘corpus sant’ a heavenly glow on the upper yards and sail in the faint guise of an angel.  This angel was assumed to guide them safely on their way.  No matter they had just robbed and murdered for a few pieces of eight and some cocoa beans; the angels were with them! 

     If anyone attempted to keep a woman aboard for personal reasons it was considered a sure sign of bad luck to come and would not be permitted.  If the sky turned overcast and color of the sea became cloudy, disaster was imminent.  Worst of all was the sighting of a ghost ship through the fog.  If anyone reported it, they were all as good as dead.  The list of superstitions about the sea were endless.  Since illiteracy was rampant, most of it must have been devoutly believed.

For much more on the subject, you can also read my historical novel, The Brethren Prince, available as an e-book at the Amazon Kindle store, Apple iBooks, Barnes and Noble, and other major e-book retailers.

Cimarrons: A Warrior Society of Runaway Slaves

     While the 17th Century robbers-at-sea were an interesting bunch, equally fascinating and perhaps more laudable to the modern reader were residents of the Caribbean known as the Cimarrons. The name came from a Spanish word that meant 'wild cattle that roam the woods'.  Cimarrons were colonies of runaway black slaves that had organized into small communities in the jungles of the new world.  The largest settlements conglomerated at the Isthmus of Panama, which was then called Darien, and because of the brutal treatment by their Spanish masters the Cimarrons became sworn enemies of Spain and all that it stood for.  Because of this, they frequently banded together with enemies of Spain and it wasn't uncommon to see a Cimarron or two amid the crew of the Buccaneers.  Their religion was derived mostly from African traditions.  In battle, they were known to wear minmal clothing and the amulets they made and wore around their wrists, necks, and waists were expected to foster good luck and to keep them from being struck by bullets and swords.  Eventually there came to be many Cimarron colonies populating the mountains of the Caribbean.  Their numbers were in the thousands.

      The Cimarrons first came to historical prominence when the adventurer Francis Drake arrived at a little hole of pestilence in 1573, called Nombre de Dios, on the Caribbean side of Panama.  Drake hoped to surprise and ambush the fabled Spanish Mule Train which arrived there, loaded with gold from Panama City.  (The gold shipments were brought in from Peru, and assembled on the Pacific side at the fabled city of Panama, then brought over the mountains to Nombre de Dios, where it awaited shipment home.)

     Drake had no idea exactly when or where it would happen, however.  Luck was with the adventurer though, for he came upon a village of Cimarrons in the jungle outside Nombre de Dios.  Drake and his men were impressed at the sight of the Cimarron stronghold, and one of his men proclaimed it, 'so clean and sweet that not only the houses but the very streets were pleasant to behold.'  In an age where sewage flowed in the streets back home in Europe, this would be considered a high compliment.  Drake was also impressed with their structure of laws.  'Cowardice in their battles with the Spanish was punished with death, such was their hatred of their previous lords'.  The Cimarrons must have equally impressed with the Englishman's desire to ambush the Spanish mule train, given that they were enthusiastic about helping Drake with his quest.  They knew the trail and the time the Spanish would arrive over the mountains and they readily joined him, for a portion of the bounty.

     When the Mule Train came, 35 English and French, and 20 Maroons came storming out of the jungle, firing muskets and swinging swords.  After a brief fight, the stunned Spanish broke and ran, leaving Drake and his allies with 119 mules, all laden with gold and silver, a year's supply from the mines of Peru (100,000 pieces of eight, enough to build 30 warships for Queen Elizabeth and still make Drake and his men rich for life)  And that was just the gold. The silver was way too much for him to carry away quickly, for Drake feared the Spanish would return with reinforcements.  Before carrying off the gold he and the Cimarrons scurried around, hiding the silver in the woods near the site of the raid.  Then, Drake paid off his allies with anything they wanted.  The black warriors had no use for gold or silver, but they desired ironworks, brass fittings, sewing needles, nails, cloth, and other such practical things.  Drake gave them everything they wanted, then bid the Maroons farewell and sailed back to England and into history as the man who deflected the Spanish Armada in the English channel.  For Francis Drake, the sacking of the Spanish Mule Train full of gold and silver was his first, big success.  The Cimarrons, however, would not enjoy such good fortune. 

     The Cimarrons were soon to catch hell by the reorganized Spanish who returned with a much bigger force.  They raided the settlement and forced them to retrieve the silver that was left, after which they subjected them to terrible retribution as an example.  The Spanish were said to have raped the Cimarron girls, murdered the older women, and castrated the leaders before roasting them to death over fires.  The boys were then subjected to a terrible fate as well: they were returned to slavery.

     With treatment such as this, its needless to say that Cimarrons throughout the Caribbean were keen on remaining a constant thorn in the side of Spain.  There were a few that lived among the ranks of the Buccaneers, but their association with all Europeans could be tenuous, since a black man could at any time, merely because of a few obvious physical differences, be taken into slavery again.  Never the less, there were Cimarron Buccaneers, and Cimarron slaves who were forced to fight the Spanish, or die in the process.

For much more on the subject, you can also read my historical novel, The Brethren Prince, available as an e-book at the Amazon Kindle store, Apple iBooks, Barnes and Noble, and other major e-book retailers.

