Selkirk's Island, Diana Souhami [the best books to read TXT] 📗

Increase and used as a hospital ship. All the sick men and two doctors were transferred to it. Selkirk was appointed its Master.

These prizes were useful but inconsequential. They were no reward for the ordeal of the voyage. There were days of roaming the sea when nothing was seen but the spouting of a whale. Scurvy spread and the men’s discontent. They were rationed to three pints of water a day per man, for all needs. ‘We can’t keep the Sea much longer’ Woodes Rogers wrote in his journal. On 11 April the Committee ‘came to a full Resolution to land and attempt Guayaquil’. It was a bold ambition. Guayaquil was a rich town, the third largest port of South America. It had an army and a population of two thousand. The men ‘began to murmur about the Encouragement they were to expect for Landing, which they alledg’d was a risque more than they were ship’d for’.† Their acquiescence was bought with promises of wine and brandy, of new clothes and a revised share of the prize money.

1709 Seven Bunches of Garlic and One Very Old Hat

ON 15 APRIL as they neared Guayaquil they added a fourth ship and more prisoners to their squadron. They attacked and took a French-built galleon, the Havre de Grace as it left the harbour. In the skirmish, Woodes Rogers’ brother, John, aged twenty, got shot through the head. He was buried at sea. Prayers for the Dead were intoned and flags flown at half-mast.

‘There were upwards of 50 Spaniards and above 100 Negroes, Indians, and Molattoes on board’ Edward Cooke wrote.† Such a crowd was a questionable prize. It consumed food and took up space. Spaniards useful as hostages were listed by name: Sebastian Sanchez, Nicolas Cedillo, Joseph Lopzaga… Negroes and livestock were counted: 2 old Negro women, 3 young Women, 3 Girls, 6 Boyes, 1 young sick Man, 50 young and middle aged Men, 37 Fowls, 7 Sheep, 3 Pigs, 1 Sow and a peck of potatoes.

Selkirk and others made detailed inventories of the ship’s booty. These were compared for accuracy. Every item was listed: clothes and silver-handled swords, buckles and snuffboxes, rings and gold chains, a case of bottles and pickles, a chest of chocolate sweetmeats, a black box of odd things, 1 pair of spectacles, 7 bunches of garlic, 1 very old hat, 5 muslin Neckcloths, 1 white Cap, 1 very little box with bells and brass Nayles, 1 wig.*

Things thought worthless were dumped overboard. Among these were beads and crucifixes, wooden effigies of the Virgin Mary, thirty tons of papal medals, bones in small boxes ‘ticketed with the names of Romish saints, some of whom had been dead for 7 or 800 years’ and 500 bales of papal dispensations to eat meat during Lent if the appropriate fee was paid.† About a hundred of these bales were kept back. Like the thatches of villagers’ houses, they were used to burn off barnacles when careening the ships.

The Havre de Grace was refitted as a companion to the Duke and Dutchess. It was given new masts, sails and rigging and renamed the Marquess. The chief Gunner of the Duke transported arms to it in a frigate: twenty guns, gun carriages, shot and nails, hand grenades, powder horns, shells, crowbars and cutlasses. Edward Cooke was put in command with a crew of ninety men.

Intercepted letters on the ship showed the Spanish authorities knew about the privateers. The Viceroy, the Marquis de Castelldosrius, had written to all the Corregidors of the South American coastal towns. He warned them to guard their ports, shores and harbours, deny all provisions to the English, and be prepared for surprise attack.

1709 Take ’em off and Surrender ’em

THE PRIVATEERS planned sudden and stealthy invasion of Guayaquil. Two hundred and one of them lurked in barks in the mangrove swamps. They were armed with quarterdeck guns, field carriages and pistols. They had with them seven high-ranking Spanish prisoners as hostages. One hundred and fifty other prisoners had been left in leg irons on the ships.

The uncertain strategy was to land in three convoys commanded by Thomas Dover, Woodes Rogers and Stephen Courtney. There was an officer for every ten men. Dampier was to manage guns and provisions. An Indian pilot who got drunk was ‘severely whipt before the whole Company as a Terror to the rest’.† The weather was hot, the barks overcrowded and the waters infested with alligators. The men were ‘pester’d and stung grievously by Muskitoes’.†

On the night of 22 April the people of Guayaquil held a party high on a hill, with fires, bells and gun blast. Rogers construed the commotion as bellicose and wanted immediately to attack. Dampier wanted to return to his ship.

At a hasty and fractious meeting the officers voted to attempt to negotiate with the town’s Corregidor before invading. Two prisoners were sent to him as envoys with ransom demands. He must pay 50,000 Pieces of Eight to secure the release of prisoners held by the privateers and to avert attack on his town. If he detained the envoys for more than an hour, his town would be ransacked and the prisoners killed.

The Corregidor came to the shore with a translator. He asked for time to discuss with his officials the size of the ransom and its method of payment. He agreed to return at eight that night. The scene was set for his reappearance. A boat waited for him. On the Duke a candlelit table was laid. But he did not show up. Rogers suspected trickery and wanted to invade the town. Then at midnight an envoy arrived with gifts of bags of flour, dead sheep and pigs, wine and brandy and a message that the Corregidor would return at seven next morning. Rogers sent a reply: if he failed to show up the ransom offer was at an end.

The Corregidor prevaricated and consulted. There was barter and threat. The English lowered their demand to 40,000 Pieces of Eight to be paid