Part 14

Leaving Brazil, the small fleet sailed south to the Straits of Magellan. While storm-bound amongst the icy cliffs of Patagonia, Lodge wrote his Arcadian romance "Margarite of America."

From the point of view of plunder, this expedition was a dismal failure, and the _Desire_ returned and reached the coast of Ireland on June 11th, 1593. The crew had been reduced to sixteen, and of these only five were even in tolerable health.

At the age of 40, Lodge deserted literature and studied medicine, taking his degree of Doctor of Physics at Avignon in 1600. His last original work was a "Treatise on the Plague," published in 1603. After practising medicine with great success for many years, Thomas Lodge died, it is said, of the plague, in the year 1625, at the age of 68.

LONG, ZACHARIAH.

Of the Province of Holland.

One of Major Stede Bonnet's crew. Hanged at White Point, Charleston, in 1718, and buried in the marsh below low-water mark.

LOPEZ, JOHN.

Of Oporto.

This Portuguese pirate sailed in the _Royal James_, and was hanged with the rest of the crew at Charleston, South Carolina, on November 8th, 1718.

LORD, JOHN.

A soldier. Deserted from Fort Loyal, Falmouth, Maine. Killed at Tarpaulin Cove in 1689.

LOW, CAPTAIN EDWARD, or LOE.

Born in Westminster, he began in very early life to plunder the boys of their farthings, and as he grew bigger used to gamble with the footmen who waited in the lobby of the House of Commons. While still quite small one of his elder brothers used to carry little Edward hidden in a basket on his back, and when in a crowd the future pirate would, from above, snatch the hats and even the wigs off the heads of passing citizens and secret them in the basket and so get away with them. The Low family were the originators of this ingenious and fascinating trick, and for a time it was most successful, until the people of the city took to tying on their hats and wigs with bands to prevent their sudden removal. When he grew up, Ned went to Boston and earned an honest living as a rigger, but after a while he tired of this and sailed in a sloop to Honduras to steal log-wood. Here Low quarrelled with his captain, tried to shoot him, and then went off in an open boat with twelve other men, and the very next day they took a small vessel, in which they began their "war against all the world." Low soon happened to meet with Captain Lowther, the pirate, and the two agreed to sail in company. This partnership lasted until May 28th, 1722, when they took a prize, a brigantine from Boston, which Low went into with a crew of forty-four men. This vessel they armed with two guns, four swivels, and six quarter-casks of powder, and saying good-bye to Lowther, sailed off on their own account. A week later a prize fell into their hands, which was the first of several. Things soon became too hot for Low along the American coast and the West Indies, as several men-of-war were searching for him; so he sailed to the Azores, taking on his way a big French ship of thirty-four guns, and later, in the harbour of St. Michael, he seized several vessels which he found at anchor there. Here they burnt the French ship, but let the crew all go, except the cook, who, they said, "being a greasy fellow would fry well in the fire, so the poor man was bound to the main mast and burnt in the ship to the no small derision of Low and his Mirmidons."

Low and his crew now began to treat their prisoners with great brutality. However, on one occasion the biter was bitten. It happened that one of the drunken crew, playfully cutting at a prisoner, missed his mark and accidentally slashed Captain Low across his lower jaw, the sword opening his cheek and laying bare his teeth. The surgeon was called, who at once stitched up the wound, but Low found some fault with the operation, as well he might, seeing that "the surgeon was tollerably drunk" at the time. The surgeon's professional pride was outraged by this criticism of his skill by a layman, and he showed his annoyance in a ready, if unprofessional, manner, by striking "Low such a blow with his Fists, that broke out all the Stitches, and then bid him sew up his Chops himself and be damned, so that the captain made a very pitiful Figure for some time after." Low took a large number of prizes, but he was not a sympathetic figure, and the list of his prizes and brutalities soon becomes irksome reading. Low, still in the _Fancy_, and accompanied by Captain Harris in the _Ranger_, then sailed back to the West Indies, and later to South Carolina, where he took several prizes, one the _Amsterdam Merchant_ (Captain Willard), belonging to New England, and as Low never missed an opportunity of showing his dislike of all New Englanders, he sent the captain away with both his ears cut off and with various other wounds about his body.

