THE DARIEN DISASTER
Page 40
Late in the year the Speedy Return and the Content, now in the hands of the pirate John Bowen, are destroyed off the Malabar Coast.
1704
January 31st. The Company's chartered ship, the Annandale is seized in the Downs at the instigation of the East India Company.
August 12th. The Worcester is seized in Leith Road as a reprisal for the taking of the Annandale.
1705
April 11th. Thomas Green, captain of the Worcester, is hanged on Leith Sands with his mate and gunner, having been found guilty of pirating the Speedy Return.
1707
May 1st. The Treaty of Union of the two Kingdoms of Scotland and England takes effect. By Article XV, the Company of Scotland is dissolved.
Acknowledgements
Once more i am in debt to those Scots men and women who have made this book possible, by their aid, their advice and their hospitality. The original material from which it has been written is largely in Edinburgh, but a single sentence here and there is often the result of a wide journey into the Highlands and Lowlands. Wherever I went I found an eager and courteous desire to help, even where my curiosity must have appeared trivial and inconsequential. I am deeply grateful to all my correspondents and friends in Scotland, England and America, though they should not be held responsible for the use I have made of the information they placed before me, or the conclusions I have drawn from it. Particular acknowledgements must be made to the following:
The late Sir William Arbuckle, whose encouragement of my work continued until a week or so of his sad death. Miss Helen Armet, the Archivist of the City of Edinburgh, for her help in determining the exact site of the Company's office. A. M. Broom, of the National Register of Archives (Scotland), for access to private muniments. The Earl of Cromartie, for his hospitality and the freedom of his papers at Castle Leod. John Cushman, of New York, for his kindness in finding books for me. R. N. Forbes, of the Royal Bank of Scotland, for access to the invaluable papers the bank holds. R. E. Hutchison, of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, for his generous help with the illustrations. John Imrie, of the Scottish Record Office, as always tireless on my behalf. Captain Kit S. Kapp, who has sailed his yacht Fairwinds into Caledonia
Bay and knows it better, perhaps, than anyone since the Scots left. J. R. Ker, for valuable introductions in Scotland. R. W. Munro, a stern critic but, as always, generously helpful. Thomas I. Rae, of the National Library of Scotland, for his continued kindness and guidance. William Stewart, Burgh Librarian of Hamilton, for access to Roger Oswald's letters. Finally, to my son, Simon, for his gift and discovery of the contemporary maps that are reproduced in this book, and to my son, John, for his seaman's knowledge of the Caribbean.
In the United States I am obliged to the Library of Congress and the John Carter Brown Library for photo-copies of Caveto Cavetote and Proposals for a Fond, the only existing copies of these pamphlets, I believe, being in their care. I am also indebted to the staffs of the British Museum Reading Room, the London Library, the National Library of Scotland, the Public Record Office, the Scottish Record Office, the Royal Bank of Scotland, and the Public Libraries of Banstead, Surrey, and Hamilton, Lanarkshire.
Sources and Bibliography
Any whiter on this subject owes a profound debt to the scholarship of George Pratt Insh. In the early part of this century his discoveries recovered most of the original papers of the Company from dust and oblivion, and he found the work of research so fascinating an historical odyssey that he wrote a second book about it and gave it that title. His history of the Company of Scotland, published thirty-six years ago, is concerned less with events in Darien than those in Scotland, and the reasons for his brief and unsatisfying account of the second Colony, for example, remain inexplicable. Though I have returned to the original manuscript sources, and have gone to others unconsulted by Insh, it would be a gross impertinence for me to pretend that his work has not been of inestimable value, a guide-line without which my own would have been harder and longer.
Though the Bannatyne Club's Darien Papers (1849), and Insh's Darien Shipping Papers (1924) contain basic manuscript material, including the journals of Rose and Pennecuik as well as Directors' and Councils' letters etc., they barely touch the great store still unpublished and which would make a library in themselves. There is young Colin Campbell's journal in the National Library, Pennecuik's letters in the Dalhousie Papers, Jolly's vindication and Wafer's amusing report of his visit to Scodand in the Hamilton Papers, Oswald's letters in the Robertson-Aikman Muniments, and so on.