A Ruthless Conquest of the Natives of the New World

     Most people are aware of the Aztec's unfortunate experience with Hernan Cortez.  Just as unfortunate for the Inca king Atahualpa was his first sight of Pizarro and his band of marauders, charging on horseback toward him, lopping off heads with glittering steel swords the likes of which no Incan had ever seen.  Later, after the city was looted of its gold and silver, as Atahualpa was ready to be garroted and burned for devil worship, he asked Pizarro why he must possess so much gold.  “We Spanish have a disease,” he was alleged to have told the Incan king, “which only gold can cure.”  Perhaps he was being brutally frank about himself, or perhaps he was just making a cruel joke.  Nevertheless, the statement serves to illustrate the continual brutality with which the Spanish conquistadors treated the Indians of the new world in the 16^th and 17^th Century.

     This was never truer than on the island of Hispaniola shortly after Columbus discovered it.  He reported back to the Spanish King that the indigenous people were gentle and compliant and would make good servants and slaves.  With Columbus’ brother as the first Corregidor of Hispaniola by 1496, the treatment of the Indians became so brutal that an outraged Spanish Dominican Friar, Bartholomew de las Casas, published a book which he called ‘A Brief Chronicle of the Devastation of the Indies’.  It was later translated into French and English, complete with colorful drawings of how far Spanish cruelty had come.  According to Friar Bartholomew, the Spanish demanded that the natives find gold for them and instituted a quota of how much they must bring forth every day, lest they be punished.  This was rather difficult, since there was virtually no gold on Hispaniola or anywhere else in the eastern islands.  When the natives began to resist the demands, the Spanish pursued them with packs of hungry dogs.  Friar Bartholomew even detailed how the Spanish soldiers roasted the natives alive over fires or chopped off their hands and hung them around their necks, a message to the others whom might resist.  It was also noted by the friar that Spanish soldiers herded the natives into their tall wooden dwellings and burned them all alive, while inside. 

     It is hard for a nation to survive this kind of cruelty without stigma, as we’ve seen with Nazi Germany during the holocaust, Japan with the rape of Nanking, the Turkish genocide of Armenians, and even the United States with the starvation and relocation of native Americans in the Trail of Tears (there are many other historical examples throughout the world, of course).  The Spanish slaughter of the Indians became known as the ‘Black Legend of Spain' and haunted the Spanish for centuries.  There were many Spanish who abhorred the way their countrymen treated the native peoples, like Friar Bartholomew, and their numbers were considerable.  However, when it comes to what motivates the deeds of many, greed and gold has far too often trumped conscience. 

     Spanish mining interests in South America kept the natives in terrible servitude, slavery and early death for centuries afterward while Spanish fortune seekers looked for silver in Potosi, Peru, and other places.  However, while Spain's "guns, germs, and steel" was a formidable triad to resist, a few native civilizations fought back, and viciously.  The Araucanian natives of Patagonia fought fiercely and remained free of Spanish domination.  Though Conquistadors tried again and again to defeat them, they were never successful.

For much more on the subject, you can also read my historical novel, The Brethren Prince, available as an e-book at the Amazon Kindle store, Apple iBooks, Barnes and Noble, and other major e-book retailers.

The Holy Spanish Empire, Part I: Undisputed Ruler of the New World

     It’s no coincidence that Spanish is spoken so widely in South America and Catholicism is the predominant religion.  In the late 15^th Century, the Iberian kingdoms of Aragon and Castille, under the rule of Isabelle and Ferdinand, united as one to become the nation of Spain.  They went on to defeat the last Moorish Emirate in the southern part of the Iberian peninsula.  After their victory, the Genoese opportunist Cristobal Colon (Christopher Columbus) perceived that the two rulers needed a source of wealth for their up and coming superpower.  There were vast trading opportunities in the orient and Columbus proposed to the Spanish monarchs a new route to India directly across the Atlantic, where some warned that he would sail off the end of the earth.  Ferdinand and Isabelle weren't so sure.  They consented to give him a few small ships to explore the possibilities, not necessarily having terribly high expectations.  The rest, as they say, is history.

     Spain’s first financed expedition was not a raving success, Columbus never found anything except a few islands and some natives (which he immediately called 'Indians' after continent he was seeking, and promptly subjugated them).  He died an ignominious disgrace after three voyages, not having fulfilled his promise to find the riches sought by the two monarchs.  However, after the stunning conquest by Hernan Cortez of the Aztec and the discovery of a huge cache of gold and silver in the great city of Tenochtitlan, the race was on to find more.  This success fired the imagination of every Spanish adventurer and a mad rush for gold ensued.  But unlike the gold rushes that we are used to hearing about, the gold accumulated by the Spanish was not unearthed from mines, but was pried from the dead hands of South America’s royalty.  Hernan Cortez, in other words, looted the Aztec treasury, melted down the artwork of generations into gold bars and shipped it all back to Spain as his personal fortune.  Unconscionable numbers of the natives perished from disease, starvation, and murder.

     As tales of cities of gold abounded among Spanish hidalgos (adventurers), many more soldiers of fortune came to the New World to stake claims.  Pizarro’s brutal conquest of the Inca made him the richest man in Spain.  It could be said, unequivocally, that the first great return on Spain’s modest investment came from outright pillaging.  However, many hidalgos never found their treasure, as one might expect.  Ponce de Leon never found the fountain of youth.  Coronado, who searched through the a huge area north of New Spain (now Mexico) failed to find ‘Eldorado’, where the streets were supposedly paved with gold.  In our times one would call this kind of thing a ‘wild goose chase’ but the successes of Cortez and Pizarro fueled a gold fever among the Spanish that far exceeded the 1849 gold rush to California.  It was a fever that continued for centuries.  By the mid 1500’s the Spanish had taken all the gold and silver from the Indian treasuries, slaughtered or enslaved the indigenous populations, and set up silver mines to extract the glittering metal still remaining in the earth. 

