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Unfortunate as had been the first attempt to
colonise Darien, the second proved even more disastrous still.
Intelligence of the great calamity that had
befallen the first expedition had not yet (August 1699) reached Scotland.
The Directors and stockholders of the Company were still in the fond belief
that all was going on well, and the public generally were on the qui
vive for further good news from the Colony. Doggerel poets were singing the
praises of the venture. A broadsheet, entitled "A Poem upon the Undertaking
of the Royal Company of Scotland trading to Africa and the Indies," was sold
by James Wardlaw, at his shop in the Parliament Close, Edinburgh. One stanza
thus eulogised Paterson :
"Admire the steady soul o| Paterson
It is no common genius can persuade
A Nation bred in War, to think of Trade."
While another verse referred to the institution
of the "open door "—
"This Company designs a Colony
To which all mankind freely may resort,
And find quick justice in an Open Port."
A patriotic "Lady of Honour," whose name is not
given, also composed a song specially in connection with the departure of
the second expedition. It was entitled " The Golden Island, or the Darien
Song, in commendation of all concerned in that noble Enterprise of the
Valiant Scots." This ditty was sold at John Reid's printing-house in Bell's
Wynd, Edinburgh. In addition to a florid description of the springs,
rivulets, flowers, and singing-birds of Darien, the honourable lady gave a
generous forecast of the dividends that might be looked for by the
stockholders on their investment—
"All men that has put in some Stock To us where
we are gone, They may expect our Saviour's words, A hundred reap for one ;
For to encourage every one That ventures on the Main."
Meanwhile the Company were not idle in
Edinburgh. Acting on the recommendation contained in the Council's letter of
28th December 1698, the Directors resolved to despatch the second expedition
from the Clyde, in place of from Leith Roads, so as to avoid " the danger,
as well as the tediousness, of the passage North-About."
Accordingly, a fleet of four ships of force was
fitted out, consisting of—
The Rising Sun (Commodore) . Captain James
Gibson, commander (60 guns).
The Hope . . . Captain James Miller, commander.
The Duke of Hamilton . Captain Walter Duncan, do.
The Hope of Bo'ness . Captain Richard Dalling, do.
The first two ships were owned by the Company,
the other two being chartered; and they carried about 1300 men, together
with a large supply of arms, ammunition, provisions, liquors, and other
necessaries. Four councillors were appointed to the expedition—viz., James
Byres, Captain James Gibson, Captain William Veitch, and Major John Lindsay,
whose powers were to cease on reaching Caledonia and so coming within the
jurisdiction of the old Council.
Although ready to sail on the 18th of August
1699, the ships were detained in the Clyde by contrary winds for over a
month, this unfortunate delay entailing a corresponding encroachment on
their stock of provisions. On the eve of sailing, some flying rumours of the
abandonment of the settlement reached Edinburgh. On the 22nd of September,
immediately on hearing these reports, the Directors despatched an express to
the fleet with instructions to further delay their departure, even "though
the wind should prove fair," until the arrival of Mr Daniel Mackay, one of
the councillors attached to the first expedition, who was at this time
visiting Scotland on the Company's business, and with whom they proposed to
send fresh instructions based on his recent experiences in Darien. But the
council on board the Rising Sun, being suspicious that this message meant
their recall, instantly resolved to depart. The express reached them at 10
o'clock on Saturday night, and they set sail at 9 o'clock next morning
without hoisting their "Blue Peter," or waiting for some provisions which
they had ordered, or for the men whom they had sent to bring the provisions
off. The Rev. Francis Borland, one of the ministers on board the fleet, in
his Diary, says: "September 24th, 1699, the Lord's Day, we set sail, being
four ships in company, from Rothesay, in the Isle of Bute, and steered along
through St George's Channel." Three months afterwards, the council sent home
the lame excuse for their sudden departure that the countermanding orders
proceeded from three Directors only, whereas their original sailing orders
were given by the whole Court.
