Introduction
En novembre 1684, le flibustier français Bréha, commandant la Diligente, se trouve parmi les cayes du sud de Cuba où, par manque de vivres, il est contraint de piller des marins jamaïquains qui y pêchent la tortue (voir la relation du capitaine Stanley, de la Royal Navy, et les dépositions des victimes). Après cet incident, il continue sa course le long des côtes sud de Cuba et, après un rude combat, il se rend maître du vaisseau espagnol La Nuestra Señora de Regla. C'est ce que rapporte ici le gouverneur de la Jamaïque, le colonel Molesworth, lequel ne nomme cependant ni l'auteur ni la victime de cette action (voir aussi (voir le mémoire conjoint des gouverneur et intendant des Antilles françaises, de janvier 1685 qui mentionne aussi cette prise). Même s'il en veut beaucoup à Bréha pour l'affaires des cayes de Cuba (voir sa lettre de novembre précédent à William Blathwayt et celle de décembre au sieur de Cussy), il ne se félicite pas moins de la prise espagnole faite par le flibustier français, ce qui permettra aux marchands de la Jamaïque de vendre aux Espagnols de Cuba des marchandises européennes en lieu et place de celles dont la Regla était chargée.
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extract of a letter from Colonel Hender Molesworth Jamaica, December 30, 1684 [9 janvier 1685]. The galley and four sloops are now ready to sail. All have been built at the charge of several undertakers, 200£ only having been advanced by the Treasury. Their business is to clear the South Cays of Cuba of pirates, and re-open the fishing trade, and, in return, they are to have the sole liberty of trade in these parts during the two months of the embargo. The galleons are now in the Indies, and the capture of the ship of thirty-six guns, bound for Cuba with piece-goods, by the French, has greatly encouraged our undertakers. A considerable sale of English manufactures must certainly follow. The Spaniards who has been here so long has at length made up 302 negroes, and sent them off to Portobello under convoy of Captain Mitchell. The frigate takes this convoy on his way to Sambalos, a cluster of islands between Portobello and Carthagena, among which is that called Golden Island. It is here that the Darien Indias receive our people and guide them by an easy passage to the South Sea. At least four hundred have gone from here in the last three or four months, and I fear are irrecoverably lost, for the Dariens have lately made a firm peace with the Spaniard, and there is now a frank trade between them. This of the Golden Island must be some treasonable practice against our people. source: P.R.O. Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series: America and West Indies, 1681-1685: no. 2025. |
| LES ARCHIVES DE LA FLIBUSTE |
| sommaire || summary |
| Le Diable Volant |