WILL IAM D A MP IE B

L W I CLA RK RUS SE L

5 MIt‘ll1m

AND N E W Y OR K

1 8 9: . 8

CONTE NT S

C H A P TE R I

— THE BuccA NE E Rs NAVIGAT ION IN THE SEVE NTEE NTH — CEN TURY FE A T URE S OF TH E VOCAT IONAL LIF E OF

THE EARLY MARINE R

C H A P T E R II

’ DA MP IE R S EA RL Y LIFE CA MPE CHE HE — B-U E 2 CCA NE RS , 1 65 1 681

CH A P T E R:

’ — DA MP IE R s FIRST VOYAG E ROUND TH E W ORLD , 1 681 1 691

CH A P T E R

— ROE BUCK , 1 699 1 701

C H A P T E R V

! ST GE GE 1 02—1 - TH E VOYAGE OF THE . oR , 7 706 7

C H A P TE R I

THE BUCCA NEERS— NA VIGA TION IN THE SEVENTEENTH

CE NTURY— FEA TURES OF THE VOCA TIONA L L IFE OF

THE EA RLY MA RINER

IN or about the m iddle of the seventeenth century the D H island of San omingo, or ispaniola as it was then called, was haunted and overrun by a singular com

i . mun ty of savage, surly, fierce, and filthy men They

o o were chiefly composed of French c l nists, whose ranks had from time to time been enlarged by liberal contri butions from the slums and alleys of more than one

Eur opean city and town . These people went dressed

r in shi ts and pantaloons of coarse linen cloth, which they steeped in the blood of the animals they slaughtered.

They wore round caps, boots of hogskin drawn over

n f their aked eet, and belts of raw hide, in which they stuck their sabres and knives. They also armed them

r el ocks selves with fi which threw a couple of balls, each n weighing two ou ces. The places where they dried

bouccm s and salted their meat were called , and from this b ucaniers term they came to be styled , or buccaneers, as we spell it. They were hunters by trade, and savages 32 B 2 WIL LIA M D A MP IE R CHA P .

a a in their habits. They ch sed and sl ughtered horned t cattle and trafficked with the flesh, and their favouri e food was raw marrow from the bones of the beasts which they shot. They ate and slept on the ground, their

and table was a stone, their bolster the trunk of a tree, their roof the hot and sparkling heavens of the A ntilles .

But wild as they were they were at least peaceful . It s a is not clear that at thi st ge, at all events, they were in any way associated with the freebooters or rovers who i s were now worrying the Span ard in those seas. Their f was ass dl tra fic was entirelyinnocent, and it ure ythe policy

' of the D on to sufier them to continue shooting the wild

. Unf or tunatel for cattlewithout molestation y themselves, the Spaniards grew jealous of them. They regarded the W est Indies and the continent of South A merica as their own, and the presence of the foreigner was

. intolerable They made war against the buccaneers, in vow g expulsion or extermination . Both sides fought

fiercely. The Spaniard had discipline and training ; on u the other hand, the b ccaneer had the art of levelling as

a as - de dly a piece the Transvaal Boer of to day. The struggle was long and cruel ; the Spaniards eventually

San D conquered, and the hunters, quitting omingo, sought refuge in the adjacent islands . In spite of their defeat, troops of the buccaneers contrived from time to time to pass over into San D omingo from their head in quarters Tortuga, where they hunted as before, and brought away with them as much cattle as sufficed them

. to trade with The Spaniards lay in ambush, and shot the stragglers as they swept past in chase ; but this sort a in of warf re prov g of no avail, it was finally resolved to cattle r slaughter the whole of the th oughout the island, TH E B UCCA IVE E RS 3 that the buccaneers should b e starved into leaving once No ul and for good . act co d have been rasher and more

. n impolitic The hunters fi ding their occupation gone , e went over to the freeboot rs, and as pirates, as their m history shows, in a short ti e abundantly avenged their indisputable wrongs. Novelists and poets have found something fascinating

in the story of the buccaneers . The light of romance

r x the colours thei e ploits, and even upon maturest gaze there will linger something of the radiance with which the ardent imagination of boyhood gilds the

- t actions and persons of those fierce sea warriors . I is n unhappily true, evertheless, that the buccaneers were a

r ofli ate . race of treacherous, cruel, and p g miscreants l Their name was at a ater date given to, or appro

riated D p by, such men as Clipperton, Cowley, ampier, s R Shel vocke W oode ogers, and , whose behaviour as mi i l as ene es, whose sk l and heroism seamen, and whose

discoveries as navigators, greatly lightened the blackness ut S of the old traditions. B the buccaneers of the panish M — n al ain, the men who are the pri cip figures in the

annals of the freebooters, the people whose lives are contained in such narratives as those of Joseph Exque

D e L D e M meling, ussan, ontauban, Captain Charles ’ Von Ar chenholtz s Johnson, in brief but excellent history, — u ruffians and in other works, were rog es and without ll parallel in the history of vi ainy. They owned indeed r li r many extraordina y qua ties, which, exe ted in honest

fields of action, might have been deemed virtues of a hi high kind . Their courage was great, their ac evements s wonderful, their fortitude worthy of noble cau es, their N capacity of endurance unrivalled in sea. story. o skil 4 WILLIAM D A MP IE R CH A P.

fuller body of seamen were ever afloat. But their his

Olonois or tory is loathsome for the cruelties it relates .

L olonois Braziliano M Le G , , organ, Bat, rand, and others e famous as pirat s, were monsters whose like is nowhere to be matched . The relation of their sailings and land

m ar chin s ul illa in s ings and g , their assa ts, p g g , defeats, and triumphs, is a sickening narrative of barbarities ; but d w it must be a mitted, coupled ith extraordinary examples of o of courage in s me instances absolutely sublime, and unconquerable resolution. It was inevitable that the successes of these pirates d shoul prove a temptation to English seafaring men . Small vessels were fitted out in British ports or the for W I d Colonies, and sailed the est n ian Seas to pill age the Spaniard wherever he might be found on land or

. Of H water ten it happened, as arris, the editor of a n voluminous collectio of voyages, tells us, that crews were embarked and pilots engaged without being apprised “ o of the object of the v yage, and nothing was said about the true design until they were at sea, where they ” 1 o !the captains) were abs lute masters . To this order belongs that race of English buccaneers of whom D ampier

may be advanced as the most conspicuous example.

- They possessed all the high spirited qualities, the daring, the courage, the endurance of the Morgans and Bats Brazilianos and , but they were seldom or never wantonly u d d cr el they burne , they sacke , as freely as the others they pillaged churches with as little compunction poverty and sickness pleaded to them in vain when, firelocks fireb rands with in one hand and in the other, they thundered through the deserted street and marked

“ ’ 1 Harris s ll Co ection, Cowl e s Vo a e vol y y g , . i. 1 748 .

6 WIL LIA M D A MP /E R CHA P.

’ Centurion s It is there recorded that the consort, the

Gl t on n 21 st ouces er, was descried Ju e from the island of Juan Fernandez some eight or ten miles to lee

i hin o . ward, beat ng or reac g int the bay The weather a r ds thickened and she disappeared. Five d ys afte war

for o she again hove in sight, and a wh le fortnight she a was stretching aw y first on one, then on the other a i ff t ck, in va n e ort to reach the island ; nor was it

23rd h until July t at she was able to enter the bay,

the i and then only because wind had sh fted, and per m itted her to head for her destination with a flowing i h sheet. Thus for above a month was th s s ip striving to get to Windward and traverse three leagues on a taut bowline !

The old vessels were cumbrously rigged. At the head of their lower masts they carried huge round tops as big as a ballroom. Forward their bowsprit was encumbered with massive spritsail and sprit - topsail yards . Their sides were loaded with great channels em b ellished with enormous dead- eyes for setting up shrouds as thick as hawsers . They seldom exposed canvas above

r t i to all antr s thei opsa ls, though the pg ail had long been introduced, as we know by a passage in Sir W alter ’ l r m Raleigh s Remains . Thei ste s were high and pink

o - shaped that is, br ad at the water line and narrow

' tafl rail ing at the . They were built with deck upon

f - deck in the a ter part, the topmost being called the — topgallant dec by the English, and the poop- r oyal by the French and Spaniards ; with the consequence

o dee waiste that they were danger usly p d, though with

of aft their extraordinary height side they floated, to

1 A Discourse the First Invention o Shi s of f p , p. 7. Ed. 1 700. TH E IR S H IP S 7

. A s if o the eye, like castles this were not en ugh, the structure where it was loftiest was crowned with enor “ mous poop- lanthorns of a size to hold wind enough to last a D utchman a week 1” Structures thus shaped— the length rarely exceeding — three times the beam and propelled by low- seated

h n - and canvas, could do little or not ing agai st head winds seas ; and as a result the old narrators are repeatedly

ha ll tr — in telling us that they were forced to , or y, other t o i words, heave their sh p to, often in breezes in which a sailing vessel of tod ay would expose a tOpgall ant sail

- A u over a single reefed topsail . succession of favo rable gal es woul d indeed put life into the clum sy waggons and i wi r furn sh them th some so t of despatch, but as a rule the pas sage that is now m ade in sixty days was hardly h completed b y the early navigators in a twelvemont . It Their ships were unsheathed . is true that Sebastian Cab ot caused the ships un der the command of Sir Hugh lVilloughb y to be protected with thin sheets of lead to “ guard against the worm which many times pearceth ” 1 and eateth through the strongest c ake ; b ut I cannot m d discover that this exa ple was continue , and it is at leas t certain that the vessels comman ded by D ampier and his buccaneering companions breasted the surge with no other coating on their bottoms than pitch and

H all o was f tallow. ence in l ng voyages there requent l occasion to careen, practicable on y by tedious deviation

1 here is also a referen e to sheathin in n i. 243 . T Ha ckl yt , c g ’ in ur chas v ol . iv . . 1 387 . Sir Richard Hawkins s Observations P , p heath In 1 673 an order was issued b y the L ord High A dm iral to s t on Sir ohn Nar b orou h som e of th e ships of war with l ead b u J g w r ob ectin to it the ractice was discon a few yea rs after a ds j g , p ’ — a va l Chr onol o v ol . i. 75 . tinned S ee Schom b erg s N gy, 8 WIL L IA M D A MP IE R CH A P .

of in search a convenient place, and by wearisome t e de ention, that the hull might be list d over and the m d A accumulation of shells and weed re ove . nother formidable diffi culty lay in the scurvy. This is a dis

us b ut temper still with , in those days it was incredibly f Few ateful . ships from Europe managed to pass the

H f - ornwithout the loss of hal , and often two thirds, of their “ ” crews from this dreadful scourge. The chirurgeons

r could do nothing . There was no remedy but to b ing up off some fruitful coast and send the men ashore. W henever practicable this was done ; but often it happened that the ship’s company were dying in fives

da and tens every y, with the vessel herself a thousand i miles out upon the ocean . The old nav gators overdid

o their pickling . The brine they s aked their meat in made it harder and less nourishing than mahogany before

out f they were of the English Channel . O all the wonders of the early voyages none surprises me so much as the capacity of the people to subsist upon the victuals shipped for them . ’ In Dampfer s time navigation as an art had scarcely made a stride since the days of Columbus and the P s ortuguese discoverers . The instrument for measuring ’ d the sun s altitu e were the astrolabe, the cross or fore ’ ff D b acksta — sta , and avis s fi engines for mensuration

‘ d o lu icr usly primitive, as will be supposed when viewed

i - s de by side with the sextant of to day . The mariner made shift wi th these contrivances to determine his d latitu e within a degree or two, but he had no means of

ai his . ascert ning longitude There were no chronometers, G there was no portable reenwich time, no aids whatever towards the solution of what was regarded down to the THE IR S YS TE M OF NA VI GA TI ON 9

days of Maskelyne and th e Commissioners of L ongitude as the greatest marine problem that ever perplexed the A mind . pparently the old practice was to run down the parallels and then make dir ect casting or westing “ Or for the desired destination. they took a departur e,

al an as it was c led, from y point of land, and calcul ated the m Or eridians by the log. , as an alternative, the early

- i as l navigators employed dead reckon ng, we stil practise it— f ’ that is, they ound out a vessel s place on the chart by putting down her rate of sailing as it was to be ” u “ ascertained at reg lar intervals by heaving the log, l diff and by a lowing for leeway and erence of courses. ’ In Captain Thomas James s Strange a nd D angerous 1 Voyage in the yea rs 1 63 1 - 3 2 there is included a list of the instruments provided by him for his undertaking

- to discover the north west passage into the South Sea. A few of the items wil l furnish the reader with a toler able idea of the prim itive character of the nautical implements with which the mariner in the days of D m James, and later yet in the days of ampier, e barked on his voyages into the remotest parts of the world in

f am quest of new lands or in search o short cuts . J es “ begins the list with a quadrant of old- seasoned pear i tree wood, artificially made and w th all care possible

di . It divided with agonals, even to minutes was a four “ - N : A n al foot at least !semi diameter) . ext equilater

fiv e - f triangle of light wood, whose radius was oot at ’ ” as P etiscus s of s . le t, and divided out of table tangent

“ ‘ A quadrant of two foot semi- diameter of light wood ” “ o for and with like care projected. Then F ur staves

' 1 ctions o a es a nd Tra vels Pr eser ved in Chur chill s Colle of V y g ,

o ii. 1 704 , v l. CR A P 1 0 WILLIAM D A MP IE R .

” taking altitudes and distances in the heavens . The “ ff f - captain also took with him a sta o seven feet long, whose transom was four- foot divided into equal parts by way of diagonals that all the figures in a radius of ” A might be taken out actually. nother of six foot near as convenient and in that manner to be used . ’ ’ Mr - . G ff unter s cross sta , three Jacob s staves projected after a new manner and truly divided after the table of M ’ k r. D b ac staves tangents, two of avis s with like care ” ’ in stru made and divided . These were the captain s O ments for measuring the height of the sun. ther items “ comprised six meridian compasses ingeniously made ; four needles in square boxes four special needles ! which Mr M M A r . my good friends . llen and arre gave me) of

te toucht six inches diame r, and curiously with the best loadstone in England ; a loadstone to refresh any of

for these if occasion were, whose poles were marked fear ”

. c of mistaking Further, Captain James carried a wat h “ - clock, a table every day calculated, correspondent to ’ M G n the latitude according to r. u ter s directions in his book, the better to keep our time and our compass to f u o . A j dge our course chestful of mathematical books, “ of P Hacklu t the Collections urchas and y , and two pair ” of curious globes . Such was the scientific equipment of a man bound P 1 632 on a olar voyage in the year . It is not to b e supposed that such mariners as Dampier and his buccaneering associates went half as well furnished. Indeed their poverty in this direction was so great that one may read here and there of their employing their leisure on shipboard in making quadrants to replace

. N R those which were lost or worn out Their orie, aper, P RIMI TI VE A P P L IA N CE S I I and Nautical A lman ac in one was the crude Sp eculum Nauticum W En lish of agener, made g by An thony As hley 1 5 88 ni in , and u versally kn own by the seamen in those l as lVa oncr w days gg . Sir Thomas Browne, riting

1 664 offi in to his son Thomas, a naval cer, says, Wa oner i l wi w gg you w l not be thout, which ill teach st the particular coa s, depths of roades, and how the land ” se It ri th upon the several points of the compass. will ’ not be supposed that lVaggoneo s instructions were very

r un trustworthy . The art of su veying was scarcely ’ derstood charts even in D am pier s time were absur dly ill - d e s igest d, and portion of the world are barely recog nisab le in the grotesque tracings. Therefore it happened that the early mariner was forced to depend upon his own judgment an d exper ience to a degree scarce r eal is able in these days of exact science and matured inven

H e n s n tions . hardly u der tood what was sig ified by the

th an d i variation of e compass, there was very l ttle outside the Pole Star that was not doubtful. But happily for him there was no obligation of hurry. There was no P managing owner to worry him. rompt despatch was

- His was no condition of the charter party. the day of ambling, and he was happy if he could confirm with his

- his lead and log line the reckonings he arrived at with

' for estafl . It is proper to remember all these conditions of the

W D . sea- vocation in reviewing the life of illiam ampier

The habit of self- reliance makes the character of the

“ ” f heir own. One was 1 The b uccan eers had W aggoners o t il Rin r ose who call ed it the S outh S ea IVaggoner com pil ed b y Bas g , her b Ca tain Ha k the author of a History ! cir ca A not y p c , m a was ub lished in or ab ou 1 690. qf the E m , p t r2 WILLIA M D A MP IE R CHA P.

- sea worthies of his age admirable, and it qualified them for their great undertakings and achievements . They were helped with nothing from science that can be

to mentioned with gravity. The ocean was them as ’ ’ o the landsm an s blank as it lo ks to eye, and it was their business to find out the roads to the wonders and mysteries which lay hidden leagues down behind its f If amiliar shining line. a sailor nowadays is at fault he can seek and find the hints and assurances he desires He A in twenty directions. has dmiralty charts of

u He - incomparable acc racy. has a deep sea lead with which he can feel the ground whilst his ship moves w through the ater at fourteen knots an hour . He has instruments for indicating the angle to which his vessel

o rolls, and for sh wing him instantly her trim as she sits

. He upon the water has a dial that registers on deck, under his eye, the number of miles his ship has made

o since any h ur he chooses to time her from . His chronometer may be accepted as among the most perfect of D examples human skill. ampier and such as he wanted all these adjuncts to their calling. But it cannot be disputed that they were the better sailors for the of very poverty their equipment in this way. It forced u own pon them faith in nothing but their observation, so that there never was a race of sailors who kept their eyes wider Open and examined more closely those points o d which have l ng since sli ed into the dull prosaics of d No f the eep . one can ollow them without wonder and

. W e find admiration them in crafts of forty, twenty, — - — even ten tons boats half decked and undecked explor f N P ing the rozen silence of the orth ole, beating to the H westward against the fierce surge of the orn, seeking x4 WILLIA M D A MP IE R CRA P . I on a voyage into distant parts without a mind prepared Al us for marvels of many sorts . so let remember the s was shadowiness of the globe whose ocean he to navigate, the vagueness of countries now as well known to us as A i was our own island home. ustral a rising upon the gaze of the world like a new moon, the greater part of whose disk lies in black sh adow. Islands which now r l w have their newspapers and thei hote s ere uncharted, were less real than the white shoul ders of clouds dipping

'

- ri upon the sea line. Of count es whose coast had been r s sighted, but whose interiors we e unknown, wild gue ses at the wonders within resul ted in hair- stirring imagina tions . These and more than there is room to nam e are ’ conditions of the early mariner s vocational life, which we must take care to bear in mind as we accompany m him in his adventures, or certainly we shall fail to co of u pass the full significance his magnificent resol tion, his incomparable spirit, and his admirable intrepidity. C HA P T E R II

1 65 2 - 1 68 1

’ D AMP IE R S EARLY LIFE — CAMPE CHfi— HE JOINS THE

BUCCA NEERS

’ THERE is an account of D am pier s early life written by n himself in the seco d volume of his Travels . I do not know that anything is to be added to what he there tells

A m an us . should be accepted as an authority on his own career when it comes to a question of dates and ’ e adventures . The int rest of this sailor s life really begins with his own account of his first voyage round the world and though he is a very conspicuous figure in English hi maritime story, the position he occupies scarcely de mands the curious and minute inquiry into those parts of his career on which he is silent that we shoul d bestow on the life of a great genius. \Villiam D ampier was born at East Coker in the year a f 1 65 2. His parents intended him for a commerci l li e, but the idea of shopkeeping was little likely to suit the genius of a lad who was a rover in heart whilst he was still in petticoats 5 and on the death of his father and him l mother his fri ends, finding bent upon an ocean ife, bound him apprentice to the master of a ship belonging

1 669. to W eymouth. This was in or about the year I6 WILL IA M D A MP IE R CR A P .

W ith this captain he made a short voyage to France, and afterwards proceeded to Newfoun dland in the same

of ship, being then, as he tells us, about eighteen years N d d age. The bitter cold of ewfoundlan prove too much f s for his sea aring resolution , and, procuring the cancella tion of his indentures, he went home to his friends. But ld w L the o instinct as not to be curbed. Being in ondon N some time after his return from the ewfoundlandvoyage, he heard of an outward- bound East Indiaman named the John and Martha , the master of which was one Earning. “ ui The idea of what he calls a warm voyage s ted him.

He ff o ered himself as a foremast hand and was accepted .

The voyage was to Bantam, and he was away rather longer than a year, during which time he says he kept

o o no j urnal, th ugh he enlarged his knowledge of naviga D tion . The outbreak of the utch war seems to have determined him to stay at home, and he spent the ’ summer of the year 1 672 at his brother s house in

. He Somersetshire soon grew weary of the shore, and Ro al P rince enlisted on board the y , commanded by the 1 famous Sir Edward Spragge, under whom he served dur 1 6 He f ing a part of the year 73 . ought in two engage f ments, and then alling sick a day or two before the action A 1 1 th h in which Sir Edward lost his life ! ugust ), e was sent on board the hospital ship, whence he was removed H to Harwich . ere he lingered for a great while in suffer

’ ing, and at last, to recover his health, went to his brother s A s house. he gained strength so did his longing for the

His sea increase upon him. inclination was soon to be for humoured, there lived near his brother one Colonel H D ellier, who, taking a fancy to ampier, offered him the

1 Dam ier call s him S ra others S ra ue p p gg, p g . n E A RL Y L IF E 1 7 management of a plantation of his in Jamaica under a person named W halley for which place he started in Content L n the of ondon, Captai Kent master, he being

- L then twenty two years old . est he should be kidnapped and sold as a servant on his arrival, he agreed with

~ n Captai Kent to work his passage out as a seaman . 1 674 They sailed in the beginning of the year , but the of date their arrival at Jamaica is not given.

His life on that island is not of much interest. He Wh d lived with alley for about six months, and then agree with one Captain Heming to manage his plantation on o the north side of the island but repenting his resoluti n, P R he took passage on board a sloop bound to ort oyal .

He made several coasting voyages in this way, by which he tells us he became intimately acquainted with all the

d m anufac ports and bays of Jamaica, the pro ucts and In tures of the island, and the like . this sort of life he f spent six or seven months, and then shipped himsel

Hudsel aboard one Captain , who was bound to the Bay of P R Campeche to load logwood . They sailed from ort oyal in A ugust 1 675 ; their cargo to purchase logwood was rum f and sugar. There were about two hundred and fi ty men engaged in cutting the wood, and these fellows gladly exchanged the timber for drink. They were nearly all

Englishmen, and on the vessel dropping anchor, numbers “ W e of them flocked aboard clamorous for liquor. were ” D but 6 Men and a Boy in the Ship, says ampier, and all little enough to entertain them : for besides what Ru m we sold by the Gallon or Ferkin, we sold it made into ”

Frolicksom . It P unch, wherewith they grew was cus ff tom ary in those times to shoot o guns when healths ’ D am ier s o were drunk, but in p craft there was n thing C x8 WIL LIA M D A MPIE R CHA P.

“ - but small arms, and therefore, he says, the noise was Ve not very great at a distance, but on Board the ssels ” we were loud enough till all our Liquor was spent.

Dampier was well entertained by these fellows ashore. m s They hospitably received hi in their wretched hut , and regaled him with pork and peas and beef and dough

H - boys . e thought this logwood cutting business so pro

fit le i and l ab , and the l fe so free pleasant, that he secret y made up his mind to return to Campeche after his arriv al i at Jamaica. Having filled up w th wood, they sailed in a t the latter end of September, and not very long f er wards narrowly esCaped being wrecked on the A lacran R of eef, a number low, sandy islands situated about twenty - five leagues from the coast of Yucatan. The

r di . D m vessel was a ketch, the weather ve y rty a pier

‘ whi stafl was at the helm, or p as the tiller was called, and describes the vessel as plunging and labour ing heavily : Not a going ahe d, he says, but tumbling like an egg ” In S shell in the sea. pite of their being in the m idst

w n i the of a dangerous navigation, the cre , fi d ng weather l improving, lay down upon the deck and fe l asleep. The

d - stout buil of the round bowed craft saved her, otherwise it is highly improbable that anything more would ever l D have been heard of W il iam ampier. Y o t oung as he was, his p wers of observation, heaccu of m I l racy his me ory, and what may cal the sagacity of his inquisitiveness, are forcibly illustrated in this passage of his account of his early life . Even while his little ship is bumping ashore, and all hands are running about thinking D their last moment arrived, ampier is taking a careful n i view of the sa dy islands, observ ng the several depths of

water, remarking the various channels, and mentally u H A RD S HIP S 1 9

s noting the be t places in which to drop anchor . He has a hundred things to tell us about the rats and sea fowl

o he saw there, of the devotion of the booby to its y ung, “ ” - fish of the sharks, sword , and nurses, of the seals, and ’ S n k fa the pa iard s way of ma ing oil of their t. In this little voyage Dampier and his mates suffered a very al great de of hardship . They ran short of provi v sions, and must have star ed but for two barrels of beef which had formed a portion of their cargo u for p rposes of trucking, but which proved so rotten Of hi that nobody would buy them . t s beef they boiled every day two pieces ; their peas were consumed and l their flour almost gone, and in order to swa low the beef they were forced to cut it into smal l bits after it was to l f hi cooked, and then boi it a resh in water t ckened with

i r . a little flour . Th s savou y broth they ate with spoons Speaking of this trip D ampier says : I think never any Vessel before nor since made such traverses in coming out of the B ay as we did having first blundered over the A lerang Rl’fi, and then visited these islands from Colorado Shoals thence fell in among the , afterwards las s P ines made a trip to Gr and Caymanes ; and tly vi ited , ’ In all R tho to no purpose . these ambles we got as much experience as if we had been sent out on a design. s l They were thirteen week on their way, and eventual y H r anchored at Nigril . ere occu red an incident curiously illustrative of the cus toms and habits of nautical men in

r was the good old times . Thei vessel visited by Captain a New E t Rawlings, commander of a sm ll ngland craf , and

- M J H . one r . ohn ooker, a logwood cutter These men

. were invited into the cabin, and a great bowl of punch A 2 0 WIL L IA M D A MP IE R CH P.

was brewed to regale them as well as their entertainers .

Mr . D ampier says there might be six quarts in it.

Hoo R f ker, being drunk to by Captain awlings, li ted the

to bowl his lips, and pausing a moment to say that he was under an oath to drink b ut three draughts of strong

b e : liquor a day, swallowed the whole without a breath “ ” “ A nd d D so, ad s ampier, making himself drunk, dis appointed us of our expectations till we made another ” — P bowl. Six quarts equal twenty four glasses. robably no bigger drink than this is on record But those u were days when men mixed g npowder with brandy, and honestly believed themselves the stouter- hearted for the dose . ’ On the vessel s arrival at P ort Royal the crew were D discharged . ampier, whose hankering was after the logwood trade, embarked as passenger on board a vessel e bound to Campech , and sailed about the middle of He February 1 776. went fully provided for the toil — w i of some work that is to say, ith hatchets, axes, a k nd “ ” m acheats long knives which he calls , saws, wedges, for materials a house, or, as he terms it, a pavilion to sleep in, a gun, ammunition, and so forth . His account of the origin and growth of the business he had now entered upon is interesting. The Spaniards had long known the value of the logwood, and used to cut it down near

o a river about thirty miles fr m Campeche, whence they

i . loaded their ships w th it The English, after possessing G f themselves of Jamaica, whilst cruising about in the ul , frequently encountered many vessels freighted with this i wood but be ng ignorant of the value of such cargoes, f they either burnt or sent the ships adri t, preserving only

- . A t the nails and iron work last one Captain James,

A 2 2 WIL LIA III D A MP IE R CH P .

fourteen or fifteen pounds a ton . The toil must have been great, for some of the trees were upwards of six feet round, and the labourer had to cut them into logs small enough to enable a man to carry a bundle of them . Dampier speaks also of the bloodwood which fetched thirty pounds a ton , but he does not tell us that he dealt

He f n with it. speedily ou d employment amongst the

- On logwood cutters . his arrival he met with six men who d had one hun red tons of the wood ready cut, but not yet

f ff D am removed to the creek side. These ellows o ered pier pay at the rate of a ton of the wood per month to help them to transport what they had cut to the

was u water. The work laborio s. They had not only to transport the heavy timber, but to make a road to enable them to convey it to the place of shipment. They

i and devoted five days a week to th s work, on Saturdays D employed themselves in killing cattle for food . uring one of these hunting excursions D ampier came very near to perishing through losing his way. He started out alone

i o d w th a musket on his sh ul er, intending to kill a bull ock

hi a o and far on s own cc unt, wandered so into the woods A that he lost himself. fter much roaming he sat down

o to wait till the sun sh uld decline, that he might know by the course it took how to direct his steps. The wild

his for o pines appeased craving drink, therwise he must

. A t have perished of thirst sunset he started afresh, but the night, coming down dark, forced him to stop. He f lay on the grass at some distance rom the woods, in the hope that the breeze of wind that was blowing woul d “ ” o f keep the mosquit es rom him but in vain, says he, for in less than an Hour’s time I was so persecuted, that though I endeavoured to keep them off by fanning 1 1 A GRE A T S TORM 2 3 myself with boughs and shifting m y Quarters 3 or 4 times yet still they haunted me so that I could get no ” S . A t a u f leep daybre k he str ck onwards, and a ter walking a considerable distance, to his great joy saw a wi u pole th a hat pon it, and a little farther on another. These were to let him know that his companions under th stood that he was lost, and that at sunrise ey would be out seeking him. So he sat down to wait for them for though by water the distance to the settlement was nl was o y nine miles, the road by land impracticable by reason of the dense growths coming down to the very side of the creek where Dampier sat waiting. W ithin half an hour after his arrival at the poles with the ” “ in n hats upon them, his Consorts came, he says, br gi g

Man W his Gun every his Bottle of ater, and , both to hunt for Game and to give me notice by Firing that I might hear them ; but I have known several Men lost ” t in the like manner and never heard of afterwards . A the expiration of the month ’s agreement he received his e ton of logwood, and was mad free of the little colony

- . S n of cutters ome of the men, quitti g the timber cutting, I went over to Beef sland to kill bullocks for their hides, but D am pier rema ined behind with a few others to cut He his more logwood . worked laboriously , but career in this line of business was ended not long afterwards

“ ‘ “ by the most violent storm that, he says, was ever ” He known in those Parts . has described this storm in

uds He : his Discourse of Wi . there says The Flood still increased and ran faster up the Creek than ever I saw it do in the greatest Spring Tide, which was some at S what strange, because the wind was outh, which is N R right off the Shore on this Coast. either did the ain z a r 2 4 WILL IA M D A MP IE R c .

