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 17th 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.
Next week: The Lives and Struggles of the Early Buccaneers.
