Читать книгу The Life of Sir Henry Morgan. With an account of the English settlement of the island of Jamaica - Ernest Alex Cruikshank - Страница 9

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When Henry Morgan returned to Port Royal from Central America with his companions, Jackman and Morris, after an absence of not less than twenty-nine months, he was thirty years of age and had acquired considerable celebrity as an active and successful commander of a privateer, and probably a satisfactory share of prize money as a result of this long cruise. He then learned, perhaps with some surprise, that his uncle, Edward Morgan, had been appointed deputy-governor of Jamaica, but had died, leaving in the island a family of six children, several of them; being still minors. It seems that he then became first acquainted with these cousins and not long afterwards was married to the second surviving daughter, Mary Elizabeth, who according to her father's will had become heiress to his "pretence" or interest in the ancestral estate of Llanrhymney in Wales. Her elder sister, Anna Petronella, had already become the wife of Major Robert Byndloss, who had been a member for Cagway of the first House of Assembly, and was then commandant of Port Charles and a member of the Council. He was the owner of a fine estate of about two thousand acres in the Vale of St. Thomas, which still bears his name.

The exact date of Henry Morgan's marriage has not been ascertained. It is nearly certain that it took place at Port Royal, and the register of marriages in that parish before 1727 has been lost.

The parish records of St. Catherine show that on the 30th November, 1671, Joanna Wilhelmina, Edward Morgan's third surviving daughter, was married to Colonel Henry Archbould, of Constant Spring, also a member of the Council, and the proprietor of one of the largest tracts of land in the island.[106] He was many years her senior.

Henry Morgan's relationship with the deceased deputy-governor and his marriage to his daughter were probably factors in obtaining the favour of the governor and council, combined with his undoubted energy and ability.

No reliable record has been found of his being engaged in privateering for the next two years. The untrustworthy History of the Bucaniers indeed states that Edward Mansfield, who is called "Mansvelt", selected him as his second in command, and that he accompanied him to Old Providence. This statement has been repeated by several later writers, including Sir J. K. Laughton in his article on Morgan in the Dictionary of National Biography, but is not supported by any contemporary evidence of weight. The fatigue and hardship endured in his recent arduous expeditions prompted him to seek rest and relaxation in the life of a planter.

Nothing was heard from Mansfield in Jamaica until about the end of May, 1666, when two of the ships that had sailed with him came into Port Royal with the news of his failure to accomplish anything against the Dutch. They reported that Curacao might have been taken, but "the private soldiers aboard the Admiral were against it, averring that there was more profit with less hazard to be gotten against the Spaniard, which was their only interest."[107]

Mansfield then complied with their wishes, probably with little reluctance, as his own inclinations seem to have agreed with theirs. A Spanish prisoner offered to conduct them to Cartago, the thriving capital of the wealthy province of Costa Rica, which they were told was rich and unfortified. A landing was made at Punta del Toro in the bay of Almirante, near Matina in the "kingdom of Veragua", on April 8, and they marched rapidly ninety miles inland in the hope of taking Cartago by surprise. As long as they were in the lowlands they had little difficulty in obtaining provisions by plundering the native plantations, but after ascending the Cordillera little could be procured. Quarrels over the partition of this scanty supply began between the English and the French. After entering the town of Turrialba, 2,500 feet above the sea level, now renowned for the excellence of its pineapples, they found their further advance stiffly opposed. Mansfield's followers are said to have numbered six hundred men of several nationalities, speaking different languages, as among them, besides many English, there were Flemings, French, Genoese, Greeks, Levantines, Portuguese, Indians, and negroes. Chief among his officers were named John Davis, Joseph Bradley, and the Frenchman, Jean Le Maire.

