Part IV
Containing the dangerous Voyage, and bold Assaults of Captain Bartholomew Sharp, and others, performed in the South Sea, for the space of two years, &c.
Chap. I
Captain Coxon, Sawkins, Sharp, and others, set forth in a Fleet towards the Province of Darien, upon the Continent of America. Their designs to pillage and plunder in those parts. Number of their Ships, and strength of their Forces by Sea and Land.
On April 3, 1680, seven buccaneer ships arrived at Golden Island, where the River Atrato (Darien) flows into the Caribbean Sea. The local Indians proved friendly, delighted to help the English buccaneers in anything that would discomfort the hated Spanish. The attack on Panama they thought a good idea but suggested that, on the way, the raiding party might first attack the Spanish settlement of Santa María, where the gold dust washed in the upper branches of the Santa María River was collected before being sent in batches to Panama. Santa María lay forty miles across the isthmus and a few miles from the Gulf of San Miguel—so called because it was on Michaelmas Day 1513 that Balboa, "silent upon a peak in Darien," first saw that very gulf, becoming the first European to set eyes on the South Sea.
Leaving a small party to guard the ships, 331 men landed at daybreak on April 5, almost all armed with fuzee, pistol, and hanger, and "each of them [having]
three or four Cakes of Bread, (called by the English Dough-boy's ) for their provision of Victuals; and as for drink, the Rivers afforded them enough" (JP3 , 4). They marched off in seven companies, each distinguished by a colored flag, led by Captains John Coxon, Peter Harris (two companies each), Bartholomew Sharp, Richard Sawkins, and Edmund Cook. The first "general" was Coxon, but, in true buccaneering tradition, the chief leadership changed from time to time, according to the votes of individual buccaneers. The most important leader in our story, though, was Bartholomew Sharp, who, eighteen months later, took the surviving buccaneers back to the West Indies around Cape Horn.
Chap. II
They march towards the Town of Santa Maria with design to take it. The Indian King of Darien meeteth them by the way. Difficulties of this March, with other occurrences till they arrive at the place.
On Monday, April 5, 1680, the seven companies started their march—through a wood, across a sandy bay, and then up a woody valley, with seven Indians as guides. At nightfall they built huts for shelter, having been warned by the Indians not to lie in the grass for fear of snakes. There they were joined by a native chief called by the buccaneers Captain Andreas, who spoke some Spanish and was to remain with them until they reached Panama. The next day they started climbing and had soon crossed the dividing range, reaching the headwaters of the River Tuira (Santa María), which, Andreas told them, passed through the town of Santa María before emptying into the Gulf of San Miguel, which in turn empties into the Pacific. And then the difficult part of their march really began, as recounted by Ringrose:
Hence we continued our march until noon, and then ascended another Mountain extreamly higher than the former. Here we ran much danger oftentimes, and in many places, the Mountain being so perpendicular, and the path so narrow, that but one man at a time could pass. We arrived by the dark of the evening on the other side of the Mountain, and lodged again by the side of the same River, having marched that day, according to our reckoning, about eighteen miles. This night likewise some rain did fall.
(JP3 , 6)
Following the river and crossing it every half mile or so, the buccaneers continued their difficult march until they arrived at a large Indian village, where they were able to rest for the remainder of that day and the whole of the next, Thursday, while Indians were sent downriver to obtain canoes. While there, it was decided that Richard Sawkins should lead the "forlorn," the advance party to attack Santa María. They marched along the river bank all Friday, and when they reached the canoes on Saturday they decided to divide into two parties for the trip downstream—and perhaps have a rest from walking. Coxon, Sharp, Cook, Captain Andreas, and seventy men, including Ringrose, embarked in fourteen canoes, each with two Indian pilots. The remainder of the party, led by Sawkins and Harris, continued to march until they embarked in canoes on another branch of the river. "But if it was so that we were tired in travelling by Land before," complained Ring-rose, "certainly we were in a worser condition now in our Canoas . For at the distance of almost every stones cast, we were constrained to quit, and get out of our Boats, and hale them over either Sands or Rocks: at other times over Trees that lay cross and filled up the River, so that they hindred our Navigation; yea, several times over the very points of Land it self" (JP3 , 8).
All Sunday and Monday they continued down-river, building huts for shelter each night. But the worries of both parties were compounded by having lost touch with each other: both feared treachery by the Indians. On Tuesday morning, however, Ringrose's party reached a spit of land where the other branch of the river joined, and the Indians predicted that the main buccaneer fleet of canoes would soon arrive. And so it proved. Early on Wednesday, the whole fleet—sixty-eight canoes containing 327 Englishmen (4 had returned to the Caribbean during the march) and 50 Indians—set off downstream, propelled by oars and paddles instead of the sticks and poles that had been needed before. The buccaneers' march—through jungle, over mountains, down swift tropical streams—was nearly over:
Thus we rowed with all hast imaginable, and upon the River hapned to meet two or three Indian Canoas that were laded with Plantans. About midnight we arrived and landed at the distance of half a mile, more or less, from the Town of Santa Maria , whither our march was all along intended. The place where we landed was deeply muddy, insomuch, that we were constrained to lay our paddles on the mud to wade upon, and withal, lift our selves up by the boughs of the trees, to support our Bodies from sinking. Afterwards we were forced to cut our way through the woods for some space, where we took up our Lodgings for that night, for fear of being discovered by the Enemy, unto whom we were so nigh.
(JP3 , 9-10)
With this sort of prose—and this sort of adventure story—it is not surprising that Ringrose's saga became a best-seller, with new editions right into the twentieth century.
Chap. III
They take the Town of Santa Maria with no loss of Men, and but small purchase of what they sought for. Description of the Place, Country, and River adjacent. They resolve to go and plunder the second time the City of Panama.
"The next morning, which was Thursday April the Fifteenth, about break of day, we heard from the Town a small Arm discharged, and after that a Drum beating a travailler . With this we were roused from our sleep, and taking up our Arms, we put ourselves in order and marched towards the Town. As soon as we came out of the Woods into the open ground, we were descryed by the Spaniards , who had received before-hand intelligence of our coming, and were prepared to receive us, having already conveyed away all their Treasure of Gold, and sent it to Panama " (JP3 , 10). Sawkins led the attack on the palisades with about fifty men, and the garrison of some two hundred soon called for quarter, the only casualties among the attackers being two men wounded.
Despite their apparent success, the buccaneers were disappointed with what they found. This was no large town but only "some wild houses made of Cane," by the side of a river twice as wide as the Thames at London, with depths of two and a half fathoms at the town. "But as bad a place as it was, our fortune was much worse. For we came only three days too late, or else we had met with three hundred weight of Gold, which was carried thence to Panama in a Bark[2] that is sent from thence twice or thrice every year, to fetch what Gold is brought to Santa Maria from the Mountains" (JP3 , 11). But what was probably worse for the long-term success of the expedition was the fact that the governor escaped with a few men (including the priest), and was able to take to Panama the news of the attack, eluding Sawkins who with ten men in a canoe gave chase.
Obviously there was no time to lose: the sooner they could attack Panama, the better, and Coxon was chosen to lead the enterprise "to please the humours of some of our company," as Ringrose put it (JP3 , 12). On Friday, they burned the fort, the church, and the town and sent what little booty they had managed to capture back to the Caribbean with twelve men and a few prisoners. Andreas and his son "King Golden-cap" decided to stay with the buccaneers, but most of the remaining Indians left.
Chap. IV
The Bucaniers leave the Town of Santa Maria, and proceed by Sea to take Panama. Extream difficulties, with sundry accidents and dangers of that Voyage.
On Saturday, April 17, 1680, having stayed in Santa María only two days, the buccaneers embarked in thirty-five canoes and a captured piragua (a large dugout propelled normally by sail) and started to row downriver, taking two days to reach the Gulf of San Miguel (or Bellona). Ringrose had a miserable time, having, with four other men, been allocated a heavy and sluggish canoe. When the tide fell, many shoals appeared, and Ringrose got badly lost. Soon the other canoes were out of sight. Then when the tide turned, they found they could make no headway against the flood and had to improvise some sort of mooring and await the ebb. They spent most of the first night on a sandbank in the rain. The next day, Sunday, they managed to overtake some of their companions who had spent the night in a hut and who were filling their water jars. By the time Ringrose and his crew had done likewise, the other canoes had gone and they were once more alone. By now they were near the mouth of the river—the Boca Chica—but they were unable to make way against the very strong flood tide, so they went ashore to await high water. We will finish this chapter in Ring-rose's own words:
As soon as the Tyde began to turn, we rowed away from thence unto an Island, distant about a League and an half from the mouth of the River, in the Gulf of San Miguel [Wag. p. 43]. Here in the Gulf it went very hard with us whensoever any wave dashed against the sides of our Canoa, for it was nigh twenty foot in length, and yet not quite one foot and a half in breadth where it was at its broadest. So that we had just room enough to sit down in her, and a little water would easily have both filled and overwhelmed us. At the Island aforesaid, we took up our resting place for that night, though for the loss of our company, and the great dangers we were
[2] In the seventeenth century, the term bark (occasionally barque ) was used for any small sailing vessel not designed to be carried in a ship, which would have been called a "boat" or, if large, a "launch" or "longboat." It was not until the eighteenth century or later that barque attained its present more limited meaning to describe a vessel, generally with three masts, square-rigged on the fore and main, fore-and-aft-rigged on the mizzen.
in, the sorrowfullest night that until then, I ever experimented in my whole life. For it rained impetuously all night long, insomuch that we were wet from head to foot, and had not one dry thred about us; neither through the violence of the rain, were we able to keep any fire burning wherewith to warm or dry us.
