Part 16

Before leaving Jamaica the crews mutinied, but were pacified by the promise of an equal share of all the spoils that should be taken. Three ships out of the fleet slipped away on the voyage, but the rest arrived at St. Kitts, landed, and took the fort. Colonel Morgan, who was an old and corpulent man, died of the heat and exertion during the campaign.

MORGAN, LIEUT.-COLONEL THOMAS.

Sailed with Colonel Edward Morgan to attack St. Eustatius and Saba Islands, and after these were surrendered by the Dutch, Thomas Morgan was left in charge.

In 1686 he sailed in command of a company of buccaneers to assist Governor Wells, of St. Kitts, against the French. The defence of the island was disgraceful, and Morgan's company was the only one which displayed any courage or discipline, and most of them were killed or wounded, Colonel Morgan himself being shot in both legs.

Often these buccaneer leaders altered their titles from colonel to captain, to suit the particular enterprise on which they were engaged, according if it took place on sea or land.

MORGAN, SIR HENRY. Buccaneer.

This, the greatest of all the "brethren of the coast," was a Welshman, born at Llanrhymmy in Monmouthshire in the year 1635. The son of a well-to-do farmer, Robert Morgan, he early took to the seafaring life. When quite a young man Morgan went to Barbadoes, but afterwards he settled at Jamaica, which was his home for the rest of his life.

Morgan may have been induced to go to the West Indies by his uncle, Colonel Morgan, who was for a time Deputy Governor of Jamaica, a post Sir Henry Morgan afterwards held.

Morgan was a man of great energy, and must have possessed great power of winning his own way with people. That he could be absolutely unscrupulous when it suited his ends there can be little doubt. He was cruel at times, but was not the inhuman monster that he is made out to be by Esquemeling in his "History of the Bucaniers." This was largely proved by the evidence given in the suit for libel brought and won by Morgan against the publishers, although Morgan was, if possible, more indignant over the statement in the same book that he had been kidnapped in Wales and sold, as a boy, and sent to be a slave in Barbadoes. That he could descend to rank dishonesty was shown when, returning from his extraordinary and successful assault on the city of Panama in 1670, to Chagres, he left most of his faithful followers behind, without ships or food, while he slipped off in the night with most of the booty to Jamaica. No doubt, young Morgan came to Jamaica with good credentials from his uncle, the Colonel, for the latter was held in high esteem by Modyford, then Governor of Barbadoes, who describes Colonel Morgan as "that honest privateer."

Colonel Morgan did not live to see his nephew reach the pinnacle of his success, for in the year 1665 he was sent at the head of an expedition to attack the Dutch stronghold at St. Eustatius Island, but he was too old to stand the hardships of such an expedition and died shortly afterwards.

By this time Morgan had made his name as a successful and resolute buccaneer by returning to Port Royal from a raiding expedition in Central America with a huge booty.

In 1665 Morgan, with two other buccaneers, Jackman and Morris, plundered the province of Campeachy, and then, acting as Vice-Admiral to the most famous buccaneer of the day, Captain Mansfield, plundered Cuba, captured Providence Island, sacked Granada, burnt and plundered the coast of Costa Rica, bringing back another booty of almost fabulous wealth to Jamaica. In this year Morgan married a daughter of his uncle, Colonel Morgan.

In 1668, when 33 years of age, Morgan was commissioned by the Jamaican Government to collect together the privateers, and by 1669 he was in command of a big fleet, when he was almost killed by a great explosion in the _Oxford_, which happened while Morgan was giving a banquet to his captains. About this time Morgan calmly took a fine ship, the _Cour Volant_, from a French pirate, and made her his own flagship, christening her the _Satisfaction_.

