“Now, having learned why the buccaneers were so called and how they came into existence, we’ll take up a more interesting matter, and I’ll try to tell you something of the men themselves, of the most famous buccaneers and of their deeds,” continued Mr. Bickford.
“Certain famous buccaneers’ names are almost household words—such as Morgan, Montbars, L’Ollonois and your friend Captain Kidd, who, as I said, was no buccaneer—but others, who did even braver and more terrible things and were the most noted of buccaneers in their day, are almost unknown to the world to-day. Among these was Pierre Le Grand, Brasiliano, Bartholomew Portugues, Sawkins, Sharp, Davis, Red Legs, Cook, Dampier, Mansvelt, Prince Rupert and many others.”
“But you’ve forgotten Drake and Hawkins and Blackbeard,” put in Jack.
“None of those men were buccaneers,” his father declared. “Drake and Hawkins were privateers—Drake being Admiral of Queen Elizabeth’s navy—and won their fame in the destruction of the Spanish Armada. Later they attacked and took towns on the Spanish Main and destroyed Spanish ships, but they were neither pirates nor buccaneers. In fact, they were both dead before buccaneers became of any importance as sea rovers. On the other hand, Blackbeard was an ordinary pirate—a sea robber who made no attempt to discriminate between friend and foe and scuttled and robbed ships of his own countrymen as readily as those of other nationalities. But as he was an interesting character and was among the last of the important or dangerous pirates of the Caribbean I will tell you something of his life and career later.
“The first buccaneer to rise to any fame was Pierre Le Grand, or as he was oftener called, Peter the Great, a native of Dieppe in Normandy. Le Grand’s first and only achievement, and the one which brought him fame, was the taking of the Vice Admiral of the Spanish fleet near Cape Tiburon in Haiti. With a small boat manned by twenty-eight of the rough buccaneers Le Grand set forth in search of prizes and cruised among the Bahamas, but for many days saw no ship. Provisions were running low, his men were grumbling and he had about decided to give up in despair when they sighted a huge Spanish ship which had become separated from the rest of the convoy. Setting sail they headed for the vessel and at twilight were very close. In order to force his men to their utmost, Le Grand ordered one of his crew to bore holes in the bottom of the boat and then, running their tiny craft alongside the Don, and armed only with swords and pistols, the buccaneers swarmed over the sides of the doomed ship. Taken absolutely by surprise, for the Spaniards had not dreamed that the handful of ragged men in a tiny sail boat intended to attack them, the crew of the ship, nevertheless, resisted stoutly. But they were ruthlessly cut down and while some of the buccaneers drove the Spaniards across the deck, others with Le Grand at their head, dashed into the cabin where the unsuspecting Vice Admiral was enjoying a quiet game of cards with his officers.
“As Le Grand leaped across the room and placed his pistol at the Admiral’s breast thedumbfounded Spaniard exclaimed, ‘Lord bless us! Are these devils or what?’
Money of the buccaneers’ times
- 1.Pieces of eight
- 2.Doubloon
- 3–4.Cross money
- 5.Castillano
Cruising about in small boats and attacking every Spanish ship they saw
“But he soon realized that whatever they were his ship was in their hands and that he and his men were pris