His advanced guard swam across the river Reventazon, and at the hacienda of Don Alonso de Bonilla, sargento-mayor of the province, they surprised a party of native labourers, whom they tried to capture to prevent them giving an alarm. A Christian Indian, named Estaban Yapiri, escaped by swimming the stream under fire, and ran to his distant home at the village of Teotique, where he informed the curate, Don Juan de Luna, who sent a warning message to Cartago. The governor, Don Juan Lopez de la Flor, had already been warned by the President of the Audiencia of Panama to be on his guard against a probable attack. He was a veteran soldier, long schooled in the wars of Flanders, and had ordered the militia to be in readiness. After receiving this information before daybreak on April 14, he instructed the sargento-mayor, Alonso de Bonilla, who is described as the worthy descendant of a conquestador, to reconnoitre the road leading toward Matina with four trusty scouts. Captain Pedro de Venegas followed in support with thirty-six regular soldiers, having orders to build barricades in the narrow defile of Quebrada Honda, through which the raiders must necessarily pass. Next day larger bodies of horse and foot were sent forward to man these defences, under officers bearing the honoured names of Alvarado, Bolivar, and Guevara. Lastly the governor himself took the field with six hundred men, ill-armed but resolute, for, as the modern historian of the country avers with pride, these Spanish colonists had not, like so many others, lost the soldierly qualities of their ancestors. The bracing climate of the mountains had maintained their physical strength, and constant conflicts with the Indians had trained them for military life.

When Mansfield's men entered Turrialba on the morning of April 15, they saw a saddled mule in the street, and were told by an Indian woman that it belonged to Sargento-mayor Alonso de Bonilla, who was close by with a party of musketeers, and that the governor awaited their advance at Quebrada with a large force. They took possession of the Cabildo, or chapter-house, and some Indian cabins. They killed animals for food, wantonly smashed the images in the church, cut down fruit trees, and committed other depredations. They loudly proclaimed their intention of marching into Cartago to drink chocolate with the governor, and inquired whether the women of that city were beautiful. Although the road over which they had come was so rough that the governor said it must have been made by lunatics, they seemed to be in the highest spirits. But on learning that the whole force of the surrounding country was being assembled to oppose him, Mansfield prudently held a council of war. While it was deliberating Bonilla's small party began firing upon the village from the woods, with some effect. The council then decided that a further advance was inadvisable, as it was probable that the people of the city had concealed their valuables and they were certain to meet with a stout resistance. Next morning a hasty retreat began to Matina, leaving behind them some arms and equipments. The governor pursued for some miles but took only two stragglers. A few men were drowned in crossing swollen streams, but the privateers regained their ships with slight loss but greatly disappointed. Before embarking Mansfield took measures to ensure the friendship of the Indians of Tariaca by giving them presents and, assuring them of his firm intention to return soon, he advised them to plant maize for the supply of his force and to form a close alliance with the Talamanca tribe against the Spaniards.

His sudden retreat was ascribed by the more devout inhabitants of Cartago to the miraculous intervention of "Our Lady of the Conception", whose image presented by King Philip II to the Franciscans of Costa Rica, was then an object of great veneration in the convent church of the neighbouring village of Ujarraz. Witnesses were not wanting who declared that they, as well as their enemies, had seen on the heights above Turrialba, a host of spectral warriors headed by a radiant feminine form. They firmly believed these ghostly auxiliaries to be an army of angels led by the Virgin Mary, who had come to the aid of her chosen people, and for a hundred years at least, an annual procession of pious pilgrims to her shrine at Ujarraz commemorated this legend.[108]

Mansfield was then deserted by four ships, two of which returned to Port Royal and two went to Tortuga. To obtain a convenient base for future operations he decided to attempt the capture of the island of Santa Catalina, or Old Providence, lying off the eastern coast of Nicaragua, near the edge of the long shoal known as the Moskito Bank, almost equidistant from Cartagena, Puerto Bello, and Jamaica, and very close to the usual route of Spanish ships sailing between those two important ports on the Main and Havana and Vera Cruz. For about ten years that island had been the seat of an English Puritan colony, founded by a group of friends, including several of the richest peers and leading commoners of the Kingdom. Its most noted members were the Earl of Warwick, who had made several visits to the West Indies, his son-in-law, Lord Mandeville, heir of the Earl of Manchester, Lord Saye and Sele, the Earl of Bedford, John Pym, John Hampden, and St. John. In the last days of this colony, this island had become a favourite resort for English privateers, who preyed upon Spanish commerce. The forcible expulsion of the settlers by the Spaniards, who had killed some of them and cruelly maltreated others, was the subject of bitter complaint by Cromwell, to whom the history of the colony was well known. In his letter to Major General Fortescue, already quoted, he said it was a place he "could heartily wish were in our hands again, believing it lies so advantageously in reference, and especially for the hindrance of the Peru trade and Cartagena, that you might not only have great advantage thereby of intelligence and surprise, but even block up the same."[109]

