Dk Eyewitness Top 10 Brussels Bruges Antwerp And

Ghent

Available on alibris.com
( 4.7/5.0 ★ | 219 downloads )
-- Click the link to download --

https://click.linksynergy.com/link?id=*C/UgjGtUZ8&offerid=1494105.26
539780241355930&type=15&murl=https%3A%2F%2F2.zoppoz.workers.dev%3A443%2Fhttp%2Fwww.alibris.com%2Fsearch%2
Fbooks%2Fisbn%2F9780241355930
Dk Eyewitness Top 10 Brussels Bruges
Antwerp And Ghent

ISBN: 9780241355930
Category: Media > Books
File Fomat: PDF, EPUB, DOC...
File Details: 8.3 MB
Language: English
Website: alibris.com
Short description: Good Cover/Case has some rubbing and edgewear.
Access codes, CD's, slipcovers and other accessories may not be
included.

DOWNLOAD: https://click.linksynergy.com/link?id=*C/UgjGtUZ8&
offerid=1494105.26539780241355930&type=15&murl=http%3A%2F%2F
www.alibris.com%2Fsearch%2Fbooks%2Fisbn%2F9780241355930
 Dk Eyewitness Top 10
Brussels Bruges Antwerp
And Ghent

• Click the link: https://click.linksynergy.com/link?id=*C/UgjGtUZ8&offerid=1494105.2653978024135593

0&type=15&murl=https%3A%2F%2F2.zoppoz.workers.dev%3A443%2Fhttp%2Fwww.alibris.com%2Fsearch%2Fbooks%2Fisbn%2F9780241355930 to do
latest version of Dk Eyewitness Top 10 Brussels Bruges Antwerp And Ghent in multiple formats such as
PDF, EPUB, and more.
• Don’t miss the chance to explore our extensive collection of high-quality resources, books, and guides on
our website. Visit us regularly to stay updated with new titles and gain access to even more valuable
materials.
.
there was a terrific explosion. The whole ship seemed lifted into the
air, as by some volcanic power. Dense volumes of sulphurous smoke,
pierced with forked flame, enveloped the scene, shutting it out from
the view of all around. Then there were seen, ejected hundreds of
feet into the air, massive timbers, and ponderous cannon, and the
mangled bodies of three hundred and fifty men. But thirty of the
crew escaped.

The officers’ cabin, far in the stern of the boat, escaped the force
of the explosion. Though the revellers there were terrified, stunned,
almost smothered with smoke, and many of them severely wounded,
they escaped with their lives.

Such was the end of the Cerf Volant. This only did Morgan gain by
his treachery. “Morgan,” says Esquemeling, “had captured the ship.
And God only could take it from him. And God did so.”

For eight days the bodies of the dead were seen floating upon the
waters of the bay. Morgan sent out boats to collect these bodies, not
for burial, but for plunder. The pockets were searched. The clothing,
when good, was stripped off. The heavy gold rings, which nearly all
the sailors wore, were taken, and then the bodies were abandoned
to the sharks and the carrion birds.

Morgan, upon a review of his forces, found that he had fifteen

vessels, large and small, and eight hundred and sixty men. With
these he set sail for Savona. Head winds impeded their progress.
Three weeks had elapsed ere they reached the eastern extremity of
Hispaniola. Eight hundred hungry men consume a vast amount of
food each day. Their provisions ran short. They chanced to meet an
English ship which had a superfluity for sale. Thus recruited, they
pressed on, in a long straggling line, until eight of the ships reached
a harbor called Ocoa, on the southern coast of the great island. Here
he cast anchor to wait the arrival of the rest of the fleet.
 CHAPTER XVI.

The Expedition to Maracaibo.

The Delay at Ocoa.—Hunting Excursions.—The Repulse.—Cities of

Venezuela.—The Plan of Morgan.—Suggestions of Pierre Picard.—
Sailing of the Expedition.—They Touch at Oruba.—Traverse Venezuela.
—Enter Lake Maracaibo.—Capture of the Fort.—The City Abandoned.—
Atrocities of the Pirates.

At Ocoa, on the Island of Hispaniola, the pirates remained several

days waiting for the arrival of the other vessels, which were
unaccountably lagging behind. Every morning Morgan sent a party
of eight men, from each ship, upon the island as hunters, in search
of game. He also sent a body of armed men to protect them from
any attack by the Spaniards. Though there were many Spaniards
upon the island, they did not feel strong enough to assail so great a
force as the pirates could muster. They, however, sent to the city of
San Domingo for three or four hundred men, to kill or drive away all
the cattle and game around the Bay of Ocoa. They hoped thus to
starve out the buccaneers, and compel them to depart.

Goaded by hunger, a band of fifty of Morgan’s men ventured far

into the woods. The Spaniards, who were watching them, drew
them into an ambuscade. The pirates were outnumbered and
surrounded. With cries of “Kill, kill,” the Spaniards opened a sudden
and deadly fire. But these desperadoes, accustomed to every kind of
danger, could not be thrown into a panic. Instantly they formed
themselves into a hollow square, and keeping a rolling fire from the
four sides, slowly retreated to their ships. Many fell by the way, dead
or wounded. Many of the Spaniards were also slain.

The next day, Morgan, rendered furious by the discomfiture,

landed himself, at the head of two hundred men, to take dire
revenge upon his foes. But no foe was to be met. Finding his search
useless, he gave vent to his rage in burning all the dwellings he
encountered, from which the Spaniards had fled.

