Pirates of the Americas 2 volumes

Pirates of the Americas

Pirates of the Americas

VOLUME 1: 1650
1685

David F. Marley

Copyright 2010 by ABC-CLIO, LLC All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Marley, David, 1950Pirates of the Americas / David F. Marley. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-59884-201-2 (hard copy: alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-59884-202-9 (e-book) 1. Pirates—America—History—Encyclopedias. 2. America—History, Naval— Encyclopedias. I. Title. E18.M45 2010 910.40 5—dc22 2009048318 ISBN: 978-1-59884-201-2 EISBN: 978-1-59884-202-9 14 13

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This book is also available on the World Wide Web as an eBook. Visit www.abc-clio.com for details. ABC-CLIO, LLC 130 Cremona Drive, P.O. Box 1911 Santa Barbara, California 93116-1911 This book is printed on acid-free paper Manufactured in the United States of America

I saw new worlds beneath the water lie, New people; yea, another sky. —Thomas Traherne (1637
1674)

Contents

Volume 1 List of Entries

ix

Preface

xv

Acknowledgments

xix

A Note on Dates

xxi

A
Z Entries

1

Documents

417

Chronology

437

Glossary

449

Bibliography

455

Index

I-1

Volume 2 List of Entries

ix

Preface

xv

Acknowledgments

xvii

A Note on Dates

xix

A
Z Entries

463

Documents

835

Chronology

847

Glossary

851

Bibliography

857

Index

I-1 vii

List of Entries

Avesilla, Alonso de Aviso Aylett, John Azogue Bab-el-Mandeb Baldridge, Adam Bamfield, John Banda del Norte Bannister, Joseph Barca, Esteban de la Barco luengo or longo Barlovento, Armada de Barnes, William Barreda Villegas, Felipe de Barre’s Tavern Basque, Michel le Beare, John Philip Beauregard, Charles Franc¸ois Le Vasseur de Becquel, Captain Beef Island Beeston, Sir William Bellamy, Samuel Bennett, John Bernanos, Jean, Sieur de Bernard, Antoine Bernardson, Albert Bigot Bilbo or bilboes Billiards

Abraham’s Cay Account Acosta, Gaspar Mateo de Adam, Captain Aernouts, Jurriaen Alarc
on, Juan de Alford, Lewis Allen, Captain Allison, Robert Allword, Captain Almiranta
Alvarez, Augustı´n Andrade, Alonso Felipe de Andreis, Bernart Andreson or Andrieszoon, Cornelis Andrieszoon, Michiel Ansell, John Anstis, Thomas Apostles Archambaud, Capitaine Armadilla Arribada Artigue, Michel d’, alias ‘‘le Basque’’ Ash, Isle of Ashworth, Leigh Asiento Astorga, Juan De Auger, John Augers or Augiers, Chevalier de

ix

x

List of Entries Billop, Christopher Binckes, Jacob Biscayan privateers Blackburne, Lancelot Blanco, Augustı´n Bl
enac, Charles de Courbon, Seigneur de Romegoux, Comte de Blot, Capitaine Blue officers Blunden, Robert Bond, George Bonidel, Capitaine Bonnet, Stede Boone, John Bot or Botte, Pierre Bourillon, Franc¸ois Bouton, Jacques Cl
ement Bradish, Joseph Bradley, Joseph Brand, Bartel Brandenburg privateers Branly, Captain Brasiliano, Rok Brauns, Koen de Br
eha, Pierre Breholt, John Brenningham Brigaut, Nicolas Brimacain, George Brooks, John Broome, John Browne, James Buckingham, Captain Bull, John Burke, Thomas Caballero, Andr
es Cachemar
ee Cagaway Callao Campos y Espinosa, Alonso de Caper Capitana Careen Carlile, Charles Cassava Casten, Captain Castro, Pedro de Charte-partie or ‘‘charter party’’

Chivers, Dirck Cincuentena Clarke, Robert Claverie, Charles de La Clipped money or clippings ‘‘Clostree,’’ Capitaine Cobham, Nathaniel Cocket Coffin, Captain Commission port Cooke, Edmond Cooke, John Cooper, Captain C
ordoba y Z
u~niga, Luis Bartolom
e de Corneliszoon, Jan Corsair Corso, Juan Coward, William Coxon, John Crab Island Crane, William Crijnssen, Abraham Cusack, George Cussy, Pierre-Paul Tarin, Sieur de Dampier, William Darien Colony Daudorus Davis, Captain Davis, Edward Davy, Capitaine Dead Man’s Island Deane, John Dedenon, Capitaine De Graaf, Laurens Cornelis Boudewijn Delacourt, Zachariah Delander, Robert Delbourg, Jean Delisle, Capitaine Dempster, Edward Desenne, Jacques Dessaudrays, Capitaine Devereux, John Dew, George Dey, Dennis Dockyer, Richard Dogger Dotson, Thomas

List of Entries Doubloon D’Oyley, Edward Dry gripes Dry Tortugas Ducasse, Jean-Baptiste Ducat Duchesne, Capitaine Ducking Duglas, Jean Duhamel, Capitaine Dumesnil, Sieur Earring Eaton, John Edmunds, John Elliott, Stephen Enfants perdus Engag
e England, Edward Essex, Cornelius Estr
ees, Jean, Comte and later Duc d’ Evertsen de Jongste or ‘‘the Youngest,’’ Cornelis, alias ‘‘Kees the Devil’’ Evertsen, Jacob Every, Henry Exquemelin, Alexandre-Olivier Fackman, Jacob Fenn, John Fermı´n de Huidobro, Juan Fernando, Francis Fernando, Luis FitzGerald, Philip Flibustier Flag of truce Flip Flota Flute Flying Gang Forban Ford, Anthony Forlorn Francis, Captain Franco, Capitaine Freebooter Gaines, Hugh Galeones Galesio, Francisco Gallion, Captain

Garcı´a Gal
an, Francisco Gerritszoon, Gerrit, alias ‘‘Rock Brasiliano’’ Gobernador de tercio Gobierno Goffe, Christopher Golden Island Gonz
alez de Perales, Juan Goodson, William Goody, Captain Graham, Captain Grammont, ‘‘Chevalier’’ or Sieur de Gregge, Thomas Grenade Griffin, John Griffin, Thomas Grillo, Diego Grogniet, Franc¸ois, alias ‘‘Cachemar
ee’’ Grubing, Nathaniel Guardacostas Guittard, Louis Guy, Richard Hadsell, Charles Half-Way Tree Hall, Jacob Hamilton, Lord Archibald Hamlin, Jean Hamlyn or Hamlin, William Handley, Thomas Hardue or Herdue, Captain Harismendy, Louis de Harmenson, John Harris, Peter (fl. 1671
1680) Harris, Peter (fl. 1684
1686) Harris, Thomas Hawkins, Captain Hawkins, Thomas Henley, Thomas Hewetson, Thomas Hicks, Gaspar Hispaniola Hoar or Hore, John Hoces, Esteban de Holman, William Holmes, Sir Robert Hornigold, Benjamin Howard, Thomas

xi

xii

List of Entries Huidobro, Mateo Alonso de Hyne, Captain Inch of candle Indigo Interloper Ireland, John Isla del Muerto Jacobs, Captain James, John James, William Janszoon, Pieter Jennings, Henry Johnson, George Johnson, Peter Jolly Roger Judgment Cliff Kaper Keelhauling Kelley, James Kidd, William Kilduijvel Knight, William La Barca, Esteban de La Buze, Louis La Claverie, Charles de La Garde, Pierre Laars Labat, Jean-Baptiste Laguna de T
erminos Langford, Abraham Laques or Jacques, Captain Larco, Juan de Lartigue Laurens, Pieter Layseca y Alvarado, Antonio de, conde de la Laguna de T
erminos League Le Basque, Michel Lecat, Jelles de Le Moign, Bernard Le Moyne d’Iberville, Pierre Lenham, George L
eog^ane LePain or Pain, Pierre Lepene, Jacques Le Picard, Capitaine Le Roux, Anne Leroux or Le Roux, Jean

