Strange Stories of Colonial Days

by Various

  XI

  TEW, OF RHODE ISLAND

  A Fighter from the Seas

  On a lovely morning in the early part of the eighteenth century twovessels might have been seen approaching each other at that point wherethe northern waters of the Mozambique Channel mingle with those of theIndian Ocean. The day was mild and the wind light and variable. Theships rolled lazily on the languid swell, and a couple of leagues to thesouth and east of them the low, green shores of Madagascar were dimlyvisible.

  As the vessels drew near to each other the smaller of the two, a largebrig-sloop with raking masts and a narrow, speedy-looking hull, put downher helm, rounded into the wind, and ran the black flag up to her mainpeak. The other, a trim and sturdy ship-rigged craft, with something ofa man-of-war look about her lofty spars and graceful lines, seemedlittle perturbed by this significant display of the pirate emblem. Shehove to, however, and the two vessels lay rolling idly on the blue watera long musket-shot apart.

  Before the sloop had time for any further demonstration one of theship's quarter-boats was lowered and brought to the starboard gangway,and into her stepped a spare, dark, wiry-looking man of medium height,evidently the Captain. The boat shoved off and made for the sloop, theCaptain steering, and the crew pulling with the long, regular stroke ofman-of-war's men.

  So far the ship had displayed no colors, and the peculiar nonchalancewith which her crew had behaved towards the pirates excited the latter'smarked apprehension. Could she be a public ship in disguise? If so, thenfarewell to the buccaneer's hopes of brave booty in the Indian seas, forthe wind had fallen and the vessels were drifting nearer together.

  The dark man seized the life-lines as they were extended to him from thepirates' gangway, and climbed up the ladder with catlike agility.

  "What ship is this?" he asked, curtly, ignoring the crew that pressedominously about him, and addressing himself to a tall man of a quiet butcommanding appearance who stepped forward to meet him.

  "This is the sloop _Hope_, sir, and I am her commander, Thomas Tew, atyour service."

  "And I am Captain Misson of the ship _Victoire_, lately of his FrenchMajesty's service, but now from the seas."

  The expression "from the seas" at once allayed the fears of Tew'spirates, for the buccaneers of that day thus characterized themselves intheir answering hails.

  The crew went about their duty, and the two captains entered the cabin,where they began a friendly conversation, and informed each other oftheir respective histories.

  It seemed that Mr. Richier, the Governor of Bermuda, had fitted out twosloops on the privateer account, one commanded by Captain George Drew,and the other by Thomas Tew. They were instructed to make their way tothe river Gambia, in Africa, and to attempt the taking of the Frenchfactory of Goree on that coast. The vessels sailed together and keptcompany for some time, but, a violent storm coming up, Drew sprung hismast and they lost each other.

  Tew, separated from his consort, thought of providing for his futurewith one bold stroke. Accordingly he summoned his crew to the mast, andaddressed them upon the subject of his plans.

  He told them that they were afloat in a fine craft bent upon a dangerousmission, with no prospect of advantage for themselves, but only fortheir employers. That he was little inclined to risk his health and hislife except for some great personal gain, and finally he proposedbluntly that they should throw off their allegiance to Governor Richier,and go "on the account," as piracy was called in those days.

  The crew listened eagerly, and at the conclusion of his speech sung outas one man:

  "A gold chain or a wooden leg. We'll stand by you, Captain."

  Tew then made sail for and doubled the Cape of Good Hope, and as heentered the Red Sea on his cruise northward came up with a ship boundfrom the Indies to Arabia. She was richly laden, and carried threehundred soldiers to aid the crew in defending her cargo; but,notwithstanding her superior force, the pirates carried her with a dash,and shared fifteen thousand dollars a man in plunder. They then stooddown the coast towards Madagascar, and the _Victoire_ was the first shipthey had sighted since leaving their prize.

  Misson listened with interest to Captain Tew's story, and then gave hima brief account of his own adventures. He said that, having gone to seaas a sub-officer on the ship _Victoire_ of the French royal service, hehad participated in an engagement with an English man-of-war; that allhis superior officers had been killed in the action, and that he hadassumed command and sunk the Briton; and that after this his crew hadrequested him to retain command and go "on the account" for himself. Heconfessed that he had willingly acted upon their suggestion, had madeseveral prizes, and established a colony on a bay to the northward ofDiego Suariez, on the island of Madagascar. He informed Tew further thathe was much impressed with the courage with which the _Hope_ had bornedown to engage a vessel so much her superior in size and strength as the_Victoire_, and that, as he could not have too many resolute fellows ashis allies, he would be glad to join forces with Tew's men.