     At this point in time, the Protestant Reformation was in full swing back in Europe and the Papacy’s most loyal subject, Spain, proudly brought their new wealth to bear against the upstart heretics.  They financed religious wars with their plunder in attempts to quell the rising tide of Protestant heresies in England and Holland.  Spain’s religious exuberance was not contained only to Europe, however.  From the very beginning, the Spanish brought along their many idols of saints and their Dominican and Jesuit priests to the new world in attempts to save--- or purge--- the heathen natives from their idolatries.

For much more on the subject, you can also read my historical novel, The Brethren Prince, available as an e-book at the Amazon Kindle store, Apple iBooks, Barnes and Noble, and other major e-book retailers.

Tortuga; the First Haven of the Buccaneers

     In the decades of the 1630's, 40's and into the 50's, robbing the Spanish became the principal activity of many Buccaneers.  They aggregated on the northwest tip of Hispaniola near the Windward Passage, where Spanish shipping passed, coming from and going to Europe.  Several miles off the north coast of this finger of land lay an island which the Buccaneers called ‘Tortuga’, for its resemblance to a huge sea turtle basking on the ocean’s surface.  The north coast of the island was pounded with rough surf and laced with treacherous reefs, which made landing difficult.  The southern side, while calm, was mostly dense mangrove jungle, except for a single natural harbor where a fair number of ships could be moored. 

     The Buccaneers needed a port to trade, disperse and sell their contraband and given that it was a stone's throw from the Windward Passage, Tortuga was a natural spot for such a port.  It was vulnerable, however, and the Spanish raided and burned it several times in the 1620’s and 30’s.  Since the largest portion of the Buccaneers were French in origin, the island of St. Christopher, then a peaceful French planting settlement, sent a civil engineer named Jean LeVasseur, to act as governor in 1649.  The idea was to establish some semblance of order in this otherwise lawless island. 

     LeVasseur was surprisingly successful at developing Tortuga, but not so much at "gentrifying" it.  He declared Tortuga to be a French protectorate and in doing so, he established a formal port and built a fortress on a rocky pinnacle overlooking the harbor.  He named it simply the ‘Rock Fort’ and it sported 24 cannons.  Having created infrastructure on the island, the land surrounding the fort became worthy plantation fields and LeVasseur sold the land to entrepreneurs.  With a port, plantations and a fort to protect them, LeVasseur recognized that one important element was missing from his budding community. 

     He wrote back to France and offered to take ‘undesirable ladies’ if the French prison system wished to empty their dungeons of female prostitutes, thieves and petty criminals.  LeVasseur hoped with the arrival of women that the Buccaneers might be enticed to settle down to a more manageable life of planting and family.  A few did, but most men held to the fast life of stealing from the Spanish.  That's not to say that LeVasseur was at all disappointed by this illicit activity.  Quite the contrary.  In a few years he came to be regarded as a kind of "pirate king."

     Having given into the riches of plunder, LeVasseur became a partner in many contraband businesses in Tortuga.  He named the harbor "Basse Terre," built a quayside warehouse to sell the contraband, and took his percentage from everything coming and going.  In only a matter of a few years the town of Cayone had grown up around his Rock Fort.  Cayone was a conflict of many styles of architecture, reflecting the nationality of the man who had built it, and taverns and inns abounded.  These were wild, lawless, rough and dirty places, full of ‘drunkenness and wickedness of the most varied forms’ as the historian Esquemeling tells us.  After a night of carousing and visiting houses of prostitution, men lay drunk in the unpaved streets or occasionally, slumped against buildings and bleeding to death.  Fights and grudges over a pittance were settled routinely with crossed swords, pistols, ambushes, knives, throat cutting and every other form of revenge.  Needless to say, the lifespan of these brigands, and even Jean LeVasseur himself, would be commensurate with his business.  In 1654, LeVasseur was killed, stabbed to death by one of his lieutenants, a conflict alleged to have something to do with a pair of young trollops. 

     Chevalier DeFontenay was the next governor of Tortuga, but he never had a chance to earn a reputation equal to LeVasseur.  In 1655, the Spanish brought five war galleons and a number of troop transport ships to Tortuga in a massive effort to destroy the pestilence dogging their shipping.  They bombarded their way into the harbor, chopped through the forest to a place above and behind the Rock Fort while the defenders hunkered down.  There, the Spanish garrisons blasted the fort to rubble, then spread out across the island, burning all the residences, taverns, baudy houses, and even the Huguenot Church.  All the crops being grown on the island, including the tobacco, were burned as well as all the ships for transport.  Many of the defenders were killed, others escaped across the channel to Hispaniola, but most of the indian and negro slaves were taken into Spanish custody. 

     This did not deter the Buccaneers from their profession though, for the Spanish abandoned the place as quickly as they had decimated it, and the Buccaneers washed back like the incoming tide.  Tortuga would still be a port of call for freebooters, privateers and pirates for a short time, but there was a new and much larger port in the making.  Very soon after the Spanish raid on Tortuga, Jamaica was taken by the British and officially declared a protectorate.  The Buccaneers flocked there, finding a new and better protected home for even bigger escapades against the Spanish Empire.  

     Next week we will be examining the Buccaneers "victim" of choice:  The Holy Spanish Empire, Undisputed Ruler of the New World.

For much more on the subject, you can also read my historical novel, The Brethren Prince, available as an e-book at the Amazon Kindle store, Apple iBooks, Barnes and Noble, and other major e-book retailers.

