The Hispaniola Plate. 1683-1893

Front matter

15Y THE SAME AUTHOR. The Desert Ship. The Adventii.es of Viscount Aneuly. A Gentleman Advent: uer. His Own Enemy. The Silent Shore. etc. etc. (1683-1893) BY JOHN BLOUNDELLE-BURT.ON " IIre passed the tropics, as near as we could guess, just where the famous Sir William Phips fished up tlie silver from the Spanish Plate wreck"— Defoe ("Colonel Jack"). CASSELL and COMPANY, Limited LONDON, PARIS & MELBOURNE 1895 ALL EIGHTS RESERVED Co tfiosr OFFICERS OF THE ROYAL NAVY WITH WHOM I have, for some years, SPENT MANY PLEASANT WEEKS ANNUALLY" DURING THE NAVAL MANŒUVRES, WHILE ACTING AS SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT OF THE STAXDARD, I VENTURE TO INSCRIBE, -WITH GREAT CORDIALITY, THIS STORY PARTLY' TRUE AND PARTLY FICTITIOUS — OP Captain, Sir 'William PHirs, R.N., AND OF Lieutenants Nictiolas and Reginald Crafer, R.N.

Preface

. Most of the maps of the West Indies published during the first half of the present century and anterior to that date mark distinctly the spot where the followingstory principally takes place. Thirty miles due north of Cape Francais, on the north coast of San Domingo, is a reef entitled " Bajo de la Plata, or Phips's Plate," while more modern maps simply describe it as "Silver Bank." This is, of course, the spot where Sir William Phips — a now forgotten figure in history — obtained the plate mentioned by Defoe; and, so far as I am aware, there is but one detailed account in existence of how he found and secured that plate. This account is contained in a duodecimo volume entitled " Pietas in Patriam : the Life of Sir William Phips," published in London in 1697 anonymously, but guaranteed as accurate by several people who knew him.

A production entitled "The Library of American Biography," edited by one Jared Sparks, also pro fesses to give an accurate biography of Phips, but it is simply a garbled and mangled copy of the London publication. I should also mention that the " Bio graphia Britannica" refers to the expedition in the article on " Christopher Monk, second Duke of Albe marle." So does a work of the last century entitled " The Lives of the Admirals," by Lawrence Echard, THE HISPANIOLA PLATE. VIII and so also do some encyclopædias ; but all of them undoubtedly derive their information from " Pietas in Patriam." This work I have myself carefully followed, because in it alone are to be found the descriptions of the " Frygate Algier Rose," her eighteen guns and ninety five men, of the various mutinies, of Alderly's arrival on the scene, of the second voyage with the tender, and so forth.

Indeed, beyond the requirements of fiction the account is absolutely an account of what happened until the chase after Alderly by Nicholas Crafer, when fiction itself becomes predominant. Alderly, I should add, was as real a character as Phips himself. So was the carpenter who discovered the second mutiny. The rest, with the exception of the Duke of Albemarle, are imaginary. I may add, in conclusion, that " The Hispaniola Plate " appeared originally in The St. James's Budget. CONTENTS.

Chapter I. Nicholas Crafer's Strange Will

" Gray's Inn Square, Oct. 20th, 1892. " My dear Sir, — In answer to your request, I beg to inform you that the terms by which you inherit ' Phips House,' at Strand-on-the-Green, from your late uncle, are as follows — the statement being taken from the last will and testament of your ancestor Nicholas Crafer, made in the year 1695 : — And I do hereby will and bequeatlie that ye house called Phips by me, after my late captain and commander, Sir William Phips, when I purchased yt from Mr. Clitherow of Brans ord, do forever remaiue in the possession of some descendant of mine, male or female, the former for choyce and preference, yet not also debarriug, in fault of any bearing the name of Crafer existinge, those descending from the female side to succeed. That is to saye, it is to so remaine forever unless through it whoever doth succeede shall thereinto find the means whereby to obtain unto themselves a fortune of and equivalint unto tho summe of Fiftie thousand guineas, the which I do hereby testify the meanes are forthcoming.

