THE PIRATES OF THE HIGH SEAS – Know Your Infamous Buccaneers, Their Exploits & Their Real Histories (9 Books in One Edition). Даниэль Дефо
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mann'd, nor man her while so many Prisoners were with him. Wherefore there was a Necessity of sending them off, or of putting them all to the Sword. A Barbarity by which he would not purchase his Security. A Council was called, and what Captain Misson had proposed, agreed to. The Prisoners were then summon'd and he told them, in few Words, that he knew the Consequence of giving them Liberty; that he expected to be attacked as soon as the Place of his Retreat was known, and had it in his Hands, by putting them to Death to avoid the doubtful Fate of War; but his Humanity would not suffer him to entertain a Thought so cruel, and his Alliances with the Natives, he hoped, would enable him to repel his Assailants; but he required an Oath of every one, that he should not serve against him: He then enquired into the Circumstances of every particular Man, and what they had lost, all which he return'd, telling the Company it should be reckoned as Part of his Share, and the Prisoners, that he did not make War with the Oppressed, but the Oppressors. The Prisoners were charm'd with this Mark of Generosity and Humanity, and wished he might never meet a Treatment unworthy of that he gave them. The Ship being victualled for a Voyage to the Coast of Zanguebar, all her Guns and Ammunitions taken out, with the spare Sails, and spare Rigging, all were ordered to be gone, and 137 departed, highly applauding the Behaviour of their Enemies. All this while they had heard nothing from the Natives, nor had the hunting Parties met with any of them, which made Misson suspect they were afraid of his being their Neighbour, and had shifted their Quarters; but as the Johanna Men were upon going away, there came about 50 Negroes to them, driving about 100 Head of black Cattle, 20 Negroe Men bound, and 25 Women, for which Cattle and Prisoners they barter'd Rum, Hatchets, Baze and Beads; some Hogsheads of which last Commodity they had taken on the Coast of Angola. Here the Negroes belonging to Misson were provided with Wives: The Natives were caress'd, and to the Slaves Signs made that their Liberty was given them, they were immediately cloathed and put under the Care of as many Whites, who, by all possible Demonstrations, endeavoured to make them understand that they were Enemies to Slavery. The
Natives staid ten Days, which retarded the Departure of the Johanna Men; but, upon their retiring, the Bijoux sailed with 100 of them on Board, under the command of Caraccioli's Lieutenant, who excused the keeping them a Month longer than was promised, and not bringing them at once, having no more than two Ships. The Portuguese Ship, which was unrigg'd, being made a Hulk, the ten Men of Misson's Company who had settled at Johanna, being desirous to return, were brought to Libertatia with their Wives (of which they had two and three a piece) and their Children, the Bijoux, at two more Voyages, carried over the rest of the Johannians.
Misson hove down the Bijoux, and resolving on a Cruise on the Coast of Guiney, to strengthen his Colony by the Capture of some slaving Ship, he gave the Command of her to Captain Tew, and he and Caraccioli press'd the Work of the Dock; he gave him also 200 Hands, of which 40 were Portuguese, 37 Negroes, 17 of them expert Sailors, 30 English, and the rest French. Tew met with nothing in his Way till he came to the Northward of the Cape of Good Hope, when he fell in with a Dutch East-India Galley of 18 Guns, which he took after a small Resistance, and with the Loss of one Man only; on the Coast of Angola he took an English Man with 240 Slaves, Men, Women, and Boys. The Negroes, who had before been taken on this Coast, found among these a great many of their Acquaintance, and several of their Relations, to whom they reported their happy and unexpected change of Fortune, the great Captain (for so they now called Misson) humanly having knocked off their Chains, and of Slaves made them free Men, and Sharers in his Fortunes. That the same good Fortune had attended them in their falling into his Hands, for he abhorr'd even the Name of Slavery. Tew following the Orders, and acquainted with the Policy of Misson, order'd their Fetters and Handcuffs to be taken off, upon his Negroe Sailors, assuring him they would not revolt, and were sensible of their Happiness in falling into his Hands. Content with these Prizes, he made the best of his Way home to Libertatia, where he arrived without any sinister Accident; but I forgot to tell my Reader, that he set his Dutch Prisoners (nine excepted, who took on with