A Democracy of Scoundrels Part II: Dividing up the Spoils and Electing a Captain

     

     Now a days, nowhere is law more relevant (or more complicated!) than when it pertains to money.  In the days of the Buccaneers, it was no less true, especially when it came to dividing up the spoils of a conquest!  With the spoils often being varied, haphazard dispersal of their gains would surely incite resentment and even violence.  To avoid this, rules were made ahead of time within the Articles on how to reward those who participated in a successful chase.

     In a great sense of camaraderie and fairness, the Articles frequently stipulated that all old debts were to be paid from the common prize before any division of spoils was made.  This would mitigate the possibility of crewmembers accosting each other after the conclusion of the voyage.  If the chase had been successful enough but there were wounded to contend with, the Articles might state that an individual would get extra shares depending on the severity of their injury.  The loss of an eye might net half a share or the loss or mangling of a limb, one full extra share.   

     When it came to the authority of the captain, the Articles might typically afford all crew members the right to hold a meeting to speak against and remove their captain.  In this event, a vote could be taken and a new captain elected if the first captain was deemed unlucky or hadn’t forced them to fight sufficiently or equally.  In this way, a chase party of Buccaneers was much more like a direct democracy than a dictatorship.  The captain was generally afforded few special rights under the Articles except extra shares of the plunder.

     On larger vessels, however, the command structure became a bit more sophisticated and a captain might assert greater powers.  If the captain was deemed lucky over time and his chase parties successful, he might rise to prominence among the men.  His authority would rise with him, in some cases even to fame, as in the case of Henry Morgan, Pierre le Grand and others.  Crewmen tended to aggregate around such personalities who had proven they could deliver wealth and success to those who followed them, thus their authority was less often challenged.  When the crew became too large to manage by the captain himself, he would select a quartermaster whose duty it was to keep the men in line and to inform the captain of any infractions.

     If anyone was caught violating any of the items in the Articles, punishment was also stipulated in the document.  It was usually as severe as these men treated their Spanish captives.  A man might be marooned on a small island with nothing more than a skin of water and his cutlass, if he was caught robbing another, or was deemed undesirable.  Certain death would almost always follow in such cases.  Even apparently trivial things could be punishable.  Too much idle talk could get your lips sewn together.  Noses might be slit down the middle or an ear cut off, if a man showed disrespect to one of the Articles.  If it couldn’t be ascertained who of two men had been the instigator of an infraction, the Articles might declare ‘pistol to pistol or sword to sword’ with the two of them.  Such severe and capital punishments were necessary to keep otherwise lawless men in line aboard the ship.  Once the hunt for Spanish shipping was over and the men were ashore, however, old grudges could be settled in the usual way.

     When they had disembarked and were away from the rules of the Articles, these corsairs spent their stolen wealth freely in the taverns and stews of the Dutch and French ports of the Windward Antilles.  They understood well the brevity of life in the islands and the New World, aware that misfortune and death could come at any day.  Thus money left unspent may well be money left to waste.  In just a few nights these unrestrained men could lose everything in houses of ill repute, on gambling and in taverns.  Along the way, many a brandy induced argument was settled over crossed swords or knives, leaving the tavern keeper to  hope the loser’s bill was already paid.

     However, upon reaching sobriety again, shoeless and penniless, they were more often then not ready for another adventure beneath the Article's strict discipline. 

     Next week's blog will be:  Tortuga; First Haven of the Buccaneers

For much more on the subject, you can also read my historical novel, The Brethren Prince, available as an e-book at the Amazon Kindle store, Apple iBooks, Barnes and Noble, and other major e-book retailers.

A Democracy of Scoundrels, Part I: The Articles of Conduct

   

     In the 17th Century, in an age where Kings and nobles still ruled the world by virtue of inheritance, egalitarianism emerged in an unexpected place: along the wild coasts of Hispaniola.  The place where Buccaneer hunters scratched out a living on the tattered fringe of civilization.  A place where no nation's laws could yet reach. 

     As is often the case, when men go too long without the structure of society, they create some semblance of society themselves.  Such was the case with the Buccaneers.  Because the Buccaneers consisted of the dregs of western civilization, there were no nobles amongst them who could impose or import rules by virtue of their innate authority (nor would any birthright be enforced, anyway).  Therefore, the creation of makeshift laws was grassroots and came from a show of hands, with no man's opinion being weighted more than any others. 

     The simplest and probably earliest "legal" document among the Buccaneers was known simply as ‘the Articles’.  It was a solemn bond between two men, a serious pledge written out, signed, and probably varied depending on the individual’s situation.  In a lawless place like the northern coast of Hispaniola, it could be helpful in binding two Buccaneer hunters together to protect each other in case of attack by various trespassers.  It also helped to have rules when it came to sharing resources such as residences, clothing, and weapons as well as food stores, and of course income derived from sale of meat and hides.  Above all, the Articles declared that each man would hide nothing from his partner, or brethren.  These concerns were thought out between the two men and numbered in the Articles individually.  Before signing, they would both agree to the terms.  The Articles seemed to have worked well as a common governmental tool, for the idea spread up and down the coast and eventually it involved more than just two men. 

     As larger groups of individuals worked together in chase parties directed at Spanish shipping, the Articles evolved to become a democratic document that everyone should respect and pledge to uphold; a set of laws by which all members have elected, and then to which they must adhere.  Before a sea raid, the Articles were drawn up by an elected captain, and then put to an up or down vote.  Once the crew had signed, it gave the captain the authority to enforce the tenants of the Articles as well as demand that they fight as best they could. 

