[Quick set-up: The famous French pirate, L’Ollonais, and his crew become stranded in the Las Pertas Islands, after beaching their ship and being then unable to remove it.]
The Las Pertas were the last place you wanted to get stranded. The local Indians were reputed to be excellent hunters; it was said they could run “almost as fast as horses,” were fantastic divers, and hunted their prey using wooden spears with sometimes a crocodile tooth attached to the end. Rumor also held that they were cannibals. So with one eye on the woods, the pirates were now forced to begin the work of breaking up the ship for its wood and nails and constructing a new, much smaller longboat. While the work was going on, two pirates – a Frenchman and a Spaniard – went into the jungle looking for food and were spotted by a group of local Indians. A furious chase ensued; the Frenchman escaped, the Spaniard did not.
Several says later a squadron of pirates was sent into the jungle to find out what had happened to him. Near the spot where the Frenchman had last seen his compadre, they found the remains of a recent campfire and near it “the bones of the said Spaniard very well roasted.” Farther out they found more evidence of the man’s fate: “some pieces of flesh ill scraped off from the bones” and a hand with two fingers left on it.
Source:
Talty, Stephan. “The Art of Cruelty.” Empire of Blue Water: Captain Morgan’s Great Pirate Army, the Epic Battle for the Americas, and the Catastrophe That Ended the Outlaws’ Bloody Reign. New York: Crown Publishing Group (NY), 2007. 99. Print.
Further Reading:
Did you ever check out Dungeon Fire and Swords? What format is appropriate for posting in your sub? There is one post I have been itching to post.