As Mansfield was then an elderly man and had been engaged as a privateer for many years, he had probably visited the place and knew its advantages well. The soil was fertile, and the island was well supplied with springs of fresh water. The climate was healthy. The coast was difficult of access and could be easily fortified. The whole island was nearly surrounded by an impassable reef of jagged rocks, through which one winding channel, so narrow as to admit the passage only of a single ship at one time, led into a fine, safe harbour, where sixty or eighty vessels, of as much as three hundred tons, might anchor together in perfect security.

Mansfield had still under his command four English privateers and two French "rovers", with perhaps two hundred men. They succeeded in taking the island with very slight opposition. Here popular rumour said they intended "to set up for themselves". In fact, Mansfield arrived at Port Royal on June 12 to report his success and invite the governor to furnish a garrison of soldiers to retain his conquest as a dependency of Jamaica.

"Mansfield complains", so Modyford wrote, "that the disobedience of several officers and soldiers was the cause of their not proceeding on the design of Curacao. In the meantime, the old fellow was resolved (as he tells me) never to see my face again unless he had done some service to his Majesty, and therefore with 200 men, which were all that were left him and about eighty of them French, he resolved to attempt the island of Providence, which was formerly English, and by the Spaniards' whole armada taken from us in 1641, and ever since carefully garrisoned. In order to do this he set sail, and being an excellent coaster, which is his chief, if not his only virtue, in the night he came within half a mile of it by an unusual passage among rocks, and in the early morning landed, marched four leagues, surprised the governor, [Don Estaban del Campo] who was taken prisoner. The soldiers got into the fort, being about 200, but on conditions to be landed on the main they yielded. Twenty-six pieces of ordnance, 100 double jars of powder, shot and all things necessary were found, and the fort very strongly built, they acknowledge very little plunder, only 150 negroes; they brought off 100, and left Captain Hattsell[110] keeper of the magazine, and so have rendered it to me for his Majesty's account; they say that many of the guns have Queen Elizabeth's arms engraven on them. I have as yet only reproved Mansfield for doing it without his Majesty's express orders, lest I should drive them from that allegiance which they make great professions of now more than ever. Neither could I without manifest imprudence but accept the tender of it in his Majesty's behalf, and considering its good situation for favouring any design on the rich main, lying near the river which leads to the lake [of Nicaragua], I hold it my duty to reinforce that garrison, and to send some able person to command it. Meantime we are increasing apace in ships and men, privateers daily coming in and submitting to the strictness of the Commissions and instructions I put on them for his Majesty's service."[111]

Some men were then living in Jamaica, who had been expelled from Providence, when that island had been taken by the Spaniards a quarter of a century before, and its recovery was warmly applauded.

As Modyford had no regular soldiers at his disposal he was obliged to call for volunteers to form a garrison for his new possession. The "able person" chosen to command them was Major Samuel Smith, of whom little else is known. With him went the adventurous Sir Thomas Whetstone, late Speaker of the Assembly, Captain Stanley, and, according to Beeston's journal, about thirty-two men. Modyford reported officially that he had sent Major Samuel Smith "with a small supply of men to govern the Isle of Providence for his Majesty." He added cheerfully that "in sum those fortunate instructions which your Grace gave me of last June [1665] being put into execution but since March last, have restored to us all our English and abundance of Dutch and some French [privateers]."[112]

Yet on the same day he thought it necessary to write another confidential letter to Albemarle to justify his conduct in issuing letters-of-marque against Spain and relate its success.

