Читать книгу The Life of Sir Henry Morgan. With an account of the English settlement of the island of Jamaica онлайн

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The inland town of Santa Maria de Puerto Principe had grown rich by traffic in cattle and hides. Next to Havana it was reputed to be the wealthiest place in Cuba, and its situation had hitherto secured it from attack. Morgan had with him Captain Charles Hadsell and possibly others, who had escaped from prisons in Cuba and possessed some reliable knowledge of the neighbouring country and were besides animated by a fierce desire for revenge.

The clusters of small islets extending for many miles along the southern coast of Cuba, known to English seamen as the "South Cays", and to the Spaniards by the more romantic name of "los Jardinos de la Reina", or the "Queen's gardens", had long been a favourite haunt of the English privateers for safety and provisions, as turtle and wildfowl were very numerous. Leaving his ships well hidden among the "Cays" in charge of a few invalids, Morgan landed the remainder of his men in the bay of Ana Maria before daybreak on March 30. The difficult and tiring march of about thirty miles across country was made in a little more than twenty-four hours. Early in the forenoon of the next day his hungry and footsore band began to descend the hills overlooking the fertile plain around Puerto Principe. However, a peasant, whom they had compelled to act as a guide, got away in the darkness and spread the alarm. The citizens began to send off their families and movable property. The alcalde, a brave and resolute soldier, assembled seven hundred men on foot of all ages and colours, besides a hundred mounted on mules and ponies. He had armed them with such weapons as could be found and boldly advanced to meet the raiders. His mounted men followed him in a charge marked by more courage than discipline, which the privateers easily repelled by a couple of deliberate and well-aimed volleys of musketry. The alcalde and some others were killed and the survivors driven off. Undismayed by the disastrous result of this first encounter, the people of Puerto Principe fought valiantly in the streets and from the flat roofs of their houses until they were finally expelled from the town, and inflicted considerable loss upon their assailants. More than one hundred of the Spaniards were killed and many taken prisoners. The damage to their buildings is said to have been small, and the Cuban historian hints that the English were restrained by a fear of "Davila's salutary and justifiable reprisals."[135]