Le Sage, Franc¸ois Lescuyer, Jean Le Serf, Jean Lessone, Capitaine Let-pass Letter of marque Letter of reprisal Lewis, John Light money Lilburne, Robert Lilly, Thomas Lisle or Lyle, Captain Logwood or dyewood Lormel, Capitaine Loverell, Captain Low, Edward or ‘‘Ned’’ Lucas, Jan Luque, Mateo Lussan, Ravenau de Lynch, Sir Thomas Machado, Juan Madagascar Magott, Thomas Maintenon, Charles Franc¸ois d’Angennes, Marquis de Mal de Siam Maldonado de Aldana, Antonio Malherbe, Abraham Mansfield, Edward Manso de Contreras Rodrı´guez de Mendoza, Andr
es Mar del Sur, Armada del Markham, John Maroon Maroon Islands Martel, James Martien, David Martı´n, Alonso Martin, Christopher Martı´nez Freire, Antonio Matross Mayes, William Michele, Biagio Miguel, Blas Mitchell, Abraham Modyford, Sir Thomas Moidore
Montauban or Montauband, Etienne de

List of Entries Moreau, Jean Moreno Mondrag
on, Blas Morgan, Edward Morgan, Sir Henry Morpain, Pierre Morris, John Morro Moseley or Maudsley, Samuel Mosquito Coast Mum Mu~ noz Gadea, Juan Munro, Captain Murphy Fitzgerald, John Murphy, John Musson, Matthew Myngs, Sir Christopher Narborough, Sir John Nau, Jean-David, alias ‘‘Capitaine Franc¸ois’’ or ‘‘Franc¸ois l’Olonnais’’ Navarro, Baltasar Neville, Edward New Providence (Nassau) Nichols, Bernard Noland, Richard Norman, Richard Norton, Benjamin Ogeron, Bertrand d’, Sieur de La Bouere Orange, Pierre d’ Outlaw, John Oxe, Robert Paine, Thomas Para Partridge Patache Pednau, Jacques Pedrero Pennon, Capitaine P
erez de Guzm
an y Gonzaga, Juan P
erez Machado, Juan Petersen, Jon Petit, Capitaine Phips, Sir William Picard, Capitaine Le Pichelingue Pieces of eight Pignier, Captain Pillet, Franc¸ois

Piragua Pistole Plate fleet Poincy, Philippe Lonvilliers de Pollet, Diego Pons, Jean Port Royal Pouanc¸ay, Jacques Nepveu, Sieur de Pound, Thomas Powell, Henry Prins, Laurens Puerto del Prı´ncipe Puerto Real Punch house Purchase Purdue, John Rack Rackham, John, alias ‘‘Calico Jack’’ Reijniersen, Claes Reiner, George Reyes, Andr
es de los Reyning, Jan Erasmus Richier, Isaac Risby, James Roberts, Bartholomew Roche, George Ruyter, Jan Barendszoon Sainte-Barbe or Santa B
arbara Salmigondis Salt Tortuga Salter, Thomas Sample, Robert S
anchez Xim
enez, Jos
e Santo y se~na Sargento mayor Sawkins, Richard Scott, Lewis Scroope or Scroop, Robert Searle, Robert Seegar, Edward ‘‘Senolve, Captain’’ Sergeant, Benjamin Sharpe, Bartholomew Shirley, Thomas Sibata Kempo Sir Cloudesley Situados Skull and crossbones

xiii

xiv

List of Entries Skutt, Benjamin Smith, Samuel Socarras y Ag€ uero, Benito Somers Island South Sea Spanish Main Speirdyke, Bernard Claesen Spurre, George Stanley, George Starr, John State’s or States’ ships Steadman, Captain Stepney, Robert Strong, John Subigaray ‘‘Chipi’’ (i.e., Junior), Joannes de Sunday Keeping Swan, Charles Swart, Adriaen van Diemen Swayne, Peter Taverns Teach, Edward Tennant, Matthew Tenths Tew, Thomas Thatch, Edward, alias ‘‘Blackbeard’’ Thurston, Humphrey Toccard, Jean Tortille Towers, Captain Townley, Francis Trepan Tristan, Jean Tryer, Matthew Turtle Valentin, Pierre Van de Veld, Andries Van Hoorn, Nikolaas

Van Klijn, Mozes Vane, Charles Van Tuyl, Otto Janszoon Vaughan, John, Third Earl of Carberry Veale, Captain Ventura Sarra, Juan Vercoue, Capitaine Vertpr
e or Vespre, Capitaine Vigneron, Capitaine Vigot or Bigot, Guillaume Villebon, Jean Vonck, Maerten Jansse Wade, Captain Wafer, Lionel Waggoner Wanton, William Waters, Samson Weatherbourne, Francis Weatherhill, James Wentworth, John Westerband, Laurens Whetstone, Sir Thomas Wild Coast Willems, Jan, alias ‘‘Jantje’’ or ‘‘Janke’’ Williams, Maurice Williams, Thomas Windsor, Thomas, 7th Baron Windsor and 1st Earl of Plymouth Woodruffe, Thomas Woollerly or Woolerly, Thomas Woolley, Conway Wright, George Wroth, Peter Yeats, Charles Yellows, Captain Zoby, Joseph

Preface

CRADLE OF PIRACY Three-and-a-half centuries ago, rovers made a fertile hunting-ground of the West Indies. Most of its earliest Spanish residents had long since been lured away from their original Antillean settlements onto the American mainland, attracted by the vast wealth of the native kingdoms of Mexico and Peru, where rich mines and rolling estates could be won, tended by millions of docile vassals. Private seamen from other rival nations in Western Europe had consequently been drifting into this Caribbean vacuum for decades, learning how to resupply ashore amid its scores of unguarded, lonely inlets and anchorages whenever they mounted raids against nearby Spanish-American ports during wartime. Some had also returned during the rare intervals of peace to poach exotic produce or even trade with the local Spaniards, who—despite angry prohibitions emanating from bankrupt and powerless Madrid—discreetly welcomed this clandestine traffic. In the process, such trespassers had become familiar with these torrid coastal stretches, establishing transient shore camps that private companies eventually wished to exploit as commercial outposts. By the mid-17th century, small foreign enclaves were rapidly beginning to multiply throughout the Windward and Leeward Islands, and their ships roamed ever more confidently throughout the archipelagos. First among these early pioneers were the Dutch: shrewd, tough traders whose West Indische Compagnie dominated early traffic throughout these waters. Then in December 1654, a major English expedition also arrived, dispatched by Sir Oliver Cromwell to conquer a new stronghold in the West Indies, in violation of the uneasy peace prevailing with Spain. Although his Puritan-led army failed in its attempt to capture Santo Domingo, smaller Jamaica was nonetheless overrun and retained. Ten years of intermittent warfare ensued, as the enfeebled Spanish-American administrations in the surrounding region vainly tried to drive