In 1670 the greatest event of Morgan's life took place--the sacking of Panama. First landing a party which took the Castle of San Lorenzo at the mouth of the Chagres River, Morgan left a strong garrison there to cover his retreat and pushed on with 1,400 men in a fleet of canoes up the river on January 9th, 1671. The journey across the isthmus, through the tropical jungle, was very hard on the men, particularly as they had depended on finding provisions to supply their wants on the way, and carried no food with them. They practically starved until the sixth day, when they found a barn full of maize, which the fleeing Spaniards had neglected to destroy. On the evening of the ninth day a scout reported he had seen the steeple of a church in Panama. Morgan, with that touch of genius which so often brought him success, attacked the city from a direction the Spaniards had not thought possible, so that their guns were all placed where they were useless, and they were compelled to do just what the buccaneer leader wanted them to do--namely, to come out of their fortifications and fight him in the open. The battle raged fiercely for two hours between the brave Spanish defenders and the equally brave but almost exhausted buccaneers. When at last the Spaniards turned and ran, the buccaneers were too tired to immediately follow up their success, but after resting they advanced, and at the end of three hours' street fighting the city was theirs. The first thing Morgan now did was to assemble all his men and strictly forbid them to drink any wine, telling them that he had secret information that the wine had been poisoned by the Spaniards before they left the city. This was, of course, a scheme of Morgan's to stop his men from becoming drunk, when they would be at the mercy of the enemy, as had happened in many a previous buccaneer assault.

Morgan now set about plundering the city, a large part of which was burnt to the ground, though whether this was done by his orders or by the Spanish Governor has never been decided. After three weeks the buccaneers started back on their journey to San Lorenzo, with a troop of 200 pack-mules laden with gold, silver, and goods of all sorts, together with a large number of prisoners. The rearguard on the march was under the command of a kinsman of the Admiral, Colonel Bledry Morgan.

On their arrival at Chagres the spoils were divided, amidst a great deal of quarrelling, and in March, 1671, Morgan sailed off to Port Royal with a few friends and the greater part of the plunder, leaving his faithful followers behind without ships or provisions, and with but £10 apiece as their share of the spoils.

On May 31st, 1671, the Council of Jamaica passed a vote of thanks to Morgan for his successful expedition, and this in spite of the fact that in July, a year before, a treaty had been concluded at Madrid between Spain and England for "restraining depredations and establishing peace" in the New World.

In April, 1672, Morgan was carried to England as a prisoner in the _Welcome_ frigate. But he was too popular to be convicted, and after being acquitted was appointed Deputy Governor of Jamaica, and in November, 1674, he was knighted and returned to the West Indies. In 1672 Major-General Banister, who was Commander-in-Chief of the troops in Jamaica, writing to Lord Arlington about Morgan, said: "He (Morgan) is a well deserving person, and one of great courage and conduct, who may, with His Majesty's pleasure, perform good public service at home, or be very advantageous to this island if war should again break forth with the Spaniards."

While Morgan was in England he brought an action for libel against William Crooke, the publisher of the "History of the Bucaniers of America." The result of this trial was that Crooke paid £200 damages to Morgan and published a long and grovelling apology.

Morgan was essentially a man of action, and a regular life on shore proved irksome to him, for we learn from a report sent home by Lord Vaughan in 1674 that Morgan "frequented the taverns of Port Royal, drinking and gambling in unseemly fashion," but nevertheless the Jamaican Assembly had voted the Lieutenant-Governor a sum of £600 special salary. In 1676 Vaughan brought definite charges against Morgan and another member of the Council, Robert Byndloss, of giving aid to certain Jamaica pirates.

Morgan made a spirited defence and, no doubt largely owing to his popularity, got off, and in 1678 was granted a commission to be a captain of a company of 100 men.

The Governor to succeed Vaughan was Lord Carlisle, who seems to have liked Morgan, in spite of his jovial "goings on" with his old buccaneer friends in the taverns of Port Royal, and in some of his letters speaks of Morgan's "generous manner," and hints that whatever allowances are made to him "he will be a beggar."

In 1681 Sir Thomas Lynch was appointed to be Governor, and trouble at once began between him and his deputy. Amongst the charges the former brought against Morgan was one of his having been overheard to say, "God damn the Assembly!" for which he was suspended from that body.

In April, 1688, the King, at the urgent request of the Duke of Albemarle, ordered Morgan to be reinstated in the Assembly, but Morgan did not live long to enjoy his restored honours, for he died on August 25th, 1688.

