Daniel Defoe The King of Pirates / Being an Account of the Famous Enterprises of Captain Avery, the Mock King of Madagascar
THE PREFACE
NE of the particular Advantages of the following Letters from Captain , is, the Satisfaction they will give the Readers how much they have been imposd upon in the former ridiculous and extravagant Accounts which have been put upon the World in what has been publishd already.It has been enough to the Writers of this Mans Life, as they call it, that they could put any Thing together, to make a kind of monstrous unheard of Story, as romantick as the Reports that have been spread about of him; and the more those Stories appeard monstrous and incredible, the more suitable they seemd to be to what the World would have been made to expect of Captain Avery.
There is always a great Deference between what Men say of themselves, and what others say for them, when they come to write Historically of the Transactions of their Lives.
The Publisher of these Letters recommends this Performance to the Readers, to make their Judgment of the Difference between them and the extravagant Stories already told, and which is most likely to be genuine; and, as they verily believe these Letters to be the best and truest Account of Captain Averys Piracies, that ever has or ever will come to the Knowledge of the World, they recommend them as such, and doubt not but they will answer for themselves in the Reading.
The Account given of Captain Averys taking the Great Moguls Daughter, ravishing and murdering her, and all the Ladies of her Retinue, is so differently related here, and so extravagantly related before, that it cannot but be a Satisfaction to the most unconcernd Reader, to find such a horrible Piece of Villainy as the other was supposd to be, not to have been committed in the World.
On the contrary, we find here, that except plundering that Princess of her Jewels and Money to a prodigious Value, a Thing which, falling into the Hands of Freebooters, every one that had the Misfortune to fall into such Hands would expect: But, that excepting this, the Lady was used with all the Decency and Humanity, and, perhaps, with more than ever Women, falling among Pirates, had found before; especially considering that, by Report, she was a most beautiful and agreeable Person herself, as were also several of those about her.
this Work to know, being altogether barren of any Thing remarkable in it self, or instructing to others: It is sufficient to me to let the World know, as above, that the former Accounts, made publick, are utterly false, and to begin my Account of myself at a Period which may be more useful and entertaining.
It may be true, that I may represent some Particulars of my Life, in this Tract, with Reserve, or Enlargement, such as may be sufficient to conceal any Thing in my present Circumstance that ought to be conceald and reservd, with Respect to my own Safety; and therefore, if on Pretence of Justice the busy World should look for me in one Part of the World when I am in another, search for my new Kingdom in Madagascar , and should not find it, or search for my Settlement on one Side of the Island, when it lies on another, they must not take this ill; for Self-preservation being the supreme Law of Nature, all Things of this Kind must submit to that.
In Order then to come immediately to my Story, I shall, without any Circumlocutions, give you Leave to tell the World, that being bred to the Sea from a Youth, none of those romantick Introductions publishd had any Share in my Adventures, or were any way the Cause of my taking the Courses I have since been embarkd in: But as in several Parts of my wandring Life I had seen something of the immense Wealth, which the Buccaneers, and other Adventurers, met with in their scouring about the World for Purchase, I had, for a long Time, meditated in my Thoughts to get possessd of a good Ship for that Purpose, if I could, and to try my Fortune. I had been some Years in the Bay of Campeachy , and tho with Patience I endurd the Fatigue of that laborious Life, yet it was as visible to others as to myself, that I was not formd by Nature for a Logwood-Cutter, any more than I was for a Foremast-man; and therefore Night and Day I applyd myself to study how I should dismiss myself from that Drudgery, and get to be, first or last, Master of a good Ship, which was the utmost of my Ambition at that Time; resolving, in the mean Time, that when ever any such Thing should happen, I would try my Fortune in the Cruising Trade, but would be sure not to prey upon my own Countrymen.
It was many Years after this before I could bring my Purposes to pass; and I servd, first, in some of the Adventures of Captain Sharp , Captain Sawkins , and others, in their bold Adventures in the South Seas, where I got a very good Booty; was at the taking of Puna , where we were obligd to leave infinite Wealth behind us, for want of being able to bring it away; and after several Adventures in those Seas, was among that Party who fought their Way Sword in Hand thro all the Detachments of the Spaniards , in the Journey over Land, cross the Isthmus of Darien , to the North Seas; and when other of our Men gat away, some one Way, some another, I, with twelve more of our Men, by Help of a Periagua , gat into the Bay of Campeachy , where we fell very honestly to cutting of Logwood, not for Want, but to employ ourselves till we could make off.