xv

xvi

Preface out this interloper English colony, in turn provoking repeated Jamaican counterstrikes. A similar friction soon followed on Hispaniola as well, where French hunters—known as boucaniers, from their custom of curing meat in extemporized smokehouses called boucans—probed ever deeper inland from its western and northern shores to pursue wild cattle and to clear lands for plantations. The few Spanish inhabitants clustered farther southeast around the City of Santo Domingo bitterly contested these encroachments, thereby further feeding the surly undertone that would come to characterize this entire troubled theater. Frequent clashes bred a distinct class of irregular seaborne mercenaries—privateers or flibustiers—who made descents on their enemies under any flag of convenience, motivated principally by personal ambition and a thirst for reprisal. European conflicts also added to this ceaseless turmoil, hostilities on the far side of the Atlantic being carried over into the West Indies whenever they erupted. The free-wheeling Caribbean corsairs often reinterpreted these distant disputes to suit their own particular purposes, such as when Jamaica’s licensed privateers flatly refused to attack their country’s nominal Dutch enemies during the Second Anglo-Dutch War of 1665 to 1667, instead arguing that ‘‘there was more profit with less hazard’’ to be gotten against the neutral Spaniards, and so confining most of their subsequent operations against that traditional foe. Their French colleagues would do much the same, as when Jean-David Nau l’Olonnais swept through the hapless Laguna de Maracaibo during the summer of 1666, in contravention of the prevailing peace between Paris and Madrid. Such self-serving attitudes toward duty even extended to joint operations conducted with royal expeditions sent out from Europe, making local privateers seem like unreliable auxiliaries, when compared to the more sternly-disciplined regular troops transported across the ocean. Soon, these freebooters’ propensity for unauthorized attacks began to exasperate home governments, as well as the emerging class of merchant traders and planters in the West Indies themselves, who required peace and stability for their commercial ventures to prosper. This growing intolerance would lead to the arrest of both Henry Morgan and Governor Sir Thomas Modyford of Jamaica, following the spectacular peacetime raid which they had launched against Panama in January 1671. Yet the prolonged conflict that ensued between France against Spain and Holland for the remainder of the 1670s provided ample employment for a whole new generation of mercenaries, who would continue making assaults even after peace had been temporarily restored in Europe with the signing of the Treaty of Nijmegen in the spring of 1679. Three years later, a citizen from the SpanishAmerican port of Cartagena would lament that during this supposed ‘‘peace’’: Trinidad has been robbed once; Margarita and Guayana burnt once and sacked twice; La Guaira sacked once and its inhabitants sold, the ransom for its women and children amounting to more than 100,000 pesos, in addition to the 300,000 which [the pirates] seized in the city and other damages. [These raiders also] entered Puerto Caballos and sacked Valencia, which is more than twenty leagues inland. Maracaibo has been robbed many times, and in the

Preface occupation of 1678, the enemy remained more than six months, reaching Trujillo, which is more than sixteen days’ journey inland . . . and causing such heavy damage to its farms, that whereas before they provided twenty shiploads of cacao [a year], today they produce no more than four. The city of Rı´ohacha has been abandoned, the city and garrison of Santa Marta sacked more than three times and burnt once, from which its citizens have yet to recover. And here in Cartagena, which formerly had more than twenty shipowners, today not a single one remains. Still worse was to follow, for over the span of the next few years the buccaneers would attain the zenith of their power under such gifted leaders as Laurens de Graaf and the Sieur de Grammont, capturing major port-cities such as Veracruz and Campeche with impunity, as well as penetrating and ravaging the vulnerable Pacific Ocean. Yet ironically, these raiders’ very success would also contribute to the beginning of their decline during the second half of the 1680s, as many smaller Spanish-American outposts had been abandoned—thereby providing fewer easy targets for small pirate bands—while large garrisons became concentrated and more heavily fortified. Freebooter assemblies by now attracted so many volunteers, that no prize except the very richest city could possibly satisfy all of its participants, when booty had to be split up so many different ways at the conclusion of such a campaign, and worthy targets were now increasingly beyond their grasp. Simple matters of supply became a constant worry for some pirate commanders, and the number of safe havens where rovers might dispose of their plunder and make repairs, grew less available every year. A few rovers, men such as Michiel Andrieszoon and Jan Willems, even took to traveling as far north as Boston or Rhode Island to find at least a temporary sanctuary, until this venue too was closed off to them. The first great flush of Piracy was drawing to a close.

xvii

Acknowledgments

The author would like to acknowledge the generous assistance provided by Dr. Basil Kingstone and Graham Staffen of the University of Windsor, Ontario, Canada; M. Raynald Laprise of Quebec City, Canada; M. Roberto Barazzutti of Paris; Dr. William Autry; Lic. Leonor Ortiz Monasterio, Directrix of the Archivo General de la Naci
on, Mexico; Dr. Pedro Gonz
alez Garcı´a, Director of the Archivo General de Indias, Seville; Prof. Joel H. Baer of Macalester College, Saint Paul, Minnesota; Miguel Laburu Mateo of the Sociedad de Oceanografia de Guip
uzcoa of San Sebasti
an, Spain; Walter Nebiker of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations Historical Preservation Commission of Providence, Rhode Island; Dr. Ronald B. Prud’homme van Reine of the Nederlands Scheepvaartmuseum, Amsterdam; Capit
an de Fragata Jorge Ortiz Sotelo of the Instituto de Estudios Hist
orico
Marı´timos of Lima, Peru; Ms. Hendrika Ruger and Ms. Joan Magee of Windsor, Ontario; Dr. Jean Starr of Edinburgh; M. Christian Pfister of Dunkerque, France; Dr. Charles T. Gehring of the New Netherland Project of Albany, New York; and many other countless friends and colleagues who have helped with this project.

xix

A Note on Dates

By the 16th century, the Julian calendar—named in honor of its ancient Roman reviser, Julius Caesar—had no longer coincided with the seasons or new moons. As a result, after lengthy studies by the Neapolitan astronomer Aloysius Lilius and debates among many other scholars, Pope Gregory XIII had issued a bull in March 1582 which declared that a new calendar was to be introduced: in practical terms, the day following the feast of Saint Francis on October 4, 1582, rather than being reckoned as October 5, was instead to be designated as October 15, so as to restore all subsequent equinoxes to their proper cycle. This shift would be accepted and implemented in most of Italy, Spain, Portugal, and France (two months later—French dates passing from December 9 to 20 1582), although most of the provinces of The Netherlands and Germany introduced it as of 1583. Protestant England, however—being opposed to any hint of Catholic suzerainty—refused to comply. Consequently, from 1582 through 1700 the English ‘‘Old Style’’ Julian calendar would lag 10 days behind the ‘‘New Style’’ Gregorian calendars by then in common use among the Spanish, French, Dutch, and Portuguese. And as a further complication, English calendars would still retain their ancient observance of New Year as falling on March 24
25, especially in legal or financial documentation, necessitating a double indication in ordinary correspondence for any date which happened to fall between January 1 and March 24. For example, in a dispatch sent in August 1669 by King Charles II to Sir Thomas Temple, his Governor for Nova Scotia, it was mentioned that ‘‘His Majesty did by his letters of 8th March 1668/9 signify his final pleasure’’—meaning a previous communiqu
e, dated that same year on March 8, 1669 (O.S.). Such discrepancies became even more difficult whenever corresponding from abroad, as when the English Ambassador William Lockhart wrote a report from the French court to Secretary of State John Thurloe in London, dated ‘‘Paris, January 27/17, xxi

xxii

A Note on Dates 1656/57’’—having to combine the correct New Style date of January 27, 1657 used in France, with the Old Style date of January 17, 1656 recognized in England. Foreign treaties or arrangements would routinely feature double-dates, whenever dealing with English matters. For instance, the Dutch government at The Hague— in the immediate aftermath to the Third Anglo-Dutch War—issued a passport dated on January 8/18, 1675 ‘‘for the Hunter man-of-war, Captain Richard Dickenson, which His Majesty of Great Britain is sending to convoy the ships America and Hercules to Surinam in pursuance of the 5th Article of the Treaty of 9/19 February 1674,’’ to withdraw its English occupiers. For purposes of this book, though, all dates have been given in our modern Gregorian Style, unless specifically marked ‘‘(O.S.)’’ to designate the old English style.