The relevant Spanish papers from the Archives of the Indies and elsewhere were published as a great appendix to Hart's general account of Darien, forty years ago. I acknowledge the enormous value of these, without which it would be impossible to understand the last days of the Colony. The account of the attempt to establish the Company in London is based upon the Journals of the House of Lords and the House of Commons, as well as Paterson's letters in the Darien Papers. Events in Hamburg come from Rycaut's letters in the Lansdowne mss, and as published in the Darien Shipping Papers by Insh. Much of the material involving England and the English Colonies comes from the Calendar of State Papers, both Domestic and American.
The spelling of many names varies considerably throughout the manuscripts. Pennecuik is sometimes Pennycook. Pincarton may be Pinkerton or Pinkarton. Benjamin Spense is Spencer, Spensor or even Penso. I adhered to that spelling which pleased me, as other writers have chosen that which pleased them.
The use of private letters and journals, scattered throughout manuscript sources has, I think, made this the first detailed account of events in the Colony. Without a full knowledge of what happened there it is almost impossible to understand the traumatic effect of the disastrous undertaking. No mention has hitherto been made of the connection between the Massacre of Glencoe and the Darien Settlement, the fact that many of those involved in the former also served in the latter, and that the memory of the massacre aggravated the contention and disunion of the Colony's leaders.
It must also be said, I think, that forty years ago when Insh and others were writing about the Company, the story had no relevance to contemporary Scottish affairs. This is certainly not true to-day. In the current political and social mood of Scotland there are strong and recognisable echoes of the temper of that kingdom toward the end of the seventeenth century. It may seem bizarre to present events in Scotland to-day as source-material for a book on something that happened more than two and a half centuries ago, but I do so with all sincerity. The undertow of history is strong.
Manuscripts
Scottish Record Office: Leven and Melville Papers; Dalhousie mss; Ogilvie of Inverquharity mss (Bennet of Grubet Portfolios); Church of Scotland Papers; Regimental Rolls, 1689-91.
National Library of Scotland: Darien Papers 1-50; The Earl of Leven's mss (dp47); Colin Campbell's Journal (ms846); Tweed- dale or Yester Papers.
The Royal Bank of Scotland: Journals of the Court of Directors, 1696-1707; Instructions of the Court of Directors, 1696- 1701; Acts etc., of the Council-General of the Company of Scotland, 1696-1707; Registers, inventories of ships and goods; List of Land Officers and Ship's Officers.
British Museum: Lansdowne mss.
Public Record Office: ms Journal of William Blathwayt; Regimental Rolls, 1691-98.
Hamilton Public Library: Robertson-Aikman mss, Oswald letters.
Lennexlove: Hamilton Muniments, 41 and 121.
Castle Leod: Cromartie mss, letters from David Nairne.
Inveraray: Argyll Papers, regimental lists of the Earl of Argyll's Regiment.
Published Papers
The Darien Papers: being a selection of original letters and official documents relating to the establishment of a Colony at Darien by the Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies, 1695-1700. Edited by John Hill Burton for the Banna- tyne Club, Edinburgh 1849.
Darien Shipping Papers, relating to the ships and voyages of the Company of Scotland Tr
ading to Africa and the Indies, 1696- 1707. Edited by George Pratt Insh for the Scottish History Society, Edinburgh 1924.
Original Papers and Letters relating to the Scots Company trading to Africa and the Indies. Edinburgh, 1700.
Extracts from the Records of the Burgh of Edinburgh, 1689- 1701. Edited by Helen Armet, Edinburgh 1962.
The Writings of William Paterson. Edited by Saxe Bannister, 2 vols., London 1858.
Calendar of State Papers (Domestic) 1695-1702.
Calendar of State Papers (America and the West Indies) 1695- 1700.
Journal of the House of Commons, X and XI.
Journal of the House of Lords, XV.
House of Lords mss, 1695-1697 and 1699-1702.
Historical Manuscripts Commission, 12th Report, App. Pt. VII; 14th Report, App. Pt. Ill (Marchmont Papers); 15th Report, App. Pt. IX (Hope Johnstone mss).