Still the seven missing ships did not appear. After waiting a few
days more, he decided to delay no longer. Spreading his sails, he
steered his course for the Island of Savona. But none of the missing
vessels were there. While waiting, he sent several boats, with crews
amounting to one hundred and fifty well-armed men, to plunder
several of the small towns upon the San Domingo coast. But in the
capital city and all along the shore scouts were on the watch.
Sentinels were placed upon every headland. The moment the boats
appeared in sight, signals were given. At every point where a
landing was attempted such energetic resistance was presented,
that the pirates were compelled to retreat.

They returned to Morgan with this discouraging report. He was in

a towering rage, and with sneers and curses denounced them as
cowardly poltroons. As no longer delay could be safely indulged in,
and as the missing vessels did not arrive, he made another review of
his fleet and army, and found that he had eight vessels of various
sizes and about five hundred men.

Upon the coast of Venezuela there was a large and opulent city,
called Caraccas. It was the capital of the province of Venezuela, and
had been founded nearly one hundred years before, in 1567, by the
Spanish Government. It was a well-built and beautiful city,
delightfully situated, in the enjoyment of a salubrious climate, and
enriched by extensive commerce. Near by were Valencia, Barcelona,
and Cumana, all important commercial ports. The latter place was
the oldest city on the continent of South America. It was established
in 1523. The plunder of these four cities would indeed enrich the
marauders. And Morgan, in command of fifteen vessels, and with an
army of fifteen hundred men did not doubt that he could effect their
capture, one by one, if he could strike them entirely by surprise. But
it was folly to attempt it with eight vessels and five hundred men.
 There was a Frenchman in command of one of Morgan’s ships, by
the name of Pierre Picard. This man, several years before, had been
the pilot of Lolonois’s fleet, in his capture and destruction of
Maracaibo and Gibraltar, of which expedition we have already given
an account. During the intervening years those places had, in a very
considerable degree, recovered from their disasters. Again they
presented riches sufficient to entice the buccaneers.

Picard was a remarkable man, of great resources. He was a bold

soldier and a skilful sailor. Familiar with all these waters, fearless and
unscrupulous, with French plausibility of address, and speaking the
English language with volubility and correctness, he gained great
influence over Morgan.

A council of the officers was called. He proposed an attack upon

Maracaibo and Gibraltar. A chart was presented exhibiting the course
to be run, the channels to be threaded, the forces to be
encountered, and the means of overcoming them.

His proposition was received with general acclaim, and the fleet
weighed anchor. After several days’ sail to the south, they reached
an island called Oruba. It was inhabited only by natives. They had a
large stock of sheep, lambs, goats, and kids. Here the pirates cast
anchor, to take in water and provisions. For once these marauders
seemed to come to the conclusion that honesty was more politic
than thievery, and that it was easier to buy a goat with a skein of
thread, than to steal it, and thus rouse the hostility of the whole
native population. They remained here twenty-four hours, acting as
nearly like honest men as such a gang of thieves, drunkards, and
desperadoes could do. They filled their water-casks, and laid in quite
a store of provisions, which they bought, though without money and
almost without price.

They were now within a day’s sail of Maracaibo. They were

anxious that the natives should not know their destination, lest in
some way they might give the alarm. Therefore the anchors were
raised and the sails spread in the night. When the morning dawned
the islanders looked in vain for the fleet.

During the day the ships came in sight of the cluster of islands
which are found at the entrance of the Lake of Maracaibo. A fair
breeze from the north had swept them rapidly through the Gulf of
Venezuela. Just within the narrows which connected the gulf with
the lake, there was a mountainous island called Vigilia. Upon one of
its eminences there was a watch-tower erected, where sentinels
were stationed, ever on the lookout to give warning of the approach
of any suspicious craft.

Just as the fleet reached this point the wind died away into a
perfect calm. Though Morgan made every endeavor to cast anchor
out of sight of the watch-tower, the vigilant eyes of the sentinels
detected him. The alarm was instantly sent up to the city. Twelve
hours passed away before there was a breath of wind to ripple the
crystal surface of the lake. It was then four o’clock in the morning.
All this time had been granted the Spaniards to prepare for their
defence.

At a little distance beyond Vigilia there was a narrow channel to be

threaded, which was defended by a fort. Not deeming it safe to
expose his vessels to the heavy guns of the Spaniards, and knowing
that the works would be weak on the land side, he manned his
boats, and marching through the woods struck his foes in the rear.
The garrison had made arrangements for the most desperate
resistance. They had burned all the huts around the walls of the fort,
and had removed everything which could afford the assailants any
shelter.

The defenders of the works numbered probably not more than

thirty or forty men. Nearly five hundred reckless desperadoes
emerged from the woods for the assault. They were all veterans,
and all sharpshooters. Not a hand could be exposed but a bullet
would strike it. Such a storm of balls were thrown with unerring aim
in at every embrasure, that the guns could not be worked.

When the pirates, in their large numbers, first appeared emerging

from the forest, the fort opened a fire so intense and continuous
that it resembled the crater of a small volcano in most rapid
eruption. But the pirates, who could return ten bullets for every one
received, and who were careful that every bullet should accomplish
its mission, soon caused the fire to slacken. Still the fight continued
for many hours, till night came, with no apparent advantage on
either side.