A The greatest fear that I perceived possessed the Spaniards in this voyage, was about the island of Providence, called by them Santa Catarina, from whence they feared lest some English ships should come out against them with great strength. They cursed the English in it, and called the island the den of thieves and pirates. —Thomas Gage, The English American, 1648

ABRAHAM’S CAY

attempt to install an advance tradingoutpost at Cape Gracias a Dios. Although this English toehold was abandoned by June 1635, the Blauveldts had also reconnoitered farther to its south, and discovered a wide sheltered anchorage at the mouth of what the Spaniards termed the Escondido or ‘‘Hidden’’ River. Dense tropical foliage made its contours almost indistinguishable from out at sea, no regular traffic passed nearby, and no Spaniards lived in its vicinity as its natives were hostile to them, but could be befriended. The long spit of land enclosing this anchorage was also severed from the mainland by shallow channels at both ends, and so provided a naturally defensible position. Both brothers had therefore sailed together for England less than two

Seventeenth-century name for the pirate lair known today as Bluefields in Nicaragua. During the Hispano-Dutch wars of the 1620s, the young brothers Abraham and Willem Albertszoon Blauveldt— originally from the fishing-village of Monnikendam near Amsterdam in North Holland—had prowled the Caribbean aboard privateers. They subsequently began helping the new English Puritan colony that was established as of 1630 on Providence (modern Santa Catalina) Island. Three years afterward, they were veteran West Indian hands and piloted Sussex Camock when he crossed over to the Central American mainland, to

1

2

Abraham’s Cay years later, in hopes of obtaining support from the Providence Island Company Directors to found a new colony there. Abraham had served his way across the Atlantic as first mate of the Company ship Expectation, which dropped anchor in London’s roadstead by late March 1637. He appeared before a Company committee meeting in Brooke House on June 14, 1637 (O.S.), describing his discovery as ‘‘a good harbor, a mile-and-a-half in breadth at its mouth, that he was two miles up the main and found the country overgrown with silk grass, and a river eight or ten feet deep, and 30 feet broad.’’ Yet the Company—already drained of funds, and with no returns as yet from their considerable Antillean investments, beyond bitter complaints from starving settlers—did not act on Blauveldt’s proposal. Instead, he was offered 40 shillings a month for his services in January 1638, while his brother Willem was hired to travel into Holland next month and buy two pinnaces for the defense of Providence Island. Although their subsequent movements remain sketchy, it would appear as if both disappointed brothers turned to Dutch and Swedish interests to obtain new commissions, especially once the Providence Island colony was wiped out by a Spanish fleet in May 1641. Willem would come to base himself out of New Amsterdam (modern New York City) for most of that ensuing decade, making regular privateering forays into the West Indies against the Spaniards, until the Treaty of Westphalia was at last signed in January 1648 and peace between both nations gradually returned. Throughout this same period, Abraham must have been ensconced in the harbor which they had jointly discovered on Nicaragua’s steamy eastern coast, presumably receiving annual

visits from his brother. After the English conquest of Jamaica, it appears as if Willem quit New Amsterdam and may have resumed roving in the West Indies. According to an English document entitled ‘‘An account of the private ships of war belonging to Jamaica and Tortudos in 1663,’’ one of the brothers was apparently still living and operating out of Cape Gracias a Dios that year with 50 men aboard a 3-gun bark, being regarded as an English ally. And the name ‘‘Abraham’s Cay’’ would remain known long thereafter. For example, a Honduran native named Juan de la Cruz was captured along with three companions off Amatique in the spring of 1666, by 30 French buccaneers foraging past its coast aboard three large boats. De la Cruz later testified to the Spanish authorities how his captors had carried them to the Cayo de Abraham, to incorporate them into the anchored fleet of Jean-David Nau, better known as Nau l’Olonnais or le Capitaine Franc¸ois—the ‘‘French Captain.’’ De la Cruz’s statement was also corroborated by Jean Villebon, a deserter from this French formation, who asserted that the pirate ships lay ‘‘at a cay or island named Abraham’’ preparing 25 or 30 large boats for a raid upriver into central Nicaragua.

See also Nau, Jean-David; Villebon, Jean.

References British Library, Additional Manuscripts 1140, Folio 10. Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 1 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1893
1899).

Adam, Captain (fl. 1660) Fernow, Berthold, ed., The Records of New Amsterdam: From 1653 to 1674 (New York: Knickerbocker Press, 1897). Marley, David F., ‘‘La d
esertion du boucanier breton Jean Villebon au Costa Rica, 1669,’’ G
en
ealogie et Histoire de la Cara€ıbe [France] 215 (June 2008), pp. 5585
5587.

ACCOUNT During the 17th century, an English slang expression for working on credit, against future payment. In the context of privateering, though, it meant to serve at sea without wages, such participants expecting to be rewarded with a share of booty taken during the forthcoming enterprise. For example, the instructions issued by Jamaica’s Governor Sir Thomas Modyford to Henry Morgan in July 1670, directing him to raise an expedition of volunteers against the Spaniards, included the clause: ‘‘You are to take notice and advise your fleet and soldiers that you are on the old pleasing account of no purchase, no pay, and therefore that all which is got, shall be divided amongst them, according to accustomed rules.’’ By the early 18th century, this practice had become so ingrained among lawless freebooters that ‘‘roving on the account’’ had taken on a sinister meaning, having become a synonym for outright piracy.

See also Account (Volume 2); Modyford, Sir Thomas; Morgan, Sir Henry; Purchase.

Reference Sir Henry Morgan’s Voyage to Panama, 1670 (London: Thomas Malthus, 1683).

ADAM, CAPTAIN (fl. 1660) Little-known French commander who was involved in the sack of the Dominican town of Santiago de los Caballeros. According to the chronicler-priest Jean-Baptiste Du Tertre, some 400 boucaniers on Tortuga Island (Haiti)— thirsting to avenge the massacre of a dozen French captives at nearby Monte Cristi by the hardhearted commander of a Spanish warship—decided to unite and commandeer a recently-arrived merchant frigate from Nantes, under a captain named Lescouble. These freebooters then elected Captains Delisle, Adam, Lormel, and Anne Le Roux as their leaders, and because a peace treaty had been concluded only that previous year between France and Spain, also obtained a letter-of-reprisal from Tortuga’s nominal English Governor, Elias Watts. This expedition set sail from Tortuga on Palm Sunday, March 21, 1660, crowded aboard Lescouble’s frigate and three lesser craft. They stole ashore next evening near Puerto Plata, and moved stealthily for more than 20 miles up into the Cibao Valley over the next couple of days, hiding during the daylight hours and following hidden jungle trails by night, so as to take the town of Santiago de los Caballeros completely by surprise. Arriving within striking distance by Good Friday night, they burst out of the nearby woods next dawn, March 27, 1660. Some 25 or 30 Spaniards were killed outright during their initial onslaught, and the Alcalde Mayor seized in his bed. Delisle’s and Adam’s men ransacked the buildings on Easter Sunday, even stripping the church of its ornaments, before departing with a number of hostages on Monday, March 29, 1660, to return to the coast. Several hundred

3

4

Aernouts, Jurriaen (fl. 1674
1676) Dominican militia cavalrymen—traditionally organized into companies of fifty or cincuenta men apiece, hence known as cincuentenas—had in the interim rallied from throughout the district, and prepared an ambush ahead of the retiring French column. The leading two buccaneers were killed and a two-hour firefight ensued before the Dominicans finally broke. The French had suffered 10 killed and a half-dozen wounded during this affray, yet their column reached the sea without being challenged again, because of even heavier Spanish losses. After waiting in vain on the coast for several days for ransoms to be paid for their hostages, these captives were released, and Adam and the rest of the formation sailed away to enjoy their spoils on Tortuga.

See also Cincuentena; Delisle, Captain; Le Roux, Anne; Lormel, Captain.

References Du Tertre, Jean-Baptiste, Histoire g
en
erale des Antilles de l’Am
erique habit
ees par les Franc¸ais (Fort-de-France, 1973 reedition). Tejera, Emiliano, ‘‘Gobernadores de la Isla de Santo Domingo, Siglos XVI
XVII,’’ Boletı´n del Archivo General de la Naci
on [Dominican Republic] 18, Number 4 (1941), pp. 359
375.

