The Buccaneers in the West Indies in the XVII Century

The Buccaneers in the West
Indies in the
by Clarence Henry
Haring

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Title: The Buccaneers in the West Indies in the XVII Century
Author: Clarence Henry Haring
Release Date: August 29, 2006 [EBook #19139]
Language: English
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THE BUCCANEERS IN THE WEST INDIES IN THE XVII
CENTURY
BY
C.H. HARING
WITH TEN MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS
METHUEN & CO. LTD. 36 ESSEX STREET W.C. LONDON
First Published in 1910

PREFACE
The principal facts about the exploits of the English and French
buccaneers of the seventeenth century in the West Indies are
sufficiently well known to modern readers. The French Jesuit historians
of the Antilles have left us many interesting details of their mode of life,
and Exquemelin's history of the freebooters has been reprinted
numerous times both in France and in England. Based upon these old,
contemporary narratives, modern accounts are issued from the press
with astonishing regularity, some of them purporting to be serious
history, others appearing in the more popular and entertaining guise of
romances. All, however, are alike in confining themselves for their
information to what may almost be called the traditional
sources--Exquemelin, the Jesuits, and perhaps a few narratives like
those of Dampier and Wafer. To write another history of these
privateers or pirates, for they have, unfortunately, more than once
deserved that name, may seem a rather fruitless undertaking. It is
justified only by the fact that there exist numerous other documents
bearing upon the subject, documents which till now have been entirely
neglected. Exquemelin has been reprinted, the story of the buccaneers
has been re-told, yet no writer, whether editor or historian, has
attempted to estimate the trustworthiness of the old tales by comparing

them with these other sources, or to show the connection between the
buccaneers and the history of the English colonies in the West Indies.
The object of this volume, therefore, is not only to give a narrative,
according to the most authentic, available sources, of the more brilliant
exploits of these sea-rovers, but, what is of greater interest and
importance, to trace the policy pursued toward them by the English and
French Governments.
The "Buccaneers in the West Indies" was presented as a thesis to the
Board of Modern History of Oxford University in May 1909 to fulfil
the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Letters. It was written
under the supervision of C.H. Firth, Regius Professor of Modern
History in Oxford, and to him the writer owes a lasting debt of
gratitude for his unfailing aid and sympathy during the course of
preparation.
C.H.H.
Oxford, 1910

CONTENTS
Preface
CHAP. PAGE
I. Introductory--
Part I.--The Spanish Colonial System 1

Part II.--The Freebooters of the Sixteenth
Century 28

II. The Beginnings of the Buccaneers 57 III. The Conquest of Jamaica
85 IV. Tortuga, 1655-1664 113 V. Porto Bello and Panama 120 VI.
The Government Suppresses the Buccaneers 200 VII. The Buccaneers
Turn Pirate 232 Appendices 273-74 Bibliography 275 Index 289

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Map of the West Indies Frontispiece From Charlevoix' Histoire de S.
Domingue.
FACING PAGE
Spanish Periagua 1
From Exquemelin's Histoire des Aventuriers Trevoux, 1744.
Buccaneer Vessels 76
From Exquemelin's Histoire des Aventuriers Trevoux, 1744.
A Correct Map of Jamaica 85
From the Royal Magazine, 1760.
Map of San Domingo 86
From Charlevoix' Histoire de S. Domingue.
Plan of the Bay and Town of Portobelo 154
From Prevost d'Exiles' Voyages.
The Isthmus of Darien 164
From Exquelmelin's Bucaniers, 1684-5.
'The Battel between the Spaniards and the pyrats or Buccaniers before
the Citty of Panama' 166

From Exquemelin's Bucaniers of America, 1684-5.
Plan of Vera-Cruz 242
From Charlevoix' Histoire de S. Domingue, 1730.
Plan of the Town and Roadstead of Cartegena and of the Forts 264
From Baron de Pontis' Relation de ce qui c'est fait la prise de
Carthagene, Bruxelles, 1698.

THE BUCCANEERS IN THE WEST INDIES IN THE XVII
CENTURY
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY
I.--THE SPANISH COLONIAL SYSTEM
At the time of the discovery of America the Spaniards, as M.
Leroy-Beaulieu has remarked, were perhaps less fitted than any other
nation of western Europe for the task of American colonization.
Whatever may have been the political rôle thrust upon them in the
sixteenth century by the Hapsburg marriages, whatever certain
historians may say of