An extract from the journal of Captain Lawrence Wright, commander of H.M.S. _Assistance_, dated August, 1688, describes the ceremonies held at Port Royal at the burial of Morgan, and shows how important and popular a man he was thought to be. It runs:

"Saturday 25. This day about eleven hours noone Sir Henry Morgan died, & the 26th was brought over from Passage-fort to the King's house at Port Royall, from thence to the Church, & after a sermon was carried to the Pallisadoes & there buried. All the forts fired an equal number of guns, wee fired two & twenty & after wee & the Drake had fired, all the merchant men fired."

Morgan was buried in Jamaica, and his will, which was filed in the Record Office at Spanish Town, makes provision for his wife and near relations.

MORRICE, HUMPHREY.

Of New Providence, Bahama Islands.

Hanged at New Providence in 1718 by his lately reformed fellow-pirates, and on the gallows taxed them with "pusillanimity and cowardice" because they did not rescue him and his fellow-sufferers.

MORRIS, CAPTAIN JOHN.

Of Jamaica.

A privateer until 1665, he afterwards became a buccaneer with Mansfield. Took part in successful raids in Central America, plundering Vildemo in the Bay of Campeachy; he also sacked Truxillo, and then, after a journey by canoe up the San Juan River to take Nicaragua, surprised and plundered the city of Granada in March, 1666.

MORRIS, CAPTAIN THOMAS.

One of the pirates of New Providence, Bahamas, who, on pardon being offered by King George in 1717, escaped, and for a while carried on piracy in the West Indian Islands. Caught and hanged a few years afterwards.

MORRIS, JOHN.

One of Captain Bartholomew Roberts's crew. When the _Royal Fortune_ surrendered to H.M.S. _Swallow_, Morris fired his pistol into the gunpowder in the steerage and caused an explosion that killed or maimed many of the pirates.

MORRISON, CAPTAIN.

A Scotch pirate, who lived on Prince Edward Island.

For an account of his career, see Captain NELSON.

MORRISON, WILLIAM.

Of Jamaica.

One of Major Stede Bonnet's crew. Hanged at White Point, Charleston, South Carolina, on November 8th, 1718, and buried in the marsh below low-water mark.

MORTON, PHILIP.

Gunner on board "Blackbeard's" ship, the _Queen Ann's Revenge_. Killed on November 22nd, 1718, in North Carolina, during the fight with Lieutenant Maynard.

MULLET, JAMES, _alias_ MILLET.

Of London.

One of the crew of the _Royal James_, in which vessel Major Stede Bonnet played havoc with the shipping along the coasts of South Carolina and New England. Hanged at Charleston in 1718.

MULLINS, DARBY.

This Irish pirate was born in the north of Ireland, not many miles from Londonderry. Being left an orphan at the age of 18, he was sold to a planter in the West Indies for a term of four years.

After the great earthquake at Jamaica in 1691, Mullins built himself a house at Kingston and ran it as a punch-house--often a very profitable business when the buccaneers returned to Port Royal with good plunder. This business failing, he went to New York, where he met Captain Kidd, and was, according to his own story, persuaded to engage in piracy, it being urged that the robbing only of infidels, the enemies of Christianity, was an act, not only lawful, but one highly meritorious.

At his trial later on in London his judges did not agree with this view of the rights of property, and Mullins was hanged at Execution Dock on May 23rd, 1701.

MUMPER, THOMAS.

An Indian of Mather's Vineyard, New England.

Tried for piracy with Captain Charles Harris and his men, but found to be "not guilty."

MUNDON, STEPHEN.

Of London.

Hanged for piracy at Newport, Rhode Island, on July 19th, 1723, at the age of 20.

MUSTAPHA. Turkish pirate.

In 1558 he sailed, with a fleet of 140 vessels, to the Island of Minorca. Landed, and besieged the fortified town of Ciudadda, which at length surrendered. The Turks slew great numbers of the inhabitants, taking the rest away as slaves.

NAU, CAPTAIN JEAN DAVID, _alias_ FRANCIS L'OLLONAIS.