AERNOUTS, JURRIAEN (fl. 1674
1676) Dutch corsair who mounted expeditions from Curac¸ao against the French in North America and the Caribbean.

Virtually nothing is known about his early life. Aernouts’ name would be often misspelled in non-Dutch sources, appearing as ‘‘Jurrien Arian’’ in French documents, as ‘‘Juriaen Arentsen’’ or ‘‘Jurian Aronson’’ in English ones. He was commissioned early in 1674 during the Third Anglo-Dutch War by Governor Jan Doncker of Curac¸ao to attack English and French interests, The Netherlands having been at war against both nations for the past two years. Aernouts consequently ventured northward with his frigate Vliegende Postpaard or ‘‘Flying Post-Horse,’’ arriving at New York by early July 1674. This former Dutch colony had been reconquered by Cornelis Evertsen’s naval expedition that previous summer, yet Aernouts learned that the Treaty of Westminster had since been signed back in Europe. By its terms, peace had been restored between The Netherlands and England, so that this North American province was to be restored to London. As a result, Aernouts decided to instead attack the French possessions farther north in Acadia (present-day Maine and New Brunswick).

North American Campaign (August 1674) While preparing for this enterprise, he met Captain John Rhoades of Boston, an experienced pilot who was wellacquainted with those French settlements. Aernouts consequently enlisted Rhoades and several other Americans, weighing to circle around into the Bay of Fundy and disembark 110 men. Advancing against the French stronghold of Pentago€et (modern Penobscot),

Aernouts, Jurriaen (fl. 1674
1676)

NAVAL UNIFORMS No uniforms were issued to any European navies until well into the 18th century. Prior to that time, royal warships were only distinguishable from privateers or merchantmen by the flags which they flew, and the papers which their Captains carried. In the case of a massive warship bristling with guns or a squadron sweeping the ocean, there could be no mistaking the presence of a King’s force. Yet the smaller, individual warships sent to patrol alone off the coasts of the West Indies or Africa were not so imposing, and often had been purchased by the Crown from private owners. Such vessels were not readily distinguishable as royal commands, so had to demand recognition from local authorities. For example, when the 28-gun royal frigate HMS Hunter of Captain Richard Dickenson—outward bound across the Atlantic for Suriname and Jamaica—paused outside the island of Madeira on the morning of April 27, 1674 (O.S.), to refresh ‘‘with water and beverage wine, which the victuallers could not furnish her with in England,’’ that island’s Portuguese Governor sent out: . . . word that if the Captain would not enter the King’s ship as a merchantman, and pay port charges and other duties, he would give him no ‘‘produck’’ (prattick in margin); but Captain Dickenson refused, and desired him to acquaint the Governor that he would be gone immediately if he would not grant him ‘‘produck,’’ which the Governor utterly denied, whereupon they thought it convenient to be gone rather than comply with an unpractical imposition which might reflect on the King’s honor. Less than a decade later, William Phips would return home to his native Boston in temporary peacetime command of a loaned Royal Navy vessel, the 18-gun Golden Rose of Algier, of which he was so proud that he insisted every vessel in the harbor salute his flag, and was fined £10 by a judge ashore for firing five times at the Samuel and Thomas of London when it failed to do so. Phips was even admonished ‘‘that everybody in Boston knew very well what he was and from whence he came, and therefore desired him not to carry it so loftily among his countrymen.’’ Lack of regular naval uniforms would mean that as late as 1719, the marauding Howell Davis would visit the Portuguese colony of Principe Island in the Guinea Gulf, masquerading as a Royal Navy officer seeking to resupply his ships after a cruise against pirates. And for genuine Captains bereft of their papers through capture or shipwreck, the lack of uniforms sometimes meant imprisonment or even death.

they easily overwhelmed its 30-man garrison on August 11, 1674, after a one-hour firefight. Gov. Jacques de Chambly was captured with a musket wound in one arm, and the defenses thrown down. Aernouts buried two glass bottles on the site, containing a copy of his commission and an account of his conquest. He then ravaged several smaller outposts, before entering

the Saint-Jean River and seizing the secondary French fort at Jemsec. The Lieutenant-Gov. Joybert de Marson was also taken, and another pair of bottles buried. Aernouts renamed the province ‘‘New Holland’’ and then retired to Boston. Before departing to return into the Antilles, he furthermore appointed Rhoades as Acting-Governor over the

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Aernouts, Jurriaen (fl. 1674
1676) colony on September 11, furnishing him with two small armed vessels. (The Massachusetts authorities would later disavow all knowledge of this arrangement, claiming Aernouts denied having granted such patents, adding that he would not ‘‘make himself responsible for others’ actions’’.) Rhoades and his subordinates Cornelis Andreson, Pieter Roderigo, and the Cornishman John Williams soon created frictions with their New England neighbors by impounding trading vessels and fishing boats in a misguided attempt to enforce Dutch jurisdiction. A retaliatory force consequently sortied from Boston under Captain Samuel Moseley, and captured the two coastguard vessels in the Bay of Fundy, bringing their commanders in to be tried for piracy at Cambridge (Massachusetts) in April 1675. Although initially condemned to death for piracy, Roderigo and the rest were eventually reprieved.

West Indian Campaign (Spring 1675) Meanwhile, Aernouts had returned to the Caribbean, where he made a descent that following March 1675 against the French island of Grenada, along with Jan Erasmus Reyning and about 100 other Dutch raiders. They quickly occupied the island’s principal fort, yet failed to perceive the arrival of enemy reinforcements, who besieged them inside and starved them into submission. Aernouts, Reyning, and other captives were conveyed to Martinique aboard the 36-gun, 350-ton royal
warship Emerillon or ‘‘Merlin’’ of Captain Louis Chadeau, Sieur de La Clocheterie, but succeeded in escaping that same June from the plantation where they were

held by drugging their guards’ wine and then stealing a piragua. Seven of these escapees laid in a course for Curac¸ao, but nearly died when their boat was carried westward by winds and current, depositing them on Cora Island (in modern Venezuela). The Dutchmen nonetheless eventually succeeded in reaching Maracaibo, where they were briefly incarcerated by the Spaniards, who—although allied with The Netherlands against the French—remained suspicious of any such trespassers on their shores. However, by 1676, Aernouts and his companions were restored to Curac¸ao.

See also Evertsen de Jongste, Cornelis; Reyning, Jan Erasmus.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 9 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1893). Chapin, Howard M., Privateer Ships and Sailors: The First Century of American Colonial Privateering, 1625
1725 (Toulon: G. Mouton, 1926). Jameson, John F., comp. and ed., Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period: Illustrative Documents (New York: Macmillan, 1923). Tuttle, Charles W., Captain Francis Champernowne: The Dutch Conquest of Acadie, and Other Historical Papers (Boston, 1889). Vrijman, L. C., Dr. David van der Sterre: Zeer aenmerkelijke reysen door Jan Erasmus Reyning (Amsterdam: P. N. van Kampen & Zoon, 1937). Webster, John C., Cornelis Steenwyck: Dutch Governor of Acadie (Ottawa: Canadian Historical Association, 1929).

