History of the Buccaneers of America Part 7

[Sidenote: One of them killed by the Buccaneers.] The s.h.i.+p's boat rowed in pursuit, and the natives, a man, a woman, and a boy, finding their boat would be overtaken, all leapt overboard and swam towards sh.o.r.e. This villainous crew of Buccaneers had the barbarity to shoot at them in the water, and they shot the man dead; the woman made her escape to land; the boy, a stout lad about eighteen years of age, was taken, and with the Indian boat, was carried to the s.h.i.+p.

The poor lad thus made prisoner had only a small covering of seal skin.

'He was squint-eyed, and his hair was cut short. The _doree_, or boat, in which he and the other Indians were, was built sharp at each end and flat bottomed: in the middle they had a fire burning for dressing victuals, or other use. They had a net to catch penguins, a club like to our bandies, and wooden darts. This young Indian appeared by his actions to be very innocent and foolish. He could open large muscles with his fingers, which our Buccaneers could scarcely manage with their knives. He was very wild, and would eat raw flesh.'

[Sidenote: November.] By the beginning of November the rudder was repaired and hung. Ringrose says, 'we could perceive, now the stormy weather was blown over, much small fry of fish about the s.h.i.+p, whereof before we saw none. The weather began to be warm, or rather hot, and the birds, as thrushes and blackbirds, to sing as sweetly as those in England.'

[Sidenote: Native of Patagonia carried away.] On the 5th of November, they sailed out of the _English Gulf_, taking with them their young Indian prisoner, to whom they gave the name of Orson. As they departed, the natives on some of the lands to the Eastward made great fires. At six in the evening the s.h.i.+p was without the mouth of the _Gulf_: the wind blew fresh from NW, and they stood out SWbW, to keep clear of breakers which lie four leagues without the entrance of the _Gulf_ to the South and SSE.

Many reefs and rocks were seen hereabouts, on account of which, they kept close to the wind till they were a good distance clear of the land.

Their navigation from here to the _Atlantic_ was, more than could have been imagined, like the journey of travellers by night in a strange country without a guide. The weather was stormy, and they would not venture to steer in for the _Strait of Magalhanes_, which they had purposed to do for the benefit of the provision which the sh.o.r.es of the _Strait_ afford of fresh water, fish, vegetables, and wood. They ran to the South to go round the _Tierra del Fuego_, having the wind from the NW, which was the most favourable for this navigation; but they frequently lay to, because the weather was thick. [Sidenote: Pa.s.sage round Cape Horn.] On the 12th, they had not pa.s.sed the _Tierra del Fuego_. The lat.i.tude according to observation that day was 55 25', and the course they steered was SSE. [Sidenote: 14th. Appearance like Land. Lat.i.tude observed, 57 50'

S.] On the 14th, Ringrose says, 'the lat.i.tude was observed 57 50' S, and on this day we could perceive land, from which at noon we were due West.'

They steered EbS, and expected that at daylight the next morning they should be close in with the land; but the weather became cloudy with much fall of snow, and nothing more of it was seen. No longitude or meridian distance is noticed, and it must remain doubtful whether what they took for land was floating ice; or their observation for the lat.i.tude erroneous, and that they saw the _Isles of Diego Ramirez_.

[Sidenote: Ice Islands.] Three days afterwards, in lat.i.tude 58 30' S, they fell in with Ice Islands, one of which they reckoned to be two leagues in circ.u.mference. A strong current set here Southward. They held on their course Eastward so far that when at length they did sail Northward, they saw neither the _Tierra del Fuego_ nor _Staten Island_.

[Sidenote: December.] December the 5th, they divided the plunder which had been reserved, each man's share of which amounted to 328 pieces of eight.

Their course was now bent for the _West Indies_.

[Sidenote: 1682. January.] January the 15th, died William Stephens, a seaman, whose death was attributed to his having eaten three manchineal apples six months before, when on the coast of _New Spain_, 'from which time he wasted away till he became a perfect skeleton.'

[Sidenote: Arrive in the West Indies.] January the 28th, 1682, they made the Island of _Barbadoes_, but learnt that the Richmond, a British frigate, was lying in the road. Ringrose and his fellow journalists say, 'we having acted in all our voyage without a commission, dared not be so bold as to put in, lest the said frigate should seize us for pyrateering, and strip us of all we had got in the whole voyage.' They next sailed to _Antigua_; but the Governor at that Island, Colonel Codrington, would not give them leave to enter the harbour, though they endeavoured to soften him by sending a present of jewels to his lady, which, however, were not accepted. Sharp and his crew grew impatient at their uneasy situation, and came to a determination to separate. Some of them landed at _Antigua_; Sharp and others landed at _Nevis_, whence they got pa.s.sage to _England_.

