A REAL PIRATE.
"At the time I commenced following the sea," said old Captain Gifford,in relating a thrilling experience of his early life, "there werepirates all about the West Indies, and the dread of them was alwaysuppermost in a sailor's thoughts. We didn't mind the yellow fever. Whena man died with that, he died--it was a visitation of Providence, andhis fate was to be thought upon calmly and sorrowfully; there was nohorror in the reflection. But to be murdered--murdered upon the highseas--that was a thing which it made one sick to think of.
"Resistance on the part of a ship's crew, if unsuccessful, was certaindeath--and often, too, in the most cruel form; for the revengeful,drunken pirates, with their worst passions aroused by the conflict,would in such a case take delight in torturing their victims. And evenwhere no opposition had been attempted, the plea that 'dead men tell notales' was generally sufficient to insure the massacre of all on board.
"So you see it was about as long as it was broad. There was very littleencouragement to surrender. It was simply a question as to whether onewould die fighting like a lion or be butchered on the deck like a sheep.
"Of course there were exceptions; but these were not frequent enoughto inspire much hope in the event of capture. Slaughter was the rule,and if not committed in every instance, the fortunate ones might thanktheir stars.
"In those days we used to hear dreadful stories of such tragedies.Sometimes these would come to light through the confessions ofcondemned pirates; while in other cases a single survivor of somehapless crew of a merchantman would relate the tale of the capture anddeath of his shipmates--he himself having been spared through somefreak of the miscreants, perhaps to serve on board their vessel.
"I commenced following the sea at the age of fifteen, making my firstvoyage in the brig _Agenora_, Captain Christopher Allen, bound toTrinidad de Cuba. In all there were nine persons belonging to her,being the captain, the two mates, and the cook, with five hands beforethe mast, counting a son of Captain Allen and myself. But, of course, Idid not amount to much at that time.
"Young Argo Allen was seventeen, so that he had the advantage of meby two years, besides having made one voyage to the West Indies. Hewas one of the best fellows that ever lived; and having learned on hisfirst voyage to 'hand, reef, and steer' after a fashion, he was alwaysready to assist me to the extent of his knowledge. Indeed, I think oneyoung sailor generally feels a sort of pride in helping another whoknows less than himself.
"We had a long passage out, with calms and head winds, and Argo andI talked much of pirates. He told me how scared he had been upon hisformer voyage, when the vessel was overtaken by a low, black schooner,which, upon coming up with her, sailed past within a cable's length,with a crew of fifty or sixty horrible-looking wretches staring at thebrig in perfect silence.
"'After getting a little ahead,' said Argo, 'she tacked and came back.My hair rose right up then--it fairly lifted my hat! But she simplyrepassed us on the other side, and went off about her business.'
"'How do you account for it all?' I asked.
"'Oh, that's easy enough,' he replied. 'We were outward bound, witha cargo of New England produce, and the pirates knew that we werenot likely to have money on board. This was all that saved us; but Iwouldn't be so scared again for the price of the brig!'
"So Argo Allen had seen a real pirate, and it actually made me lookup to him with a kind of admiring awe, not that I had any desire tomeet with a like experience; but then it must, I thought, have been sothrilling--such a thing to think of and to tell of!
"On arriving at Trinidad, we disposed of our cargo at a very highprice; while, on the other hand, our return invoice of molasses waspurchased at an unusually low figure; so that, after loading for home,Captain Allen found that he had, above all expenses, a good threethousand dollars in doubloons.
"Meanwhile Argo and I were greatly pleased at meeting with two of ourtownspeople, a Mr. and Mrs. Howard; and it delighted us still more tolearn that they were to take passage with us for the North. They hadbeen sojourning in Cuba for a number of months, but were now anxious togo home, as the yellow fever season had arrived and there were alreadymany cases of it in the city.
"Although Captain Allen was in high spirits at having made such aprofitable voyage, he felt some uneasiness at the idea of sailing withso much money on board. The pirates, he said, had their spies in allthe Cuban ports, and these secret agents, by watching the run of trade,could easily determine what vessels were likely to offer the mosttempting booty.
