by Daniel Defoe
to that, upon the most solemn Imprecations and Curses that the Devil and both of
us could invent.
He told me then, there was a brave Fellow in the other Ship, pointing to another
English Ship which rode in the Harbour, who in Concert with some of the Men had
resolved to mutiny the next Morning, and run away with the Ship; and that if we
could get Strength enough among our Ship's Company we might do the same. I liked
the Proposal very well, and he got eight of us to join with him, and he told us,
that as soon as his Friend had begun the Work, and was Master of the Ship, we
should be ready to do the like; this was his Plot, and I without the least
Hesitation, either at the Villainy of the Fact, or the Difficulty of performing
it, came immediately into the wicked Conspiracy, and so it went on among us; but
we could not bring our Part to Perfection.
Accordingly on the Day appointed, his Correspondent in the other Ship, whose
Name was Wilmot, began the Work, and having seized the Captain's Mate, and other
Officers, secured the Ship, and gave the Signal to us; we were but eleven in our
Ship, who were in the Conspiracy, nor could we get any more that we could trust,
so that leaving the Ship, we all took the Boat and went off to join the other.
Having thus left the Ship I was in, we were entertained with a great deal of Joy
by Captain Wilmot and his new Gang; and being well prepared for all manner of
Roguery, bold, desperate, I mean my self, without the least Checks of
Conscience, for what I was entred upon, or for any Thing I might do, much less
with any Apprehension of what might be the Consequence of it; I say, having thus
embarked with this Crew, which at last brought me to consort with the most
famous Pyrates of the Age, some of whom have ended their Journals at the
Gallows: I think the giving an Account of some of my other Adventures may be an
agreeable Piece of Story; and this I may venture to say before Hand, upon the
Word of a PYRATE, that I shall not be able to recollect the full, no not by far,
of the great Variety which has formed one of the most reprobate Schemes that
ever Man was capable to present to the World.
I that was, as I have hinted before, an original Thief, and a Pyrate even by
Inclination before, was now in my Element, and never undertook any Thing in my
Life with more particular Satisfaction.
Captain Wilmot, for so we are now to call him, being thus possessed of a Ship,
and in the Manner as you have heard, it may be easily concluded he had nothing
to do to stay in the Port, or to wait either the Attempts which might be made
from the Shore, or any Change which might happen among his Men. On the Contrary,
we weighed Anchor the same Tide, and stood out to Sea, steering away for the
Canaries . Our Ship had Twenty Two Guns, but was able to carry Thirty; and
besides, as she was fitted out for a Merchant Ship only, she was not furnished
either with Ammunition or small Arms sufficient for our Design, or for the
Occasion we might have in Case of a Fight; so we put into Cadiz, that is to say,
we came to an Anchor in the Bay; and the Captain and one whom we call'd young
Captain Kid, who was the Gunner, and some of the Men who could best be trusted,
among whom was my Comrade Harris, who was made second Mate, and my self who was
made a Lieutenant; some Bales of English Goods were proposed to be carried on
Shore with us for Sale; but my Comrade, who was a compleat Fellow at his
Business, proposed a better Way for it; and having been in the Town before, told
us in short, that he would buy what Powder and Bullet, small Arms, or any thing
else we wanted, on his own Word, to be paid for when they came on Board, in such
English Goods as we had there. This was by much the best Way, and accordingly he
and the Captain went on Shore by themselves, and having made such a Bargain as
they found for their Turn, came away again in two Hours time, and bringing only
a Butt of Wine, and five Casks of Brandy with them, we all went on Board again.
The next Morning two Barco Longo's came off to us deep loaden, with five
Spaniards on board them, for Traffick. Our Captain sold them good Penny worths,
and they delivered us sixteen Barrels of Powder, twelve small Runlets of fine
Powder for our small Arms, sixty Musquets, and twelve Fuzees for the Officers;
seventeen Ton of Cannon Ball, fifteen Barrels of Musquet Bullets, with some
Swords, and twenty good Pair of Pistols. Beside this, they brought thirteen
Butts of Wine (for we that were now all become Gentlemen scorn'd to drink the
Ship's Beer) also sixteen Puncheons of Brandy, with twelve Barrels of Raisins,
and twenty Chests of Lemons: All which were paid for in English Goods; and over
and above, the Captain received 600 Pieces of Eight in Money. They would have
come again, but we would stay no longer.