The ships had a favourable passage as regards
wind and weather, but much sickness prevailed among the men, about 160 dying
on the voyage. On 9th November the fleet stood before the island of
Montserrat, where Councillor Byres landed in quest of water, some fresh
provisions, and the latest news; but the governor of the island refused to
give any supplies, stating that he was acting in conformity with orders
which he had received from the Court of England. While in the island, Byres
heard rumours about the desertion of the Colony, and when writing to the
Directors next day regarding these rumours, he said: "We shall see ere we
believe, and either knit on the old thrum or begin a new web; and I'm
persuaded all on board will do their utmost endeavour to maintain the honour
of the Nation and interest of the Company." These expressions of loyal
service gave great satisfaction to the Directors at home. On 30th November
the four ships arrived safely in Caledonia harbour, and the sinister rumours
in circulation at Montserrat were unfortunately confirmed. The settlement
was found to be deserted, the huts burned, the fort demolished, and the
ground that had been cleared all overgrown with shrubs and weeds. A general
outcry was now made in the ships to be taken back to Scotland without
landing. Two small sloops with provisions were lying in the harbour at the
time of their arrival. The one was under Captain Thomas Drummond, one of the
councillors of the first Colony, who had come from New York, in company with
some survivors of the first expedition, with a supply of provisions and
working implements to assist in resettling the place. His sloop had been
lying in the harbour for eight days. The other was under Mr Fulton from New
England. From these gentlemen the newcomers learned what had become of the
first Colony, whither they had gone, and how they had fared in Darien.
Shortly after arrival a meeting of councillors
and land and sea officers was held to determine whether or not they should
settle in the place. When they came to a vote, it was carried in the
affirmative. Councillors Byres and Lindsay were averse to settling, and
discouraged it from the first; Gibson was indifferent; Yeitch alone
resolutely advocating that a landing be made, in which he was strongly
backed by Captain Drummond. When Captain Drummond went on board theRising
Sun on its arrival in the harbour, he found Byres "in a strange
consternation by reason of the former Colony's being gone," and maintaining
that "they were not come to settle a Colony, but to have reinforced one."
Byres used all his efforts to hinder a successful settlement. At the same
time, this masterful man took upon himself the command of the Colony, and
swayed the majority of the Council, from whose deliberations Captain
Drummond was excluded by a mere quibble. Although the fleet had provisions
for six months, Byres gave it out that they had a supply for six weeks only.
Further, at his instigation the Council resolved that all the men beyond 500
should be sent to Jamaica, to be "disposed of" there. This announcement
caused much alarm and grumbling among the settlers. They were not informed
who were to be sent away, and it was bruited among them that they were to be
sold as slaves to the planters in Jamaica. This had the effect of paralysing
their efforts, " every one saying, what reason had they to work or build
huts for others, they not knowing whether they were to stay or go." In fact,
Byres so managed it that little real work was clone until the Spaniards
appeared at sea. Nine of the settlers ran away with an eight-oared boat
belonging to the Rising Sun. "Nine Villains," as Byres and his fellow-councillors
called them; "none of them are yet returned, albeit it be 14 days since they
deserted." A plot was also discovered to make prisoners of the councillors
and seize the two largest ships. This led to a council of war being held on
board theRising Sun, which resulted in one of the settlers, Alexander
Campbell, being sentenced to death, the execution being carried out on 20th
December within Fort St Andrew.
Information reached the settlement at this time
that the Spaniards were busy preparing to attack the Colony. At this
juncture Captain Drummond gave in a written proposal to the Council offering
to relieve them of 150 men, with whom he would attack Portobello, and thus
forestall the Spanish movement. His letter is as follows:—
"Aboard the Anna of Caledonia, 15th
December 1699.
"To the Right Honourable the Council op
Caledonia.
"Whereas I am sensible that one half of the men
that is come from Scotland is to be sent to Jamaica, I therefore desire that
you would allow one hundred and fifty that would be willing to take their
fate with me, you allowing them three weeks' provision, which was
condescended on to carry them off; likewise allowing arms and ammunition;
and they shall not be burdensome to the Colony, till it is in a condition to
maintain them. The reason of my pressing this now is, that I'm invited by
several captains of the Indians that will raise their men, and undertake
that which may be advantageous not only to the party, but for the relief of
what prisoners the Spaniards have of ours; and if you will grant my desire,
you would condescend on it speedily, and give orders for the reviewing of
what was brought in the sloop ; and in so doing you will oblige. —E.H., Your
most humble servant,
"Thomas Drummond."
Drummond's proposal was rejected by Byres and
the other councillors as chimerical. In the 'Darien Papers,' p. 233, it is
stated "that Mr Byres particularly said, ' They were not come to take
towns,'" and " that at last it became a byword, that whoever seemed to be
against Mr Byres' measures, was by him said to be one of those who were for
the taking of towns." Byres, who was jealous of Drummond, ill-used the
sailors of his sloop, so that they were obliged to shift among the natives,
with whom they continued until they were brought off by an English ship
sometime after the fort had been surrendered to the Spaniards. He even went
the length of placing Drummond under arrest, and keeping him close prisoner
for six weeks on board the Duke of Hamilton. This was until the arrival of
Captain Campbell of Finab, Drummond's comrade and fellow-officer in the Earl
of Argyle's regiment in Flanders, who demanded his release.