Their s.h.i.+p, which was the Trinidad captured in the _Bay of Panama_, was left to seven men of the company who had lost their money by gaming. The Buccaneer journals say nothing of their Patagonian captive Orson after the s.h.i.+p sailed from his country; and what became of the s.h.i.+p after Sharp quitted her does not appear.

[Sidenote: Bart. Sharp and some of his men tried for Piracy.] Bartholomew Sharp, and a few others, on their arrival in _England_, were apprehended, and a Court of Admiralty was held at the _Marshalsea_ in _Southwark_, where, at the instance of the Spanish Amba.s.sador, they were tried for committing acts of piracy in the _South Sea_; but from the defectiveness of the evidence produced, they escaped conviction. One of the princ.i.p.al charges against them was for taking the Spanish s.h.i.+p Rosario, and killing the Captain and another man belonging to her; 'but it was proved,' says the author of the anonymous Narrative, who was one of the men brought to trial, 'that the Spaniards fired at us first and it was judged that we ought to defend ourselves.' Three Buccaneers of Sharp's crew were also tried at _Jamaica_, one of whom was condemned and hanged, 'who,' the narrator says, 'was wheedled into an open confession: the other two stood it out, and escaped for want of witnesses to prove the fact against them.'

Thus terminated what may be called the First Expedition of the Buccaneers in the _South Sea_; the boat excursion by Morgan's men in the _Bay of Panama_ being of too little consequence to be so reckoned. They had now made successful experiment of the route both by sea and land; and the Spaniards in the _South Sea_ had reason to apprehend a speedy renewal of their visits.

Carlos Enriquez Clerck, who went from _England_ with Captain Narbrough, was at this time executed at _Lima_, on a charge of holding correspondence with the English of _Jamaica_; which act of severity probably is attributable more to the alarm which prevailed in the Government of _Peru_, than to any guilty practices of Clerck.

CHAP. XI.

_Disputes between the French Government and their West-India Colonies. =Morgan= becomes Deputy Governor of =Jamaica=. =La Vera Cruz= surprised by the Flibustiers. Other of their Enterprises._

[Sidenote: 1680. Proceedings of the Buccaneers in the West Indies.

Prohibitions against Piracy by the French Government;] Whilst so many of the English Buccaneers were seeking plunder in the _South Sea_, the French Flibustiers had not been inactive in the _West Indies_, notwithstanding that the French government, after the conclusion of the war with _Spain_, issued orders prohibiting the subjects of _France_ in the _West Indies_ from cruising against the Spaniards. A short time before this order arrived, a cruising commission had been given to Granmont, who had thereupon collected men, and made preparation for an expedition to the _Tierra Firma_; and they did not choose that so much pains should be taken to no purpose. The French settlers generally, were at this time much dissatisfied on account of some regulations imposed upon them by the Company of Farmers, whose privileges and authority extended to fixing the price upon growth, the produce of the soil; and which they exercised upon tobacco, the article then most cultivated by the French in _Hispaniola_, rigorously requiring the planters to deliver it to the Company at the price so prescribed. Many of the inhabitants, ill brooking to live under such a system of robbery, made preparations to withdraw to the English and Dutch settlements; but their discontent on this account was much allayed by the Governor writing a remonstrance to the French Minister, and promising them his influence towards obtaining a suppression of the farming tobacco. Fresh cause of discontent soon occurred, by a monopoly of the French African Slave Trade being put into the hands of a new company, which was named the _Senegal_ Company.

[Sidenote: Disregarded by the French Buccaneers.] Granmont and the Flibustiers engaged with him, went to the coast of _c.u.mana_, where they did considerable mischief to the Spaniards, with some loss, and little profit, to themselves.

[Sidenote: 1680-1. Sir Henry Morgan, Deputy Governor of Jamaica. His Severity to the Buccaneers.] In the autumn of this same year, the Earl of Carlisle, who was Governor of _Jamaica_, finding the climate did not agree with his const.i.tution, returned to _England_, and left as his Deputy to govern in _Jamaica_, Morgan, the plunderer of _Panama_, but who was now Sir Henry Morgan. This man had found favour with King Charles II. or with his Ministers, had been knighted, and appointed a Commissioner of the Admiralty Court in _Jamaica_. On becoming Deputy Governor, his administration was far from being favourable to his old a.s.sociates, some of whom suffered the extreme hards.h.i.+p of being tried and hanged under his authority; and one crew of Buccaneers, most of them Englishmen, who fell into his hands, he sent to be delivered up (it may be presumed that he sold them) to the Spaniards at _Carthagena_. Morgan's authority as Governor was terminated the following year, by the arrival of a Governor from _England_[30].