The Tide ebbeth here a good half mile from the mark of high water, and leaveth bare wonderful high, and sharp pointed rocks. We passed this heavy and tedious night without one sole minute of sleep, being all very sorrowful to see our selves so far and remote from the rest of our companions, as also totally destitute of all humane comfort. For a vast Sea surrounded us on one side, and the mighty power of our Enemies the Spaniards on the other. Neither could we descry at any hand the least thing to relieve us, all that we could see being the wide sea, high Mountains and Rocks; mean while our selves were confined to an Egg-shell, instead of a Boat, without so much as a few cloaths to defend us from the injuries of the weather. For at that time none of us had a shooe to our feet. We searched the whole Key, to see if we could find any water, but found none.
(JP3 , 15-16)
Poor Ringrose! But it was to be some time before things got much better.
Chap. V
Shipwrack of Mr. Ringrose the Author of this Narrative. He is taken by the Spaniards, and miraculously by them preserved. Several other accidents and disasters which befel him after the loss of his Companions till he found them again. Description of the Gulf of Vallona.
Wet and cold, Ringrose and his companions launched the canoe at daybreak on Monday and started rowing westward. The sea was high and they had to bail continuously. Then a larger sea than usual capsized the boat. Luckily they were close to an island and managed to struggle ashore, followed by the overturned canoe; however, although their arms and powder were safe, they had lost all their bread and fresh water. They then saw another canoe capsizing in almost the same place. The crew turned out to be six Spaniards from the Santa María garrison, and Ringrose says they all sat down together and made a fire to cook meat, which the Spaniards had with them. Soon they were approached by friendly—friendly to Ringrose—Indians who had a large canoe and said that, if the English came with them, they could catch up with the main party of buccaneers by the next morning. The Indians wanted to kill the Spaniards, but Ringrose persuaded them not to; they did, however, insist on keeping one as a prisoner. The other Spaniards left hastily in Ringrose's old canoe, which he had given them because theirs had broken up when it was driven ashore.
Despite these adversities, Ringrose somehow thought of his duty to future English navigators. He tells us that on this day he produced his first chart, "A Description of Laguna or Gulf of Ballona."[3] (The adventures of the next week or so are well illustrated in Fig. p. 7, top, drawn by Ringrose himself for his journal, and in Hack's copy of it, Fig. p. 8, which has rather more place-names.) The Indians' canoe held twenty people and had a sail, so when they left the island they made good speed. About nine o'clock at night, the Indians, having seen fires they thought were made by Captain Andreas and his companions, decided to land
Image not available.
[3] A map indexing the fifteen charts from the printed version of Ringrose's journal, Bucaniers of America , reproduced here can be found in Appendix A, Index R (p. 282).
Image not available.
Panama Bay, from the English copy of the Spanish derrotero of 1669, probably that
captured by Morgan in 1671. Sailing directions in Spanish, with an English translation
in a different hand underneath, can be seen written on the sea areas of the chart.
North is to the left.
(From British Library MS. Harley 4034.)
Image not available.
Panama Bay, drawn by Basil Ringrose in his holograph journal of ca. 1681-82, from which
the corresponding chart in the printed version (reproduced here on p. 11) was copied.
(The pencil copying squares can still be seen on the original.) "Of this," he said, "I may
dare affirm, that it is in general more correct and true, than the Spaniards have
themselves" (JP3 , 38). North is to the left.
(From British Library MS. Sloane 3820, f. 29.)
Image not available.
Panama Bay, from the James II copy of William Hack's South Sea Waggoner. This is
typical of all the other copies listed in Table 3 (pp. 269-70) and is geographically the same
as Ringrose's Charts 40 and 41 reproduced in this book. Surprisingly, all these omit the
Pearl Islands, which lie between the Gulf of San Miguel (here called the "Gulf of Vallona")
and Panama, although they are shown in detail in separate charts anti are included in the
charts illustrating the journals of the voyage. This and other indications cause one to
wonder why Ringrose and Hack did not include in their waggoners the information obtained
on the voyage. North is to the left.
(From National Maritime Museum MS. P.33, f. 48.)
near Punta San Lorenzo. When they reached the breakers close to shore, however, some sixty Spaniards ran out of the woods and hauled the canoe bodily out of the water onto the beach: the Indians managed to escape, but Ringrose and his companions were captured.
Having first tried English and French, Ringrose eventually managed to communicate in Latin with "some of them, who were more intelligent than the rest." Apparently they were a party of prisoners from Santa María who had been marooned by the main body of buccaneers in case any of them managed to escape and take the news to Panama. Things looked pretty bleak for Ringrose and his companions until the Spaniard who had been made prisoner by the Indians came in "and reported how kind I had been to him, and the rest of his Companions, by saving their Lives from the cruelty of the Indians . The Captain having heard him, arose from his seat immediately and embraced me, saying, that we Englishmen were very friendly Enemies, and good people, but that the Indians were very Rogues, and a treacherous Nation" (JP3 , 22). Ringrose and his companions were invited to share what little food there was and to stay the night. Ringrose politely refused, though. By this time the Indians had been enticed back out of the woods, and they all re-embarked in the canoe, which was then pushed back into the sea by the Spaniards.
Sailing west all night in miserable weather, Ringrose and his companions eventually rejoined the main body of the English, at anchor in a small bay, at about ten the next morning, Tuesday. Though several canoes had capsized after leaving the shelter of the gulf, no one was lost, and the other buccaneers seem to have had a less adventurous passage than Ringrose.
Chap. VI
The Bucaniers prosecute their Voyage, till they come within sight of Panama. They take several Barks and Prisoners by the way. Are descryed by the Spaniards before their arrival. They order the Indians to kill the Prisoners.
Soon after Ringrose rejoined the buccaneers, they all set sail again and at about four o'clock reached Plantan Key (the small island about halfway between Pto San Lorenzo and Chepillo on Fig. p. 7, top), where they surprised an old man in a watchtower (Wag. p. 128). From him they learned that the governor of Santa María had left only the day before for Panama: Sawkins was once again dispatched to try and intercept him before he reached the town. Soon after dark, a thirty-ton bark was seen approaching the other side of the island. This was swiftly captured.
The next day, Wednesday, April 21—with Sharp, Cook, and some 130 men in the captured bark and the remainder in their canoes—the whole party sailed once again toward Panama, making for the island of Chepillo, rowing and sailing through shoal water about three miles from the coast. In the afternoon, Harris managed to capture a bark that accommodated thirty men. The next morning, another bark was sighted and was attacked by Coxon. She proved to be a man-of-war bark. In the ensuing battle, one buccaneer was killed and five wounded, the bark herself escaping toward Panama. This seemed to eliminate any idea of surprise the buccaneers might have had—if the governor had not already given the alarm (Sawkins had had no success in his chase), then the man-of-war bark was bound to do so.
Reaching Chepillo on Thursday afternoon, the buccaneers took a few native prisoners and captured a piragua. Since the element of surprise was lost, they decided not to make a direct attack on the town but to attack shipping instead. Time was of the essence, so, having stayed only a few hours, they left Chepillo at about four o'clock and rowed all night.
Meanwhile, Sharp and the men in the bark captured at Plantan Key had lost touch with the canoes, their provisions were few, and they had no water. They decided to make for one of the Pearl Islands to the south, where a prisoner told them a new brigantine had just been launched. And so it proved. At about eleven o'clock on Thursday morning they reached the island, where they were able not only to capture the new bark but also to persuade the few Spaniards to part with water, wood, provisions—and wine. Having made a hole in the hull of their old bark, they sailed that afternoon in their new one and, after spending the night at another island where they watered all the forenoon, they sailed at noon Friday for Chepillo—only to find, when they arrived after dark, that the main body of buccaneers had left two days before.
