the prejudice of the
said treaty, against the vessels of his Majesty's subjects. And in
that case he will communicate to the said lord Count d'Estrees his
intention that he shall leave the said two frigates free to sail
wherever they think fit.[5] I shall await whatever information you may
be pleased to send me on this subject, in order to report it to his
Majesty, etc.

ST. GERMAIN-EN-LAYE, May 8, 1679.

[Footnote 3: Vice-admiral Count d'Estrees did not actually sail for
the West Indies till the next year, and then for another purpose.]

[Footnote 4: The articles prolonging the armistice till May 18 had
been signed at Xanten on May 3 by Colbert and Marshal d'Estrades for
Louis XIV. and by Werner von Blaspiel for the elector. For their text,
see _Actes et Memoires des Negotiations de Nimegue_, IV. 468-471.]

[Footnote 5: Such orders were given, on both sides. _Ibid._, IV. 484,
487. The treaty of peace was concluded June 19/29. For further history
of Brandenburg privateers in the New World, see documents 47 and 48.]

BARTHOLOMEW SHARP AND OTHERS.

_44. The Buccaneers at Portobello. 1680._[1]

[Footnote 1: British Museum, Sloane MSS., 2752, fol. 29. This and the
ensuing document, both by the same anonymous author, form one
continued narrative, of dramatic and astonishing piratical adventure.
For the second part, the adventures of these buccaneers in the Pacific
Ocean, there are other, parallel narratives, some of them longer than
ours; but with one exception they say almost nothing of this first
adventure, the capture and sack of Portobello. Two or three pages (pp.
63-65 of part III.) are indeed devoted to it in the chapter on "Capt.
Sharp's voyage", signed "W.D." [_not_ William Dampier], which was
appended to the second edition of the English translation of
Exquemelin's _Bucaniers of America_ (London, 1684), before Basil
Ringrose's detailed account of the South Sea adventures was printed
and issued (1685) as the second volume of that celebrated book; but
the present account is fuller than "W.D."'s, and may apparently be
regarded as the chief source now in print for the history of this
second English capture of Portobello. It should be remembered that, by
the signing of the various treaties of Nymwegen in 1678 and 1679, all
hostilities between European powers had by autumn of the latter year
been brought to an end. The privateers who had flourished during the
preceding years of warfare now found their occu