Drawn together by a common dislike to the restraints of regular society, independence and licentiousness were the leading features in the character of these adven turers. To act in concert, indeed, it was necessary that they should submit to some regulations ; but these were dictated, not by the authority of a superior, but by some general feeling of propriety, or sense of expedience. They were generally divided into companies of thirty, forty, or fifty men, electing from themselves, as their captain, the person on whose conduct and valour they placed the greatest reliance. The authority of this cap tain vas seldom acknowledged, except in the moment of battle, when his orders were most implicitly obeyed. Each individual of the crew was obliged to furnish a certain quantity of powder and balls, and to provide himself with a musket, a pair of pistols, and a cutlass or sabre. Having laid in a sufficient stock of provisions, and having determined, by mutual consent, in what place they should cruise, they next bound themselves to agree to certain articles, specified in a written contract, which each of them signed; nor as it ever known that the ar ticles which they had thus sanctioned, suffered the slightest violation. The purpose of these contracts was to regulate, with precision, the share of any prize to which they should be respectively entitled ; and to make provision for those who should happen to be wounded or disabled during the cruize. If the boat, or vessel, in which they set out, was the common property of the crew, the first vessel which they captured was to be given to the captain, with a single share of the booty which it contained : if the captain had furnished the boat, he was not only entitled to the first ship which was taken, but likewise to a double share of its cargo. The surgeon was allowed a certain sum, generally 200 crowns, for his chest of medicines, besides one share of the prize. And whoever had the good fortune to discover a ship which was captured, received a reward of one hundred crowns. The remainder of the spoils was distributed in equal shares among the crew. Be fore this distribution, every man placing his hand on a New Testament, solemnly swore that he had not appro priated or concealed any part of the plunder; and if any of them was convicted of perjury, a case which very rarely occurred, he was conveyed to some desert rocks, as a person unfit for society, and his portion of the prize was either divided among the rest of the company, or appropriated to some religious or charitable use. The loss of an eye entitled the sufferer to 100 crowns, or a slave : the loss of both eyes to 600 crowns, or six slaves. A person maimed of a right hand, or right leg, re ceived a donation of 200 crowns, or two slaves : the loss of both hands, or both legs, was supposed equiva lent to the loss of both eyes, and gave a claim to the same sum. If any one happened merely to be disabled in any of his limbs, he was entitled to the same com pensation as if he had lost it entirely. So sacred were these claims held, that if they had not money enough to answer them, the whole company voluntar;ly undertook a fresh expedition, till they realized a sufficient sum to enable them to satisfy such honourable obligations. Their justice and fidelity extended even to those who had fallen in the common cause. Each of them, before setting sail, attached himself to a comrade, with whom he was to exchange every good office during the voy age; if eiLher of them happened to be wounded, or fall sick, the other tended him with the most aflectionate care, and a formal will was made between them, that if one of them should die on the expedition, his compa nion might inherit whatever he possessed. In the dis tribution of their plunder, the share which should have fallen to the deceased was faithfully assigned to his com rade; and if both of them had perished, their effects, with their portions of the spoil, were sent, without any diminution, to their nearest relations.
We form, in truth, a very unlair estimate of the cha racter of the Buccaneers, when we regard them merely as a set of robbers, leagued together by an indiscrimi nate love of rapacity and violence. Their piratical ad ventures originated in a natural wish to retaliate the many and grievous injuries which they had suffered from the Spaniards, whom they allays continued to re gard as their only fair and lawful prey ; though in cases of extreme necessity, they were sometimes compelled to attack the ships of other nations. It may be difficult to vindicate, on any maxim of morality, an avowed sys tem of plunder. Vet it is certain that this system ap peared to themselves, at least, perfectly compatible with the laws of justice and religion ; and the regularity of their devotions, and their confidence in the protection of heaven, would have done honour to the champions of the purest cause. They never partook of a repast, with
out solemnly acknowledging their dependence on the Giver of all good. On the appearance of a ship which they meant to attack, they offered up a fervent prayer for success ; and, when the conflict had terminated in their favour, their first care was to express their gratitude to the God of battles, for the victory which he had ena bled them to gain. The character of the Buccaneers, however, was formed of inconsistencies : with all this appearance of religion, they indulged in the grossest vices, and were guilty of atrocities, the bare recital of which makes humanity shudder. Their vices arose naturally enough, indeed, out of their situation ; for to spend with profusion, and to riot in the wildest excess, was exactly what might be expected of men, who had a constant resourse in their valour, who spurned the re straints of regular sock ty, who were inured to continual vicissitudes of privation and abundance, of hardship and ease ; and whose occupation exposed them to the con stant peril of their lives. Instances of their profusion arc recorded, which appear hardly credible. It was no uncommon thing with them to spend two or three thou sand crowns in one night. Their captains, on returning from a cruise, would sometimes buy whole pipes of wine, and breaking them up in the street, compel every person that passed to assist them in drinking it. One of them, who had returned from an expedition with three thousand dollars, was, in three months after, sold into slavery for a debt of forty shillings, which he had con tracted in a tavern. In short, the maxim on which they uniformly acted was to enjoy the present moment, with out regard to the future. Exposed as we are, said they, to such a variety of dangers, our life is totally different from that of other men. Why should we, who are alive to-day, and may be dead to-morrow, think of hoarding up ? Our concern is to squander life away, rather than to preserve it. The reasoning was natural, and their character would have been consistent had they made no pretence to religion. We may apply the same remark to the enormous cruelties which tney committed against the Spaniards ; for which the law ol retaliation, though it affords no apology., would very naturally account ; but wnich were • t;ter irrcconcileable with the mild spirit of that religion, for which they professed a profound regard. If the ships which they captured contained a cargo that pleased them, they general ly sent their crews on slime without fanner injury if the prize was of little value, they took revenge for their disappointment on the unfortunate mariners, whom they inhumanly butchered, or uirew into the sea.
Having thus attempted a general delineation of the character and manners of these singular pirates, we shall now give a short and hasty narrative of the most re markable of their romantic adventures. The first of their captains who distinguished himself, after Pierre le Grand, was Pierre Franc, a native of Dunkirk. He had cruized, without success, before the Cape de la V. Ila, in the hope of intercepting some of the merchant vessels bound from Maracaibo to Campeachy, till his store of provisions was nearly exhausted, and his boat became so leaky as to be scarcely able to weather the sea. In this extremity he formed the desperate resolution of at tacking the Spanish barks, which were then engaged in the pearl fishery, in the stream de la Hacha, near the ri ver de la Plata. About a dozen of these barks used to sail annually from Carthagena, protected by an Armadilla, or war ship, mounting from 24 to 30 pieces of cannon, with a suitable crew. The command of this fleet was entrust ed to a captain, into whose ship were brought every evening all the pearls which had been fisned by the whole fleet during the day. With only twenty-six com rades, as resolute as himself, Pierre Franc attacked the captain's ship, which carried eight guns, and was man ned with a crew of three-score well armed men. The Spaniards, after a stout resistance, were compelled to surrender. But the triumph of Pierre was of short du ration ; he was pursued by the Armadilla, and having lost his mainmast in a squall, was speedily overtaken. The pirates, now only 22 in number, defended the in selves with the most obstinate valour ; and though co.n pelted at length to yield to such superior force, their t ne mies were fain to grant them honourable terms of sur render.