Piracy in the Early Modern Era by Lane Kris; Bialuschewski Arne;

Author:Lane, Kris; Bialuschewski, Arne;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hackett Publishing Company, Incorporated
Published: 2019-10-04T00:00:00+00:00

{76} Map of Honduras and Nicaragua showing Roatán and Trujillo on the north coast. Cape Gracias a Dios is the northeastern tip and the Mosquito Coast the eastern seaboard. The San Juan River connects Lake Nicaragua with the open sea, and Granada is located at the southwestern end of the lake. John Carter Brown Library at Brown University.

This lake is full of small keys and islands, under which they hid themselves all the day and rowed all night to prevent their being discovered. The fifth night after they entered this lagoon by advice of their Indian guide, they landed about two of the clock in the morning, one mile from the city of Granada, and so marched undescried into the middle of the city and suddenly fired a volley of small shot, forthwith seizing and overturning 18 great guns, which they found in the parade place, and took the sergeant major’s house, where (our Indian informed them) was all the firearms and ammunition. And having secured in the church 300 of their best men prisoners, abundance of which were churchmen, they fell to plundering and kept the town 16 hours. And then putting their plunder aboard, they discharged the prisoners and sunk all the boats they had no use for and so came away.

This town is twice bigger than Portsmouth. There are seven churches and a very fair cathedral besides divers colleges and monasteries, all built with free stone and so are most of their houses. And they have six camps of foot and horse, besides Indians and slaves. Abundance of which Indians there came to them about 1,000, which plundered as fast as they and would have killed our prisoners, especially the churchmen. They imagined the English would have stayed with them and kept the place. But when they found they would return home, they requested them to come again and told them in the meantime they would go up into the mountains and secure themselves. One with his wife and children [and] three or four more young men came away with them and are in Maarten’s vessel, which put into Tortuga, fearing his entertainment here, he being a Dutchman.

Divers of their prisoners in gratitude of their civil usage went down the lagoon with them and entertained them at their several stantions, where was abundance of cattle and good wheat, which made as good bread as ever was eaten. About the end of the lagoon, they took a ship of a 100 tons laden with cables, rigging, tallow, brazil wood, pitch, tar, hemp and flax, which is all produced plentifully in this place. They took also an island in this lagoon at the south end of it called Lida, as big as Barbados, with a fine neat town on it, which they plundered and so came away to their ships.

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