From hence we sailed to the Canaries, and from thence onward to the West-Indies,
where we committed some Depredation upon the Spaniards for Provision, and took
some Prizes, but none of any great Value, while I remained with them, which was
not long at that Time; for having taken a Spanish Sloop on the Coast of
Cartagena, my Friend made a Motion to me, that we should desire Captain Wilmot
to put us, into the Sloop, with a Proportion of Arms and Ammunition, and let us
try what we could do; she being much fitter for our Business than the great
Ship, and a better Sailer. This he consented to, and we appointed our Rendezvous
at Tobago, making an Agreement, that whatever was taken by either of our Ships,
should be shared among the Ship's Company of both; all which we very punctually
observed, and join'd our Ships again about fifteen Months after, at the Island
of Tobago, as above.
We cruised near two Years in those Seas, chiefly upon the Spaniards; not that we
made any Difficulty of taking English Ships, or Dutch, or French, if they came
in our Way; and particularly Captain Wilmot attack'd a New-England Ship bound
from the Maderas to Jamaica; and another bound from New-York to Berbadoes, with
Provisions; which last was a very happy Supply to us. But the Reason why we
meddled as little with English Vessels as we could, was, first, because, if they
were Ships of any Force, we were sure of more Resistance from them; and
secondly, because we found the English Ships had less Booty when taken; for the
Spaniards generally had Money on board, and that was what we best knew what to
do with. Captain Wilmot was indeed more particularly cruel when he took any
English Vessel, that they might not too soon have Advice of him in England, and
so the Men of War have Orders to look out for him. But this Part I bury in
Silence for the present.
We encreased our Stock in these two Years considerably, having taken 60000
Pieces of Eight in one Vessel, and 100000 in another; and being thus first grown
rich, we resolved to be strong too; for we had taken a Brigantine built at
Virginia, an excellent Sea Boat, and a good Sailer, and able to carry twelve
Guns; and a large Spanish Frigat-built Ship, that sailed incomparably well also,
and which afterwards, by the Help of good Carpenters, we
fitted up to carry
twenty eight Guns. And now we wanted more Hands, so we put away for the Bay of
Campeachy, not doubting we should ship as many Men there as we pleased, and so
we did.
Here we sold the Sloop that I was in; and Captain Wilmot keeping his own Ship, I
took the Command of the Spanish Frigat, as Captain, and my Comrade Harris as
eldest Lieutenant, and a bold enterprizing Fellow he was as any the World
afforded. One Culverdine was put into the Brigantine, so that we were now three
stout Ships, well Mann'd, and Victualled for twelve Months; for we had taken two
or three Sloops from New-England and New-York, loaden with Flour, Pease, and
Barrell'd Beef, and Pork, going for Jamaica and Berbadoes; and for more Beef we
went on Shore on the Isle of Cuba, where we killed as many black Cattel as we
pleased, tho' we had very little Salt to cure them.
Out of all the Prizes we took here, we took their Powder and Bullet, their small
Arms and Cutlasses; and as for their Men, we always took the Surgeon and the
Carpenter, as Persons who were of particular Use to us upon many Occasions; nor
were they always unwilling to go with us, tho' for their own Security, in Case
of Accidents, they might easily pretend they were carried away by Force, of
which I shall give a pleasant Account in the Course of my other Expeditions.
We had one very merry Fellow here, a Quaker, whose Name was William Walters,
whom we took out of a Sloop bound from Pensilvania to Berbadoes. He was a
Surgeon, and they called him Doctor; but he was not employed in the Sloop as a
Surgeon, but was going to Berbadoes to get a Birth, as the Sailors call it.