A Frenchman born at Les Sables d'Ollone.

In his youth he was transported as an indented labourer to the French Island of Dominica in the West Indies. Having served his time L'Ollonais went to the Island of Hispaniola, and joined the buccaneers there, living by hunting wild cattle and drying the flesh or boucan.

He then sailed for a few voyages as a sailor before the mast, and acted with such ability and courage that the Governor of Tortuga Island, Monsieur de la Place, gave him the command of a vessel and sent him out to seek his fortune.

At first the young buccaneer was very successful, and he took many Spanish ships, but owing to his ferocious treatment of his prisoners he soon won a name for cruelty which has never been surpassed. But at the height of this success his ship was wrecked in a storm, and, although most of the pirates got ashore, they were at once attacked by a party of Spaniards, and all but L'Ollonais were killed. The captain escaped, after being wounded, by smearing blood and sand over his face and hiding himself amongst his dead companions. Disguised as a Spaniard he entered the city of Campeachy, where bonfires and other manifestations of public relief were being held, to express the joy of the citizens at the news of the death of their terror, L'Ollonais.

Meeting with some French slaves, the fugitive planned with them to escape in the night in a canoe, this being successfully carried out, they eventually arrived back at Tortuga, the pirate stronghold. Here the enterprising captain stole a small vessel, and again started off "on the account," plundering a village called De los Cagos in Cuba. The Governor of Havana receiving word of the notorious and apparently resurrected pirate's arrival sent a well-armed ship to take him, adding to the ship's company a negro executioner, with orders to hang all the pirate crew with the exception of L'Ollonais, who was to be brought back to Havana alive and in chains.

Instead of the Spaniards taking the Frenchman, the opposite happened, and everyone of them was murdered, including the negro hangman, with the exception of one man, who was sent with a written message to the Governor to tell him that in future L'Ollonais would kill every Spaniard he met with.

Joining with a famous filibuster, Michael de Basco, L'Ollonais soon organized a more important expedition, consisting of a fleet of eight vessels and 400 men. Sailing to the Gulf of Venezuela in 1667, they entered the lake, destroying the fort that stood to guard the entrance. Thence sailing to the city of Maracaibo they found all the inhabitants had fled in terror. The filibusters caught many of the inhabitants hiding in the neighbouring woods, and killed numbers of them in their attempts to force from the rest the hiding-places of their treasure. They next marched upon and attacked the town of Gibraltar, which was valiantly defended by the Spaniards, until the evening, when, having lost 500 men killed, they surrendered. For four weeks this town was pillaged, the inhabitants murdered, while torture and rape were daily occurrences. At last, to the relief of the wretched inhabitants, the buccaneers, with a huge booty, sailed away to Corso Island, a place of rendezvous of the French buccaneers. Here they divided their spoil, which totalled the great sum of 260,000 pieces of eight, which, when divided amongst them, gave each man above one hundred pieces of eight, as well as his share of plate, silk, and jewels.

Also, a share was allotted for the next-of-kin of each man killed, and extra rewards for those pirates who had lost a limb or an eye. L'Ollonais had now become most famous amongst the "Brethren of the Coast," and began to make arrangements for an even more daring expedition to attack and plunder the coast of Nicaragua. Here he burnt and pillaged ruthlessly, committing the most revolting cruelties on the Spanish inhabitants. One example of this monster's inhuman deeds will more than suffice to tell of. It happened that during an attack on the town of San Pedros the buccaneers had been caught in an ambuscade and many of them killed, although the Spaniards had at last turned and fled. The pirates killed most of their prisoners, but kept a few to be questioned by L'Ollonais so as to find some other way to the town. As he could get no information out of these men, the Frenchman drew his cutlass and with it cut open the breast of one of the Spaniards, and pulling out his still beating heart he began to bite and gnaw it with his teeth like a ravenous wolf, saying to the other prisoners, "I will serve you all alike, if you show me not another way."