Carstares Papers, 1774.
Extracts from the correspondence of the Hon. Alexander Stanhope, British Minister to Madrid, 1690-99. London 1844.
Correspondence of James, 4th Earl of Findlater, 1st Earl of Seafield, Lord Chancellor of Scotland. Edited by James Grant for the Scottish History Society, Edinburgh 1910.
Documents relating to the Colonial History of New York, Vol. IV.
The Annandale Family Book. Edited by Sir William Fraser, Edinburgh 1874.
Analectica Scotica, Vol. I. Edited by James Maidment, 1834.
The Diary of the Proceedings in the Parliament and Privy Council of Scotland, 1700-07, by Sir David Hume of Crossrig. Bannatyne Club 1828.
Contemporary Pamphlets, etc.
The History of Darien, by the Reverend Francis Borland, some-time Minister of the Gospel at Glassford who went along with the last Colony to Darien. Glasgow 1715.
A Defence of the Scots Settlement at Darien, with an Answer to the Spanish Memorial against it, by Phil-Caledon (Fletcher of Saltoun?). Edinburgh 1699.
A Defence of the Scots abdicating Darien, including an answer to a Defence of the Scots settlement there, by Walter Herries. Edinburgh 1700.
An Enquiry into the Causes of the Miscarriage of the Scots Colony at Darien; or an Answer to a libel entituled A Defence of the Scots abdicating Darien (by James Hodges?). Glasgow 1700.
A Short and Impartial View of the Manner and Occasion of the Scots Colony's coming away from Darien, in a letter to a person of quality, by P.C. 1699.
A Poem upon the Undertaking of the Royal Company of Scotland, etc., for James Wardlaw. Edinburgh 1697.
Proposals for a Fond to Cary on a Plantation. 1695.
Caveto Cavetote: being an Answer to a late Scotch letter concerning a late Scotch Act etc. London 1695.
An Exact list of all the men, women and boys that died on board the Indian and African Company's Fleet during their Voyage from Scotland to America, and since their landing in Caledonia. Edinburgh 1699.
Caledonia; or the Pedlar turned Merchant. A tragi-comedy as it was acted by His Majesty's subjects of Scotland in the King of Spain's province of Darien. London 1700.
Memoirs of the Secret Services of John Macky, Esq., during the Reigns of King William, Queen Anne, and King George I. London 1733.
Journey through Scotland, in familiar Letters from a Gentleman here to his Friend Abroad. London 1732.
A Just and Modest Vindication of the Scots Design for the having established a Colony at Darien. Edinburgh 1699.
Journals
Scottish Historical Review, January, April and July 1906. "The Early history of the Scots Darien Company", by Hiram Bingham.
—, July 1914. "Letters of Lieutenant Robert Turnbull to the Hon. Col. John Erskine."
—, July 1928. "The Founders of the Company of Scotland", by George Pratt Insh.
General Bibliography
Arciniegas, German: Caribbean, Sea of the New World. New York 1946.
Atholl, Katharine, Duchess of: A Military History of Perthshire, 1660-1902. Perth 1908.
Bannister, Saxe: William Paterson, the merchant statesman and founder of the Bank of England: his life & trials. Edinburgh 1858.
Barbour, James Samuel: A History of William Paterson and the Darien Company. 1907.
Chambers, Robert: Edinburgh Papers ("Edinburgh Merchants and Merchandise in Old Times"). Edinburgh 1861.
Cundall, Frank: The Darien Venture. Hispanic Society of New York 1926.
Dalrymple of Cranstoun, Sir John: Memoirs of Great Britain and Ireland. 1771.
Defoe, Daniel: The History of the Union between England and Scotland. London 1786.
Donaldson, Gordon: The Scots Overseas. London 1966.
Hart, Francis Russell: The Disaster of Darien. Boston 1929.
Howarth, David: The Golden Isthmus. London 1966.
Insh, George Pratt: The Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies. London 1932.
—: Historian's Odyssey, the Romance of the Quest for the Records of the Darien Company. Edinburgh 1938.
—: Scottish Colonial Schemes, 1620-1686. Glasgow 1922.