After whych the house may be disposed of as best beseemeth those w-ho have so found ye fortune. This, therefore, I say, " Secke and ye shall find, knocke and yt shall be opened uuto you." B "This will, in spite of its quaintness, has ever, and will probably always, hold good, although not law, until one thing occurs of two : either that the house falls down of old age (which it seemed very likely to do when I inspected it after yom* late uncle's decease) or that some descendant of Com mander Nicholas Crafer shall find the means of making the fortune of 50,000 guineas in or through it — a most unlikely thing to happen. For, as 3*011 know, many generations of Crafers have searched through the house from basement to garret, imagining that the original testator meant to hint that some where about it, was hidden away such a sum of money as he mentions ; and always without result.

Nor has the ingenuity of one generation after another ever been able to hit upon any hidden meaning which might be contained in the words of the will, or to find anything excepting the scrap of paper once discovered, of which you know; while certainly the land on which it stands— something under three acres — can hardly ever become of such value, or one-twentieth part of it. " But as you know as much about your ancestor as I can possibly tell you, I need not write further, and I have only to state that, during your absence abroad, everything has been done to facilitate handing over the house to you on your return, and I now propose to prove your uncle's will, and, after the usual formalities, to put you in possession of Phips House and other property left by him.— Yours faithfully, " A. Be NTH AM."

NICHOLAS CRAFER'S STRANGE WILL. 3 This was the letter which Reginald Crafer read at his breakfast, one fine autumn mornins", as he sat in that good old hostelry, " The George," at Portsmouth — a letter which he had found at the Naval Club after his early morning walk on the Battery — a walk taken with the view of aiding an already exceedingly good appetite, and of having a look at the waves dancing out at the Nab and sparkling in the bright October sunshine. A better specimen of the young lieutenant of to-day than Reginald Crafer (with " N " after his name to show that he had taken up navigation as his branch) you might not see in any of her Majesty's ships. Tall, but not too tall for a sailor ; close shaven, as becometh the young naval officer of to-day, yet with excellent features that required nothing in the shape of whiskers or moustache to set them off ; with clear grey eyes and a wholesome sunburnt skin — what more could a J'oung man deshe in the shape of personal gifts ?

Nay, what more pleasing a sight to gaze upon than this smart, good-looking young officer could the heart of a maiden desire ? Now Reginald Crafer — whom at this present moment you see eating buttered toast and a fried sole, as he reads his lawyer's letter — had just come home from the China Station in the Ianthe (twin screw cruiser, first-class, armoured, 8,400 tons) ; and she having been paid oft', the young man was on leave for the time being. He had slept at " The George " overnight for two reasons (ordinarily the naval officer rushes to London by the first train that will bear him, when once he has set foot on shore), one being b2 that he wanted to go to a ball at the Commander-in- Chief's to which the officers of the returned cruiser Avere mostly invited ; the other, that he expected to find a letter from the solicitor, Mr. Bentham — which, as you have seen, he did find.

This letter was in reply to one that Reginald had sent to the lawyer from Hong Kong, which in its own turn had also been a reply. For to the young lieutenant there had come at the Station a letter from Mr. Bentham, stating that his uncle — also a Reginald Crafer — was dead, that he had left the younger Reginald a few thousand pounds (the principal part of his income having been derived from an annuity and a government pension) and " Phips House." Then Reginald had written back for further details, had received the above-quoted answer at the Naval Club this morning, and — voila tout! Of course, he knew as much about the mysterious entailment of Phips House as the lawyer did ; it would have been strange had he not done so. Eleven different Crafers had held possession of it since Nicholas departed this life in King William Ill's reign: eleven different Crafers, all of whom had sought high and low for the fortune it was supposed to contain, or for some clue as to how the fortune of " Fiftie thousand guineas " was to be obtained ; and of those Crafers many had torn their hair in vexation, and others had stamped their feet and cursed and sworn— or, perhaps I had better say, grumbled and growled — at finding nothing.