With the darkness the conflict ceased. Morgan sent a party

cautiously forward to reconnoitre. No light was to be seen. No sound
was to be heard. Solitude and silence reigned. The fort was
deserted. With shouts the pirates rushed forward to take possession
of the works. The loud voice of Morgan arrested them. He was as
cautious as he was brave. A party of engineers was dispatched, led
by Morgan himself, to search lest there might be lighted fuses
leading to the magazine. Morgan was the first to enter. His quick eye
discerned the gleam of a fuse slowly creeping toward the magazine,
where three thousand pounds of gunpowder were stored. It was
instantly trampled out.

But for this caution, five hundred pirates would have swarmed all
over the fort. There would have been an earthquake roar, a volcanic
upheaval, and not one of those five hundred desperadoes would
have survived to tell the story of the retribution which had so
suddenly befallen them.

The fort was a small but strong redoubt, or outwork, built of

stone, circular in form, with a massive wall thirty feet high. It was
only accessible by an iron ladder which could be let down from a
guard-room. It mounted fourteen cannons, of eight, twelve, and
fourteen pound calibre. There was also found a quantity of fire-pots,
hand-grenades, pikes, and muskets.
 The pirates had no time to lose. It was needful to press forward as
rapidly as possible, for every hour the inhabitants of the city might
be adding to their defences. They blew up a portion of the wall;
spiked the cannon, and threw them over the ramparts; burned the
gun-carriages, and destroyed all the material of war which they
could not carry away with them.

The way was now open for the passage of the fleet up the lake to
the very entrance of the harbor. With the earliest dawn the fleet
spread its sails, leaving behind the smouldering ruins of the fort. The
breeze was light, the shoals many, the channel intricate. It was not
until the next day that they came within sight of the city. There was
still another fort to be passed at the very mouth of the port. Morgan
stood upon his quarter-deck, spy-glass in hand. He could see the
Spanish cavaliers at work on the ramparts, and had reason to expect
a very desperate resistance. Again he decided not to expose his
ships to the cannonade which the heavy guns of the fort could bring
to bear upon them.

Casting anchor out of gun-shot, he disembarked his forces in the

boats. They were ordered not to meddle with the fort, but to march
in two divisions through the woods, and attack the town at points
which the artillery of the fort could not protect. The guns of the fleet
were brought to bear upon all the adjacent thickets, that no foe
might find there a lurking-place.

The landing was effected without opposition. The march, through

the narrow mule-paths, was undisputed. The town was reached. But
there was no foe there; no inhabitant there. All had fled. Warned by
the awful fate which had befallen Maracaibo, but a few years before,
when sacked by the pirates under Lolonois, the citizens, men,
women, and children, had fled utterly panic-stricken. It is easy for a
man of any ordinary courage to brave death in the performance of
duty. But who can endure demoniac torture? Who can bear the idea
of seeing his wife, his daughter, his child exposed to every indignity,
every cruelty which demons in human form can devise?
 Maracaibo was emptied of its population. All had sought refuge in
the forest, with speed to which terror lent wings. The aged, the sick
had fled. Even the dying were carried away. And it is stated without
denial that the ship, the Oxford, which took the lead in this
enterprise, belonged to Charles II., King of England. This royal
buccaneer had equipped it, had manned it, and was to share in the
spoil. And he rewarded the demoniac leader of this demoniac gang
with the honors of a baronetcy; and appointed him governor over
one of the most important colonies of Great Britain. Such scenes
were enacted only two hundred years ago. Surely the world has
made some progress.

The fugitives had taken with them everything they could carry.
There were no carriage roads in those parts. But there were many
narrow mule-paths, leading in various directions. On pack-mules and
horses much treasure had been removed. Two days had elapsed
since the alarm had resounded through the streets, “The pirates are
coming.”

The houses were empty. The doors were left wide open. The
chambers were stripped of everything valuable. Nearly all the gold
and silver and jewels had of course disappeared. There were some
houses of much elegance in the place, sumptuously furnished. The
pirates rushed through the streets, searching for the richest palaces
for their barracks. The churches they wantonly defiled and converted
into prison-houses. Not a vessel or a boat was left in the port. All
had been used, by the terrified fugitives, to escape far away upon
the wide lake beyond.

Morgan, chagrined at the loss of so much anticipated treasure,

instantly dispatched one hundred fleet-footed men to pursue the
encumbered and heavily laden refugees, along all the trails. Scarcely
any provisions could be found in the town. The fugitives had taken
the wise precaution to destroy what they could not carry away. The
little fort which guarded the harbor was merely a half-moon rampart
facing the water, and mounting but four cannon. These works the
Spaniards had of course abandoned.

The men who had been dispatched in pursuit of the Spaniards

returned the next evening. They brought with them thirty prisoners,
and fifty mules laden with valuables. The prisoners were feeble men
and women of the poorest class. The owners of the richly laden
mules, seeing the approach of the pirates, had abandoned all, and
outstripped the pursuers in their flight. The unhappy captives were
put to the torture, but nothing could be wrested from them.

This Morgan, subsequently Sir Henry Morgan, governor of

Jamaica, suspended his prisoners by the beard; hung them up
horizontally by cords bound around their toes and thumbs; placed
burning matches between their fingers; scourged them; twisted
cords around their heads till their eyes burst from their sockets, and
perpetrated other enormities too horrible to be mentioned.

