Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1901-09-19
PORTUGUESE PIRATE
HOW 6ARTHoLEMY CAPTURED A
HUGE SPANISH MERCHANTMEN.

and Finally Conquered.
A series of sketches by Frank r.
Stockton ON 1.-The Buccaneers of Our
Coast" is one of the features of ST.
Nicholas. Mr.. Stockton tells of the adj
ventures of Bartholemy Portuguez,
who, with a small crew in q small YES
sci, captured a 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
1 was hyiu5-lay to, head to the wind,
and waited, the gunners standing by
their cannon. When the pirates had
come near enough to see and understand
the size and power Of tie 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 great unwieldy merchant
man manned by common sailors.
! Perceiving the foolhardiness of the
little vessel, the Spanish commander
| determined to give it a 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 a l.: adside fired upon it. The
Spanish ship had great many people
ON board. 1t had a crew of 20 men, and
besides these there were some passen-
gers and regular marines, and, know
ing that the captain had determined to
fire upon the approaching vessel every
body had gathered on deck to see the
little pirate ship go down.
But the ten great cannon balls which
were shot out at Bartholemy's little
craft all missed their aim, and before the
guns could be reloaded or the great ship
be got around so as to deliver her other
broadside the pirate vessel was along
side of her. Bartholemy had fired none
of his cannon. Such guns were useless
against so huge foe. What he was aft
er was hand to hand combat on the
deck of the Spanish ship.
The pirates w3re all ready for hot
work. They had thrown aside their
coats and shirts, as if each of them were
going into a prizefight, and with their
cutlasses in their hands and their pis-
tolls and knives in their belts they
scrambled like monkeys up the sides of
the great ship. But Spaniards are brave
men and good fighters-there were more
than twice as many of them as there
were of the pirates-and it was not
long before the latter found out that
they could not capture that vessel by
boarding it. So over the side they tum-
bled as fast as they could so, leaving
some of their number dead and wounded
behind them. They jumped into their
own vessel, and then they put off to
short distance to take breath and get
ready for 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 cutlasses and their
pistols and took up muskets, with which
they were well provided. Their vessel
lay within very short range of the Span
ish ship, and whenever man could be
seen through the portfolios or showed
himself in the rigging or anywhere else
where it 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 a 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 a man wi tn a slender rod
and a 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, Bartholemy 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 We're killed and four
wounded. But the Spaniards Jared
worse than that More than half of the
men who had not been shot by the pi-
rates went down before their cutlasses
and pistols, aud it was not long before
Bartholemy had captured the great
Spanish ship.
1t was fearful and costly victory
he had gained. a great part of his own
men were lying dead or helpless ON the
deck, and of the Spaniards only 40 We're
left alive, and these, it appears from