Low and Harris now made a most unfortunate mistake in giving chase to a ship which on close quarters proved to be not a merchant vessel, but H.M.S. _Greyhound_. After a short fight, the coward Low slipped away, and left his consort, Harris, to carry on an unequal contest until he was compelled to surrender his ship.

Low's cruelties became more and more disgusting, and there can be little doubt that he was really by this time a lunatic.

In July, 1723, Low took a new ship for himself, naming himself Admiral, and sporting a new black flag with a red skeleton upon it. He again cruised off the Azores, the Canaries, and the Guinea coast, but what the end was of this repulsive, uninteresting, and bloody pirate has never been known.

LOWTHER, CAPTAIN GEORGE.

Sailed as second mate from the Thames in the _Gambia Castle_, a ship belonging to the African Company, sixteen guns and a crew of thirty men. On board as passengers were Captain Massey and a number of soldiers. Arriving at their destination, Massey quarrelled with the merchants on shore, and, a few days later, with Lowther, seized the ship, which he renamed the _Delivery_. They now went a-pirating, their first prize being a Boston ship, and cruising about off the Island of Hispaniola, several more were taken, but nothing very rich. Lowther quarrelled with Captain Massey, who, being a soldier, wished to land on some island to plunder the French settlements, but this was not agreed to, and Massey and his followers were sent away in a sloop. Life for Lowther now became a series of successes, prizes being taken, and visits to land being occasionally made for the crew to enjoy a drunken revel.

Having met with Captain Low, for a while the two sailed together, and took the _Greyhound_, a merchantman, and several more rich prizes. Lowther now commanded a small pirate fleet, and styled himself Admiral, his flagship being the _Happy Delivery_. While careening their ships in the Gulf of Matigue, they were suddenly attacked by the natives, and the pirates barely escaped in a sloop with their lives. Lowther soon improved himself by seizing a brigantine, and in her shaped his course to the coast of South Carolina, a favourite resort for the pirates. Here he attacked an English ship, but was so roughly handled that he was glad to run his ship ashore and escape.

In 1723 he steered for Newfoundland, taking many small vessels there, and returning to the West Indies. While cleaning his ship at the Isle of Blanco, he was suddenly attacked by a South Sea Company's ship, the _Eagle_, and the pirates were compelled to surrender. Lowther and a dozen of his crew escaped by climbing out of the cabin window, and, reaching the island, hid themselves in the woods. All were caught except Lowther and three men and a boy. He was shortly afterwards found lying dead with a pistol by his side, and was supposed to have shot himself. Three of his crew who were caught were carried to St. Christopher's, and there tried for piracy and hanged.

LUDBURY, CAPTAIN. Buccaneer.

Sailed in company with Captains Prince and Harrison in October, 1670, ascended the San Juan River in Nicaragua with a party of 170 men, and surprised and plundered the city of Granada.

LUKE, CAPTAIN MATTHEW.

This Italian pirate had his headquarters at Porto Rico, and specialized in attacking English ships. In 1718 he took four of these and murdered all the crews. In May, 1722, Luke made a terrible mistake. Perceiving what he thought to be a merchant ship, he attacked her, to find out all too late that she was an English man-of-war, the _Lauceston_. Luke and his crew were taken to Jamaica and hanged. One of his crew confessed to having killed twenty English sailors with his own hands.

LUSHINGHAM, CAPTAIN.

In 1564 this pirate was at Berehaven in the South of Ireland, having just sold a cargo of wine out of a Spanish prize to the Lord O'Sullivan, when some of Queen Elizabeth's ships arrived in the bay in search of pirates. By Lord O'Sullivan's help the pirates escaped, but Lushingham was killed "by a piece of ordnance" as he was in the act of waving his cap towards the Queen's ships.

LUSSAN, LE SIEUR RAVENEAU DE.

This French filibuster was a man of much better birth and education than the usual buccaneer. Also, he was the author of a most entertaining book recording his adventures and exploits as a buccaneer, called "Journal du Voyage fait a la Mer de sud avec les Flibustiers de l'Amerique en 1684."