1 0 a Clock M n anything abate, and by in the or ing theBanks 1 2 N of the Creeks were all overflowing. A bout at oon we brought our Canao to the side of our Hut and fastened it to the Stump of a. Tree that stood by it that being the only refuge that we could now expect ; for the Land a little way within the Banks of the Creek is much lower than where we were : so that there was no walking through the W oods because of the W ater. Besides the Trees were torn up by the Roots and tumbled so stra ngely a- cross each other that it was almost impossible to pass ” i t through them. Their huts were demol shed, heir pro It n to visions ruined. was in vai stay, so the four men ’ who formed D am pier s party embarked in their canoe

- - m l and rowed over to One Bush Key, about sixteen i es i off from the creek. There had been four ships rid ng that key when the storm began, but only one remained, and from her they could obtain no refreshment of any f kind, though they were liberal in their of ers of money. o B I S they steered away for eef sland, and on approach ing it observed a ship blown ashore amongst the trees with her flag flyin g over the bran ches . Her people were D n in her, and ampier and his compa ions were kindl y received by them . W hilst on Beef Island he was H nearly devour ed by an al ligator. e and his comrades started to kill a bullock. In passing through a small savannah they detected the presence of an al ligator by the strong, peculiar scent which the huge reptile throws u D pon the air, and on a sudden ampier stumbled against

as He the be t and fell over it. shouted for help, but his He comrades took to their heels . succeeded in regain d ing his legs, then stumble and fell over the an imal 8. ” “ second time ; and a third time also, he says, expect II KE E N IVE S S OF B O S E R VA TI ON 2 5

I ” ing still when fell down to be devoured . He contrived s to escape at la t, but he was so terrified that he tells us he never cared for going through the water again so long was he as he in t Bay . Much of his narrative here is devoted to accurate and well- written descriptions of the character of the m country, and of its ani als, reptiles, and the like . There is an amusing quaintness in some of his little

ns : - pictures, as, for i tance The Squash is a four footed

B : Its H m east, bigger than a Cat ead is uch like a Foxes ; with short Ears and a long Nose . It has pretty short Legs and sharp Claws ; by which it will run up trees like a Cat. The skin is covered with short, fine Yellowish

H . w m M air The flesh is good, sweet, holeso e eat. W e commonly skin and roast it 5 and then we call it pig ; It and I think it eats as well. feeds on nothing but good Fruit ; therefore we find them m ost among the

- Sapadillo Trees . This Creature never rambles very far i D o and being taken young, w ll become as tame as a g ” and be as roguish as 9. Monkey. The minuteness of his observation is exhibited in a

of as t high degree in his account the be s, birds, and fish d H of Campeche and the istrict . e uses no learned terms. A child might get to know more from him about the thing he describes than from a dozen pages of modern writing on the subject supplemented even by t was him had illustrations. I wonderland to , as it been i to other plain and sagacious sa lors before him . His accounts remind us again and again of the exquisitely naive but admirably faithful descriptions of beasts and fish by the navigators whose voyages are found in the collections of Hackluyt and P urchas . CR A P 2 6 WIL LIA M D A MP IE R .

It is not very long after he had quitted Cam peche that

ri we find him associating with p vateers, and becoming

He w one of their number. rites of this in a half o apol getic manner, complaining of failure through a violent storm and of a futile cruise lasting for several months, and talks of having been driven at last to seek in subsistence by turning pirate. There is no hint his

an n P previous narrative of y leani gs this way. robably thoughts of the golden chances of the rover might have been put into his head by chats with the logwood ’ cutters. The Spaniard had long been the freebooter s

. His an d l d l quarry carracks ga leons, la en a most to the New had their ways with treasure of Spain, hand som el y lined the pockets of the marauding rogues, and such was the value of the booty that scores of them might have set up as fine gentlemen in their own country on their shares but for their trick of squander ing in a night what they had taken months to gain at the hazard of their lives. The tem ptation was too much D a a for ampier ; besides, he was alre d y se soned to hard ships oi even a severer kind than was prom ised by a life of piracy. For, as we have seen, he had out t of N weathered the bi ter cold ewfoundland, he had w as i orked a common sa lor before the mast, he had D served against the utch, he had knocked about in Mexican waters in a vessel as commodious and sea worthy as a Thames barge, and he was new fresh

o fr m the severe discipline of the logwood trade . His associates consisted of sixty men, who were divided e between two vess ls . Their first step was to attack A the fort of lvarado, in which enterprise they lost ten

. or eleven of their company The inhabitants, who had II jOIN S TH E B UCCA NE E RS 2 7

d plenty of boats and canoes, carrie away their money an d f d ef ects before the fort yiel ed, and as it was too dark to pursue them, the buccaneers were satisfied to m rest quietly during the night. Next orning they were surprised by the sight of seven ships which had been

f - sent rom Vera Cruz. They got under weigh and cleared for action . But they had no heart to fight ; which is intelligible enough when we learn that the Spanish admiral’s ship mounted ten guns and carried a hundred men that another had four guns and eighty men the rest sixty or seventy men apiece, well armed, whilst the bulwarks of the ships were protected with ’ - bull s hides breast high . Fortunately for them, the m Spaniards had no mind to fight either. So e shots n were exchanged, and presently the Spanish squadro ” D edged away towards the shore, and we, says ampier, ” “ to glad of the deliverance, went away the eastward .

How long he remained with the pirates he does not say. ,

A pparently he coul d not find his account with them .

He left them to return to the logwood trade, at which He he continued for about twelve more months . then tells us that b e resolved to pay a visit to England with

- n a design of returning again to wood cutti g, which no doubt was proving profitable to him, and accordingly A e n for set sail for Jamaica in A pril 1 678 . fter r maini g n a short time at that island he embarked for E gland, and arrived at the beginning of A ugust. In He did not remain long at hom e . the beginning of the year 1 67 9 he sailed for Jamaica in a vessel named

nt He the Loyal Mercha . shipped as a passenger, intend ing when he arrived at Jam aica to proceed to the Bay of h Campeche, and t ere pursue the employment of log 2 8 WIL LIA M D A MP IE I? CR A P .

- r al R wood cutting. But on his a riv at Port oyal in A 1 67 9 f o Jamaica in pril , a ter a g od deal of considera m tion, he made up his ind to delay or abandon his

- m us h e wood cutting sche e, for he tells that remained in that island for the rest of the year in expectation of W some other business. hatever his hopes were they a di e a could not have been gre tly sappoint d, for we re d of i i as him as hav ng, whilst in Jama ca, purch ed a small estate in Dorsetshire from a person whose title to it he

was as . He well sured of was then, it now being about a 1 6 9 u l a d Christm s, 7 , abo t to sai again for Engl n , when

Mr r a. . Hobby pe suaded him to venture on a short trading voyage to what was then termed the country of

M o the osquitoes, a little nati n which he describes as composed of not more than a hundred m en inhabiting the H N D mainland between onduras and icaragua. ampier

Mr . H consented ; he and obby set out, and presently dropped anchor in a bay at the west end of Jamaica,

r where they found a number of p ivateersmen, including

n Sawkins r . Captains Coxo , , and Sha p These men were maturing the scheme of an expedition of so tempting a ’ of Mr H character that the whole . obby s men quitted D him and went over to the pirates. ampier stayed with his companion for three or four days, and then joined

W of Mr the pirates also . hat became . Hobby he does not say. There is here a shamefacedness in his avowal P not hard to distinguish . erhaps as he sits writing this narrative he wonders at the irresolution he ex hib ited r of , and his cu ious caprices decision. He starts for Jamaica to cut logwood at Campeche on his arrival he changes his m ind and prepares for his return he is

Mr H then diverted from his intention by . obby, with

30 WIL LIA M D A MPIE R a r .

D red f was ampier) carried a lag, with a bunch of white ’ and green ribands Captain Richard S awkins s company exhibited a red flag striped with yellow the third and f P H r her e ourth, commanded by Captain eter ar is, two cream - coloured flags the fifth and sixth a red flag each

ri and the seventh a red colour with yellow st pes, and a “ Al l hand and sword thereon by way of a device . or ” “ d R d w z most of them, a ds ingrose, were arme ith Fu ee, ” P H d ri istol, and anger This is a escription that b ngs

W e the picture before us . see these troops of sailors m carrying banners, dressed as merchant sea en always d ff were, and still are , in twenty i erent costumes, lurch ing along under the broiling equatorial sun, through f orests, rivers, and bogs, trusting to luck for a drink of no water, and with better victuals than cakes of bread “ ” f R u - ! our to a man) , called by ingrose do gh boys, a m na e that survives to this day, animated to the support of the most extraordinary fatigues, the most venomous

and country, the deadliest climate in the world, by dream s of more gold than they woul d be able to carry away with them.

r But the whole undertaking was a failu e . They

of M f attacked and took the town Santa aria, and ound

of the place to consist a few houses built of cane, with not so m uch as the value of a single ducat anywhere to be met with . Their disappointment was rendered the keener by the news that three days before their arrival several hundred - weight of gold had been sent away to P anama in one of those ships which were commonly despatched two or three times a year from that city to convey the treasure brought to Santa Maria from the

- mountains . Their ill luck, however, hardened them in rr ’ RIN GR OS E S MIS A D VE N T URE 3 1

P their resolution to attack anama. The city was a sort New u of Jer salem to the imaginations of these men, who thought of it as half - formed of storehouses filled to their roofs with plate, jewels, and gold. They stayed a M A 1 1 8 two days at S nta aria, and then on pril 7th, 6 0,

- five ri embarked in thirty canoes and a pe agua, and rowed in down the river quest of the South Sea, upon which, as R ingrose puts it, Panama is seated. Their adventures were many ; their hardships and distresses such as rendered their energy and fortitude phenomenal even amongst a community who were incomparably gifted

w i s. R I l ith these qual tie ingrose, whose narrative fo low, was wrecked in the river by the oversetting of his canoe, and came very near to perishing al ong with a number of He his comrades . fell into the hands of some Spaniards, w o ith whom, as they understo d neither English nor

French, whilst he was equally ignorant of their tongue, — he was obliged to converse in L atin ! a language in

- ul which, I suspect, not many mariners of to day co d H an d hi communicate their distresses . e his s pmates narrowly escaped torture and a miserable death, and af eventually recovering their canoe, they started resh on their voyage, and were fortunate enough next morn ing to fall in with the rest of the buccaneers, who had anchored during the night in a deep bay.

Trifling as these incidents are, it is proper to relate them as exam ples of the life and experiences of D ampier

s . during this period of hi career Unfortunately, until one opens his own books one does not know where to n look for him . I whose troop he marched, in whose canoe he sat, in what special adventures he was con l cerned, whether he was favoured for his intel igence HA 32 WIL L IA M D A MP IE R C P .

d n above the others by the comman ers of the expeditio , W R D cannot be ascertained . hen ingrose wrote, ampier was still a mere privateersman, a foremast hand, a man without individuality enough to arrest the attention of u ri the st rdy, plain, and honest histo an of the voyage in I which they both took part. ndeed, there is no reason to suppose that D ampier at this time was regarded by w his fello s as better than the humblest of the shaggy, sun- ul blackened men who, with fuzees on their sho ders and pistols in their girdles, tramped in little troops through the swamps and creeks and over the swelling

of I lands the sthmus, or who in their deep and narrow canoes floated silent and grim upon the hot and creeping river in search of the unexpectant D on and his almost fabulous wealth . D ampier introduces a curious story in connection with P H anama and the South Seas in his first volume. e says ’ on Coxon s that when he was board Captain ship, there f being three or our privateers in company, they captured f a despatch boat bound to Cartagena rom P orto Bello .

They opened many of the letters, and were struck by observing that several of the merchants who wrote from Old Spain exhorted their correspondents at P anama to bear in mind a certain prophecy that had been current in M adrid and other centres for some months past, the — tenor of which was That there would be E nglish p rivateers that ear in the West Indies who would m ake y , such great discover ies a to o en a door into the s South Seas. p This door, D ampier says, was the passage overland to Darien I through the country of the ndians, a people who had quarrelled with the Spaniards and professed a friendship A t for the English . all events, these Indians had been i r S T OR Y OF JOHN GR E T 33 for some time inviting the privateers to march across their territory and fall upon the Spaniards in the South H Seas . ence when the letters came into their hands

’ they grew disposed to entertain the Indians proposal in and m good earnest, finally ade those attempts to which I have referred in quoting from the pages of Ringrose. The cause of the friendship between the English buc

c D I o of can ers and the arien ndians is a st ry some interest. A bout fifteen years before D ampier crossed the Isthm us

W . a certain Captain right, who was cruising in those

w I lad d waters, met ith a young ndian pa dling about in

He o d and a canoe . to k him aboar his ship, clothed him, ,

an him with the idea of making Englishman of him, gave

G o Mo o I d the name of John ret. S me squit n ians, how

a n W i ever, begged the boy from C ptai r ght, who gave

own him to them . They carried him into their country, and by and by he married a wife from am ong them .

of G who w Through the agency this John ret, al ays pre

o d served an affecti n for the English, a frien ship was established between the buccaneers and the Indians . P re sents were made on each side, and a certain secret signal was concerted whereby the Indians m ight recognise It w as their English friends . happened that there a ’ Frenchman among one of the buccaneering captain s crew. w He was artful enough to commit this signal, hatever it

P Gu av r es was, to memory, and on his arrival at etit he w communicated what he kne to his countrymen there, and represented the facility with which the South Seas might be entered now that he had the secret of winning On over the Indians to help him . this one hundred and w twenty Frenchmen formed themselves into a troop, ith

D Mr . d as i the buccaneer, whom ampier calls la Soun , the r D cxm r 34 WIL LIA M D A MP IE R .

and captain, marched against Cheapo, an attempt that m In proved unsuccessful, though the si ple dians, believing was them to be English , gave them all the assistance that “ ” o in their power. Fr m such small beginnings, adds “ D ampier, arose those great stirs that have been since

t . f L made in he South Seas, viz rom the etters we took and from the Friendship contracted with these Indians by means of John Gret. Yet this Friendship had like to have been stifled in its Infancy for within few months after an

English trading Sloop came on this Coast from Jamaica, n G f and Joh ret, who by this time had advanced himsel G d I d 5 as a ran ee amongst these n ians, together with or

6 of off more that quality, went to the Sloop in their G n long owns, as the custom is for such to wear amo g

. d find them Being received aboar , they expected to

f G talk to everything riendly, and John ret t them in English but these English Men having no knowledge at all d of what had happened, en eavoured to make them u Slaves !as is commonly done) , for pon carrying them to Jamaica they could have sold them for 1 0 or 1 2 d P oun apiece . But John Gret and the rest perceiving

and this, leapt all overboard, were by the others killed

v one I e ery of them in the W ater. The ndians on Shoar never came to the knowledge of it if they had it would

our o d have endangered C rrespon ence. On A pril 23rd the buccaneers entered the Bay of P and ff anama, the city, o ering a fair and lovely prospect, D as ampier afterwards tells us, lay full in their view. The old town that had been sacked and burnt by Henry Morgan in 1 670 lay four miles to the eastward of the new city ; but amongst those ne w suburban ruins the R cathedral rose stately and splendid, and ingrose, en u H A LF - HE A R TE D fll E A S URE S 35

raptured by the sight, vows that the building viewed from

’ the sea might compare in majesty with St. P aul s . The P w i D anama at h ch ampier gazed was almost new, built of brick and stone , with eight churches amongst the houses, m M n f most of the unfinished . a y o the edifices were three

. A stories high strong wall circled the place, crowned

- o and f n with seaward pointing cann n, these de e ces were backed by a garrison of three hundred of the king’s sol diers, whilst the city itself supplemented that force by a

of contribution eleven hundred militiamen . Such was the P anama of which our handful of audacious bucca m d eers were coolly proposing the sacking, and oubt

. It n less the burning seems, however, that whe they R arrived most of the soldiers were absent, and ingrose tells us that had they attempted the town at once instead d of attacking the ships in the bay, they must have ma e an easy conquest. The desperate energy, the hot and f o of uri us courage, an earlier race of pirates were wanting in them . They lingered long enough to enable the city d to ren er its capture impracticable, and then , feigning a I sentimental interest in the condition of the ndians, they despatched word to the Governor that if he would suffer ” n the atives to enjoy their own power and liberty, and send to the buccaneers five hundred pieces of eight for

for each man , and one thousand pieces of eight each com

d f . A man er, they would desist from urther hostilities k civil message was returned, and they were also as ed from whom they received their commission ; to which Captain Sawkins responded in a style which he may have borrowed from the tragedies of Nathaniel L ee That as yet all his company were not come together ; u o and but that when they were come p, we w uld come C 36 W IL LIA M D A [PIP IE R R AP .

visit him at P anama, and bring our commissions on the muzzles of our guns, at which time he should read them ” as plain as the flame of gunpowder could make them. A ll o n this was mere windy, hectoring talk, and n thi g i w n followed t. The buccaneers were gro ing muti ous as i with famine, and it was clear there was noth ng to awkins be done with Panama, Captain S , who was chief in command, _ gave orders to weigh anchor, and the pirates sailed away without a ducat’s worth of satisfaction for the prodigious hardships they had endured . W hilst they lay at anchor before Caboa the two chief r Sawkins r commande s, and Sha p, went ashore with sixty or seventy men to attack P uebla Nueva. Ringrose Ma 22nd h t 1 680 . dates this at empt y , The in abitants were prepared, and the only issue of a sharp engagement was the death of Captain Sawkins and the loss of several f of his people. This de eat led to a mutiny among the

. E i w as new buccaneers ventually Capta n Sharp, who ll chief in command, ca ed the men together and proposed to them to remain in the South Sea and then go home by of H way the orn, adding that he would guarantee that every man who stayed with him should be worth a thousand pounds by the time he arrived in England. This scheme of cruising in the South Sea against the ’ d had Sawkins s Spaniar s been fixed project, and he was so great a favourite that had he lived it is probable the whole of the crew would have accompanied him ; but Sharp did not enjoy the general confidence of his u people, and a n mber of the men sullenly and obstinately f re used to linger any longer in these waters . Ringrose was amongst those who were weary of the hazardous and unremunerative adventures of the buccaneers, and

E R H A . 38 WILL IA M D A MP I . C P

’ n in A A ll through the buccaneering an als, as nson s and the voyages of others, one is incessantly meeting with — this sort of thing A heat filled with armed privateers A men approaches the beach. numerous party of horse

and men, bristling with sabres, lances, muskets, stand as in a posture to dispute their landing. But as the boat draws near the horsemen retreat, and in no very good r order, back to behind the town as the seamen sp ing ashore. They are finally seen on the summit of a hill

of l who in company with several troops foot so diers, ,

and whilst their bands play their banners proudly flutter, gaze downwards at the twenty or thirty sailors who are firing the houses of their town and lurching seawards k with sacks of silver on their bac s . R i‘ I P ingrose calls a halt at the sle of late, as he “ : I writes it, to tell us a little story This sland received N Sir Francis D rake its ame from , and his famous d A ctions . For it is reported that he here ma e the Dividend of that vast quantity of Plate which he A rm ada took in the of this sea, distributing it to

Man o f each of his Company by wh le Bowls ull . The Sp aniards affirm to this D ay that he took at that Time P twelvescore Tons of late, and sixteen bowls of coined

Money a Man his number being then forty - fiv e Men in all 5 insomuch that they were forced to heave much of it overboard, because his ship could not carry it all . Hence this Island was called by the Sp aniards the Isle

' ’ o P late from this D d D f , great ividen , and by us rake s ”

Isle.

Traditions of this kind were very nicely calculated to keep the buccaneering heart high . Our genial freebooter has also another yarn to spin in connection with this II [ A S E RE N A A TTA CK E D 39

He coast. says that in the time of Oliver Cromwell the merchants of Lima fitted out a ship armed with seventy

o f brass guns, with a treasure in her h ld o no less than “ ” thirty millions of dollars, all which vast sum of money, “ of L he says, was given by the merchants ima, and sent as a present to our Gracious King !or rather his father) now him in i who reigneth, to supply his ex le and dis

h and n tress, but t at this great rich ship was lost by keepi g along the shore in the Bay of Manta above mentioned or

o thereab uts. The truth whereof is much to be ques ” tioned. Be his stories true or false, however, it is pleasant to sail in the company of an old seam an who has an anecdote to fit every bay or headland of the coast

n R n who along which he jogs . U happily i grose, begins

f i‘ of very well, dri ts fast into the unsuggest ve trick “ n h loggings, telli g us in twenty pages at a stretch t at

o d o . and an ha on M n ay the sun r se at such such hour, t t

f \Vednesda on Tuesday it blew a resh gale, that on y

r n s a there was a ing round the moo , that on Thur d y they

- f and had made thirty leagues in twenty our hours, so ’ It o of the i forth . is by c mparing the best early mar ners ’ narratives with D am pier s that one remarks his eminent

and . superiority as a writer, observer, describer A s they sailed down the A merican seaboard they

i incon captured a fe w small vessels, but the r booty was

3rd 1 68 0 c sider ab le . On D ecember , , they attacked the ity

o a d f n of L a Serena. They r uted the Sp niar s, who, in lyi g, A n ff carried away the best of their goods and jewels . o er

and - fi ve of ransom was made, the price fixed was ninety It o thousand pieces of eight. was so n rendered plain, however, that the enemy had no intention of paying, whereupon the buccaneers fired every house in the town 40 WILL IA M D A MP IE R cnar .

to the end that the whole place might be reduced to ashes. Before the ship sailed she was very nearly burnt by a ’ m A was curious Spanish stratage . horse s hide blown A out with wind to the condition of a bladder. man got upon it and silently paddled himself under the stern of the privateer, between whose rudder and sternpost he r t crammed a mass of oakum, b ims one, and other com e w ti l e m . b us b atter This don , he softly fired it ith a a c match and sneaked away shore . The buc aneers w d observing the dark mass on the ater, conclu ed it to

a i . On be a de d horse, and gave it no part cular heed a sudden the alarm of fire was raised ; t he rudder was seen to be burning and the ship was full of smoke . n u s A fter some trouble the flames were exti g i hed, and then suspecting some stratagem in the object they had previously lightly glanced at, they sent the boat ashore, where the puffed- out hide was found with a match burning at both ends of it. By Christmas D ay they were at anchor off the Island

. It w R of Juan Fernandez is note orthy that ingrose, 3rd in his journal under date of January , says that their pilot told them that many years a g o a ship was

one cast away upon this island and only man saved, who lived alone upon it for over five years before any vessel came that way to carry him off. It is curious that none of the biographers of D efoe should refer to this statement in dealing with the inspirations of the ’ W great writer s masterpiece. hilst lying at this island was s there trouble among t the men, which resulte d in n Captain Sharp bei g deposed. A number of the crew wanted to go home at once ; others were for remaining in those seas until they had got more money. A man ’ II WA TL IN G S CH A R A C TE R 4 1

W and f named John atling, an old privateer a seaman o It experience, was chosen in the room of Sharp . was shortly after this that the buccaneers were alarmed by

- f- the unexpected apparition of three men o war. They

s a instantly slipped their cables and stood out to e , leaving

o M I behind them in their hurry that fam us osquito ndian , of w hom it is uncertain whether it was to his or to Sel kirk ’s adventures that D efoe owed the idea of Robinson

Crusoe . The vessels which surprised them were large d and heavily armed, one of them being eight hun red and “ another six hundred tons . They hoisted the bloody

flag, as it was called, meaning that no quarter would be did given . The buccaneers the same, but they were in n i W truth very u w lling to fight. atling, indeed, either could not or would not dissemble his fears. Fortunately d D the Spaniards proved thorough cowar s. espite the

- d bluster of their no quarter signal flying at the masthea , ff h they never o ered to approach the privateer, whic ,

- glad enough to escape, next day stood away north east for Ar ica. W I will not charge atling with cowardice, but he exhibits a quality of timidity sufficiently accentuated to Of account for a very cruel disposition . this man, who had manifested many signs of alarm at sight of the — - war of Spanish ships of , a black act wickedness is A recorded a few days later . mongst the prisoners on

- W board was an old white haired Spaniard. atling A he questioned him about rica, and believing that lied in his answers ordered him to be shot. The former commander, Captain Sharp, vehemently opposed n the execution of this cruel sentence, but fi ding his and appeal disregarded he plunged his hands in water , A 4 2 WIL L IA M D A MPIE IE CH P .

“ G I am washing them, exclaimed, entlemen, clear of

old and I i n the blood of this man, w ll warra t you a hot day for this piece of cruelty whenever we come to On fight at A rica The prophecy was fulfilled . Janu 1 3th 1 680 off ary , , the buccaneers were that town, and ninety - two men going ashore attacked the place with in

d W e cre ible fury . read of them filling every street in In n the city with dead bodies. a short time Captai W atling was shot through the heart, whilst there were slain besides two quartermasters and so m any of the

ff o men that further e orts were rendered h peless. The survivors appealed to Captain Sharp to lead them out f of their di ficulties and get them back to the ship. The h d enemy surrounded t em, they were in great isorder,

o . and there was no one to c mmand them Sharp, bitterly resenting their behaviour to him, which had led to his W d being supplanted by atling, hesitate . But, says “ R e ingrose, at our earnest requ st and petition he

o o - in - t ok up the c mmand chief again , and began to ! o d r f T distribute his r e s for our sa ety. hey succeeded

at in fighting their way to the beach, and got on board ’ i ft d e ten o clock at n ght, a er a esperat battle that had

w o On lasted the h le day. putting to sea again there

w and off I was much mutinous gro ling, when the sland P A 1 7th 1 68 1 l of lata, on pril , , the quarre s rose to such

f r a pitch that there was nothing o it but separation .

of m en now The trouble lay in a number the , that W d the . atling was dead, esiring reappointment of Sharp w This was warmly opposed by others. The matter as

ut o and Shar ites p to the v te, the p proving the more

o the d e — numer us, issenti nts agreed to leave them the arrangement being that the m aj ority should keep the n H E S H A RP 43

ul d a - ship, whilst the others sho t ke the long boat and the I canoes and return by way of sthmus, or seek their f ortunes as they chose in other directions . The out — voted party numbered forty seven men , one of whom W D was illiam ampier . C HA P TE R III

1 68 1 —1 69 1

’ 1 D AMPIER S FIRST VOYA GE ROUND THE W ORLD

“ A PRIL 1 7 1 68 1 D , , writes ampier, about Ten a Clock

- 2 W . I in the morning being 1 leagues N. from the sland

P lata f Shar , we le t Captain p and those who were willing

im b ar ued to go with him in the Ship, and q into our

L n R S anta aunch and Canoas, designi g for the iver of Michael Mar a G f St. 20 i in the ul of , which is about 0 ” leagues from the Isle of P lata . The boats which carried them were a launch and two canoes ; and their provi sions consisted of a quantity of flour mixed with twenty or thirty pounds of powdered chocolate. That no man u I sho ld venture the crossing of the sthmus on foot who, by health or feebleness of will, might prove unequal to

1 “ A New Vo a e Round the World de ibin a i u a l y g , scr g p rt c l r y the Isthm us of A m erica ; several Coasts and Islands in the W est Indies the Isl es of Cape Verd the Passage b y Terra del Fuego the Sou h Sea coasts of Chili Peru and Me ico the Isl e of u m t , , x G a , one of the L adrones Mindanao and other Phili in , , pp e and East India

Isla nds near Cam b odia China Form osa Laconia Cel eb es e . , , , , , , tc ; New Holland S um atra Nicob ar Isl es the Ca e of Good Ho e , , ; p p , and Santa Hellene . Their Soil Rivers Harb ours Plan s Frui , , , t , ts,

A nim als and Inhab itants. Their Custom s Reli ion Governm , , g , ent, ! Trade etc. B Ca tain W illiam D am ier Fourth , y p p . Edition,

1 699. This is vol . i. of the Tra l ve s.

A 46 WIL L IA M D A MP IE IE C H P.