Chap. VII
They arrive within sight of Panama. Are encountred by Three small men of War. They fight them with only sixty eight men, and utterly defeat them, taking two of the said Vessels. Description of that bloody fight. They take several Ships at the Isle of Perico before Panama.
Before dawn on St. George's Day, April 23, 1580, the first buccaneer canoes approached the island of Perico. From there they could see the new town of Panama, which was being rebuilt on the peninsula of Ancón (the site of today's Panama City), six miles from the original city burnt during Morgan's raid (Wag. pp. 124, 126). When the news of the buccaneers' approach had reached Panama the previous day, an armadilla of three small Spanish men-of-war had been hurriedly manned, and as soon as the English canoes and piraguas were sighted, this small force sailed to intercept.
In the fierce battle that followed, the buccaneers triumphed, despite a Spanish superiority in numbers of men. For the loss of only eighteen killed and wounded, the English captured two of the ships, whereas the Spaniards lost a hundred or more killed, including the admiral, Don Jacinto de Barahona. One of those captured—badly burned in powder explosions onboard his ship when trying to give succor to his admiral—was the third-in-command, Captain Francisco de Peralta, called by Ringrose "an old and stout Spaniard , Native of Andalusia in Spain " (JP3 , 28). He was to remain a prisoner of the buccaneers for eight months. Captain Peter Harris died of his wounds two days after the battle.
Of this action, Ringrose said: "And indeed, to give our Enemies their due, no men in the world did ever act more bravely than these Spaniards " (JP3 , 30).
Having disposed of the armadilla , the buccaneers turned their attention to the five ships at anchor off Perico, which they discovered were almost unmanned, their crews having been pressed into service for the men-of-war the day before. The largest of these was the four-hundred-ton Santísima Trinidad (or Blessed Trinity), the same ship in which, according to William Dampier, Peralta himself had fought and escaped with the Panama treasure when Morgan attacked the town ten years earlier (J14 , 42; Kemp and Lloyd 1960, 40-41).
The buccaneers decided to keep the Trinity as their flagship; of the other four ships, they kept two and burned two.
Chap. VIII
Description of the State and Condition of Panama, and the parts adjacent. What Vessels they took while they blocked up the said Port. Captain Coxon with seventy more returneth home. Sawkins is chosen in chief.
Of Barahona's force in Panama, Ringrose said: "The Commanders had strict orders given them, and their resolutions were to give quarters to none of the Pirats or Bucaniers . But such bloody Commands as these seldom or never do happen to prosper" (JP3 , 28). Nevertheless, the buccaneers decided not to emulate Henry Morgan by attacking the town itself—which by now had a garrison four times larger than in 1670; they realized that, having lost the advantage of surprise, their chances of success were slim. As a result of the Battle of Perico, however, the buccaneers now had three ships—of 400, 180, and 50 tons respectively—together with two or more barks. (Sharp rejoined the Fleet in his bark the day after the battle, bringing with him welcome supplies of wine.) They resolved therefore to emulate instead an even earlier English "pirate," Sir Francis Drake, and attack Spanish shipping and towns in the South Sea.
In the meantime, there were loud criticisms of Coxon's conduct during the battle. "The main cause of those reflexions, was the backwardness in the last Engagement with the Armadilla ; concerning which point, some sticked not to defame, or brand him, with a note of Cowardize" (JP3 , 35). In a huff, Coxon and some seventy men took the smallest of the captured ships and a piragua and sailed back to the Gulf of San Miguel, to return overland to the ships waiting in the Caribbean. To the chagrin of those who remained, he took with him the best surgeon in the fleet (not Lionel Wafer), who refused to leave behind any of his instruments or medicaments. The Indian chief Captain Andreas and his son Prince Golden-cap, who had helped the buccaneers so much since they first landed, elected to leave also.
Sawkins, reckoned by all to have been the hero of the Battle of Perico, was elected the new "General," taking over command of the Trinity . On Monday evening, three days after the battle, Sharp and his men captured a small vessel seen approaching the anchorage. Unarmed except for rapiers, she was nevertheless a splendid prize, yielding, according to Sharp himself, 50,000 pieces of eight (£12,500),[4] 1,400 jars of wine and brandy, and powder and shot. She had come from Lima (J6 , 18; J14 , 43).
The buccaneers were now down to about two hundred men. After ten days refitting off Perico, the buccaneer fleet of three ships and two small barks sailed to another island, Taboga, slightly farther from Panama, where they stayed about a fortnight (Wag. p. 126). All the inhabitants fled on the pirates' arrival, but soon merchants from Panama arrived to trade with the English, selling commodities that were needed and buying goods captured from Spanish vessels, as well as Negro prisoners at 200 pieces of eight each. It seems to have been a pleasant place; Sharp was particularly impressed with the abundant fruit—pineapples, oranges, lemons, "albecato" pears, coconuts, and other unidentified fruit. While there, Sharp captured a bark from Paita, full of flour. Ringrose further describes a big success of about May 10: the taking of the ship San Pedro (JP3 , 37, 158), which had been sent from Peru to pay the garrison of Panama. After relieving her of 57,000 pieces of eight (£14,250), plus two thousand very welcome jars of wine and fifty jars of gunpowder, the buccaneers allowed the ship to go on her way. Although Sharp does not mention this incident, it is possible that the San Pedro and the ship he said he captured on April 26 were one and
[4] The Spanish dollar, or real de a ocho , also called a peso , was equivalent to some five shillings of English money. See Earle (1979, 13) for an excellent discussion on Spanish money and measures in this period.
Image not available.
the same and that the dates got mixed up in the various accounts.
On May 15, they sailed to the island of Otoque, a few miles farther from the city (Chart 41). "Here at Otoque ," says Ringrose, "I finished a draught, comprehending from point Garachine , unto the Bay of Panama , &c. Of this I may dare affirm, that it is in general more correct and true, than any the Spaniards have themselves. For which cause I have here inserted it [see the chart "The Bay of Panama and Gulf of Ballona" above and Figs. pp. 7 and 8], for the satisfaction of those that are curious in such things" (JP3 , 38).
Chap. IX
Captain Sawkins, Chief Commander of the Bucaniers, is killed before Puebla Neuba. They are repulsed from the said place. Captain Sharp chosen to be their leader. Many more of their company leave them and return home overland.
The pirate ships then left the Gulf of Panama "about the middle of May , 1680, in quest of some other purchase or design, coasting the Shore towards the Northern Parts of America , commonly called California . We persisted in our course the space of eight or ten days, in all which time nothing remarkable happened unto us; till at the end thereof we arrived at the isles of Quiblo [Coiba], where there is a Town, called by the Spaniards Puebla Nova " (JP2 , 3:72). En route, one of the pirate barks was blown back across the gulf (it did eventually rejoin Coxon), and another was captured by the Spaniards at the Isle of Gallo, where the crew were forced to disclose the buccaneers' future plans—that they were to go south to Guayaquil after a cast up the coast toward Mexico.
On May 22, leaving the Trinity at anchor off Coiba, Sawkins led sixty men in a bark and canoes to attack Puebla Nueva (today called Remedios), on the maim land north of Coiba. But the Spaniards, forewarned, repulsed the pirates, killing Sawkins and two others. "And here they kiled our Valiant Capt. Sawkings, a man as stoute as could bee and [likewise next unto Captain Sharp , the best] beloved above any that ever wee had amongst us and he well deserved, for wee may attribute but the greatest honour to him in our fighte at Panama, [with the Spanish Armadilla or Little Fleet. Especially considering that, as hath been said above, Captain Sharp was by accident absent at the time of that great and bloody fight]." So runs, outside the brackets, the entry in Ringrose's own manuscript journal (J4 , f. 30), the words inside the brackets being the amendments of the editor of the printed version (JP3 , 41-42) who, if he was not Bartholomew Sharp himself, certainly had Sharp's welfare in mind.
When Sawkins was killed, Sharp took charge of the surviving pirates and withdrew, capturing a one-hundred-ton bark in the river and sailing her back to Coiba to rejoin the Trinity and the other remaining ship, commanded by Edmund Cook.
So, of the five captains who had marched across the isthmus, Harris and Sawkins had been killed, and Coxon had returned to the Caribbean. Only two remained—Bartholomew Sharp, who took over the Trinity and the chief command, and Edmund Cook, to whom Sharp gave the one-hundred-ton ship he had just captured, renamed the Mayflower . Sharp's command was not without its problems, however, for whereas Sawkins had enjoyed great popularity, many of the crew did not approve of Sharp: "Captain Sharp . . . asked our men in full Councel, who of them were willing to go or stay, and prosecute the design Captain Sawkins had undertaken, which was to remain in the South Sea, and there to make a compleat Voyage; after which, he intended to go home round about America , through the Straights of Magallanes " (JP3 , 43).