The impositions on planting and commerce in the French settlements, in the same degree that they discouraged cultivation, encouraged cruising, and the Flibustier party so much increased, as to have little danger to apprehend from any Governor's authority. [Sidenote: 1683.] The matter however did not come to issue, for in 1683, war again broke out between _France_ and _Spain_. But before the intelligence arrived in the _West Indies_, 1200 French Flibustiers had a.s.sembled under Van Horn (a native of _Ostend_), Granmont, and another noted Flibustier named Laurent de Graaf, to make an expedition against the Spaniards.

[Sidenote: Van Horn, Granmont, and de Graaf, go against La Vera Cruz.] Van Horn had been a notorious pirate, and for a number of years had plundered generally, without shewing partiality or favour to s.h.i.+ps of one nation more than to those of another. After ama.s.sing great riches, he began to think plain piracy too dangerous an occupation, and determined to reform, which he did by making his peace with the French Governor in _Hispaniola_, and turning Buccaneer or Flibustier, into which fraternity he was admitted on paying entrance.

The expedition which he undertook in conjunction with Granmont and de Graaf, was against _La Vera Cruz_ in the _Gulf of Mexico_, a town which might be considered as the magazine for all the merchandise which pa.s.sed between _New Spain_ and _Old Spain_, and was defended by a fort, said to be impregnable. The Flibustiers sailed for this place with a fleet of ten s.h.i.+ps. They had information that two large Spanish s.h.i.+ps, with cargoes of cacao, were expected at _La Vera Cruz_ from the _Caraccas_; and upon this intelligence, they put in practice the following expedient. [Sidenote: They surprise the Town by Stratagem.] They embarked the greater number of their men on board two of their largest s.h.i.+ps, which, on arriving near _La Vera Cruz_, put aloft Spanish colours, and ran, with all sail set, directly for the port like s.h.i.+ps chased, the rest of the Buccaneer s.h.i.+ps appearing at a distance behind, crowding sail after them. The inhabitants of _La Vera Cruz_ believed the two headmost s.h.i.+ps to be those which were expected from the _Caraccas_; and, as the Flibustiers had contrived that they should not reach the port till after dark, suffered them to enter without offering them molestation, and to anchor close to the town, which they did without being suspected to be enemies. In the middle of the night, the Flibustiers landed, and surprised the fort, which made them masters of the town. The Spaniards of the garrison, and all the inhabitants who fell into their hands, they shut up in the churches, where they were kept three days, and with so little care for their subsistence that several died from thirst, and some by drinking immoderately when water was at length given to them. With the plunder, and what was obtained for ransom of the town, it is said the Flibustiers carried away a million of piastres, besides a number of slaves and prisoners.

Van Horn shorty after died of a wound received in a quarrel with De Graaf.

The s.h.i.+p he had commanded, which mounted fifty guns, was bequeathed by him to Granmont, who a short time before had lost a s.h.i.+p of nearly the same force in a gale of wind.

Some quarrels happened at this time between the French Flibustiers and the English Buccaneers, which are differently related by the English and the French writers. The French account says, that in a Spanish s.h.i.+p captured by the Flibustiers, was found a letter from the Governor of _Jamaica_ addressed to the Governor of the _Havannah_, proposing a union of their force to drive the French from _Hispaniola_. [Sidenote: Story of Granmont and an English s.h.i.+p.] Also, that an English s.h.i.+p of 30 guns came cruising near _Tortuga_, and when the Governor of _Tortuga_ sent a sloop to demand of the English Captain his business there, the Englishman insolently replied, that the sea was alike free to all, and he had no account to render to any one. For this answer, the Governor sent out a s.h.i.+p to take the English s.h.i.+p, but the Governor's s.h.i.+p was roughly treated, and obliged to retire into port. Granmont had just returned from the _La Vera Cruz_ expedition, and the Governor applied to him, to go with his fifty gun s.h.i.+p to revenge the affront put upon their nation. 'Granmont,' says the Narrator, 'accepted the commission joyfully. Three hundred Flibustiers embarked with him in his s.h.i.+p; he found the Englishman proud of his late victory; he immediately grappled with him and put all the English crew to the sword, saving only the Captain, who he carried prisoner to _Cape Francois_.' On the merit of this service, his disobedience to the royal prohibitory order in attacking _La Vera Cruz_ was to pa.s.s with impunity.