     There were many rules detailed in the Articles that were common.  For instance, the Articles might insist that there be no gambling while at sea, for it would foster bad feelings with the looser.  The Articles might also insist that there be no smoking, as fire aboard a vessel was every seaman’s dread.  Women were often banned since it was considered bad luck for them to be brought along, though an exception was made if female slaves were captured, for they were too valuable as contraband.  One of the greatest offenses, according to the Articles, was "concealing items from his mates, even the least thing they found among their prey," as the Historian Esquemeling relates.

     But the Articles was not always strictly punitive.  It may include incentives as well.  For instance it might stipulate that if a great prize was captured, every man might have as much to drink as he so chose, if supplies were sufficient. 

     The Articles also determined how loot was distributed.  The crew was given "shares" in the same way stockholders are given stock in a modern company.  Before disembarking after a successful voyage, the loot was totaled as best as was possible then divided up into 'shares'.  The Captain might be entitled to receive up to 5 shares.  "Officers",  like the first mate or quartermaster might get 2 shares.  All other crewmen generally received 1 share each with the exception of boy helpers, who may only get half a share.

     As time went on and the Buccaneer raiders became a force to be reckoned with in the Caribbean, the face of Buccaneers in the Caribbean changed considerably, but the democratic ethic of the Articles persisted.

     Next week, we'll continue with A Democracy of Scoundrel, Part II: Dividing up the Spoils and Electing a Captain.

For much more on the subject, you can also read my historical novel, The Brethren Prince, available as an e-book at the Amazon Kindle store, Apple iBooks, Barnes and Noble, and other major e-book retailers.

Spices, Silks and Slaves: The Allure of Piracy, Part II

            This week, we explore further the various goods that the Buccaneers of the Caribbean pilfered from their prey.  If you haven't already, read part one of Spices, Silks and Slaves: The Allure of Piracy, Part 1.
            While it might seem odd to many of us today, salt was a highly coveted item in the Caribbean, as it had been throughout the world and human history.  Before the days of refrigeration, not many foods could be kept from spoiling.  Salt, however, is a natural preservative and was used to keep meat from rotting.  Salt in the New World was hacked loose from great piles in Cumana (Venezuela), located on the north coast of South America.  It's no coincidence that this region was referred to as "The Salt Coast."  Naturally, salt was a valuable cargo for Buccaneers to seize.    

            Another valuable resource to come by was Indigo wood from the Orinoco area in South America.  It was prized for the deep blue dye that could be extracted.  It was lumbered from distant forest areas down the Orinoco River, cut into shippable blocks, and transported to the coast.  While it may seem peculiar to imagine a band of Buccaneers celebrating around a shipment of newly captured lumber, Indigo wood would be considered a very fine catch. 

            But inventories from the Americas were not the only treasures that passed through the Caribbean on their way to the ports of Spain and markets of Europe.  Embroidered muslin and fabrics, fine china, silverware, and silks came from China.  Spices like pepper, mustard, ginger, and cinnamon came from Indonesia.  Ivory carvings and combs came from India and China. 

            Every year these exotic goods and many others were shipped across the Pacific to the west coast of Mexico via The Manila Galleon.  They were then carted across the continent to Vera Cruz, where, once a year a great bazaar took place.  Afterward, everything was transported back to Europe via the treasure fleet.          
            All of the goods mentioned so far were some of the more frequent inventories, but there were scores of other items that were produced and traded in smaller quantities, like pearls.  But despite the tremendous wealth that was generated or passed through the Caribbean, the vast majority of goods seized by pirates were not the valuable ones mentioned above but goods that were mundane in nature: provisions like sail cloth, fruit, dried meat, needles, fish, clothing, gunpowder, iron and brass fittings, and all of the other ordinary provisions that made life in the Caribbean possible.  After all, it was the ships that carried these types of items that were most common, least guarded, and most easily captured.      

            Regardless of what the Buccaneers confiscated, they rarely shopped around for buyers when it came to their stolen property.  After a short jaunt from the Windward Passage to Tortuga, they would disembark their stolen cargo and sell it quayside to middlemen and merchants after paying Governor Levasseur’s tax.  Once the spoils were divided, treasure was never buried (a fictitious act for Buccaneers) nor was it saved.  They typically sold or traded everything soon after stealing it, and promptly spent it all in literal orgies of drinking and indulgence of every sort.  It’s because of these flurries of wild spending and brief bouts of high living that Buccaneer havens like Tortuga earned their deserved reputations.

            Though the Buccaneers dreamed of chests full of gold and silver, most would never capture any great quantity until later, when most of them had moved from Tortuga to Port Royal, Jamaica, and put to sea with such devils as Francois L'Ollonais, Christopher Myngs and Henry Morgan.  That’s not to say that vast quantities of gold and silver didn’t pass through the Windward Passage on its way back to Europe.  They certainly did, but these precious metals were transported in Spanish treasure fleets amid dozens of vessels, all jealously guarded by armed war galleons.  Even later, when major cities on the Spanish Main were sacked, the Buccaneers had to divide such spoils many times, since these undertakings required hundreds, even thousands of men.     

          If you enjoyed this blog, join us next week for:  A Democracy of Scoundrels.

For much more on the subject, you can also read my historical novel, The Brethren Prince, available as an e-book at the Amazon Kindle store, Apple iBooks, Barnes and Noble, and other major e-book retailers.