“Thus,” writes Esquemeling, “all sort of inhuman cruelties were

executed upon these innocent people. Those who would not confess,
or who had nothing to declare, died under the hands of those
tyrannical men. These tortures and racks continued for the space of
three whole weeks; in which time they ceased not to send out daily
parties of men to seek for more people to torment and rob: they
never returned home without booty and new riches.”

In one of these excursions they captured two negro slaves, who

were faint for loss of food. They were both put to the torture, to
compel them to reveal where their master was concealed. One, the
elder of the two, endured the horrible torment without a word, and
almost without a groan, till death came to his release. The other
captive, a young man, just emerging from boyhood, bore up bravely
until the agony became utterly unendurable. He then offered to lead
them to his master. The wealthy Spaniard was soon taken, and with
him the exultant pirates seized thirty thousand dollars in silver.
 In such days of disaster and woe, families, flying into the
wilderness, would cling together. Morgan had gradually captured one
hundred of the most prominent families. He had also acquired an
unexpectedly large amount of plunder, in silver, gold, bullion, and
rich merchandise.

Captain Picard was very exultant in view of the success of the

enterprise which he had suggested and guided. He now urged that
they should advance upon the city of Gibraltar. It will be
remembered that this place was at the head of the lake, about one
hundred miles south from Maracaibo. Morgan embarked his
prisoners and all of his plunder on board his fleet and spread his
sails for this new enterprise.
 CHAPTER XVII.

Adventures on the Shores of Lake Maracaibo.

Preparations for the Defence of Gibraltar.—The Hidden Ships.—The

Hiding-place of the Governor and the Women.—Disasters and Failure.
—Capture of the Spanish Ships.—The Retreat Commenced.—Peril of
the Pirates.—Singular Correspondence.—Strength of the Spanish
Armament.—The Public Conference of the Pirates.—The Naval Battle.—
The Fire-Ship.—Wonderful Achievement of the Pirates.

Before Morgan weighed anchor for his expedition to Gibraltar, he

sent two Spanish prisoners to the city to say that if they made a
peaceable surrender of the place, without attempting to conceal or
carry off their valuables, their lives should be spared. But if any
resistance were offered, the city should be laid in ashes and every
individual put to the sword.

But ample time had been given to the citizens of Gibraltar to

prepare for a vigorous defence. The garrison from Maracaibo had
also fled to her forts. The troops were landed a mile and a half from
the town, and marched through the woods to attack the foe in the
rear. The Spaniards had anticipated this movement and were
prepared to meet it. Still they were baffled by the strategy of
Morgan. Instead of advancing by the regular route, he employed a
large party of sappers and miners to cut a new path through the
woods. Thus he approached the city without exposing his men to
storm ramparts bristling with artillery and musketry.

The Spaniards had no time to throw up new intrenchments. It was

evident, even to the most unintelligent soldier, that all was lost.
Their hearts sank within them, and soldiers and citizens fled with the
utmost precipitation. So general was the flight that the pirates, when
they entered the streets of Gibraltar, found but one single man
there, and he was a semi-idiot. Even that weak creature they
tortured. The poor wretch cried out:

“Do not torture me any more, and I will show you my riches.”

The pirates thought, or pretended to think, that he was some rich

person assuming the disguise of poverty and semi-insanity. He led
them to a miserable hovel containing only a few earthern pots. He
dug up, from under the hearth, three dollars which he had buried
there. Still they affirmed that he was a grandee in disguise, and
commenced torturing him anew. In his agony he cried out:

“In the name of Jesus; in the name of the Virgin Mary, what will
you do with me, Englishmen? I am a poor man. I live on alms. I
sleep in the hospital.”

He died under their hands. They dragged him aside and covered
him with a few shovelfuls of earth. Some of the slaves, who had
been inhumanly treated by their masters, now took revenge, and
revealed their hiding-places to the pirates. A poor lame peasant,
with his two daughters, was brought in. Appalled by the terrors of
the rack, he promised to lead them through the woods to a retreat
where several of the Spaniards were concealed. But the Spaniards,
vigilantly on the watch, fled. The pirates, in the rage of their
disappointment, hung the poor peasant. What became of his
daughters we are not informed.

But I cannot torture my readers with a narrative of these horrors.

They were dreadful beyond all powers of description. It seems
inexplicable that God could have permitted such awful deeds.

Parties, thoroughly armed, were sent out to explore the region for
many miles around. One of the slaves promised to conduct Captain
Morgan to a river flowing into the lake, where there was a ship and
four large boats richly laden with merchandise, taken both from
Gibraltar and from Maracaibo. He also promised to lead a party to
the place where the governor of Gibraltar was concealed, with most
of the females of the city. The capture of the governor, for whom a
great ransom could be expected to save him from death by torture,
and the capture of the females, were deemed matters of the
greatest moment by these demoniac pirates.

Morgan himself took a party of two hundred men, with the slave
as a guide, and set out on an expedition to capture the governor
and the women. At the same time he dispatched another party of
one hundred men in two large boats, to seize the ships. They were
to coast along the shores of the solitary lake until they reached the
mouth of the river where the vessels of the refugees were
concealed.