"Your lordship cannot imagine what a change there was on the faces of men and things," he said, "ships repairing, great resort of workmen and labourers to Port Royal, many returning, many debtors released out of prison, and the ships of the Curacao voyage not daring to come in for fear of creditors, brought in and fitted out again, so that the regimental forces at Port Royal are near 400. Had it not been for that seasonable action, I could not have kept this place against French buccaniers, who would have ruined all the seaside plantations, whereas I now draw from them mainly, and lately David Marteen, the best man of Tortuga, that has two frigates at sea, has promised to bring in both."[113]

The great impulse thus given to privateering soon convinced the Council that stricter regulations must be adopted to govern the conduct of seamen to whom such commissions were granted, and a resolution was entered upon its Minutes declaring that "it was advisable to give the Commanders of men-of-war these moderate instructions: To give fair quarter when demanded; to send all their prisoners hither; to receive into their ships all buccaneers of the Protestant religion and others who will take the oath of fidelity to the King; to be industrious to disable them [the Spaniards] of all barques, boats, and vessels whatever."[114]

What was admitted to be a serious reverse soon followed. On being informed of the capture of the island of Santa Catalina so soon after the bold though unsuccessful invasion of Costa Rica, Don Juan Perez Guzman, a knight of the order of Santiago, who had lately been appointed governor of the Tierra Firme and the province of Veragua, became greatly alarmed, and took prompt measures for its recovery. It had been taken by Mansfield on May 3. In a few days this was known at Puerto Bello, and on May 25 the English ship, Concord, of 200 tons, lying at anchor in that harbour, was seized by order of the commandant. Her master, Henry Wasey, who had a licence to trade, was confined in irons and accused of being a spy. On June 14, Guzman assembled his council at Panama and told the members that the depredations of the "pirates" upon the Spanish dominions made it absolutely necessary to send a sufficient force at once to retake Santa Catalina, otherwise "such conquests would soon enable them to become masters of all these countries." Some members of the council dissented, saying that the enemy could not provision themselves in that barren island and would be forced to abandon it, without causing them to incur the trouble and expense of sending an expedition to expel them. In spite of this objection, the governor, "como valiente Soldado que era", ordered large supplies to be taken to Puerto Bello and went there himself, "at great risk of his life", said a Spanish engineer. Arriving on July 7 he found in the harbour a good ship called the San Vicente, belonging to the "Compania de los Negros", well armed, manned, and victualled, and even loaded with munitions. This vessel, the Concord and a New England ketch, were at once impressed as transports. Joseph Sanchez Ximinez, major of the town of Puerto Bello, was appointed to command the expedition, composed of 270 soldiers, thirty-seven prisoners from the island, thirty-four Spaniards from the garrison, twenty-nine mulattoes from Panama, twelve Indians, who were expert archers, seven constables, who were skilled artillerists, two adjutants, two pilots, a surgeon, and a priest of the "Orden Serafico", as confessor. The governor gave the officers careful instructions and told them that the governor of Cartagena would co-operate with ships, troops, and all things needful in compliance with a letter written to him. The wind being favourable on July 14, he addressed the whole force, exhorting them to fight valiantly against the enemies of the Catholic religion, and particularly against those accursed pirates, who had committed so many atrocious crimes upon the subjects of his Catholic Majesty, promising liberal rewards to all, but chiefly to those who should distinguish themselves in the King's service.

Sailing that day, Ximinez arrived at Cartagena on July 22, and on delivering Guzman's letter to the governor, he was promised the assistance of a frigate, a galleon, and a barque with 126 men, half of them being soldiers of the garrison and the rest mulattoes. With this reinforcement Ximinez again set sail on August 2, and on the 10th came in sight of the island. After contending for some hours with adverse winds and currents, he entered the harbour and anchored, having lost his barque in a gale on the hidden reef called Quita Senora. The garrison fired round shot at his ships from three guns, whose fire was returned in like manner. Ximinez then sent an officer to demand the surrender of the island which he declared had been "taken at the point of the sword" in time of peace between England and Spain. Smith replied that it had formerly been an English possession and he would die in its defence rather than comply.

