| PAGE | |
| (1) Editor’s Introduction | 15 |
| (2) The Translator’s Preface to the First Edition | 43 |
| PART I. | |
| THE BUCCANEERS OF AMERICA. | |
| CHAPTER I. | |
| The Introduction—The Author sets forth for the Western Islands, in the service of the West India Company of France—They meet with an English frigate, and arrive at the Island of Tortuga | 49 |
| CHAPTER II. | |
| A description of Tortuga—The fruits and plants there—How the French first settled there, at two several times, and forced out the Spaniards—The Author twice sold in the said island | 54 |
| CHAPTER III. | |
| A description of Hispaniola—A relation of the French Buccaneers | 64 |
| CHAPTER IV. | |
| Original of the most famous pirates of the coasts of America—Famous exploit of Pierre le Grand | 76 |
| CHAPTER V. | |
| How the pirates arm their vessels and regulate their voyages | 80 |
| CHAPTER VI. | |
| Of the origin of Francis Lolonois and the beginning of his robberies | 95 |
| CHAPTER VII. | |
| Lolonois equips a fleet to land upon the Spanish islands of America with intent to rob, sack, and burn whatsoever he met with | 100 |
| CHAPTER VIII. | |
| Lolonois makes new preparations to take the city of St. James de Leon; as also that of Nicaragua; where he miserably perishes | 115 |
| CHAPTER IX. | |
| The origin and descent of Captain Henry Morgan—his exploits, and the most remarkable actions of his life | 131 |
| CHAPTER X. | |
| Of the Island of Cuba—Captain Morgan attempts to preserve the Isle of St. Catherine as a refuge to the nest of pirates but fails of his design—He arrives at, and takes, the village of El Puerto del Principe | 140 |
| CHAPTER XI. | |
| Captain Morgan resolving to attack and plunder the City of Puerto Bello, equips a fleet, and with little expense and small forces, takes it | 149 |
| CHAPTER XII. | |
| Captain Morgan takes the City of Maracaibo, on the coast of Nueva Venezuela—Piracies committed in those seas—Ruin of three Spanish ships set forth to hinder the robberies of the pirates | 158 |
| CHAPTER XIII. | |
| Captain Morgan goes to Hispaniola to equip a new fleet with intent to pillage again on the coast of the West Indies | 187 |
| CHAPTER XIV. | |
| What happened in the river De la Hacha | 190 |
| CHAPTER XV. | |
| Captain Morgan leaves Hispaniola and goes to St. Catherine’s which he takes | 195 |
| CHAPTER XVI. | |
| Captain Morgan takes the Castle of Chagre with four hundred men sent to this purpose from St. Catherine’s | 202 |
| CHAPTER XVII. | |
| Captain Morgan departs from Chagre at the head of twelve hundred men to take the city of Panama | 209 |
| CHAPTER XVIII. | |
| Captain Morgan sends canoes and boats to the South Sea—He fires the city of Panama—Robberies and cruelties committed there by the pirates, till their return to the Castle of Chagre | 223 |
| PART II. | |
| A TRUE ACCOUNT OF FOUR NOTORIOUS PIRATES. | |
| Chapter I. Of Captain Teach alias Black-beard. | |
| His beginning—His confederacy with Hornygold—The confederacy broken—Takes a large Guinea man—Engages the Scarborough man-of-war—His alliance with Major Stede Bonnet—Deposes his new ally—His advice to the Major—His progress and success—Takes prizes in sight of Charles Town—Sends ambassadors to the Governor of Carolina upon an impudent demand—Runs his ship aground designedly—His cruelty to some of his own companions—Surrenders to the King’s Proclamation—The Governor of North Carolina’s exceeding generosity to him—He marries—The number of his wives then living—Makes a second excursion in the way of pirating—Some State legerdemain betwixt him and the Governor—His frolics on shore—The merchants apply for a force against him, and where—A proclamation with a reward for taking or killing of pirates—Lieutenant Maynard sent in pursuit of him—Black-beard’s good intelligence—The lieutenant engages Black-beard—A most execrable health drank by Black-beard—The fight bloody; the particulars of it—Black-beard killed—His sloop taken—The lieutenant’s conduct—A reflection on the humours of seamen—Black-beard’s correspondents discovered by his papers—Black-beard’s desperate resolution before the fight—The lieutenant and Governor no very good friends—The prisoners hanged—Samuel Odell saved, and why—The good luck of Israel Hands—Black-beard’s mischievous frolics—His beard described—Several instances of his wickedness—Some memoranda taken from his journal—The names of the pirates killed in the engagement—Of those executed—The value of the prize | 239 |
| Chapter II. Of Captain William Kid. | |
| Commanded a privateer in the West Indies—Recommended to the Government by Lord Bellamont, &c.—Not encouraged—He is sent out in a private man-of-war with the King’s commission—He sails for New York—In his way takes a French banker—Arrived there—Ships more hands—Sails to Madeira, Bonavista, Cape de Verde Islands, and Madagascar—Meets three English men-of-war—Meets with nothing at Madagascar—Goes to the Malabar coast—Cruises about Mohila and Johanna—Borrows money and repairs his ship—At Mabbee he takes some corn—From thence steers for Bab’s Key—He sends a boat along the coast, and gains intelligence—He falls in with a fleet, but is obliged to sheer off—Goes to the Malabar coast—Takes a Moorish vessel—Treats the men cruelly, and discharges the vessel—Touches at Carawar, and is suspected of piracy—Engages a Portuguese man-of-war sent after him and gets off—Takes a Moor ship under pretence of her being French—Keeps company with a Dutch ship—Quarrels with and kills his gunner—Plunders a Portuguese ship on the Malabar coast and lets her go—His cooper is murdered in one of the Malabar Islands—He burns and pillages several houses—Commands a native to be shot—He takes the Queda, and shares £200 a man amongst his crew—He cheats the Indians—Goes to Madagascar—Meets there Culliford the pirate—Shifts into the Queda, and shares the rest of her cargo—His men desert from him to forty—Goes to Amboyna—hears he is declared a pirate in England—Lord Bellamont prints his justification—A pardon granted to pirates—Avery and Kid excepted—Kid goes to, and is secured at, New York—Some of his crew depending on the pardon, are confined—Sent to England and condemned—Three excepted—A distinction of the lawyers—Kid found guilty of the murder of his gunner—Some plead the king’s pardon to no purpose—Mullins’s plea—Kid’s plea useless—He and his men indicted—Executed | 257 |
