part III

.) are indeed devoted to it in the chapter on "Capt. Sharp's voyage", signed "W.D." [_not_ William Dampier], which was appended to the second edition of the English translation of Exquemelin's _Bucaniers of America_ (London, 1684), before Basil Ringrose's detailed account of the South Sea adventures was printed and issued (1685) as the second volume of that celebrated book; but the present account is fuller than "W.D."'s, and may apparently be regarded as the chief source now in print for the history of this second English capture of Portobello. It should be remembered that, by the signing of the various treaties of Nymwegen in 1678 and 1679, all hostilities between European powers had by autumn of the latter year been brought to an end. The privateers who had flourished during the preceding years of warfare now found their occupation gone--their lawful occupation at least. Many of them turned to piracy. The writer of these two narratives speaks of his companions as privateers, but in reality they had no legal status whatever. When the governor of Panama asked for their commission, Captain Sawkins replied that "we would ... 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." Ringrose, p. 38. Legible, no doubt, but not legal.]

Ann acoumpt of our Intended Voyage from Jamaco with a party of shipps, departing from the afore said Island to Poartavell: Receving Letpasses to goe into the bay of Hundorus, to cutt Logwood, from his Maj'ties Reall Subject the Earle of Carlisle.[2]

[Footnote 2: Charles Howard, earl of Carlisle, was governor of Jamaica from 1678 to 1681. The names preceding are intended for Jamaica, Portobello, and Honduras. Portobello had been a rich town, lying at the northern end of the usual route across the isthmus from Panama. The annual "plate fleet" was loaded here with the silver of Peru and other produce of the Pacific coast. Henry Morgan and his buccaneers had captured and sacked Portobello in 1668, Panama in 1671.]

_The Names of the Captaines_

Capt. John Coxon, the Chief Commander, in a Barque Capt. Corneles Essex in a Barque Capt. Bartholomew Sharpe[3] in a Barque Capt. Robert Allison in a Sloope Capt. Thomas Magott in a Sloope

[Footnote 3: Capt. Bartholomew Sharp, who figures largely in this narrative and the next, as chief commander of the buccaneers during most of the periods of their adventures, was also the author (or source) of two histories of their expedition. The first, _The Voyages and Adventures of Capt. Barth. Sharp and others in the South Sea_ (London, 1684), is mainly a reproduction of the captain's journal or log; the second, "Captain Sharp's Journal of his Expedition, written by Himself," published as