Next morning three negroes deserted from the garrison and came on board the flagship. They told the admiral that it consisted only of seventy-two men, who were much dismayed at seeing so large a force brought against them. Encouraged by this news the Spaniards landed and advanced towards the nearest intrenchment under a brisk artillery fire, to which they replied from their own guns until nightfall. This mutual cannonade was continued for two whole days at intervals, with little apparent effect on either side. Then on Sunday, August 5, being the anniversary of "the ascent to Heaven of our Lady", the flagship, San Vicente, fired two full broadsides at the battery called "la Concepcion", while the Vice-Admiral directed his fire upon another called "Santiago". When those works were abandoned troops were landed and took possession of them without resistance. They next advanced toward the gate of the main fort, named "Cortadura". Adjutant Francisco de Caceres, approaching this fortification with only five men, was driven back by the discharge of a cannon loaded with fragments of metal, which plainly revealed that the English had no proper ammunition. They had broken up the organ in the church and fired away sixty of its pipes at one shot. Meanwhile Captain Juan de Galeno, climbing over the hills in the rear with ninety men, had taken the castle of Santa Teresa, driving a handful of men who had occupied it into Cortadura. Don Juan de Leyba then advanced against that fort with sixty men from the Concepcion battery, while Ximinez crossed the harbour with his main force and moved upon it from another direction. Finding themselves menaced with assault on three sides at once, and having lost six men killed and many wounded, the remnant of the garrison surrendered. The royal standard of Spain was raised in triumph and the victors devoutly returned thanks for the success they had won on "Lady Day". They admitted the loss of only one man killed and four wounded. Among the prisoners, seventy in number, were two Spaniards, who were shot as traitors next morning.

On September 10, an English ship was seen approaching the harbour cautiously, and one of the prisoners, a Frenchman, called by the Spaniards Sieur Simon, was sent by them to decoy the stranger into port with false information, when the vessel was easily taken with all on board.

The Spanish writer states that the English pirates were confined at Puerto Bello, with the exception of three who were sent by order of the governor to labour on the fortifications of the castle of San Geronimo at Panama, "a most excellent and strong work then being built of solid rock in the middle of the harbour at the expense of private gentlemen, the President himself contributing the greatest share."[115]

Such, in brief, is the accepted Spanish account of the recapture of the island of Santa Catalina, over which they rejoiced greatly as a considerable achievement.

According to Major Smith's sworn statement, made after nearly two years of ill-treatment in Spanish prisons, he had only fifty-one effective men to defend five or six forts on the smaller island. They made a resolute resistance for three days, when, having been driven out of four of those forts, he agreed to surrender "upon articles of good quarter, which the Spaniards did not in the least perform, for the English, about forty, were immediately made prisoners, and all except Sir Thomas Whetstone, myself, and Captain Stanley, who were the commanders, were forced to work in irons and chains at the Spaniards' forts, with many stripes, and many are since dead through want and ill usage. The said three commanders were sent to Panama, where they were cast into a dungeon and bound in irons for seventeen months." Smith was then sent to Havana where he "was clapped into gaol", but at length liberated and allowed to return to Jamaica in August, 1668, when his deposition was taken by the governor and sent to England. He further reported that many English prisoners were then "lying in irons" at Havana, and he had been credibly informed that the Griffin, commanded by Captain Swaert, on which Modyford's son had sailed for England, had been sunk by a Spanish galleon.[116]

The fate of the garrison of Providence had been absolutely unknown in Jamaica for several months after its surrender, until three emaciated and wretched men made their escape from captivity at Puerto Bello and told a pitiful tale of perfidy and ill usage. They had surrendered, they asserted, upon the express condition of being supplied with a barque to convey them to Jamaica.

"But when they laid down their arms," they said, "the Spaniards refused them the barque and carried them as slaves to Porto Bello, where they were chained to the ground in a dungeon ten feet by twelve, in which were thirty-three prisoners. They were forced to work in the water from five in the morning till seven at night, and at such a rate that the Spaniards confessed they made one of them do more work than three negroes, yet when weak with want of victuals and sleep, they were knocked down and beaten with cudgells, and four or five died. Having no clothes, their backs were blistered in the sun, their necks, shoulders, and hands raw with carrying stones and mortar, their feet chopped, and their legs bruised and battered with the irons, and their corpses noisome to one another. The daily abuse of their religion and King, and the continual trouble they had with friars would be tedious to mention."[117]

The truth of their statements could not be doubted, and after taking their depositions Modyford complained bitterly that the Spaniards "make our men slave it in their forts, which is their constant usage to us when we fall into their hands, while we use them more like friends than enemies."[118]