The English were not yet sufficiently punished; the account proceeds, 'Our Flibustiers would no longer receive them as partakers in their enterprises, and even confiscated the share they were ent.i.tled to receive for the _La Vera Cruz_ expedition.' Thus the French account.

If the story of demolis.h.i.+ng the English crew is true, the fact is not more absurd than the being vain of such an exploit. If a fifty gun s.h.i.+p will determine to sink a thirty gun s.h.i.+p, the thirty gun s.h.i.+p must in all probability be sunk. The affront given, if it deserves to be called an affront, was not worthy being revenged with a ma.s.sacre. The story is found only in the French histories, the writers of which it may be suspected were moved to make Granmont deal so unmercifully with the English crew, by the kind of feeling which so generally prevails between nations who are near neighbours. To this it may be attributed that Pere Charlevoix, both a good historian and good critic, has adopted the story; but had it been believed by him, he would have related it in a more rational manner, and not with exultation.

English writers mention a disagreement which happened about this time between Granmont and the English Buccaneers, on account of his taking a sloop belonging to _Jamaica_, and forcing the crew to serve under him; but which crew found opportunity to take advantage of some disorder in his s.h.i.+p, and to escape in the night[31]. This seems to have been the whole fact; for an outrage such as is affirmed by the French writers, could not have been committed and have been boasted of by one side, without incurring reproach from the other.

The French Government was highly offended at the insubordination and unmanageableness of the Flibustiers in _Hispaniola_, and no one was more so than the French King, Louis XIV. Towards reducing them to a more orderly state, instructions were sent to the Governors in the _West Indies_ to be strict in making them observe Port regulations; the princ.i.p.al of which were, that all vessels should register their crew and lading before their departure, and also at their return into port; that they should abstain from cruising in times of peace, and should take out regular commissions in times of war; and that they should pay the dues of the crown, one _item_ of which was a tenth of all prizes and plunder.

[Sidenote: Disputes of the French Governors with the Flibustiers of Saint Domingo.] The number of the French Flibustiers in 1684, was estimated to be 3000. The French Government desired to convert them into settlers. A letter written in that year from the French Minister to the Governor General of the French West-India Islands, has this remarkable expression: 'His Majesty esteems nothing more important than to render these vagabonds good inhabitants of _Saint Domingo_.' Such being the disposition of the French Government, it was an oversight that they did not contribute towards so desirable a purpose by making some abatement in the impositions which oppressed and r.e.t.a.r.ded cultivation, which would have conciliated the Colonists, and have been encouragement to the Flibustiers to become planters. But the Colonists still had to struggle against farming the tobacco, which they had in vain attempted to get commuted for some other burthen, and many cultivators of that plant were reduced to indigence. The greediness of the French chartered companies appears in the _Senegal_ Company making it a subject of complaint, that the Flibustiers sold the negroes they took from the Spaniards to whomsoever they pleased, to the prejudice of the interest of the Company. It was unreasonable to expect the Flibustiers would give up their long accustomed modes of gain, sanctioned as they had hitherto been by the acquiescence and countenance of the French Government, and turn planters, under circ.u.mstances discouraging to industry. Their number likewise rendered it necessary to observe mildness and forbearance in the endeavour to reform them; but both the encouragement and the forbearance were neglected; and in consequence of their being made to apprehend rigorous treatment in their own settlements, many removed to the British and Dutch Islands.

The French Flibustiers were unsuccessful at this time in some enterprises they undertook in the _Bay of Campeachy_, where they lost many men: on the other hand, three of their s.h.i.+ps, commanded by De Graaf, Michel le Basque, and another Flibustier named Jonque, engaged and took three Spanish s.h.i.+ps which were sent purposely against them out of _Carthagena_.

CHAP. XII.

_Circ.u.mstances which preceded the Second Irruption of the Buccaneers into the =South Sea=. Buccaneers under =John Cook= sail from =Virginia=; stop at the =Cape de Verde Islands=; at =Sierra Leone=. Origin and History of the Report concerning the supposed Discovery of =Pepys Island=._

The Prohibitions being enforced, determined many, both of the English Buccaneers and of the French Flibustiers, to seek their fortunes in the _South Sea_, where they would be at a distance from the control of any established authority. This determination was not a matter generally concerted. The first example was speedily followed, and a trip to the _South Sea_ in a short time became a prevailing fas.h.i.+on among them.