Sharp also promised that everyone who stayed would be worth £1,000. Ringrose's journal continues:
Image not available.
Track chart of the Trinity and Mayflower , 1680-82. (Based on a chart compiled by Capt. John Cresswell, RN.
from John Cox's journal, then in possession of Philip Gosse, used as the endpaper of the latter's book
The History of Piracy [London, 1932].)
"All those who had remained after the departure of Captain Coxon , for love of Captain Sawkins , and only to be in his company, and under his Conduct, thinking thereby to make their fortunes, would stay no longer, but pressed to depart" (JP3 , 43). And Ringrose, by his own admission, was one of those. "Yet, being much afraid and averse to trust my self among wild Indians any farther, I chose rather to stay, though unwilling, and venture on that long and dangerous Voyage" (JP3 , 43). So Ringrose stayed (and was to regret his decision several times in the ensuing months), but sixty-three pirates decided to leave and on May 31, with the four Indians who had been with the buccaneers since the beginning, set sail in Cook's old ship for the Gulf of San Miguel. According to information from prisoners taken in the Gulf of Nicoya a year later, they returned overland across the Isthmus of Darien, manned one of the buccaneer ships left at Golden Island in April 1680, and captured a Spanish ship off Porto Bello (JP3 , 145).
Three days later there occurred another mutiny, though a minor one this time. The crew of the Mayflower said they would no longer have Cook as captain. Sharp therefore gave the Mayflower to John Cox, a New Englander and old acquaintance who would, as we shall see, be less than loyal to Sharp in the future. At the same time Peralta, the veteran Spanish captain captured at Perico, was transferred to the Mayflower because the newer prisoner, Captain Juan of the San Pedro , had "promised to do great things for us, by Piloting and conducting us unto several places of great Riches" (JP3 , 45). Of those who wrote accounts, Sharp, Dampier, Wafer, and Ringrose stayed in the Trinity , while Cox, Dick, and the unknown narrator of J14 were among the forty men in the Mayflower .
Chap. X
They depart from Island of Cayboa unto the Isle of Gorgona, where they Careen their Vessels. Description of this Isle. They resolve to go and plunder Arica, leaving their design of Guayaquil.
In carly April 1680, 331 buccaneers had left their ships in the Caribbean, all optimistic for plunder. Now, two months later, only 146 men remained in the two ships that sailed, under the command of Capt. Bartholomew Sharp, from Coiba, west of Panama, to the coasts of Peru and Chile in search of gold. But first, the ships had to be refitted and their bottoms cleaned of the marine growth that is so prevalent in those waters. They decided, therefore, to make for the Galápagos Islands—the "Isles of the Turtles," on the equator some seven hundred miles southwest of Panama—where they could expect to carry out these very important housekeeping operations without Spanish interference. However, the extremely light winds made their goal impossible to achieve, and at the suggestion of their Spanish prisoner, Captain Peralta, they settled for the island of Gorgona, about twenty miles off the coast of present-day Colombia in latitude 3° north (Wag. p. 38), which Peralta said the Spaniards never visited because it always rained (JP3 , 49). About a month after leaving Coiba, they anchored on the south side of the island, a direct distance of some three hundred nautical miles to the southeast of Coiba. There the Trinity was careened—beached and hauled down on her side for her bottom to be cleaned and repaired—and some of her after superstructure removed to improve her sailing qualities.
Chap. XI
The Bucaniers depart from the Isle of Gorgona, with design to plunder Arica. They loose one another by the way. They touch at the Isle of Plate, or Drakes Isle, where they meet again. Description of this Isle. Some Memoirs of Sir Francis Drake. An account of this Voyage, and the Coasts all along. They sad as far in a fortnight, as the Spaniards usually do in three months.
The refitting completed, both ships sailed from Gorgona on July 25. The original intention had been to attack Guayaquil, in today's Ecuador, about four hundred miles down the coast in latitude 3° south. However, it was reckoned that the Spaniards there would be well prepared—an excellent appreciation of the situation, as it turned out—and it would be better to make for Arica, the port for the silver mines that Drake had once attacked, 1,700 nautical miles south of Gorgona, on the border between Peru and Chile, in latitude 18° south. Ringrose explains the thinking behind the decision: "A certain old man [a Moor], who had long time sailed among the Spaniards , told us, he could carry us to a place called Arica . Unto which Town, he said, all the Plate was brought down from Potosi, Chuquisaca , and several other places within the Land, where it was digged out of the Mountains and Mines. And that he doubted not, but that we might get there of purchase at least two thousand pound every man. For all the Plate of the South Sea lay there as it were in store; being deposited at the said place, until such time as the ships did fetch it away" (JP3 , 53-54).
Image not available.
In thick weather during the night of July 28-29, the Trinity and the Mayflower lost each other, to the consternation of both crews. When the Trinity arrived at the Isle of Plate (Wag. p. 152),[5] however, they were surprised and delighted to discover that the Mayflower had been at anchor there for some days and was just about to leave. So both ships remained at anchor off the island, and the crew spent three days refitting the rigging and catching and salting a good number of tortoises and goats.
Chap. XII
Captain Sharp and his company depart from the Isle of Plate, in prosecution of their Voyage towards Arica. They take two Spanish Vessels by the way, and learn intelligence from the enemy. Eight of their company destroyed at the Isle of Gallo. Tediousness of this Voyage, and great hardship they endured. Description of the Coast all along, and their sailings.
The two ships sailed on August 17, 1680, making to the south. However, the Mayflower proved a very slow sailer and had to be taken in tow by the Trinity . A week later, off Guayaquil, Sharp captured a Spanish bark—his first success since leaving the Panama area two months before. Though quite small, the bark yielded 3,276 pieces of eight and several important prisoners, including Nicolas Moreno, the pilot, who was to remain with the buccaneers for many months.
From their prisoners, the buccaneers learned that they had indeed been expected off Guayaquil and that the viceroy of Peru had taken steps to warn coastal towns, instructing shipping to stay in port. The Spaniards had discovered the English seafarers' intentions—for Guayaquil was Sawkins's original target—when a pirate bark had been captured off the Isle of Gallo earlier in May.
On the night of August 27, the Trinity was taken aback while towing the Mayflower ; resulting in a collision in which the latter's bowsprit was fractured. The next day, having transferred the Mayflower's forty-man crew and stores to the Trinity , the disabled ship was sunk, "for that Country could not afford us a Tree large enough to make a new Boltspreet" (JP1 , 25).
On September 4, another ship was captured. After stripping her of most of her cargo, the buccaneers cut down her masts, put most of their earlier prisoners aboard with some food and water, and set her adrift. Some important prisoners were retained: Captain Peralta, taken at Perico; Captain Juan from the San Pedro ; Captain Argandona, the pilot Moreno, and two others from the vessel taken off Guayaquil; and "twelve slaves, of whom we intended to make good use, to do the drudgery of our ship" (JP3 , 82).
Chap. XIII
A continuation of their long and tedious Voyage to Arica, with a description of the Coasts and Sailings thereunto. Great hardship they endured for want of Water and other Provisions. They are descryed at Arica, and dare not land there; the Country being all in Arms before them. They retire from thence, and go unto Puerto de Hilo, close by Arica. Here they land, take the Town with little or no loss on their side, refresh themselves with Provisions; but in the end are cheated by the Spaniards, and forced shamefully to retreat from thence.
The course from Guayaquil to Arica is directly in the face of the Southeast Trade Winds, which blow steadily almost parallel to the coast throughout the year. Sharp therefore, on September 7, 1680, set course in a southwesterly direction to make sufficient offing before their intended descent on Arica. On the 19th, having sailed almost a thousand miles, he turned eastward. The following night, the two Magellanic Clouds—galaxies visible to the naked eye in the southern hemisphere—
[5] The Isle of Plate (Isla de la Plata) was so called by the Spaniards because Drake was supposed to have divided his spoil there after his successful cruise northward in 1579, when each man—so the story went—received twelve tons of plate and sixteen bowls of corns. We now know that this did not happen.
were seen from the Trinity . Ringrose reported that the smaller was "about the bigness of a mans hat" (JP3 , 85).
More than a month later, on October 22, they sighted land, a little north of Arica, almost on the present-day boundary between Peru and Chile. By this time they were very short of water, each man's ration being only half a pint a day. But they did not dare land lest they should be discovered prematurely. On the evening of Monday, October 25, having anchored about six leagues south of Arica, most of the crew left the ship in the launch they had captured from the last prize, with canoes under tow, and rowed all night toward the town of Arica. When dawn came, though, they found not only that the sea was so bad that landing from boats would be hazardous, but also that the alarm had been raised—defenders lined the beach, and ships lay at anchor in the roads. The buccaneers turned tail and rowed back to their ship, where they decided to attack instead the village of Ilo (Hilo), about seventy miles up the coast (Wag. pp. 212-14). This they did on October 27, sacking the village and a neighboring sugarworks. Finally after six days they were driven off, most of their plunder still ashore; moreover, they were forced to sail without having found many of the fresh provisions they so badly needed to combat the disease of scurvy, cases of which were beginning to appear among the crew.