Two years later, when he had received and was able to transmit further information, he remarked with every sign of sincerity:

"It is certainly true that this island of Providence had never any white men on it until the English came, who first felled the trees and planted the land; so that though these privateers had no order to take it, yet having restored his Majesty to his ancient right, the retaking of it is a violation of the peace which they so much pretend to in these parts, which, with the breach of articles [of capitulation] and ill-usage of our countrymen, is humbly referred to further consideration."[119]

When he first wrote he had not learned that his conduct in accepting the island from its captors had been approved by an act of the Privy Council and a commission issued on the 10th November, 1666, appointing his brother, Sir James Modyford, to act as its lieutenant-governor under his instructions. A report from the Lord Privy Seal upon the condition of the "miscellany settlement" of Tortuga had also been discussed, and Modyford was instructed "to weigh well the conveniences that would arise from settling the said plantation and island under the government of Jamaica." He was even authorized to expend a thousand pounds in that undertaking.[120]

Orders were given "to procure some able miners to repair thither and search for to try the ore" to be found in the mountains of Jamaica.[121]

An emergency embargo had been laid on all merchant ships in English ports to obtain seamen by impressment for manning the ships of the Royal Navy, urgently required for service in the war with Holland and France, but special orders were given for the exemption of the Jamaica Merchant, bound for Port Royal, which was to be allowed to "proceed freely with idle and vagabond persons and three convicted Quakers."[122]

Some months later the Sheriff of London was commanded to deliver sixty Quakers, then confined in Newgate prison, to the master of the Black Eagle, to be transported in that ship to Jamaica, and instructions were sent to the governor to receive them. In this way fifteen members of the Society of Friends arrived at Port Royal in October, 1664, followed by sixty-eight in November, and by ten others in February, 1665. A number were already in the island, and it is stated on good authority that Colonel John Cope, for many years a member of the Council, was a Quaker. Six years later George Fox visited Jamaica, where he found three personal friends, "who had been there labouring in the service of truth," and held "many meetings there, which were large and very quiet." He and other missionaries of the sect testified to the kindness shown them by Lynch and Modyford.[123]

About the end of the troubled year 1666, a memorandum on the affairs of Jamaica written by Colonel Theodore Cary, then a visitor in England, was presented to the committee of the Privy Council, advancing "reasons why private men-of-war are advantageous to Jamaica, and why discountenancing them will also for the future prove prejudicial to the settlement of that island."

"Two of his Majesty's nimble fifth-rate frigates", he continued, "would do manifest service in commanding the privateers on all occasions to their obedience, making the discovery of any enemies' actions, and guarding the coast from rovers. There is profitable employment for the privateers in the West Indies against the French and Dutch, and being a people that will not be brought to planting, they will prey upon the Spaniards whether countenanced at Jamaica or not. The Spaniards have so inveterate a hatred against the English in those parts that they will not hear of any trade or reconciliation, but any of the islanders that they can cowardly surprise, they butcher inhumanly."[124]

As Cary was undoubtedly in the governor's confidence his advice had probably considerable weight.

Sir James Modyford arrived in Jamaica on the 15th July, 1667, and finding no dependent island to govern, was at once appointed by his brother Lieutenant-General of Jamaica, governor of Port Royal, and first Judge of the Court of Admiralty. During that summer Beeston noted in his journal that "the private men-of-war went in and out and brought in prizes frequently", but it appears that they cruised independently and undertook no combined major operation.

Lord Arlington must have reprimanded the governor for having granted letters-of-marque against the Spaniards, as he considered further excuses expedient.