Of such irate de scendants the last, the late lamented Reginald, had, however, not been one. Perhaps because he thouo-ht NICHOLAS CRAFER'S STRANGE WILL. 5 that if his ten predecessors could find no fortune in the house, he was not likely to do so ; or perhaps because he was himself very comfortably off with his annuity and his pension from a Government office, and his few thousands of invested money — which Lieutenant Crafer now came into — he bothered his head not at all about the chimera of the house at Strand-on-the-Green. Certainly he cursed not over it, neither did he swear — unless it was at the damp from the river ! — and, being bald, he had no hair to tear ; and he never tapped panels nor prodded walls nor looked for secret doors in the house, contenting himself with letting young " Reg " do all this when he came to stay with him.

For the rest, and being a bachelor, he spent much time at his club ; he took a faint interest in the curiosity which the legend of Phips House excited in the minds of his friends, as well as of the waterside loafers of Brentford, Kew, Mortlake, and all the immediate neighbourhood ; he would even go so far as to invite people to stay with him and hunt about the house for themselves, when they were not enjoying the prospect from the windows of the market-gardens across the river. But of excitement in the legendary fortune, this bald-headed and comfortably situated ex-Civil Servant coidd get up not one jot ; and when a burglar broke into the house, determined on finding, as he informed the barrister who defended him, " the blooming fortune if it was to be found," he went to see him at Pentonville after his trial and told him he sincerely wished he had found it.

Thus, to him, the fortune of Phips House was but an allegory or a myth, which he regarded but as a grown-iq) child regards a fairy-tale ; and so, unbelieving in all that pertained to it, he passed away to Kensal Green and Reginald the Second ruled in his stead But he, when he was a child — being of a romantic nature — did believe in the fortune of Nicholas Crafer ; and Avhen he was a man — bem*-*- a sailor — had not lost all faith in the romance. AVhethcr that faith was justified, you who read on shall see.

Chapter II. An Old Bit Of History

Who is he, especially of the London brood, who knows not Strand-on-the-Green ? Who knows not that it lies below the choice and savoury town of Brentford and below Kew Bridge also, on the Middle sex shore ; that it is composed of a long, straggling row of houses, many of them old and most of them quaint, which are of all shapes, sizes, and uses ? One there is in which once dwelt Zoffany, the painter ; hard by is a waterman's cottage, where the succulent winkle or shrimp may be purchased and eaten — the former with a pin supplied by the vendor ; then comes a row of comfortable houses panelled and wainscotted within, then more tiny shops (with, inter spersed all along the row, the genial public-house); then more private houses ; and so on to Phips House — old, quaint, gabled, and mullioned, panelled also, and Avainscotted.

In it are fireplaces in the corners of the rooms — sure proofs of the early Charles II. period ; it has also carved Avooden doors and carved balus trades and banisters ; there are balconies to the front AvindoAvs having bulging rails to fit the hoops of Avomen belonging to long-forgotten days; and all about it is that genuine look of latter Stuart times Avhich may still be found in very many houses in this locality. " What did it appear like AA-hen Nicholas first bought it ? " mused Reginald Crafer to himself a feAV evenings later than the day he breakfasted at "The George." " Even if it hasn't altered, its surroundings have." Then he turned his eyes around and went on, gazing down the riA*er meanAvhile. " The ' White Hart ' at Mortlake was there, I think — I have read of Jacobites taking boat from its steps ; and so was the Duke of Devonshire's and old ChisAvick beyond, with wicked Barbara Villiers standing at the window of her house and shrieking for the return of her lost youth and beauty.

But not much else ! No main drainage then, no horrible gasworks, no District Railway bridges ! It must have changed a good deal since Nicholas hid his sabulous fortune, or the story of it, in the house — if it is fabulous." He put the key into the door and entered, musing still. " I Avonder Avhat Nicholas did to pass his time ? There Avas no ' Packet Hotel,' no ' Indian Queen,' no ' Star and Garter ' then." These places are, it should be told, hostelries of more modern date. " There Avas not much for him to do to amuse himself," he went on. " He was too late to know Kinde Kit of Kingston, who lived here ; too early for the Georgian revels at Kew. Yet he might have often seen William of Orange (it Avas hard by here they at tempted to assassinate him) ; he might have smoked and drunk at the ' Three Pidgeons,' at Brentford, and knoAvn the daughter of Shakespeare's brother-actor LoAvin, Avho kept the place.