Image not available.
Chap. XIV
The Bucaniers depart from the Port of Hilo, and sail unto that of Coquimbo.
They are descryed before their arrival.
Notwithstanding they land: are encountred by the Spaniards, and put them to flight. They take, plunder, and fire the City of la Serena. A description thereof. A Stratagem of the Spaniards in endeavouring to fire their ship, discovered and prevented. They are deceived again by the Spaniards, and forced to retire from Coquimbo, without any Ransom for the City, or considerable pillage. They release several of their chiefest Prisoners.
On November 3, 1680, the Trinity sailed from Ilo, once again steering away from the coast to make a large tack to reach Coquimbo, some 11° of latitude south of Arica and about two hundred miles north of Valparaíso. During this passage, before dawn on November 19, 1680, Ringrose saw the great comet of 1680, used by Isaac Newton in his Principia of 1687 to illustrate his newly invented method of calculating a cometary orbit. Ring-rose reported that the body was dull and the tail extended eighteen to twenty degrees directly north-northwest (JP3 , 101).
They made a landfall on December 2 and, near Coquimbo early the next day, landed a hundred men to attack the neighboring town of La Serena, of which Ringrose says, "I took this following ground-plat thereof" (JP3 , 106; see below). La Serena was quite a substantial place, with seven churches (all with organs) and a chapel. "Stayed in it 4 days," says Ringrose; "took much provision and some church plate, [and] very rich Church robes" (Wag. p. 232). He also commended the strawberries: "as big as Walnuts, and those very delicious to the taste" (JP3 , 105). Having set fire to the town because the Spanish promise of a ransom was not fulfilled, they returned to the ship to discover that she had been the object of a remarkably sophisticated sabotage attempt. Undetected by those left on board, a Spaniard floated out to the ship on an inflated horse's hide, coming under the stern of the ship. He then crammed oakum, sulphur, and other combustible material between the rudder and the sternpost and set it on fire. Alarmed by smoke from the burning rudder, the shipkeepers thought their prisoners were responsible, but they soon found the source of the fire and put it out before too much damage was done. The daring sabo-
Image not available.
teur got successfully ashore again, leaving the hide and a match burning at both ends, which were found by crewmembers who went ashore immediately after the incident (JP3 , 109).
Even after three hundred years, Sharp's exploits are still remembered in Chile. In the region around Coquimbo and La Serena, there is a saying, "Ya llegó el charqui a Coquimbo" ("The uninvited guest is already at Coquimbo"), deriving from an earlier version, "Ya llegó el Charpe a Coquimbo" ("Sharp is already at Coquimbo"), from the period when Spanish mothers used to frighten their children by citing Sharp as a bogey-man. It is said that sometimes the expression was varied to "Ya llegó el Draque a Coquimbo," a reference to Sir Francis Drake, an even earlier bogeyman in South America (Prof. Lawrence B. Kiddle of Ann Arbor, private communication).
Before sailing, all but one of the more important prisoners were set free. Among these was Captain Peralta, a man much admired by Ringrose—he probably taught Ringrose Spanish—who seems to have been willing to share his local navigational knowledge with the buccaneers. Only the pilot Moreno remained, to be put ashore at Nicoya five months later.
Image not available.
Chap. XV
The Bucaniers depart from Coquimbo for the Isle of Juan Fernandez. An exact account of this Voyage. Misery they endure, and great dangers they escape very narrowly there. They mutiny among themselves, and choose Watling to be their chief Commander.
Description of the Island. Three Spanish Men of War meet with the Bucaniers, at the said Island; but these outbrave them on the one side, and give them the slip on the other.
Still very short of water and provisions, the Trinity sailed from Coquimbo on December 7, 1680, heading for the island of Juan Fernández about four hundred miles to the southwest, where she anchored on Christmas Day on the south side of the main island, in a bay open to the prevailing southeasterly winds. In the eighteen days they spent off the island, they never found a secure anchorage: anchors dragged and the cable parted time and time again (although, except on final departure, there were no reports of anchors not being recovered). On one occasion, Ringrose, in charge of a party sent ashore for water, was stranded for two nights when the weather was so bad that the party could not return on board and the ship had to put to sea. Despite these difficulties, however, the buccaneers managed to embark wood, water, and goat meat (Wag. p. 256n).
On January 2, 1681, John Hilliard, the Trinity 's master, died. John Cox, former captain of the Mayflower , became master for the starboard watch, John Fall for the larboard. Perhaps these appointments stimulated mutiny no. 4, described thus by Bartholomew Sharp himself:
My company understanding that I was resolved home this year they got privately on shore together & consulted to turn me out of bearing command, & put in another in my place, the promoter of which designe as I was cordially informed after was a true hearted desembleing New England man, whom I for old aquaintance sake had taken from before the mast (& made him my vice admirall) it was not at all for his manhood or art for he had none (only as I said before for old aquaintance) as they consulted so they acted, & took my ship perforce out of my possesion, & kept me as prisoner. There was about 70 of them in the caball. This fellow that bred the mutiny was named John Cox.
(J11 , Jan. 6, 1681)
William Dick fills in some of the background for this dispute:
From Coquimbo we sailed to the Isles of Juan Fernandez , where we kept our Christmass, that year 1680, finding there good plenty of Provisions, and as much dissention among our Men, who would not return home that year, as our Captain would have them to do, but make a farther search for Gold,
Image not available.
Image not available.
A description of Juan Fernández in Basil Ringrose's holograph journal (Jan. 11-14, 1681).
(From British Library MS. Sloane 3820, ff. 82r, 82v.)
Image not available.
Basil Ringrose's journal description of Juan Fernández in the printed version.
(From John Exquemelin, Bucaniers of America , [London, 1685], pt. 4, pp. 122-23.)
or golden Prizes, into those Seas. But the true occasion of their grudg was, that Captain Sharp had got by these adventures, as it was said, almost a thousand pound, whereas many of our men were scarce worth a groat: and good reason there was for their poverty; for at the Isle of Plate , called by us Drakes Isle , and other places, they had lost all their money to their fellow Bucaniers , at dice; so that some had a great deal, and others just nothing. Those who were thrifty men sided with Captain Sharp , and were for returning home; but the others chose another Commander, by name John Watling , and turned Sharp out of his Commission, pretending they could do it as being a free election. And so they might do, for they were the greatest number by far; and power may pretend to anything.
(JP2 , 3:76)
The new commander, John Watling, "an old privateer and a stout seaman" (said to have been the Watling who gave his name to the Bahamian island that some say was Columbus's first sight of land in the New World), seems to have brought a certain respectability to the company. The day after he took command he put William Cook, servant to the deposed Capt. Edmund Cook, in irons for committing unnatural acts and for alleged sedition. (William Cook died for reasons not specified on February 14.) Two days later, a Sunday, Watling held Divine Service, the first since the death of Sawkins—who, a rather unctuous Ringrose added, had even gone so far as to throw dice overboard when he found them being used for gaming on the Sabbath.
Later that week, on January 12, three Spanish men-of-war were sighted approaching the island. Watling slipped his cable and put to sea immediately,[6] sailing northeastward toward Arica once more.
Chap. XVI
The Bucaniers depart from the Isle of Juan Fernandez, unto that of Yqueque.
Here they take several Prisoners, and learn intelligence of the posture of affairs at Arica. Cruelty committed upon one of the said prisoners, who had rightly informed them. They attempt Arica the second time, and take the Town, but are beaten out of it again before they could plunder, with great loss of men, many of them being killed, wounded, and made Prisoners.
Captain Watling their chief Commander is killed in this Attacque, and Captain Sharp presently chosen again, who leadeth them off, and through Mountains of difficulties, maketh a bold Retreat unto the ship.
After a reconnaissance raid on the island of Iquique, where the buccaneers learned that Arica had been put in a state of defense, on January 27 Watling anchored the Trinity some forty miles south of Arica and set off in canoes. Three days later ninety-three men landed a couple of miles south of the town.
Watling proved to be a poor military commander, and the buccaneers were soundly repulsed, with thirty-one dead and nine taken prisoner, including three surgeons, said by Sharp to have been looting apothecary shops, by Ringrose to have been drinking, by Dick to have been tending the wounded—perhaps all three! Since Captain Watling was among those killed, Sharp was persuaded to reassume command. Better the devil, you know . . . ! The remaining forty-two men fought
Image not available.