“ l ab le panions much anxiety, being y ourselves every “ o D to moment to misf rtune, says ampier, and none

” ‘ On look after us but him . several occasions many of them were nearly drowned whilst fording rivers swollen

of with rains . The difficulties in the road their progress may be gathered from a single incident. They had arrived at the banks of a river which they were obliged to cross . f It The water was deep and the current ran swi tly. was proposed that those who could swim should assist those who were helpless in this way to the opposite

how bank but then, were they to transport the guns, e ? provisions, and other articl s that they carried They decided to send a man over with a line, who, by means of it, would be able to haul the goods across, and then

o who d not A f drag those ash re coul swim. ellow named Gayny secured the end of the line around his neck and

and plunged into the river, but the current kinked entangled the repe in some way and threw the swimmer

He had on his back. slung a bag containing three hun ul dred dollars over his sho der, and this weight, helped n un by the drag of the line, drew the u fortunate man der, and he was seen no more . They finally succeeded in f crossing by elling a tall tree, which happily spanned

and the river served them as a bridge. Their food con sisted of fish and such animals as they could contrive to shoot, particularly monkeys, whose flesh they ate with

It Ma relish . was not until y 23rd that they came in A n sight of the tlantic, which it was the the custom

of N t to speak as the or h Sea, and the next day they went on board a French privateer commanded by a

ristian Captain T . Some of their com rades had died by a nd om had f d A the way, s e been le t behin . mongst the In P RI VA TE E RS AIE N IN F OR CE 4 7

W f who few w f latter was a er, the surgeon , a eeks a ter wards was met by D ampier while cruising in the neigh ’ b our ho d L o I o of a Sound s Key . S me ndians came

o w o r i ab ard, and brought ith them the surge n and su v vors

f th Mr . o e others who had been left on the Isthmus. ' ” W D “ him afer, says ampier, wore a clout about , and was pa in ted like an Indian and he was some time ” 1 a board before I knew him .

in Tr istian n D an d m Capta , havi g ampier his co rades ’ i a and d in tw o in the sh p, set s il, arrive days at Springer s

w n r . Quay, here they fou d eight p ivateers lying at anchor

n i tw o Four of them were E gl sh of ten guns each, and both carrying one hun dred men ; a third of four guns

s fo id . and forty m en. The other were less rm able The

and r D utch vessel mounted four guns car ied sixty men , nk and wa s commanded by one Captain Ya y . The Frenchm en w ere respectively of eight guns and forty

n an d . H n men, and six gu s seventy men ere, by guessi g hi o of at the crews of the smaller s ps, we arrive at a b dy

w six d d pirates num bering bet een five and hun re fearless,

f r uflians It determined, erocious is conceivable that the Spaniards in those waters should have lived in a state

s of t of terror. The wonder is that the swarm miscrean s who preyed upon them should have left them a hous e to dwell in or a ducat to conceal.

1 tures in W afer a fterwards pub lished an account of his adven nwr ica ivin A New Voyage a nd D escrip tion of the Ist hm us of A g g ’ a an a ccoun t of the author s ab ode there the form and m ke of the

W oods S oil W ea ther etc . r Coas ts Hills Rivers etc. , , , Count y, , , , The In dian Inhab ita nts Fr uit Beas ts Birds Fish etc . , Trees , , , , , Mann ers Custom s Em om le ions etc. their their Fea tur es, C p x , , , ntin Com uta tion Lan ua g e m ents Marria es Feas ts, Hu , p , g , ploy , g , g W ith r em arkab l e Occurr ences in the S outh S ea and else etc.

edious b ook. where . It is a t A 48 WILLIA M D A MP IE R CH P.

A fter many debates it was agreed amongst the masters and crews of these vessels to attack a town the name of which Dampier says he has forgotten . The vessel into which our hero found himself drafted was a French craft of eight guns and forty men, commanded

r h by a man named A c em b oe. The fleet weighed, but during the night they were scattered by a hard gale, ’ and when day broke A rchem b oe s ship was alone. D w r bf ampier, ith othe s his comrades who were with

A rchem b oe . , speedily learnt to hate their French associates

The sailors were utterly worthless in bad, and lazy, “ : d lounging loafers in fine, weather The sad est creatures I ” D “ h that was ever among, writes ampier, but thoug we had bad weather that required many hands aloft, yet the biggest part of them never stirred out of their m L f i ham ocks but to eat. ater on they ell in w th ’ W D am ier s Captain right, who belonged to the fleet, and p English shipmates induced this man to fit out a prize D W of his for them ; ampier himself joining right,

bar co lon o whose vessel, a g , mounted four guns and

d f . W carrie fi ty men Shortly after this right, in company D with the utchman, Captain Yanky, started on a cruise along the coast of Cartagena. ’ D am ier s and p narrative here is a very close, curious, interesting description of the islands of this part of the

and sea of the shores of the mainland. He also prints

of o to pages notes ab ut the birds common those parts,

- fisher m the pearl y, and other atters of a like kind. The

m of - char a sailor like simplicity is in everything he says . “ I ” f have not been curious, he writes in his pre ace to a “ New Vo a e Round the World y g , as to the spelling of the

N of P P A in ames laces, lants, Fruits, nimals, etc ., which m A RRI VE D A T VIR GINIA 49

many of the remoter parts are given at the pleasure and of Travellers, vary according to their different Humours : Neither have I confined myself to such v L A names as are gi en by earned uthors, or so much as

. I w enquired after them rite for my Countrymen, and have therefore for the most part used such names as are familiar to our English Seamen and those of our ni w Colo es abroad, yet ithout neglecting others that ’ ocour t ’ Let D am ier s m a p literary defects be what they y, dl n l assure y u inte ligibility is not one of them.

r fit The cruise, in a buccaneering sense, was not a p o

. a m v able one They captured few s all essels, but their

m su ar prizes yielded them little more than so e tons of I g , a marmal de, cocoa, hides, and earthenware They then resolved to separate, and after dividing the plunder they parted company, having enough vessels in the shape of prizes to carry them wherever they might choose to go.

o D Twenty of them, am ngst whom was ampier, putting al l their share of the booty into a sm bark, set sail for Virginia and arrived there after an uneventful passage

1 682. In D m in July, this country a pier lived for f n thirteen months, but of his li e he tells nothi g, merely hinting that a great many troubles befell him. A mongst the crew of the vessel commanded by the — of D utchman , Captain Yanky one the piratical com manders with whom D am pier was associated after crossing the Isthmus— there had been a quartermaster On n named John Cooke, a Creole . Yanky capturi g a

Spanish prize, Cooke, by virtue of his position according the to the practice of buccaneers, claimed and obtained n m d command of her. But the privateersme were of ixe E HA 50 WIL L IA M D A MP IE I? C P .

nationalities, and the French, growing jealous of the

- Englishmen, plundered and stripped the men who had

- in - been their shipmates and companions arms, and

Tristian turned them naked ashore . Captain , however, D whose ship, it will be remembered, ampier and his D u comrades boarded on the arien coast, took pity pon the English, and carried ten of them, one of whom was I Wh Cooke, to the sland of Tortuga. ilst they lay there ’ Tristian s l at anchor the English rose, seized vesse , and sailing away with her made two captures of importance, V i one of which they navigated to irgin a, where they A 1 68 3 H arrived in pril, . aving sold the cargo of this n prize they fitted her out as a privateer, mounti g her,

Vo a e Captain Cowley says in his y g , with eight guns, D though ampier makes the number eighteen. They

even D called her the R ge. ampier with many others volunteered to sign articles for her, and when she set w fift sail her cre , according to Cowley, consisted of y b ut D of two, according to_ ampier seventy men . The voyage of the Revenge was written by Cowley as D — well as by ampier that is to say, a large portion of ’ this voyage is included in D am pier s first volume of his ’ . Travels Cowley s account is very_ full, wanting indeed ’ D am ier s the flavour of p style, and the vitality and arch ness of his descriptive powers but in one sense Cowley

- I is more interesting than the other mean, that as a D freebooter he writes with far more candour than ampier, whose narratives everywhere repeat by implication the direct apology he makes in the preface to his first volume “ A s A for the ctions of the Company, among whom I m of ade the greatest part this voyage, a Thread of w I h ’ ’ti hich ave carried on thro it, s not to divert the ’ III COOKE S D E S I GN 5 1

R a I e der with them that mention them, much less that

’ I take any pleasur e in relating them : but for method s ’ sake and for the Reader s satisfaction who coul d not so W i D P ell acqu esce in my escription of laces, etc. , without knowing the particul ar Traverses I made among them

wi A n of nor in these, thout an ccou t the Concomitant

s t . I Circum ances Besides that, would not prejudice the ’ r r R i i t uth and since ity of my elat on, tho by om ssions

l . A nd as s on y for the Traver es themselves, they make ’ R a i for the eader s advant ge however l ttle for mine, since thereby I have been the better inab led to gratify his Curiosity ; as one who rambles about a Country can

a a who give usu lly a better account of it, th n a Carrier ” to Inn R . jogs on his , without ever going out of his oad ’ D am ier s d Cowley had not p sensitiveness in eed, he might not have considered his conscience as a buccaneer t i undul y burdened. I is man fest that as he wrote he was still smartin g under the trick that had been put b e upon him, and to gratify his resentment related baldly d all the truth he coul d recollect. He had been prevail e as e upon by Cooke to sail master in the privat er, which D i was professedly bound to San om ngo, that her com mander might at that island obtain a comm ission to ’ t l legalise his acts at sea ; but in reality Cooke s firs , rea , and only design was wholly one of piracy, and nothing was said to Cowley about it until the ship w as well clear

was o f of the lan d, when, of course, he f rced to all in with 1 i was 1 68 3. D was the scheme . Th s in the year ampier

g - r a e ai n now thir ty one yea s of , and f rly, but u consciously,

' ’ 1 e : Harris s Collection Vo a es a nd Tm vols Cowl ey s Voyag of y g , ’ ’ Vo a e in Ca tain W illiam Hack s 1 44 . A l so Cowl e s v ol . i. , 7 y y g , p

es. 1 698 Collection qf Or igina l Voyag . a n 52 WILL IA M D A MP ZE IE c . started on the first of those voyages which were to make him in his day and to succeeding times one of the most distinguished of the circumnavigat ors of the globe. The Revenge sailed from A cham ack on A ugust 23rd N in the year just named. othing for many weeks broke the monotony of the passage save the incident of a heavy gale of wind which the vessel encoun tared off the Cape Verd Islands . Cowley dwells lightly upon this storm as if he would make little or D n nothing of it, but ampier insists upon its bei g the most f violent he had ever experienced in any part o the world. Indeed he has preserved an account of it in those chapters

d o V in the secon v lume of his oyages, which he entitles, “ A D W iscourse of inds, Breezes, Storms, Tides, and ! i I Currents. The nautical reader w ll, hope, thank me for transcribing a passage that is more curiously illus trative of the seamanship and sea- technicalities of the period of history to which this narrative belongs than any

o I like account by ther hands that can call to mind. ’ If M hall d after the izan is up and furled, if then the

do H ad ship will not wear, we must it with some e sail, f which yet sometimes puts us to our shi ts. A s I was

Vir inia once in a very violent storm sailing from g , d Vo a e Round the lVorld mentione in my y g , we scudded

fo W d and o be re the in Sea some time, with nly our bare ’ P and oles the ship, by the mistake of him that con d, broched too, and lay in the Trough of the Sea ; which ’ then went so high that every W ave threatn d to over A nd whelm us . indeed if any one of them had broke D m i f in on our eck it ght have oundered us . The 1 ’ fa rav d Mad a master, whose ult this was like a M n and

cna r 54 WILLIA M D A MP IE R .

Sea, and were obliged to grope their way in their

- - square built, round bowed, and clumsy old craft past the stormiest headland in the world, through weather blind with snow and black with cloud, and over seas running in mountains to the pressure of five hundred leagues of gale. W hen to the westward of the Cape they encountered one Captain Eaton in a privateer that had been equipped and despatched from London to plunder

A s e the W estern merican coa t, and proce ded with him r to Juan Fernandez, where they a rived eight months r was after leaving A cham ack. Their fi st act to send a canoe ashore to obtain news of the Mosquito Indian who had been left on the island three years before by

W . I n i Captain atling This ndia , who proved to be al ve, is a figure in the history of romantic adventur e scarce less conspicuous in his way than A lexander Selkirk or

Peter Serrano. He was in the woods hunting for goats W and when Captain atling his men, alarmed by the apparition of three Spanish ships, slipped their cable had and sailed away, and all that he with him at the e and time consist d of a gun a knife, a small horn of

n of t. Af powder, and a ha dful sho terwards, by notch ing his knife to the condition of a saw, he contrived to cut the barrel of his gun into pieces, out of which he

n . manufactured harpoons, lances, hooks, and a long k ife

He was thus enabled to provide himself with food, such

as . He t b ut flesh of goats, fish, etc buil himself a a

t- short distance from the sea, and lined it with goa skins .

His apparel consisted of a skin wrapped about his waist. There was another Mosquito Indian amongst the buc

m an R cancers, a named obin, who was the first to leap ashore to greet his brother black. D ampier tells us III S A IL S F - R OAI JUA N FE RMJN D E Z 55

that first Robin threw himself flat on his face at the t feet of the o her, who, helping him up and embracing ’ , R him fell flat on the ground at obin s feet, and was “ ” u . W e by him taken p also stood, he says, with pleasure to behold the surprise and tenderness and I w solemnity of this ntervie , which was exceedingly ff a ectionate on both Sides ; and when their ceremonies of w e m civility were over, also, who stood gazing at the , w of him d dre near, each us embracing we had foun here, who was overjoyed to see so many of his old friends ” come hither, as he thought, purposely to fetch him .

f r on A 8 th They sailed rom Juan Fe nandez pril , l w ’ D sti l in company ith Eaton s ship. uring the month Ma of y they captured several vessels, in one of which ,

fo l besides a quantity of marmalade, they und a state y and handsome mule designed as a gift for the P resident P a and of anam , an immense wooden image of the Virgin

M . o a o to ss ary They were, h wever, unfortun te en ugh mi what woul d have better pleased them than mules and images ; for when this ship started from Lima she had

o d her eight hundred thousand dollars on b ar , but on arrival at Guanchaco news of a privateersman then hovering off the port of Valdivia came to the ears of

who the merchants, thereupon instantly removed every stiver out of the vessel.

ad The recital, even in an abbreviated form, of the ventures of these buccaneers upon the W estern A merican seaboard would make a book of nearly half the thickness ’ A s o of D am pier s first volume. a mere j urnal of exploits f perhaps the narrative grows a ter a while a little tedious.

One sea- fight is like another ; the assaults by land lead to nothing ; the prizes captured at sea are insignificant. a r 56 WIL LIA M D A MPIE R .

’ Yet D am pier s page continues to charm us by thevivacity of of of his descriptions of coasts, storms, the corposant, of uncon the turtle, and by a hundred unlaboured and scious felicities of phrase.

' He W hen ofi Cape Blanco Captain Cooke died. was ill when at Juan Fernandez, and continued so till within two of or three leagues the Cape, when he suddenly ex

ired D n p , though ampier tells us he seemed that morni g to be as likely to live as he had been some weeks before “ But Men it is usual for sick coming from the Sea, where

o —A ir off they have n thing but the Sea , to die as soon as L ” ever they come within view of the and . d n D The command devolve upo Edward avis, the ’ quartermaster of the ship. Cooke s body was taken ashore, and whilst some of the crew were burying it

I to three ndians approached, believing the men be n d Spa iar s, and were made prisoners, though one of them

f o o shortly a ter escaped. The thers t ld the buccaneers of a farm where there was plenty of cattle to be had and the attempt to steal the bullocks is marked by one of those incidents which convey a fuller idea of the r e

oo solved and desperate character of the freeb ters, their d perils, expedients, and astonishing escapes, than coul be com municated by volumes of descriptions of their battles by sea and attacks by land. Twelve men slept

o . o to ash re, intending when the m rning came drive the bulls and cows which were feeding in the savannas down to the beach ; but when the afternoon of the next day

d o arrive they were still ash re, and their shipmates aboard the vessel growing uneasy, ten men were sent in a boat n to see what had become of them. O entering the bay they observed the twelve fellows on a small rock half a I n A P E RIL OUS SI T UA TI ON 57 mile from the shore standing in water to above th eir

. It h waists seems that, aving slept through the night, t they had risen betimes to catch the cat le, when they were suddenly surprised by forty or fifty armed Spaniards .

The privateersmen drew together in a body, and retreated i w thout disorder or confusion to the beach, but on arriv ing there they found their boat, which they had dragged out of the water, in flames. The Spaniards now m ade n u sure of them, and bei g n merous, ventured upon several

‘ scofls m sneers and before attacking the , asking them, for d instance , if they would be so good as to o them the honour to walk to their plantation and steal their cattle and take whatever else they had a mind to, and so forth ; to all which menacing and savagely deriding flouts the buccaneers answered never a word. The tide was at half- ebb ; a privateersman catching sight of a rock a good distance from the shore, just then showing its head above water, whispered to the others that it would be as good

ou M as a castle to them if they c ld get there . eanwhile the Spaniards were beginnin g to whistle a shot amongst

ne them now and then . O of the tallest of the buccaneers waded into the water to try if the distance to the rock r could be forded . The depth proved nowhere g eat ; so di n d the twelve marched over to the little stant stro ghol , and there remained till their shipmates came for them .

o m They stood ab out seven h urs in all, and ust have

for perished had the boat not then arrived, the water

n . was flowi g, and the tide thereabouts rose to eight feet

o The enemy watched them fr m the shore, but always had from behind the bushes, where they first planted “ ” S ania r ds D contem tu themselves . The p , says ampier p “ ousl y, in these parts are very expert in heaving or ! 58 WIL Ll A M D A MP IE R ca n . darting the Lance with which upon occasion they will A A nd do great Feats, especially in mbuscades by their

W for good ill they care not fighting otherwise, but con a f thr eatnin tent themselves with standing loo , g and N calling ames, at which they are as expert as the other so that if their Tongues be quiet we always take it for ” granted they have laid some Am bush. Not very long after this Captain D avis and Captain

Eaton separated, bringing the date to the second day of ’ 1 68 4 24th Dam ier s September , and on the p ship arrived L a P and W d at lata anchored . hilst lying at this islan the privateers were j oined by Captain Swan in a vessel n named the Cyg et. This ship had been freighted by certain London merchants for honourable traffic with

was the Spaniards in the South Seas, but when she at Nicoya there arrived a troop of privateersmen from ’ overland, and Swan s men , bringing the pirates aboard,

- forced their captain to go a buccaneering. That Swan was as reluctant to oblige them as he afterwards r epr e

f D o sented himsel to have been to ampier, is p ssible ; it D is certain, however, that on meeting with avis he threw most of the goods he had been freighted to trade t “ wi h overboard, that his ship, by being clear, as it is

He called, might be the fitter to fight and chase. seems

A a to have been a man of some foresight. nticip ting a time when there might happen such a scarcity of provi

out sions as to force them of those seas, he taught his

not o men only to eat, but actually to relish the ily, salt, “ H and rancid flesh of penguins and boobys . e would ” D “ d commend it, says ampier, for extraor inary good f d oo , comparing the seal to a roasting pig, the boobys to ” the d . hens, and penguins to ucks i n P R OJE CT 59

The only land- attack of consequence was the attempt G i S on uayaqu l by wan and Davis. It was badly con cer ted - a n and half he rtedly undertake . They landed at about two miles from the town, and being unable to t h push their way hrough the tangled growt s by night, A n I n ff sat down to wait for daylight. ndia , who o ered ’ D is to pilot them, was attached to one of av s men by a

r . st ing The privateersman losing heart, secretly cut the string, and, when the guide had gone some distance, bawled out that the Indian was off and that somebody had cut the cord ! W hat there w as in this to terrify a l the others is not e si y seen, but it is true, nevertheless,

r o that thei c nsternation was so great, not a man would

It as n venture a step farther. w not lo g before they returned to their ship, and so ended their attempt on

a d n Guayaquil . The only material issue of this cheap ve

r t of ture was their captu e of hree vessels, on board which were no less than one thousand negroes, all lusty D young men and women, says ampier, who laments that they did not convey the whole of them to the P Isthmus of anama, and employ them in digging for M His gold in the mines at Santa aria. idea might seem full of promise to him, but it takes another com plexion when examined by the light of the experience of the twelve hundr ed men who embarked at Leith for

l 26th 1 698 . Darien on Ju y ,

r 1 68 4 h l On December 23 d, , t ey sai ed for the Bay of i Panama, and nine days later, wh lst proceeding from

Tom aco towards Gallo, one of their canoes captured a pacquet - boat sailing from Panama to Lima. The Spaniards buoyed the bag of letters and threw it over board, but it was picked up by the buccaneers, who HA 60 WILLIAM D A MP IE R C P. gathered from the despatches that the P resident of

P anama had sent the mail- bhat they had seized to hasten the sailing of the Plate Fleet from Lima . D ampier says that the privateersmen “ were very joyful w e of this news, which is intelligible enough when ’ consider that the King of Spain s treasure alone on board this fleet was commonly valued at twenty- four

d of millions of ollars, whilst the worth the galleons was still further increased b y their carrying a vast amount ’ in what was termed merchants money, besides rich

It was commodities of all sorts . at once settled that the buccaneers should intercept this fleet . They were in

on number now two vessels and three barks, and 1 4 1 685 of February th, , having finished the business

careening, cleaning, and watering their craft, they stood W off away for the Bay of P anama. hilst they lay the Island of Tabago they were nearly destroyed by a singu A f lar stratagem. man eigning to be a merchant came

P . He al to them from anama professed to act as by ste th,

no o in which the buccaneers found cause for suspici n, for it was common enough for Spanish merchants to ffi tra c privately with them, notwithstanding the pro

It r hib ition of the governors . was ar anged that this

merchant should fill his vessel with goods, and bring f her by night to the English, who were to shi t their

- . He e fir e berth to receive her cam , but with a ship

- instead of a cargo boat, and approaching the English

o cl se, hailed them with the watchword that had been

o settled up n . The privateers growing suspicious, ordered

so fi d the vessel to bring to, and on her not doing , re

Her w into her. cre instantly jumped into their boats,

after firing the ship, which blew up and burnt close

62 WIL LA /MI D A MP IE R CHA P.

an u and f d one h ndred orty men, all English ; Captain

and Gr o net Townley, one hundred ten men ; Captain g , H three hundred and eight men, all French ; Captain arris,

Branl one hundred men, chiefly English ; Captain y, thirty six men ; besides three barks serving as tenders, and a — fir e- in small bark for a ship all, nine hundred and sixty men . Formidable as this force looks, however, — on paper, there were but two of the vessels namely, ’ ’ — Swan s and D avis s which mounted guns. The rest On 28th had only small arms . the the Spanish fleet

: a hove in sight fourteen sail, besides periagu s rowing ’ a m twelve a nd fourteen oars apiece. The d iral s ship carried forty- eight guns and four hundred and fifty

- u u men ; the vice admiral, forty g ns and four h ndred and fifty men the others were only a little less power H fully armed and manned. ere we have the materials of a terrible fight, and we look with confidence to the buccaneers for a glorious victory . But never was failure

N o f completer. othing was d ne till the a ternoon had

few darkened into evening, and then a shots were W exchanged. hen the night came down the Spaniards i anchored, and the buccaneers observed a l ght flaming ’ It in the admiral s top. remained stationary for half an i hour and was then extingu shed. Soon afterwards it was again exposed, and the buccaneers, believing it to be still aboard the admiral, flattered themselves with having

- the weather gage . But when the morning broke they h had found, to their disgust, that t is light been a strata gem, and that they were to leeward. The Spaniards

sighting them, immediately bore down under a press of “ ” . D sail, and the buccaneers ran for it Thus, says ampier, ’ ended this day s work, and with it all that we had been III S TA R TS F OR GUA M 63

projecting for five or six months when instead of making ourselves masters of the Spanish fleet and

treasure, we were glad to escape them ; and owed that too in a great measure to their want of courage to pursue ” H their advantage . e adds that the failure was largely

Gro net owing to the cowardice of Captain g and his men, o r n 1 whose only part in the man euv ing was runni g away. The buccaneers were now growing disheartened by

- r u . On A 25th 1 68 5 D thei ill l ck ugust , , avis and Swan

D o separated, and ampier, who had heretof re served D i under av s, joined Swan, not, as he assures us, from l any dis ike of his old captain, but because he understood that it was Swan’s intention before long to go to the I “ ” “ East ndies, which, he exclaims, was a way very ” It agreeable to my inclination . was not, however, M 1 68 6 M until arch l st, , that they took leave of the exican ’ coast and started on that voyage which led to Dam pier s circumnavigation of the globe. They went in two ships, one commanded by Swan, and the other by a man named In Teat. number they were one hundred and fifty men — one hundred aboard Swan, and fifty, exclusive of some

. for G slaves, in the other vessel Their start was uam, L I one of the adrone slands, and the vagueness and uncertainty of the navigation of those days finds a sin

venau de Lussan who was with Gro net in this ac ion iv es Ra , g t , g us a French v ersion of the b usiness A b out two the Spaniards sent out a ship of eight and twenty guns to hinder Captain Grognet from oinin us as understandin b som e S aniards who ha d j g , g y p b een our prisoners that he was the strongest in sm all arm s of any in our fl eet and that the we e so m uch the m ore fearful of him , y r , when they ca m e to know his crew consisted of Frenchm en This “ a vid and sa s he was a Flem in and h m a n calls Da vis D , y g, e ' ” His r is rin e i writes Swan s nam e Sam m es . sto y p t d n The

' lread r efe ed o Buca m ers qf A m er ica a y rr t . M I R HA 64 WILLIAM D A P E C P .

’ gular illustration in D am pier s surmise as to the ac tual distance between Cape Corrientes and their destination . He tells us that the Spaniards reckoned the distance about e two thousand three hundred and fifty leagues, wher as the English calculations reduced it to less than two thou sand leagues. The truth being unknown to the crews, they entered upon t he voyage with something of that despondency and apprehension which the mariners of Columbus felt after they had lost sight of land The hope of plunder heartened them somewhat, for Swan talked to them of the A capulco ship and of a profitable cruise off the Philippines ; but in sober truth with but

- in little conscience his assurances and exhortations, for

had i and the man long since grown sick of pr vateering, his main object in sailing for the East Indies was the desire to fi nd an opportunity to escape from a calling u which he was honest enough to consider dishono rable .

G on Ma 2oth 1 68 6 They sighted uam y , , and it was fortunate both for Swan and D ampier that the land

did for hove in sight when it , they had scarcely enough provisions to last them another three days and D ampier “ d I f d f Men eclares, was a terwar s in ormed the had con trived first to kill Captain Swan and eat him when the

V s of ictual was gone, and after him all us who were accessary in promoting the undertaking of this Voyage. This made Captain Swan say to me after our arrival at

G A h D o would have m ade th u. em but a r uam, ampier, y p oo Meal for I L , was as ean as the Captain was lusty and ’ D am ier s fleshy. p chapters are now wholly m ade up

o H of descripti n . e is copious in his accounts of the

of - - natives, the cocoa nut, the lime tree, and the bread M fruit and then carrying us on to indanao , he fills many 1 1 : A MUTIN Y 65

w D pages ith lively remarks on the trade of the utch, m It f the cli ate, winds, tornadoes, and rains. is mani est

is u throughout that he very nsettled, without any scheme f of d of li e, without a ghost an i ea as regards his future. He f waits patiently but with a vigilant eye upon ortune ,

s no and is ready to addres himself to any adventure, h m atter how slender of promise . Just as e would have carried the thousand negroes to D arien to dig gold for f hi P i himsel and his associates, so w lst at the hilipp nes would he have been glad to settle down among the

n na ans. Mi da y There were sawyers , he tells us, carpenters, m and brick akers, shoemakers, tailors, the like, amongst the

d d of . men , who were also well provi e with all sorts tools

d and had They had a goo ship, too, he conceives that they established themselves in that island they m ight have ended as a very flourishing and wealthy community. But his schemes served no other purpose than to enable him to digress in his narrative when he came to relate his ad ventures . The ship lay so long at Mindanao that the men grew weary and mutinous some of them ran away into the

‘ country, others purchased a canoe designing to proceed ’ o of had to Borneo . Th se the ship s company who money m D lived ashore , but there were any ! ampier amongst and who them) who were without a halfpenny, were therefore obliged to remain on board and subsist on the f wretched stores of the vessel . These ellows became d very troublesome ; they stole iron out of the ship an nd of exchanged it for spirits a honey, which they made h of and punc , so that there was a great deal drunkenness ill- blood amongst them . Finding that Swan paid no heed to their request that he would start on further F ‘ 66 WILLIAM D A MP IE Ic CHA P.

and adventures, discovering certain entries in the cap ’ o tain s j urnal which greatly incensed them, they resolved to run away with the ship ; a threat there is every reason to suppose Swan secretly wished them to carry

He and out. knew that the crew were bent on piracy, that their next step must prov e nothing but another

He i d D buccaneering cruise. had prev ously tol ampier

and that he was forced into this business by his people, that he only sought or awaited an opportunity to escape “ was P on from it, adding bitterly, That there no rince

ff A He Earth able to wipe o the stain of such ctions . was ’ of not apprised his men s design, but does appear to f On 1 4 have li ted a finger to hinder them. January th, 1 68 7 D , early in the morning, ampier being on board, the et crew weighed anchor and fired a gun, being y willing to receive Captain Swan and others of their shipmates who

No were on shore . answer was returned, whereupon f without urther ado they filled their topsails and started,

o - i leaving the c mmander and thirty six men beh nd them . The subsequent fate of Swan and his men is worth a

f for brief re erence. They remained some considerable d time on the islan , and then some of them managed to obtain a passage to Batavia. Captain Swan and his D surgeon, whilst rowing to a utch ship that was to

in convey them to Europe, were overset their canoe by

o s l s me native , who stabbed them whi st they were swimming for their lives. Others of the m en who re mained at Mindanao were poisoned. By this time D ampier was as heartily weary as ever

had of not Swan been the voyage, if of privateering, d for a and waite a chance to give his comr des the slip.

