Author: Sealtiel Enciso Pérez
Baja California Sur, being a peninsula, is a land conducive to the creation of stories around the topic of pirates. Some of them have real events as their backdrop, such as the case of Thomas Cavendish and Woodes Rogers, who were privateers that looted the Manila Galleons off the port of Cabo San Lucas. But other pirate stories have been the product of the imagination of locals. Over time, the names, real or fictitious, of some of its participants became toponyms and even for certain atmospheric events. Such is the case we will address in this narrative.
After conducting a thorough investigation in various digital and printed media about "the pirate Cromwell", I was able to gather a series of data that shed much light on the existence, or not, of this mythical character. I will present these results here, leaving it, as always, to the kind reader to decide the conclusion of the existence of this elusive character.
In an interesting tale, the product of the creativity of the writer Manuel Alejandro Cota Crespo, titled "EL COROMUEL", he mentions the following: "One day, in the early 19th century, the ten or fifteen inhabitants that made up the population of La Paz were gathered in front of the only house that existed then, called the House of the King. They watched with great surprise and unease a ship that mysteriously appeared anchored in the port at dawn, without anyone knowing from where or at what time it had arrived. In the isolation and lack of communication in which those people lived in that remote land, the presence of the ship was an impressive event due to its extraordinariness. What ship could it be? Where does it come from? What will it do?
These questions were repeated in a low voice, without anyone being able to answer them, no matter how many conjectures were formed, pushing the efforts of an imagination heightened by fear and mistrust. The only thing they could notice, thanks to an old woman who could barely spell, was that the ship was called "El Cromwell" because that's how it was read in large characters on the port and starboard of its bow; a name that, due to its difficult pronunciation, was transformed right away into "Cromuel" and gradually, afterwards, into "Coromuel". The ship remained in complete isolation; nobody from aboard came ashore, nor did anyone from land dare to go aboard.
Two days after their arrival and just before dusk, when the cool southeast breeze began to blow, a boat was launched into the sea. The next day at the same time, another boat went out to sea, and so on, with boats coming and going, taking advantage of the evening breeze with such regularity that gradually people on the shore, who were constantly watching everything that was happening on the ship, would say to each other, "the coromuel wind is coming," and as if it were the most novel and interesting thing, they would abandon their occupations and watch the boats until they disappeared into the darkness of the night, far off the coast. The strange secrecy that was carefully kept on board kept the unsatisfied curiosity of the port inhabitants alive. Because of their simplicity and ignorance, they were inclined to see the supernatural, the fearful in everything that could not be explained. They assumed and talked about a thousand diabolical things, something about ghosts and witchcraft that were happening on the mysterious ship, whose badly pronounced name spread by word of mouth, arousing a certain superstitious fear.
After a month of staying at the dock, the Coromuel, as it continued to be called, raised its sails and silently sailed away from the port, without anything further being heard from it.
But the following year, when the southeast breezes began to cool the summer evenings, it was reported on the horizon, arriving once again to anchor in the waters of La Paz, and, as in the previous year, remained cut off from land and dispatching its boats at sunset. In the third year, with the first gusts of the breeze we have mentioned, the inhabitants of La Paz remembered the same ship. "The Coromuel is coming," they said. And sure enough, it soon dropped anchor in the anchorage. While the people of La Paz could not understand what the Cromwell was doing on these coasts, in one of the last afternoons of that same year, the captain and the boatswain, leaning on the stern rail and marveling at one of the beautiful sunsets for which this admirable Californian sky is known, had the following conversation:
"By the way," said the boatswain, "this digging so adventurously on these deserted beaches and wasting time and money is not something to be praised."
"You're right," said the captain, "but this will be the last time we do it."
"Well," said his interlocutor, "I suppose there must be some indication of where the treasure can be found."