Expeditions were undertaken by different bodies of men unconnected with each other, except when accident, or the similarity of their pursuits, brought them together.

[Sidenote: Circ.u.mstances preceding the Second Irruption of the Buccaneers into the South Sea.] Among the Buccaneers in the expedition of 1680 to the _South Sea_, who from dislike to Sharp's command returned across the _Isthmus of Darien_ at the same time with Dampier, was one John Cook, who on arriving again in the _West Indies_, entered on board a vessel commanded by a Dutchman of the name of Yanky, which was fitted up as a privateer, and provided with a French commission to cruise against the Spaniards. Cook, being esteemed a capable seaman, was made Quarter-Master, by which t.i.tle, in privateers as well as in buccaneer vessels, the officer next in command to the Captain was called. Cook continued Quarter-Master with Yanky till they took a Spanish s.h.i.+p which was thought well adapted for a cruiser. Cook claimed to have the command of this s.h.i.+p, and, according to the usage among privateers in such cases, she was allotted to him, with a crew composed of men who volunteered to sail with him. Dampier was of the number, as were several others who had returned from the _South Sea_; division was made of the prize goods, and Cook entered on his new command.

[Sidenote: 1683.] This arrangement took place at _Isla Vaca_, or _Isle a Vache_, a small Island near the South coast of _Hispaniola_, which was then much resorted to by both privateers and Buccaneers. It happened at this time, that besides Yanky's s.h.i.+p, some French privateers having legal commissions, were lying at _Avache_, and their Commanders did not contentedly behold men without a commission, and who were but Buccaneers, in the possession of a finer s.h.i.+p than any belonging to themselves who cruised under lawful authority. The occasion being so fair, and remembering what Morgan had done in a case something similar, after short counsel, they joined together, and seized the buccaneer s.h.i.+p, goods, and arms, and turned the crew ash.o.r.e. A fellow-feeling that still existed between the privateers and Buccaneers, and probably a want of hands, induced a Captain Tristian, who commanded one of the privateers, to receive into his s.h.i.+p ten of the Buccaneers to be part of his crew. Among these were Cook, and a Buccaneer afterwards of greater note, named Edward Davis. Tristian sailed to _Pet.i.t Guaves_, where the s.h.i.+p had not been long at anchor, before himself and the greatest part of his men went on sh.o.r.e.

Cook and his companions thought this also a fair occasion, and accordingly they made themselves masters of the s.h.i.+p. Those of Tristian's men who were on board, they turned ash.o.r.e, and immediately taking up the anchors, sailed back close in to the _Isle a Vache_, where, before notice of their exploit reached the Governor, they collected and took on board the remainder of their old company, and sailed away. They had scarcely left the _Isle a Vache_, when they met and captured two vessels, one of which was a s.h.i.+p from _France_ laden with wines. Thinking it unsafe to continue longer in the _West Indies_, they directed their course for _Virginia_, where they arrived with their prizes in April 1683.

[Sidenote: August, 1683. Buccaneers under John Cook sail for the South Sea.] In _Virginia_ they disposed of their prize goods, and two vessels, keeping one with which they proposed to make a voyage to the _South Sea_, and which they named the Revenge. She mounted 18 guns, and the number of adventurers who embarked in her, were about seventy, the major part of them old Buccaneers, some of whose names have since been much noted, as William Dampier, Edward Davis, Lionel Wafer, Ambrose Cowley, and John Cook their Captain. August the 23d, 1683, they sailed from the _Chesapeak_.

Dampier and Cowley have both related their piratical adventures, but with some degree of caution, to prevent bringing upon themselves a charge of piracy. Cowley pretended that he was engaged to sail in the Revenge to navigate her, but was kept in ignorance of the design of the voyage, and made to believe they were bound for the _Island Hispaniola_; and that it was not revealed to him till after they got out to sea, that instead of to the _West Indies_, they were bound to the coast of _Guinea_, there to seek for a better s.h.i.+p, in which they might sail to the _Great South Sea_.

William Dampier, who always shews respect for truth, would not stoop to dissimulation; but he forbears being circ.u.mstantial concerning the outset of this voyage, and the particulars of their proceedings whilst in the _Atlantic_; supplying the chasm in the following general terms; "August the 23d, 1683, we sailed from _Virginia_ under the command of Captain Cook, bound for the _South Seas_. I shall not trouble the reader with an account of every day's run, but hasten to the less known parts of the world."

