THE BUCCANEERS IN THE WEST INDIES IN THE XVII CENTURY

BY

C.H. HARING

WITH TEN MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS

METHUEN & CO. LTD.
36 ESSEX STREET W.C.
LONDON

First Published in 1910

PREFACE

The principal facts about the exploits of the English and French buccaneers of the seventeenth century in the West Indies are sufficiently well known to modern readers. The French Jesuit historians of the Antilles have left us many interesting details of their mode of life, and Exquemelin's history of the freebooters has been reprinted numerous times both in France and in England. Based upon these old, contemporary narratives, modern accounts are issued from the press with astonishing regularity, some of them purporting to be serious history, others appearing in the more popular and entertaining guise of romances. All, however, are alike in confining themselves for their information to what may almost be called the traditional sources—Exquemelin, the Jesuits, and perhaps a few narratives like those of Dampier and Wafer. To write another history of these privateers or pirates, for they have, unfortunately, more than once deserved that name, may seem a rather fruitless undertaking. It is justified only by the fact that there exist numerous other documents bearing upon the subject, documents which till now have been entirely neglected. Exquemelin has been reprinted, the story of the buccaneers has been re-told, yet no writer, whether editor or historian, has attempted to estimate the trustworthiness of the old tales by comparing them with these other sources, or to show the connection between the buccaneers and the history of the English colonies in the West Indies. The object of this volume, therefore, is not only to give a narrative, according to the most authentic, available sources, of the more brilliant exploits of these sea-rovers, but, what is of greater interest and importance, to trace the policy pursued toward them by the English and French Governments.

The "Buccaneers in the West Indies" was presented as a thesis to the Board of Modern History of Oxford University in May 1909 to fulfil the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Letters. It was written under the supervision of C.H. Firth, Regius Professor of Modern History in Oxford, and to him the writer owes a lasting debt of gratitude for his unfailing aid and sympathy during the course of preparation.

C.H.H.

Oxford, 1910

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I. Introductory
CHAPTER II. The Beginnings of the Buccaneers
CHAPTER III. The Conquest of Jamaica
CHAPTER IV. Tortuga—1655-1664
CHAPTER V. Porto Bello and Panama
CHAPTER VI. The Government Suppresses the Buccaneers
CHAPTER VII. The Buccaneers Turn Pirate

APPENDIX I. English Buccaneers
APPENDIX II. List of Filibusters
SOURCES AND BIBLIGRAPHY
INDEX

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

Map of the West Indies
Spanish Periagua, From Exquemelin's Histoire des Aventuriers Trevoux, 1744
A Correct Map of Jamaica, From the Royal Magazine, 1760.
Map of San Domingo, From Charlevoix' Histoire de S. Domingue.
Plan of the Bay and Town of Portobelo, From Prevost d'Exiles' Voyages.
The Isthmus of Darien, From Exquelmelin's Bucaniers, 1684-5.
Plan of Vera-Cruz, From Charlevoix' Histoire de S. Domingue, 1730.
Plan of the Town and Roadstead of Cartegena and of the Forts, From Baron de Pontis' Relation de ce qui c'est fait la prise de Carthagene, Bruxelles, 1698.

THE BUCCANEERS IN THE WEST INDIES IN THE XVII CENTURY

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTORY

I.—THE SPANISH COLONIAL SYSTEM

At the time of the discovery of America the Spaniards, as M. Leroy-Beaulieu has remarked, were perhaps less fitted than any other nation of western Europe for the task of American colonization. Whatever may have been the political rôle thrust upon them in the sixteenth century by the Hapsburg marriages, whatever certain historians may say of the grandeur and nobility of the Spanish national character, Spain was then neither rich nor populous, nor industrious. For centuries she had been called upon to wage a continuous warfare with the Moors, and during this time had not only found little leisure to cultivate