' M f ofi M eanwhile the vessel, a ter cruising anila, where i n N E W H OLLAND 67

f they took a couple of Spanish cra t, proceeded from one

island to another, from one port to another, until, the

monsoon being close at hand, they decided to skirt the P i I h lippine slands, and, heading southwards towards I d what was then known as the Spice slan s, enter the I i O nd an cean by way of Timor. The object of all this n D rou dabout navigation is not very plain . ampier asserts that the crew were in great fear of m eeting with English or D utch ships still it is difli cult to understand their motive in straying so wide afield from the common

of maritime highways that period. They were now on A n the ustralian parallels, in the shadow of a world lyi g

d of A s ark upon the face the ocean. privateersmen they had little to hope or expect from pushing into D regions full of mystery and peril . ampier says that

d off n being clear of the islan s they stood south, inte ding “ to touch at New Holland to see what that country ” One would afford us. would wish for his dignity as a i own nav gator that he had avowed, on his part at least, i It a higher motive for the explorat on . does not seem

to enter his head, at this point of his career at all

of and events, that the discovery the true character area of the Terra A ustralis Incognita might bring to the marine explorer of its rocky coasts honours scarcely less u glorious, renown certainly not less end ring, than were It won by the mightiest of the old navigators. is D proper to remember, however, that ampier was but a

common sailor in this ship that had been run away with,

o and that his expectations, and perhaps his ambiti n , scarcely rose ab ove those of a privateersman though how far he resembled his shipmates in other directions we may gather from his narrative, which he builds 68 WILLIAM D A MP IE IE CH A P . wholly upon the journal he faithfully kept throughout never remitting his strict practice of laborious observa

or tion whether in storm in shine, whether amidst the

of or o and b ustle and activity a chase, the langu r list lessness of a long spell of tropical calm. “ ” “ New Ho of lland, he says, is a very large tract

a It d m i d d l nd. is not yet eter ne whether it is an islan or a main continent ; but I am certain that it joyns ” to A A i A W h b e neither frica, s a, or merica y is

d too o to certain he oes not tell us, but he is sagaci us

ou i err, th gh whilst he thus th nks, all that he sees of “ the vast territory is low land W ith sandy banks against ” He to d the sea. devotes several pages escriptions of

us no o the natives, telling that they have h uses, that they go armed with a piece of wood shaped like a

al in cutlass, that their speech is guttur , that consequence of i and f the flies wh ch tease sting their aces, they keep

n One their eyelids half closed ; a d so forth . extract f o of o d r m several pages m st admirable, quaint escription

I i . will trust, be perm tted

A f w e i Men ter had been here a little wh le, the

to m i w e cloathed o of began be fa liar, and s me them, designing to have had some service from them for it for d W of W an d d d we foun some ells ater here, inten e f i to carry 2 or 3 barrels o it aboard. But t being some

o Canaos what troubles me to carry to the , we thought to ’ to carr d for have made these men have y it us, and there fore we gave them some Cloathes ; to one an old pair of d i Breeches, to another a ragge Shirt, to a th rd a Jacket that was scarce worth owning ; which yet would have been very acceptable at some places where we had been, and so we thought they m ight have been with these

70 WILLIAM D A MP IE R CH A P .

and steered their ship northwards . They arrived at

Ma 5 th D Nicobar on y , and here ampier resolved to leave the vessel . Obtaining leave to go ashore, he was landed on the sandy beach of a small bay where stood two untenanted houses ; but he had not enjoyed an hour of liberty when some armed men came from the R e ship to fetch him aboard again. esistanc was as idle as entreaties, and he was forced to return ; but on his

f . O arr ival he ound the vessel in an uproar thers, taking courage by his example, had also determined to leave the ship . A mongst them was the surgeon . This man f the captain flatly re used to part with, and the hubbub A ll f was great. this con usion and quarrelling seems to

D for f have helped ampier, , a ter a deal of squabbling, we find him and two others obtaining permission to quit

ff and the ship . They were put ashore with their e ects,

- one entering of the unoccupied houses, hung up their P hammocks to prepare for the night. resently more m en arrived, and they were now numerous enough to It protect themselves against the natives. was a fine

o i and clear, mo nlight n ght, the little company of buc caneers walked down to the beach to wait until the ship d i shoul weigh and be gone, fearing their l berty whilst A t ’ she stayed. twelve o clock they heard her getting her anchor and making sail, and presently she was l gliding slowly and silently seawards, g istening white

o against the cean darkness to the rays of the high moon. Next day D ampier and his associates purchased a

and o to end canoe, passed ver the south of the island,

‘ d fr uit loa s where they victualle their little boat with v e ,

o o - c c a nuts, and fresh water, so that when the monsoon came on to blow they might be in readiness to sail for m A B OA T - A D VE N T URE 7 1

A I chsen . t is consistent that a man who had traversed on foot the dangerous and poisonous Isthmus of P anama should parallel that accomplishment by a remarkable

- boat voyage. The craft was a canoe of the size of a L d ondon wherry, deeper but not so broa , sharp after

and the whaling pattern at both ends, and so thin light

f u m en o l d that when empty o r c u d lift her. She carrie

m at- f a sail, and outriggers to prevent her rom capsizing. In this little ark D ampier and his shipmates embarked

— o M — eight men, four of wh m were alays and started

A ch Ma 1 5 16 8 8 . for che on y th, The breezes were

. d light, the atmosphere sultry Sometimes they rowe ,

do of sometimes left the sail to its work, but at the end

m ortifi cation two days, to their great , they found the Island of Nicobar still in sight a little over twenty miles On 1 8 th distant. the they remarked a great circle round

D to the sun, an appearance that caused ampier suppose

His f o was that bad weather was at hand . oreb ding

true wind and sea rose, and but for the outriggers the d f canoe must have been swampe . Still the gale reshened,

and there was nothing for it but to scud. There occurs It here a characteristic passage . reads like an extract

f Robinson Crusoe D rom , and nothing in all ampier so conclusively proves the source whence D efoe drew the colours which he employed in the composition of his chief

and most engaging work .

The Evening of this 1 8 th day was very dismal . d The Sky looked very black, being covered with ark

the W Clouds, ind blew very hard, and the Seas ran n very high . The Sea was already roari g in a white foam about us ; a dark night coming on and no Land

our A rk d in sight to shelter us, and little in anger to 72 W IL L IA III D A MP IE I? CHA P. b e swallowed by every W ave ; and what was worse for o of d for us all, n ne us thought ourselves prepare

W d . R m a I another orl The eader y better guess, than

fu o I can express,the Con si n that we were all in . have

m D of been in many e inent angers before now, some I which have already related, but the worst of them all

b ut P - G I was a lay ame in comparison with this. must confess that I was in great Conflicts of Mind at this O D time. ther angers came not upon me with such a leisurely and dreadful Solemnity : A Sudden Skirmish ’ or Engagement, or so, was nothing when one s Blood ’ was u and w n . p, push d for ard with eager expectatio s I r of D But here had a linge ing view approaching eath, and little or no hopes of escaping it and I must confess o I u that my C urage which had hitherto kept p, failed me here and I made very sad Reflections on my former life and looked back with Horrour and D etestation on I I actions which before disliked, but now trembled at the remembrance of. I had long before this repented

of of f of I me that roving course my li e, which kind, few Men believe, have met with the like . For all these I d m returne Thanks in a peculiar anner, and this once ’ ’ m desir d Go ore d s assistance, and Composed my Mind

I and as well as could, in the hopes of it, as the Event ’ ” shew d I t , was not disappoin ed of my hopes. D But ampier was a thoroughbred seamen . The

and canoe was superbly handled, after a terrible time of violent storms the low land of Sumatra was descried

of 20th - on the morning the . Fever stricken by the f excessive hardships and atigues they had endured, insomuch that they were too weak to stand up in their d canoe, our adventurers rifted into a river, and were III SAILS F OR TONQ UIN 73

i H supported by some natives to an adjacent v llage. ere D ampier stayed for ten or twelve days in the hope of re did covering his health, but finding that he not improve,

A cheen he made his way to , where he was so dosed by M n a alay doctor that he came very near to expiring . O

his h \Veldon regaining health, he entered wit Captain of the ship Curtana for a voyage to Tonquin . The first part of his second volume is devoted to a description of

in A cheen M his travels Tonquin, , alacca, and other 1 h places. There is but little narrative, nevert eless the k wor is singularly interesting, and as literally accurate as a Chinese painting. ’ Dampier was very willing to accept Captain VVeldon s

ff th e o o er of this voyage, as vessel carried a surge n f M whose advice he was in great need o . oreover W eldon promised to purchase a sloop at Tonquin and make him master of her for a trading v oyage to Cochin

o . On China. Nothing n teworthy marked their passage their arrival at the Bay of Tonquin they navigated the ship about twenty miles up the river and anchored . The chief markets and trade of the country were then f at Cachao, a city eighty miles distant rom the highest point at which the river is navigable by vessels of D of burthen . ampier, in company with the captains

1 ri tions Vol . ii . The title runs th us Voyages a nd D esc p . S u l em ent of th e Vo a e round the iz. 1 . A In Thr ee P arts, v pp y g

' n chin Mal acca etc . W orld D escrib in th e Countre s of Ton ui A , , , g y q , ’ nh ab itants Manners Tr ade Polic etc. 2. I\vo their Pr oduct, I , , , y , h with a D escri tion of the Coasts Product Voyages to Cam peac y p , ,

- a n a ea h Lo - wood Cuttin Trade etc . of Juc ta C m c Inhab ita nts, g g , , , p y,

rse of Trade - W inds reezes Storm s S ain etc . 3 . A Dis ou , B , , New p , c ar Tides a nd Cur rents of the Torrid Zone Seasons of the Ye , ' ith an A ccount of Na tal in A fn ck i ts throughout the W orl d ; w ’ t Ne ro s etc. 1 699. Pr oduc , g , 74 WILL IA M D A MP IE R CHA P .

o . ther ships, proceeded in large boats towards Cachao for It was scarcely more than a jaunt our hero, whose main business in going the journey was to talk over the proposed voyage to Cochin China with the chief of the D English factory. ampier remained for a week with f u the Englishmen at the actory, and then ret rned to his I own ship, where, says he, lay on board for a great

for while, and sickly the most part yet not so but that I took a boat and went ashoar one where or other almost ” every day . The result of this intrepid observation is f a ull and interesting account of Tonquin, the habits and

of customs the people, their attire, sports, punishments,

His d religion, and literature . health hin ered him from several undertakings which he might have pursued with

r o advantage . For example, ice being dear at Cacha , W eldon hired a vessel to procure that commodity at

It s ecu adjacent places to supply the markets . was a p

o D lati n by which ampier might have got money, but he H was too ill to bear a part in it . e lay five or six weeks

o in a miserable c ndition, then flattered himself that he was suffi ciently recovered to go on a walking tour d through the country. To this end he hire a native

' d d d for gui e, who charge him a ollar his services, which, “ ’ t d he says, tho but a small mat er, was a great eal out P 2 D of my ocket, who had not above ollars in all, which I had gotten on board by teaching some of our young

n He Seamen Plai Sailing. started about the end of

N 1 68 8 o ovember , and the pr verbial heedlessness of the seaman is not less suggested by his poverty than by his

o resoluti n to attempt such a trip as this. He has but a dollar in his pocket with which not only to bear his own ’ but his guide s charges, and yet he is fully aware that m IN LA N D RA MB L E S 75 his weakness is bound to increase the cost of his travels by obliging him to proceed by short stages . He says he was weary of lying still and impatient to see some thing that might further gratify his curiosity. They took the east side of the river, and trudged along mutely

s enough, as we may suppose, ince the guide could not D speak a word of English, whilst ampier did not under a T A t stand syllable of onquinese. the villages they arrived at they were sufficiently fortunate to procure rooms to sleep in and a couch of split bamboos to lie on . The people treated D ampier very civilly ; they cooked his repasts of rice for him, and lent him whatever they had

His that was serviceable to him . practice was to ramble about all day, and return to his lodging when it was too dark to see anything more His luggage was small

- limited to what he terms a sea gown, which his guide carried, and which served him as a blanket at night, ”

o n of . whilst his pillow was fte a log wood But, he I r m says, slept ve y well, though the weakness of y ” body did now require better accommodation . On the afternoon of the third day of his travels he arrived in view of a small wooden tower such as the Tonqu inese erect as funeral pyres to persons of distino He fo tion . had never seen such a thing be re , and as i his guide could not talk to him, he continued gnorant of its meaning . There was a crowd of men and boys d near it, and he also noticed a number of stalls covere He n with meat and fruit. very aturally concluded that it was a market place, and entered the crowd partly with t the intention of inspecting the tower, and partly wi h the idea of purchasing a dish of meat for his supper. A fter satisfying his curiosity he approached the stalls A 76 W IL L IA M D A MP IE R CH P .

f o m and laid hold o a j int of eat, motioning to a person whom he supposed was the salesman to cut off a piece In that should weigh two or three pounds . an instant the crowd fell upon him . They struck out at him right

e o . and l ft, tore his cl thes and ran away with his hat

i and The guide, shrieking un ntelligible protests apologies, D f for dragged ampier away, but they were ollowed some distance by a number of surly - looking fellows It whose cries and gesticulations were full of menace. was not until long afterwards that D ampier gathered the meaning of all this ; when he was informed that

he was what had taken to be a market a funeral feast, and that the tower was a tomb which was to be con sumed along with the body in it after the feast was “ ” “ o . o ver This, says he , was the nly Funeral Feast

I n m and that ever was at amo gst the , they gave me cause to remember it but this was the worst usage I received from any of them all the tim e that I was in the Country .

d t o H n Two ays later he arrived at a wn called ea , where he was received in a very friendly manner by a

priest attached to the French bishop ; this place, it

of m o . A f seems, being the headquarters the issi naries ter some conversation the priest inquired if any of the D English ships would sell him some gunpowder. ampier answered that he believed none of them had powder to d if spare. The father then inquire he knew how gun On D i powder was made . amp er answering in the f d d a firmative he begge him to try his han . The priest had all the ingredients with the necessary machinery

i f i few for mix ng them, so a ter dr nking a glasses of wine D “ “ ampier went to work. The priest, he says, brought

and - P I me Sulphur Salt eter, and weighed a portion of

78 WILL IA M D A MP /E R a r .

Next morning he was put ashore a few miles short of d Cachao. There was a goo path, and stepping out He briskl y he entered the city by noon. immediately repaired to the house of an English merchant with whom

W do Captain el n lodged, and stayed with him a few days, but he was so enfeebled by a was ting disorder which had fastened upon him that he was scarcely able to

His b crawl about. illness was exasperated y disappoint

for d had ment, he now iscovered that he made his walking journey only to learn that W eldon had aban doned his scheme to purchase a sloop to trade to Cochin

China. The moment he felt strong enough to travel he

W o returned to his ship, and Captain eld n shortly after d wards joining the vessel, they weighed anchor and saile

f o . It now 1 68 9. N rom T nquin was February, othing of moment happened during the passage to the Straits of M ri d alacca. The ship ar ve at A cheen about the

of M D beginning arch, where ampier took leave of W eldon

He o and went ashore. gives in this v lume of his travels

o A cheen a long and interesting acc unt of , and in describing the soil of the country prints the following “ of . L d brief passage recollection The Champion an , I such as have seen, is some black, some grey, some reddish, and all of a deep mold . But to be very particular in these things, especially in my Travels, is ’ I tho more than can pretend to, it may be I took as much notice of the difference of Soil as I met with it as most Travellers have done, having been bred in my

Somersetshire d E ast Coker youth in , at a place calle , near

’ Yeoml or E vil in which P arish there is a great variety of I Soil as have ordinarily met with anywhere,

r ed nd m or black, , yellow, sa y, stony, clay, orass, swampy, m RE BE L L I ON A T A CH E E N 79

. I of etc had the more reason to take notice this, because this Village in a great measure is Let out in

L L 20 30 40 5 0 P er small eases for ives of , , or ound p

f M nnor nd A nn . Hellia r L a : a , under Coll , the ord of the

if own L most, not all these Tenants, had their and scattered in small pieces up and down several sorts of L and in the P arish ; so that every one had piece of L every sort of and, his Black ground, his Sandy, Clay, A M M 20 30 40 . and some of , , or Shillings an cre y other,

ss st L being po e of one of these eases, and having all these L I sorts of and, came acquainted with them all, and ma W knew what each sort would produce ! ) heat, Barley, M R P O H aslin, ice, Beans, eas, ats, Fetches,Flax, or emp in all which I had a more than useful knowledge for one so young, taking a particular delight in observing ” as f - f it. Vague is this re erence to his shore going li e, it is the only passage of the kind that I have met in his I books, and for this reason therefore reproduce it at length . W hilst he was at A cheen some of the people rebelled against the choice that had been made of a queen .

D ampier, with others, hastened to take shelter in the d ships in the road, fearing that if the rebels obtaine the He had d upper hand they woul d imprison him. indee good cause to dread the effects of a prison upon his constitution, shaken and almost shattered as it was by of long il lness . There were two vessels at anchor, one He them fresh from England and short of provisions . in consequence boarded the other, whose stores were

she tolerably plentiful, but was so crowded with cargo that he could not find space to swing his hammock in ; him and as repose was absolutely essential to , he carried H A 80 WILLIA M D A MP IE R C P . his b ed into the boat that had brought him off and lay in

\ or d fed eo l e of . her f three or four ays, by the p p the ship

‘ He could obtain no rest . There happened a total eclipse of the moon, at which he gazed from the bottom “ : I I of his boat, but he says was so little curious that r em em b red not so much as W hat D ay of the Month it I V I did was, and kept no journal of this oyage as of my other ; but only kept an account of several particular ” and o as d Remarks Observati ns they occurre to me. W hen the disturbance ashore was quieted he returned d to his lo ging, and learning that the natives regarded d the water of their river as charged with me icinal virtues, d to he determine bathe in it, and after a few baths was

d o so much benefite that he was able to get ab ut again .

In Ma 1 68 9 of y, , he took charge a sloop that had been purchased by one Captain Tyler ; but when the craft was loaded, the owner changed his mind and gave the

d to m an Mn who off D comman a named i chin, ered ampier “ I fo d the post of mate . was rce to submit, he says “ ’ and d M n bitterly, accepte a ate s employ under Captai d id of Minchin . They saile in the m dle September for M i Mn alacca, at wh ch place some of the people left i chin had to join another vessel that been in company, so that D ampier and the captain were the only two W hite sailors d f on boar . Shortly a ter starting they carried away their foreyard and brought up off a small island owned D by the D utch . ampier called upon the governor to

Our request his permission to cut down a tree . hero,

old e as an Campech man, was not likely to be at a loss ; and leaving the tree ready to be carried to the i sh p, he returned to the fort, dined with the gover and e nor, then w nt aboard. Shortly afterwards his III A T TA CKE D B Y MA L A YS 8 1

f captain , together with a passenger and his wi e, came

o . f d ash re The are of the fort was excee ingly meagre, and the governor, to entertain his guests, sent a boat to

. catch a dish of fish The fish, on being cooked, was

v d of and ser ed in ishes solid silver, eaten from plates of the same metal whilst in the centre of the table was

fu n It placed a great silver bowl ll of pu ch. was to ’ prove but little better than a Barmecide s feast. The

and f governor, his guests, several o ficers attached to the

t o for seated themselves, but as they were ab ut to begin “ M I” a soldier outside roared, The alays The governor,

n one o starti g from his chair, leapt out of of the wind ws,

ofiicer s fo o d the ll we , and all was consternation and up “ ” “ . D o roar Every one of them, says ampier, to k the

o W do out nearest way, s me out of the in ws, others of D G the oors, leaving the three uests by themselves, who

o o d soon f ll we with all the haste they could make, with ou t knowing the meaning of this sudden consternation ” of G o . A ll fo the overn r and his people being in the rt, the door was bolted, and several volleys fired to let the M n D alays k ow that the utch were in readiness for them .

m . A M o The alar was real enough large alay can e,

filled with men armed to the teeth, had been noticed skulking under the island close to the shore . The captain and the passengers hastened on board, the ’ and for vessel s guns were loaded primed service, and a

- D bright look out kept all night. ampier, however, was

It and not very much frightened . rained heavily, he knew from experience that the Malays seldom or never

o made any attack in wet weather . Next m rning nothing

of was to be seen the enemy, and having rigged up the d D m m foreyar , a pier and his co panions set sail for G HA 8 2 WILL IA M D A MP /E R C P.

A H cheen. ere he was seized with a fever, which confined On him to his bed for a fortnight . regaining his health he returned to the vessel with orders to take charge of ’ New D a 1 690 a . her, and on Year s y, , s iled for Fort St

His George with a cargo of pepper and other produce.

of Mad description ras as it then showed, now two “ ” a o . I hundred years g , is interesting was much pleased, “ t f l P he says, wi h the beauti u prospect this lace makes off at Sea. For it stands in a plain Sandy spot of

G o as round, close by the shore, the Sea s metimes w hing

W o H - Moo its alls ; which are of St ne and high, with alf ns and Flankers and a great many Guns mounted on the Battlements so that W hat with the W alls and fine build

Madam s ings within the Fort, the large town of without

P i H an d it, the yram ds of the English Tombs, ouses, ’ G scatter d ardens adjacent, and the variety of fine Trees L as I up and down, it makes as agreeable a andskip have H us anywhere seen . e tells that he stayed at this place

for o s wi Mr. M some m nth , where he met th a oody, who had purchased what Dampier call s a painted prin ce named

Jcoly . Then in July he sailed with a Captain Howel for Sumatra. He A cheen A 1 8 9 arrived at in pril, 6 , and afterwards

u lis obtained a berth as g nner at Bencoolen, then an Eng h A d factory. fter some further a ventures of no importance,

of we find him again gunner the fort at Bencoolen, at a

- u salary of twenty fo r dollars a month. But it was not long before he grew dissatisfied with the conduct of the

as He governor, and asked to be rele ed. was also eager to return to England. First of all he had been a long f n time absent rom his native cou try, and next, he was in possession of the painted prince whom Mr. Moody III F IRS T VO YA GE C ON CL UD E D 83

M and had purchased at indanao for sixty dollars, he expected on his return to England to make a good deal

of money by exhibiting this unhappy black, of whose tatooin s g he gives a very minute account. It seems strange that such a man as D ampier should have been unable to hit upon a better w ay of gaining a livelihood

own than by proposing to turn showman in his country,

x o with nothing better to e hibit than a po r, miserable

w in black man, hose only wonder lay having rings and

o of bracelets, cr sses, and a variety unmeaning flourishes

. was pricked into his skin The governor , however, by D no means willing to let him go, and ampier at last w as obliged to obtain by a stratagem what was denied

. On n 2md 1 691 him as a right Ja uary , , a ship named

D e e nce for d the f , bound England, droppe anchor in

D of Bencoolen Road . ampier made the acquaintance

as m an H m d her m ter, a named eath, who readily co plie

on J l with his request to receive him board . eo y was

d and D first carefully shippe , then one midnight ampier crept through a porthole of the fort and ran to the

f to o beach, where he ound a boat waiting c nvey him to D N i d the efence. oth ng that is noteworthy happene

during the passage home. The ship entered the English 1 691 l 6th Channel in September, , and on the of the “ “ lu fft D for same month we in , says ampier, the ”

D . owns, where we anchored ’ Thus terminated \Villiam D am pier s first voyage D f V A u 22nd round the world. ating rom irginia, gust , 1 68 3 i , his circumnav gation had occupied eight years ;

f o but his previous seafaring experiences, counting r m the period of his starting from England in the L oyal Mer chant 7 9 of v in 1 6 , enlarged his absence to the long space twel e a m 84 WIL L IA M D A MP IE R c n .

years . Beyond greatly extending his knowledge, his

He travels had done nothing for him . had started in quest of Fortune, and had found her as phantasmal as the ’ St . Elmo s fire at which he had gazed with wonder at the masthead. A nd all that he brought home in the

of P Jeol shape property was the unhappy rince y, whom

f of he sold a ter his arrival in the Thames, being in want money — to such a pass had buccaneering and the cir cum navi ation g of the globe brought him .

86 W IL L IA M D A MP IE R CHA P. barely credited the existence of a continent south of the

I . of n East ndies The draughts Tasma , the relations of

D e o L e M Quir s, aire, and others, were regarded for the ’ D most part as travellers tales . ampier might justly hope in an age when the colonising instincts of the h English were never keener, that money and onour must be the reward of the man who should be the first to open out a country fabulous yet in the j udgment of

n d and ma kin , , by the light of discovery, resolve what was still visionary and dark into a magnificent reality.

His next step, at all events, was to seek ministerial and

d N Ho d official help for a voyage of iscovery to ew llan .

He in D lived the days of ryden and of the patron, and his dedications exhibit him as possessed in a high degree of the art of literary congeeing . This undesirable but profitable capacity of cringing serviceably supplemented

o d for He the reputati n he had ma e himself as a traveller. f M f d ound patrons in Charles ontague, a terwar s Earl of H f P of R o of ali ax, resident the oyal S ciety, and one the L ord Commissioners of the Treasury ; in Edward, Earl of O f d of L d of A x or , one the principal or s the dmiralty in H of P and Thomas erbert, Earl embroke, who filled

L Hi A His the office of ord gh dmiral. representations

f own o were success ul, probably beyond his expectati ns, and in the beginning of the year 1 699 he was appointed ’ to the command of His Majesty s ship Roebuck of twelve

of f m en o guns, manned by a crew fi ty and b ys, and ’

for . d victualled a twenty months cruise Confi ence, such m and as this trust i plies, in the character qualifications of a man whose rating even as a privateersman was but ‘ of d that an able seaman, han somely testifies to the very D high opinion in which ampier was held. i v H IS P R OP OS A L S 8 7

an The nature of the soil, climate, d the general char A D acter of Terra ustralis, ampier could only conjecture. The ideas he had formed of this unknown continent

were, that it was a vast tract of land situated in the

richest climates in the world , having in it especially all

the advantage of the torrid zone, so that in coasting it the navigator might be sure of meeting with broad areas of d productive the rich fruits, the rugs and spices, and

mi as perhaps the nerals discoverable in other parts in,

d . i he concluded, the same parallels of latitu e H s scheme

was to narrowly survey all islands, shores, capes, bays,

for d creeks, and harbours, fit shelter as well as efence, d to take careful soun ings as he went, to note tides,

i of currents, and w nd, and the character the weather,

c i to with a spe ial v ew the settling of the best districts. He also proposed to closely observe the disposition and

o d d d commodities of the natives, th ugh he can i ly a mits that after his experience of their neighbours “ he expected f ” no great matters rom them . The course he originally designed to take was to the westward by way of the M Straits of agellan, so as to strike the eastern coast of A ustralia ; and there is very little doubt that had he pursued his first intention he would have anticipated nearly every discovery of importance in those waters subsequently m ade by his celebrated successor James

a Cook. Unhappily his judgment erred in one essenti l

o o n direction . He was of pini n that the lands lyi g nearest the equator would best repay the explorer . Nor perhaps could he guess how far he would have to pene trate the high latitudes if he stood south ; and having t f n f M passed he greater portion of his sea ari g li e in exican , P I acific, and ndian seas, his love of the sun, fortified by 88 WIL LIA M D A MP IE R CHA P . recollection of the cold of the Horn and of the one i N f a f b tter voyage he took to ew oundl nd, might su fice to determine him on pinning his faith as an explorer and on limiting his curiosity as a sailor to the summer regions hi of the globe . Yet s great knowledge of the equatorial climates should certainly have warned him against a

N A and New G . orthern ustralian uinea quest Further, there were the experiences of Tasman to help him, whose relations are as finger - posts in the extracts of Dirk

Rem b r antz. Had d he steere westwards, the sighting of

New Z ni the ealand coast to the south, or of the shi ng

of P m o o islands the au tu and ther groups to the north, would have borne in the truth upon his ready and

d o of o d sagacious min , c rrected his fears c l weather, given him clear views as to the southernmost extension of the I Terra ncognita, and perhaps have antedated the civilisa

o of A f . In om ti n ustralia by hal a century an evil m ent,

n d of del i timi ated by thoughts of the ice Tierra Fuego, and worried by the murmurs and half- heartedness of a

w i o crew, the majority of hom were qu te y ung seamen, “ two d L only in the ship ever having passe the ine, and ” o two m d th se none of the oldest, he deter ine to prose cute his voyage to New Holland by way of the Cape of

Ho Good pe .

He D 1 4th 1 699. sailed from the owns on January ,

His P o and intention was to proceed to ernambuc , thence directly to the coast of New Guinea but scarcely had a

w to month elapsed when the cre began to give trouble, d d mutter their islike of the propose voyage, and even to

to A t r talk of obliging him return to England . P e nam i d m buco, ow ng to the istance of the anchorage fro the

m en f to town, the would have ound it easy slip the

90 WIL L IA M D A MP IE R CHA P. from internal evidence I gather it to have been compiled 1 68 3—8 4 u on in , there is a catalog e of the l gitudes and “ d latitudes of the most principal places in the worl , ” ~ beginning from the meridian of the Lizard of England .