  Tew answered that before entering into an alliance with Misson he wouldprefer to examine the workings of the latter's colony. Misson agreed tothis, and the _Victoire_ and the _Hope_ sailed in company forLibertaita, as Misson called his new republic.

  Just at sunrise the two ships passed between the fortified headlandsthat guarded the entrance to the pirate stronghold, and Tew, standing onhis quarter-deck and following the motions of the _Victoire_, wasastonished at the strength of the harbor he entered, and the disciplinethat seemed to prevail there.

  With the timbers and guns of captured ships Misson had constructed andarmed two powerful forts which stood on the headlands at the entrance tothe harbor. On a little island, where the channel branched, a brownearthwork pointed ten heavy cannon so as to rake the seaward approaches,and far back of it, on the edge of the bay, the walls and roofs of afortified town reared themselves orderly amid the green of the tropicalfoliage. Everywhere was the appearance of industry and discipline. On abeach near the town a group of sailors was engaged careening a smallbrig to scrape the sea-growths from her sides, another party was fillingwater-casks at a well-constructed reservoir, and the rattling of echoesof carpenters' hammers came from a couple of storehouses in process ofconstruction near the water's edge. From a citadel in the centre of thetown and from flag-staffs erected on both forts and the water-batterythe flag of Libertaita fluttered in the breeze, vigilant sentries walkedthe ramparts with military tread, and as the _Victoire_ and the _Hope_let go their anchors in the gentle ground-swell of the harbor, a batteryof eighteen-pounders roared out a welcome of nine guns.

  Tew was charmed with the appearance of the place, and upon going ashorewith Misson had his favorable impressions strengthened and confirmed.The captains were received with great respect by Caraccioli, Misson'slieutenant, who admired not a little the courage that Tew had displayedin capturing his prize and in giving chase to Misson.

  The colony at this time was peopled by over one thousand men, many ofthem having been captured by Misson in his prizes. Of these threehundred had taken on with him, one hundred were natives of the island ofMohilla, with whose queen Misson had formed a matrimonial and politicalalliance, and the remainder were prisoners whom Misson intended to sendto their homes, and whom he employed in the mean time as laborersaround his fortifications.

  The day after the arrival of the captains at Libertaita a formal councilwas held. Tew promptly expressed his willingness to join forces withMisson, and was made second in command.

  The question of the disposition of Misson's numerous prisoners wasbrought up at once. It was decided to tell them that Misson had formedan alliance with a prince of the natives, and to propose to them thatthey should either assist the new colony or be sent up the country asprisoners. On this decision being imparted to them, seventy-three of theprisoners took on, and the remainder desired that they be given anyother fate than that of being sent up into the wild and savage interior;so one hundred and seventeen of them were set to work upon a dock
nearthe mouth of the harbor, and the other prisoners, lest they shouldrevolt, were forbidden, under pain of death, to pass certain prescribedbounds. The _Hope_ lay in the harbor as a guard-ship, and the Johannamen were armed and put on patrol duty; but while the pirates wereproviding for their protection they did not forget their support, andlarge quantities of Indian and European corn and other grain were sowedin the fertile fields of Libertaita.

  Soon after this it was decided to send away the prisoners, as they weretoo much of a burden for the infant colony. They were accordinglysummoned before the captains and told that they were to be set atliberty. Misson informed them that he knew the consequence of givingthem freedom; that he expected to be attacked as soon as the place ofhis retreat was known, and had it in his hands to avoid further troubleby putting them all to death; but that Captain Tew had agreed with himto practise humanity, and that they were to have their property restoredto them, and were to sail for a friendly coast the next morning in aship that was well provisioned but unarmed. All he asked was that theyshould never serve against him. An oath to this effect was cheerfullytaken, and away the prisoners sailed to the nearest Europeansettlement.