Who knoAvs ? " This young man, you see, Avas AveU acquainted with AN OLD BIT OF HISTORY. the history of the neighbourhood in Avhich stood the house he had noAV inherited. It Avas not remarkable that he should be so. From his earliest childhood his fancy had been strongly taken by all the gossip connected Avith the property that must some day be his if his uncle remained unmarried, and never did he by haphazard see the names of Brentford, KeAv, or Strand-on-the-Green printed but he studied every word in connection Avith them. Thus, he Avas neither erudite nor pedantic, but only very interested in all that concerned the spot, and, therefore, very Avell informed about it. What he did not knoAV Avas — in common Avith his forerunners — much about the mysterious Nicholas Crafer, Avho had contrived, by arousing the curiosity of his descendants through the medium of his strange will, to keep his memory ver}* green.

And not only the curiosity of his descendants, but also of most people brought into the slightest connection with the spot. The Avaterside hands, the barge-loaders and the lookers after private skiffs and gigs, the keepers of local refreshment-houses, Avhether " publics " or those chaste boAvers Avhich have upon their fronts the mystic legends, " Tea and hot water 9d." (hoAv can there be tea-drinking without hot Avater ?) ; even the hands of the steamers passing up and down — of the Cardinal Wolsey for Hampton Court (which place it reacheth not without arduous struggles and terrible delay), and the captains of the Bridegroom and the Wedding Ring (graceful names Avell suited to riparian jaunts !)— all kneAv the legend of Phips House as Avell as its new OAA-ner. So, too, did the dwellers on KeAv Green, the respectable City men who resided on the KeAv Gardens estate and Avere on familiar terms Avith the parson, and the City clerks Avho abode in great numbers in modern Gunnersbury and modern Chiswick All kneAv, I say, the legend of Phips House ; all had heard of Nicholas Crafer, who was considered to have been a pirate and buccaneer : all — watermen, City men, and City clerks — AA-ere proud of their local history of Nicholas and their — in a way — connection with him.

AVhat was, hoAvever, really knoAvn of him by the family — reduced noAv to Reginald alone — what had filtered through the eleven generations Avith regard to him, Avas no more than this : He had been an officer in the navy of the Commonwealth, being but a lad at that time, and serving under Blake during its last tAvo years of existence; then under Charles II. in the royal navy; and then under James II., in AA-hose first year of misrule he retired. Many a fight did he engage in in those days, as Avas Avell known to his descendants : he was in the destruction of the Spanish ships at Santa Cruz in 1657, and at the defeat of Van Wassenaer by James, Duke of York, in 1G65, in the " four days' fight " in 1666, and he assisted in the capture of the Golden Horse corsair in 1681, and many other valiant deeds besides.

Yet were none of these martial feats so romantic as one other thing he did, or, rather tAA*o other things. He accompanied Sir William Phips, then plain Captain Phips, in both his expeditions for the fishing up of the Hispaniola Plate — the second attempt proving successful. Noav, as not all the world knows, AN OLD BIT OF HISTORY. but as his descendants of course kneAv, 'twas in the Algier Rose that Phips made his first attempt to get this plate in the reign of that most high and puissant prince, King Charles II., of ever-gracious memory. 'TAvas that great monarch ,A*ho put at his disposal the Algier Rose, after listening to Phips's tale in the embrasure of a AvindoAv at Whitehall — what time he was playing with the silky ears of a spaniel on his knee and leering at a young country lady fresh come to Court — a tale narrating hoAv the Spanish plate ship, or carrack, was sunk off Hispaniola — or, as we now call it, San Domingo and Hayti ; and how he, Phips, felt sure he could fish it up.

