The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Monarchs of the Main, Volume I (of 3), by Walter Thornbury

Title: The Monarchs of the Main, Volume I (of 3)

Or, Adventures of the Buccaneers

Author: Walter Thornbury

Release Date: January 21, 2012 [eBook #38631]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MONARCHS OF THE MAIN, VOLUME I (OF 3)***

E-text prepared by Adam Buchbinder, Rory OConor,
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
(http://www.pgdp.net)
from scanned images of public domain material
generously made available by
the Google Books Library Project
(http://books.google.com/)

THE
MONARCHS OF THE MAIN;
OR,
ADVENTURES OF THE BUCCANEERS.

BY
GEORGE W. THORNBURY, ESQ.

"One foot on sea and one on shore,
To one thing constant never."
Much Ado about Nothing.

IN THREE VOLUMES.

VOL. I.

LONDON:
HURST AND BLACKETT, PUBLISHERS,
SUCCESSORS TO HENRY COLBURN,
13, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STREET.
1855.

LONDON: SERCOMBE AND JACK, 16 GREAT WINDMILL STREET.

CONTENTS OF VOL. I.

CHAPTER I.—THE PRECURSORS OF THE BUCCANEERS.

History of Tortuga—Description of the island—Origin of the Buccaneers—Conquest of Tortuga by the French and English—Hunters, planters, and corsairs—Le Basque takes Maracaibo—War with the Spaniards of Hispaniola—The French West Indian Company buy Tortuga—Their various governors 1

CHAPTER II.—MANNERS OF THE HUNTERS.

Indian derivation of the word Buccaneer—Flibustier—The three classes—Dress of the hunters—West Indian scenery—Method of hunting—Wild dogs—Anecdotes—Wild oxen—Wild boars and wild horses—Buccaneer dainties—Cow-killing, English, French, and Spanish methods—Amusements—Duels—Adventures—Conflicts with the Fifties, or Spanish militia—The hunters driven to sea—Turn corsairs—The hunters' engagés, or apprentices—Hide curing—Hardships of the bush life—The planters' engagés—Cruelties of planters—The matelotage—Huts, manners, and food 35

CHAPTER III.—THE FLIBUSTIERS, OR SEA ROVERS.

Originated in the Spanish persecution of French hunters—Customs—"No peace beyond the line"—"No prey, no pay"—Pay and pensions—Their helots the Mosquito Indians—Lewis Scott, an Englishman, the first Corsair—John Davis takes St. Francis in Campeachy—Their debauchery—Gambling—Religion—Classes from which they sprang—Equality at sea—Mode of fighting—Food—Dress 111

CHAPTER IV.—PIERRE-LE-GRAND, THE FIRST BUCCANEER.

Plunder of Segovia—Pierre-le-Grand—Peter Francis—Captures of Spanish vessels—Mode of capture—Barthelemy Portugese—His escapes and victories—Roche the Brazilian—Fanatical hatred of the Spaniards—His wrecks and adventures 152

CHAPTER V.—LOLONNOIS THE CRUEL.

Lolonnois' stratagems—His cruelty—His partner, Michael le Basque—Takes Maracaibo—Tortures the citizens—Sacks the town—Takes Gibraltar—Attempt on Merida—Famine and pestilence—Retreat—Division of spoil—Ransom—Takes St. Pedro—Burns Veragua—Wrecked in the Gulf of Honduras—Attacked by Indians—Killed and eaten by the savages 188

CHAPTER VI.—ALEXANDRE BRAS DE FER, AND MONTBARS THE EXTERMINATOR.

Bras de Fer compared by French writers to Alexander the Great—His exploits and stratagems—Montbars—Anecdote of his childhood—Goes to sea—His first naval engagement—Joins the Buccaneers—Defeats the Spanish Fifties—His uncle killed—His revenge—Anecdote of the negro vessel—Adam and Anne le Roux plunder Santiago 267

PREFACE.

I claim for this book, at least originality. But this originality, unfortunately, if it attaches interest to an author's labours, adds also to his responsibilities.

The history of the Buccaneers has hitherto remained unwritten. Three or four forgotten volumes contain literally all that is recorded of the wars and conquests of these extraordinary men. Of these volumes two are French, one Dutch, and one in English. The majority of our readers, therefore, it is probable, know nothing more of the freebooters but their name, confound them with the mere pirates of two centuries later, and derive their knowledge of their manners from those dozen lines of the Abbé Reynal, that have been transferred from historian to historian, and from writer to writer, for the last two centuries.

The chief records of Buccaneer adventurers are drawn literally from only three books. The first of these is Œxmelin's Histoire des Aventuriers. 12mo. Paris, 1688. Œxmelin was a Frenchman, who went out to St. Domingo as a planter's apprentice or engagé, and eventually became surgeon in the Buccaneer fleet—knew Lolonnois, and accompanied Sir Henry Morgan to Panama.

The second is Esquemeling's Zee Roovers. Amsterdam. 4to. 1684.—A book constantly mistaken by booksellers and in catalogues for Œxmelin. Esquemeling was a Dutch engagé at St. Domingo, and his book is an English translation from the Dutch. The writer appears of humbler birth than Œxmelin, but served also at Panama.

The third is Ringrose's History of the Cruises of Sharpe, &c. This man, who served with Dampier, seems to have been an ignorant sailor, and a mere log-keeper.

The fourth is Ravenau de Lussan's Narrative.