Show I PIRATEIREASURE J bHbW1 d b1 e 1 tG lr lllM j LVI 1r j I nd he w f So GREAT I h j l MOGULS w I rI V SNIP RLT 1 I L I Copyrighted by Howard P leThe le-The adventures of two of the great I buccaneers of the Spanish main have already been toldof Pierre le Grand and how he took the great Spanish treasureship of Sir Henry Morgan and the sacking of Panama Sir Henry Morgan was the last of the great buccaneers after him came an entirely different sort of pirates who preyed upon the ships not only from Spain but of all nations After the peace of Ryswick when England became allied with Spain and Holland against France it became no I longer possible for the buccaneers to I devastate the West Indies as they had done If lawless and bloody men desired de-sired to become pirates they now had to seek elsewhere for prey For England Eng-land and Holland would no longer allow al-low Englishmen and Dutchmen to rob their allies the Spaniards So it was that buccaneering came to I an end At that time the European nations had just fairly begun that trade with the East Indies that afterwards poured such a flood of wealth into the western world Already a great stream of commerce came and went around the I Cape of Good Hope and up back of the Island of Madagascar and through the I passage between Johanna and the smaller smal-ler islands It was here that these later freebooters found fresh fields for their enterprise The West Indies no longer open to freebooting were comparatively near to home but here on the further coast of Africa the wouldbe pirates were so far away from all the rest of the world that no law could touch them It only depended on good hard stubborn stub-born fighting to win almost whatever fortune they choose The later pirates were called not buccaneers but marooners If you will look in your dictionary for the word maroon you will find that it means To put ashore on a desolate island It was from this meaning that these later pirates gained their name for it was thus that the pirate captains cap-tains used to serve those of their crew who mutinied against them or if the mutineering crew were stronger it was thus they served their pirate captain cap-tain Or if the pirates captured a ship < and did not know how else to dispose of the crew they marooned them on some deserted island sailing away and leaving them to their fate Among the earjiest of the famous marooners was Captain Avery who captured the ship of the Great Mogul together with his daughter her court and all the inestimable treasure in jewels and gold The earliest known of Captain Avery is as first mate aboard a ship called The Duke which after the peace of Ryswlck had been fitted out by the I Spanish government at Bristol in England I Eng-land and sent to the West Indies to i act as Guarda del Costa on coastguard i coast-guard to keep away the French smugglers i i smug-glers who used to sail over from Martinique Mar-tinique to travel along the coast of the Spanish main j i The commander of The Duke was one Captain Gibson of Bristol He was as the historian expresses it mightily addicted to punch so that i he passed most of the time on shore I in some ordinary i Thus it camp about that the ship and the ships company were left alto i i gether in charge of the first mate I Avery who spent all this time in persuading per-suading the crew to mutiny and turn I pirates The crew many of whom were from the West Indies were only too willing Ito I-to listen to him SD one night whi e the captain lay stupefied In a drunken i sleep in his cabin the mutineers under command of Avery slipped the fable and soiled away to sea passing directly direct-ly under the stern of a Dutch frigate of forty guns which did not seem to think it worth whiJe to stop them Meanwhile Captain Gibson si pt tn snoring like a good fellow Nor did I Avery disturb him allowing him to i sleep on until the next day Then when he was as fairly awake a he i i could be in his tipsy condition the mutineer put him into an open boat with those few who refused to oin i with them and watched them as they pulled away toward the distant line I i1 1 p I U Lk ci I I IT WAS A SHORT FIERCE FIGHT of tropical shore Then they hoisted saID and bore away eastward toward the far distant coast of Africa bound for Madagascar and to make their fortunes for-tunes There Is no need to follow the beginning be-ginning of Captain Averys adventures It is only necessary to say that he was so fortunate In his cruise of several sev-eral months that he was able to gather around him and under his own flag such a fleet of pirate vessels that he feld strong enough to undertake almost al-most any venture that he chose in those out of the way seas So with his fleet he cruised about the south coast of India for awhile making now this capture and now that until one day off the mouth of the Indus river he came up with a large ship which thought at first was a Dutch East Indiaman homeward bound They had really come under a richer prize than any peaceable Dutchman in all those waters 0 a J < > f Jl > The pirates fired at once across the i I ships bows expecting that she wuld i i at once surrender but she immediately i hoisted the Mogul colors and stood I upon her defence It was a short tight j I however for in a little whie the pl i i rates had hauled up alongside Irid i grappled and presently were p airIng aboard of the devoted prize halfnaked screaming yelling like mad alil driving I driv-ing the poor Indians helterskeker I down below Then it was that Captain Avery i found indeed what i prize he had captured I cap-tured She was says tilt hlstoriaii one of the Grat Moguls own ships and there were in her several of the greatest persons of his court among whom it is said was one of his daughters who was going on a pilgrimage pil-grimage to MeccaNo Mecca-No one can tell just tow great was the treasure taken fom the Mogul ship One can only know from Captain Averys after history that it was enormous enor-mous All that day the pirates wce busy stripping their prize and making reel Y with rich foods and wines Then whEn evening came they sailed away yelling and cheering over their booty like madmen mad-men leaving the Great Moguls ship floating upon the water stripped of her inestimable treasure helpless and silent si-lent The pirate fleet was composed mostly of small sloops and brigantine Captain Cap-tain Averys own ship was far the largest larg-est and