But Phips came back without the plate, and the august Charles, being dead, could help him no more, nor would the saintly James, his successor, do so. Phips was therefore now on what he would, per haps, have called his " beam-ends," and so were some of his officers, including Nicholas Crafer ; and on them he would doubtless have remained had not his good fortune throAvn in his way at this moment a friendly patron This was none other than Christopher Monk, second Duke of Albemarle, a nobleman Avho loved much the bottle — which fondness led to his death shortly aftenvards, when Governor of Jamaica — and Avho also took great interest in stories of buried treasure, and listened to tales of such things with eagerness. To him, therefore, Phips opened up the subject of the Spanish plate. He SAVore that though he had failed once in finding it he Avould never fail again ; and he so much impressed his drunken Grace with his energy and sincerity that, at last, he sailed once more for the West Indies as captain of a private ship commissioned to hunt for the plate, and Avith him Nicholas sailed too as second officer.

Much money had been advanced for the quest ; Albemarle taking six shares, Avhile three were allotted to Phips, one to Nicholas, and one between the other officers, and the remainder amongst those adventurer-merchants who had assisted in finding the necessary capital. All this is matter of history, Avhich may be grubbed up by the student AA-ith little pains ; so, too, is the fact that Phips did come back with the plate, having gone through some considerable dangers and hardships to secure it. Then the saintly King, James ■ — Avho took a tenth as his royalty for granting the patent — Avas advised to seize all the plate on the ground that " one half of A\*hat had been in the Spanish carrack was missing," and that, consequently, Phips had secreted that half someAvhere for his future use. But the King, contrary to what might ha,*e been expected of him, refused to believe such to be the case — perhaps because he had been a sailor himself once, and a good one, too ! — and, instead, ordered the money to be divided and apportioned as had been at first arranged, and also, at the request of the graceless but goodhearted Duke, knighted the captain, making him thereby Sir William Phips.

So Albemarle got his six shares, Phips got his three, and Nicholas his one : but as to Iioav much each got considerable doubt has ever existed, since some historians say the plate reahsed only £90,000, and some say £300,000 ; though it was thought that AN OLD BIT OF HISTORY. 13 Phips got £16,000. But whatever it was it was sufficient to assist the Duke in ruling royally over his colony (for a year, Avhen the bottle finished him !), to support Phips until the time came when he Avas made Governor of New England, and to enable Nicholas to buy his house at Strand-on-the-Green. But than this no more Avas knoAvn, except that Nicholas lived some years after the making of his will, since he did not die until 1701, Avhen the small pox carried him off. And of Avhat he did in those years neither Avas anything more knoAvn, nor of how he and Phips really got the treasure, Avhat adventures they Avent through, or Avhat hardships they then endured.

Yet, as will noAV be seen, the time Avas at last at hand Avhen Reginald Crafer the second, tAvelfth in descent from Nicholas, the so-called pirate and buccaneer, Avas to find out all that there Avas to be discovered about him. He Avas soon to learn the reason of Nicholas's strange will and testament. li

Chapter III. The Vanished Mr

WARGRAVE. Noav, in the letter of Mr. Bentham, the laAvyer, to the present Reginald, mention A\*as made of " a scrap of paper once found," of Avhich the young man kneAv. And that he did so know of it was most certain, as all Avho came after the fourth Crafer in descent from Nicholas had knoAA*n, for it was in the time of that fourth Crafer and in the first year of the reign of George III. that it had been discovered. Only, when it Avas discovered it told nothing, since on it Avere simply the Avords, "My friend Mr. Wargrave has the papers that will tell all. — Nicholas Crafer." Nothing could very Avell have been more dis heartening than this; and I fear that the fourth Crafer in descent, Avhose Christian name Avas David, must, Avhen he discovered that paper, have been one of the family Avho indulged in hair (or AA*ig) tearings and in strong language.

He Avas himself a doctor — for the eleven descendants of Nicholas had amomr them embraced all the professions and callings fit for gentlemen — having a fair practice in the neighbourhood of Brentford and ChisAvick, and Avas consequently a stay-at-home man. And during his home-keeping life, Avhile having a few alterations made to Avhat Avas in those days called the saloon, or withdrawing room, he found the useless piece of paper. It Avas in the THE VANISHED MR. WARGRAVE. 15 leaves of a Wagener, ahvays called by sailors a " Waggoner " (a book of charts, or routier, much used by old navigators), that the scrap Avas discovered pasted — betAveen the cover and the title-page. The book itself Avas in a little wooden cupboard, not a foot square, that had always been evidently regarded as a secret receptacle and hiding-place, since over and in front of the cupboard-doors, Avhich had an antique lock to them, the Avainscotting Avas capable of removal.

