The History of the Lives and Bloody Exploits of the Most Noted Pirates; Their Trials and Executions. Ezra Baldwin Strong
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of which they did not understand.
After the husband and wife were buried, the crew returned on board, and gave an account of what had passed; the captains’ wives (for Misson and his were on board the Bijoux, the name they had given their prize from her make and gilding) seemed not in the least surprised, and Caraccioli’s lady only said, she must be of noble descent, for none but the families of the nobility had the privilege allowed them of following their husbands, on pain if they transgressed, of being thrown into the sea, to be eat by fish; and they knew that their souls could not rest as long as any of the fish, who fed upon them, lived. Misson asked, if they intended to have done the same thing had they died? “We should not,” answered his wife, “have disgraced our families; nor is our tenderness for our husbands inferior to hers whom you seem to admire.”
After their recovery, Misson proposed a cruise, on the coast of Zanguebar, which being agreed to, he and Caraccioli, took leave of the queen and her brother, and would have left their wives on the island, but they could by no means be induced to the separation; it was in vain to urge the shortness of the time they were to cruise; they answered it was not farther than Mohila they intended to go, and if they were miserable in that short absence, they could never support a longer; and if they would not allow them to keep them company in the voyage, they must not expect to see them at their return, if they intended one.
In a word, they were obliged to yield to them, but told them, if the views of their men should insist as strongly on following their example, their tenderness would be their ruin, and make them a prey to their enemies; they answered, the queen should prevent that, by ordering that no woman should go on board, and if any were in the ships, they should return on shore: this order was accordingly made, and they set sail for the river Mozambique. In about ten days’ cruise after they had left Johanna, and about 15 leagues to the eastward of this river, they fell in with a stout Portuguese ship of 60 guns, which engaged them from break of day till two in the afternoon, when the captain being killed, and a great number of men lost, she struck; this proved a very rich prize, for she had the value of £250,000 sterling on board, in gold dust. The two women never quit the decks all the time of the engagement, neither gave they the least mark of fear except for their husbands. This engagement cost them 30 men, and Caraccioli lost his right leg; the slaughter fell mostly on the English, for of the above number, 20 were of that nation: the Portuguese lost double the number. Caraccioli’s wound made them resolve to make the best of their way for Johanna, where the greatest care was taken of their wounded, not one of whom died, though their number amounted to 27.
Caraccioli kept his bed two months; but Misson seeing him in a fair way of recovery, took what hands could be spared from the Bijoux, leaving her sufficient for defence, and went out, having mounted ten of the Portuguese guns, for he had hitherto carried but thirty, though he had ports for forty. He stretched over to Madagascar, and coasted along this island to the northward, as far as the most northerly point, when turning back, he entered a bay to the northward of Diego Suares. He run ten leagues up this bay, and on the larboard side found it afforded a large, and safe harbour, with plenty of fresh water. He came to an anchor, went on shore and examined the nature of the soil, which he found rich, the air wholesome, and the country level. He told his men this was an excellent place for an asylum, and that he determined here to fortify and raise a small town, and make docks for shipping, that they might have some place to call their own; and a receptacle, when age or wounds had rendered them incapable of hardship, where they might enjoy the fruits of their labour, and go to their graves in peace: that he would not, however, set about this, till he had the approbation of the whole company; and were he sure they would all approve this design, which he hoped, it being evidently for the general good, he should not think it advisable to begin any works, lest the natives should, in his absence, destroy them; but, however, as they had nothing upon their hands, if they were of his opinion, they might begin to fall and square timber, ready for the raising a wooden fort, when they returned with their companions.
The captain’s motion was universally applauded, and in ten days they felled and rough hewed a hundred and fifty large trees, without any interruption from or seeing any of the inhabitants. They felled their timber at the waters’ edge, so that they had not the trouble of hauling them any way, which would have employed a great deal more time: they returned again, and acquainted their companions with what they had seen and done, and with the captain’s resolution, which they one and all came into.
Capt. Misson then told the queen, as he had been serviceable to her in her war with the island of Mohila, and might continue to be of farther use, he did not question her lending him assistance in the settling himself on the coast of Madagascar, and to that end furnish him with 300 men, to help in his buildings. The queen answered, she could do nothing without consent of council, and that she would assemble her nobility, and did not question their agreeing to anything he could reasonably desire, for they were sensible of the obligations the Johannians had to him. The council was accordingly called, and Misson’s demand being told, one of the eldest said, he did not think it expedient to comply with it, nor safe to refuse; that they should in agreeing to give him that assistance, help to raise a power, which might prove formidable to themselves, by the being so near a neighbour; and these men who had lately protected, might, when they found it for their interest, enslave them. On the other hand, if they did not comply, they had the power to do them great damage: that they were to make choice of the least of two possible evils, for he could prognosticate no good to Johanna, by their settling near it. Another answered, that many of them had Johanna wives: that it was not likely they would make enemies of the Johanna men at the first settling, because their friendship might be of use to them; and from their children there was nothing to be apprehended in the next generation, for they would be half their own blood; that in the mean while, if they complied with the request, they might be sure of an ally and protector against the king of Mohila; wherefore, he was for agreeing to the demand.
After a long debate, in which every inconvenience and advantage was maturely considered, it was agreed to send with him the number of men he required, on condition he should send them back in four moons, make an alliance with them, and war against Mohila. This being agreed to, they staid till Caraccioli was thoroughly recovered: then putting the Johannians on board the Portuguese ship, with forty French and English, and fifteen Portuguese to work her, and setting sail, they arrived at the place where Misson designed his settlement, which he called Libertatia, and gave the name of Liberi to his people, desiring in that might be drowned the distinguished names of French, English, Dutch, Africans, &c.
The first thing they set about was, the raising a fort on each side the harbour, which they made of an octagon figure, and having finished and mounted them with forty guns taken out of the Portuguese, they raised a battery on an angle, of ten guns, and began to raise houses and magazines under the protection of their forts and ships; the Portuguese was unrigged, and all her sails and cordage carefully laid up. While they were very busily employed in the raising a town, a party which had often hunted and rambled four or five leagues off their settlement, resolved to venture farther into the country. They made themselves some huts, at about four leagues distance from their companions, and travelled E. S. E. about five leagues farther into the country, when they came up with a black, who was armed with a bow, arrows, and a javelin: they with a friendly appearance engaged the fellow to lay by his fear, and go with them. They carried him to their companions, and there entertained him three days with a great deal of humanity, and then returned with him near the place they found him, and made him a present of a piece of scarlet baize, and an axe. He appeared overjoyed with the present, and left them with seeming satisfaction.
The hunters imagined that there might be some village not far off, and observing that he looked at the sun, and then took his way directly south, they travelled on the same point of the compass, and from the top of a hill they spied a pretty large village, and went down to it: the men came out with their arms, such as before described, bows, arrows, and javelins; but upon two only of the whites advancing, with presents of axes and baize in their hands, they sent only four to meet them. The misfortune was, that they could not understand one another: but by their pointing to the sun, and holding up one finger, and making one of them go forward, and return again with showing their circumcision, and pointing up to heaven with one finger, they apprehended they gave them to understand there was but one God, who had