The governor was on the alert. His scouts watched all the
approaches to his retreat. It required a very painful and laborious
march of two days for the pirates to reach the spot where the
fugitives were intrenched. The governor, with much sagacity, had
selected a large island in a river. The region was difficult of
approach, leading through the roughest paths of tangled thickets
and bogs. God seemed to frown upon the pirates. The rain fell in
floods upon them. They were drenched to the skin. Many mountain
torrents they were compelled to ford, wading up to the waist
through the foaming water. They sank to the hips in the softened
marshes. Their shoes were torn from their feet. Their clothes were
rent and their skin pierced by the thorns.

When they reached the river they found the current rapid and the
channel deep. There were no boats with which to cross. These
desperate men were provided for every emergence. They soon
constructed canoes and crossed the stream. But in the hurried
passage many of the canoes were swamped and the men lost. Upon
reaching the island they found that the governor had taken refuge
on a densely wooded and craggy mountain. The path which led to
the summit, winding through the thickets and the immense rocks,
was so narrow that it could only be mounted in single file.
 In fording the rivers and wading through the bogs, and breasting
the rain and the gale, all of the ammunition of the pirates had been
injured, and much of it utterly spoiled. The whole party was in such
a condition, that Esquemeling writes:

“If the Spaniards, in that juncture of time, had had but a troop of
fifty men, well armed with pikes or spears, they might have entirely
destroyed the pirates, without any possible resistance on their side.”

The governor was not aware of this. Prudently he remained upon

the defensive. He had several of the soldiers of the garrison with
him, and an ample supply of ammunition. His men were admirably
posted behind rocks and trees, so that had the pirates persisted in
their endeavor to ascend the mountain, every man must have
perished. And it is doubtful whether they could have inflicted even a
wound upon their unseen assailants.

Morgan perceived that the case was hopeless. Discouraged and

maddened he commenced a retreat. Twelve days passed from the
time they commenced their enterprise before Morgan, with his
diminished and shattered party, returned to Gibraltar. They had,
however, captured on the way quite a number of fugitives whom
they had found scattered through the woods, and also a
considerable amount of money. They took a sort of fiendish
pleasure, on their return, in seeing the aged women and the children
swept away by the foaming mountain torrents, which they forded.
They returned to Gibraltar exasperated, and prepared to inflict
severer torture upon all their captives.

The party sent to take the vessels were a little more successful.
The Spaniards had unloaded the vessels and conveyed to unknown
distances much of their cargoes. Hearing of the approach of the
pirates, they fled precipitately, leaving behind them all which they
had not removed, or which they could not immediately destroy. Still
there were many bales of goods left in the vessels and on the shore.
These the pirates seized and carried back to their ships.
 When the pirates had been five weeks in Gibraltar, plundering,
torturing, carousing, the failure of provisions rendered it necessary
for them to depart. But first they sent some of their prisoners back
into the woods to find their hidden companions, and to say to them
that unless they sent Morgan, as a ransom for the city, five thousand
dollars, in gold or silver, he would lay every building of the city in
ashes. Those ruined men went forth on this sad mission. After
searching every nook and corner for a long time, they came back to
state that they could not find anybody. The terrified Spaniards had
fled far beyond the reach of a day’s exploration.

They said, however, that if Morgan would have a little patience

and give them eight days, they would endeavor to raise the money.
The pirate replied:

“I am going to Maracaibo. I shall take with me eight of your most

prominent citizens, whom I hold as captives. I shall regard them as
hostages for the payment of the ransom. If within eight days the
money is paid, they will be set at liberty. If the money is not paid,
they must suffer the penalty.”

And what was that penalty? Death; and probably death by torture.
Morgan began to feel a little solicitude about his retreat. In five
weeks the Spaniards must have had time to assemble troops from
various parts of the province, to repair the fortifications of
Maracaibo, and to throw very serious obstacles in the way of his
passing through the straits which connected Lake Maracaibo with the
Gulf of Venezuela.

Influenced by this consideration, they moved with haste. Weighing

their anchors and spreading their sails, with their fleet laden with
plunder, they now directed their course toward Maracaibo. Baffled by
light or contrary winds, four days passed before they reached the
city. Here they found the same silence and desolation which they
had left behind them. There was but one person in the place—a
poor old man, sick and almost bed-ridden.
 He gave them the alarming intelligence that three Spanish men-of-
war were cruising off the head of the lake, watching their return.
They had also repaired the fort which Morgan had partially
destroyed, had mounted the guns anew, garrisoned the works with
experienced artillerymen, and placed all things in posture for a
vigorous defence. Over the redoubt the flag of Castile was proudly
waving.

Morgan sent one of his swiftest boats down the lake to

reconnoitre the state of affairs. The boat came back the next day,
confirming the statements. The ships were large and evidently well
manned, as well as powerfully armed. The largest mounted forty-
nine guns; the next, thirty-eight guns of different calibre, and the
smallest, sixteen guns of large calibre, and eight of less. Morgan
could not hope to contend successfully against forces so much
superior to his own. The commander of this fleet was Don Alonzo
Espinosa. He was vice-admiral of the West-Indian fleet. His little
squadron had been sent to those seas to protect Spanish commerce,
and to put to the sword every pirate he could take. The pirates were
thrown into a state of great consternation. Their largest ship carried
but fourteen guns. There seemed no possible escape for them by
sea or by land.

Whatever might have been Morgan’s secret feeling, he assumed

an air of the utmost confidence. With audacity most extraordinary,
considering the circumstances, he sent a Spanish prisoner to Admiral
Espinosa, with the message that unless he immediately forwarded to
him twenty-eight thousand dollars, in silver or gold, he would apply
the torch to Maracaibo, and every building should be consumed.