The latitude, as a rule, is tolerably approximate, but the

i . n longitude is very much otherw se For insta ce, the ° ' of G H 34 24 . Cape ood ope is said to be in S latitude,

° ’ o . in and in 25 3 3 E. l ngitude Cape Frio is put down as ° ’ ° ’

W . o . 22 5 5 . d and 33 5 9 S latitu e, l ngitude Cape Blanco ° ' ° ’ W n i ! 1 47 30 . d 62 5 2 . is entered as S latitu e, lo g tude These are representative of the whole of this singular table f N o calculations. Yet orwood was greatly esteemed as a ’ d o navigator, and his book was to be foun in m st ships

It z cabins. is ama ing that the early mariners were not perpetually blundering ashore . By what secret instincts they were advised I know not ; yet it is certain they made as little of being a hundred m iles out of their

o o n c urse with ut k owing it, as we should in these days of ’ f n f an error o the le gth o a ship s cable . D ampier continued to sail to the eastwards, and on July 25 th signs unmistakable of the neighbou rhood of land were witnessed in the form of quantities of floating seaweed and moss ; but it was apparently not until

A 2md v on ugust that the coast hove into iew, which “ t D W e da e ampier says, stood in towards the land to

oo f o l k for an harbour to re resh ourselves, after a v yage ” 1 4 d f d for f w of 1 egrees rom Brazil . They coaste a e

of a and days in vain search a secure nchorage, then o d for bserving an opening of the land they ma e it, and

1 It m a s are the reader the troub l e of refer rin to a m a to y p g p, ° ’ ° sa that the l on i ud h a e i 1 y g t e of t e C p s 8 29 E . Frio ! Brazil) 41 ' ° ’ 57 W . Blanco ! Per u) 81 1 0 W . IV D E S CRIP TI ON OF TH E CO UN TR Y 9 1

u brought p in two fathoms and a half of water. This D ’ opening ampier called Shark s Bay, a name it has 1 ° He ever since retained . makes this bay to lie in 25 S . ° latitude and 87 longitude E. from the Cape of Good H ” “ d ope, which is less, he says, by a hundre and ninety ” fiv e leagues than is laid down in the common draughts.

He paints a pretty picture of his first view of this place,

- the telling us of sweet scented trees, of shrubs gay as

- rainbow with blossoms and berries, of a many coloured n vegetatio , red, white, yellow, and blue, the last pre f ponderating, and all the air round about very ragrant and delicious with the perfumes of the soil . The men

w — a caught sharks and devoured them ith relish, hint

of not only very bad stores, but of provisions growing scarce for disgusting as the salt- beef of the sea becomes after a long course of it, he must have a singular stomach and a stranger appetite who will choose shark in prefer

One was ence. of the fish they captured eleven feet it n long, and inside of they found the head and bo es of l a hippopotamus , the hairy ips of which were still sound “ utrefi ed and not p The jaw was full of teeth , two of ’ them eight inches long and as big as a man s thumb ; “ d n Men and The flesh of it was ivided amo g my , they took care that no W aste should be made of it, but thought ” it as things stood , good Entertainment. ’ l oth They remained in Shark s Bay till the , fruitlessly

- searching for fresh water ; then coasting north east, they fell in with a number of small rocky isles called ° ’ ‘ m ier s A 20 D a p rchipelago, in latitude south about ° ’ H D m and about 1 1 6 30 E. longitude . ere a pier was so

1 h It was hereab outs that Francis Pel sart was wr ecked in t e

Ba ta via in 1 629. H 92 WILL IA M D A MP IE R C A P . much struck with the character of the tides that he concluded there must be a passage to the south of New Holland and New Guinea to the eastward into the

G . His reat South Sea meaning is not clear, but then he is in the situation of a man who fires at a mark in the night ; he misses, but the ball speeds in the right

. f G direction Their pressing want was resh water. angs of d men were repeate ly sent ashore to seek it, but

n of to o purpose. Their first sight the natives was on

A ll o of f A ugust 3 1 st. s rts signs of peace and riend h d s ip were ma e, but their gesticulations were probably too violent, and might even have grown alarming as

o o w D c ntorti ns, and the ild men fled, menacing ampier and of his people as they ran . The only sort intercourse d On they succee ed in establishing was a conflict. e of the barbarians was shot dead and an English sailor

d . D of woun ed ampier says, speaking these natives, that they had the most unpleasant looks and the worst “ f of o o eatures any pe ple he ever saw, th ugh, says he, “ ” I of H d have seen a great variety Savages. e ju ges that these New Hollanders were of the same race as the people he had previously m et with in his first voyage “ ” “ for P round the globe, , he exclaims, the lace I then touched at was not above forty or fifty Leagues to the

N E . of this, and these were much the same blinking Creatures ; here being also abundance of the same kind of - flies l i Flesh teasing them, and with the same b ack Sk ns and Hai zz r fri led, tall, thin, etc ., as these were ; but we

not O had the pportunity to see whether these, as the fo tw o of i t rmer, wanted the r fore Teeth . I seems to me that he blackened his portraits of these uncomely people for the same reason that we find him later on describing

- H 94 WIL L IA IlI D A MP IE I? C A P .

be seen was no better than what he was now viewing .

Or , the length of time his voyage had already occupied had provided him with plenty of leisure for the con tem lation of p his prospects, and he was beginning to

had think that he been misled by his original impulse, and that there was neither dignity nor profit to be got o ut of of o inhos it a toilsome survey an bscure, remote, p

One of able coast. sometimes likes to think the return m If u a ongst us of such a man as this . one could s mmon the dead from their sleep of centuries that they might behold the issue of the labours of the generations whose processions filled the time between their Then

Now o d D and our , it w ul be such old navigators as ampier

of whom one would best like to arouse . Think Cabot and Cartier going a tour through the United States, of Columbus taking ship by an ocean mail- steamer to

W I of D z i the est ndies, Bartholomew ia listen ng to the eloquence of South A frican legislators in the House of

A o of M de N ssembly at Cape T wn, ark iza at San Fran

H o 1 A s D cisco, of Tasman at obart T wn we watch ampier digging for water amid the sand- hills of the W estern

A l - o ustra ian sea b ard, the reality of the living present b f ecomes a wonder even to us who are amiliar with it.

The shining cities, the flourishing towns, the radiant congregation of ships flying the flags of twenty different f f nationalities, every ruitful, every busy condition o commerce, manufacture, science, art, literature, entering into and stimulating the life of the highest form of

a human civilis tion, are as miracles and as dreams to us standing in imagination by the side of the lean figure of this buccaneer, quaintly apparelled in the boots, belt, and of z i broad hat his old calling, and ga ing w th him IV COA S TIN G N E W H OL L A N D 95 upon a land whose silence is broken only by the cries of

f of un amiliar creatures, by the murmur the wind among

of the leaves a nameless vegetation, and by the solemn wash of the ocean surge arching in thunder upon a shore s that, to the mind of hundreds and thousands away in

- off E u as far urope, is as unreal and ill sive the islands of P M lato and ore . W hat heart would have come to our stout navigator with but the briefest of all possible prophetic glimpses into the future of that great continent e on whose western sands he searches for wat r, reluctant,

- d ! dubious, half ismayed

There was much, however, it must be admitted, to w dishearten him . The behaviour of his cre was causing him anxiety and about this time the scur vy broke ou t M amongst the men . oreover, though his people hunted

d f r . iligently for resh water, their labou s were unrewarded

o D for if S ampier determined to shape a course Timor, , “ n to use his own la guage, he met with no refreshment ” H s elsewhere . e had spent altogether about five week ff in cruising o the coast, covering in all, as he calculates, 900 a range of miles, but without making any sort of discovery that was in the least degree satisfactory to

e him s elf. H started afresh with the intention to steer

- as . His north east, keeping the land aboard, sailors say chief and perhaps only desire at that time was to fill his casks with fresh water. They once again then D 5th 1 699 lifted their anchor on ecember , , but had not measured many miles when they discovered that the numerous shoals along the coast would render an inshore voyage impracticable. Dampier thereupon bore away seawards and deepened his water from eleven to thirty n two fathoms. Next day but the merest film of la d was ' RA 96 WILL1 A M D AMPIE R C P.

7th hi as was v in sight, and on the not ng of the co t isible, i even from the masthead. By this time he was heart ly

ew H e nf weary of N olland. H co esses his disgust very ' ne a he a e ho stly, and l ments the weeks has w st d on the

s coa t, which he believes he could have employed with greater satisfac tion to himself and with larger promise of w His success had he pushed straight on to Ne Guinea. men were drooping the scurvy was being helped by the i r d brack sh water they were obliged to d ink, and he coul think of no better remedy than to shift his helm and I steer away for the sland of Timor. He gives a very close and interesting description of

He of this island . had certainly plenty leisure for ai l inspection, for he did not get under weigh ag n unti

D 1 '2 s ecember th, whence, though he doe not date his

arrival at Timor, we may gather that he must have

He d stayed there for at least three months. now heade — on a straight course for New Guinea the coas t of which he discovered in the form of very high land on New ’ D a 1 700. I Year s y, slands studded the water on all

sides, from one of which some days afterwards they saw A t h D smoke rising. sight of t is am pier bore away for

—fi e o it before a brisk gale, and anchored in thirty v fath ms of water at the distance of about two leagues from what

proved a large island. Thus they remained during the h night, whilst all through the hours of darkness t ey i observed many fires burn ng ashore. In the morning

they weighed again and sailed closer to the land, anchoring within a mile of the beach ; whereupon a couple of canoes came off to within speaking distance of

the ship. The savages called to them, but their language

wa s D as unintelligible as their gestures . ampier invited

R 98 WILL IA M DA MPIE R C A P .

On February 4th the Roebuck was off the north- west H D coast of New Guinea. ere ampier found some very pleasant islands richly wooded and full of wild pigeons, nd a sweetened to the sight by vast spaces of white, f purple, and yellow flowers, which so per umed the wind that the fragrance could be tasted at a great distance On from the shore . one of them he stood surrounded d ’ by a portion of his crew, and after rinking the king s ’

W I d. health , christened the spot King illiam s slan Cross u ing the eq ator they proceeded to the eastward, and then, partly with the idea of escaping the perils of a navigation among shoals and islands, and partly with the hope of being rewarded for their sufferings and disappointm ents by some discovery of magnitude and i mportance, they steered the ship for the mainland. They were now within sight of a high and mountainous r l country, g een and beautifu with tropical vegetation , and dark with forests and groves of tall and stately A u trees . n mber of canoes came out to them, but the brief intercourse terminated in the usual way : the inten tions of the natives were misunderstood ; a gun was ’ d nd D am fire a several savages killed. pier s narrative at this point deals for some pages chiefly with the natives New G of uinea, though he shortly describes the islands of i d and the aspect the ma nlan as he sails along. So

one of far his tone is disappointment, but nevertheless d he keeps a very stea y, honest eye upon the object of “ 1 his voyage to these unknown waters. could have ” “ wished, he says, for some more favourable opportuni

' ties than had hitherto oflered themselves as well for penetrating into the heart of the New discovered country

as for opening a Trade with its inhabitants, both of which rv A R UD E GRE E TIN G 99

I w very well kne , could they be brought about, must ” prove extremely beneficial to Great Britain . Happily ffi the conduct of his o cers and men had improved, and they seemed as willing as he to explore the new land ; r but he w ites with knowledge of the issue, and it is impossible to miss in this narrative of his the sub dued

and faltering language of a discouraged heart. On March 1 4th he was within view of what he terms a well

- . He cultivated country observed numbers of cocoa trees, plantations apparently well ordered, and many houses. His method of opening communication with the natives was by firing a shot over a fleet of canoes, which sent them paddling away home as fast as their crews could

P off of drive them . resently three large boats put , one

Roebuck which had about forty men in her. The lay

o becalmed, and it lo ked as if the blacks meant to attack A the ship . round shot was sent at the canoes, the

u savages turned about, and a light breeze springing p, W the ship followed them into the bay. hen close to the shore D ampier noticed the eyes of innumerable dusky - faced people peeping at the vessel from behind A the rocks. shot was fired to scare them, but they D continued peeping nevertheless . ampier seems sur pri sed after this that the natives were unwilling to trade. The utmost they consented to do was to

h contem tu climb the trees for cocoanuts, whic they p ously flung at the English with passionate signs to them to be gone. now The crew were finding plenty of fresh water, and ’ In the ship s casks were soon filled. spite of the defiant ul posture of the savages, it was agreed, after a cons tation fi e e amongst the of cers and men, to remain where they w r roo WILL IA M D A MP IE R CRA P. and attempt a better acquaintance with the people of the coast. Next day whilst the boats were ashore, forty or fifty men and women passed by they moved on quietly

ff . D without o ering any violence Says ampier, speaking of them “ I have observed among all the wild Nations I have known that they make the W omen carry the

Men burdens, while the walk before without carrying ” any other load than their arms . Extremes meet, and assuredly in some respects the most polished nation in the world is within a very measurable distance of the It most savage . does not appear that the obligation of having occasionally to kill a few natives greatly inter fered with the friendly relations between them and

’ ’ D am pier s men . The ship s company went ashore and slaughtered and salted a good load of hogs, whilst the “ N savages peered at them from their houses . one ff ! D o ered to hinder our Boats landing, writes ampier “ A but, on the contrary, were so micable, that one man

or o f brought ten twelve C coanuts, le t them on the Shore,

Men after he had shewed them to our , and went out of

Our P and sight. eople, finding nothing but nets images, brought them away these two of my men brought in a

and f o off. small Canoe ; presently a ter, my B ats came I n ordered the Boatswai to take care of the nets, the

o images I to k into my own Custody. Thus they requited the friendly disposition of these poor savages W ho by plundering them. can doubt that most of the massacres of European crews by the inhabitants of countries often as beautiful and radiant as earthly para w dises, the glory and s eetness of which might easily be deemed to have subdued the human beings found upon them to the tenderness and lovableness of the inspira

CRA 1 0 2 WILLIA M D A MP IE IE P . the foreshore and overflowed the beach with incandes oi r n cent lakes . The description this bu ni g mount ’ I D am ier s ain is, think, one of the finest passages in p writings . A ll this while he supposed that he was still off the coast of New Guinea ; but following the trend of the h shore, he arrived at those straits w ich still bear his name, and then discovered that the little country whose seaboard he had been exploring was an island. This d N n lan he called ova Britannia, or, as we now k ow it,

H o d New Britain . appy w ul it have been for the reputa D tion of ampier if, instead of steering east through his

had New G as straits, he continued to skirt the uinea co t

- to the south east, for by so doing he must have rounded G P into the ulf of apua, struck the channel called Torres

Straits, and, catching sight of Cape York, have been encouraged to pursue his exploration of the coast of New Holland on that side of the great continent whose f f ruit ulness, beauty, and conveniency have courted the t Roebuck civilisation of Eur ope . I is true that the was provisioned for twenty months only, but an ardent and ambitious navigator would have made little or nothing of such a condition of his voyage as this when close d aboard of him were lands fille with fruit, hogs, fowls, D and fresh water. But there is no question that ampier

He had long grown weary of this business. could see nothing but honour !and little enough of that, as things

out and went) to be got of this journey, as a poor man, h in with the eart of a buccaneer him besides, he would appreciate the need of something more substantial than

. Be A fame this as it may, he had now, it being pril 26th 1 700 r , , sta ted on his return home, intending on IV A R OT TE N S HIP 1 0 3 the way to call at Batavia to careen and doctor his

crazy ship for the long voyage to England . W hen clear of i the stra ts a vessel hove in sight at dusk, and as o her man euvrings were puzzling they loaded their guns,

d to lighted the matches, and ma e ready fight her. She ofl was d sheered , but in sight at aybreak, and then proved to be nothing more dangerous than a Chinese un j k laden with tea, porcelain, and other commodities, A ’ and bound for mboyna. The Roebuck s progress was w very slow ; she was coated ith weeds and barnacles, — w d It and in a sea way her timbers orke like a basket. was not until June 23r d that they arrived at the Straits

' n of Su da, and at the close of the month they dropped fl' H anchor o Batavia. ere D ampier stayed for three months whilst his ship was careened and repaired. Her condition was such that one can onl y wonder that he

s and hi crew ventured to sail home in her. W e might ’ scarcely credit that D am pier s patrons honestly felt

n and much faith in his representatio s, in the hopes he d w held out of vast and important iscoveries, hen we find them putting him and his crew of boys into a ship which time had made rotten probably some years before she was equipped for this voyage, if it were not that the later experiences of A nson exhibit the same profound departmental indifference and neglect on an occasion which we may assume was regarded as far more signi ’ Of ficant than D am pier s exp edition . all the wonder ful accomplishments of the English sailor, nothing to my mind is so amazing as the trium phs with which he crown s the cause of his country in defiance of the miserable indifference of the British A dmiralty to him D and to his labours. The best that ampier could do 1 0 4 WILL IA M D A MP IE R CRA P. with his ship was so to patch her up as to enable her to carry her people home with the pum ps going day O 1 7th and night . They sailed from Batavia on ctober ,

d e of G H D 30th arrive at the Cap ood ope on ecember , and brought up at the island of A scension in a sinking

o o 2 1 701 . A e c nditi n on February l st, Even whilst s en

Roebuck sion was in sight the had sprung a fresh leak, and when she anchored both hand and chain pumps were going . There was still a long stretch of ocean for them to traverse, and a ship like a sieve to measure it with . The tinkering of the carpenters apparently d f D increase the mischie , and whilst ampier was waiting

e below to receive the news of the l ak being stopped, the boatswain arrived with a long face to tell him that ” the vessel was sinking . The plank was so rotten, D i “ D says amp er, it broke away like irt, and now it was impossible to save the Ship ; for they could not come at the L eak because the water in the run was got

I d Men above it. worke myself to encourage my , who

d W s were very iligent, but the ater still increa ed, and we now thought of nothing but saving our lives : W here fore I hoisted out the boat that if the Ship should sink we might be saved ; and in the Morning we weighed ’ o and W our anch r arped in nearer the shore, tho we ” did but little good. The men with their clothes and bedding were sent ashore on rafts ; the sails were un bent and converted into tents for the use of D ampier and his offi cers fresh water and rice had been landed “ ” f n for the use of all, but, writes the un ortu ate com “ mander, great part of it was stolen away before I came ashore, and many of my books and papers lost . L uckily there was no lack of turtle, but those who have

1 0 6 WIL LIA M D A MP IE R CR A P . i v will allow that I have D elivered many things new ff I u themselves, capable of a ording much nstr ction to fu D such as meditate ture iscoveries, and which in other respects may be of great utility present age and to posterity. C HA P T ER V

— 1 7 0 2 1 7 0 6- 7

THE VOYA GE OF THE ST. GEORGE

D AMP IER’S circumnavigations brought him great fame . It was deemed, and justly deemed, a remarkable feat to

sail round the world in those days. Very few men had — achieved it, and the names of those who had the list prior to D ampier is brief enough— were written among D the stars. ampier had circled the globe twice, had f touched at all sorts of strange and wonder ul places, had i held intercourse with all k nds of astonishing people, had explored some of the secret recesses of the other i side of the earth, and was charged w th experiences as marvellous as those of the sail or who had doubled Cape

Fly - A way and dropped anchor in thick weather off No ’

M L His for h . On an s and . reputation stood high t is

the other hand, nothing was thought of his discoveries. It is significant that the editor of the Collection of Vo a es and Travels 1 704 y g , published by the Churchills in , ’ in speaking in his Introductory D iscour se of Dam pier s “ b : Vo a e to New ooks, says The third volume is his y g !

Holland . , which has no great matter of new discovery This opinion probably expressed the judgment of the e public at large. There is indeed no gr at matter of 1 0 8 WIL LIA M D A MP IE R CHA P.

H discovery . arris allows the voyage but one merit, “ d for namely, That it has remove ever those suspicions that were entertained of the accounts formerly given of ” “ ” “ It us those countries . has shown , he says, a new

I d e d n ies in which, when ver that spirit of in ustry shall revive which first extended and then established our

to commerce, we may be able undertake settlements as advantageous as any that have been hitherto made by ” I o h D this or any t er nation . But in sober truth, ampier adds but little to the stock of knowledge that had been

m of F already collected fro the narratives Tasman, elsart,

Schouten, and others who had touched at or been It wr ecked upon the New Holland coast. is probable i that his fa lure, coupled with the despondent tone that

far f characterises his narrative, went to retard urther It exploration in the Southern Ocean . was no longer disputed that a vast body of land stood in those waters the testimony of previous navigators was confirmed ; but what was to be made of it ? A ll that Dampier said in its favour was theoretical ; all that he had to report

an - w as was as eye itness, all that he could speak to facts,

o He u extremely disc uraging. might even go f rther in his conversation than in his written story in apologising n for his useless and disappointi g cruise, and to his patrons add to the assurance of his narrative such persuasion of tongue as would convince them that there was nothing to be gained by further researches in

A al . I ustr ian waters ndeed, the depressing influence of his recorded adventures I venture to consider manifested

1 h a arri m a l a T e st tem ents of H s, who y b e c im ed as a contem

oraneous au thorit are interestin on this a ccount. He writes p y , g , ’ of course without the re udices of D a m ier s sea - i , p j p assoc ates. l 1 0 WIL LIA M D A MP IE R CHA P.

Speculative men of substance were found and an ex

edition St. Geor e p equipped, the ships being the g , Captain

W D Fam e P u . illiam ampier, and the , Captain John lling

s The vessel were liberally armed and manned, and were commissioned— spite of the venture being wholly one of — b P G D L H privateering y rince eorge of enmark, ord igh A i dmiral, to cru se against the French and the Spaniards. “ ” ’ No ! D am ier s The terms were, purchase, no pay p of proposal, adopted by the promoters the expedition, was to proceed first to the river Plate as far as A Buenos yres, and seize two or three Spanish galleons, If which he said were sure to be found there . the plunder amounted to the value of six hundred thousand pounds If they were to return home . , on the other hand, nothing P was done in the river late, they were to enter the South Seas and cruise for the Valdivia ships which conveyed L If f gold to ima. this design ailed, they were to attempt such rich towns as Dampier should think proper. M Finally, they were to coast the exican shore to watch for the great galleon which in those days and long afterwards sailed annually filled with treasure and valu m d M able com o ities from anila to A capulco. ’ and D am ier s This was a broad programme, p finger f d A may be oun in every word of it. The capulco ship l I was indeed pecu iarly the dream of the buccaneer. n the

d D L Vaz galleon capture by rake, opez tells us there were e of ight hundred and fifty thousand pieces silver, besides many chests of treasure omitted in what was then termed “ ” D ’ the bill of custom. rake s men were employed six d o ays in removing the jewels, the cases of money, the t ns

o d of unc ine silver, and the services of plate, which they ’ Candish s found in their prize . capture of the galleon A Q UA RRE L 1 1 1

yielded him one hundred and twenty- two thousand pesoes d i of gol ; the lad ng further consisted of silks, satins, musk, damasks, sweetmeats, and quantities of fine wines. The value of the Manila ship that Dampier was to seek and capture was appraised at nine millions of pieces of eight, f f equal to about a million and a hal o our money . Our sailor was wise to provide himself with alterna tiv es which would also furnish his humour with oppor tunities for those sudden changes which his capricious

' ul mind demanded as a stim ant to further efforts. The W 1 story of this voyage is related by illiam Funnell, who D I went as mate in the ship with ampier. t is noticeable ’ D am ier s that, as we progress in p career, his individuality H grows less and less distinguishable . e is vague in ’ ’ Funnell s W oodes Ro ers s narrative, he is vaguer still in g , and then he disappears .

There was trouble at the very onset of this voyage . D D P W hilst in the owns ampier and ulling quarrelled, and the latter, apparently not troubling himself about his agreement with his employers, made sail, and started away on a cruise among the Canary Islands on his own him On account . D ampier never saw afterwards . this

Cin ue P orts A a galley named the q , memorable as lex ’ P ander Selkirk s ship, commanded by one Charles icker

d St. Geor e ing, was despatche to join the g in the room of the Fa m e. She was a small vessel of some ninety tons burthen, mounting sixteen guns and carrying a crew of ’ - It P sixty three men . is declared that ulling s defection

1 e ound the W or ld containin an a ccount of Ca tain Voyag R , g p ’ ’ edition into the S outh S eas 1 703 - 4 with th e A uthor s D am pier s exp , , Voyage from A m apall a on the W est Coast of Mexico to East ” ia 1 0 . Ind , 7 7 1 1 3 WIL LIA M D A MP IE R CRA P. ruined the voyage ; but this is an opinion scarcely reasonable in the face of the achievements of the

of buccaneers, who many them, in vessels much smaller

Cin ue P orts f than the q , successfully engaged the orts and

and castles of powerfully protected towns, and boarded carried galleons big enough to have stowed the conquerors’ craft in their holds . D A 3oth 1 703 D ampier sailed on pril , , from the owns,

Cin ue P orts and on being joined at Kinsale by the q , M “ proceeded with his Consort to adeira. By a good ” “ I observation, says Funnell, make this island to lie ° ’

of 32 20 N . n in latitude , and lo gitude, by my account L ° 5 ’ W ” 1 8 . from ondon, This is an illustration of the value of good observations in those days ! Nothing of moment happened until their arrival at an island upon H the Brazilian coast . ere Captain Pickering of the

Cin ue P orts and q died, Thomas Stradling, the lieutenant, took command of the ship . There was also a quarrel D ffi between ampier, his chief o cer, and eight of the crew, which terminated in the nine men going ashore w D ’ ith theirbaggage . isappointmenthadsoured D am pier s d and i o f min , he was grow ng m re obstinately retful and

M of quarrelsome . uch the anxiety caused him by the ’ behaviour of his ship s company was owing to his

o petulance, and to his lacking m st of the qualities which

. In command respect or enforce obedience truth, there had been nothing in his training to qualify him as a He had commander. passed the greater portion of his seafaring life as a sailor before the mast, amongst a community of bold and truculent ruffians who obeyed d or ers for the general good, but who virtually admitted no superiority in the persons whom they suffered to lead

1 1 4 WILLIAM DAMPIER ca n .

by the very rats, which, with the fearlessness and f o of of er city famine, crawled out the blackness of the h old and nibbled ' the feet of the sailors as they lay dozing G Shelv ocke on their chests. Captain eorge , writing in

26 f of 1 7 , has left us a gloomy picture, ull of power, the “ ” “ H n . I or in winter must own, he says, the navigation

to here is truly melancholy, and it was the more so us who were a single ship and by ourselves in this vast and dreadful solitude ; W hereas a companion would have mixed some cheerfulness with the thoughts of being in d d so distant a part of the worl exposed to such angers,

of . and, as it were, separated from the rest mankind The very thoughts of the possibility of losing our masts by the violence of such very stormy weather as we had had were enough to cast a damp upon the clearest ” 1 spirits . It was not until F ebruary 7th that Juan Fernandez D showed above the horizon. ampier concluded that

o o it was s me ther island, and stood away east, to

f o one the grie and disapp intment, as may suppose,

and o of his starved sc rbutic crew, tantalised by the f f f spectacle o green hills and sparkling alls o fresh water. On 1 1 th d the , having saile a considerable distance A towards the merican seaboard, he decided that the

had d land he sighte was the island he sought, and there u pon shifted his helm for it and on his arrival, passing

own by the great bay, he saw, to his and to _ the great

Cin ue P orts delight of his crew, the g quietly lying at

1 A o a e Round the W or ld b the wa the Grea outh ea V y g y y of t S S , b Ca tain Geor e Shel vocke. Second Edition 1 757 . 6. The y p g , , p 7 whole descri tion of his assa e of the Horn with his sketch of p p g , ! Staten Isl and cover ed with snow to the v er wash of the sea is , y , a dm irab le. ’ S TRA D LIN G S JUE N [II I/TIN Y 1 1 5

f anchor, she having made the land three days be ore .