Yet, Avhen last the Avainscotting had been put over that cupboard, it Avas easy enough to perceive that the person Avho had so closed it up had intended it should not be opened again for some time, since the wood of the wainscot had been glued in some manner to the cupboard-door. Then, in the passage of time betAveen Nicholas having closed up the cupboard and the epoch of David Crafer arriving, Avhen the builder's man lighted on it — Avhich Avas a period of over fifty five years — some stamped hangings of floss and velvet had been placed over the wainscot by another oAvner ; so that at last the little cupboard Avith its contents Avas entirely hidden aAvay That Nicholas could have ever intended his scrap of paper — if the information Avas really of any use in his OAvn day, or in days near to his time — to be so lost, it Avas of course impossible to decide.

Doubtless he never dreamt that the panels Avould be covered up by the hangings, and perhaps thoug-ht that, therefore, sooner or later, some curious eye would observe that there Avas a difference in their size where they enclosed the cupboard. HoAve\*er, Avhatever he thought or did not think, the builder in making his alterations had unearthed the paper. Only, as David Crafer remarked, it was of no use to him noAV it Avas found and neA*er would be ; which was the truth, for Avhen he in his turn Avent the Avay of those before him he had never so much as really and positively found out Avho Mr. Wargrave was. Yet he had tried hard to do so in the time that Avas left him. KnoAving his ancestor to haA*e been a sailor, every record bearing on the sailors of the past fifty years was searched by him or those employed by him, but there Avas no Wargrave who had ever been heard of.

The Admiralty officials of those days swore no Wargrave had ever served in the na A*y ; Avhoever he Avas, they said, one thing Avas certain — he Avas not a King's officer. Then David Crafer got the idea that the man was, after all, a lawyer AA-hom Nicholas confided in; but again he found himself at bay. The records of dead-and-gone laAvyers, even when they had been famous, Avere scanty enough in the early days of last century : AA*hen they had not been famous — above all, Avhen they Avere only attorneys — those records scarcely existed at all. So, at last, David Crafer gave up the laAV in despair. If there had ever been a Wargrave in that profession, he, at least, could find out nothing about him. Next, he tried the City, which was not a very large place in his OAvn day, and had been smaller in the days of Nicholas.

Yet it Avas difficult to glean any information of the City even in those times — especially since the information desired Avas nearer sixty than fifty years old. It is true there was, as far back as the period of Nicholas Crafer and the mysterious Wargrave, a London Directory (such useful volume having been first THE VANISHED MR. WARGRAVE. 17 published in 1677), yet in the copies Avhich he could obtain a sight of — which Avas done Avith difficulty, since reference books Avere not preserved with much care in those times, and those Avhich he did see were neither consecutive nor in a perfect condition — he fouud no mention of the name of Wargrave. So time went on, David Crafer greAv old and feeble, and had almost entirely desisted from the search for the name of Wargrave — the man himself must, of course, have been dead for some decades — and had long since come to the conclusion that he would never find out anything about him.

Then, all at once, when visiting a friend in the City, and Avhile turning over a volume in that friend's parlour, he lighted on the name and possibly the person. The book Avas entitled " A Compleat Guide to all Persons AA'ho haA*e any Trade of Concern Avithin the City of London and parts adjacent ; " and peering into it in a half-interested, half-hopeless, and half hearted manner, old David saAV the name of " Samuel Wargrave, silversmith and dealer, Cornhill." More over, he saAV that the book containing the name Avas published in 1701, the year Avhen Nicholas died. Therefore he thought he had found his man, or, at least, had found the chance of gleaning some information about him. But, alas ! the year 1701 Avas a long Avay off the year 1760, Avhen the paper Avas discovered in the little cupboard, and still longer off the year 1768, at Avhich period David had noAV arrived.