The reply of the admiral was dated “On board the royal ship
Magdalen, lying at anchor at the entry of Lake Maracaibo, this 24th
day of April, 1669.” In it Espinosa wrote:

“My intention is to dispute your passage out of the lake, and to

pursue you wherever you may go. But if you will surrender all that
you have taken, with all your prisoners, I will let you pass without
molestation. But if you make any resistance, I will send my boats up
to Maracaibo, and you shall be utterly destroyed. Every man shall be
put to the sword. This is my fixed determination. I have good
soldiers, who desire nothing more earnestly than to revenge on you,
and your people, the outrages and cruelties you have committed on
the Spanish nation.”

Morgan, upon the reception of this letter, summoned all his men
to meet in the market-place of Maracaibo. He submitted the question
to them whether they would avail themselves of this offer, and thus
escape with their lives, or run the risk of a battle with the Spanish
squadron. The vote was unanimous that they would rather shed the
last drop of blood they had, than give up the treasure they had
obtained at the expense of so much danger and suffering. One of
the pirates stepped forward, and said:

“Captain Morgan, I will undertake, with twelve men, to destroy the

largest of those ships. I will convert the large vessel we captured up
the river into a fire-ship. We will fill her full of the most combustible
matter. Then we will place images of men around, and sham guns,
made of logs of wood, at the port-holes, and unfurl the English flag.
The crew of the admiral’s ship, not doubting that we are bearing
down to give them battle, will not think of attempting to escape. We
will run directly upon the Magdalen, throw our grappling-irons
aboard, and, when both ships are instantly wrapped in flames, will,
in the confusion, take to our boats, and reach some vessel near by.”

The proposition was accepted with general acclaim. Still Morgan

decided to make one more effort to escape without the peril and
inevitable loss of a battle. Even should it utterly fail, he would gain
time to prepare for the attack by the fire-ship. He therefore sent two
of his prisoners to Espinosa, with this announcement:

“If the vice-admiral will pledge his honor that I may retire without
being attacked, I will abandon Maracaibo, without burning the town
or exacting any ransom. I will also set at liberty all the Spanish
prisoners I have taken. The hostages I hold from Gibraltar shall be
sent home, without exacting the ransom which was promised.” The
admiral replied:

“I will listen to no terms of accommodation different from those

which I have proposed. If the prisoners and the booty are not
voluntarily surrendered to me within two days, I will advance to your
destruction.”

In the mean time all hands were at work constructing the fire-
ship. All the pitch, tar, and brimstone in the city were collected.
Dried palm-leaves were gathered, in vast numbers, and smeared
over with tar. Packages, containing several pounds of powder, were
scattered through the loose mass. New port-holes were cut to let the
air in to fan the flames. Many images of men were stationed along
the decks, with caps on their heads and armed with muskets and
pikes. The ship was so disguised that no one would doubt that it was
a war-ship. From such the admiral of the Spanish fleet would surely
make no effort to escape.

All things being ready, Morgan exacted an oath from every man
that he would fight to the last drop of his blood; that he would
neither give nor take quarter. The Spanish fleet had passed through
the strait to the entrance of the lake, and was riding at anchor just
above the fort, which it will be remembered they had occupied,
strengthened, and strongly garrisoned. Thus the pirates, before they
could escape into the Gulf of Venezuela, must not only destroy the
fleet, but also sail by the fort exposed to the terrible cannonade of
its heavy ordnance.

On the evening of April 30th, 1669, Morgan spread his sails, and
ran down the lake until he came in sight of the foe. Darkness was
then coming on and he cast anchor. The morning of the first of May
dawned cloudless, over those vast solitudes of land and water,
where a few adventurers from a distance of nearly ten thousand
miles had met to crimson the waves with their blood, and to cause
forest and lake and mountain to resound with the thunders of their
demoniac fightings.

With the first gleam of light in the east, Morgan’s fleet weighed its
anchors and spread its sails. A fresh breeze from the south swelled
their canvas. The fire-ship, with its wooden men and wooden guns,
and which was prepared in an instant to flame into a volcano, bore
down upon the Magdalen. Promptly the crew cleared the decks for
action. Little did they dream of the foe whose resistless fury they
were to encounter.

The fire-ship ran with a crash against the Spanish frigate. The
boat of escape was ready with the men at the oars. The torch was
applied at several places to make certainty doubly certain. The boat
pushed off with rapid strokes, and scarcely one single moment
elapsed before both ships were enveloped in densest smoke and
flashing, consuming flame.

In an instant it was seen by all that the great achievement was

accomplished; that the majestic man-of-war, in all its pride and
strength, was doomed to immediate destruction. No escape was
possible. No resistance could be of the slightest avail. Not a boat
could be launched. There was no time for thought even. Many of the
sailors were instantly burned to a crisp as the forked flames
encircled among them, wrapping them in its cruel embrace. All, who
could, plunged into the sea. Many were drowned. A few strong
swimmers reached the other vessels and were saved. Among these
was the Admiral Espinosa.

The pirates gazed upon the awful spectacle with shouts of

exultation. They had sworn to give no quarter. The drowning
wretches presented but attractive targets for their sharpshooters.
Boats put off from several of their nearer vessels to knock them in
the head.
 The second Spanish ship in size, which was called the St. Louis,
mounted, as we have said, thirty-eight guns in all. The crew
consisted of two hundred sailors. Seeing the utter destruction of the
flagship, and that they were exposed to be attacked by the whole
force of the pirates, they ran back beneath the guns of the fort. To
prevent the ship from falling into the hands of the pirates they ran
her ashore, scuttled her, and took refuge behind the intrenchments.