However, he had all his Surgeon's Chest on board, and we made him go with us,
and take all his Implements with him. He was a comick Fellow indeed, a Man of
very good solid Sense, and an excellent Surgeon; but what was worth all, very
good humour'd and pleasant in his Conversation, and a bold, stout, brave Fellow
too, as any we had among us.
I found William, as I thought, not very averse to go along with us, and yet
resolved to do it so, that it might be apparent he was taken away by Force; and
to this Purpose he comes to me, Friend, says he, thou sayest I must go with
thee, and it is not in my Power to resist thee, if I would; but I desire thou
wilt oblige the Master of the Sloop which I am on board, to certify under his
Hand that I was taken away by Force, and against my Will; and this he said with
so much Satisfaction in his Face, that I could not but understand him. Ay, ay,
says I, whether it be against your Will, or no, I'll make him and all the Men
give you a Certificate of it, or I'll take them all along with us, and keep them
till they do: So I drew up the Certificate my self, wherein I wrote that he was
taken away by main Force, as a Prisoner, by a Pyrate Ship; that they carried
away his Chest and Instruments first, and then bound his Hands behind him, and
forced him into their Boat; and this was signed by the Master and all his Men.
Accordingly I fell a swearing at him, and called to my Men to tye his Hands
behind him, and so we put him into our Boat, and carry'd him away. When I had
him on board, I called him to me: Now, Friend, says I, I have brought you away
by Force, it is true, but I am not of the Opinion I have brought you away so
much against your Will as they imagine: Come, says I, you will be a useful Man
to us, and you shall have very good Usage among us; so I unbound his Hands, and
first ordered all things that belonged to him to be restored to him, and our
Captain gave him a Dram.
Thou hast dealt friendly by me, says he, and I'll be plain with thee, whether I
came willingly to thee, or not: I shall make my self as useful to thee as I can;
but thou knowest it is not my Business to meddle when thou art to fight. No, no,
says the Captain, but you may meddle a little when we share the Money. Those
things are useful to furnish a Surgeon's Chest, says William, and smiled; but I
shall be moderate.
In short, William was a most agreeable Companion, but he had the better of us in
this Part, that, if we were taken, we were sure to be hang'd, and he was sure to
escape; and he knew it well enough: But in short he was a sprightly Fellow, and
fitter to be Captain than any of us. I shall have often an Occasion to speak of
him in the rest of the Story.
Our Cruising so long in these Seas began now to be so well known, that not in
England only, but in France and Spain, Accounts had been made publick of our
Adventures, and many Stories told how we murthered the People in cold Blood,
tying them Back to Back, and throwing them into the Sea; one Half of which
however was not true, tho' more was done than it is fit to speak of here.
The Consequence of this however was, that several English Men of War were sent
to the West Indies, and were particularly instructed to cruize in the Bay of
Mexico, and the Gulph of Florida, and among the Bahama Islands, if possible, to
attack us.
We were not so ignorant of things, as not to expect this, after so long a Stay
in that Part of the World; but the first certain Account we had of them, was at
the Honduras, when a Vessel coming in from Jamaica, told us, that two English
Men of War were coming directly from Jamaica thither, in Quest of us. We were
indeed as it were embay'd, and could not have made the least Shift to have got
off, if they had come directly to us; but as it happen'd, some body had informed
them that we were in the Bay of Campeachy, and they went directly thither, by
which we were not only free of them, but were so much to the Windward of them,
that they could not make any Attempt upon us, tho' they had known we were there.
We took this Advantage, and stood away for Carthagena, and from thence with
great Difficulty beat it up at a Distance from under the Shore for St. Martha,
till we came to the Dutch Island of Curasoe, and from thence to the Island of
Tobago ; which, as before, was our Rendezvous; which being a deserted
uninhabited Island, we at the same time made use of for a Retreat: Here the
Captain of the Brigantine died, and Captain Harris at that time my Lieutenant,
took the Command of the Brigantine.
Here we came to a Resolution, to go away to the Coast of Brasil, and from thence
to the Cape of Good Hope, and so for the East-Indies: But Captain Harris, as I
have said, being now Captain of the Brigantine, alledged that his Ship was too
small for so long a Voyage; but that if Captain Wilmot would consent, he would
take the Hazard of another Cruize, and he would follow us in the first Ship he
could take: So we appointed our Rendezvous to be at Madagascar, which was done
by my Recommendation of the Place, and the Plenty of Provisions to be had there.