| Chapter III. Of Captain Bartholomew Roberts and his Crew. | |
| His beginning—Elected captain in the room of Davis—The speech of Lord Dennis at the election—Lord Sympton objects against a papist—The death of Davis revenged—Roberts sails southward in quest of adventures—The names of the prizes taken by them—Brazil described—Roberts falls into a fleet of Portuguese—Boards and takes the richest ship amongst them—Make the Devil’s Islands—An unfortunate adventure of Roberts—Kennedy’s treachery—Irishmen excluded by Roberts and his crew—Articles sworn to by them—A copy of them—Some account of the laws and customs of the pirates—An instance of Roberts’s cunning—He proceeds again upon business, and takes prizes—Narrowly escapes being taken—Sails for the Island Dominico—Another escape—Sails for Newfoundland—Plunders, sinks, and burns twenty-two sail in the harbour of Trepassi—Plunders ten sail of Frenchmen—The mad behaviour of the crew—A correspondence hinted at—The pirates caressed at the island of St. Bartholomew—In extreme distress—Sail for Martinico—A stratagem of Roberts—The insolent device in his colours—Odd compliment paid to Roberts—Three men desert the pirates, and are taken by them—Their trial—Two executed and one saved—The brigantine deserts them—Great divisions in the company—A description of Serra Leone River—The names of English settled there, and way of life—The Onslow belonging to the African Company taken—The pirates’ contempt of soldiers—They are for entertaining a chaplain—Their skirmish with the Calabar negroes—The King Solomon, belonging to the African Company taken—The frolics of the pirates—Take eleven sail in Whydah Road—A comical receipt given by the pirates—A cruel action of Roberts—Sails for Anna Bona—The progress of the Swallow man-of-war, in pursuit of Roberts—Roberts’s consort taken—The bravery of Skyrme, a Welsh pirate—The surly humour of some of the prisoners—The Swallow comes up with Roberts—Roberts’s dress described—Is killed—His character—His ship taken—The behaviour of the pirates when prisoners—A conspiracy of theirs discovered—Reflections on the manner of trying them—The form of the commission for trying the pirates—The oath taken by the commissioners—The names of those arraigned taken in the ship Ranger—The form of the indictment—The sum of the evidence against them—Their defence—The names of the prisoners of the Royal Fortune—Proceedings against them—Harry Glasby acquitted—The particular trial of Captain James Skyrme—Of John Walden—Of Peter Scudamore—Of Robert Johnson—Of George Wilson—Of Benjamin Jeffries—Of John Mansfield—Of William Davis—The names of those executed at Cape Corso—The petition of some condemned—The court’s resolution—The form of an indenture of a pardoned pirate—The names of those pardoned upon indenture to serve seven years—The pirates how disposed of—The dying behaviour of those executed | 275 |
| Chapter IV. Of Captain Avery and his Crew. | |
| Romantic reports of his greatness—His birth—Is mate of a Bristol man—For what voyage designed—Tampers with the seamen—Forms a plot for carrying off the ship—Executes it, and how—The pirates take a rich ship belonging to the Great Mogul—The Great Mogul threatens the English settlements—The pirates steer their course back for Madagascar—Call a council—Put all the treasure of board of Avery’s ship—Avery and his crew treacherously leave his confederates—Go to the Isle of Providence in the West Indies—Sell the ship—Go to North America in a sloop—They disperse—Avery goes to New England—From thence to Ireland—Avery afraid to expose his diamonds to sale—Goes over to England—Puts his wealth into merchant’s hands of Bristol—Changes his name—Lives at Bideford—The merchants send him no supplies—Importunes them—Goes privately to Bristol—They threaten to discover him—Goes over to Ireland—Solicits them from thence—Is very poor—Works his passage over to Plymouth—Walks to Bideford—Dies a beggar—An account of Avery’s confederates—Their settlement at Madagascar—They meet other pirates—An account of them—The pirates deposed, and why—Marooned on the Island Mauritius—Some account of that island—The adventures of the company continued—Angria, an Indian pirate—His strength by land and sea—The East India Company’s wars with him—The pirates go to the island of Melinda—Their barbarous behaviour there—Hear of Captain Mackra’s designs against them—Their reflections thereupon—Sail for Cochin, a Dutch settlement—The pirates and the Dutch very good friends—Mutual presents made between the pirates and the Governor—The pirates in a fright—Almost starved—Take a prize of an immense value—Take an Ostend East Indiaman—A short description of Madagascar—A prodigious dividend made by the pirates—A fellow’s way of increasing his diamonds—Some of the pirates quit, and join the remains of Avery—The proceedings of the men-of-war in those parts—Some Dutchmen petition to be among the pirates—The pirates divided in their measures—Break up—What became of them | 384 |