Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1898-06-03
PORTUGUESE PIRATE
HOW BASTHoLEMY CAPTURED A
HUGE SPANISH MERCHANTMEN

His First Attack Tailed-The Little Pirate
Then Lay within Short Range, and with
and Finally Conquered.
A series of sketches by Frank r
Stockton on "Tho Buccaneers of Our
Coast" is one Of the features Of st.
Nicholas. Mr.. Stockton tells of the ad-
ventures Of Bartholemy Portuguez,
who, with "a small crew in small YES.
sci, captured huge Spanish merchant
man in the Caribbean sea. Mr. Stockton
says: The little pirate sailed boldly to-
ward the big Spaniard, and the latter
vessel, utterly astOnished at the audaC-
ity of this attack-for the pirates flag
was nying-lay to, head to the wind,
and waited, the gunners standing by
their cannon. When the pirates had
the size and power of the vessel they
had thought of attacking, they did not,
as might have been expected, put about
and sail away at the best of their YES
sells speed, but they kept straight on
their course, as if they were about to
fall upon a great, unwieldy merchant
man manned by common sailors.
Perceiving the foolhardiness of the
little vessel, the Spanish commander
determined to give it lesson which
would teach its captain to understand
better the relative power of great yes
sells and little ones, so as soon as the
pirates vessel was near enough he or
dered brOadside fired upon it. The
Spanish ship had great many people
on board. 1t had crew of 20 men, and
besides thCs there were some pasScn.
gers aud regular marines, and, know.
ing that the captain had determined to
ire upon the approaching vessel every.
body had gathered On deck to see the
little pirate ship 90 down.
But the ten great cannon balls 81, j
were shCt out at BurthUlGmy'r ni,i'
craft all missed their aim, and bcfur. t.
guns could hr reloaded CT the gr,UtsIu
Ic got arU md 50 a. to deliver her rihcr
UroaGsidc the pirate NCssll Wus uI,.g
>lu' cr Lrr ..Tl .l.l. Y had 4. ln.Ir
i his Canton. such guns Nur us,I,,.
..aInst 30 hay" a foe. What Ern.s,
'r was "a hHnd to baud Cnu rat Ga tin
h,r g.. .at.A s"In
IEu p. . were Ill I,..a@ f.. J'.
work, They Lad tEIcvn wIGu tLl..
"CuIs and 'hilts rs if each Of th'n we're
gcing into iri"Ctli - and with thor
cutIUssCS II, ll,r Lui.l and their I.s
tolls and hnIvcs III thor belts they
scrambled like monkeys up the side, Of
the great SHY Lut Spaniurds are brave
men and good fighters there were IL ore
than twice us many of them as there
were of the pirates--and it was not
long before the latter found ont that
they could not capture that vessel by
boarding it, So over the side they tum
bled as fast as they could go leaving
some Of their number dead and wounded
behind them. They jumped into their
own vessel, and then they put off to a
short distance to take breath and get
ready for "a different kind of fight. The
triumphant Spaniards now prepared to
get rid Of this boatload of half naked
wild beasts, which they could easily do
if they took better aim with their can
non than they had done before.
But to their amaZement they soon
found that they could do nothing with
the guns, nor were they able to work
their ship so as to get it into position
for effectual shots. Bartholemy and his
men laid aside their Cutlasscs and their
pistols and took up muskcts, with which
they were well provided. Their vessel
lay within very short range Of the Span
ish ship, and whenever II man could be
seen through the portfolios or showed
himself in the rigging or anywhere else
where 1t was necessary to go in order
to work the ship he made himself tar
get for the good aim of the pirates. The
pirate vessel could move about as it
pleased, for it required but few men
to manage it, and so it kept out of
the way of the Spanish guns, and its
best marksmen, crouching close to the
deck, fired and fired whenever a Span
ish head was to be seen.
For five long hours this unequal con-
test was kept up. 1t might have re.
minded one of man with slender rod
and long, delicate line who had
hooked big salmon. The man could
not pull in the salmon, but, on the other
hand, the salmon could not hurt the
man, and in the course of time the big
fish would be tired out and the man
would get out his landing net and scoop
him in.
Now, Bnrtholemy thought he could
scoop in the Spanish vessel. So many
of her men had been shot that the two
crews would be more nearly equal. So
he boldly ran his vessel alongside the
big ship and again boarded her. Then
there was another great fight on the
decks The Spaniards had ceased to be
triumphant, but they had become des-
perate, and in the furious combat ten
of the pirates were killed and four
wounded. But the Spaniards Jared