Spices, Silks and Slaves: The Allure of Piracy, Part I

           

            Unlike most fictitious portrayals of the early buccaneer exploits, these robbers seldom found great quantities of gold coins or jewel encrusted crucifixes amid Spanish shipping.  Cargoes of full silver and gold did occasionally pass through the Windward Passage, but usually on well guarded galleons within large treasure fleets.  Smaller vessels without armed guards, however, were an easier target, and they typically carried commodities and raw materials.  Though these inventories weren't gold per se, in many cases, were just as good as gold and could be traded easily. 

            As far as is known, the Buccaneers were not pirates in the strictest sense, for they generally steered clear of attacking ships that were not Spanish.  Imperial Spain was regarded as the common oppressor of all other nations in the Caribbean, and most of the New World’s wealth and lands were owned by Spain, making them the most rational target for piracy at the time.

            The variety of these goods was very broad indeed, for Spain’s empire was worldwide.  Its trade routes spread around the Southern tip of Africa, along India and up through the orient, through the Philippines and across the Pacific, back to Central America and up the Caribbean, then finally back to Spain.  Along the way, all sorts of exotic goods were accumulated and, on the last leg of their journey through the Windward Passage, the Buccaneers lay in wait, seizing some of the inventories of this worldwide journey. 

            Cocoa beans were one of the most common and valued of prizes a Buccaneer might find.  Cocoa beans were grown by the Spanish in the lands of Central America, introduced by the Maya, where it had originated as a favorite drink.  Back in Europe, cocoa drink was all the rage, and a shipment of it was as good as gold to the Buccaneers. By the 1650’s after the Buccaneers became more prominent, refined sugar was also a huge prize to be had.

            Right at the top of desired items was also tobacco, which was unknown to Europeans until the Spanish discovered the native Americans burning it in a clay pot they called a ‘tobag’.  They sucked out the smoke through small holes with straws and, needless to say, the unhealthy habit of filling one’s lungs with smoke caught on.  The Spanish dispensed with the large pot and fashioned a smaller pot at the end of a clay straw to hold the dried weed and thus the pipe was born.  By 1600 this rather calming narcotic had become so popular that the English King James I declared that he did not trust any man who would not engage in ‘a smoke of good cheer with his fellows’.  With endorsements like these from Europe’s monarchs, one can imagine how valuable bales of dried tobacco leaves might be.

            But there was one good that might be seized by Buccaneers that was more valuable than any other, pound for pound.  That cargo was human slaves.  Though it is a ghastly part of history, by the early 1500’s the Spanish discovered that white men and native Americans died easily under the grueling conditions of their silver mines and began importing Africans, who were not as susceptible to malaria and other tropical diseases.  Black slaves would quickly become the preferred labor force of plantations throughout the Caribbean.  However, labor was not the only reason that slaves were valued.  Both black and Indian girls---young women---commanded a good price on the auction block, especially if considered attractive (referred to as ‘good bed flesh’).  It’s no accident that there are so many mixed race people that inhabit the Americas.  By no measure saintly, the Buccaneers had no reservations when it came to selling slaves as they would any other commodity.  Sometimes, they might even press captured slaves into service on their vessels, forcing them to fight under pain of death.

Coming up: Spices, Silks, and Slaves: The Allure of Piracy, Part II

For much more on the subject, you can also read my historical novel, The Brethren Prince, available as an e-book at the Amazon Kindle store, Apple iBooks, Barnes and Noble, and other major e-book retailers.

‘Take What You Can’: Chase Parties and Their Plunder

            In the Windward Passage between Cuba and Hispaniola, Spanish ships were sometimes approached by small, single sail craft known as pinnace.  Scarcely able to stay afloat in rough seas, they would have appeared harmless to a naive onlooker aboard a sturdy Spanish galleon armed with cannon.  However, these small vessels were hardly humble when crowded with hungry predators conducting a raid.

            These raiders, or ‘chase parties’ as they were called, were initially formed by groups of volunteers among the Buccaneers.  A single hunting camp of Buccaneers could rarely supply the manpower necessary to capture large Spanish merchant vessel, so when the opportunity arose, they sent out runners to nearby camps to recruit allies and a vessel for the endeavor.  For larger prizes, the Buccaneers might even recruit more than one boat.

            Packed aboard their small pinnace, they selected a merchant vessel and attack before dawn or near dusk when the limited visibility was in their favor.  If they were lucky, they could sneak in close without being noticed---too close to be struck by Spanish cannon.  If recognized, a Buccaneer marksman, a superb shot from his experience hunting in the jungles, would seat himself at the bow of the pinnace and fire his musket at the Spanish steersmen, while the rest of the robbers fired away at anyone who looked out the portholes.  If there was more than one pinnace involved in the raid, the second boat might ram against the rudder of the Spanish vessel.

            With the Spanish ship unable to steer, the Buccaneers would swarm aboard and slash a path to the captain of the vessel.  Not only was defeating Spanish leadership an easy way to end a battle, but live Spanish officers might even be ransomed if other booty  was scarce.  Unless seasoned Spanish soldiers were aboard, Spanish sailors were scarcely a match for the Buccaneers who were hardened by their rugged life in the wilderness, where only the strongest had survived.  

            With this tactic, a pinnace carrying a chase party of a dozen or so men could capture a vessel many times their size.  Retaliation by the Spanish was often impossible since these small craft could maneuver across the patchwork of reefs surrounding the Windward Passage, through which bulkier Spanish warships could not follow. 

            These raids served as the early prototypes that defined the future of the Buccaneer’s highly effective tactics: close in swiftly, board, clash in hand to hand combat, take  the spoils, and then disappear into the hidden mountain harbors beyond the reefs.        