The third ship was called the Marquesas. It carried, as we have

mentioned, twenty-four guns, large and small, and a crew of one
hundred and fifty men. This vessel was so surrounded by the pirates
that she could not escape. Her capture was effected with scarcely
any conflict. Infamous as was the cause in which these pirates were
engaged, it is difficult to withhold our admiration from the skill and
the courage with which the great achievement was accomplished.

In less than one hour these Spanish war-ships, armed with the
best Spanish ordnance, and manned by over six hundred
combatants, were utterly destroyed or taken by the pirates, now but
about three hundred in number, and whose largest ship mounted but
fourteen guns. It is one of the most extraordinary feats in naval
warfare. One of the historians of the time says: “The fire-ship fell
upon the Spaniard, and clung to its sides like a wildcat on an
elephant.”

But still the pirates were by no means out of their difficulties.

Their ships were all in Lake Maracaibo. A narrow and serpentine
strait was to be threaded before they could enter the Gulf of
Venezuela, by which alone they could gain access to the ocean. Here
again the genius of Morgan came to the rescue. In the first place he
collected all the prisoners he could, men, women, and children, and
had them firmly secured. His plan was to compel the admiral to let
him pass the fort unmolested, by threatening otherwise to put them
all to death.
 Among his captives there was a pilot of one of the Spanish ships.
Upon being closely questioned, he made the following statement:

“We were sent by orders from the Supreme Council of Spain, with
instructions to exterminate the English pirates. The Spanish court
has made many complaints to the King of England of the hostilities
committed here by the English. The king has ever replied that he
had never given any commissions for such hostilities; that these
were individual acts which the Government could not control, and for
which they were not responsible.

“Hereupon the King of Spain resolved to protect his subjects and

punish the perpetrators of these outrages. He fitted a fleet of six
ships. Three of these, after an extended cruise, hearing of the attack
upon Maracaibo, arrived here. The vice-admiral took possession of
the fort, remounted its guns, adding several of large calibre, and
added a hundred men to its original garrison whom he recalled.”

Morgan returned to Maracaibo to plan for his escape. The

Marquesas, which he had captured, was larger than any vessel of his
own, and more heavily armed. He refitted this, making it his
flagship. The one he had before occupied was intrusted to one of his
captains.
 CHAPTER XVIII.

A New Expedition Planned.

The Threat to Espinosa.—Adroit Stratagem.—Wonderful Escape.—The

Storm.—Revelry at Jamaica.—History of Hispaniola.—Plan of a New
Expedition.—The Foraging Ships.—Morgan’s Administrative Energies.—
Return of the Foragers.—Rendezvous at Cape Tiburon.—Magnitude and
Armament of the Fleet.—Preparations to Sail.

Morgan, in the self-assurance of triumph, sent word to the

governor of Maracaibo, that unless he sent him, within eight days,
five hundred beef cattle, the city of Maracaibo should be reduced to
smouldering ruins. They were sent in within two days. All hands
were employed in butchering, salting, and storing away the meat in
preparation for sea.

Returning with his fleet to the mouth of the lake, Morgan sent
word to Admiral Espinosa that he had, on board his ships, between
two and three hundred prisoners, including one hundred and fifty
sailors of the Spanish fleet, who were captured in the Marquesas. He
demanded a free passage, promising, if that were granted him, he
would send all his prisoners unharmed ashore, as soon as his fleet
was safe on the other side of the fort.

If this free passage were not granted him, he declared that he

would force his way through; and that he would bind all his
prisoners to the rigging, that they might be the most exposed to the
shot from the fort; and that having passed by, every one who
survived the cannonade should be killed and thrown overboard. The
prisoners, well instructed in the cruelty and the inflexible will of this
demoniac pirate, sent the most pathetic appeals to the admiral to
save them from this dreadful fate. He, influenced by the pride of the
soldier rather than by human sympathies, unfeelingly replied:
 “If you had been as loyal to the king in hindering the entrance of
these pirates as I shall be in hindering their going out, you would
never have caused these troubles either to yourselves or to our
whole nation, which hath suffered so much through your
pusillanimity. I shall not grant your request; but shall endeavor,
according to my duty, to maintain that respect which is due to my
king.”

When Morgan heard of this reply he said: “Very well; if the admiral
will not give me permission to pass, I will find a way of passing
without his permission.”

Before attempting to run through the strait, all the pirates landed
for a division of the booty. In making an inventory of their effects it
was found that they had, in gold, silver, and jewels, two hundred
and fifty thousand dollars. They had a still larger sum than this in
the vast amount of merchandise which they had gathered from all
the ships and store-houses of the two cities. They had also a large
number of slaves, who brought cash prices in all the ports of the
West Indies.

The escape was effected by the following ingenious stratagem.

Morgan filled his boats with men, and rowed beneath the boughs
which hung densely over the banks of the river, until he arrived at a
concealed spot, where he pretended to land them. He took care,
however, so to conduct the movement that the Spaniards in the fort
should catch glimpses of it. The landing, however, was merely
feigned. The men concealed themselves in the bottom of the boats,
and were rowed back to the ships. Not one was left on the shore. In
this way, by repeated excursions with the boats, apparently several
hundred men were disembarked.

