SOME FAMOUS BUCCANEERS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1957, 27 August 1891, Page 36

SOME FAMOUS BUCCANEERS.

A writer in the New York Times remarks that the buccaneers of the Spanish Main performed brilliant exploits, and robbed and plundered merchantmen and cities of countless wealth, which may have been cached along the coast or spent in other countries. Morgan, in his memorable capture of Panama, loaded his men with spoils ; and from his piracies up to the time he was knighted by Charles II and made Deputygovernor of Jamaica, he had accumulated for himself nearly 4,000,0C0d01. Though the stories of Captain Kidd's fabulous hidden stores and the wealth of jewels buried by Ned Low may be fictitious, the fact still remains that silver and gold were buried along the Spanish Main in large and small quantities by the roving pirates of the coast. The principle which bound the early buccaneers together was their hatred of the Spaniards and a spirit of greed and adventure.

ORIGIN OF THE WOBD.

On the little island of Tortuga de Mar, a Spanish colony of simple fishermen and cultivators of the soil settled away back in the opening decadss of the seventeenth century. Scarcely had they become thoroughly established in their new home when a band of Frenchmen settled on the coast and began to slaughter and "boucan" beeves. As the island lay directly in the path of European vessels bound from Mexico ports, the Frenchmen found a ready market for their jerked, salted, and dried beeves. The work became 60 profitable that the Frenoh swarmed to the

place, and boucanning beef was the easiest and surest way of making a fortune.

WIPING OUT A SPANISH SETTLEMENT.

But the Spanish settlers became jealous of their successful neighbours, and on December 1, 1633, they descended headlong upon the camps of the Frenchmen, and massacred them by the dozen. The surviving members of the ill-fated camps collected in the Hispaniola coast glades and formed aleague of the strangest kiDd. The league was divided into couples, and were to live and work and fight together. This imperishable brotherhood determined to avenge the Tortugan massacre, and one night they landed before ,the Spanish colony, and completely wiped it out of existence.

THE EISE OB 1 THE BUCOANEEBS.

A carnival of butchery followed, and the boucanning hunters revelled in the good things of food and drink which they captured. They established themselves on the Island of Tortuga once more, and turbulent spirits from other latitudes followed them, until the trade between the boucanneers and the passing "vessels became so large that it attracted universal attention. One Pierre la Gros, of Dieppe, a strong, bulldog sort of a Frenchman, drifted to the island, and, with 27 followers, took possession of a Tortngan sloop. With this craft they started out to prey upon the passing Spanish galleons trading between the new world and Cadiz and Barcelona. This was plain piracy, and it was the beginning of that unlawful practice which soon spread over the waters of two oceans. They captured a good Spanish galleon, and, after " marooning " the captain and crew on a solitary Caribbean cay, they sailed the stolen vessel to Havana, where they disposed of a rich cargo of pearl, silks, and merchandise. The result of tbis exploit on the high seas was that every Tortugan wanted to go •• a buccanning " for galleons, and in a short time sloops and brigs were fitted out on the island to prey upon the Spanish commerce. From this time onward the buccaneers made their power felt on the waters of the Spanish Main, and as others flocked to their standard their name became a terror to all Spanish seamen. The business of piracy was recognised as a legitimate one for a time, and the buccaneers were employed by the English and French Governments to accomplish objects which their own forces could not well do.