[Sidenote: Cape de Verde Islands.] Whilst near the coast of _Virginia_ they met a Dutch s.h.i.+p, out of which they took six casks of wine; and other provisions; also two Dutch seamen, who voluntarily entered with them.

[Sidenote: September.] Some time in September they anch.o.r.ed at the _Isle of Sal_, where they procured fish and a few goats, but neither fruits nor good fresh water. Only five men lived on the Island, who were all black; but they called themselves Portuguese, and one was styled the Governor.

[Sidenote: Ambergris.] These Portuguese exchanged a lump of ambergris, or what was supposed to be ambergris, for old clothes. Dampier says, 'not a man in the s.h.i.+p knew ambergris, but I have since seen it in other places, and am certain this was not the right; it was of a dark colour, like sheep's dung, very soft, but of no smell; and possibly was goat's dung.

Some I afterwards saw sold at the _Nicobars_ in the _East Indies_, was of lighter colour, and very hard, neither had that any smell, and I suppose was also a cheat. Mr. Hill, a surgeon, once shewed me a piece of ambergris, and related to me, that one Mr. Benjamin Barker, a man I have been long well acquainted with, and know to be a very sober and credible person, told this Mr. Hill, that being in the _Bay of Honduras_, he found in a sandy bay upon the sh.o.r.e of an Island, a lump of ambergris so large, that when carried to _Jamaica_, it was found to weigh upwards of 100 _lbs._ When he found it, it lay dry above the mark of the sea at high water, and in it were a great mult.i.tude of beetles. It was of a dusky colour, towards black, about the hardness of mellow cheese, and of a very fragrant smell. What Mr. Hill shewed me was some of it, which Mr. Barker had given him[32].'

[Sidenote: The Flamingo.] There were wild-fowl at _Sal_; and Flamingos, of which, and their manner of building their nests, Dampier has given a description. The flesh of the Flamingo is lean and black, yet good meat, 'tasting neither fishy nor any way unsavory. A dish of Flamingos' tongues is fit for a Prince's table: they are large, and have a k.n.o.b of fat at the root which is an excellent bit. When many of them stand together, at a distance they appear like a brick wall; for their feathers are of the colour of new red brick, and, except when feeding, they commonly stand upright, exactly in a row close by each other.'

[Sidenote: Cape de Verde Islands.] From the Isle of _Sal_ they went to other of the _Cape de Verde Islands_. At _St. Nicholas_ they watered the s.h.i.+p by digging wells, and at _Mayo_ they procured some provisions. They afterwards sailed to the Island _St. Jago_, but a Dutch s.h.i.+p was lying at anchor in _Port Praya_, which fired her guns at them as soon as they came within reach of shot, and the Buccaneers thought it prudent to stand out again to sea.

[Sidenote: November. Coast of Guinea.] They next sailed to the coast of _Guinea_, which they made in the beginning of November, near _Sierra Leone_. A large s.h.i.+p was at anchor in the road, which proved to be a Dane.

On sight of her, and all the time they were standing into the road, all the Buccaneer crew, except a few men to manage the sails, kept under deck; which gave their s.h.i.+p the appearance of being a weakly manned merchant-vessel. When they drew near the Danish s.h.i.+p, which they did with intention to board her, the Buccaneer Commander, to prevent suspicion, gave direction in a loud voice to the steersman to put the helm one way; and, according to the plan preconcerted, the steersman put it the contrary, so that their vessel seemed to fall on board the Dane through mistake. By this stratagem, they surprised, and, with the loss of five men, became masters of a s.h.i.+p mounting 36 guns, which was victualled and stored for a long voyage. This achievement is related circ.u.mstantially in Cowley's ma.n.u.script Journal[33]; but in his published account he only says, 'near Cape _Sierra Leone_, we alighted on a new s.h.i.+p of 40 guns, which we boarded and carried her away.'

[Sidenote: Sherborough River.] They went with their prize to a river South of the _Sierra Leone_, called the _Sherborough_, to which they were safely piloted through channels among shoals, by one of the crew who had been there before. At the River _Sherborough_ there was then an English factory, but distant from where they anch.o.r.ed. Near them was a large town inhabited by negroes, who traded freely, selling them rice, fowls, plantains, sugar-canes, palm-wine, and honey. The town was skreened from s.h.i.+pping by a grove of trees.