Notwithstanding that Byres discouraged the
planting, the Council, in their letter of 3rd February 1700, reported that
they had erected a number of huts and two storehouses, and hoped in a few
days to have the fort tolerably repaired. At this time intelligence was
brought to Byres that the Spaniards were marching on the settlement; but he
professed to scout the idea, and boasted that he would undertake to fight
all the Spaniards who might come forward.
The Council's dispatches to headquarters were
also most discouraging, complaining of spoiled provisions, bad beef and
flour, and that their cargo did not contain £50 of vendible goods. They also
wrote, "We cannot conceive for what end so much thin gray paper and so many
little blue bonnets were sent here, being entirely useless, and not worth
their room in a ship."
In a second report submitted by Paterson to the
Directors after his return to Scotland, wherein he gives a full description
of the soil and climate of Darien, he specially refers to the abundance of
gold, and gives specific details of the various gold mines in the Isthmus.
But on this subject Byres and his fellow-councillors write on 23rd December
1699: "That which was called Gold dust is indeed very thick here,
particularly at our watering place, in and about the water, but it proves
really nothing at all but slimy stuff, verifying the proverb, ' 'Tis not all
Gold that glisters.'" The value of this report may be judged from a written
statement by Captain Drummond to the Directors, in which he affirms that
during the whole time that Byres was located at Caledonia " he had not been
a pistol-shot from the shoreside, so that he could not be capable to give
any account of the situation and soil of the place."
Alarming reports were now being brought in daily
by the friendly Indians from all quarters that the Spaniards were coming
across the hills with a large force, and that several Spanish warships were
on the way from Portobello to attack the settlement. Byres reiterated his
disbelief in these reports, but nevertheless, on February 7th, he found it
convenient to get out of the way by taking passage to Jamaica, ostensibly
for the purpose of arranging for supplies and for the reception of the men
in excess of 500 who were to be transported from the settlement against
their wishes; and although he made a feint of returning to Darien, he never
did so.
The Rev. Alexander Shields, one of the
Presbyterian ministers attached to the Colony, writing at this time (21st
February), says :—
"Our sickness did so increase (above 220 at the
same time in fevers and fluxes), and our pitiful rotten provisions were
found to be so far exhausted, that we were upon the very point of leaving
and losing this Colony. Orders were actually given to provide wood and water
with all expedition to carry us all off, which drove me almost to the brink
of despair, and to thinking of a resolution to stay behind with anybody that
would venture, among the Indians. But in our greatest darkness, light
appeared."
The temporary gleam of sunshine referred to by
Mr Shields had reference to the unexpected arrival, on the 11th of February,
of Captain Alexander Campbell of Finab in a sloop from Barbadoes. This brave
and tried soldier had been appointed by the Directors as a councillor and
commander of the Colony, and he brought fresh dispatches and a much wanted
supply of provisions. His coming was timeous and welcome to the colonists in
their great straits, and his presence raised their drooping spirits. By his
advice they recalled the body of settlers who had embarked for Jamaica, and
whose ships were still lying in the harbour, their repeated attempts to get
out of the Bay having been frustrated by contrary winds.
On the 13th of February, two days after Captain
Campbell's arrival, the Indians brought intelligence that a party of
Spaniards were encamped within three days' journey of the settlement. On
learning this, Captain Campbell advised an immediate attack on the enemy in
their camp, and he cheerfully offered himself as leader. His advice was
taken, and a party of 200 men allowed him. He was supported by Lieutenant
Robert Turnbull, who led the van with over 40 Indians and 3 of their
captains or chiefs. Turnbull was a loyal officer of the Company, who had
been one of the first Colony, and understood something of the Indian
language. After a toilsome march for three days, through woods and over high
hills, they came upon the Spanish camp, entrenched behind a strong
barricade, at a place called Toubocanti. Several rounds having been fired by
the colonists, Campbell gave the order to attack, and with a huzza led the
way, sword in hand. His hatchet-men swiftly cut down the palisade and in the
strenuous assault which followed, the Indian levies specially signalised
themselves. The Spaniards fled in confusion, leaving their dead and wounded;
but night intervening, the pursuit was not continued any distance. The
colonists had nine men killed and about fourteen wounded: among the latter
were Captain Campbell and Lieutenant Turnbull, who were both wounded in the
shoulder, and Pedro, one of the Indian captains — the last - mentioned
severely. Included in the booty which they brought away was the equipage and
coat of the Spanish commander, Don Michael de Cordonnez, which bore in
embroidery a Golden Fleece, being his badge of honour as a Knight of the
Order of St James.1In other three days they
recrossed the mountains, and brought to their comrades the news of their
success; but brilliant as had been their triumph, it was
short-lived. At this time several ships had been descried off the coast, and
the Council sent out two sloops and the longboat of the Rising Sun to
reconnoitre and ascertain what vessels they were. Theyproved to be Spanish
warships, who, on sighting them, immediately gave chase; but the sloops
being good sailers, and having a favouring breeze, got safely back to the
harbour. The longboat fell astern, and was forced to run ashore into Carret Bay, where
it was ultimately lost. On the 23rd February, a few days afterCampbell's
victorious return, eight Spanish warships, and on the 25th three more, came
to anchor within Golden Island, over against the mouth of the harbour, so as
to blockade it. All hands, seamen and landsmen, were now put to work to
repair and strengthen the batteries of the fort, as far as they were able. TheSpanish
ships, which were under the command of Don Juan Pimienta, Governor of Carthagena, did
not venture into the harbour, but men were landed from them to the eastward
of the settlement, out of reach of the guns of the fort. These were shortly
afterwards reinforced by other troops that came overland fromPanama and
Sancta Maria, accompanied by numbers of Indians, Negroes, and Mulattoes.