            The leader of the chase party was elected by the volunteers of the party.  His only job was to force the men to fight bravely and to the death, if necessary.  For this crucial duty their elected captain was given extra shares of the cache, which was otherwise divided equally.  Most of the time the chase parties captured small merchant ships, even fishing vessels and the inventory might be minor or very little, except whatever coins, trinkets, small arms, navigational equipment, gunpowder, etc, that might be found aboard.  Yet there were many things that the Spanish transported that suited the Buccaneers well enough, and they were ideally poised, for they lived on the coastlines near one of Spain’s greatest arteries of wealth.  The Windward Passage.

Next Week: Spices, Silks and Slaves: The Allure of Piracy, Part I

For much more on the subject, you can also read my historical novel, The Brethren Prince, available as an e-book at the Amazon Kindle store, Apple iBooks, Barnes and Noble, and other major e-book retailers.

The Lives and Struggles of the Early Buccaneers

            There is no official count, but by the 1620’s there was presumably between 7,000 and 20,000 Buccaneers.  Despite their abundance, many newcomers perished on the rugged coasts within their first years, succumbing to violent conflicts, tropical diseases like yellow fever, or quite simply an inability to adapt to the ruthless tropical conditions.  In effect, only the hardiest survived. 

            They lived in small groups and communities on the Northern coast of Hispaniola and Cuba, away from any sovereign law.  Isolated, their lifestyle was enabled by the French, Dutch, and English traders who were on their way to the Eastern islands of the Caribbean and needed supplies.  There was always a pressing demand for buccaneer goods: roasted meats and dried hides that were acquired by hunting, as well as fresh water from the spider web of pure streams and rivulets that drizzled down from the island mountains.  The merchants of various nationalities would skirt along the northern coast of Hispaniola and meet the Buccaneers in backwater coves to resupply their ships' stores after weary trips across the Atlantic.  This activity was clandestine, since it was conducted in Spanish territory beneath the nose of the Spanish Crown. 

            The Buccaneers got along relatively peacefully with what was left of the indigenous Indians and learned a good deal about the growing of native fruits of the coastal jungles (and there were many) as well as vegetables and the medicinal uses of certain plants.  The Buccaneers also learned how to make alcoholic beverages from such things as fermented bananas and even bread from grated cassava root.

            Eventually these villages, encampments and temporary residences bound together out of necessity into a patchwork civilization.  They kept in touch up and down the densely wooded, wild coasts via runners, horsemen, or small sailing vessels.  Since there was no governor or any kind of legal structure, there arose a kind of loose confederacy amongst them with no central authority, known informally as "The Brethren of the Coast."  It started with a written document between two men which was called simply “the Articles” which bound them together in a partnership.  Each man swore to protect the other with his life and they shared of all their possessions.  On the death of one, the other would inherit all his worldly goods.  The idea was extended and accepted throughout the north coasts of Puerto Rico, Hispaniola, and Cuba. 

            The Spanish realized that much of the northern coastlines of their big islands had been taken over by what they considered the scum of Europe: to them, nothing more than a conglomeration of lawless heathens.  It was late in the game for the Spanish however, for the Brethren of the Coast had already become a makeshift nation.  While the Spanish claimed the lands on which the Buccaneers lived, the Buccaneers knew the coastlines better than the Spanish themselves.  They knew how to navigate the treacherous reefs in their agile small craft and knew where to hide among the honeycombs of small harbors, hidden by mangrove jungles and steep hillsides.  The Spanish governors sent soldiers and lancers to rid the coasts of these remote encampments.  Buccaneer encampments and plantations were burned and many cattle and pigs slaughtered, and perhaps because of it a sense of outrage and revenge arose among the Buccaneers.  The Spanish found them to be more formidable than they had anticipated.  Many Spanish soldiers were killed in the process.

            Somewhere along the way, the Buccaneers began raiding Spanish shipping and the name ‘Buccaneer’ became synonymous with piracy across the Caribbean.  These raids became lucrative indeed, so lucrative that Buccaneers even purchased indentured men and slaves and forced them into piracy against their will.  If these men refused or didn’t fight well enough, they faced the prospect of execution.  When larger Spanish vessels were taken, the Spanish crewmen that were still alive and not killed in the struggle were very often given a choice:  The open sea in a cock boat without a sail, (which meant certain death by starvation) or join the ranks of the Buccaneers and fight with them.  Many Spaniards became Buccaneers in this way.  Once they had joined this lawless bunch they could never go back.  In time, many more people across the Caribbean would join the ranks of the Buccaneers.
Next week: ‘Take What You Can’: Chase Parties and Their Plunder

For much more on the subject, you can also read my historical novel, The Brethren Prince, available as an e-book at the Amazon Kindle store, Apple iBooks, Barnes and Noble, and other major e-book retailers.

The Buccaneers: Hunters, Piracy and the Rise of Europe’s Castaways

         

          There are few lifestyles that spur the imagination more than the  short and carefree life of a pirate, as the many novels, movies, and theme park rides of our popular culture testify.  And while there are many elements that make the pirate's life appealing, there is one in particular that has the broadest appeal: the quest for freedom and the desire to escape society's laws.  It's easy to see why.

           In modern times, there are vast webs and layers of rules, many of which are scarcely understood, yet must be followed if one is to function in our highly structured world.  Sometimes, these rules are so baffling that an entire professional class is needed to decipher them.  Surely, there is a moment in everyone's life--- when we are smothered by bills, trapped in a tedious job, or crammed in traffic--- when we wish we could flee the laws and expectations of society and set sail on the blue ocean, hide amongst the coconut palms on a tropical isle, and divide up the spoils of a daring adventure.  It's this impulse, this desire to cut loose from the moorings of organized society, that is the most powerful popular appeal of the pirate's life. 