Pressure from his creditors drove de Lussan into buccaneering, as being a rapid method of gaining enough money to satisfy them and to enable him to return to the fashionable life he loved so well in Paris. De Lussan was, according to his own account, a man of the highest principles, and very religious. He never allowed his crew to molest priests, nuns, or churches. After taking a Spanish town, the fighting being over, he would lead his crew of pirates to attend Mass in the church, and when this was done--and not until then--would he allow the plundering and looting to begin.

De Lussan was surprised and grieved to find that his Spanish prisoners had a most exaggerated idea of the brutality of the buccaneers, and on one occasion when he was conducting a fair young Spanish lady, a prisoner, to a place of safety, he was overwhelmed when he discovered that the reason of her terror was that she believed she was shortly to be eaten by him and his crew. To remedy this erroneous impression, it was the custom of the French commander to gather together all his prisoners into the church or the plaza, and there to give them a lecture on the true life and character of the buccaneers.

The student who wishes to learn more about the adventures of de Lussan can do so in his book. There he will read, amongst other interesting events, particulars about the filibuster's surprising and romantic affair with the beautiful and wealthy Spanish widow who fell so violently in love with him.

It happened on one occasion that Raveneau and his crew, having taken a town on the West Coast of South America after a somewhat bloody battle, had, as usual, attended Mass in the Cathedral, before setting out to plunder the place.

Entering one of the chief houses in the town, de Lussan discovered the widow of the late town treasurer dissolved in tears, upon which the tender buccaneer hastened, with profound apologies, discreetly to withdraw, but calling again next day to offer his sympathy he found the widow had forgotten all about the late treasurer, for she had fallen violently in love with her gallant, handsome, and fashionably dressed visitor.

After various adventures, de Lussan arrived safely back in Paris with ample means in his possession not only to satisfy his creditors, but also to enable him to live there as a gentleman of fortune and fashion.

MACHAULY, DANIEL, or MACCAWLY, or MCCAWLEY.

A Scotch pirate. One of Captain Gow's crew. Hanged at Execution Dock at Wapping on June 11th, 1725.

MACKDONALD, EDWARD.

One of Captain George Lowther's crew in the _Happy Delivery_. Hanged at St. Kitts on March 11th, 1722.

MACKET, CAPTAIN, or MAGGOTT.

On March 23rd, 1679, Macket, who commanded a small vessel of fourteen tons, with a crew of twenty men, was at Boca del Toro with Coxon, Hawkins, and other famous buccaneers, having just returned from the sacking of Porto Bello.

Shortly afterwards the fleet sailed to Golden Island, off the coast of Darien, and from thence set out to attack Santa Maria and Panama.

MACKINTOSH, WILLIAM.

Of Canterbury in Kent.

One of Captain Roberts's crew. Hanged at Cape Coast Castle in 1722 at the age of 21.

MAGNES, WILLIAM, or MAGNUS.

Born at Minehead in Somersetshire in 1687. Quartermaster of the _Royal Fortune_ (Captain Bartholomew Roberts). Tried for piracy at Cape Coast Castle, and hanged in chains in 1718, for taking and plundering the _King Solomon_.

MAIN, WILLIAM.

One of Captain Roberts's crew. Hanged in April, 1722, at the age of 28 years.

MAIN, WILLIAM.

Boatswain to Captain Bartholomew Roberts in the _Royal Fortune_. Was blown up, the explosion being caused by one of the crew firing his pistol into some gunpowder when the ship was taken by H.M.S. _Swallow_ in 1722.

MAINTENON, MARQUIS DE.

Arrived in the West Indies from France in 1676. In 1678 commanded _La Sorcière_, a frigate, and, in company with other French filibusters from Tortuga Island, cruised off the coast of Caracas. He ravaged the islands of Margarita and Trinidad. He met with but little success, and soon afterwards his fleet scattered.

MAINWARING, CAPTAIN HENRY.

A notorious Newfoundland pirate.

On June 4th, 1614, when off the coast of that island, in command of eight vessels, he plundered the fishing fleet, stealing what provisions and stores he was in need of, also taking away with him all the carpenters and mariners he wanted for his own fleet.