Both vessels were heeled and refitted, which, with the

watering of them, gave the crews plenty of employment ; w d but hilst this was doing another quarrel happene ,

and m en this time between Captain Stradling his . W e may suspect Stradling’s character from A lexander ’ Selkirk s hatred of him, though there is no doubt that Selkirk himself was on the whole about as troublesome D a seaman to deal with as ever stepped a deck . ampier,

d oodes R it is true, afterwards tol Captain W ogers that I he considered Selkirk, who in the expedition am now

Cin ue P orts writing about was master of the q , to have been the best man in that ship but then D ampier had n quarrelled with Stradli g and abhorred his memory, and I R so, do not doubt, made the most of Selkirk to ogers, that he might suggest rather than boldly affirm his former consort equal to so base and cruel a deed as the marooning of a good and honest sailor ; albeit Rogers was perfectly well aware that Selkirk had gone ashore 1 w of his own choice. The quarrel bet een Stradling and his men rose to such a height that the crew absolutely D refused to go on board and serve under him . ampier l was consu ted, and after a deal of trouble succeeded in It persuading the fellows to return to their duty . is to be feared that this happy turn of what threatened to prove a very grave difficulty owed little or nothing to ’ It D am pier s address or to his popularity . is a common saying at sea amongst sailors who dislike their captain that they will weather him out even if he were the devil

1 a however that on S el ir re entin his rash de I should dd, , k k p g cision and re ues in l eav e to return to his dut Stradlin refused , q t g y, g to receive him on b oard. 1 x6 WILLIA1L! D A MP IE R CH A P . himself ; meaning that they will not suff er themselves to be defrauded by his tyranny of their wages or such good prospects as the voyage may promise . The sober ’ headed amongst Stradling s crew woul d not take long to see the folly of abandoning an adventure that had

m to d of ar ticu brought the the very threshol their hopes, p larly after having endured all the distress and misery of the passage of the Horn in a vessel but a very little

fi h - - It bigger than a s ing smack of to day. is more than ’ likely then that D am pier s counsel found most of them sensible of their mistake and willing to resume work. W hilst the people were ashore busy on various j obs

do relating to the ctoring of their ships, the day being 29th 1 704 d February , , a sail was sighte , an alarm raised, and a rush made on board . The two vessels instantly

and slipped their cables stood out to sea. The stranger, on perceiving the canvas of the two crafts growing large d h upon the background of the islan , outed ship and went D away under a press but ampier clung to his wake, and the Gingue P orts made all possible haste to follow.

w and St. Geor e The breeze ble briskly, the g was thrashed through it so fleetly that she towed her pinnace under f ’ water and was orced to cut her loose. Captain Stradling s w boat, in hich were a man and a dog, also went adrift, It but of her and her inmates we get news later on. ’ n t Geor e was not until eleve o clock at night that the S . g D came up with the chase, and ampier wisely deferred

o w d h stilities until the day da ne . The stranger proved

a Frenchman of four hundred tons and thirty guns, full of men and at sunrise on March 1 st the Cinque P orts and

St. Geor e d . w of the g attacke her The galley, ho ever, was

it for ft in l tle use, a er discharg g a dozen guns she fell astern, r 1 8 WIL L IA M D A MP IE R CR A P .

M Salt P eter Sulphur Califonia 41. elt these by a

and ut 21 of soft heat together ; being well melted, p .

o - of of H - f 6L A oetita c le dust, the filings orses hoo s , ssa F S agapenem Spatula Foetida half a pound : In ut corporate them well together, and p into this matter

L W - Cloathe H innen or oollen , or emp or Toe as much as will drink up all the matter : and of these make Globes

G o or Balls of what bigness you please. This l be or

m d o sonous Ball may be a e venomous or p y , if to the Composition be added these things following : Mercury ” 1 Su lim ate A rsnick O Sinab er . p , , rpiment, , etc

This horrible contrivance, when thrown among the

o d w o of o o surging cr w , thre out v lumes p is nous and

A - fi t suffocating smoke . sea gh was a fierce business fier cer , perhaps, than we can realise when we contrast the armaments of those days with the leviathan guns of the

f of ironclad. The devices for slaughtering were ull the

o genius of murder. They had c horns or small mortars “ ” d - t fixed on swivels ; caissons, called pow er ches s, charged with old nails and rusty bits of iron for firing from the close - quarters when boarded ; weapons named “ ” of m - organs, formed a nu ber of musket barrels fired at

. A I once bove all, they had what fear is lost to us for — I d - f ever, mean the boar ing pike, the deadliest o all weapons in the hands of the British sailor. The mere naming of a yard- arm to yard- arm engagement lasting seven hours is hint enough to the imagination of a man

i ou conversant w th the tactics, the brutal c rage, the if remorseless resolution, the deadly primitive fighting

- of th machinery of the sea braves e old generations . The

f u castellated abric rolling pon the seas, echoing in

1 ’ Nor wood s Navi a tion al read refer o g , y red t . TH E FRE N CH ME N ROUTE D H g thunder to the blasts which roar from her wooden sides the crowds of men swaying half- naked at the guns ; the falling spars ; the riddled sails ; the great tops filled with smoke - blackened sailors wildly cheering as they

fling their granados upon the decks of the enemy, or silent as death as they level their long and clumsy muskets at forms distinguished as the leaders of the

r fight by thei attire, combine in a picture that rises in crimson- tinctured outlines upon the dusky canvas of the s pa t, and, though two centuries old, startles and fascin i ates as i it were a memory of yesterday. But the old ’ f voyagers references to such things are grimly brie . They dismiss in a sentence as much as might fill a volume ; yet what they have to say is suggestive enough, and the fancy is feeble that cannot colour their black and

of white outlines to the fiery complexion a reality, and vitalise them with the living hues of the time in which the deeds were done. The battle was ended by a small gale of wind coming On on to blow, and by the Frenchman running away . board Dampier were nine killed and several wounded. Funnell says that the sailors were anxious to follow and m n fight the French an agai , and sink or capture him, fearing that if he escaped he would make their presence D known to the Spaniards . But ampier objected, pro testing that even if the enemy should hear of them and “ stop their merchantmen from leaving harbour, he knew f where to go, and did not ear of failing to take to the ! value of any day in the year. This assurance sufficiently satisfied the men to induce them to back t ue P or ts their topsail to wait for the g , and on her

t. Geor e D coming up with the S g , ampier briefly conferred 1 2 0 WIL LIA M D A MPIE R CHA P .

d d l with Stra ling, who agree with him that they shou d

a o d let the Frenchm n g . The privateers thereupon heade on their return to Juan Fernandez to recover the anchors, ’ - f sea lions long boats, casks of resh water, and oil which they had left there ; along with five of the crew of the

Ctn ue P orts of q , who had been ashore on the west side the island when the ships hurriedly made sail after the

. was off Frenchman The wind south, right the land, and whilst they were struggling to fetch the bay two

d V Gin ue P or ts ships unexpecte ly hove in iew. The g , d and n being near them, fire several shots, then, havi g her

w St. Geor e h s eeps out, rowed to the g to report t at the strangers were Frenchmen, each mounting about thirty It D six guns . is conceivable that ampier might not con

f was u sider his ship, resh as she from a to gh conflict, in

- a fit state to engage these two large, well armed vessels

f had nor, a ter the part his consort borne in the late ’ action, was he likely to place much faith in Stradling s — He co operation . thereupon determined to stand away for of P w the coast eru, an unintelligible resolution hen it is remembered that they would not only be leaving d ’ d f five of Stra ling s men behin , but urniture and stores absolutely essential to their security and to the execution f o their projects. They might surely have lingered long enough in the neighbourhood of the island to persuade

‘ o f r the Frenchman that they were g ne o good. A run of fifteen or twenty miles would have put them out of

~ A nd sight. they might also have reckoned upon the unwillingness of the enemy to fight ; for the French equally with the Spanish seafarers in those days were commonly very well satisfied with the negative victory ’ of the foe s retreat.

CR A P 1 2 2 WILLIAM DAMPIER . reluctance or refusal as the chief of a crew eager for the fray is unaccountable . Funnell writes with no kindness for D ampier but he doubtless speaks the truth when he asserts that the men were greatly incensed by their commander’s refusal to

fight, insomuch that something like a mutiny might have f m ollified ollowed had they not been by the capture, in — the space of a few days, of two prizes one of one hun

of d . M dred and fifty, the other two hun red tons ean while D ampier was maturing a mighty project of landing P on the coast and plundering some rich city. reparations f r A ll o this great event filled the ship with business . day long the carpenters were employed in fitting out fabrics called Spanish long- boats to enable the sailors to In enter the surf with safety. every launch were fixed

atarer os - two p , swivel guns of small calibre . Fortune so

on A 1 1 th far favoured them that, pril , they met and took a vessel of fifty tons, laden with plank and cordage, “ if ” as she had been sent on purpose for our service,

u f says Funnell . Carrying this se ul prize with them, they G w sailed to the island of allo, here they dropped anchor f and took in resh water, and further prepared their ship and the prize for the grand undertaking they were about A t to enter upon . the expiration of five days they were ready but whilst they were in the act of getting under weigh a ship was seen standing in . They were in a

she proper posture to take her, and in a short while was f theirs . The capture was unimportant, the cra t being only fifty tons ; b ut it is noticeable for their finding

o d G on b ar a uernsey man, who had been taken by the Spaniards two years before as he was cutting logwood in

Ba of e and who the y Campech , must have continued a SANTA MARIA 1 2 3

’ D am i prisoner for life if they had not released him. p er s D o o of M It El rad was the town Santa aria. was to the mines lying adjacent to this place that he would have been glad to convey the thousand slaves who had been It captured in an earlier voyage . was his intention now

to attack it, for he had no doubt that it was full of

treasure . But his evil star was dominant. The enemy,

apprised of his being in the neighbourhood, met him at

- us all points with ambuscades, which, Funnell tells , cut off d He abun ance of the men . may have lacked the power of organisation ; he may have been wanting in f d the quality to swi tly deci e, and in the power to unfalter ingly execute ; it is equally probable that his schemes were perplexed and his hopes ruined by the insubordina tion of a crew whom he was not sufficiently master of his temper to control. Be the reason of the failure what it will, the men grew so weary of their fruitless attempts on shore that they returned to their ship without regard to the wishes of the commander. Then they were beset with n new troubles, chief amo gst which was a great scarcity of provisions. Fortunately at this critical juncture a ship

of of one hun dred and fifty tons, ignorant their character, m N dropped anchor within gunshot of the . eedless to say that she was promptly captured, and, to the delight ’ of the hungry and hollow- checked survivors of D am pier s

- o mighty land project, was f und filled to the hatches with

- of flour, sugar, brandy, wine, thirty two tons marmalade, d a large stock of linen and woollen cloth, and, in a wor , such a store of food and goods as might have served to victual and equip them for four or five years. Funnell was put on board this prize on behalf of Captain D am

St. Geor e pier and the people of the g , whilst the master 1 2 4 WILLIAM DAMP/ER CHA P .

— — of the t gue P orts A lexander Selkirk was transferred to her as representing the interests of Captain Stradling ’ o and his ship s company. The vessels then pr ceeded to

of P r off the Bay anama, and ancho ed the island of

Tobago. They had not long arrived when Dampier and Strad ling fell out. The quarrel between the men was so hot

for One that there was nothing it but to part company.

to H is willing to hope that Stradling was blame. e was a

of man of a coarse mind, a person violent temper, and of a

o low habit of th ught ; and nothing, probably, but the cir cum stance of their being in separate ships and removed from each other hindered the two captains from separat ’

i St. Geor e s ing long before . F ve of the g men went over

Ctn a e P orts to Stradling, and five of the g crew joined It D ampier. was now that some prisoners who were in the last prize that had been taken affi rmed that there were eighty thousand dollars secreted on board of her. The money, they said, had been taken in very privately at

L and ima, it lay hidden in the bottom of the ship in the

D and part called the run . ampier refused to credit this, would not even take the trouble to ascertain the truth

His by setting the men to rummage the hold . mind,

Funnell tells us, was so full of great designs that he would not risk them by such delay as a brief search It f might involve . is un ortunate for his reputation that a considerable portion of his sea - going career has to be tracked through the relations of men with whom he

o quarrelled, or who, by associati n with him during months

o of the impris nment of shipboard life, grew intimately d acquainte with the weaknesses of his character.

On Ma 1 9th t Geor e y the S . g parted com pany with

HA I 2 6 WILLIAM D A MP IE 18 C P .

had and f om D m i had ling fired, r which a p er made sail, had picked up the boat containing the man and dog that had broken loose from the Cinga e P orts ; also that they

off f d had taken the men who had been le t on the islan , ’ riv ateersm en s together with the p anchors, cables, long It boat, and stores. was further ascertained from these letters that the Spaniards had fitted out two ships to — cruise in search of D ampier one of thirty - two brass

- - guns, twenty four pounders each the other of thirty six guns of the same calibre each vessel had three hundred

f f o and fi ty seamen and one hundred and fi ty s ldiers, It all picked men . does not seem, however, that Dampier allowed his projects to be diverted by these

- oi— He off G men war. knew they were uayaquil, and on June 2 l st we find him in the bay named after that port

da with a sail in sight, which next y proved to be one of “ — one — the Spanish ships the of thirty two guns. Being “ pretty near each other, says Funnell they gave us a ’ e not . D am ier s f Broadside, but w did mind them p chie

- anxiety was to get the weather gage. The wind was ’ o r St Geor e s f o half a gale, and in man euv ing the . g oret p

o H mast went ver the side . atchets were seized and the wreckage cut away, and the instant his ship was clear D ampier put his helm up and got his vessel before it.

f e This inspired the enemy with wonder ul spirit. H i crowded all the canvas he dared show to that w nd, and

D v started in pursuit ; whereupon ampier, obser ing that his behaviour was animating the Spaniards with courage,

d t Geor e d an . resolve to bring the S . g to the win d fight it out “ Funnell relates this incident very brightly Captain ’ D am pier s opinion was that he could sail better upon one M and ast than the Enemy, therefore it was best to v A N IDLE CONF LICT 1 2 7

o W put bef re the ind but, however, chose rather to fight than to be chased ashore : So hoisting the bloody

Flag at the Main- topmast- head with a Resolution neither to give or to take Quarter, we began the Fight, and went to it as fast as we could load and fire . The Enemy kept to W indward at a good Distance from us ; so that we could not come to make use of our Small- arms But we divided the two W atches ; and one was to manage the Guns whilst the other looked on and when those at the G P uns were weary, the other were to take their laces till they had refreshed themselves. By this means we

’ I G W e fired, believe, five uns to the Enemy s one. fired 5 60 1 1 0 1 1 5 about , and he about or ; and we fought him from twelve at Noon to Half an Hour to Six at N ’ D ight, altho at a good istance for he kept so far to W indward of us that our Shot sometimes would hardly ’ reach him , tho his would at the same time fly over ” — it — us . The cannonading came to no more terminated

D - n when the darkness fell . ampier lay hove to all ight waiting for the morning, but at daybreak nothing was

a to be seen of the Spaniard . The ction was merely a shooting match, and the privateers had not a man killed nor even hurt by the enemy. ’ Our hero s next step was to seek provisions and water.

The district, however, yielded him nothing, and he was forced to rest satisfied with the lading of a couple of One b e small vessels, which he captured. of them fitted

- D ra on. out as a long boat, and called her the g They were now in the Gulf of Nicoya and at anchor close to M I iddle sland, as Funnell terms it and here it was they careened their ship, all hands going ashore and building tents for the cooper and sailmaker, and for the storage HA I 2 8 WILLIAM D A MP IE IB C P.

W d D of goods and provisions. hilst this was oing ampier

o sent his mate, J hn Clipperton, and twenty men armed He f d to the teeth for a cruise in the Dragon. oun his

for of account in this little expedition, at the end six days the D r agon returned with a Spanish craft of forty

d and . A tons freighte with brandy, wine, sugar mongst her people were six carpenters and caulkers, who had been shipped by the owner for the purpose of repairing t D her, and hese men ampier immediately set to work

of St. Geor e upon his own ship . The bottom the g , after she had been careened, is described as resembling a

o m honeycomb . N where was the plank uch thicker than an old sixpence so sodden and rotten was the wood that Funnell declares in some places he could easily have thrust his thumb through it . They were without timber to sheath her, and all that could be done

and was to stop the leaks with nails oakum. W hilst the ship was in the hands of the carpenters D f a ampier and Clipperton ell out, and the m te, with a f o of - oll wing twenty one men, mutinously seized the bark

D ra on f d that the g had brought in, li te her anchor and Shel vocke sailed away outside the islands . , who was

f o a terwards ass ciated with Clipperton, gives this man so bad a character in his book that, if he possessed the same ’ qualities as D am pier s mate which he afterwards ex ’ hib ited Shelvocke s as consort, one can only wonder

of Geor e that the captain the St. g had not long before

marooned or pitched him overboard. The loss of these

w - two o f t enty men was a serious bl w, but the de ection might have resulted more seriously even than this to ’

D i for all St. Geor e s on amp er, the g ammuniti and the greater part of her provisions were in the bark when

I3O WILLIAM DAMPIER CHA P.

d of e shortly afterwards ied a broken h art, utterly destitute . O 7th But to return to D ampier. By ctober he was again in a condition to embark upon further adven n tures . O e notices with admiration his resolution to keep the sea in an under- manned craft so rotten and crazy that he might reas onably fear the first gale of

f r wind must pound her into staves . But the orlo n hope ’

- was often the old buccaneer s best opportunity . Ex f

uem elin Es uem elin i q g, or q g as the name is somet mes l Le G spelt, tel s of the pirate rand that when famine stricken in a small boat in company with a few armed men, he ordered one of his people to bore a hole through the craft’s bottom whilst approaching the vessel he r meant to board, that success might be as su e as despera was tion could render it. There something probably of ’ ’ L G D am i r s Hi e rand s spirit in p e policy . s men were few f , and he might have ound it necessary to animate them by an alternative whose issue could only mean d either conquest or estruction. He now for A was cruising the capulco ship, the most romantic and golden of all the hopes and dreams of the privateersman . There were no limits to the fancies her I name conjured up. magination was dazzled by visions of i chests loaded with virgin gold and unminted s lver,

of o crucifixes by cases c stly ecclesiastical furniture, , s l of s chalice , and cand esticks preciou ore, images glorious w d ith jewels, plate of superb esign, treasure equal ling in value the revenues of a flourishing principality. They f D 6th ell in with her on ecember , in the morning. The w d i ff cre , Funnell r ly tells us in e ect, had looked out for her as though there were no difference between seeing ’ CAPTAIN MAR TIN S A D VICE 1 31

n n i of and taki g her. They were i deed in the right k nd mood for fighting. Their appetites had been whetted s by disappointment, and they were weary of a crui e that had yielded them little more in the way of captures than provisions, which their necessities quickly forced

the them to consume . They were also sulky with a defection of comrades, and every piratic l instinct in them was rabidly yearning after a prize which would l enable them to sai straight away home, with plenty of money for all hands in their hold. They pluckily bore down to the tall fabric whose high sides were crowned

is i r and a with the defences of br tling t e s of guns, s luted

s s. l her with several broad ide The gal eon, not suspecting them to be an enemy, was unprepared ; the sudden bombardment threw her people into confusion, and the — sailors wretched seamen, as the Spaniards even at their best were in those days— tumbled over each other in f their clumsy hurry to de end themselves. There was M wi D h one Captain artin on board th ampier, who, t ough

L . born a Spaniard, had been bred and educated in ondon

a r St. He had been t ken out of a ship captu ed by the _ M n in O . i George in the preced g ctober Th s arti , whose En l s sympathies appear to have been with the gi h, advised D ampier to take advan tage of the confusion in In r the galleon, and lay her aboard . deed it ha dly required a practised seafaring eye to perceive that, if the

Spaniard once got his batteries to bear, he would, to ’ “ St. Geor e employ Martin s language, beat the g to ” al s pieces. The v ue of the ship was reckoned at ixteen D s m illion pieces of eight. That ampier hould have was his hesitated is incomprehensible. Boarding only chance ; he must have known that ; and yet he would I32 WILLIAM D A MPIE I? CRA P .

of ur . not board . Hesitation was co se fatal The enemy

and brought his guns to bear, it was then impossible for

G of . r the St. eorge to lie alongside her The p ivateersmen

- al had nothing to throw but fiv e pound shot ; the g leon,

- u on the other hand, mounted eighteen and twenty fo r

St. Geor e pounders . In a very short time the g was

- and struck between wind and water in her powder room, two feet of plank were driven in u nder either quarter ; after which nothing remained to D ampier but to make his escape whilst his crazy ship continued to swim. The bitterly disappointed crew clamoured to return

u a home . Fort ne was ag inst them, and the superstitions of the forecastle were confirming the experiences of the voyage. Further, there were scarcely provisions enough i to last them for another three months, wh lst the ship in di f m n herself was a con tion to all to pieces at any ome t. Less than this might sufficiently justify the mutinous N posture of the disgusted men. evertheless Dampier persuaded them to prolong the cruise for another six weeks, promising at the expiration of that time to carry “ ” a I a them to some f ctory in ndi , where, says Funnell, “ ' i oi o we might all d spose urselves, as we should think ” most for our advantage. This being settled they pro ceeded to the eastward, keeping the land in sight, but though they passed A capulco and other considerable I D ports, do not observe that ampier attem pted a single

w ri z on to n, or even sought a p e the water. A pparently the sole object of this trip was to fi nd a convenient place for watering the ship and the prize which they had with — them, that is to say, the bark out of which they had M — taken Captain artin, preparatory for their depart

‘ . But 6th 1 705 ure on January , , a month after their

am p 1 34 WILLIAM D A MP IEIE .

of of the imaginations thirty the men, and to determine them to give their captain another chance.

St. Geor e and Be all this as it may, the g the bark pro

eded G of A m a alla ce amicably together to the ulf p , at 26th which place they arrived on January , and the people at once went to work to divide the provisions between the two ships . Before the bark sailed two of the men who had resolved to stay with Captain Dampier ’ Funnell s left him, and joined party, which now numbered

— - - five i r - thirty namely, thirty four Engl sh and a neg o boy. ’ Meanwhile D am pier s men were busy in refitting their craft. The carpenter stopped the holes which the cannon- balls of the galleon had made in her with tallow and charcoal, not daring to drive in a nail. Four guns were struck into the hold, which yet left sixteen mounted, D t a greater number than ampier had men to fight, if he “ “ need arose, for, says Funnell, there remained with

- Men o him no more than twenty eight and Boys, and m st of them landmen ; which was a very insignificant Force f r W ar o one who was to make on a whole Nation. One might think that the spectacle of such a ship as this would inspire even a larger spirit of desertion than her f d crew mani este . Certainly there was nothing in the aspect of the tottering and rot ten vessel to coax Funnell ’ o D am ier s and his compani ns back into p service . They

d r of were supplie with fou pieces cannon, along with a

o of o fair proporti n small arms and ammuniti n, and on February l st they bade farewell to their old associates and on o started their perilous v yage. The subsequent adventures of D ampier need not take

. A s a hi long to relate we h ve seen, s crew consisted of

- St G twenty eight men only the . eorge was in a pitiable GLOOMY PROSPECTS 1 35

condition, her seams open, every timber in her decayed, her sails and rigging worn out, and in no sense was she D fit to keep the sea. ampier was in the situation of a gambler who has lost all but the guinea which he now to I proposes stake . ndeed, we find him throughout confidin g a great deal too much in luck . It is seldom ’ that he attempts to force fortune s hand by prompt, vigorous, and original measures . One by one his brother offi cers had abandoned him his crew had deserted him by the score at a W e and yet in a ship rotten to the

r heart of her, and with a begga ly following of twenty n eight gaunt and dissatisfied men, he cli gs to the scene of his distresses and his disappointments with no further the l n expectation than gamb i g hope that, since he is at

u the very bottom of the wheel, the next revolution m st

Had - certainly raise him . he and his twenty eight men come fresh to these seas, they might have flattered them selves with brilliant prospects smaller companies of di n buccaneers had achieved incre ble thi gs, enlarged their

fla ranks as they progressed, shifted their g from ship to i them sely es ship, unt l they found in possession of a fleet equal to any such force as the enemy in those waters had ’ Dam ier s it in his power to send against them. But p

s mi r men were di satisfied and serable, su ly and despondent with disappointment, and exhausted by privation and severe labours. They looked at the future as promising but a darker picture of what they had already suffered. It was indeed time for them to go home ; the privateering spirit amongst them was moribund ; al l heart had been ’ It Dam ier s taken out of them. speaks well for p personal influence, whilst it also illustrates his singular genius of h persuasion, that he should have succeeded in keepingt ese 1 36 WILLIAM DAMPIER ca n . men together by representations in which possibly he He o had as little faith as they. t ld them that there was nothing easier than to make their fortunes by surprising

and f some small Spanish town, that the ewer there were of them, the fewer there would be to share the booty. They — listened and sullenly acquiesced animated, perhaps, by a faint expiring gleam of their old buccaneering instincts. e P in E a Thereupon Dampier attack d una cu dor, then a village form ed of a small church and about thirty houses . t The night was dark when he landed, the inhabitan s were

off a in bed no resistance was ered, and the pl ce was H u i captured without trouble . aving pl ndered th s town,

L Mar they sailed to obos de la , where they let go their d anchor, whilst they eliberated what they should do On next. the way to this island they captur ed a small D Spanish vessel full of provisions . ampier called a council, and it was resolved that they should quit the

Geor e . St. g and sail away to the East Indies in their prize It is manifest from this resolution that their easy

P and plundering . of una, their equally easy capture of 1 i the bark, had fa led to reconcile them to a longer cruise against the Spaniards. Having transferred everything to the St Geor likely be of use to them from . ge, they left that crazy fabric rolling at her anchor and steered west I wards for the ndies. W hat adventures they met with on their way I do H not know. arris says that on their arrival at one of the

1 “ This term b ark is used ener i l b i s g cal y y the old writers. R g were few and vessels it would seem too h ei f m their , , , k t r nam es ro dim ensions as all eon carra ck al l e a nd the lik e. In our own , g , , g y , tim es— and it has b een so for a centur and a hal f at l eas —a craft y , t is define T d b y her rig. hus a vessel rigged as a ship would b e call ed a shi thou h s l p g he were on y fifty tons.

C HA P TE R VI

1 7 0 8 —1 7 1 1

1 THE VOYAGE wrr rr woonns ROGERS

DAMPIER probably obtained the next berth we find him f R fill ing through the influence o W oodes ogers . There ’ is no doubt that it was owing to Dam pier s influence and representations that the expedition under Rogers H was equipped and despatched. arris tells us that he

addressed himself to the merchants of Bristol, who listened A t al l to his proposals with patience and interest. events his experience would enable him to submit to d them that his own, and indee the failures of others, wi were o ng, not to the voyage being a dangerous or ffi di cult one, not to the courage nor to the superior

an i of strength of the enemy, not to y lack of the right k nd

qualities amongst the crews, but simply to those under at takings having been badly organised the start, unwisely

1 “ ' A Cruisin Vo a e Round the s g y g Wor ld : first to the South S ea , thence to the Eas Indies and h om ewards f ood t , b y the Cape o G

H o e. e un in 1 708 and fin ished in 1 1 1 on ini rnal p B g 7 . C ta ng a Jou of all the Rem arkab l e Transactions ; particul arly of the taking of P una and Gua a uil of the A ca ul co shi n y q , p p, and other Prizes. A ’ A ccount of Alexander S elkirk s living al one four years and four m onths on an Isl and ; and a b rief D escription of several Countries in u Course noted for Trade e o r s eciall in the South S a et . , p y e , c B Ca tain W oodes Ro ers 1 1 2 y p g , 7 . ’ CHA P . v 1 TIIE PILO T S D UTIES 1 39

ofi cered , and injudiciously conducted. The Bristol mer l r l the s irit chants fu ly ag eed with him, and i lustrated p of their concurrence by fitting out two ships and refusing

He R him any post of command. and ogers had long been n e s acquai t d, as may be gathered from several pa sages i in his voyages . There is l ttle question that it was ’ Dam pier s reputation which procured him his appoint ment as pilot to his friend ; but I take it that Rogers ’ ml r D am ier s war y suppo ted p solicitations, and that the advocacy of the chief commander proved powerful

to enough to neutralise, or at least qualify, the prejudice which our hero ’ s misfortunes as a freebooter and his half- heartedness as an explorer had excited against him . A s a pilot there was no man then living better qualified. He had spent long months of his life in the S I South eas, and his knowledge of ndian andPacific waters

His form id was varied and extensive. name was also n able to the Spaniards, a detail of considerable mome t His in the catalogue of privateering merits . dignity coul d s uffer nothing by his acceptance of the post of

M sea- an pilot to the expedition . any words have ch ged their old signification, and when we now talk of a pilot we think of a man whose busin ess it is to navigate ships through short spaces of dangerous waters . There were ’ of course pilots of this kin d in D am pier s day. But in addition there were mariners selected for their knowledge of distant parts to acc ompany ships in voyages round

t . the world, or to the por s of remote nations The post was an honourable one ; the pilot stood al one ; he had ’ s not indeed the captain s general power , but his duties i were attended with many priv leges, and he was looked up to as a person of authority and distinction. It was a r 1 40 WILLIAM D A MP IE R . such a position then as D ampier w ould have been willing to accept even though he had earned the value of an hi estate by s last voyage. l The expedition was promoted, as has a ready been

d - o . sai , by a number of Brist l merchants Twenty two names are given as representing only a portion of this

of v f very large committee ad enturers. The chie com

W oodes R mand was entrusted to Captain ogers, a man

ff who who had su ered much from the French, and was eager to repair as well as to avenge his injuries by He n reprisals . had long been know as an intelligent offi H cer and an excellent seaman . e had also a name f as a disciplinarian, and he was urther remarkable for the swiftness and sagacity of his decisions in moments

f In o o of di ficul ty and peril. p int f literary merit his ’ o Shelv ocke s bo k is worthy to rank with narrative, though the form and spirit of both are manifestly ’ d D am ier s inspire by p volumes . The captain next in o m c mmand was Stephen Courtney, who was also a me ber of the committee and the holder of a considerable share ’ o . Ro ers s ai or f in the speculati n g second capt n, chie

a s d a d was mate he woul now be c lle , Thomas D over, of a physician by pr ession, who in his old age wrote a ’ D r . Dover s Last Le ac to his Coun tr work called g y y, in which he so effectually recommended the use of quick “ silver that ladies as well as gentlemen of rank and fo rtune bespangled the floors and carpets with this metal , and scattered their diamonds wherever they went to ” 1 to dance or play. It is strange to hear of a doctor of i i med c ne going as lieutenant of a buccaneering craft ;

1 A n Histor ica l A ccount of a ll the Vo a es Round the y g W orld , v ol . i. 1 773.

HA 1 42 WILLIAM D A MP IE R C P.

