Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-04-25
Geographic News
Bulletins by tho
National Geographic Society
ARouT PIRATES

West Indies possessions, and a pro-
posal in parliament that the former
power consolidate her islands in a
single dominion, recalls the days OF
smugglers, c~orsairs, ~privateers and
romantic adventure.
"This motley crew was followed by
the buccaneers in the seventeenth
century and by ordinary pirates In
the eighteenth" writes Nell Ray
Clarke in q communication to the
National Geographic Society.
The b%uccaneer was a picturesque
fellow. His motto usually was, "A
short life and a merry one He sell
dom recognized allegiance to any
country or crown, nor did family ties
mean anything to him. He clothed
himself in gorgeous fnery when his
purse was full, Weighing down his
ears with rings, his arms with brace
let's. and his neck with chains, only
to sell his jewe1ry and wear his APP
parel in tatters when his purse was
lean, but always retaining in the
days of adversely his gorgeous sash,
as a sort of red badge of courage,
and his villainous knife.
HE was to be found wandering
the streets of the semi-medieval
Spanish towns of the New World,
elbowing his way among staggering
soldiers, traders, Negroes, Indians,
fair ladies, and assassins.
There was practically no colony
in the island-dotted Caribbean which
had any scruples against allowing
the buccaneers to build, fit out, or
repair their vessels in its harbors.
Tortuga, off the northern coast of
Haiti, and Jamaica were veritable
pirate strongholds, while Martinique,
Curacao, st. Kits, and Barbados be-
friended them and encouraged their
trade.
The nursery of all the English
n French colonies in the West In
dies vas st. Christopher, or st. Kits,
as it is now SO often called, one of
the Leeward Islands, half way be-
tween Porto Rico and Dominica. 1t
was discovered by Columbus on his
second voyage to America and called
by him after the saint whose name
the great ~discoverer himself bore.
loft the southeastern tip of st.
Kits lies Nevis, where Alexander
Hamilton was born and where Hora-
ito Nelson was married, and to the
northwest of it lie the Dutch-owned
st. Eustatius and quaint little Saba.
The latter, barely five miles in diam
eter, looks from the sea as if it were
uninhabited; but tucked away inside
the cone of it's single volcanic noun
tain a %seafaring people have built
their toy town with white-walled and
~red-roofed houses, which. with a
characteristic Dutch mental quirk,
they have named Bottom.
Life was turbulent in st. Thomas
in the days when Edward Teach
drove his lean pinnaces, filled with
half naked cut-throats-black, white
and yellow-into the pretty harbor
at Charlotte Amalie (now officially
known as st. Thomas), built his as
tie on n of it's hills, and secured
the seas for the slow-moying carved
and gilded Spanish g~alleons, which,
were hauling the wealth of the In
die to the mother country. This
a~dventurer even dared anchor his
pirate craft as far north as Charles
ton. South Carolina. and to share his
prizes with the governor of North
Carolina, his colleague, while he was
still sentimental enough to marry, as
his fourteenth wife, a charming
creature of sixteen.
"One of the chief points of interest
IN the picturesque little town of
charlotte Amalie, which has one of
pest harbors to be found in Car
1bbean waters, is the castle of this
redoubtable king of his kind, known
in the sphere of his influence as
Blackboard.
Here, SO the story goes, the
mighty brigand fortified the excel
lent vantage point from which to spy
out any vessel that ventured near
his haven. On the opposite hill there
Is another fortress, which is called
B~luebeard's. but the history of this
pirate is sunk in oblivion.
"Blackbeard's existence was, how
ever, a vivid reality. He won his
name because of a heavy black
beard, about which he was exceed
ingly vain. 1t is said of him that he
twisted this name into small tails
and tied them with ribbon and fast
ened lighted tapers under his hat to
illumine his repulsive features and
Wild eyes, thus striking terror to the
hearts of his victims.
Between st. Thomas and st. John,
hedged about by a chain of small
islands that guard it from heavy seas
and high winds, lies an excellent
harbor, which must have proved a
RNS0NNOAS AClQ66 LUZ IldiY Oh Ine
old renegades. For centuries it was
Indefinitely dubbed The Sound; but
a few months ago the United States
Geographic Board, uDon the recon-
inendation of the United States Coast
and Geodetic Survey, with the con-
currence of the Navy Department,
declared that it should henceforth
be called Pillsbury Sound, in honor
OF Rear Admiral John f. Pillsbury,
late president of the National Geo
graphic Society, to whose scientific
research relating to the laws that
govern the movements of the Gulf
Stream 1t is a modest tribute.
Not all the Virgin Islands are
named after the saints. There is
Tortola, the Isle of the Turtle Dove,
and Gorda, the Fat Virgin and
Anegada, the Drowned Island, be-
cause it contains a vast lagoon known
as Flamingo Pond, one of the few
places where this bird of-such gorg-
eous %plunage is to be found south
of the Bahamas.
Perhaps no one has ever left his
mark so indelibly upon any place as
did the French pirate, known as
Peter the Great, upon Tortuga. The
exploit which placed Peter In the
Who's Who of piracy was his en-
counter with the vice-admiral of the
Spanish fleet. The engagement oc-
Cured while the latter was sailing
majestically through the Bahama
Channel. Peter overhauled the
S%paniard, clambered with his men
over her sides, scuttled his W boat
to make him and his horde fight
with mor devil-may-care reckless
ness. and mastered the prize.