Pimienta, who also came on shore, gradually drew
his men towards the neck of land leading to the Peninsula of New Edinburgh,
on which Fort St Andrew had been built. To add to the calamities of the
besieged at this time, by the accidental explosion of some gunpowder a fire
broke out among their huts, burning several rows of them to the ground. This
involved great loss of personal effects to many of the men, while numbers of
the sick people had to be hastily rescued from the huts to save them from
the flames.
On 17th March, after frequent skirmishes—
several being killed and wounded on both sides —the colonists were compelled
to retire upon their fort, thus leaving the neck of land free and open for
the Spaniards to pass over.
On 18th March, so desperate was the position of
the colonists, that at a meeting of the Council, land and sea officers, held
in the fort, it was unanimously resolved to empower Captain Veitch,
accompanied by Mr Main, the interpreter, and a drummer, to proceed to the
Spanish camp to treat with the general about articles of capitulation. But
the Spanish terms were so hard—being nothing less than a complete surrender
of all the Colony's ships, ammunition, and goods—that the treaty broke up
without effect. On the 24th the Spaniards were within a mile of the fort,
ancl creeping still nearer, they mounted a battery against it at a spot
where the fort was weakest. At the same time they maintained direct
communication with their fleet by boats from the shore. The enemy now got so
near the fort as to cut off the water-supply, a rivulet half a mile distant,
necessitating the colonists to use the water within the fort, which was a
brackish puddle and most pernicious to health. The provisions also were now
not only scarce, but bad and unwholesome,—"the bread was mouldy and corrupt
with worms, and the flesh most unsavoury and ill-seented." Even the
surgeons' drugs were about exhausted, and the fort was like a hospital of
sick and dying men. Mr Borland says :—
"At this time when we were so hemned in by the
Spaniards both by sea and land, we were also plagued with a sore,
contagious, raging and wasting sickness, which was now become epidemical;
and those of us who were not affixed to our beds, were become exceeding weak
and feeble, so that at this juncture they could hardly make out 300 able men
fit for service. This did exceedingly dispirit and discourage our men, the
surviving daily beholding what numbers were swept away by violent and sudden
deaths. Sometimes we would bury 16 men in a day; and men walking up and down
in tolerable case to-day, would sometimes be surprised with the stroke of
death to-morrow, hence there was a general consternation of spirit among
us."
On and 29th March the Spaniards took possession
of a wood within musket-shot, and fired on the fort on both of those days
from under cover of the trees.
On the 30th of March, to the surprise of the
colonists, the Spanish general made an overture to treat with them, and on
the 31st the leading colonists came to an agreement with him to deliver up
the fort on being allowed to embark on their ships "with colours flying and
drums beating, together with their arms and ammunition, and with all their
goods." The garrison were loud in their demands for a capitulation, and all
the councillors and officers agreed to [it except Captain Campbell of Finab,
who strongly dissented, being against any treating with the Spaniards
otherwise than by the sword.1 The articles were signed on behalf of the
Spaniards by Don Pimienta, and on behalf of the Colony by the two remaining
councillors, Captain Gibson and Captain Veitch—Byres having left the Colony
for Jamaica on 7th February, and Major Lindsay having died a few days prior
to the capitulation. The three ministers in the Colony were specially
solicitous that the Spaniards should not ill-treat the friendly Indians
after the withdrawal of the colonists, and provision for this was attempted
to be made in article vii. of the capitulation, which read: "That the
Indians who have been friendly to us and conversed with us, since we came
hither, shall not be molested on that account." But the Spanish general
refused to accede to this. He stated that the Indians were the subjects of
the King of Spain, and he knew best how to treat his subjects, but if the
Indians kept out of his way he would not search after them. Mr Shields
presented a petition and made a personal appeal on their behalf, which much
provoked Don Pimienta, who sharply said, " Cura tua negotici" (Attend to
your own business); to which Shields replied, "Curabo " (I will attend to
it).