"At length, all being ready, and Mr. and Mrs. Howard coming off to us,we hove up our anchor and made sail. The greatest danger, Captain Allenbelieved, would be close off the port, and so he had given out thatwe should probably remain three or four days longer. It may have beenthis which saved us from being molested at the start, and I think itwas.
"But now an unexpected misfortune came upon us. We sailed with theland breeze very early in the morning, and while we were getting underway one of our crew was taken down with the yellow fever. We were onlya few miles clear of the land when another was attacked in the samemanner, and before night the cook and second mate also took to theirberths. We kept on, however, and indeed the course of the wind wouldhave prevented us from returning had we thought of doing so.
"There remained, capable of doing duty, only the captain and chiefmate, one old seaman, Argo, and myself; but Captain Allen said thatshould no more of us be disabled, the vessel could still be managed. Asa last resort, he added, he might put into Havana or Key West.
"On the second day we passed that famous resort of the West Indianpirates, the Isle of Pines. The _Agenora_ gave it a wide berth, Iassure you; but our hearts were in our throats for the whole fiftymiles of its coast line. It seemed as if the breeze were all the timethreatening to die out and leave us becalmed there. However, we ran thegantlet in safety, and continued our course toward Cape St. Antonio,the most western point of Cuba.
"During the following night, the chief mate and the remaining seamanwere both stricken with the fever, leaving only the captain and us twoboys, together with our passenger, Mr. Howard, to handle the brig, withsix dreadfully sick people on board.
"This was a sad state of things; but the breeze was bright and fair,and we hoped to double Cape St. Antonio the next day, thus getting tothe northward of Cuba, after which it would be easy to reach Havana.
"On that day, however, it fell entirely calm, with a dense fog coveringthe sea, so that the vessel lay idle, heading by turns all around thecompass.
"We had by this time nearly come up with the cape, and it was a badplace to meet with a calm, for this headland was a notorious piraticalrendezvous, almost as much so as the Isle of Pines. However, if we mustlie helpless, the fog would be in our favor, the captain said.
"In the meantime Mrs. Howard showed herself an extraordinary woman. Shewas only twenty-four years old--a mere girl, as it were, and a verybeautiful one--but she seemed as if she knew just what to do and how todo it. She cooked for us who were well, and, in spite of her husband'sremonstrances, braved all the danger of attending upon the sick, like averitable Florence Nightingale.
"After lasting for about twenty-four hours the fog disappeared and alight breeze sprang up. A current had taken us along for some miles,and we were directly off Cape St. Antonio.
"At first no water craft of any description was to be seen, butpresently we were startled at perceiving a small sloop-rigged vesselputting out from the land and making directly toward us. That she mustbe a pirate was beyond all question, as no other vessel would have beenhiding in such a place.
"Looking through his glass, the captain saw that, in addition to hersails, she had out a number of long sweeps, or oars, and this at oncetold us that there was no possibility of escaping from her with thefaint breeze which we had.
"The _Agenora_ carried two six-pounders and a good supply of smallarms, yet, with only four of us to handle them, they offered but aforlorn hope against thirty or forty men, with probably a heavy piv
otgun and other cannon. Nevertheless, there was but one thing to do, andthat was to fight to the death if necessary.
"'My poor wife!' we heard Mr. Howard say to the captain; 'she shallnever fall into the hands of those wretches while I have a singlebreath remaining.'
"Captain Allen was pale, but very cool. He and Mr. Howard loaded thesix-pounders, while we boys attended the muskets, putting heavy chargesinto all of them.
"In a short time we were able to count the sweeps which the sloop hadout. They were fourteen in number--seven on a side, with two men ateach. This made twenty-eight men, besides the fellow at the tiller andsix or seven others; so that there were at least thirty-five of them.The only cannon that we could see was one mounted amidships, and nodoubt on a pivot.
"As they got nearer we brought the _Agenora_ around so that both thesix-pounders would bear upon them, and then Captain Allen sighted oneof the guns, while Mr. Howard stood by with a glowing portfire, readyto clap it upon the priming at the word.