Then the captain related to him:
"Some years after the conquest of Mexico, one of the English pirates who invaded the Pacific Ocean and took refuge on the coasts of this peninsula, captured a galleon from the Philippines near Cabo San Lucas, and among the loot delivered to two of the pirates, they found a document revealing the existence of a hidden treasure in a certain place in the 'Ensenada de Muertos'. But alone and without resources, they could not stay to search for it, in an unknown region inhabited by savage tribes. At first, they thought of communicating their find to some companions, but realizing that they would achieve nothing with that, they decided to return when they had the necessary means. But immediately the difficulty arose of who would keep the document. For many years, they had been bound by an intimate friendship, treating each other like brothers, but like a cold north wind that withers the heart of every noble and generous feeling, they began to distrust each other, and pretexting that one of them might die or be forced to separate, they thought to secure what each deserved.
After meditating at length on how to resolve that difficulty, they agreed to divide the document into two parts. In this way, each one thought, without the other, he will not be able to come in search of the treasure."
In England they separated with the purpose of each trying to find the means to return to New Albion, as this peninsula was called for some years, and seize the treasure. But despite their efforts, they did not succeed and resigned themselves to living in extreme poverty. One of them died shortly thereafter, and the portion of the document that belonged to him was passed down to his successors until it came into the possession of my wife."
"My attempts to find the other part have been in vain. However, I finally resolved to come and look for it, but I believe it will not be possible with the incomplete information I have. So we will leave and never return."
Several days after that conversation, something extraordinary happened on the ship late at night, waking up the inhabitants of La Paz. An excited uproar could be heard, isolated shouts, the sound of chains, and lights moving rapidly in all directions, making it seem like the ship was getting ready to set sail, but that was not the case. Part of the crew had mutinied and headed to the captain's cabin to kill him. However, this brave sailor, strong as a whale, repelled the unexpected attack. When they were about to break down the cabin door, another group of loyal sailors confronted the rebels and subdued them, including their leader. The following day, after order was restored, among the items collected from the instigator of the mutiny, the captain found with great surprise the missing piece of the document that was needed to find the treasure. The ship then set sail, and a few days later fishermen from the area found large excavations in the "Ensenada de Muertos" and inside them were remains of chests and rusted iron straps.
The Cromwel never appeared again in these seas, but its altered name had become that of the evening breeze, whose delightful freshness makes the nights in the city of La Paz so pleasant."
There is a variant of this story written by a person using the pseudonym "Abuelo choyero," titled "Mitos, cuentos y leyendas sudcalifornias: 'EL NOMBRE DEL COROMUEL'." In his account, he narrates the following:
Coromuel is a beautiful beach located in La Paz Bay, in the Municipality of the same name, in Baja California Sur. It is actually one of the closest beaches to the city and very beautiful, as it is surrounded on one side by hills that display the typical flora of the area and on the other by a beautiful view towards the bay.
One of the stories known among the locals of the area and that gives rise to the name of Coromuel, arises approximately in the 18th century, at that time when pirates roamed the waters of the Pacific and the Gulf of California in search of treasures, as well as boarding and looting the ships that transported goods, fabrics, and precious stones from India.
On one occasion, one of these feared ships began to visit the cove of this beautiful place and mysteriously stayed for several hours. The locals who noticed such a ship, all they did was hide to avoid being seen by the crew and observe their movements, fearing that at some point they would set sail and be attacked by these pirates. After several days of leaving and returning to the cove again, the rumor began to spread that the daring Cromnwell, a famous pirate who came very stealthily in search of a safe place to hide his treasures, was on board the mysterious ship.
Every time this mysterious ship entered the cove, the locals of the place, who could not pronounce this name well, said "Here comes the Coromuel" instead of "Cromnwell," breaking down the pirate's original surname, giving rise to the name of the beautiful place that currently gives us unique sunsets in front of the pier."
Finally, I found an excellent document that sheds much light on the speculations that have been given for years about the origin of the name "Coromuel." This document is by Darío Sbroggio, titled "El Corumel - The Pirate Wind." In his interesting writing, he says the following:
The writer Pino Cacucci in his book "Le balene lo sanno" - the Italian title of one of his works, which means "Whales do know" - describes "Corumel" - an alteration of the English word Cromwell - as "the name of a ship, probably English, that appeared in the Bay of La Paz at every sunset, and according to some improvised American historians, would have appeared in no less than the 16th century, sent by Oliver Cromwell himself to defeat Spanish domination in the region." As a conclusion to this story, he says, "Perhaps [the story] is not true, but as a story to be told to posterity, it is beautiful."