Shortly after this, many of the buccaneers broke away from L'Ollonais and sailed under the command of Moses van Vin, the second in command. L'Ollonais, in his big ship, sailed to the coast of Honduras, but ran his vessel on a sand-bank and lost her. While building a new but small craft on one of the Las Pertas Islands, they cultivated beans and other vegetables, and also wheat, for which they baked bread in portable ovens which these French buccaneers carried about with them. It took them six months to build their long-boat, and when it was finished it would not carry more than half the number of buccaneers. Lots were drawn to settle who should sail and who remain behind. L'Ollonais steered the boat towards Cartagena, but was caught by the Indians, as described by Esquemeling. "Here suddenly his ill-fortune assailed him, which of a long time had been reserved for him as a punishment due to the multitude of horrible crimes, which in his licentious and wicked life he had committed. For God Almighty, the time of His divine justice being now already come, had appointed the Indians of Darien to be the instruments and executioners thereof."

These "instruments of God," having caught L'Ollonais, tore him in pieces alive, throwing his body limb by limb into the fire and his ashes into the air, to the intent "no trace nor memory might remain of such an infamous inhuman creature."

Thus died a monster of cruelty, who would, had he lived to-day, have been confined in an asylum for lunatics.

NEAL.

A fisherman of Cork.

Mutinied in a French ship sailing from Cork to Nantes in 1721, and, under the leadership of Philip Roche, murdered the captain and many of the crew and became a pirate.

NEFF, WILLIAM.

Born at Haverhill, Massachusetts, in 1667.

A soldier, one of the guard at Fort Loyal, Falmouth, Maine. Deserted in 1689 and went to sea with the pirate Captain Pound.

NELSON, CAPTAIN.

Born on Prince Edward Island, where his father had a grant of land for services rendered in the American war. He was a wealthy man, a member of the Council and a Colonel of the Militia. In order to set his son up in life he bought him a captaincy in the Militia and a fine farm, where young Nelson married and settled down. Buying a schooner, he used to sail to Halifax with cargoes of potatoes and fruit. He seems to have liked these trips in which he combined business with pleasure, for we learn that on these visits to Halifax he "was very wild, and drank and intrigued with the girls in an extravagant manner." Getting into disgrace on Prince Edward Island, and losing his commission, he went to live near Halifax, and became a lieutenant in the Nova Scotia Fencibles, while his wife remained on the island to look after his estates, which brought him in £300 a year. Meeting with a Scotchman called Morrison, together they bought a "pretty little New York battleship," mounting ten guns. Manning this dangerous toy with a crew of ninety desperate characters, the partners went "on the account," and began well by taking a brig belonging to Mr. Hill, of Rotherhithe, which they took to New York, and there sold both ship and cargo.

They next cruised in the West Indies, taking several English and Dutch ships, the crews of which they treated with the greatest brutality.

Landing on St. Kitts Island, they burnt and plundered two Dutch plantations, murdering the owners and slaves. Sailing north to Newfoundland they took ten more vessels, which they sold in New York. After further successful voyages in the West Indies and off the coast of Brazil, Nelson felt the call of home ties becoming so strong that he ventured to return to Prince Edward Island to visit his wife and family, where no one dared to molest him.

By this time Nelson had been a pirate for three years and had, by his industry, won for himself a fortune worth £150,000, but his Scotch partner, Morrison, being a frugal soul, had in the meantime saved an even larger sum. Eventually their ship was wrecked in a fog on a small barren island near Prince Edward Island, and Morrison and most of the crew were drowned, but Nelson and a few others were saved. At last he reached New York, where he lived the rest of his life in peaceful happiness with his wife and family.

NICHOLLS, THOMAS, _alias_ NICHOLAS.

Of London.

One of Major Stede Bonnet's crew in the _Royal James_. Tried for piracy at Charleston on November 8th, 1718, and found "not guilty."

NONDRE, PEDRO.

Hanged at Kingston, Jamaica, in February, 1823. At the time of execution it was observed that he was covered with the marks of deep wounds. On the scaffold he wept bitterly. An immensely heavy man, he broke the rope, and had to be hanged a second time.

NORMAN, CAPTAIN. Buccaneer.