Alarc
on, Juan De (fl. 1684)


JUAN DE ALARCON, (fl. 1684) Cuban corsair who destroyed the early English settlement at Nassau in the Bahamas. Despite the peace prevailing in Europe as the year 1684 was dawning, the cut-and-thrust of local hostilities nonetheless persisted throughout the West Indies. Evidently, Alarc
on—his surname often garbled by the English as ‘‘Larco’’—sortied early in that New Year from Havana with a commission issued by Governor Jos
e Fern
andez de C
ordoba, aboard a pair of barcos luengo bearing more than 200 men. Proceeding first to Andros Island, his expedition captured an English woodcutting sloop, whose captain, William Bell, was then compelled to pilot this pair of raider craft into the main anchorage at New Providence Island, entering unexpectedly via its eastern channel. Alarc
on stealthily approached this passage before dawn on a Saturday morning, January 19, 1684 (O.S.), and at 3:00 A.M. disembarked 150 men a halfmile outside of ‘‘Charles Town’’—as Nassau was then known—ordering the remainder of his men to sail their barcos luengo into its harbor and board the six vessels which could be faintly discerned riding at anchor. The town’s population consisted of approximately 400 men capable of bearing arms (although scarcely half this number actually owned any guns), plus perhaps 200 women, a like number of children, and 200 slaves. Taken utterly by surprise in the first faint glimmers of dawn, they were incapable of mounting any effective resistance, the former Governor Robert Clarke having already been wounded

and captured during the initial phase of this Spanish disembarkation. His successor, Robert Lilburne, fled from his bedroom in the Wheel of Fortune Inn directly into the jungle, and later wrote an account of the ensuing storm of the town itself: Juan de Larco with two hundred and fifty Spaniards came down the harbor and landed at Captain Clarke’s, half a mile to east of Charlestown. Captain Clarke being out of doors near the waterside, some men in ambush shot him through the thigh and cut his arms with a cutlass, and then they marched away with all haste to the town, firing into some houses as they went. Meantime, the Spaniards boarded a pink in the harbor, and hearing the sound of their shot and seeing the flash, I ordered a great gun at my door to be fired, to give the alarm. But before it could be loaded, the Spaniards were firing into the house, and I slipped out of the back door into the garden. A volley whistled past my head and we fled to the woods behind the town, where several women and some men (but only one of them armed) were already come. Not knowing what had happened, we waited till evening. Meanwhile, Captain William Warren’s 10-gun New England frigate Good Intent and another vessel had managed to cut their cables and escape across the bar, leaving the Spaniards to pillage the remaining four craft, killing three sailors—two of them aboard the anchored ship of Thomas Lacy. Alarc
on’s land-column took and sacked the town proper, loading all their plunder aboard the largest prize—Lacy’s—before torching the remaining ships, and then sailing away by that same evening.

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Alford, Lewis (fl. 1659) Governor Lilburne and other frightened survivors did not creep back into their devastated town until next day, January 20, 1684 (O.S.), finding it ‘‘miserably plundered.’’ The raiders had apparently told a few escapees that it ‘‘was a return for Vera Cruz’’—in other words, revenge for the piratical destruction inflicted on that Mexican port the previous summer. Lilburne would write to Governor Fern
andez at Havana that same February 1684 to ask whether this attack ‘‘was done by his order, and he not only justified it, but threatened further hostility against the Islands.’’ Indeed, Alarc
on had in the meantime hastened on to northern Eleuthera Island to visit a like treatment on its largest English settlement, before returning to New Providence a few weeks later on his homeward leg toward Cuba to complete the destruction of Charles Town. Witnesses later complained that he ‘‘burnt all the houses, murdered the Governor and several more in cold blood, stripped the rest of the men naked, and carried away the women, children, and Negroes to Havana.’’ Terrified and demoralized, some 200 colonists subsequently sought refuge on Jamaica, while another 50 from northern Eleuthera temporarily resettled at Casco (Maine), leaving the Bahamas largely denuded of Englishmen until 1686.

See also Barco luengo.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898).

ALFORD, LEWIS (fl. 1659) English privateer who was mentioned in the journal of Colonel Edward D’Oyley, Governor of Jamaica, as having been issued a ‘‘let-pass’’ on November 7, 1659 (O.S.), to sortie from Port Cagway and operate against the Spaniards.

See also Let-pass.

Reference Pawson, Michael and Buisseret, David J., Port Royal, Jamaica (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1975).

ALLEN, CAPTAIN (fl. 1659) English privateer mentioned in the journal of Colonel Edward D’Oyley, Governor of Jamaica, as having been issued a ‘‘let-pass’’ for his ship Thriver on April 1, 1660 [O.S.], to sortie from Port Cagway, and operate against the Spaniards.

Reference Pawson, Michael and Buisseret, David J., Port Royal, Jamaica (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1975).

ALLISON, ROBERT (fl. 1679
1699) English privateer who led John Coxon’s vanguard into Portobelo, and two decades later piloted the Scottish migrants to Darien.

Allison, Robert (fl. 1679
1699) In late December 1679 after England had been at peace for several years, and France and Spain were winding down their hostilities in the New World, Allison attended a gathering of privateers at Port Morant off the southeastern tip of Jamaica with his 18-ton sloop without guns and 24 men, meeting there with the barks of Coxon, Cornelius Essex, and Bartholomew Sharpe, as well as Thomas Magott’s sloop. All five commanders agreed to unite under Coxon’s leadership for an assault against Spanish Portobelo, despite having only the sketchiest authorization for such a venture. They quit Port Morant on January 17, 1680, and less than 20 miles out at sea met the brigantine of the French flibustier Jean Rose, who also joined their enterprise. The weather turning foul, Coxon hailed his vessels to make for Isla Fuerte, 90 miles south-southwest of Cartagena on the Spanish Main. Whosoever got there first was ‘‘to leave a note on the Sandy Point, to satisfy the rest.’’ Only Essex and Sharpe failed to keep this rendezvous, while ‘‘four piraguas and six very good large canoes’’ were captured at the nearby San Bernardo or ‘‘Friends’’ Islands, to provide landing craft for the forthcoming disembarkation. Essex had meanwhile rejoined the formation, so that they then steered toward Isla de Pinos, 130 miles east of Portobelo amid the Archipi
elago de las Mulatas. Only Coxon’s bark, though, was able to shoulder through the contrary winds and gain this place, the remainder being constrained to put into Isla de Oro or ‘‘Golden Island,’’ some miles away. There, the pirates befriended the local Indians, until Coxon ordered 250 buccaneers into

their boats to row westward along the coast, and fall on Portobelo before the Spaniards could learn of their presence. Nearing their destination, they came on ‘‘a great ship riding at anchor,’’ which proved to be that of flibustier Capitaine Lessone, who added 80 Frenchmen to the force. Shortly thereafter, the buccaneers slipped ashore at Puerto del Escribano in the Gulf of San Blas, proceeding afoot to avoid Spanish coastal watchers. They marched for three days ‘‘without any food, and their feet cut with the rocks for want of shoes,’’ until they at last came on an Indian village three miles from Portobelo on the morning of February 7, 1680. A native boy spotted them and shouted ‘‘¡Ladrones!’’ or ‘‘Thieves!’’, setting off at a run toward the distant city. Coxon immediately ordered Allison and his advance unit—commonly known among buccaneers as the ‘‘forlorn’’—to hurry in pursuit. Allison’s men trotted gamely, but the boy arrived half-an-hour before them, and raised the alarm. The approaching pirates could hear a signalgun being fired, and ‘‘then certainly knew that we were decried.’’ Nevertheless, their vanguard swept in while suffering only five or six wounded, the startled Spaniards scurrying inside their citadel, leaving the raiders to ransack Portobelo unopposed over the next two days. The freebooters thereupon retired 10 miles northeastward, entrenching themselves with their booty and a few prisoners on a cay half-a-mile offshore from Bastimentos. Allison was again called on to perform a singular service, being sent in a boat to recall the anchored privateer vessels from farther up the coast. By the time he returned three

