The Pirates Own Book by Charles Ellms
page 244 of 435 (56%)
page 244 of 435 (56%)
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ship was an Englishman, the Viceroy came on board next morning, was made
prisoner, and obliged to pay two thousand dollars as a ransom for himself and the other prisoners. After this he was sent ashore, with an express engagement to leave a ship to convey him and his companions to another port. Meanwhile, the pirates received intelligence that a vessel was to the leeward of the island, which they pursued and captured. But instead of performing their promise to the Viceroy, which they could easily have done, they sent the Ostender along with some of their men to Madagascar, to inform their friends of their success, with instructions to prepare masts for the prize; and they soon followed, carrying two thousand negroes in the Portuguese vessel. Madagascar is an island larger than Great Britain, situated upon the eastern coast of Africa, abounding with all sorts of provisions, such as oxen, goats, sheep, poultry, fish, citrons, oranges, tamarinds, dates, cocoa-nuts, bananas, wax, honey, rice, cotton, indigo, and all other fruits common in that quarter of the globe; ebony of which lances are made, gums of several kinds, and many other valuable productions. Here, in St. Augustine's bay, the ships sometimes stop to take in water, when they make the inner passage to India, and do not intend to stop at Johanna. When the Portuguese ship arrived there, they received intelligence that the Ostender had taken advantage of an hour when the men were intoxicated, had risen upon them, and carried the ship to Mozambique, from whence the governor ordered her to Goa. The pirates now divided their plunder, receiving forty-two diamonds per |
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