e another extraordinary fact may be noted in the history of the
buccaneers. After their community had become consolidated and their
government in a manner systematized, strange as it may seem,
notwithstanding their murderous profession the observances of the
Christian, religion were introduced to sanctify their atrocities. 'They
never partook of a repast without solemnly acknowledging their
dependence upon the Giver of all good.' In their infatuation, whenever
they embarked upon any expedition, they were wont to invoke for its
success the blessing of Heaven; and they never returned from a marauding
excursion that they did not return thanks to God for their victory. 'On
the appearance of a ship which they meant to attack, they offered up a
fervent prayer for success; and when the conflict had terminated in
their favor, their first care was to express their gratitude to the God
of battles for the victory which He had enabled them to gain.'

* * * * *

The first leader of the buccaneers, after their concentration upon
Tortuga, whose deeds of desperate valor 'damned him to everlasting
fame,' was PIERRE LE GRANDE, a native of Dieppe, in Normandy.
The crowning act of his piratical career was his taking the ship of the
vice admiral, convoying a fleet of Spanish galleons, near the Cape of
Tiburon, on the western side of St. Domingo--an act which was performed
with a single boat, manned by only eighteen men, and armed with no more
than four small pieces of ordnance. And even these latter were of no
use, as the admiral's ship was carried by boarding, with no other arms
than swords and pistols. Le Grande had been so long at sea, without
falling in with any craft worth capturing, that his provisions were
becoming short; and his crew, pressed with hunger and brooding over
their ill success, were desperate. Thus situated, they espied the
Spaniard bearing the vice admiral's flag, and separated from the rest of
the flotilla. Notwithstanding the immense disparity of force, Le Grande
determined to capture her, and his crew took an oath to stand by him
till the last. The boat of the pirates was descried by the Spaniard in
the afternoon, and the admiral was admonished of what might be its
character; but he scorned the admonition, viewing the apparently pitiful
craft with contempt, and adopting no precautions against it. Just in the
dusk of evening the pirates ran alongside of his ship. As already
remarked, t