And put to death by the Spaniards. On their landing, the Spanish Governor put to death all his French prisoners, except seventeen of the officers. Afterwards in an engagement with the Spaniards, D'Ogeron lost seventeen men, and found his strength not sufficient to force the Spaniards to terms; upon which he withdrew from Porto Rico, and returned to Tortuga. The seventeen French officers that were spared in the massacre of the prisoners, the Governor of Porto Rico put on board a vessel bound for the Tierra Firma, with the intention of transporting them to Peru; but from that fate they were delivered by meeting at sea with an English Buccaneer cruiser. Thus, by the French Governor General disputing about a trifling balance, three hundred of the French Buccaneers, whilst employed for the French king's service under one of his officers, were sacrificed.
CHAPTER VII
1673. Thomas Peche. In 1673, Thomas Peche, an Englishman, fitted out a ship in England for a piratical voyage to the South Sea against the Spaniards. Previous to this, Peche had been many years a Buccaneer in the West Indies, and therefore his voyage to the South Sea is mentioned as a Buccaneer expedition; but it was in no manner connected with any enterprise in or from the West Indies. The only information we have of Peche's voyage is from a Spanish author, Seixas y Lovera; and by that it may be conjectured that Peche sailed to the Aleutian Isles.12
1675. About this time the French West-India Company was suppressed; but another Company was at the same time erected in its stead, and under the unpromising title of Compagnie des Fermiers du domaine d'Occident.
La Sound attempts to cross the Isthmus. Since the plundering of Panama, the imaginations of the Buccaneers had been continually running on expeditions to the South Sea. This was well known to the Spaniards, and produced many forebodings and prophecies, in Spain as well as in Peru, of great invasions both by sea and land. The alarm was increased by an attempt of a French Buccaneer, named La Sound, with a small body of men, to cross over land to the South Sea. La Sound got no farther than the town of Cheapo, and was driven back. Dampier relates, 'Before my going to the South Seas, I being then on board a privateer off Portobel, we took a packet from Carthagena. We opened a great many of the merchants' letters, several of which informed their correspondents of a certain prophecy that went about Spain that year, the tenor of which was, That the English privateers in the West Indies would that year open a door into the South Seas.'
Voyage of Ant. de Vea to the Strait of Magalhanes. In 1675, it was reported and believed in Peru, that strange ships, supposed to be Pirates, had been seen on the coast of Chili, and it was apprehended that they designed to form an establishment there. In consequence of this information or rumour, the Viceroy sent a ship from Peru, under the command of Don Antonio de Vea, accompanied with small barks as tenders, to reconnoitre the Gulf de la Santissima Trinidada, and to proceed thence to the West entrance of the Strait of Magalhanes. De Vea made examination at those places, and was convinced, from the poverty of the land, that no settlement of Europeans could be maintained there. One of the Spanish barks, with a crew of sixteen men, was wrecked on the small Islands called Evangelists, at the West entrance of the Strait. De Vea returned to Callao in April 167613.
1676. The cattle in Hispaniola had again multiplied so much as to revive the business of hunting and the boucan. In 1676, some French who had habitations in the Peninsula of Samana (the NE part of Hispaniola) made incursions on the Spaniards, and plundered one of their villages. Not long afterwards, the Spaniards learnt that in Samana there were only women and children, the men being all absent on the chace; and that it would be easy to surprise not only the habitations, but the hunters also, who had a boucan at a place called the Round Mountain. Massacre of the French in Samana. This the Spaniards executed, and with such full indulgence to their wish to extirpate the French in Hispaniola, that they put to the sword every one they found at both the places. The French, in consequence of this misfortune, strengthened their fortifications at Cape François, and made it their principal establishment in the Island.
1678. French Fleet wrecked on the Isles de Aves. In 1678, the French again undertook an expedition against the Dutch Island Curaçao, with a large fleet of the French king's ships, under the command of Admiral the Count d'Etrées. The French Court were so earnest for the conquest of Curaçao, to wipe off the disgrace of the former failure, that the Governor of Tortuga was ordered to raise 1200 men to join the Admiral d'Etrées. The king's troops within his government did not exceed 300 men; nevertheless, the Governor collected the number required, the Flibustiers willingly engaging in the expedition. Part of them embarked on board the king's ships, and part in their own cruising vessels. By mistake in the navigation, d'Etrées ran ashore in the middle of the night on some small Isles to the East of Curaçao, called de Aves, which are surrounded with breakers, and eighteen of his ships, besides some of the Flibustier vessels, were wrecked. The crews were saved, excepting about 300 men.
The Curaçao expedition being thus terminated, the Flibustiers who had engaged in it, after saving as much as they could of the wrecks, went on expeditions of their own planning, to seek compensation for their disappointment and loss. Granmont. Some landed on Cuba, and pillaged Puerto del Principe. One party, under Granmont, a leader noted for the success of his enterprises, went to the Gulf of Venezuela, and the ill-fated towns Maracaibo and Gibraltar were again plundered; but what the Buccaneers obtained was not of much value. In August this year, France concluded a treaty of peace with Spain and Holland.
The Government in Jamaica had by this time relapsed to its former propensities, and again encouraged the Buccaneers, and shared in their gains. One crew of Buccaneers carried there a vessel taken from the Spaniards, the cargo of which produced for each man's share to the value of 400l. After disposing of the cargo, they burnt the vessel; and 'having paid the Governor his duties, they embarked for England, where,' added the author, 'some of them live in good reputation to this day14.'
As long as the war had lasted between France and Spain, the French Buccaneers had the advantage of being lawful privateers. An English Buccaneer relates, 'We met a French private ship of war, mounting eight guns, who kept in our company some days. Her commission was only for three months. We shewed him our commission, which was for three years to come. This we had purchased at a cheap rate, having given for it only ten pieces of eight; but the truth of the thing was, that our commission was made out at first only for three months, the same date as the Frenchman's, whereas among ourselves we contrived to make it that it should serve for three years, for with this we were resolved to seek our fortunes.' Whenever Spain was at war with another European Power, adventurers of any country found no difficulty in the West Indies in procuring commissions to war against the Spaniards; with which commission, and carrying aloft the flag of the nation hostile to Spain, they assumed that they were lawful enemies. Such pretensions did them small service if they fell into the hands of the Spaniards; but they were allowed in the ports of neutral nations, which benefited by being