            Contrary to the myth though, most historical pirates were rarely motivated by a quest for freedom.  Much more so, sirens sang in their ears of quick riches.  They were driven by robbery and easy wealth, since in their times opportunities were limited.  However, there was one historical case of piracy--- a special case--- that was truly born of a desire to escape: The Age of the Buccaneers.  It is to this case that I dedicate this blog.

            In  modern mythology, the term 'Buccaneer' has come to be synonymous with the romance of piracy, but the original Buccaneers did not begin as pirates, but instead as humble hunters.  And what's more, their story begins in an unlikely place: not the sweltering tropics or island hideaways, but the city slums and war-torn fields of early 17^th Century Europe.  At the time, the European continent was racked by economic and religious turmoil that resulted in widespread conflict.  To escape these troubles, the desperate and disenfranchised crossed the Atlantic to find new lives on Caribbean plantations.  Some were prisoners and petty criminals, sentenced and deported against their will.  Others were religious refugees, leaving on their own accord to escape persecution.  Many more belonged to the legions of Europe’s underclass, willing to offer themselves as indentured servants---temporary slaves in the New World---as payment for their passage.

            However, whatever hopes they may have had, life in the Caribbean was no less brutal than the conditions they came from.  Their trials were numerous.  Tropical diseases were rampant.  Most were unaccustomed to the imposing heat.  Worse yet was the slave like conditions they suffered at the hand of wealthy plantation owners, who often found sinister ways to extend the terms of their indenture.

            But some of these men would finally find the freedom they had originally left Europe in search of.  They fled from the rigors of tropical plantations and took up a life of independence and great risk along the wild coasts of Cuba and Hispaniola (modern day Haiti and Dominican Republic).  There was no official law here, only coastal jungles and open savannahs where cattle and pigs roamed freely, left over by Spanish settlers decades earlier.

            These free living men came to be called by some as ‘Buccaneers’ for the way they barbequed their meat.  The word ‘Buccaneer’ came from the Arawak Indian word ‘buccan’ which was the greenwood rack on which meat could be slowly roasted and dried for storage aboard ships.  Dried meat was in high demand by mariners and plantation owners as essential slave food, so the Buccaneers had a commodity they could readily trade.

            Over time, the Buccaneers, as many predators have the habit of doing, banned together into larger groups.  They shared the kill from their hunts, cleaned the hides, established camp sites, and communicated with each other via messengers.  They eventually established small communities, and developed a loose confederacy informally known as ‘the Brethren of the Coast’, the coast being the north coast of Hispaniola and Cuba.  But while this rag tag group came to flourish, their very existence was considered illegal by the world’s great super power of the time, Spain, who dominated the New World with an iron fist.  Spain controlled the island of Cuba and Hispaniola and considered the Brethren unwelcome squatters and worse, religious heretics.  For many who fled Europe to escape its religious wars, they found that such conflicts had followed them to the Caribbean as well.

            Spanish Governors launched numerous campaigns to purge the Brethren nuisance from their islands.  Unfortunately for Spain, these attacks did more to enrage the Brethren than discourage them, who could easily disappear into the coastal jungle in the face of lumbering Spanish warships and soldiers.  A deep resentment was born, and soon messengers were visiting the scattered groups of men throughout the Brethren of the Coast,  looking to create ‘chase parties.’  Their target?  Poorly defended Spanish shipping in the Windward Passage, returning to Europe laden with valuable goods, silver, and gold.  Although their chase boats were very small, the Buccaneers met with some success against smaller Spanish vessels.  One particular daring act of impertinence would inspire the Buccaneers to pursue what would become their first of many famous exploits.

            Sometime in the 1630’s, a Frenchman with two rickety, single-sail vessels and two dozen men crammed aboard captured a massive Spanish Galleon and all of its cargo. The legend of the Buccaneers was born and with it the thirst for revenge and Spanish gold.  While Spain considered them a growing pestilence that had to be exterminated, the Buccaneers reveled in their infamy.  They gave themselves fancy nicknames such as ‘Johnny Red Legs’, ‘Pierre le Grand’ and ‘Roche Braziliano’.

            The Buccaneers' first official port was the small French island of Tortuga.  Though it was vulnerable to attack, it sat strategically on the cusp of Spain’s vast colonial empire.  When the English established Jamaica as a colony in the 1650’s, men from the wild coastlines came to Jamaica’s premier moorage, Port Royal, shedding their old professions in the hopes of making a fortune by robbing Spanish shipping along the Spanish Main.  Few of the new crowd of roughshod men had any experience hunting wild cattle as the Brethren of the Coast did, but everyone now called themselves Buccaneers.

            The successes of the original Buccaneers would inspire many of the infamous names we now associate with piracy: Henry Morgan, Christopher Myngs, and others.

            If you'd like to learn more about the history of Piracy in the Caribbean, subscribe to the blog and return weekly for a new installment of Pirates of the Caribbean: The History Behind the Legends.  Next week's blog will examine in greater depth the life and struggles of the earlier Buccaneers.  Feel free to ask questions as well as make suggestions about blog topics you would like to see posted.
            Next week: The Lives and Struggles of the Early Buccaneers.

For much more on the subject, you can also read my historical novel, The Brethren Prince, available as an e-book at the Amazon Kindle store, Apple iBooks, Barnes and Noble, and other major e-book retailers.