One of the seaman dies aboard the patriots’s ship. William Bush had been confined to quarters for 10 months. The first act of the Argentines mariners was to bury the man with military honors in Honolulu. According to James Hunnewell’s account, Bush “lived respected and died lamented.” This doesn’t sound like the exploits of some scalliwags, but of a more disciplined, respectable group of seaman.
Bush’s name reveals that men of many nationalities are sailing under the colors of the United Provinces of the River Platte. It’s the times they are in. Men who follow the privateer life look for work where they find it. War time is good, but the United States isn’t in a major conflict. Since Argentina fought for independence from Spain, she is happy to harass the empire however she can. Privateers are only too happy to oblige. They pay their own way through plunder. Just don’t get caught, coz no one on the other side will feel any pity as they hang you.