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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Morgan had obtained information which induced him to plan an attack upon Puerto Bello. A month was employed in refitting his ships, killing cattle, and curing meat for provisioning them for a long cruise. Although not a large town, Puerto Bello was the most important and busiest port on the eastern coast of Central America, particularly from the time of the arrival of the annual fleet from Spain, with its valuable cargo of European merchandise for the supply of the wealthy provinces on the Pacific until its departure, laden with the treasures of their mines and pearl-fisheries some months later. But it was surrounded on the land side by stagnant pools and swamps, which made its climate so deadly to white men that the soldiers of the garrison were relieved every three months. Yet in spite of the danger of disease a great fair was held there for forty days annually, during which its narrow and pest-haunted streets were thronged with merchants and traders from all parts of Spanish America. The harbour was easy of access, spacious and secure. Its extreme length was three thousand yards, with a breadth of from fifteen to eighteen hundred, and it had an average depth of seventeen fathoms. The largest ships then afloat could enter it and ride at anchor anywhere within. Frigates could come close to the wharves. Spanish naval officers stated that it afforded secure shelter for three hundred galleons of the largest class and a thousand smaller ships, while two thousand more might anchor with tolerable safety in the haven outside. The town was built along the curve of the shore in the form of a long crescent. It contained two large churches, an exchange, a commodious hospital, a convent, and several streets of shops and warehouses, interspersed with dwellings and barracks, mostly built of stone. During six or eight weeks, while the galleons remained in port, these barracks, shops, and warehouses were rented at exorbitant rates and crowded with merchants, clerks, and workmen handling goods. After their departure they were nearly deserted by Spaniards and the town was tenanted mostly by a few thousand negroes, mulattoes, and Indians, who for the most part lived in squalid, mud-plastered cabins, forming a suburb called "Guinea". They found casual employment in building boats and ships, or sawing cedar timber.