The admiral, well aware of the ferocious courage of the pirates,

and not doubting that they would make a desperate assault upon
the fort on the land side, immediately, and in the greatest haste,
removed their eighteen-pounders to command the approaches by
the land. In this way the sea-coast was left almost defenceless.

The ensuing night the moon rose full-orbed over the silent waters
of the lake. A fresh breeze sprang up from the south. Providence
seemed to be favoring these desperate men. The tide was also in
their favor. And there was always a gentle current flowing through
the narrow strait from the lake into the gulf.

Thus, with their path illumined by the moon’s brilliant rays, and
aided by wind, tide, and current, the pirates spread their sails, and,
almost as by magic, glided by the fort. Every precaution was taken
to protect the crews. No attempt was made to return the fire of the
Spaniards. Most of the crews were placed in the holds of the ships.
Only enough were left on deck for the purpose of navigation. The
Spaniards, astonished, bewildered, and with but few guns at their
command, fired hastily, furiously, and with very inaccurate aim at the
ships so rapidly passing beyond their grasp. But little damage was
done, and but few men were killed.

We are not informed whether Morgan carried out his threat of

exposing his prisoners to the cannonade by binding them to the
rigging. What became of the one hundred and fifty Spanish sailors,
is not known. They were probably all put to death. The prisoners
from Maracaibo he sent ashore. Those from Gibraltar he carried
away with him, and probably relieved himself of the incumbrance by
throwing them all into the sea. As Morgan again set sail, his crews
raised three cheers of triumph, and discharged eight heavy guns,
loaded with balls, against the fort, as his parting salute.

But the very next day, heaven’s frown seemed to succeed

heaven’s smile. One of the most terrible of tropical tornadoes
assailed the fleet. All were in despair. The sailors threw themselves
upon their knees, and called upon the Virgin and all the saints to
help them. The gleaming lightning seemed to be the symbol of God’s
wrath, and the pealing thunder sounded like His angry voice.
 Esquemeling, who accompanied this expedition, and to whose pen
we are mainly indebted for an account of its events, says that the
ship which bore him lost both anchors and mainsail. It was with the
utmost difficulty they kept the ship afloat, working at the pumps for
weary hours. The thunder he represents as deafening, and the
mountain billows, rushing by, threatened every moment to ingulf
them.

“Indeed,” he writes, “though worn out with fatigue and toil, we

could not make up our minds to close our eyes to that blessed light
which we might soon lose sight of forever. No hope of safety
remained. The storm had lasted four days, and there was no
probability of its termination. On the one side we saw rocks, on
which our vessel threatened every instant to drive. Before us were
the Indians, from whom we could hope for no mercy. Behind us
were the Spaniards, hungering for revenge.”

At length the storm ceased. The fleet put into a harbor, in the Bay
of Venezuela, to repair damages. There seems to be but little
reformatory power in punishment. These wretched men were not
made better by the chastisement which they had received. All
unmindful of their prayers to Virgin and saint, while some were at
work on the ships, others formed themselves into bands to ravage
the country far and wide, plundering all the Spanish and Indian
villages within their reach, and inflicting the most atrocious outrages
upon the inhabitants. It is very clear that there is no hope for this
lost world, unless it may be found in that change in the heart of man
which the religion of Jesus Christ inculcates. “The mind is its own
place.” The pirates after the storm were the same men as before.

Morgan, having refitted his ships, and having added very

considerably to his amount of plunder again spread his sails for
Kingston, the capital of Jamaica. He reached that port in safety, and
was very cordially welcomed by the inhabitants and the British
authorities there. They seemed to regard him as one of the heroes
of the age, worthy of all honor. The sentiments of the English
generally, at that time, in reference to these exploits, may be
inferred from the following:

In a book published in London, in the year 1684, and which now

lies before me, a glowing account is given of these adventures. The
book had then attained to a second edition. The title-page says:

“A True Account of the most remarkable Assaults, committed of

late years upon the Coasts of the West Indies, by the Buccaneers of
Jamaica and Tortuga, wherein are contained more especially the
unparalleled Exploits of Sir Henry Morgan, our English Jamaican
Hero, who sacked Puerto Velo, burnt Panama, etc.”

At Jamaica new scenes of rioting and profligacy were enacted. The

money soon passed from the hands of the pirates to the sharpers in
liquor-shops, gambling-houses, and dancing-halls, who were eager
to grasp it. Morgan’s eulogistic biographer writes:

“Morgan, encouraged by success, soon determined on fresh

enterprises. On arriving at Jamaica, he found many of his officers
and soldiers already reduced to their former indigency by their vices
and debaucheries. Hence they perpetually importuned him for new
exploits, thereby to get something to expend in wine and strumpets,
as they had already done with what they got before.

“Captain Morgan, willing to follow fortune’s call, stopped the

mouths of many inhabitants of Jamaica, who were creditors to his
men for large sums, with the hopes and promises of greater
achievements than ever, in a new expedition. This done, he could
easily levy men for any enterprise. His name was so famous through
all those islands, that it alone would bring him in more men than he
could well employ.”

Morgan scattered his proclamations far and wide through all the
English and French ports on the various islands. He wrote
particularly to the governor of Tortuga, soliciting his coöperation.
The south side of this island was appointed as a rendezvous, where