"Had my abilities suited so well with my wishes," he wrote in reply, "as the latter did with your Lordship's, the privateers attempts had only been practised on the Dutch and French, and the Spaniards free of them, but I had no money to pay them, nor frigates to force them; the former they could not get from our declared enemies, nothing could they expect but blows from them, and (as they have often repeated to me) 'will that pay for sails and rigging?' Had I the often desired frigates, I would have compelled them to struggle with their wants and necessities until they had fully accomplished his Majesty's intentions; and if this last frigate had come so seasonably as she might, it had prevented that misfortune which fell upon us."[125]

The misfortune to which he referred must have been the loss of Providence and perhaps the ill fate of the veteran privateer who had captured that island. Soon after his return to Port Royal the enterprising Edward Mansfield had sailed on another cruise, in which his ship was taken by a Spanish man-of-war of greatly superior force and carried into Havana. There he and many of his crew were put to death by order of Davila, the resolute governor of Cuba, who, as a modern historian of that island relates with satisfaction, executed more than three hundred pirates within two years.[126]

After hostilities had been conducted covertly for nearly a year France had openly declared war against England in January, 1667. Bertrand d'Ogeron, a gentleman of Anjou, for many years an officer in the "troupes de la marine", but latterly an adventurer on private account in the West Indies, where by his tact and agreeable manners, he had gained the good-will and confidence of many buccaneers and privateers of several nationalities, not excepting the English, had been appointed governor of Tortuga and the French colony in Hispaniola. By his energy and foresight he easily forestalled any design of Modyford to occupy Tortuga, and soon made that place the resort of a formidable fleet of privateers. When he was appointed he had learned that they were planning to remove to some more secure and favourable base of operations, probably Port Royal, and succeeded in retaining them there by a promise to relinquish his claim to a share in their booty, to which his office entitled him, and to obtain for them Portuguese letters-of-marque against Spain, as France was nominally at peace with that country. He also advanced money without interest to the buccaneers or hunters of wild cattle, who wished to build houses, or assisted them to borrow from others.[127] Consequently English commerce with the West Indies and Jamaica in particular was severely harassed by these privateers as long as hostilities with France continued.

Finally the repeated applications of Modyford, supported by those of the merchants and planters, for protection from the Royal Navy, received some attention. In February, 1668, the Privy Council directed the Lord High Admiral "to assign one of his Majesty's ships of the fifth-rate for the defence of his Majesty's plantation of Jamaica, and suppressing the Insolence of Privateers upon that Coast, the Governor and Planters of Jamaica undertaking to set out and Victual the said ship and pay the wages of the seamen, and keep the said ship and furniture in repair."[128]

Almost a month later the Duke of Albemarle wrote earnestly to the Duke of York on this subject.

"The Governor of Jamaica having by several addresses made known how advantageous it would be for the defence of the island, for the suppression of Privateers, and for the advance of trade and commerce, if one of his Majesty's ships were employed thither, I have lately moved his Majesty in Council that one of the fifth-rate frigates should be forthwith fitted and despatched for that service, which was granted, and your Royal Highness was pleased to direct the Navy Commissioners to deliver the Oxford frigate for that occasion. Therefore since the Government has undertaken to defray the sheathing of the ship, it is desired that orders should be given to the Commissioners of the Navy for fitting her with all other repairs. I am assured that this will be much for the encouragement of one of the most hopeful of all the Plantations in the West Indies."[129]

Next day an Order in Council was duly passed directing that H.M.S. Oxford "to be employed for the defence of H.M. Plantation of Jamaica, suppressing the Insolency of Privateers, and the Advance of Trade and Commerce there", be repaired and delivered to Charles Modyford, "employed hither from the Governor of Jamaica."[130]

The work of refitting was carried on leisurely until May 20, when on reading a petition on the subject from Charles Modyford, the Privy Council made a second order for supplying the Oxford with sails, cables, and other necessary articles for her voyage. In June Charles Modyford presented another petition, complaining that notwithstanding the former order the Commissioners of Ordnance had raised an objection about delivering powder and gunner's stores under its general wording, and had desired that it should be "expressed at large", and asked that a special order should be made for the delivery of these articles as the ship was then ready to sail.[131] This order was made on July 8,[132] but on account of these and possibly other delays the best part of a year had been lost, the Oxford did not arrive at Port Royal until October 14, and events of very serious importance had happened during the summer.

Early in the year the governor, alarmed by persistent and very circumstantial reports of formidable preparations being made in Cuba for an invasion of the island, having obtained the advice and consent of the Council, issued a special commission to Colonel Henry Morgan commanding him "to draw together the English privateers and take prisoners of the Spanish nation, whereby you may gain information of that enemy to attack Jamaica, of which I have had frequent and strong advice".[133]

Morgan's military title seems to have been conferred upon him by a previous commission appointing him to the command of the militia regiment of Port Royal, in which he had held the rank of captain. In fact, Beeston's Journal at this time refers to him as General Morgan. He was thirty-three years of age, and must have acquired considerable reputation and local influence to justify such a mark of confidence. This commission has not been found but it is said to have restricted such hostilities to Spanish ships at sea.