[6] The island Juan Fernandez is known as the castaway island. In his journal for January 3, 1681 (J4 ), Ringrose relates a story told to him by a Spanish pilot: that, many years before, a ship was wrecked on the island with only one survivor, who lived alone for five years until he was picked up by a visiting ship. On the present occasion in January 1681, Watling sailed from the island so hurriedly that he left behind a Miskito Indian, William, who lived there for three years, evading visiting Spanish crews that attempted to find him. His rescue in March 1684 by the buccaneer ship Batchelor's Delight is described by Dampier: "He had a little House or Hut half a mile from the Sea, which was lined with Goats skin; his Couch or Barbecu of Sticks . . . was spread with the same, and as was all his Bedding. He had no clothes left . . . but only a Skin about his waste" (JP4 , 86).
The most famous castaway on the island was Alexander Selkirk, master of the privateer Cinque Ports , who in 1705, after a violent disagreement with his captain, Thomas Stradling, asked to be put ashore. He was taken off in 1709 by Woodes Rogers in the Duke and the Duchess , Dampier being present at his rescue. Selkirk's story was the inspiration for Darnel Defoe's famous novel Robinson Crusoe (1719). Selkirk became a master's mate in the Royal Navy; he died at the age of forty-five on board HMS Weymouth .
their way back to the boats and to the ship. They learned later that the Spaniards had lost seventy dead and two hundred wounded (Wag. pp. 214-16).
Chap. XVII
A description of the Bay of Arica. They sail from hence unto the Port of Guasco, where they get Provisions. A draught of the said Port. They land again at Hilo to revenge the former affronts, and took what they could find.
After the Arica fiasco Sharp, on February 1, 1681, once more headed southwest into the Pacific. On March 3, Ringrose tells us, all hands were called up and a council held. With winter approaching, the buccaneers decided that the time had come to abandon the project and return overland to the Caribbean (which, in the event, they did not do). But first it was essential to get water and provisions, so course was set for the mainland. About this time, Ringrose fell ill.
On March 12, they fell in with the coast of Chile a few miles north of Coquimbo and landed sixty men at the town of Huasco (Guasco) (Wag. p. 230). With almost no hindrance from the locals, who all ran away, the buccaneers embarked 500 jars of water, 120 sheep, 60 goats, and 200 bushels of corn, but alas, the inhabitants had driven away all the oxen and hidden their wine and plate.
Image not available.
After three days ashore, they sailed again on March 15, making northward before the prevailing wind at an average speed of about two and a half knots. On March 27, having passed Arica of bitter memory, they landed once again at the village of Ilo (Hilo) (Wag. p. 212), achieving complete surprise. There they took water, wine, figs and other fruit, molasses, and sugar. They sailed the same evening, making their way northwest-ward once again.
Chap. XVIII
They depart from the Port of Hilo, unto the Gulf of Nicoya, where they take down their decks, and mend the sailing of their ship. Forty seven of their Companions leave them, and go home over land. A description of the Gulf of Nicoya. They take two Barks and some Prisoners there. Several other remarques belonging to this Voyage.
From March 27 until April 16 they sailed without incident up the coast, once more averaging about two and a half knots thanks to favorable winds. On April 17, however, just north of the Isle of Plate and almost on the equator, mutiny broke out again—mutiny no. 5—a significant number of the crew being dissatisfied with Sharp as a leader. After much argument, it was decided that the matter should be put to a vote, the winning party to keep the ship and continue the voyage, the losing party to take the launch and two canoes. William Dampier describes the outcome:
Accordingly we put it to the Vote; and upon dividing, Captain Sharp 's Party carried it. I, who had never been pleased with his Management, though I had hitherto kept my Mind to my self, now declared my self on the side of those that were Out-voted; and according to our Agreement, we took Shares of such Necessaries, as were fit to carry over Land with us, (for that was our Resolution:) and so prepared for our Departure.
(JP4, IV )
Among those who elected to leave besides William Dampier (later to be author of A New Voyage Round the World [JP4 ] and other books) was the surgeon Lionel Wafer, who also wrote an account. The party, consisting of forty-four white men, three Indians, and five Negro slaves, was led by Capt. John Cook, a Creole (no relation to Edmund Cook, one-time captain of the Mayflower ). The launch and two canoes, provisioned and provided with sails, left the Trinity on April 17, 1681, sailing northward. The next day they succeeded in capturing a small bark, which made them much less cramped. On April 30, after a passage of more than six hundred miles, the three craft (one canoe was lost on the way) reached the Gulf of San Miguel, whence they had
set off for Panama almost exactly a year before. Abandoning their vessels and landing on May 1, the main party—without the injured Wafer, who had been left behind in the care of the Indians—reached the Caribbean twenty-three days and 110 miles later. But that, with Dampier's subsequent adventures, is another story.
To return to the Trinity , Captain Sharp and his party, which included John Cox, William Dick, and Basil Ringrose, were now down to sixty-five men. William Dick summed up the situation: "Now our Company and Forces were extremely weakned, but our hearts as yet were good, and though we had met with many disappointments in several places, yet we hoped that at last, by some means or other, we should attain the ends of our desires, which was, to enrich our selves" (JP2 , 3:78).
The weather was deteriorating, so Sharp decided to make northwestward for Central America once again. While on passage, in order to improve the Trinity 's sailing qualities, they started cutting down the quarterdeck so that she should be flush-decked. After a fifteen-day crossing of the mouth of the Gulf of Panama, they made a landfall on April 25 off Costa Rica at the island of Cano. They then moved up the coast to the Gulf of Nicoya, where they anchored on May 7 (Wag. p. 104). There they made several raids on villages in the vicinity, capturing a bark and getting news of the Spanish reactions to their raid on Panama a year earlier. More important, they captured a Spanish shipwright with his men, who were willing to help complete the alterations to the Trinity —to make her a flush-decked vessel, to shorten her masts, and to re-rig her. So pleased were the buccaneers with their services that, before they left the gulf, they gave them one of the captured barks. They also set free "the old pilot"—presumably Moreno (JP3 , 146).
Also at Nicoya, the pirates' interpreter, James Marquis (Ringrose calls him Cannis Marcy; the anonymous narrative calls him Copus), a Dutchman who had sailed in Spanish ships, became friendly with an Indian girl and deserted, leaving behind £500 worth of booty. Although the buccaneers were concerned that he would tell the Spaniards what he knew of their plans, losing him as an interpreter did not matter, said Dick, because Ringrose, "being a good Scholar, and full of ingeniosity, had also good skill in Languages" (JP2 , 3:79).
Image not available.
Chap. XIX
They depart from the Gulf of Nicoya, unto Golfo Dulce, where they careen their Vessel. An account of their sailings along the Coast. Also a description of Golfo Dulce. The Spaniards force the Indians of Darien unto a Peace, by a stratagem contrived in the name of the English.
On May 28, 1681, they weighed and tacked out of the Gulf of Nicoya with one captured bark in company, sailing southeast. It was just under a year since the Trinity had been careened, and since much of that year had been spent in tropical waters, her bottom was very foul. Sharp called the ship's company together to discuss plans. The decision was taken that they should head for Golfo Dulce—the "Sweet Gulf"—and careen there, and then sail to the coast of South America near the equator and cruise thereabouts looking for plunder.
Ringrose describes Golfo Dulce, which Sharp renamed "King Charles his harbour," as "a better place by far then that of Nicoya and secure from all winds, yea and from Spaniards also, for the Sea coast here is clear of that vermin, but here are Indians who were very friendly with us and came abourde with there wives and Children" (Wag. p. 110).
The Trinity and the bark captured at Nicoya entered the Gulf on June 6 and two days later found a
Image not available.
suitable place for careening, close to an Indian settlement where they built themselves a house to live in during the refit. Despite an alarming experience with a "great and fierce tornado," careening was successfully completed, the ship watered and provisioned, and Ringrose was able to take the bark round the gulf to do a running survey.
Chap. XX
They depart from Golfo Dulce, to go and cruise under the Æquinoctial. Here they take a rich Spanish vessel with 37000 Pieces of Eight, besides Plate and other Goods. They take also a Pacquet-boat bound from Panama to Lima. An account of their Sailings and the Coasts along.
Careening completed, they set sail for South America on June 28. Having had no success with raids ashore, they decided that the best strategy would be to lay in wait for Spanish coastal shipping on the trade route from Valdivia, Arica, Callao, and Guayaquil to Panama. Ringrose sailed in the captured bark—a better sailer, according to Ringrose, "than the man of war; for so we called the Trinity vessel; notwithstanding she was newly cleansed and tallowed" (JP3 , 156).