him) ashore, about 30 Miles to the Northward of the Cape, in Soldinia Bay, where had been buried, by Captain Misson, the English Commander; he found a great Quantity of English Crowns on Board his Dutch Prize, which were carried into the common Treasury, Money being of no Use where every Thing was in common, and no Hedge bounded any particular Man's Property. The Slaves he had released in this last Cruize were employ'd in the perfecting the Dock, and treated on the Foot of free People. They were not ignorant of the Change of their Condition, and were therefore extreamly diligent and faithful. A White Man, or one of the old standing Negroes, wrought with every four, and made them understand the French Words (by often Repetition, and the Help of their Country Mens interpreting) used in their Works. Misson ordered a couple of Sloops to be built in a Creek, of 80 Tun each, which he mounted with 8 Guns a piece, out of the Dutch Prize. These were perfected in a little Time, and proved not only shapely Vessels, but excellent Sailors. The Officers of these Sloops were chosen by ballotting, and as their first Design was only to discover and lay down a Chart of the Coast, Sands, Shoals, and Depths of Water round the Island of Madagascar;
The School Master being sent for that Reason with the Command of one, Tew desired, and had the other. They were mann'd, each Sloop with 50 Whites and 50 black Men. Which Voyage round the Island was of vast Advantage in giving the new released Angola Negroes a Notion of the working a Vessel; and they were very industrious both in endeavouring to learn the French Language, and to be useful. These Sloops, the one of which was called the Childhood, and the other the Liberty, were near four Months on this Expedition; in the mean while a few of the Natives had come often to the Settlement, and they began to speak a little broken French, mix'd with the other European Languages, which they heard among Misson's People, and six of the native Families fixed among them, which was of vast Use to the Planters of this new Colony; for they made a very advantageous Report to their Country Men of the Regularity and Harmony they observed in them. The Sloops being return'd, and an exact Chart taken of the Coast, Carraccioli had a mind for a Cruize; he proposed the visiting all the neighbouring Islands, accordingly he went out to Mascarenas, and the other Islands near it, taking one half of his Crew of Negroes, and return'd with a Dutch Prize, which he took off the abovementioned Island, where they were about fixing a Colony. This Prize, as it had on Board all Sorts of European Goods, and Necessaries for settling, was more valuable than if it had been vastly richer. The Negroes growing useful Hands, Misson resolved on a Cruize to the Northward, encouraged by Tew's Success; and, with all the Blacks, which he divided between the two Ships, one of which Captain Tew commanded, set out with 500 Men: Off the Coast of Arabia Fœlix, they fell in with a Ship belonging to the Great Mogul, bound for Zidon, with Pilgrims to Mecca, who, with Moor Mariners, made up the Number of 1600 Souls. This Ship carried 110 Guns, but made a very poor Defence, being encumber'd with the Goods and Number of Passengers they carried. The two Adventurers did not think it their Business to cannonade, they therefore boarded as soon as they came up with her, and the Moors no sooner saw them enter'd, but they discharged one Volley of small Arms at Randon, we may suppose, because no Execution was done, and fled the Decks. Being Masters of this Ship, which did not cost them a single Man, they consulted what they should do with her, and the Prisoners, and it was resolved to set them ashore between Ain and Aden; but as they wanted Women, to keep all the unmarried, and to navigate the Ship to Libertatia; as the Guns might be of Use to them; and, by letting her go, or sinking, they might lose, perhaps, a considerable Booty, which the Moors, might have hid in her Cielings or Ballast.
This Resolution was put in Execution, and they brought off 100 Girls, from 12 to 18 Years old, who designed to make the Pilgrimage with their Parents. The Lamentations this Separation caused among the Prisoners, had such Effect on Misson, that he was for letting them go, but every one of his Men were against him. They now made the best of their Way for Madagascar, putting 200 Hands on board the Prize, which proved a very heavy Sailer, and retarded them very much. Off the Cape Guarde Fin they were overtaken with a cruel Storm, which was very near wrecking them on the Island called Irmanos; but the Wind coming about due North, they had the good Luck to escape this Danger. Though the Fury of the Wind abated, yet it blew so hard for