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

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

Or, Adventures of the Buccaneers

Author: Walter Thornbury

Release Date: January 21, 2012 [eBook #38632]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1

***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MONARCHS OF THE MAIN, VOLUME II (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
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the Google Books Library Project
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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. II.

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. II.

CHAPTER I.—SIR HENRY MORGAN.

Son of a Welsh farmer—Runs to sea—Turns Buccaneer—Joins Mansvelt and takes the Island of St. Catherine—Mansvelt dies—St. Catherine re-taken by the Spaniards—Morgan takes Port au Prince—Quarrel of French and English adventurers about a marrow-bone—Takes Porto Bello—Captures Le Cerf Volant, a French vessel—It blows up—Takes Maracaibo—-City deserted—Tortures an Idiot beggar—Le Picard, his guide—Takes Gibraltar—Also deserted—Tortures the citizens—With a Fire-ship destroys the Spanish fleet and repasses the bar—Escapes the fort by a stratagem—The Rancheria expedition—Sails for Panama—Captain Bradley takes the Castle of Chagres—Anecdote of a wounded Buccaneer 1

CHAPTER II.—CONQUEST OF PANAMA.

March from Chagres over the Isthmus—Famine—Ambuscades of Indians—Wild bulls driven down upon them—Victory in the Savannah—Battle of the Forts—Takes the city—Burns part of it—Cruelties—Revels—Virtue of the Spanish prisoner, and her sufferings—Retreats with prisoners—Ransom—Divisions of booty—Treason of Morgan—Escapes by night to Jamaica—Dispersion of his fleet—Morgan's subsequent fate 125

CHAPTER III.—THE COMPANIONS AND SUCCESSORS OF MORGAN.

Œxmelin's interview with the old Buccaneer—Adventure with Indians—Esquemeling's escapes—D'Ogeron's escape from the Spaniards—Buccaneers' fight in Tobago against the Dutch—Captain Cook captures a Spanish vessel—Captains Coxen and Sharp begin their cruise 189

CHAPTER IV.—THE CRUISES OF SAWKINS AND SHARP.

The South sea now visited—Buccaneers land at Darien—March overland—Take Santa Maria—Sail to Panama—Ringrose is wrecked—Failure of Expedition—Driven off by Spanish fleet—Partial victory—Coxen accused of cowardice—Sharp elected commander, deposed—Plunder Hillo and take La Serena—Take Arica—Sharp re-elected—Retreat with difficulty—Conspiracy of the prisoners—Land at Antigua—Return to England—Sharp's trial for piracy—Seizes a French ship in the Downs—Returns to Jamaica 215

CHAPTER V.—DAMPIER'S VOYAGES.

Dampier leaves Captain Sharp—Land march over the Isthmus—Joins Captain Wright—Wreck of D'Estrèes and the French fleet—Returns to England—Second voyage—With Captain Cook—Guinea coast—Visits Juan Fernandez—Takes Ampalla—Plunders Paita—Scheme for working the Spanish mines—Attacks Manilla Galleon—Captain Swan—Dampier's death unknown—Van Horn, a Dutch sailor—Entraps the Galleons—Takes Vera Cruz—Killed in a duel with De Graff—His Dress 277

MONARCHS OF THE MAIN.

CHAPTER I.
SIR HENRY MORGAN.

Son of a farmer—Runs to sea—Turns Buccaneer—Joins Mansvelt, and takes the Island of St. Catherine—Mansvelt dies—St. Catherine retaken by the Spaniards—Takes Port-au-Prince—Quarrel of French and English Buccaneers about a marrow-bone—Takes Porto Bello—Captures Le Cerf Volant, a French vessel—It blows up—Takes Maracaibo—City deserted—Tortures an Idiot—Le Picard—Storms Gibraltar—Also deserted—Tortures the Citizens—With a Fire-ship destroys Spanish fleet, and repasses the Bar—Escapes by stratagem—Rancheria expedition—Sails for Panama—Captain Bradley takes the Castle of Chagres—Anecdote of wounded Buccaneer.

Morgan's campaigns furnish one of the amplest chapters of Buccaneer history. Equally daring, but less cruel than Lolonnois, less fanatical than Montbars, and less generous and honest than De Lussan or Sharp, he appears to have been the only freebooting leader who obtained any formal recognition from the English government. From an old pamphlet, we find, that the expedition to Panama was undertaken under the commission and with the full approbation of the English governor of Jamaica.

Sir Henry Morgan was the son of a Welsh farmer, of easy circumstances, "as most who bear that name in Wales are known to be," says Esquemeling, his Dutch historian. Taking an early dislike to the monotonous, unadventurous life of his father's house, he ran away from home, and, coming to the coast, turned sailor, and went to sea.

Embarking on board a vessel bound for Barbadoes, that lay with several others in the port, he engaged himself in the usual way to a