It was his custom, when taking seamen, to pick one out of every six. In all he took 400 men, some of whom joined him willingly, while others were "perforstmen." Sailing across the Atlantic to the coast of Spain, Mainwaring took a Portuguese ship and stole from out of her a good store of wine, and out of a French prize 10,000 dried fish. A few years later this pirate was pardoned and placed in command of a squadron and sent to the Barbary coast in an unsuccessful attempt to drive out the pirates who were settled there. Here he may well have met with his old friend Captain Peter Easton, who had also been a Newfoundland pirate, but in 1613 had joined the Barbary corsairs.

EL MAJORCAM, CAPTAIN ANTONIO.

At one time an officer in the Spanish Navy. Became a notorious West Indian pirate, but about 1824 he retired from the sea to become a highwayman on shore.

MANSFIELD, JO.

One of Captain Bartholomew Roberts's men. Must not be confused with Edward Mansfield, the famous buccaneer.

A native of the Orkney Islands. At one time was a highwayman. Later on deserted from the _Rose_, man-of-war. Volunteered to join the pirates at the island of Dominica, and was always keen to do any mischief. He was a bully and a drunkard.

When Roberts's ship was attacked by H.M.S. _Swallow_ and had surrendered after a sharp fight, Mansfield, who had been below all the while, very drunk, came staggering and swearing up on deck, with a drawn cutlass in his hand, crying out to know who would go on board the prize with him, and it was some time before his friends could persuade him of the true condition of things.

At his trial at Cape Coast Castle he said little in his defence, but pleaded that the cause of his backsliding was drunkenness. Hanged in the year 1722 at the age of 30.

MANSFIELD, CAPTAIN EDWARD, or MANSVELT.

A Dutchman born in the Island of Curacao.

He was the chief of the buccaneers, and at his death was succeeded by Henry Morgan. He was the first buccaneer to cross the Isthmus of Darien to the Pacific Ocean. Noted for his charm of manner, he was very popular with the buccaneers of all nationalities. In 1663 he commanded a brigantine carrying four guns and a crew of sixty men. Was chosen admiral of the fleet of buccaneers that gathered at Bleufields Bay in Jamaica in November, 1665, at the invitation of Modyford, the Governor, when he appointed young Henry Morgan to be his vice-admiral. This fleet was to sail and attempt to seize the Island of Curacao, and consisted of fifteen ships and a mixed crew of 500 buccaneers. On the way there they landed in Cuba, although England was at peace with Spain, and marched forty miles inland, to surprise and sack the town of Sancti Spiritus, from which they took a rich booty.

Mansfield, "being resolved never to face the Governor of Jamaica until he had done some service to the King," next made a very daring attack on the Island of Old Providence, which the Spaniards had fortified and used as a penal settlement. This was successful, and Mansfield, with great humanity, landed all the prisoners on the mainland of America. For a long while it had been Mansfield's dream to make this island a permanent home of the buccaneers, as it was close to the Spanish Main, with the towns of Porto Bello and Vera Cruz, and on the trade route of the Spanish galleons, taking their rich cargoes to Spain.

Mansfield's next exploit was to ascend the San Juan River and to sack Granada, the capital of Nicaragua. From there he coasted south along Costa Rica, burning plantations, smashing the images in the churches, ham-stringing cows and mules, and cutting down fruit-trees.

He returned in June, 1665, to Port Royal, with a rich booty. For this inexcusable attack on a country at peace with England, Governor Modyford mildly reproved him!

Mansfield, now an old man, died suddenly at the Island of Tortuga, off Hispaniola, when on a visit to the French pirates there. Another account says that he was captured by the Spaniards and taken by them to Porto Bello, and there put to death.

MARTEEN, CAPTAIN DAVID. Buccaneer.

In 1665 he had his headquarters in Jamaica.

MARTEL, CAPTAIN JOHN.