"'Now,' said the captain presently, 'let it go!'
"Instantly there was a deafening bang! and the recoil of the gun fairlyshook the brig. How we watched for the result! Skip, skip, skip, wentthe shot from wave to wave, close to the sloop, yet without touchingher.
"Almost before we could speak or think, a sheet of smoke burst from thepirate vessel, and 'pat, pat, pat,' right on board of us, came a chargeof grape shot, and a twelve-pound ball--as we found afterward it musthave been, from the hole it made in our bulwarks.
"There was no time to lose, and our second cannon was fired as quicklyas possible; but its contents missed the pirate, though they strucknear enough to throw a shower of spray upon her deck.
"Again the miscreants fired in return, and redoubled their labor at thesweeps. The breeze was at last wholly gone, so that they had to dependentirely upon their strength of muscle, but of this they had enough andto spare.
"Argo and myself now opened fire with the muskets--'bang, bang, bang!'but I don't think we hit a single one of the villains. We saw themloading their big gun for a third shot, and it seemed as if, at suchshort range, they must tear us all to pieces. But Captain Allen andMr. Howard were also loading--cramming one of the six-pounders to themuzzle with grape and cannon balls.
"The pirates were just ready to fire as the captain ranged along hisgun.
"'Quick, Mr. Howard!' he cried. 'Touch her off!'
"The report rang through our ears, and we could have shouted as we sawthe effect. The sloop's long gun was tumbled over, and the men whomanaged it strewn mangled upon the deck. A number of the heavy sweepsdropped from the hands that held them, or were sent whirling into theair. I think this one discharge must have killed more than a dozen men.
"For a few moments the victory appeared to be won; but just then the_Agenora_ swung around in such a manner that neither of the cannonscould be made to bear upon the enemy. The pirates saw our dilemma, anda few powerful strokes of their sweeps brought them right under our bow.
"We ran forward to prevent them from boarding, but they swarmed overthe bowsprit and head rail, cutlass in hand, till it was plain that twomen and two boys were to be no match for such a number of desperatevillains. In spite of all we could do, they were in a fair way to makeshort work with us, when on a sudden the scene was changed.
"Mrs. Howard had anticipated such an emergency from the very first, andnow, with a ladle in one hand and a kettle of boiling hot tar in theother, she ran to our relief.
"The tar in such a state could be dipped up as easily as water, and ina quarter of a minute all the headmost pirates had got it full in theirfaces. Filling their eyes and mouths, or running down their half-nakedbreasts, it must have put them in great agony. They went tumbling backupon those behind them, and as we quickly followed up our advantage,the deck was almost instantly cleared.
"In a few minutes the sloop was making all possible speed away from us,but she had out only six sweeps instead of the fourteen with which shehad commenced the chase.
"All of us except Mrs. Howard had been more or less wounded, so that wedid not attempt to molest the pirates as they retreated; while on theirpart, as the cannon we had knocked over for them was their only one,they could not fire upon us. I think they must have had nearly twentymen killed or disabled, to say nothing of those who were scalded by thehot tar.
"I shall never forget how carefully Mrs. Howard bound up the uglycuts in our arms. She seemed to know everything, just like one's ownmother--and yet she was such a young woman!
"We got a breeze soon after the fight was over, and were thankful forit, too, as we did not know how many more pirates there might be in theneighborhood. It took us around Cape St. Antonio, and two days later wearrived at Key West, where we were put into quarantine.
"Of our yellow-fever patients, two died just as we dropped anchor, butthe remaining four soon after began to improve and finally recovered.We lay in quarantine for a number of weeks, and then, with the vesselthoroughly fumigated, were permitted to sail for home.
"Upon our arrival there, the good old _Agenora_ became an object ofmuch curiosity, while as to Mrs. Howard, she was visited by a host offriends, anxious to hear the story of our peril from her own lips.
"I am sometimes asked if in all my seafaring life it was ever myfortune to meet with a real pirate--one whom I knew to be such. To thatquestion I think myself justified in saying 'yes'--and further, that itwas an experience which I never desired to repeat."