Accordingly he went away from us in an evil Hour, for instead of taking a Ship
to follow us, he was taken, as I heard afterwards, by an English Man of War, and
being laid in Irons, died of meer Grief and Anger before he came to England: His
Lieutenant, I have heard, was afterwards executed in England for a Pyrate, and
this was the End of t
he Man who first brought me into this unhappy Trade.
We parted from Tobago three Days after, bending our Course for the Coast of
Brasil, but had not been at Sea above Twenty Four Hours, when we were separated
by a terrible Storm, which held three Days, with very little Abatement or
Intermission. In this Juncture, Captain Wilmot happen'd unluckily to be on board
my Ship, very much to his Mortification; for we not only lost Sight of his Ship,
but never saw her more, till we came to Madagascar, where she was cast away. In
short, after having in this Tempest lost our Fore-Top Mast, we were forced to
put back to the Isle of Tobago for Shelter, and to repair our Damage, which
brought us all very near our Destruction.
We were no sooner on Shore here, and all very busy looking out for a Piece of
Timber for a Top-Mast, but we perceived standing in for the Shore, an English
Man of War of Thirty six Guns: It was a great Surprize to us indeed, because we
were disabled so much, but to our great good Fortune we lay pretty snug and
close among the high Rocks, and the Man of War did not see us, but stood off
again upon his Cruise; so we only observed which Way she went, and at Night
leaving our Work, resolved to stand off to Sea, steering contrary Way from that
which we observed she went. And this we found had the desired Success, for we
saw him no more: We had gotten an old Mizen Top-Mast on board, which made us a
Jury Fore-Top-Mast for the present, and so we stood away for the Isle Trinidad,
where, though there were Spaniards on Shore, yet we landed some Men with our
Boat, and cut a very good Piece of Fir to make us a new Top-Mast, which we got
fitted up effectually, and also we got some Cattle here to eke out our
Provisions, and calling a Council of War among our selves, we resolved to quit
those Seas for the present, and steer away for the Coast of Brazil.
The first thing we attempted here, was only getting fresh Water; but we learnt,
that there lay the Portuguese Fleet at the Bay of All-Saints, bound for Lisbon,
ready to sail, and only waited for a fair Wind; this made us lye by, wishing to
see them put to Sea, and accordingly as they were, with, or without Convoy, to
attack or avoid them.
It sprung up a fresh Gale in the Evening, at S. W. by W. which being fair for
the Portugal Fleet, and the Weather pleasant and agreeable, we heard the Signal
given to unmore, and running in under the Island of Si� we hauled our Main-Sail
and Fore-Sail up in the Brails, lower'd the Top-Sail upon the Cap, and clewed
them up that we might lye as snug as we could, expecting their coming out; and
the next Morning saw the whole Fleet come out accordingly, but not at all to our
Satisfaction, for they consisted of Twenty six Sail, and most of them Ships of
Force, as well as Burthen, both Merchant Men and Men of War; so seeing there was
no meddling, we lay still where we was also, till the Fleet was out of Sight,
and then stood off and on, in hopes of meeting with further Purchase.
It was not long before we saw a Sail, and immediately gave her Chase, but she
proved an excellent Sailer, and standing out to Sea, we saw plainly she trusted
to her Heels, that is to say, to her Sails; however, as we were a clean Ship we
gained upon her, tho' slowly, and had we had a Day before us, we should
certainly have come up with her, but it grew dark apace, and in that Case we
knew we should lose Sight of her.
Our merry Quaker perceiving us to crowd still after her in the Dark, wherein we
could not see which way she went, come very drily to me; Friend Singleton, says
he, doest thee know what we are a doing ? Says I, yes, why we are chasing yon
Ship, are we not? And how dost thou know that, says he very gravely still? Nay,
that is true, says I again, we cannot be sure. Yes Friend, says he, I think we