An old Jamaican privateer. After the Peace of Utrecht, being out of employment, he took to piracy. His career as a pirate was very successful so long as it lasted. Cruising off Jamaica, Cuba, and other islands, he continued taking ship after ship, with one particularly rich prize, a West African ship containing gold-dust, elephants' teeth, and slaves. His original command was a sloop of eight guns and a crew of eighty men, but after a short while he commanded a small fleet consisting of two ships (each armed with twenty guns), three sloops, and several armed prizes. With these Martel entered a bay in a small island called Santa Cruz, near Porto Rico, to careen and refit. This was in December, 1716, but news had leaked out of the pirate's whereabouts, and soon there arrived on the scene Captain Hume, of H.M.S. _Scarborough_. Martel tried to escape, but his ship ran aground, and many of the pirates were killed, but a few, with Martel, got ashore and hid on the island. None of them were heard of again except Martel, and it was supposed that they had died of hunger. In the space of three months Martel took and plundered thirteen vessels, all of considerable size. Two years later he was back in New Providence Island, when Governor Rogers arrived with King George's offer of pardon to the pirates, and Martel was one of those who surrendered.

MARTIN, JOHN.

Hanged in Virginia in 1718 with the rest of Blackbeard's crew.

MASSEY, CAPTAIN JOHN.

As a lieutenant, he "served with great applause" in the army in Flanders, under the command of the Duke of Marlborough.

He afterwards sailed from the Thames in the _Gambia Castle_, a ship of the African Company, in command of a company of soldiers which was being sent to garrison the fort. The merchants of Gambia were supposed to victual this garrison, but the rations supplied were considered by Massey to be quite insufficient. He quarrelled with the Governor and merchants, and took his soldiers back on board the ship, and with Lowther, the second mate, seized the ship and turned pirate. Lowther and Massey eventually quarrelled, for the latter, being a soldier, "was solicitous to move in his own sphere"--that is, he wanted to land his troops and plunder the French West Indian settlements. In the end Massey and a few followers were permitted to go off in a captured sloop, and in this sailed for Port Royal, Jamaica. Arrived there, "with a bold countenance he went to the Governor" and told a long and plausible tale of how he had managed to escape from the pirates at the first opportunity. He deceived the sympathetic Governor, and was sent with Captain Laws to hunt for Lowther. Returning to Jamaica without finding Lowther, he was granted a "certificate of his surrender," and came to England as a passenger.

On reaching London, he wrote a narrative of the whole affair--or as much as he deemed wise--to the African Company, who, receiving the story with far less credulity than the Governor of Jamaica, returned him answer "that he should be fairly hanged," and very shortly afterwards he was, at Tyburn on July 26th, 1723.

MAY, WILLIAM.

A London mariner. One of Captain Avery's crew, left behind in Madagascar very sick. A negro, hearing that an Englishman was there, came to him and nursed and fed him. This negro spoke good English, having lived at Bethnal Green.

May was promoted afterwards to be captain of a ship in the Red Sea. He was described by a shipmate as being "a true cock of the Game and an old sportsman." Hanged at London in 1696.

MAZE, CAPTAIN WILLIAM, or MACE, or MAISE.

A notorious pirate; particularly mentioned in the royal warrant authorizing Captain Kidd to go and capture certain "wicked and ill-disposed persons."

Arrived in command of a big ship at New York in 1699, loaded with booty taken in the Red Sea.

McCARTHY, CAPTAIN DENNIS.

Of New Providence, Bahama Islands.

This pirate and prize-fighter was one of those who refused King George's pardon in 1717, and was eventually hanged by his late fellow-pirates. On the gallows he made the following dying speech:

"Some friends of mine have often said I should die in my shoes, but I would rather make them liars." And so, kicking off his shoes, he was hanged.

MEGHLYN, HANS VAN.

A pirate of Antwerp, who owned a vessel of forty-five tons, painted black with pitch, and carried a crew of thirty. In 1539 he was cruising off Whitstable, on the lookout for vessels entering or leaving the Thames. Cromwell had been warned by Vaughan to look out for this pirate ship.

DE MELTON.

A well-known pirate in the sixteenth century. Was with Kellwanton when he was captured in the Isle of Man in 1531, but de Melton managed to escape with some of the crew and get away in their ship to Grimsby.

MELVIN, WILLIAM.

This Scotch pirate was hanged, with other members of Gow's crew, at Wapping in June, 1725.

MENDOZA, ANTONIO.

A Spaniard from San Domingo.