On the evening of Thursday, the 11th of April
1700, the surviving colonists weighed anchor and abandoned their unhappy
settlement after a stay of four months and eleven days. Theirs had been a
frowning Providence, and they gladly left the scene of their sorrows, little
anticipating that even a worse fate, if that were possible, awaited very
many of them.
The ships had some difficulty in getting out of
the harbour, the Rising Sun especially. There was little wind, and the men —
both landsmen and seamen—were feeble in health; but by towing and warping,
with the help of the Spaniards, the ships were got safely to Golden Island,
where they anchored next day in view of the Spanish fleet.
The voyage to Jamaica was but a repetition of
all the horrors of the " middle passage" which a few months previously had
attended the ships of the first expedition. Mr Borland states that the men
were crowded together, particularly those on board the Rising Sun, "like so
many hogs in a sty or sheep in a fold, so that their breath and noisome
smell infected and poisoned one another," and that their food consisted of
"a little spoiled oatmeal and water." Sometimes there were buried at sea,
from on board the Rising Sun, eight or nine in a morning. Similar mortality
took place on board the other ships. With the second expedition there sailed
about ..... 1300 men Of whom there died on the voyage to Darien . . . 160
Ran away with the boat of the Rising Sun ... 9 Killed in Campbell of Finab's
engagement ... 9 Died in Darien, about . . 300 Died in the " middle passage
" . 250 Died in Jamaica . . . 100 Drowned in the wreck of the Rising Sun -
940
The remainder (say) . . 360 men were mostly
dispersed in Jamaica and the other English settlements in America, and very
few returned to Scotland.
Of the four ships forming the second fleet, none
returned to Scotland. The Rising Sun, Captain James Gibson, was dashed to
pieces in a hurricane off the harbour bar at Charleston, Carolina, and all
on board—112 souls—perished. The same hurricane destroyed the Duke of
Hamilton, but those on board were saved. The Hope was cast away on the rocks
of Colorados, Cuba, also without loss of life. The fourth ship, the Hope of
Bo'ness, while on the way to Jamaica, became so leaky that Captain Dalling
had to run her into Carthagena, the nearest port, where he sold her to the
Spaniards for a nominal sum.
Thus terminated the unfortunate attempt to
colonise Darien, costing Scotland nearly 2000 lives and over £200,000
sterling in hard cash without any tangible return.
On his return to Scotland after the first
abandonment of the Colony, Paterson could look back with a clear conscience
on the singleness of aim and purity of motive which governed his conduct in
connection with the ill-fated Darien scheme. Its failure implied no slur on
his character. In a letter, dated Edinburgh, 6th February 1700, addressed to
his tried friend Captain Thomas Drummond, at Darien, he says :—
"In all my troubles it is no small satisfaction
to have lived to give the Company and the world unquestionable proof that I
have not had any sinister nor selfish designs in promoting this work, and
that unfeigned integrity has been at the bottom of this. How and what I have
suffered in the prosecution thereof, God only knows; and God Almighty lay it
no further to their charge who have been the cause. I have always prayed for
this; but must needs confess, could never, since my unkind usage, find the
freedom of spirit I do now; and I must needs say that my concern of spirit
is such, that I could not only join with those who have done me prejudices,
although it had been willingly, but even with the greatest enemies I am
capable of having, to save my country and secure the Company."
When he penned these lines, Paterson still
indulged the hope of returning to the Colony, but this intention was
frustrated by the second abandonment in April 1700.
Notwithstanding the final collapse of the
scheme, Paterson did not give up his advocacy of the great commercial
advantages which he
FACSIMILE OF THE SIGNATURE AND POSTSCRIPT TO A LETTER in the Advocates'
Library, Edinburgh.
believed would accrue from the establishment of
a settlement in the Isthmus of Darien. He accordingly planned his scheme
anew, but on broader lines, in which England was to have a preponderating
interest. This amended scheme, which he personally submitted to King
William, was received with much favour by his Majesty; but that Prince's
unexpected death in 1702 put a stop to further proceedings in the affair. |