The two vessels made a landfall on July 5 in latitude 2° north, turning south just within sight of land and waiting near Cape San Francisco. On the 8th, their patience was rewarded: a comparatively large ship, the San Pedro , was captured—the same ship that fourteen months earlier had yielded so much money when taken in Panama Bay. This time her main cargo was coconuts, but Ringrose reported that she also carried 37,000 pieces of eight (£9,250, a substantial sum in the 1680s) and some wine and plate. They took her inshore and anchored, spending a leisurely few days "rummaging" their prize. Eventually they cut down the mainmast by the board, gave them her mainsail and victuals and drink enough, and sent her away "right afore the wind" for Panama. "The Master was very glad we gave him his ship again and the most part of his lading—that he swore that we were the honestest ladrones that ever he saw in his days" (J14 , 63). The dividend shared out a few days later amounted to 234 pieces of eight per man (with a far larger share for the captains and the officers).
On the 27th, cruising in the same area, they took another small prize, a barco d'aviso , or packetboat, which however yielded no worthwhile loot and was set adrift with her crew.
Chap. XXI
They take another Spanish ship richly laden under the Æquinoctial. They make several Dividends of their booty among themselves. They arrive at the Isle of Plate, where they are in danger of being all Massacred by their Slaves and Prisoners. Their departure from thence for the Port and Bay of Paita, with design to plunder the said place.
On July 29, 1681, probably the most important incident in the whole voyage occurred—an incident that was to lead directly to the publishing of this book. Sharp's journal starts the story: "29th Fryday. In the morning about 7 of the clock we espied a sayle in the offing. She boare NW, per judgement 4 miles. Wee gave chase and came up with her" (J6 , 96). Cox's printed version continues: "the Spaniard began to fire some small Arms at us, but our way being to come Board and Board [close alongside, with the ships touching], and never to fire a Shot at randome, when we came up close with her, we warmed their Decks so that they soon struck, and called for Quarter" (JP1 , 88). Ringrose amplifies the story: "They fired 3 or 4 guns first at us but wee answered them with a continuall volley soe that they ran down into the hole [sic ]. Wee kild there Capt: and a Seaman & wounded the Boateswane so they calld quarter: soe our Capt: and 12 of us entered her. I saw the finest woman I have seen in the South Sea. There capts name was Don Diego Lopez. Wee found 40 men onboarde" (J4 , f. 106v). The ship's name was El Santo Rosario ("The Holy Rosary"), and she was bound for Panama from Callao.
It is interesting that three minor events of this incident are mentioned in only some of the accounts. The first was referred to only by Sharp and Ringrose: "In this Vessel we took also a Prize of the Lady call'd Donna Joanna Constanta , about 18 Years of age, Wife to Don John, and the beautifullest Creature that my Eyes beheld in the South Seas" (JP6 , 52). The second concerns a prize of silver (unhappily, not recognized as such)
mentioned by Dick, Cox, and the unknown narrator but not by Sharp or Ringrose; the best account was Dick's:
In this Ship, besides the lading above-mentioned we found also almost 700 Pigs of Plate, but we took them to be some other Metal, especially Tin: and under this mistake they were slighted by us all, especially the Captain, and Seamen, who by no perswasions used by some few, who were for having them rummaged, could not be induced to take them into our Ship, as we did most of the other things. Thus we left them on board the Rosario , and not knowing what to do with the bottom, in that scarcity of men we were under, we turned her away loose unto the Sea: being very glad we had got such good Belly-timber out of her, and thinking little what quantity of rich Metal we left behind. It should seem this Plate was not yet thorowly refined and fitted for to coyn; and this was the occasion that deceived us all. One only Pig of Plate, out of the whole number of almost seven hundred, we took into our Ship, thinking to make Bullets of it: and to this effect, or what else, our Seamen pleased, the greatest part of it was melted or squandred away. Afterwards, when we arrived at Antego , we gave the remaining part of it, which was yet about one third thereof, unto a Bristol man, who knew presently what it was, (though he dissembled with us) brought it for England, and sold it there for seventy five pound sterling, as he confessed himself afterwards to some of our men. Thus we parted with the richest Booty we had gotten in the whole Voyage, through our own ignorance and laziness.
(JP2 , 3:80)
The third event is that which gave rise to this book—the capturing of the Spanish charts and sailing directions. Dick tells us the circumstances, following immediately from the last quotation:
In this ship the Rosario we took also a great Book full of Sea-Charts and Maps, containing a very accurate and exact description of all the Ports, Soundings, Creeks, Rivers, Capes, and Coasts belonging to the South Sea, and all the Navigations usually performed by the Spaniards in that Ocean. This Book, it seemeth, serveth them for an entire and compleat Wagenaer , in those Parts, and for its novelty and curiosity, was presented unto his Majesty after our return into England . It hath been since translated into English, as I hear, by his Majesties Order, and the Copy of the Translation, made by a Jew, I have seen at Wapping ; but withal, the Printing thereof is severely prohibited, lest other Nations should get into those Seas and make use thereof, which is wished may be reserved only for England against its due time. The Seaman, who at first laid hold on it, on board the Rosario , told us, the Spaniards were going to cast this Book over-board, but that he prevented them, which notwithstanding we scarce did give entire credit unto, as knowing in what confusion they all were. Had the Captain himself been alive at that time, this his Story would have deserved more belief; yet, howsoever, if the Spaniards did not attempt to throw this Book into the Sea, at least they ought to have done it for the reasons that are obvious to every mans understanding and are hinted at before.
(JP2 , 3:81-82)
These documents were extremely valuable in terms of military intelligence. Whether there was any official attempt to suppress the fact that they had been captured we do not know, but the only account ever printed was that of Dick, in the earliest published account of the voyage in i684 (JP2 ). No early manuscript version of the various journals mentioned the capture of the documents, and the first manuscript reference outside State Papers occurred in the version of Sharp's journal prepared for the Admiralty after 1686,[7] where the entry for July 29, 1681 (J11 ), states:
In this prize I took a Spanish manuscript of prodigious vallue. It describes all the ports, roads, harbours, bayes, sands, rocks & riseing of the land & instructions how to work a ship into any port or harbour between the Latt. of 17°.15' N°[Acapulco] and 57° S° Latt. [Cape Horn]. They were goeing to throw it over board but by good luck I saved it. The Spaniards cried when I gott the book. (farwell South Sea now) allso I took in this a nother jewell vizt a young Lady about 18 years of age. Her name was Dona Jowna Constanta a very comely creature. Her husbands name was Don Juan &a . The ship was call'd the Rosario.
Otherwise, the capture of the documents is mentioned only in the very last known copy of Sharp's journal (J13 ).
The next day, the buccaneers took their prize inshore and anchored her under Cape Pasado (Pasao), just 23 minutes south of the equator. There they "rummaged" her, removing jars of wine and brandy—the number varying between 400 and 650 according to the account—together with much plate, oil, fruit, and some ready money, but ignoring the pigs of "tin." They then cut down the Rosario 's masts, leaving only the foremast standing, and, on July 31, set her adrift with all the prisoners—including the comely Donna Joanna—except "Francisco , who was a Biscainer , by reason he reported himself to be the best Pilot of those Seas" (JP3 , 163), and a 15-year-old, Simón Calderón, who became Sharp's servant.
They stayed at anchor under Cape Pasado for four days, during which time they stripped and then scuttled the bark they had captured at Nicoya. Weighing anchor on August 2 and standing south-southeast, the buccaneers shared out the ready money taken in the Rosario —amounting to ninety-four pieces of eight per man—at sea. On the 12th they anchored off the Isle of
[7] The Admiralty copy of Sharp's journal (J11/A5) was prepared by William Hack (he signed two of the sketches) and incorporated into a single volume together with a copy of the "Waggoner Appendix" (part of the captured "great Book" from the Rosario ) and a copy of Ambrose Cowley's journal of that voyage ended in October 1686—hence the dating of after 1686.
Plate once again, going ashore for goat meat. For some unspecified reason, the quartermaster, James Chappel, fought a duel with Ringrose, who neglects to give us the result, but in any case, Ringrose survived. Later there was another mutiny, this time by the slaves, which was quickly and brutally suppressed by Sharp. While at the island, the Trinity was given "a pair of boots and tops" (the hull was painted near the waterline—"between wind and water"—with tallow, etc.; the term boot-topping is still used for the equivalent operation today), and the crew meanwhile got very merry sampling the wine and brandy taken from the Rosario .
With throbbing heads, they sailed on the 16th, making what progress they could southward against contrary winds. It had been generally agreed that the time had come to make tracks for home, with a stop on the way in Paita, some 150 miles south of Guayaquil, to provide themselves with necessaries.
