OR, THE

Pirate of the Roanoke.

A Tale of the Atlantic.

By B. Barker, ESQ.

Author of ‘The Sea Serpent,’ ‘Dwarf of the Channel,’ ‘Mornilva,’ &c.

Boston: 
Published by F. Gleason,
at the flag of our union office,
Corner of court and Tremont streets.

1847.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1847, by F. Gleason, in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of Massachusetts.

CHAPTER I.

    The Island of Trinidad.  Landing of the Earl of Derwentwater
    and his party upon the Isle—­Its Enchanted Scenery.  Unnatural
    Sounds.  Sudden appearance of the Notorious Pirate Blackbeard.

Situated upon the broad bosom of the vast Atlantic Ocean, about two hundred leagues from the coast of Brazil, is a small but fertile island, which has retained from the period of its first discovery, the familiar name of Trinidad.  This beautiful island, although a lovely and sequestered spot, has been for various general reasons, but rarely visited by the hardy mariners of the deep, and never permanently settled or inhabited by man.  Its surface is agreeably diversified with high hills and low beautiful valleys, whilst its circumference is almost wholly surrounded by a chain of dark, rocky cliffs, which gives to this remote island a somewhat fantastic appearance to the eye of the beholder, as he approaches it from the sea.  On this circumscribed but favored spot of earth, nature seems to have reveled in almost boundless profusion, scattering here and there throughout its valleys her choicest favors, in the shape of delicious tropical fruits, and ever green luxuriant herbage, whose fragrance as it mingled with the pure fresh breeze of the ocean, has proved to be a sweet balsam of health to many a sick and weary mariner as he sailed within reach of its invigorating influence.  Although this fair island possessed no convenient harbor for its vessels of any class, still there was upon its southern side, a small piece of white sandy beach, upon which a single boat might easily land, and here upon this same spot, a boat did land about an hour after sunrise, on the thirty-first day of October, 1717.

The boat in question, was occupied by six persons, who, as soon as its keel grazed upon the clear white sand, immediately disembarked and dispersed themselves singly and by twos, in different directions for the purpose of enjoying a short ramble amongst the shady trees and fragrant foliage of the island.