—six two hundred and seventy tons, twenty guns, and one

and fift - hundred y one men, whose first and second in

and o command were Courtney Cooke. B th vessels were commissioned by Prince George of Denmark to cruise on the coasts of P eru and Mexico against the Queen’s enemies, the French and Spaniards . D ampier was on board W oodes Rogers the story of the expedition, therefore, must be followed to its conclu has sion, though, unfortunately, our hero no longer an indi

vidualit . His y name indeed occasionally occurs, but he vanishes as a figure, and we are merely conscious as we w follo the narrative that we are in his company, and that though he is lost to view he is sharing in the exploits and dangers, in the hopes and fears, of the crowd of resolute men whom he pilots.

The two ships set sail from Bristol, or rather from

Kin road A M g , at the mouth of the river von, on onday,

A 1 st 1 708 9th ugust , , and arrived at Cork on the in company with several other ships which had sailed under

- of- Ha tin the convoy of a man war called the s gs. Until the 27th they were busy in thoroughly preparing the i H sh ps for the voyage . ere also they received a number of men to take the place of others who had been brought f o rom Brist l, but who, even in the short trip across the ’ G had St. eorge s Channel, proved themselves worthless as W sailors. hen they weighed on the morning of the 28 th l their crews were unusual y strong. Rogers says that he doubled the number of officers as a provision i aga nst mutinies, and also that there might be plenty of fi quali ed persons to take command in case of death. D u e d The k in eed was so full of men that she was obliged to leave a portion of the boatswain’s stores behind to v 1 jA CK ASH ORE 1 43

k ma e room for the people . The proverbial qualities of

the sailor show humorously at the outset of this voyage. Al l a s h nd knew that they were to sail immediately, yet we read that they were continuall y marrying whilst ai we st d at Cork . A n instance is given of 9. Dane whom a Roman Catholic priest had un ited in holy wedl ock to I N ’ an rishwoman . either understood the other s tongue, and they were forced to hire an interpreter before they n could tell each other how fond they were . The inco

v enience of unintelligibility, however, did not cool their

r D an fervou ; on the contrary, it was noticed that this e and his Irish wife were more affected by their par ting ” A nd r than any of the other couples, , says the na rative, the Fellow continued melancholy for several Days after

Sea . we were at The rest understanding each other, M drank their Cans of Flip till the last inute, concluded with a Health to our good Voyages and their happy ” M i and n n . eet ng, then parted u concer ed The number of sailors in both ships when they weighed was three hun

- - dred and thirty three, one third of whom were foreigners . M n ai m any of them were by trade ti kers, t lors, hay akers, fiddlers w pedlars, and ; there ere also a negro and ten boys. Rogers was glad at the start to sail under convoy of a

- - u u man of war. The holds of both the D ke and the D tchess ’ were flush to the hatches with provisions ; the tween wi decks were crowded th cables, with bags of bread, and cas ks of water ; so that it would have been impossible to engage an enemy without throwing a large quantity of h the stores overboard. T ere were one hundred and eighty- two men aboard the Duke and one hundred and

t - D utchess fif y one aboard the , and the crowding, when the tonnage of the ships is thought of side by side 1 44 WILLIAM D A MP IE R a r .

’ d o and - with their choke h lds tween decks, must have rendered life at the start intolerable to the privateers

d o men . Despite their con ition, h wever, they agreed to the proposal of the captain of the man- of- war that they should cruise a few days off Cape Finisterre the crews of the vessels were thereupon mustered, and the nature and

of o d intention the expedition explained to them, in r er that such of the men as shoul d show themselves discon

Ha t n tented might be sent home as mutineers in the s i gs. A ll professed themselves satisfied with the exception of ” R one poor Fellow, says ogers, who was to have been

- W f Tything man that year, and was apprehensive his i e ul 40 D wo d be obliged to pay Shillings for his efault.

But when he saw everybody else easy, and strong hopes of plunder, he likewise grew quiet by degrees, and drank as heartily as anybody to the good Success of the

V . as ur oyage Yet, despite the s ances of the men, a mutiny happened whilst Rogers was on board a Swedish vessel he had chased, whose papers exempted her. The ringleaders were the boatswain and three of the inferior

f . of m en n o ficers Ten the were put in iro s, and a sailor seized to the “ jeers !as the tackles were called which hoisted and lowered the fore and main yards) and n d of and pu ishe by the usual process whipping pickling. The outbreak was so serious that all the offi cers went d A f arme , not knowing what was next to happen . ter some further trouble and much anxiety the mutiny was ’ d it d Ro r quelle , but nee ed all ge s s valuable qualities as a o d c mman er to deal with it.

I do not d had D oubt, ampier been in charge, that the di d in i f sturbance would have ende the ru n o the voyage . Of the n of u ruliness the crews of that day, hundreds of

CR A P 1 6 D A MP IE . 4 _ WILLIAM R

o and o b ad m . h le, filled with vermin l athsome with s ells His punishments were beyond expression inhuman ; he i n was wh pped u til his back became a bloody mass, into which brine was rubbed that his sufferings might be

He to rende red more exquisite . was hoisted a yard

d o d d arm, then r ppe su denly into the water and hauled d ’ violently un er the ship s keel, and this was repeated

He was d - until he was nearly drowned . lashe half naked to f for ri o f the mast, and so le t to stand a pe d o ten n d t ru ning into ays, insul ed by his shipmates, and exposed to the scorching heat or the frosty sting of the parallels in which the ship happened to be ; he was loaded with irons and imm ured for weeks in a dark and

o o o p is n us forepeak, whose only tenants besides himself ’ It were the huge rats of the vessel s hold . was not, d then, that the sailor regarded himself discharge , as d Fiel ing suggests, from the common bands of humanity ;

w ri f he kne nothing of humanity, whether du ng his brie

' and roaring orgies ashore or during his long and bitter d servitu e upon the high seas. The traditions of those d o of our m ff ays still linger, and the sail r own ti es su ers to a certain extent from prejudices which were excited and perpetuated by the bold and reckless savages of the

D and I age of ampier , later on, of Fielding. But am speaking of the average merchantman ; it is readily con ceivab le that the buccaneer or privateersman shoul d

far o d have gone bey n him . He recognised no r estric tions s ave those which were absolutely essential to his safety at sea ; his profession of piracy rendered him insensible to cruelty by familiar ising him with many of the most violent forms of it he slept like a wild animal u d t f pon the har deck, wi h a rug or his cover and nothing VI ORA TA VA TH REA TE NE D 1 4 7

D else between him and the stars . ampier grimly says “ ’ in his chapter on the winds : Tis usual with Seamen

D for in those parts to sleep on the eck, especially P n rivateers among whom I made these Observations . I P A rivateers, especially when we are at an nchor, the D i M E eck is spread w th ats to lye on each Night . very

Man P o has one, some two and this, with a ill w for the

H Ru for dd ead and a g a Covering, is all the Be ing that

for M n da is necessary e of that Employ. For one y the freebooter might feast on the fifty delicacies of a

for fo d plundered ship, and weeks his od woul be so coarse and innutritious as to fill his eyes with the fires of famine and pale his cheek to the haggardness of the It corpse . needed exceptional and extraordinary powers

wr of of command to control such etches. The qualities the men in charge of Rogers and Courtney are signifi M cantly expressed by their early mutiny. any of them were seasoned buccaneers— r uffians whom not even the common hope co uld keep straight. Fortunately for his

R . employers, ogers knew how to handle them On the 1 8 th the two vessels captured a small Spanish i f ship which they carried to Tener f e . There were some and male and female passengers on board, she was laden with what would now be called a general cargo . The

English merchants, to whom possibly a portion of this

r e re cargo was consigned, objected to the capture , and p sented that they would be in danger if the bark were not restored. The agent of the privateers, a man named

d and Vanbrugh, went ashore and was etained, it came very near to Rogers and Cour tney bombarding the W saw town of Or atava . hen the inhabitants the vessels h standing in with tompions out and all ands at quarters, H 1 48 WILLIAM D A MP IE R C A P.

they offered to satisfy the demands of the buccaneers, who thereupon sold the prize for four hundred and fifty dollars and to a then made haste sail away, very gl d of the chance “ ” o R to once m re mind their own concerns, as ogers puts On it. the last day of September they dropped anchor

of . V V in the harbour St incent, one of the Cape de erde I slands. Scarcely were they arrived when fresh disturb anc s e arose amongst the men . The mutiny originated in

h d ri altercations touc ing the ist bution of plunder, and with the hope of terminating these incessant and perilous brawls, the commanders went to work to frame such articles as they believed woul d inspire the seamen with confidence in the intentions of their superiors . The of t paper they drew up is preserved, and it is in erest as illustrating a form of marine life that for generations has been as extinct as the ships in which the privateers was men sailed. First of all it settled that the plunder taken on board any prize by either ship should be d equally divide between the companies of both ships . A ny man concealing booty exceeding the val ue of a

dollar during twenty- four hours after the capture of a

prize was to be severely punished, and to lose his share A f “ of the plunder. rticle the ourth provided that If i any prize be taken by board ng, then whatsoever is ’ iz taken shall be every man s own as follows : v . a Sailor 1 0 O 2 pounds, any fficer below a Carpenter 0 pounds, a M G 4 ate, unner, Boatswain, and Carpenter 0 pounds, a L M 8 0 1 00 ieutenant or aster pounds, and the Captains o p unds each, above the gratuity promised by the owners i ” to such as shall signal se themselves . It was further agreed that twenty pieces of eight should be given to

z him who first saw a pri e of good value . A nother

I SO WILLIAM D A MP IE R CHA P . posed to run away with the ship) under hatches in f irons. There were repeated attempts to desert a ter the vessels had come to an anchor on November 1 8 th off the

f i . n coast o Braz l Two sailors escaped i to the woods, but were so terrified by the sight of a number of monkeys and baboons which they mistook for tigers, that they plunged into the water to the depth of their waists, and stood bawling for help until a boat was sent

One D to fetch them aboard . thinks of ampier, hot e temp red and prone to despondency, talking with his friend Rogers about the troublesome posture of the u as ac crew, expressing many do bts to the pr ticability of

and the voyage, perhaps suggesting adventures remote A n from the prescription of the Bristol merchants . incident peculiar to the old piratical life steals out in

one this part of the story . Early morning the people who were on the look - out on the quarter- deck sighted a

- It canoe gliding silently and shadow like shorewards . was hailed and ordered to come aboard ; but no other

of answer was returned than the swifter plying the oars.

and The pinnace and yawl were manned sent in pursuit, and on approaching the canoe one of them fired in to it It to bring it to. held on bravely nevertheless, but was d On capture as its stem smote the beach . e of her people was a friar, who with quivering knees instantly

w o o ned to possessing a little st re of gold, obtained, as “ o the rough sail rs surmised, by his trade of confessing ” the ignorant . The father was very politely treated, but he did not seem to value the attention paid him by R W Captain ogers . hat he wanted was his gold, which

o there is no reas n whatever to suppose he ever received. He d of P talke obtaining justice in ortugal or England, ' VI ALE! ANDER SELK IRK 1 51 and was answered by the hurricane shout to the fore

- castle to get the ship under weigh . The vessels were now fairly bound for the passage of H w the orn . The cre , who in the torrid zone growled

a continuously and piratic lly in their gizzards, were no sooner in the high latitudes than they grew reasonable. It was the summer season in that hemisphere, but D ampier carried them so far south that all hands nearly

r d A t f pe ished of col . least a third of the people o both ships were down with sickness and they barely escaped a languishing and miserable end by the good fortun e of d w prosperous win s, which ble them swiftly northwards

t to under more temperate heights . I was necessary ’ of make land speedily for the sake the men s health , d and Juan Fernan ez was fixed upon . They steered for ff the island, but the charts di ered and they could not D find it. ampier was as much at a loss as the rest, and wondered at not being able to hit it, telling how often he had been there, and how he carried a most accurate

d In o map of the island about with him in his hea . rder to find it they were forced to sail in sight of the coast of “ ” l n Chi i, so as to obtain a departure, and the stretch away west upon the parallel of it, or thereabouts . They fell in with it at last, but not until after much fruitless scouring of the seas . The name of Dampier is intimately associated with the passage that now follows . There is nothing, perhaps , in what may be termed the romantic chapters of the maritime annals more picturesque and impressive than the discovery by the D uke and Dutchess of A lexander

Selkirk on the island of Juan Fernandez. The accentua tion the story obtained from the genius of D efoe m akes CR A P 1 52 WILLIAM D A MP IE R .

it immortal. But even as a mere anecdote, without better skill brought to bear upon it than is found in the

o R plain relati ns of ogers and Cooke, its interest is so

so f remarkable, it is brim ul of fascinating inspiration, that of all sea- stories it bids fair to be the longest remem d I bere . ndeed it must be said that a great number of w l l w people, other ise pretty wel informed, are fami iar ith

of D o in o w the name ampier nly connecti n ith the strange,

f r Al surprising adventures o M . exander Selkirk. The ’ D am ier s e narrative belongs peculiarly to p experi nces. of Cin ue P orts Selkirk was mate the g when her captain, ’ D am ier s l Stradling, was p consort, and he was sti l that ship’s mate when Stradling quarrelled with D ampier ’ P at King s Island in the Bay of anama. The tale 1 d W oodes R CCoke — an is relate by ogers and by , old world tale indeed, which every schoolboy has by heart ; yet I cannot satisfy myself that its omission on the score of triteness only would be desirable in a volume that professes to recount the most striking pas sages in the W D ’ naval career of illiam ampier. Cooke s version is ’ f Ro er s s — uller than g that is to say, he wrote two f accounts of it, his re erence to it in his first volume being

f who deemed meagre and unsatis actory by the public, ’ had been set agape by the wonderful yarn but Roger s s D narrative is the better written ; besides, as ampier is

Duke his aboard the , it is proper to allow captain to f speak. The ull story is much too long for quotation at large in these pages I therefore select the following as

1 In A o a e to the h V y g S out S ea tra de, an d r ound the W or ld. W herein an A coun Mr l c t is iven of . A e ander S elkirk i m an g x , h s ner of Livin and tam in som e W ild easts durin th e four ear nd g, g B , g y s a four m onths he lived upon the uninhab ited Isl and of Juan Fer ” n an z 1 de , 71 2.

ca n r54 W I LL IA M D A MP IE R .

i w i i ’ his Capta n h ch, together w th the Ship s being leaky, made him willing rather to stay here, than go along with him at first and when he was at last willing to go the

ai d not H Capt n woul receive him. e had with him

Cloaths d o P his and Bed ing, with a Firelock, s me owder, H Bullets, and Tobacco, a atchet, a Knife, a Kettle, a

P r atical P M n Bible, some ieces, and his athematical I strum nts and He e Books. diverted and provided for himself as well as he could but for the first eight Months had much ado to bear up against Melancholy and the He two Terror of being left alone in such a P lace . built

H P - G uts with imento trees, covered them with long rass, G i and lined them with the Skins of oats, which he k lled

Gun o P o with his as he wanted, so l ng as his wder lasted,

P h o which was but a ound and t at being alm st spent, he got Fire by rubbing two Sticks of P imento W ood together

. In Hut D upon his Knee the lesser , at some istance f d d V rom the other, he resse his ictuals ; and in the R larger he slept, and employed himself in eading, singing

P P was salms, and raying, so that he said he a better Chris tian while in this Solitude than ever he was before, or

h f ou d t t an he was a raid he sh l ever be again . A first H d he never eat anything till unger constraine him, partly for Grief and partly for want of Bread and Salt : Nor did he go to Bed till he could watch no longer ; the

P o W o iment od, which burnt very clear, served him o for f b th Fire and Candle, and re reshed him with its fragrant Smell. By the Favour of P rovidence and

V of o b ut old igour his Y uth, being now thirty Years , he came at last to conquer all the Inconveniences of his

i d to Sol tu e and be very easy. W hen his Cloaths were out ' m d i f of - he a e h msel a Coat and a Cap Goat skins, ’ ’ S E L KIRK S 5 7 0 1? y 1 55 which he stitched together with little Thongs of the same H that he cut with his Knife. e had no other Needle but a Nail and when his Knife was worn to the Back he made others as well as he could of some Iron Hoops f u d that were le t ashore, which he beat thin, and gro n

. H L upon Stones aving some inen Cloth by him, he N sewed him some Shirts with a ail, and stitched them

i W o i w th the rsted of his old Stock ngs, which he pulled

He on fo d out on purpose. had his last Shirt when we un I A t m him in the sland. his first co ing on board us he had so much forgot his L anguage for want of Use that we could scarce understand him for he seemed to speak

W e f D his W ords by halves . of ered him a ram but he i d W would not touch it, hav ng rank nothing but ater since his being there ; and it was some Time before he ” could relish our Victuals . It is easy to imagine the interest with which ’ Dampier woul d listen to the recital of his old associate s strange adventur es . Cooke tells us that Selkirk had “ conceived an irr econcilib l e aversion to an offi cer on

Cin ue P orts board the q , who, he was informed, was on

D uke board the , but not being a principal in command, he was prevailed upon to waive that circumstance and

D for accompany Captain ampier, whom he had a friend ” W ship . hoever the person may have been, the Scotch ’ ’ i D am ier s m an s disl ke of him was bitter, and it was to p persuasions that Rogers owed the services of a man who proved of the utmost use to him whilst lying at the island by enabling him to supply the ships with fresh provisions and by facilitating the business of taking in It R d wood and water. is observable that ogers style

- Selkirk the governor of the island, a half humorous and CRA t 56 WILLIA M D A MP IE R P.

half - pathetic fancy !when one thinks of the desperate D loneliness of the unhappy man), which efoe afterwards adopted when making Robinson Crusoe speak of his pos

s his . sessions and territorie , castles and his dependents

The vessels arrived, as we have seen, on February ’ 3rd at had d l st, and by the smith s forge been conveye ha ashore, the coopers were rd at work, and there were ” l ns e tents, or pavi io , erect d for the commanders and was h s not the sick. But it t eir busine s to lose time, ad — for they h long before that is to say, when they were — at the Canaries heard that five large French ships were coming to search for them in the South Sea ; so that n very quickly, all the sick men happily recoveri g rapidly t e ed with the excep ion of two who di d, they had refitt their ships, taken in wood and water, and boiled down ’ and stowed away about eighty gallons of sea- lions oil to m nd use for the lamps, that they ight save the ca les.

a af e . c t This done they set s il, t r holding a onsul ation, which resulted in further regul ations for the preservation of discipline ; and on May 1 5th captured a little vessel f of sixteen tons, whose master urnished them with the w reassuring ne s that seven French ships, which had been s off crui ing this part of the coast for some time, had six H n w months previously gone away for the or , and it as added they were not likely to return. There was other

of i news besides a kind to make their mouths water, parti cularly that the widow of the deceased Viceroy of Peru would shortly embark for A capulcowith her fam ily and the whole of her fortune, and probably break her journey P at ayta. They were also told that some months previ ously a ship had sailed from P ayta for A capulco with two hundred thousand pieces of eight on board, together with a

c 1 58 WIL L IA M D A MP IE R a n .

I s s addition there were blacks, ndian , and prisoner , to the number of two hundred and sixty - six forming an army of five hundred and eighty - six people for the

o f captains and officers t look a ter. The appetites of the buccaneers were shrewdly sharpened by the understand ing that bedding, wearing apparel, gold rings, buttons,

cr ucifixes i buckles, gold or silver , watches, l quors, and i a prov sions, should be reckoned fair plunder to be equ lly ’ i o a rin d vided ; but money, w men s e r gs, loose diamonds, us pearls, and precio stones, were to be held as belonging to the merchants. On the 1 5 th ther e was a smart ’ engagement between the privateersm en s boats and a R his was Spanish ship, in which ogers lost brother, who l D second ieutenant on board the uke. The vessel was captured, and proved to be the craft in which the bishop

had St. H had sailed but he gone ashore at Point elena, leaving the ship to carry his property to Lima. She had seventy blacks and a number of passengers on board. al The lading consisted of b e goods, and a considerable quantity of pearls were found in her. Captain Cooke a and ri took ch rge, the p soners were divided between the D uke D and utchess. The little bark of sixteen tons which they had taken i Be innin some t me previously they named the g g, and on A pril 21 st in the morning she was sent to cruise close inshore to see all clear for the landing of the men. The report she brought was that there was a vessel riding close under the point whose crew, on sighting Be innin had the g g, hurried ashore and vanished. On this the privateersmen rowed towards the town of G uayaquil. The night dr ew down dark ; the men pulled h stealt ily with m ufll ed oars ; an hour before midnight x ‘ v A L A ND A TTA CK 1 59

ri d they saw a light suddenly sp ng up in the town, towar s which they continued to row very softly until they were within a mile of it when on a sudden they were brought to a halt by hearing a sentinel call to another

. di the and talk to him Concluding they were scovered,

an d buccaneers pulled across the river, and lay still very quiet, waiting and watching . In a few minutes the whole town flashed out into lights, the resonant notes

al ar - wi of a great m bell swang through the soft nd, several volleys of musketry were discharged, and a large fire was kindled on the hill to let the town know that the enemy was in the river . The officers in charge of s f the boat , con ounded by this unexpected discovery of r thei presence, fell to a hot argument and grew so angry

d s . S n that their voices were hear a hore The pa iards,

- who could not understand them, sent post haste for an l n Eng ishman who was then living in the tow , and brought him, very secretly, close to the boats that he r might interpret what was said. But before he ar ived 1 the privateersmen had concluded their arguments . n the They remained all ight in river, and next day u m contented themselves with capt ring a nu ber of vessels, and receiving the governor under a flag of truce to treat with him about the ransom of the town and ships . But ’ nothing came of the interview ; and at four o clock

n ‘ A 23d in the afternoo , on pril , the whole force of the buccaneers landed and attacked the place. The Spaniards fired a single volley and fled the English ’ pressed forward and seized the enemy s cannon, from I which every gunner had run saving one, an rishman,

1 ards oined the ri va ee sm en and told The Englishm an afterw j p t r , them this story. 1 60 WIL L IA M D A MP IE R c r . who gallantly stuck to his post until he dropped mortally

d d. b oth towns woun e The seamen marched through , — the Spaniards flying pell—mell before them firing the

of houses as they tramped forwards, and leaving gangs men behind them to guard the churches . There was a thick wood on the right of the place, and all night long the enemy continued to fire from among the trees at the

English sentries, but without injuring a man. From f time to time bodies of horse and oot showed themselves, but only to wheel about and fly to the first musket

M - levelled at them . eanwhile a party of twenty two men ’ Dutchess s u went in the pinnace p the river, and sacked m every house they came across . The ene y was easily kept at bay, and the buccaneers had no trouble in sending In booty and provisions in quantities to their ships. r h due cou se messengers, flouris ing flags of truce, came to talk about ransoming the town, and after much discus f o sion, the of er of thirty th usand dollars was accepted,

- five d of which twenty thousan were paid. The depredations of the buccaneers had been indeed serious enough to threaten the townspeople with absolute u if r in the sacking was not speedily arrested. Scarcely had they withdrawn from Guayaquil when they took a ship full of meal, sugar, and other commodities, making the fourteenth prize they had captured in those seas ! The town itself handsomely repaid the labour and danger ’ of assaulting. it ; about twelve hundred pounds worth of l d plate and jewe lery, many bales of valuable dry goo s,

of all and a great store of merchandise kinds, exclusive of — of wines, waggon loads cocoa, several ships on the

f s - stocks, and two re hly launched vessels of four hun d o red t ns each, valued at eighty thousand crowns . But

RA 1 62 WIL LIA M D A JUPIE R C P.

devoting his leisure to prescribing for him. So they made

a fewv essels sail for Gorgon , capturing a as theyproceeded, 1 3th and, anchoring on June , at once distributed their sick to ar amongst the prizes, and set to work c een and repair 28 t the Duke and Dutchess. By the h they had restored e t h their provisions and mount d heir guns, aving in four ri e teen days caulked, gg d, discharged, and reloaded their ships a smart piece of work that greatly astonished the

usuall took Spanish prisoners, who said that their people y a couple of months to careen a vessel at ports where every i n necessary appl ance for this busi ess was to be had. The u w n s nhappy captives indeed, hilst watchi g or a sisting um the English, would scarcely marvel at their tri phs by land and sea when they observed their ceaseless and — i vigilant activity, how, without regard to the cl mate, they worked from the break of day till darkness stopped f their hands, and how, with swi t and unerring judgment, they devised expedients for the remedying of dimculties which in the eyes of their astonished prisoners appeared “ r o N at the time to be insu m untable. The atives of ” Old S Ro “ n pain, says gers, are accounted but ordi ary

M rs all P ariners but here they are much wo e, the rizes we took being rather cobbled than fitted out for the Sea so that had they such W eather as we often meet with in

as W the European Se in inter, they could scarce ever reach a Port again as they are fitted ; b ut they Sail here

Hundreds of Leagues . A dmissions of this kind are as o g od as saying that seizures in the South Sea went, as achievements, but a very little way beyond the mere act of hailing a ship and bidding her strike . The boldness of the English buccaneers is not very conspicuous in M such encounters . ost of the vessels they took were v r TH E MA R Q U! 1 63

m en navigated by crews of yellow, nervous , utterly w worthless as seamen, ith neither heart nor muscle as combatants whilst the cabins were crowded with

- priests, women, and sea sick merchants, who increased the disorder caused by the appearance of a privateer b y

lamentations and tears, by wild appeals to the saints,

and passionate adjurations to the shivering crew. The

capture of such craft was as easy as catching flies . The qualities of the English South Seamen of those days must

be sought in the records of their assaults on land, their

boarding of tall and powerfully armed galleons, their

murderous resistance to the attacks of ships - of - state of great tonnage crowded with soldiers and sailors and ’ carrying ten guns to the Rover s one . W hilst Rogers and his people were at Gorgona they equipped one of their prizes named the Havre de Gr ace

Duke Da tehess as a third ship to act with the and . She

l Mar uis was cal ed the q , and Captain Cooke took command

s of her. The bu iness of fitting her out as a war vessel 29th 9th occupied them from June to July , and when m she was finished they ade a holiday of it, sitting ’ down to a hearty meal and drinking the Queen s

health with loud huzzas, and then the health of the

owners with more huzzas, and then their own healths a un til their eyes danced in their he ds. Spite of the

Mar uis of general joy, however, the q proved something

a failure, for Cooke says that her masts were new and

too heavy for her, and that being badly stowed she was

exceedingly tender, by which is meant that she heeled i t or lay over unduly to l gh pressures, and scarcely made “ Duke headway when on a wind, so that the and

Dutchess were fain to spare a great deal of sail for me to H 1 64 WILLIA M D A MPIE R C A P. keep up with them: Before lifting their anchors the commanders and offi cers of the ships met together to value the plunder in order to divide it . One kind of commodities they appraised at four hundred pounds ;

- e ff- the silver hilt d swords, buckles, snu boxes, buttons, and silver plate at seven hundred and forty- three pounds r fifteen shillings, taking the piece of eight at fou shillings and sixpence . By this time there were upwards of eighty ’ thousand pounds worth of property and treasure on n D board destined for the ow ers . ampier, we may

and ri well suppose, shared in the high hopes good spi ts

ri a of his shipmates. This was the only promising p v n a in teeri g expedition he had ever been eng ged , and if their luck continued he might reasonably flatter himself with the belief that he would even yet snatch an inde pendency out of the reluctant maw of the sea. They had rid themselves of their prisoners by sending them away in some of the pri zes The female captives spoke well of the treatment they had received, and ingenuously confessed that they had met with far more courtesy and civility than their own countrymen would have extended to persons in their condition . The honourable and humane behaviour of the English buccaneers towards their female prisoners became a tradition, which was perpetuated and w 1 confirmed by the ise policy of Commodore A nson. A s 1 1 th They sailed on ugu t , and nothing noteworthy 6th happened till September , on which date we find D ampier dining with Captain Rogers on board the D uke i c an in company w th Co ke d Courtney. Cooke 1 In speaking of the English b uccaneers it is necessary to dis tin uish them from the irates ure and sim l e such a or an g p p p , s M g , Teach and the oth er b eauties wh o , se lives are given in Captain ’ Charl es ohnson s del ectab l e ol um es J v .

1 66 WIL LIA M DA MPIE R CHA P.