Mackenzie, W. C.: Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun, his Life and Times. Edinburgh 1935.
Means, Philip Ainsworth: The Spanish Main, 1497-1700. London 1935.
Nisbet, Alexander: A System of Heraldry, Speculative and Practical, with the True Art of Blazon. Edinburgh 1816.Prebble, John: Glencoe. London 1966.
Scott, John: A Bibliography of printed documents and books relating to the Darien Company. Revised by George P. Johnston. Edinburgh 1904.
Smout, T. C.: Scottish Trade on the Eve of the Union, 1660- 1707. Edinburgh 1963.
Taylor, Joseph: A Journey to Edenborough in Scotland in 1705, by Joseph Taylor, late of the Inner Temple, Esq., from the original ms. Edinburgh 1903.
Temple, Sir Richard Carnac: The Tragedy of the Worcester. London 1930.
Thomson, Edith E. B.: The Parliament of Scotland, 1690-1702. St. Andrews 1929.
Wafer, Lionel: A New Voyage and Description of the Isthmus of America. Hakluyt Society, Oxford 1934.
Waller, G. M.: Samuel Vetch: Colonial Enterpriser. South Carolina 1960.
Warburton, Eliot: Darien; or, The Merchant Prince, A historical Romance. London 1852.
Index
Aberdeen, 62, 80,118 Ada, R., 247, 248, 249, 257 Act in favour of the Scots Company etc., An, 21, 29, 30, 31, 35, passim 41-51, 56, 59, 82, 100, 114, 125, 160, 163, 174, 179, 180, 197, 212, 275; passed by Scots Pari., 22-8; terms, 27-8 Act for Encouraging Foreign Trade,
An, 16, 20, 24 Address, National, 270-1, 274, 276, 283
Admiralty, High Court of, 1, 3 Africa, 15, 17, 18, 20, 22, 24, 27,
62, 63, 65, 77, 115, 311-12 African Company, The Royal, 15,
18, 31, 40, 43 Aikman, Thomas, 184, 228, 269 Alder, Alexander, 129 Alexander, Captain (Indian), 129 Alliston, Captain Robert, 12, 66,175;
ilots Scots to Darien, 131-2,134- 37
Amazon, R., 108
Ambrosio, Captain (Indian), 145,
146, 147-9, 159, 176 America, 15, 17, 18, 20, 22, 27, 52, 67, 77, 84, 276, 307. South —, 66, 75, 94 Amsterdam, 13, passim 78-84, 87,
89, 96,166 Anderson, Captain John, 175, 189,
190, 203, 204, 207 Andreas, Captain (Indian), 138-9, 142, 145, 146, 150, 299, 316; wives, 142, 145, 150; treaty with, 152-3
Annandale, Lord, see Johnstone Anne, Queen, passim 1-5
Anstruther, 119 Antigua, 130, 236 ap-Rice, Captain John, 312 Arbuckle, William, 24, 97, 315 Asia, 17, 22, 27, 75,115 Association of Merchants trading with Jamaica, Pennsylvania, New England, Barbadoes, Leeward Isles, 43, 44, 49 Atchison, Keeper, 285 Atlantic Ocean, 12, 64, 119, 122,
208, 211, 215, 302 Avery, Captain John, 11, 94 Avondale, 224-5
Bada, Domingo de, 174, 177 Baillie of Jerviswood, George, 58 Baillie, Captain John, 301, 302 Baillie, Dr. John, 302 Bain Lauchlan, 228, 291, 302 Baird, Andrew, 130 Balboa, Vasco Nunez de, 71 Balfour of Pilrig, James, 24-5, 26, 28, 29, 30, 56, 58, 60, 80; in London, 36, 37, 39, 40, 46, 51 Baltic, The, 81, 86, 88, 95 Barbadoes, The, 256, 261 Barliavento, The (Windward Fleet), 153, 167, 177. 2
04, 249, 255, 271; blockades Caledonia, passim 287- 300
Bartley, Mrs., 9, 313 Bass Rock, 96, 130, 225 Basse, Governor Jeremiah, 209 Bateman, Mr., 51