Chap. XXII
They arrive at Paita, where they are disappointed of their expectations, as not daring to land, seeing all the Country alarmed before them. They bear away for the Straight of Magallanes. Description of the Bay and Port of Paita, and Colan. An account of their Sailings towards the Streight aforementioned.
On August 28, 1681, the buccaneers arrived off Paita and sent two canoes toward the town (Wag. p. 162). On approaching the harbor, however, they were fired upon; obviously the element of surprise had been lost, so the canoes returned to the Trinity , and the final decision was taken to head for home with no further aggressive endeavors.
Image not available.
Sharp therefore set a southwesterly course out into the Pacific to take advantage of the Southeast Trade Winds, which prevail as far as 30° south latitude. They sailed on that course for about a month, altering to a southeasterly course toward the entrance of the Strait of Magellan about September 27. From then on, the ever-increasing northwest winds drove them at a great rate—greater than they estimated, as we shall see.
Chap. XXIII
The Bucaniers arrive at a place incognito, unto which they give the name of the Duke of Yorks Islands . A description of the said Islands, and of the Gulf, or Lagoon, wherein they lie, so far as it was searched. They remain there many days by stress of weather, not without great dangers of being lost. An account of some other things remarkable that hapned there.
"And about 3 a clock in the morning the watch saw breakers very near us and under our lee. It blew [so] hard that a night before we had handed our topp sailes, and went under a pair, of coarses & our mizen. Wee wear gott now up to
So ran one account of the dramatic happenings on the morning of October 12, 1681. "It was the great mercy of God, which had always attended us in this Voyage, that saved us from perishing at this time; for we were close ashoar before we saw it; and our fore-yard, which we most needed on this occasion, was taken down" (JP3 , 178).
They entered an inlet, which they named English Gulf (Wag. p. 252), anchoring in the first instance in forty fathoms of water within a stone's throw of the shore. Until late October the weather was appalling, and various journals describe the continual dragging and losing of anchors, the parting of even the largest cables, the need to shift berth again and again, sometimes while attached to the shore, sometimes when just
Image not available.
at anchor. On October 15 the rudder touched ground and the goose-neck fitting was broken—a disaster indeed.
On October 28, however, the weather began to mend—it got hot and the snow began to melt, bringing fog with it. The calmer weather allowed the buccaneers to unship and repair the rudder. As for food, they had the occasional penguin and goose but mostly had to be contented with mussels, limpets, and cockles—which is presumably why Ringrose had to record this in his journal for October 30: "I myself could not go [on an expedition to the other side of the island], as I desired, being with two or three more, at that time very much tormented with the Gripes" (JP3 , 183). They were all very glad of the wine and brandy taken from the Rosario . Although they met a few natives, most had fled.
Image not available.
The land they had so abruptly discovered was named by Sharp "His Royal Highness the Duke of York's Islands," and on today's charts the Isla Duque de York is shown at the latitude observed by Ringrose and others. Said Sharp: "and we observed by our astrolobes on shore & found ourselves to be in Lat.
Despite its title, the chart of the gulf shown here describes only the vicinity of their last anchorage within English Gulf, whence they sailed on November 5, having abandoned the idea of wintering there as so little food was to be had.
Chap. XXIV
They depart from the English Gulf in quest of the Straight of Magallanes which they cannot find. They return home by an unknown way, never Navigated before.
Heading first southwest away from land, they altered southeasterly after three days, cautiously approaching what they thought should be the Pacific entrance to the Strait of Magellan. However, worsening weather drove them further and further south; by November 16 and 17 they had sighted whales and icebergs, by Ringrose's observation in latitude 58°23' south.[8] Experiencing by turns gales, calms, and fog, they drove eastward, then, about November 21, altered northeast into the Atlantic. Sharp and his men thus became the first Englishmen to double Cape Horn eastward, probably at a distance of some 150 miles—not even Drake had been so far south. They also proved that south of South America there was no such continent as Terra Australis incognita . Dick stated this in print: "Neither could we make any Land, but came round about such a way, as peradventure never any Mortals came before us; yet nothing remarkable did we see or meet withal, except hard Weather, and here and there some floats of Ice, of two or three
[8] The farthest south by observation on November 17 was reported as follows:
Ringrose 58°23' S Sharp 58°15' S Cox 58°10' S Cape Horn is in 56° S, Isla Diego Ramírez in 56°30' S.
Leagues long " (JP2 , 3:82-83)—although this statement did not stop lames Cook being sent to search for the southern continent ninety years later.
While going around Cape Horn, an incident occurred that was recorded by the unknown journal-keeper in the crew:
One night as wee weare getting about the Land, some men gott merry Especially the capt. and his mess, which caused some words to arise betweene the capt. and some of the company, in so much that they fell to blowes, but the captain runns into his cabban and fetches out [a] Pistoll loden, and comeing to one of our Peepple by name Richard Hendricks fired itt off as he thought att his head, but it pleased god it mist his head and grased on his neck. The next morning wee found the shott placed in one of the Dead Eyes in the maine shroudes which was but jus behinde him. The Capt. thought he had kil'd the man [and] cried out Armes, their was one dead, and he would kill more, [at] which [the] cabban mess ran and fetched their armes forthwith, and those that weir awake was fetching theirs likewise, which [if they] had not been soberer then others and [had] more discretion in them, Sharpe had certanly been kill'd [and] it had likt to have been a bad business. But when things came to an understanding, all was husht upp, especially findeing the man not so much hurt as wee did suppose and was cured in a weeks time.
(J14 , 68)
On December 5 they decided to share out the eight chests of money remaining undistributed, each man getting 322 pieces of eight (about £80). On December 7 Sharp became aware of a plot to kill him on Christmas Day, and, feeling he would be safer if stocks of wine were reduced, he gave orders that the wine was to be shared out then and there—three jars per mess.
So the Trinity sailed northeast into mid-Atlantic.
Chap. XXV
The Bucaniers continue their Navigation, without seeing any Land, till they arrive at the Caribby Islands in the West Indies. They give away their Ship to some of their Companions that were poor; and disperce for several Countrys. The Author of this Journal arriveth in England.
By Christmas Day they were in hot weather in the latitude of Rio de Janeiro. Apparently Sharp's precautions succeeded, and there were no mutinous troubles for him. The ship's company had a merry Christmas dinner, eating their first meat since leaving Duke of York's Island: a pig, brought on board as a piglet at Nicoya in May and now weighing ninety pounds, was killed, together with a Spanish dog bought from the quartermaster for 40 pieces of eight. This food was washed down with several barrels of wine.
On January 18, 1682, by now very short of water, they reached the latitude of Barbados, 13°10' north, and turned west with the Trade Wind on the starboard quarter to "run down the latitude" to Barbados.[9] Ten days later, an hour before daybreak on January 28, Barbados was sighted bearing south-southwest, two and a half leagues (about ten miles)—a remarkable landfall considering it was the first land to be sighted since they had left Patagonia nearly three months and some nine thousand nautical miles before. Altogether a wonderful feat of navigation!
Also remarkable is that none of the journalists mention any of the crew suffering from scurvy—which one would have expected after forty days on the usual seagoing diet of that time, lacking as it did fresh fruit and vegetables.
They made for Spikes Roads in the northeast part of the island, where they were met by the pinnace of the frigate Richmond , whose crew refused an invitation to come on board. "Neither dared we be so bold, as to put in there at Barbado's; for hearing of a Frigat lying there, we feared least the said Frigat should seize us for Privateers, and for having acted in all our voyage without Commission. Thus we stood away from thence for the Island of Antego " (JP3 , 210).
While on passage north, the crew gave Captain Sharp a mulatto boy "to wait upon him" to thank him for all he had done. They also had a final share-out of plunder.
On January 30, the Trinity arrived off Antigua (some later accounts say Nevis), where the governor, Colonel Codrington, refused them permission to land, though they were able to get provisions. It was thereupon decided that every man should shift for himself, with seven men who had lost all their money at play being given the Trinity . What happened is described in the Epilogue.
[9] Though finding latitude at sea was comparatively easy, there was at that time no practicable method for determining longitude. To find the island of Barbados, Sharp therefore used the standard technique of "running down the latitude"—aiming for a point well to the east of the destination until its latitude is reached, then turning west toward the island, with the Northeast Trades on the starboard quarter, and trying to track exactly west (true) by maintaining the same latitude, checked by observation as frequently as possible. The results of using this technique are well illustrated in Fig. p. 12.
So ended a remarkable voyage, remarkable not only for the navigational feats achieved but also for the damage done to Spanish interests by so very few men—even if they were pirates. The Spaniards themselves estimated the total damage done to shipping and ports at more than 4 million pesos, with twenty-five ships destroyed and probably more than two hundred Spaniards killed (Artíñano de Galdácano 1917, quoted in Gerhard 1960, 153).