On their arrival at the Galapagos they took in a good supply of turtle, many of which were upwards of four R the hundred pounds in weight. ogers writes of “ ” if . I turtle as he had never seen it before do not, “ ff R he says, a ect giving elations of strange Creatures, so frequently done by others ; but where an nu ” common Creature falls in my W ay I cannot omit it. “ This is how the captain describes the uncommon crea ture . “ N The Creatures are the ugliest in ature the Shell,

H - o as not unlike the Top of an old ackney c ach, as black

Jet and so is the outside Skin, but shriveled and very L rough . The egs and Neck are long and about the Bigness of a Man ’s W rist and they have Clubbed Feet ’ o of as big as ne s Fist, shaped much like those an Elephant, N with five ails on the Forefeet and but Four behind, H V l and the ead little, and isage sma l like Snakes ; and W r look very old and black. hen at first surp ised they ”

H N L . shrink their ead, eck, and egs under their Shell This is the kind of simplicity that makes the perusal f of the old voyages wonder ully refreshing and delightful . The old fellows looked at life with the eyes of a child but with the intelligence of a man ; and so it happens that their representations combine a most perfect and fascinating simplicity with the highest possible qualities of acuteness and sagacity . On October 1 st the ships were off the Mexican coast . W hen the form of the land grew visible Dampier told Rogers that it was hereabouts he attacked the M i t Geor e. He an la ship in the S . g might have been R d if right, but ogers oes not speak as he thought so, for : ai D m d d he says Capt n a pier in ee had been here, but v i OFF CA L IF ORNIA 1 67

m it was a long ti e ago, and therefore he seemed to know but little of the Matter ; yet when he came to land in P ” ' laces he recollected them very readily. They suflered i f much from scarc ty of resh water, and sent the pinnace — ' to explore some islands the Tres Marias— lying ofl On Cape Corrientes . one of them they found a human skull , which was supposed to have belonged to an Indian who w had , ith another poor wretch of his own race, been left there by Captain Swan some twenty - three D years before. ampier of course well remembered the circumstance ; he had been with Swan in the Cygnet at the time, and could recollect that provisions being scarce

I as Ro they had left the unhappy ndians to make, gers says, a miserable end on a desert island. To judge, however, from the refreshments these uninhabited spots d I l yielde , the ndians cou d not have perished from

- starvation . The buccaneers met with hares, turtle doves,

sum tu pigeons, and parrots, on all of which they fared p

ousl . of y The sick thrived, and the general health n N the crews was never better. O ovember 1 st they t were in view of the high coast of California. I was much about the date on which Sir Thomas Gau dish had M taken the anila ship, and, strangely enough, their keels ploughed the very tract of water in which that remark able feat had been achieved . The memory, aged to us, k but lac ing nothing of its old lustre, was to those men comparatively recent, and the recollection was one to animate them with great hopes and stem resolves . They were indeed bent now on the adventure whose ’ Candish s s uccessful issue had loaded ship with treasure.

- They were on the look out for the galleon, and that h nothing mig t be omitted to render fortune propitious, 1 68 WIL LIA M D A MP IE R CHA P . they again put in force the rules which had f ormerly id i f been la down for cru sing, established resh regulations, and m ade clear every dubious item in their programme

f o d d It was t o pr cee ings and plun er. his galleon that was to make their fortunes she it was also that formed the grand hope of the Bristol committee of merchant adventur ers ; and the design of capturing her was the

A o mainspring of the whole expedition . fter a c nsultation it was agreed that they should dispose themselves thus the Marquis was to keep off the land at a distance of from six to nine leagues at least ; the D uke was to cruise at a range that would cover forty- five miles ; and the

Dutchess was to occupy the waters between her consorts. f There were, of course, alse alarms ; as, for instance, on

28th Mar uis d was the the q fire a gun, which promptly

d Dutchess Duke answere by the , on which the hauled her

d f r It r win o the coast. then turned out that the Ma quis D uke M hi had mistaken the for the anila s p, and fired as

for D utche s a a signal the s to chase . They had to wait f long time be ore the vessel they wanted hove in sight. It was now a month later than the usual time of her appearance in this part of the sea where she was being

for of in waited , and the anxiety the buccaneers was creased by their inability to obtain any intelligence of her.

P o and rovisi ns were again scarce, even on short allowance d there was barely brea enough to last for seventy days, a serious matter in the face of the inevitable run later on L I u f to the adrone slands, which promised to occ py fi ty f days at the very least. This most unfortunate dearth o

o o st res, c upled with the growing dejection and mutinous d sulkiness of the men, etermined Rogers and his brother ’ commanders to give themselves another week s chance,

HA I 7O WIL LIA M D A MP IE R C P . intentions and recalling their experiences in voices d sub ued by excitement ; above all, the old, worn, but D uke d f d gallant wearily ipping her ade , blistered bends

o to the swing of the breathless sea, making in anticipati n i of the wither ng roar of her ordnance, now grinning d mutely along her sides, a little thun er of her own with the beating of her dark and well- patched canvas against the huge tops and massive cross- trees of her swaying “ ” “ Al l D a R masts . the rest of the y, says ogers, we

W W a had very little ind, so that we made no great y ; a and the Bo t not returning, kept us in a languishing

d o Con iti n, not being able to determine whether the

Mar uis A ca ulco . Sail was our Consort, the q , or the p Ship Our P l in had innace was sti l Sight, and we nothing to do but to watch her Motions : W e could see that she ’ d D utchess s P o ma e towards the innace, which r wed to meet her . They lay together some time, and then the ’ Dutchess s P innace went back to their Ship which gave

A n f Dut us great Hopes . o ficer was sent to the chess to ascertain what the stranger was, and to concert measures,

ul for . W if she sho d prove an enemy, engaging her hen he was gone Rogers hoisted the French colours and n d fired a gun the stra ge vessel answere , which satisfied

Mar uis It i f them that she was not the q . s mani est from this that these privateersmen had no private code of I signals amongst them . ndeed detection seems to have been entirely a matter of the exhibition of the national

u of b nting, in which there was just the same sort i decept on then as there was in later years, and as there

. d ever will be Shortly after the ship had responde , the officer returned with the report that she was the Manila o galle n . The statement fired the spirits of the crew ; VI B UCCA NE E RS A T P RA YE RS 1 7 1 they hove all their melancholy reflections on the short ness of their provisions overboard, and could think of nothing but the figures they would make when they d arrived home with the vast treasure out yonder, stowe n “ snugly away u der their hatches . Every moment, R “ u . says ogers, seemed an hour till we came p with her It was arranged that the two pinnaces should stick to her skirts all night and burn flares, that their own and the position of the chase might be known ; and it was further settled that if the D uke and D utchess were so fortunate as to come up with her together they were to D m board her at once a resolution which a pier, recalling

St. Ge r e his experiences in the o g , was pretty sure to strengthen by his advice .

A t dawn the chase was upon the weather- bow of the

Duke Dutchess , about three miles away, and the within a R couple of miles to leeward of her. ogers threw his sweeps over and rowed his ship for above an hour ; a light breeze then sprang up and softly blew the vessel towards the enemy . There was no liquor in the ship, nothing to fortify the spirits in the shape of a dram ; so a large kettle of chocolate was boiled and served out to the crew, who, when they had emptied their pannikins,

of went to prayers . But whilst they were in the midst their devotions they were interrupted by a broadside It from the Spaniards . is not often that one reads of the English buccaneers going to prayers before falling

P er to their business of slaughtering and plundering. haps they had learnt to despise this kind of ceremony

ou from the behavi r of the French freebooters, who were wont to sing Te D eum and force captive priests to celebrate Mass in the cathedrals and churches which they HA 1 72 WIL L IA M D A MP IE R C P.

’ d o d If d Ro ers s had esp ile . the Spaniar s saw g privateers

on men their knees, something of irony might have been intended by their manner of cutting short their worship

D on and supplications . The was fully prepared his

o guns loaded, his little army of men at stati ns, and casks of gunpowder hanging at his yard- arms ready to fall and explode when the attempt should be made to board. ’ Duke The action began at eight o clock, and the for some

- time fought the galleon single handed . The conflict was d f a brief one. The Spaniar s had no stomach, and a ter Rogers had poured in a few broadsides the enemy ” - d H s struck her colours two thir s down . i flag was thus flying when the Dutchess came up and fired five guns at the big ship along with a volley of small shot . It was mere waste of powder ; the galleon had already

d and o submitte was silent. The vict ry, it must be admitted, was cheaply earned, yet there is little doubt that such was the temper of the buccaneers they would

fo f z have ught to the last man or this golden pri e. She was a large vessel named Nostra Senior a de la Incarnacion

Disen ina o and and g , mounting twenty guns twenty swivels,

d - carrying one hun red and ninety three men, of whom nine d were killed and several wounde . The fight lasted three

R was glasses, that is three hours. ogers shot through the left cheek the bullet destroyed the greater part of his upper jaw, and some of his teeth were found upon the deck

f He where he ell . was obliged to give his orders in writing

o to hinder the flow of blood, and to escape the ag ny of attempting to articulate . Only one man besides himself d d H was woun e . aving repaired the trifling damage a they had sust ined, they steered for the harbour

Mar uis and where the q lay, anchored. They found

ca 1 74 WILLIA M D A MPIE R n .

o ff head and throat were sw llen, and the e ort to speak caused him excruciating pain ; but he turned a deaf ear to the entreaties of the officers and surgeons that he would remain in harbour on board the prize. The in galleon was sight at daybreak, and by noon the Mar uis had rin n q succeeded in b gi g her to an engagement. i The wind was light, and it was almost mpossible to manoeuvre the vessels ; so that though the Dutchess and the Marquis continued at intervals to fire at the Manila

Duke ship until dusk, the even at midnight was still at W a considerable distance from the enemy. hen the day te R w broke the wind shif d, and ogers as able to bring

u n was his g ns to bear. The fighti g now severe, and continued so for four hours ; the galleon was hotly defended, though her people lay so concealed in their close quarters that the privateersmen coul d scarcely make any use of their small arms. It was only when a head appeared or a port was opened that they found a mark for their muskets . The eagerness of the bucca f neers de eated their seamanship. Their vessels were repeatedly falling foul of one another and throwing

o the crews int disorder. The guns of the Mar quis were so small that her firing was to little or no purpose. A t last it came to Rogers signalling to Courtney and Cooke to come on board him with other offi cers ; and then every man telling of the injuries his ship had sus tained , and all admitting that it would jeopardise too to b f many lives oard or attempt to board the lo ty galleon, o o— it was res lved to let her g that is to say, they agreed to keep her company till night, and then in the darkness a to lose her, and m ke the best of their way back to the ri p ze they had already secured . In sober truth the v i H E T VI GON I 1 75

d ’ enemy had prove too many for them. The D uke s mainmast was so wounded that Rogers expected every

d. Her n too moment to see it go by the boar riggi g, , was so shattered by shot that she had to sheer off in order to knot and splice, being scarcely manageable . D utchess d The also had her foremast badly wounde , her sails were in rags, and the ends of her standing rigging i were trail ng overboard . Further, there were not above one hundred and twenty men in all three ships fit for i “ ” R “ board ng, and those but weak, says ogers, having been very short of P rovisions and that nothing might be wanting to complete the list of the reasons of their m n failure, their am unition was very early expended .

R . n ogers was again wounded, this time in his left foot . I

Dutche s the s they had twenty men killed and disabled.

Mar uis off The q , on the other hand, came without the n loss of a si gle person . The galleon was a handsome ship, very large, carrying the flag of the admiral of M anila. She was making the voyage for the first time . Her name was the Vigonia ; she was pierced for sixty t guns, for y of which were mounted, along with an equal

f Her ur number o brass swivels . crew numbered over fo hundred and fifty men, and there were many passengers d besides. It was suppose that she was worth ten m n illions of dollars ; but it is doubtful whether, eve f i the buccaneers had succeeded in boarding, they “ R : A m would have taken her, for ogers says fter y Return into Europe I met in Holland with a Sailor who had been on board the large Ship when we engaged her ; and he let us into the Secret that there was no taking

G P d - her ; for the unner kept constantly in the ow er room, declaring that he had taken the Sacrament to blow the ca n 1 76 WILLIA M D A MP IE R .

d Men Ship up if we boarded her which ma e the , as may

d d d f . I be suppose , excee ingly resolute in her e ence was the more ready to credit what this Man told me because he gave as regular and circumstantial account of the ” 1 I u r Engagement as co ld have done from my Jou nal. On 1 7 1 0 the first day of the new year, , theywere again in harbour alongside their great prize ; and now being anxious to leave these seas, they put their prisoners on board one of the smaller captures with water and provi

o A si ns enough to last them for a voyage to capulco, and then addressed themselves to the urgent business of res

a for r pairing and making all re dy their departu e . They

B atchelor renamed the galleon the , and a quarrel arose

for touching the appointment of a commander her, a d post regar ed by them all as of dignity and importance.

D adv en Captain over, asserting his claims as a merchant

o d turer, and representing the c nsi erable sum of money d he had risked in this expe ition, demanded the berth . R u ogers and others, among whom, no doubt, wo ld be D d D ampier, objecte that over knew nothing whatever of i and for nav gation, voted Cooke Finally, at the

of d and o f cost many high wor s much str ng eeling, it was decided at a full council that Captain Fry and Captain Stretton should have entire control of the navigation of Batchelor D A the under Captain over, lexander Selkirk

and to be the master Joseph Smith the chief mate . The d G d islan of uam was then fixed upon as a ren ezvous, and on January l oth the buccaneers weighed for a run I d to the East n ies.

1 Moreover there was a num b e , r of pirates on b oard with their for the r r b oot , ese va tion of which we m a take it the y p , y , y intended har to fight d.

emu ! 1 78 WILL IA M D A MP IE R .

It D Guiney. had been thus with ampier whilst buc caneering off the New Holland shore thus had it been with him too when hunting for water on the sand- hills W A of the estern ustralian seaboard, his foot on the margin of a vast region of earth which he had neither l temper nor heart to explore, though he had trave led many thousands of miles in a crazy ship and with a troublesome crew for no other purpose. This trick of discouraging the people he led, or was one of, is the secret of his failure as a commander and explorer.

R f . ogers, a bolder and more hope ul, and certainly in many respects an equally sagacious man, was not likely ’ to feel grateful for D ampier s melancholy shakes of the head, and his gloomy, prognosticating countenance but his own experiences left him nothing to say, for though the ships spent the best part of the month of May off

of New G al l R the coast uinea, that ogers could observe “ It that seemed to him worth mentioning was, is most I certain these slands, which are scattered through the

of Streights, and few or none which are peopled, would

' aflord s R all of them bear Spice, and immen e iches to N if ” this ation, they were settled. They were in great distress whilst they were in these seas. The men mutinously resented the wise reduction in the quantity of the food served out to them ; and to save serious disturbance Rogers was

fo n to old a . rced to retur the sc le They sighted land, did D but not know what it was, nor could ampier

. H for help them aving searched Borou, an island of I d A the n ian rchipelago, they resolved to steer to

i o for A Batav a, touching at Bout n provisions . ccord ingly they stood away to the south - west before a strong Vr CA P E TO WIV r79

gale of wind at east. But their progress was obstructed by some small islands, into one of which they must have run in the dead . of night had the weather not cleared It suddenly and discovered it to them . was not until 1 7th 1 7 1 0 Tuesday, June , , that they arrived at Batavia. A t sight of the town the crews were so rejoiced that they could do nothing but hug and shake one another by the hand, and bless their stars and question if there “ A nd was such a paradise in all the world this, says R “ A P ogers, because they had rrack for Eight ence a aP ” G P . allon, and Sugar at enny a ound

The ships were in a deplorable condition, particularly

Mar uis m and the q , which was so rotten with wor s wear that it became necessary to hire another craft to carry O 1 4th her lading. They sailed from Batavia on ctober , G H and proceeded direct to the Cape of ood ope, where they arrived without misadventure and without any inci dent occurring in the passage that is worth repeating. Shortly after they had entered Table Bay twelve sail of D n utch ships came in, which, with the English vessels the

w - at anchor, made altogether t enty three ships riding in the spacious andbeautiful haven . The picture is about one ffi hundred and seventy years old, and it is di cult to realise that the ocean traffic of those dim times to the Indies by way of the Cape should have been considerable enough to crowd the spacious surface of the waters on whose margin

- o R stand the ivory white structures of Cape T wn . etrospect

e m is often corrective . W have a right to co pliment our selves upon what we have done and are doing but it does not seem to me that our marine achievem ents can be com pared as illustrations of human skill and determination with the examples of the adventurous genius of an age 1 80 WIL L IA M D A MP IE R CHA P. when the greater portion of the antipodean world lay in darkness when navigation was little better than guess

of d work ; when the art shipbuilding was crude, ru e, and primitive when there was nothing but the heavens to consult for weather ; when the tyranny of the winds was only to be dominated by a kind of perseverance that m ust be ranked among the lost qualities of human D nature . espite these conditions the early mariner crowded the oceans with fabrics laden with the produce of the known continents, and rolled stubbornly to his ff ri hundred ports, often in su e ng and often in distress n f n i deed yet on the whole reer, in his valiant ig orance, from disaster than is the sailor of the current hour. There is no longer need for ships to halt and bait at l Tab e Bay. The propeller thrashes them to their destina tion with the punctuality of the railway- train ; or they are wafted by pyramids of canvas - the graceful and — elegant result of centuries of experiment on a journey

New Z to ealand or Japan, which they complete in less time than the old seafarer took to find his way from the M d English Channel to a eira. But the very existence of

f of - the acilities the engine room, of the nimbleness of

- d of f the clipper moul ed keel, the capacity o the towering and exquisitely- calculated heights of cloths to snatch a de sired power of propul sion from the teeth of the antagon istic I gale, is, take it, an admission of our own weak ness when we contrast the ocean- machinery with which science has dowered us with the contrivances with which the early seamen triumphed over the forces of

Nature and created new worlds as heritages ' for a self complacent posterity. Those twenty - three ships at anchor in Table Bay, surveyed by the eyes of D ampier

1 8 2 WILLIA M D A MP IE R CR A P . v r as to privileges they were also enjoined to exercise the utmost caution in respect of the D utch East India Com ofi cer pany, and strict orders were issued that no or sailor should on any pretence whatever be suffered to as take any goods on shore, or purchase the le t trifle from any stranger who visited the ships . They re H u 3oth 1 1 1 mained in olland ntil September , 7 , then sailed from the Texel under convoy of four of Her M ’ O 1 4 Britannic ajesty s ships, and on ctober th the D u Dutchess off ke and arrived Erith, at which place the Batchelor had come to an anchor some short time before . Thus ended one of the most memorable of all l the voyages ever undertaken by the Eng ish buccaneers. The cargo and treasure obtained by this expedition were valued at between three and four hundred thousand i pounds, and Cooke tells us that, after allow ng for all d eductions, such as cost of convoy, agency, lawsuits, and thefts, the net profits amounted to one hundred and seventy thousand pounds. C H A P T E R VII

CONCLUS ION

A S D ampier steps over the ship’s side the reader is pre d H pared to learn that no more is hear of him . e is a shadow amongst a congregation of shades, and when he quits his comrades his first stride carries him into

ff of absolute obscurity, and he vanishes like a pu tobacco

One do smoke . would be glad to be able to more than give a mere handshake of farewell to such an It English sailor as this. would be pleasant to be able

f r of f l ed to ollow him, to lea n what sort li e he , what new adventures, if any, he met with, what his health

o was, and what his means, the pleasures he took ash re, and the esteem in which he was held by those with whom he conversed before that dark old soldier Death I quietly beckoned him out. think we may take it that he never marri ed whilst he pursued his sea - life but when he came ashore for good he was tolerably ad v anced f in years, and it would not be sa e to conjecture

He what he did then . had never known the comforts

o of a h me, and the old seaman might find a kind of excuse for marrying in that reflection . Captain Cooke ’ says that the net profits of Bogers e voyage !see pre vic us page) were fairly divided amongst the officers and 1 84 WIL L IA M D A MP IE R CHA P.

w o . ofli cers cre . This is to be d ubted Before the and of crew touched a penny the Bristol merchants, whom m d there was a great nu ber in the venture, woul take

and their share, we may suppose that their dividend did not leave the balance a very big one for the many A H people who had claims upon it. man named atley,

d 1 1 9 Shelv ocke who saile in 7 with and Clipperton, was wont to declare that “ he knew by woeful experience d D uke Dutchess how they were use on board the and ,

- due and that they were never paid one tenth of their , that it plainly appeared how a certain gentleman designed

to treat them, by his bullying them, and endeavouring to force them from Gravesend before they had received ” 1 ’ D am ier s their river pay and impress money. p claims were no doubt ranked amongst those of the officers ;

but whatever his share might have been, it is not very

conceivable that, invested, it yielded him an income

u sufficient for his plainest req irements .

He was fifty- nine years old when he returned from

o his last v yage . Even assuming that his health was good

o ff en ugh to su er him to go on using the sea, it is more than probable that at the age of sixty he would exhibit

no f d unr em unera urther taste for the har , perilous, and d tive calling . Considering the eminence he had achieve , it is strange that there are n o discoverable contemporary

of f references to this portion his li e none, at all events,

I or of I that have been able to meet with hear , though

o have not spared inquiry . This silence might sancti n the conjecture that on his return he went into the

o t D if c un ry, perhaps to his little orsetshire estate, it be

1 A Vo a e Round the W or ld b Ca tain Geor e hel k y g , y p g S voc e, p . 3 8 The cer tain entlem an was rob ab l Ca tain D o er . g p y p v .

1 86 WIL L IA M D A MP IE R CHA P.

not, his literary obligations to him appear considerable . Ca tain Sin leton 1 7 20 p g , published in ; the nautical Colonel Jack 1 722 A New passages in , published in ;

a e Round the Wor ld 1 7 25 o wi Voy g , published in t gether th w Roxa na a variety of ocean incidents to be met ith in ,

Moll Flanders of i , and in others the volum nous publica d tions of this master, seem to me irectly inspired by ’ D am ier s . W f p writings There were indeed Cowley, a er,

R o u ingrose, Cooke, and the contemp rary b ccaneering authors to consult ; but it is only necessary to contras t D f ’ e oe s tales of the sea, the marine passages in his f shore stories, and his accounts of oreign countries, with

of D an i ul the descriptions ampier, d more part c arly the

o wi reflecti ns th which he interpolates his narratives, to perceive the true source of some of the finest of the im aginations of the author of Captain Singleton and Robinson D Crusoe. efoe exhibited his gratitude in an odd f H w orm. ere are some opening passages in his Ne Voyage Round the World “ It has for some ages been thought so wonderful a

o thing to sail the tour or circle of the gl be, that when a man has done this mighty feat he presently thinks it d d D ’ deserves to be recor e , like Sir Francis rake s . So,

o as so n as men have acted the sailor, they come ashore o m and write b oks of their voyage, not only to ake a

o do great n ise of what they have ne themselves, but, pretending to show the way to others to come after

u for - them, they set p teachers and chart makers to

o posterity. Th ugh most of them have had this mis f ortune, that whatever success they have had in the o had v yage they have very little in the relation, except to it be tell us that a seaman, when he comes to the V II COMP A RIS ON W I TH D E F OE 1 87

press, is pretty much out of his element, and that a very ” o ff good sail r may make but a very indi erent author . Language of this sort does not sound very graciously in the mouth of a man whose best work is owing to the hints he obtains from the people whose labours and l I pub ications he ridicules. hope I shall not be deemed I heterodox if say that, in my humble judgment, great D as is my veneration for efoe, in point of interest neither his New Voyage nor his Cap tain Singleton is m D m to be co pared with the narratives of a pier, Cooke,

R Shel vocke nd ogers, and whilst there is a quaintness a freshness about their plain, manly, sailorly style which f ’ It I instantly miss on turning to D e oe s later books . is quite true indeed that when the New Voyage Round the Wor ld was wr itten the circumnavigation of the globe was no longer considered an extraordinary feat ; but then forty - two years had elapsed since Dampier had sailed with the buccaneers from Virginia on his first

of tour, and in that interval the experiences the journey — deemed remarkable at the time — had been often enough repeated by his own and the voyages of others, ’ am ier s to rob the accomplishment of all its wonder. D p best merits have been fairly expressed by Sir W alter

Scott, whose reference to him in connection with the life

He m of Defoe was inevitable. speaks of him as a ariner “ whose scientific skill in his profession and power of literary composition were at that time rarely found in

o that professi n, especially amongst those rough sons of the L ocean who acknowledged no peace beyond the ine, and had as natural an enmity to a South A merican Spaniard as a greyhound to a hare, and who, though distinguished m n by the so ewhat mild term of bucca eer, were little 1 88 WILL IA M D A MP IE R CR A P .

i o better than absolute pirates. Th s is true, but m re

d D w as o of may be sai . ampier not nly the finest sailor his day— I mean in the strictly professional sense of the word— his travels are to this hour foremost among the best- written and most interesting in the language. Seafaring and literary qualifications are a rare combina

o r wn ff - tion even in u o age of sti marine examinations, of a race of naval ofli cers distinguished for their culture di and their bree ng, and of a merchant navy whose masters and mates are, in the higher ranges at least, ’ D am ier s persons of education and intelligence . But in p da o y the sailor, whether he fought for the thr ne or for d merchant a venturers, or toiled for himself as a sea

u o carrier, was a coarse, unlettered man . The ni n in D ampier of the qualities which he exhibited must have rendered him something of a prodigy to his contem por

i o o aries, whilst it forms his cla m up n the attenti n and

of o No esteem p sterity. mariner ever observed more

In Discourse o Wind s f closely. his f he anticipates hal 1 . P dd and R the contents of the volumes of i ington eid . One would say indeed that D ampier never passed an P d hour without pulling out his notebook . i dington particularly calls attention to the accuracy of the old ’ sailor s touches in his picture of the banks of red clouds which herald the bursting of a typhoon in the China ’

. He D r L seas also refers to . Franklin s etters, in which

1 The form er writer ob serves with great justice W e are perhaps too m uch accustom ed to rel on our instrum ents nowada s and y y , we negl ect those signs which m ust after all hav e b een the b aro m eters and sim iesom eters of D ra e Ca v endish D am ier an all p k , , p , d our daring b and of nav al and com m ercial navigators up to th e end of the l ast centur and still ar e so for our hard fi sh y , y erm en ! ’ and coaster s. The Sailor s H orn B ook . 240 1 8 , p , 5 1 .

' l 9° WILLIA M D A MPIE Ie CHA I . which now facilitate the labours of the navigator and explorer. A nd perhaps those who respect his memory most will be best pleased to think he was a failure as a buccaneer. I have already quoted a passage from his preface in which he does not dissemble the repugnance with which he N recur s to his life of piracy. othing could be more intelligible than the disgust and loathing that possessed

wri him when he sat in silence ting his book, and thinking of the character of the persons whom it was necessary he shoul d refer to as his intimates . They were sailors indeed, but they were also brutes no man knew that better than Dampier no man was better acquainted

w i s r ofli ac than he ith the v ce , the p g y, the horrors of the every - day speech of the men whose company he had 1 kept for months and years . That quality of sympathetic adhesion which the French call esprit dc corp s was not x likely to e ist in a man who, when he had parted from

insu ort his shipmates, found the recollection of them pp I He able . ndeed he was but a poor buccaneer. was as courageous as the best man he ever sailed with ; plunder he loved as well as the rest ; but he despised and detested a his ssociates, and probably only held his own amongst

1 Ca ain W illiam Snel rave in his A New A ccount o ui pt g , f G nea. a nd the S lwve Trade 1 75 4 aints a livel icture o he eh , , p y p f t b aviour “ an conversation of riva eer m en ook d p t s . I t l eav e of the Captain ’ and ot into m Ham m ock tho I ould not l ee in m g y , c s p y m el an chol More v r the e le y Circum stances. o e xecrab Oaths and Blasphem ies ’ ’ I heard am on the Shi s Com an shock d m e to such a de g p p y gree, ’ that in Hell itself I th ought there could not b e worse for tho ’ m any seafar ing m en are given to swearing and taking God s Nam e in ain et I ould n ot have im a ined um an v , y c g h Nature coul d ever so far de enera e as to talk in he m g t , t anner those ab andoned m atches ” did. P. 21 7. v u H IS CHA RA C TE R 1 91

them by the exaction of that sort of respect which such

fellows would feel for a man of education, of wide ex erience p , and the best navigator of his time. The reason of his failur e as a commander his own narratives make

. His clear books show that he understood human nature, but his actions prove that he could not control or direct

it. Nor is it hard to see why he was unsuccessful as an

. He explorer appeared to exhaust his energy in theories, so that by the time he addressed him self to action nearly

all his enthusiasm was gone . The importunities which led to his being placed in command of the Roebuck and despatched to the Southern Ocean must have been

eloquent. No doubt he was perfectly sincere in his

A s representations . a privateersman he had sighted the shores of the unknown land of the antipodes 3 how far south it extended he could not imagine, but vast portions of it lay under heights which by analogous reasoning he l f l i could prove ferti e and beauti u , rich in prom se to the

of coloniser, and assuring an enlargement the dominions of the sovereign by the acquisition of a territory possibly W A ll vaster than the hole of Europe. this, we may take l it, he fu ly believed, and eagerly, impetuously, and elo E quently expressed . But the passage from ngland to

His W estern A ustralia was a long one . ardour had

He cooled before he was off the coast of Brazil. was

r i of chag ined by the behav our his crew, and there were other causes t o cloud and chill his excitable and impres

ionab le . s nature You can see that he had lost all heart,

all for or at least appetite, the quest he had undertaken

New H long before the coast of olland rose over his bows . ’ Men of D am pier s temperament may be able to wr ite engagi ng narratives of their adventures, and exhibit all n v n 1 92 WILLIAM D A MPIE R ca .

well all r the solid virtues of the sober, as as the ai y

u r q alities of the poetic, observe ; but they are not formed

ff o of the stu of which expl rers are made . Their pulse

the end . Yet the world does well to hold the name of D in i e ampier memory as a sk lful seaman, an acut observer, an agreeable writer, and a thorough Englishman .

THE E ND

POPU S ING EACH. LAR EDITION, ONE HILL ' a 1 8 Po ular Edition . ol I. an u r 87 p , now Pub lishln in m onthl y Vol um es ! V um e , J y )

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