Morgan soon succeeded in assembling ten ships and about five hundred men. The names of six of the captains have been recorded, being Edward Collier, John Morrice, sr., Thomas Salter, John Ansell, Thomas Clarke, and John Morrice, jr. Enrolled in the crews were soldiers of the disbanded armies of the King and Commonwealth, buccaneers and hunters from Hispaniola and Jamaica, as well as veteran privateersmen.

With this fleet he sailed to the Isle of Pines, a favourite rendezvous, where he was joined by two more ships and two hundred men. It is supposed that he planned an attack upon Havana from that base, by landing his men in the bay of Batabano and marching overland, with the expectation of avoiding the artillery of the three strong castles guarding the harbour and taking the city by surprise from the land side. The information which he obtained of the strength of the fortifications, the numbers and preparedness of the garrison and the militia, as well as the ability and vigilance of the governor, caused him to abandon this project, if it was ever seriously considered. Yet such an attack was actually expected by the Spaniards. Nearly a year before, Bishop Saona de Manosca and the civil magistrates of the province were so much alarmed by the activity and daring of the English privateers that they united in publishing an appeal to the inhabitants of Havana, urging them to strengthen the defences of the city by surrounding it with a wall of earth and palisades. They asserted that Jamaica alone could send out fifty ships manned by three thousand men, while the French of Tortuga could assemble double that force. Although irreconcilable enemies in Europe, the French of Tortuga, they said, had combined with the English of Jamaica to capture the island of Santa Catalina, which had lately been so gloriously retaken by the President of Panama and the Governor of Cartagena. The venerable prelate reminded his people that he had been a soldier in his youth, when he had taken part in the defence and siege of many strong places and had seen veteran armies held in check for many days by such fortifications. Their efforts had been successful and Havana had been placed in a good state of defence by land as well as sea.[134]

The inland town of Santa Maria de Puerto Principe had grown rich by traffic in cattle and hides. Next to Havana it was reputed to be the wealthiest place in Cuba, and its situation had hitherto secured it from attack. Morgan had with him Captain Charles Hadsell and possibly others, who had escaped from prisons in Cuba and possessed some reliable knowledge of the neighbouring country and were besides animated by a fierce desire for revenge.

The clusters of small islets extending for many miles along the southern coast of Cuba, known to English seamen as the "South Cays", and to the Spaniards by the more romantic name of "los Jardinos de la Reina", or the "Queen's gardens", had long been a favourite haunt of the English privateers for safety and provisions, as turtle and wildfowl were very numerous. Leaving his ships well hidden among the "Cays" in charge of a few invalids, Morgan landed the remainder of his men in the bay of Ana Maria before daybreak on March 30. The difficult and tiring march of about thirty miles across country was made in a little more than twenty-four hours. Early in the forenoon of the next day his hungry and footsore band began to descend the hills overlooking the fertile plain around Puerto Principe. However, a peasant, whom they had compelled to act as a guide, got away in the darkness and spread the alarm. The citizens began to send off their families and movable property. The alcalde, a brave and resolute soldier, assembled seven hundred men on foot of all ages and colours, besides a hundred mounted on mules and ponies. He had armed them with such weapons as could be found and boldly advanced to meet the raiders. His mounted men followed him in a charge marked by more courage than discipline, which the privateers easily repelled by a couple of deliberate and well-aimed volleys of musketry. The alcalde and some others were killed and the survivors driven off. Undismayed by the disastrous result of this first encounter, the people of Puerto Principe fought valiantly in the streets and from the flat roofs of their houses until they were finally expelled from the town, and inflicted considerable loss upon their assailants. More than one hundred of the Spaniards were killed and many taken prisoners. The damage to their buildings is said to have been small, and the Cuban historian hints that the English were restrained by a fear of "Davila's salutary and justifiable reprisals."[135]