  When they had gone Misson returned to the work of improving his town,and gave the command of his ship, the _Victoire_, to Tew, who, with onehundred and sixty picked fellows, set out to sweep the seas. He saileddown the wind to the coast of Zanzibar, and off Quiloa made up to alarge ship which backed her main-topsail and laid by for him. Tewengaged her for four hours, losing many men, but finding her aPortuguese public ship of fifty guns and three hundred men, much morethan a match for the little _Victoire_, he attempted to make off. The_Victoire_, however, was so foul from her long service that she couldnot show her customary clean pair of heels, and the stranger, provingfast and weatherly, drew up with her. The Portuguese Captain, a gallantofficer of great height and herculean strength, lay alongside the_Victoire_ and boarded her at the head of his men; but the pirates, notused to being attacked, and expecting no quarter, made so desperate aresistance that they not only drove back the enemy with loss, but wereenabled to board in their turn. At first only a few followed thePortuguese as they leaped back into their own ship; but Tew, perceivingthe desperate resolution of these, sang out, "Follow me, lads!" andsprang over his enemy's rail. The Portuguese opposed the pirates firmlyfor a time, but to Tew's cry, "She's our own! Board her! Board her!" hismen replied in continually augmenting numbers, and drove the defendersback to the main-hatch. Here a bloody conflict ensued, for thePortuguese Captain fought in the front rank of his men, and with voiceand example encouraged them to combat. Seeing this, Tew rushed forwardto meet him, and the two captains crossed swords with equal bravery. Thecrews paused to observe the duel, and watched with fiercely excited eyesthe flashing sabres and shifting poises of their champions. ThePortuguese had a longer reach, and was much taller and stronger than thepirate, but the latter had the agility of a panther, and was noted asone of the best swordsmen of his day. Time and again the Portuguesemade a dash against his adversary with point or blade, only to be metwith an accurate parry or a quick return stroke that forced him backwardnearer and nearer to the open hatch. Finally Tew parried a furious lungeand delivered his terrible return stroke on the neck of the Portuguese,who threw up his hands and fell backward down the hatch. This ended thefight, and the crew of the public ship called for quarter.

  With his rich prize, which yielded him one hundred thousand pounds inSpanish gold, Tew put back to port, where, notwithstanding his severeloss, his courage and dash were loudly acclaimed by the colony.Caraccioli persuaded two hundred and ten of the Portuguese to join theLibertaitans, and among them, to Misson's great pleasure, was found aschool-master, whose services he at once devoted to the instruction ofhis negroes.

  Two sloops of eighty tons each had been built in a creek, and when theywere finished they were armed with eight guns apiece out of a Dutchprize, and sent on a trial trip. They proved to be fast, weatherlyvessels, and on their return from their first trip to sea Missonproposed to send them out on a voyage of survey to lay down a chart ofthe shoals and deep water around the coast of Madagascar. As Tew was anexcellent navigator he was given command of the expedition and of one ofthe sloops, while the school-master, who proved to be a good seaman andskilful surveyor, commanded the other. The sloops were manned with acrew of fifty blacks and fifty whites each, and their four months'voyage enabled the negroes not only to learn how to handle theboarding-pike, but, as they were anxious to learn and be useful, to pickup a fair knowledge of French and seamanship. They returned with anexcellent chart and three prizes. Misson now determined to make a forayin force, and, dividing five hundred men, white and black, between the_Victoire_ and the _Hope_, he and Tew set out for the high seas; ofcourse a strong force was left behind as a garrison.

  Off the coast of Arabia Felix they fell in with a ship of one hundredand ten guns belonging to the Great Mogul. This ship carried a crew ofseven hundred men and nine hundred passengers, and towered monstrouslyabove the low sides of the pirate vessels; but Tew on the starboardquarter and Misson on the port bore up gallantly, and engaged her. Tothe opening broadsides of the pirates she thundered an awful response.Soon the wind died out, and thick clouds of smoke lay motionless on thewater; under its cover Tew brought the little _Hope_ alongside, and,with his cutlass between his teeth and his pistol in his hand, clamberedup the lofty side. He had barely reached the rail when he was severelywounded and knocked overboard by a pike-thrust. However, he soon came tothe surface, and managed, at the head of a few of his men, to enter oneof his enemy's lower-deck ports. In the mean time Misson had boarded theMussulman on the port quarter, and a hand-to-hand fight was going onover the rail. Misson was hard pressed by numbers when Tew appeared fromthe fore-hatch. One glance at this murderous-looking figure, with bloodyand smoke-grimed garments, rushing at them sword in hand from behind,was enough for the Mussulmans, and with a wild shriek of "Allah!" theybroke and fled down the hatches, leaving the pirates in possession.