most powerfully armed Accordingly Accord-ingly for safe keeping all the treasure which they had captured VTJS put aboard his ship PeopcIe talk of honor among thieves If there is such a thing Captain Avery did not have any of it That night when the fleet was all sailing toward 1 Madagascar there to share their booty according to agreement Avery gave I orders to change the course of The Duke and when mOrning broke the other pirates found that the captain and all the inestimable treasure which they had just captured was gone never to be seen again Nothing was there but themselves the boundless stretch of ocean and sky And now for awhile In the gloom and indistinctness cf that far away past we see only a dim image of the figure of Avery We know that he came in his ship and his pirate crew to Boston in the Americas where for a while he and his men were seen about the streets and harbor front strange conspicuous con-spicuous figures now and then tippling and drinking in the taverns but always al-ways appearing objectless aimless niD rose sullen What would the good people of Boston Bos-ton have thought had they known that the pirate captain had slung about I his neck a lithe leather bag fn which was a treasure of glistening shining precious stones diamonds rubies emeralds em-eralds enough for a kings ransom The historian of this famous pirate says that he designed to sell his treasure treas-ure and perhaps to settle in Boston but that there was nobody in that little colonial town who knew the value of such gems or would dare ta handle them So the pirates sailed away back to England again There they separated some going this way and some that Captain Avery settled in Ireland his leather bag of jewels still hung about his neck But he himself was now grown so poor that he had to beg his way from place to place without even food to eat except what charity gave him His vast treasure might as well have peen so many pebbles from the seashbre for he was afraid to offer a single one of his diamonds for sale i l C > > ti for fear lest suspicion should be raised against him At last it occurred to him that maybe some of his friends in Bristol might help him for he knew that there were merchants there who dealt in precious stones Accordingly he set about returning re-turning to England He was too poor to pay for a passage and so he had to work his way across the Irish channel landing at Portsmouth and walking afoot down to Devonshire as far as Bideford There he put up at a poor inn and sent word to some friends in Bristol whom he could trust to come to him The fame of Captain Avery had traveled before him and his friends came down by post Inanswer to his I message They found Captain Avery in the taproom tap-room when they arrived He was half tipsy but he had sufficient wits left to ask of the landlord that he and his friends should be shown into a private room Then he took out a leather bag from his breast and poured out before be-fore them upon the rough deal table such a streaming glistening heap of diamonds rubies emeralds sapphires as dazzled their eyes and left them standing dumbfounded Then the pirate pi-rate scraped the jewels back into the leathern bag again and hung the bag about his neck where it had been before be-fore and he was just as poor as ever He and his friends sat for a longtime long-time discussing what was to be done At last it was determined that cer of respectable merchants tain honest Bristol should be asked to take charge of the jewels and to dispose of them from time to time as they could Accordingly a week later a party of gentlemen came down to Bideford to back see Captain Avery Again in the room of the inn he poured out upon the table the little pile of jewels before be-fore the dazzled eyes of the merchants As soon as they had recovered from their amazement they began carefully Inspecting the stones one by one Then after consulting together they told Avery they would take the stones and sell them from time to time paying him his money as they disposed of them Then the stones were counted a receipt given for them and the merchants mer-chants took their leave carrying away the stones and leaving a little money for the pirate captains present needs Captain Avery remained in Bideford waiting to hear from his friends the merchants He waited and waited A week went bYtwo weeks but not a word from the Bristol merchants By c that time his money was ill spent and he was as poor as ever At last he wrote to the merchants a very pressing I press-ing letter and after some delay a small supply of money was sent to him hardly sufficient we are told to pay his drinking debts at the inn Again I in the course of a week he received anther small remittance and then I again after another week a few shillings shil-lings more After that there was no more money paid to him nor could he get even an answer to the letters he wrote his agents at Bristol At last growing tired of this neglect he went to Bristol himself to speak to the merchants where says his historian his-torian instead of money he met the most shocking repulse for when he desired de-sired them to come to an account with him they silenced him by threatening threat-ening to discover him if he attempted to push them further He did not dare go back to Bide ford again for he owed money at the inn which he could not pay Poon I1 despairing de-spairing and in absolute need otifeod and clothing he made his way toTely mouth and thence back to Ireland where he lived for awhile writing letters let-ters first to this merchant and then to that now of a threatening nature and now pleading piteously for Just a little money to keep soul and body together But the Bristol merchants paid no attention to him sending neither a word of reply nor a farthing of money At last in very desperation he started back to England again determined togo to-go to Bristol no matter what it might cost Once more he worked his way to Plymouth and traveled to Bideford afoot He got no further than th R Inn where he had lodged before Heie he I fell sick and died not being worth the historian says so much as would I buy him a coffin Such is the true history of Captain Avery and of that vast fortune of I precious stones which he won from the Great Mogul ship and which hung around his neck < as useless as so many I himself suffered pepppr corns while he all the pangs of the most abject and miserable poverty |