Sbroggio comments in his document: "Another conclusion, not entirely exhaustive, is drawn from the book "La fuerza y el viento" by Marita Martínez del Río de Redo, in which the Mexican writer and historical researcher, in love with stories related to the sea and with particular attention to piracy, to the study of which she was initiated by her father, the historian and anthropologist Pablo Martínez del Río y Vinent, tells us that "in Baja California there blows a wind called 'coromuel', which was used by Cromwell - whose flag is preserved in the Fort of San Diego Museum in Acapulco - on one occasion to inflate the sails of his ship and chase one of the almost invincible galleons of Manila." From this supposed flag - which is actually the pictographic portrait of the also supposed Cromwell, perhaps used as a flag by the English corsair - it seems that we have evidence of its existence, as can be seen in the photo that appears in the same book by the Mexican writer and as also confirmed by the museum in Acapulco, which has the artifact on display."
Sbroggio also cites the following: "The book by Peter Gerhard entitled "Pirates on the West Coast of New Spain 1575-1742," a complete and detailed study of the pirates and corsairs that infested the western coasts of Mexico during those almost two hundred years, where the name Cromwell never appears throughout the book, not even to indicate the wind we spoke of earlier, much less as the name of any ships."
In addition to the above, Darío Sbroggio points out: "a certain Thomas E. Jones, who, through what he discovered at the New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston, tells us that among his ancestors is none other than the pirate captain Thomas Cromwell, who was born, lived, and died in the 17th century, although active on the other side of the Mexican coasts from where our mysterious Cromwell operated. Nevertheless, according to the bibliographic sources cited by the supposed descendant of said pirate - among these, the unnamed works of William Bradford and John Winthrop, two important chroniclers of the first half of the 17th century, and the work of the Puritan Reverend John Wheelwright titled "Mercurius americanus" - his adventures seem to have had to do with lands, such as Yucatán - where there is evidence of "visits" by this pirate - which do not completely exclude a presence also among the rocky coasts of Baja California. The trail, by the way, seems somewhat weak, and verifying that a pirate named Cromwell actually existed is not very satisfying, considering that it is very likely that this Thomas Cromwell has nothing to do with the Cromwell we are interested in."
Finally, Darío Sbroggio mentions one last piece of information that may shed light on the probable existence, or not, of the so-called "Cromwell": "an undated manuscript by Homer Aschmann in which, after analyzing the different theories related to the name Cromwell, outlines a hypothesis that, although cannot be considered entirely satisfactory, could still be sufficiently probable. Aschmann suggests that the name Cromwell and the legend surrounding its ghost, can be attributed to Oliver Cromwell, an English military and political leader who temporarily ended the monarchy in Britain in the mid-17th century. Actually, as Aschmann explains, it seems that Oliver Cromwell never left the British Isles during his lifetime, but what seems certain is that Great Britain, specifically during Cromwell's government, was quite active in attacking Spanish trade, both in the Caribbean Sea and on the other side of the Mexican coasts, especially along the wide coastal area that starts from the current state of Guerrero - Acapulco was undoubtedly the main port - to the coasts of the Pacific and the Gulf of California. According to this theory, it would seem that Spanish sailors, especially those who were defeated by any English privateer, linked the name of the fearsome British leader Cromwell to the sighting of any English ship, turning all of this into the terror of Gachupine sailors in the Pacific."
Whatever decision we make when choosing one version or another of the origin of the name "Coromuel", we cannot deny the beauty of the stories that involve each one and the ingenuity and dedication that their authors put into passing down this beautiful word.
Bibliography:
“El Coromuel” - Manuel Alejandro Cota Crespo
“Mitos, Cuentos y Leyendas Sudcalifornias: El Nombre Del Coromuel” - Abuelo Choyero (Seudónimo)
“El Corumel – El Viento Pirata” - Darío Sbroggio
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