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.