  HE WAS KNOCKED OVERBOARD BY A PIKE-THRUST]

  This proved a most valuable capture, as over one million pounds, besidesmany rich silks, spices, valuable carpets, and diamonds were stored inthe prize's hold and strong-boxes.

  The prisoners were landed at a point between Ain and Aden, and thecaptured ship brought back to Libertaita, where, as she had proved aslow and unwieldly craft, she was taken to pieces. Her cordage andknee-timbers were preserved with all the bolts, eyes, chains, and otheriron-work, and her guns were used in two strong water-batteries as anadditional support to the forts on the headlands.

  The colony was now in prime condition; a number of acres had beenenclosed, and afforded pasturage for three hundred head of cattle--apurchase from the natives, who had begun to manifest a most friendlyspirit--the grain was ripening finely, the storehouses and magazineswere well under way, and the dock was finished.

  As the _Victoire_ was foul from long service and very loose from recentstorms, she was docked and practically rebuilt. When she was floatedagain she was provisioned for a long cruise, and was about to set outfor the Guinea coast when one of the sloops came in, schooner-rigged,with the news that she had been driven to port by five lofty ships,Portuguese, of fifty guns each and full of men.

  The alarm was given, the forts and batteries manned, and the men putunder arms. Tew was given command of the English and Portuguese, whileMisson directed the French and one hundred disciplined negroes. Slowlyand majestically the fleet swept on towards the pirate stronghold; asthey came within easy gun-shot Tew leaped to the side of hiswater-battery, and with both arms outstretched stood waving in one handthe black flag, and in the other the banner of Libertaita, with itswhite albatross on a blue field. A storm of solid shot greeted thedaring figure, but he leaped down unharmed, as battery after batteryand fort after fort opened with a steady roar against the invader. ThePortuguese dashed by the forts triumphantly, but wavered as they cameunder the fire at close range of the heavy guns of the water-batter
ies.They had thought to carry all before them with one bold dash, and afterpassing the headlands had deemed victory assured, but here they were ina hornets' nest. Under the dreadful fire from Tew's and Misson's skilfulgunners two of the Portuguese vessels were speedily sunk. The othersturned to flee; but they were not to get off so easily. No sooner werethey clear of the forts than the pirates manned both ships and sloops,gave them chase, and engaged them in the open sea. The Portuguesedefended themselves gallantly, and one of them, which was attacked bythe two sloops, beat off the Libertaitans twice; two made a runningfight and got off, and the third was left to shift as she could. Thislast, a fifty-gun ship of three hundred and twenty men, defended herselftill the greater number of her crew were killed. Finally, finding thatshe was left to an unequal fight, she asked for quarter, and goodquarter was given. Thus ended Admiral X's "holiday jaunt to wipe out anest of pirates," as the Portuguese Commander-in-Chief had described hisexpedition in advance.

  None of the prisoners were plundered, but, on the contrary, the piratecaptains invited to their table the officers of the captured ship, andcongratulated them upon their courage and ability.

  For some months after this nothing occurred to interrupt the quiet ofthe colony. Finally, wearying of inactivity, Tew took the _Victoire_ andthree hundred men and sailed in search of prizes. Sixty miles fromLibertaita he found a strange colony of buccaneers. The ship hove to andthe Captain went ashore alone to make the acquaintance of the strangers.While he was absent from the ship a great gale rose and blew the_Victoire_ ashore on a dangerous reef; she went down before his eyes,carrying with her every man of the crew.

  This was not the end of misfortune, for a few nights afterwards the twoLibertaitan sloops appeared, and from one of them Misson came ashorewith disastrous news. The same night that the _Victoire_ went down thenatives had risen and destroyed Libertaita; Misson had saved a quantityof diamonds and bar gold, and fled in the sloops with the remnant of hisband; they were now without a ship and without a haven.

  The plunder and the men were equally divided between the sloops, and thetwo captains sailed in company for the coast of America. Misson's vesselwent down with all hands in a gale off Cape Infantes, but Tew made apeaceful voyage to the British colonies. He settled in Rhode Island,dispersed his crew, and lived for a time unquestioned with his wealth.He might have reached an honored old age, with nothing to recall thememories of his past, but at the end of a few years he was persuaded togo once more "on the account." In the Red Sea he engaged a ship of theGreat Mogul, vastly his superior in size and armament. During theaction Tew received a mortal wound, but fought on as long as he couldstand. When he fell his men became terrified, and suffered themselves tobe taken without resistance. They were all hanged; and so ended the lastof the Libertaitans.