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Allison, Robert (fl. 1679
1699) days later, several hundred Spanish troops had appeared and were firing on the pirates from the beach, yet they retreated at the sight of these reinforcements. The pirates subsequently blockaded Portobelo, and by ‘‘keeping very good watch at topmast head,’’ saw a ship arriving from Cartagena. Our ships and sloops weighed and went out and met her, as she was standing into Portobelo. Captain Allison coming up with her first in his sloop engages her, and Coxon seconding him claps her aboard and takes her without loss of any men. Some Spaniards fell, for they fought about one hour. The vessel proved to be a new 90-ton ship mounting eight guns, furthermore bearing valuable cargo. A general distribution of booty was consequently made, resulting in shares of 100 pieces-of-eight per man. Afterward, the flotilla retired to careen at Bocas del Toro (at the northwestern extremity of present-day Panama), where the privateers also found Captains Richard Sawkins and Peter Harris. Once refitted, all the buccaneers except the French decided to return to Golden Island, to have the Darien Indians guide them across the Isthmus to attack the Spaniards on their Pacific flank. Coxon, Allison, Cooke, Harris, Magott, Sawkins, and Sharpe all anchored out of sight, close inshore in a small cove on Golden Island. A watch was left aboard each vessel, with orders to rally to Coxon’s and Harris’—the two largest—if their ships should be discovered. At 6:00 A.M. on Monday, April 15, 1680, 332 buccaneers went ashore to traverse the Isthmus; among them were

William Dampier, Basil Ringrose, and Lionel Wafer, all of whom would later write accounts of these adventures. However, Allison and Magott ‘‘being sickly were unable to march’’ and remained behind. The rest of the buccaneers disappeared into the jungle, overrunning the inland town of Santa Marı´a 10 days later, at the confluence of the Chucunaque and Tuira Rivers. From there, they pushed on into the Pacific, although Coxon grew increasingly reluctant. As a result, by the time the pirates captured some Spanish coastal craft and bore down on Panama City, command had devolved on Harris, Sawkins, and Sharpe. Coxon returned to Golden Island with 70 loyal followers, and it is possible Allison sailed away with him, as Coxon was seen passing Point Negril (Jamaica) in late May 1680 with two smaller vessels, which he abandoned on being chased.

Darien Expedition (1698
1699) Nothing more is known about Allison’s movements over the next two decades, until the Scottish ship Unicorn and its tender Dolphin anchored at Saint Thomas in the Danish Virgin Islands on October 11, 1698. They were part of a larger flotilla conveying 1,200 colonists to establish a new commercial settlement at Darien for the Company of Scotland; as its leaders were unfamiliar with the Spanish Main, they required a pilot. Directed to a tavern, they found Allison ‘‘now sadly old, white haired, and garrulous.’’ Nonetheless, he promised to guide them to their destination, and four days later they weighed.

Allword, Captain (fl. 1672) Off Crab Island (modern Vieques Island, due east of Puerto Rico) they overtook the other three vessels of their group, and Allison went aboard the flagship Saint Andrew to direct the helmsmen. Their ensuing passage proved slow and arduous, through torrential downpours and muddy seas, until Allison sensed land was near on the night of October 26
27. ‘‘About two o’clock this morning,’’ a passenger observed, ‘‘we saw with the lightning black, high stones like land.’’ Dawn revealed the Nuestra Se~nora de la Popa heights behind Cartagena. Two weeks later, the ships reached Golden Island, and on November 15 the Scots stood into a mainland harbor which they renamed ‘‘Caledonia Bay. Allison remained at the new settlement, which soon succumbed to disease, isolation, and strife. In late February 1699, he put to sea again as supercargo of the tender Endeavour, with orders to guide Captain John Anderson to Jamaica for provisions. A few days later, they were driven back by gale winds. It is not known whether the old privateer survived the next four months before the Darien colony was abandoned.

See also Allison, Robert (Volume 2).

References Bradley, Peter T., The Lure of Peru: Maritime Intrusion into the South Sea, 1598
1701 (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1989). Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924). Jameson, John F., comp. and ed., Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial

Period: Illustrative Documents (New York: Macmillan, 1923). Prebble, John, The Darien Disaster (London: Secker & Warburg, 1968).

ALLWORD, CAPTAIN (fl. 1672) English privateer hired ‘‘to seek a trade’’ with the Spaniards. Following the general recall of all privateering commissions in 1671, in the heated aftermath to Henry Morgan’s heavy-handed attack against Panama, the new Jamaican Governor Sir Thomas Lynch cast about for means of gainful employment, for the many rovers left idled by his dictate and hence prone to mischief. Allword or Allard was one such commander, hired in late January 1672 along with John Morris (the Elder) ‘‘at £80 a month’’ to attempt some clandestine trade with the Spaniards, as well as to capture the renegade Dutch rover ‘‘Captain Yellowes’’—Jelles de Lecat—who was making a nuisance of himself as a Spanish guardacosta in the ‘‘Bay of Campeche’’ or Laguna de T
erminos. However, an English seafarer named Richard Browne would later write on September 28, 1672 (O.S.), to confide to Sir Joseph Williamson that Morris had never attempted any such pursuit of this renegade once in Mexican waters, instead merely loading his own ship with logwood, while Browne had furthermore heard ‘‘that the other vessel, Captain Allword, employed by the Governor and others at £80 per mensem since February 1, sailed for Campeche, and sold their negroes and other goods at a good price.’’

See also Guardacostas; Lecat, Jelles de; Lynch, Sir Thomas; Morris, John.

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Almiranta

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898).

ALMIRANTA Spanish term for a ‘‘vice-flagship.’’ Capitana is the equivalent word for a flagship, the two often being confused by foreigners, as they seemingly reversed the natural hierarchical order, whereby captains are subordinate to admirals. However, when these expressions first gained currency in Medieval Spain, it was customary for Spanish fleets to be commanded by a capit
an general, and the designation almirante was taken from the Arabic al-amir or ‘‘the emir.’’ To North Europeans, though, ‘‘Admiral’’ only ever meant a senior naval officer. Thus, for example, when the buccaneers under John Coxon, Richard Sawkins, and Bartholomew Sharpe captured a Spanish flotilla outside Panama City in early May 1680, they asked their prisoner Francisco de Peralta: . . . which was the best sailors. He told us on his word the [400-ton Santı´sima] Trinidad was the best in the South Sea, so we pitched on her for Admiral [i.e., flagship].

See also Almiranta (Volume 2).

Reference Jameson, John F., comp. and ed., Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period: Illustrative Documents (New York: Macmillan, 1923).

ANDRESON OR ANDRIESZOON, CORNELIS (fl. 1674
1675) Dutch privateer charged with piracy on the coast of Maine. In the summer of 1674, a Dutch naval expedition out of Curac¸ao commanded by Jurriaen Aernouts conquered French Acadia, renaming it ‘‘New Holland.’’ Before returning to the Antilles, Aernouts appointed Captain John Rhoades of Boston as Acting-Governor for that new Dutch colony, furnishing him with two small armed vessels for coast-guard duty: the Edward and Thomas of Captain Pieter Roderigo, and shallop Penobscot of Captain Cornelis Andreson. New Englanders, long accustomed to trading and fishing off Acadia, requested permission from this new administration to continue doing so, yet were refused. As England was neutral in the on-going Franco-Dutch conflict, though, they ignored this ban until Roderigo and Andreson began impounding vessels. Incensed, the New Englanders retaliated by branding these as piratical acts, and called on the Massachusetts Council to take strong action. On February 15, 1675 (O.S.), Captain Samuel Moseley of the ketch Salisbury was ordered to sortie from Boston and apprehend the transgressors. Once at sea, he fell in with a French ship which was also hunting the Dutch vessels as enemy privateers, and together they found the Edward and Thomas and Penobscot in the Bay of Fundy, lying with their latest prize, the English bark Philip of Captain George Manning. Moseley and his French consort immediately engaged, and once the battle was joined, Manning turned the Philip’s

Apostles guns on Roderigo and Andreson as well, so that between them all they quickly battered the Dutch pair into submission. Moseley then carried the Edward and Thomas and Penobscot into Boston on April 2, 1675 (O.S.). Roderigo produced a commission with three seals in his defense, and Andreson ‘‘another without seals for liberty to trade, keep the country, and sail on the coast.’’ Nonetheless, they were tried for piracy with four companions at Cambridge, Massachusetts, and all except Andreson sentenced to death, although soon pardoned. During the Indian conflict which exploded that same summer, known as ‘‘King Philip’s War,’’ Andreson fought very bravely in defense of the English colony. A contemporary letter states: He pursued Philip so hard that he got his cap and now wears it. The General, finding him a brave man, sent him with a command of twelve men to scout, with orders to return in three hours on pain of death; he met 60 Indians hauling their canoes ashore: he killed 13 and took 8 alive, and pursued the rest as far as he could go for swamps, and on his return burnt all the canoes . . . and a short time after was sent out on a like design and brought in twelve Indians alive and two scalps.

Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924). Jameson, John F., comp. and ed., Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period: Illustrative Documents (New York: Macmillan, 1923). Webster, John C., Cornelis Steenwyck: Dutch Governor of Acadie (Ottawa: Canadian Historical Association, 1929).

ANSELL, JOHN (fl. 1668) Minor English commander who participated with ‘‘Admiral Henry Morgan’’ in his attacks against Cuba and Panama. Ansell was one of a half-dozen Captains who appeared at Port Royal with Morgan on September 7, 1668 (O.S.), to report before Lieutenant-General Sir James Modyford about ‘‘their late expedition on the Spanish coast, with the reasons of their late attempt on Porto Principe and Porto Bello [sic].’’

See also Morgan, Sir Henry.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 5 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1893
1899).

APOSTLES

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 9 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1893). Chapin, Howard M., Privateer Ships and Sailors: The First Century of American Colonial Privateering, 1625
1725 (Toulon: G. Mouton, 1926).

Seventeenth-century military slang for the charges carried in a bandolier or cartridge belt, perhaps because they usually numbered a dozen.

See also Apostles (Volume 2).

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Archambaud, Capitaine (fl. 1678
1683)

Reference Pope, Dudley, Harry Morgan’s Way: The Biography of Sir Henry Morgan, 1635
1684 (London: Secker & Warburg, 1977).

ARCHAMBAUD, CAPITAINE (fl. 1678
1683) French flibustier who operated off the Spanish Main. This commander is believed to have answered the summons early in 1678 from Vice-Admiral Jean, Comte d’Estr
ees, for West Indian auxiliaries to support his planned naval thrust against the Dutch stronghold of Curac¸ao. It is not known whether Archambaud lost his own vessel in the disastrous wreck of this fleet amid the Aves Islands group on the evening of May 11, 1678, but he did participate in the subsequent piratical foray led by the Sieur de Grammont against the neutral Spaniards around Lake Maracaibo. Archambaud returned triumphantly from that sweep into Saint-Domingue by December 1678, as commander of one of Grammont’s dozen vessels. Two-and-a-half years later in early June 1681, Archambaud was lying at Springer’s Key in the San Blas Islands north of Panama with his vessel of eight guns and 40 men, in the company of John Coxon, Jan Willems, Jean Rose, George Wright, and three other captains. Capitaine Jean Tristan joined this formation, having rescued John Cooke’s band of rovers at nearby La Sound’s Key, after these Englishmen had returned from raiding in the South

Sea. Among this latter group was the chronicler William Dampier, who recorded that after their initial greeting, he and his companions were disposed of in the following manner: Captain Archembo [sic] wanting men, we that came out of the South Sea must either sail with him or remain among the Indians. Indeed, we found no cause to dislike the Captain, but his French seamen were the saddest creatures that ever I was among; for though we had bad weather that required many hands aloft, yet the biggest part of them never stirred out of their hammocks but to eat or ease themselves. The united buccaneer commanders decided to make a descent on the Central American coast, for which they sailed toward San Andr
es Island to procure boats. A gale scattered their formation, and Wright chanced on a Spanish tartan armed with four pedreros or ‘‘swivel-guns’’ and 30 men, capturing it after an hour-long fight and learning that it was part of a larger armadilla sent from Cartagena to drive the pirates away. Cooke, Dampier, and the other English rovers who had arrived from the South Sea: . . . desired Captain Wright to fit up his prize the tartan and make a man o’ war of her for us, which he at first seemed to decline, because he was settled among the French in Hispaniola, and was very well beloved both by the Governor of Petit-Go^ave and all the gentry; and they would resent it ill that Captain Wright, who had no occasion of men, should be so unkind to Capitaine Archembo [sic] as to seduce his men from him.

Arribada Nevertheless, the English insisted, and Wright relented on condition that they ‘‘should be under his command, as one ship’s company.’’ Cooke and his comrades therefore had their ship, and shortly thereafter crossed to Bluefields [Abraham’s Cay] on the Mosquito Coast, where they quit Archambaud’s company. Early in 1683, more than a year afterward, this French captain was known to be operating off the coast of Saint-Domingue with a ship of ten guns and 80 men, and may have joined the celebrated Laurens de Graaf in some of his actions that same year, most especially his battle against three Spanish men-of-war outside Cartagena at Christmas. Archambaud then seems to have retired from the sea, possibly becoming a planter in the vicinity of Cap-Franc¸ois.

See also Abraham’s Cay; armadilla; Cooke, John; Coxon, John; Dampier, William (Volume 2); De Graaf, Laurens; Estr
ees, Jean, Comte de; flibustier; Grammont, Sieur de; South Sea (Volume 2); Spanish Main; Tristan, Jean (Volume 2); Willems, Jan (Volume 2); Wright, George.

References Dampier, William, A New Voyage Round the World (New York: Dover, 1968). Lussan, Ravenau de, Journal of a Voyage into the South Sea (Cleveland, OH: Arthur H. Clark, 1930).

ARMADA DE BARLOVENTO See Barlovento, Armada de

ARMADA DEL MAR DEL SUR See Mar del Sur, Armada del

ARMADILLA Diminutive of the Spanish word armada, which signifies a fleet of warships; armadilla consequently refers to a flotilla of smaller vessels. The term was often misapplied among the English. For example, when a group of stranded interlopers surrendered in May 1680 to Captain Felipe de Barreda Villegas’ patrol boats in Mexico’s Laguna de T
erminos, a survivor later related how these Spaniards ‘‘drove the whole of the English on board two small armadillas, where they were immediately clapped in the hold.’’ In fact, there were only two small Spanish warships present, together comprising a single armadilla.

See also Armadilla (Volume 2); Barreda Villegas’, Felipe de.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898).

ARRIBADA Spanish legal term for any unauthorized entry into a port, or arrival off a coastline. Most often it was Spanish masters who were charged with making arribadas, pretending to have been driven off-course by bad weather or pursuit by enemies, merely so as to make an

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Artigue, Michel d’, Alias ‘‘Le Basque’’ (fl. 1657
1668) unscheduled layover in a port where their goods might be sold more profitably. Foreign merchantmen were doubly suspect of such duplicitous designs. For example, after peace had been reestablished between London and Madrid in the summer of 1660, endangered English ships were permitted to seek sanctuary in Spanish-American harbors, according to this treaty’s provisions; yet, the Crown strictly enjoined its New World officials by royal command issued on September 13, 1660, to be ‘‘most watchful that the English (using these arribadas as a pretext) do not avail themselves of them to introduce merchandise, which is most forbidden to them.’’

See also Arribada (Volume 2).

Reference Archivo General de la Naci
on (Mexico), Serie Reales C
edulas (Originales), Volume 6, Exp. 160, Folios 398
398v.

ARTIGUE, MICHEL D’, ALIAS ‘‘LE BASQUE’’ (fl. 1657
1668) Also spelled Artigny. Early flibustier on Saint-Domingue, of Basque origin. Like many other pioneer settlers on Tortuga Island and Haiti, details about his life remain sketchy, due to a lack of any written documentation. Even his exact surname has never been determined, as he was universally known among his French colleagues simply as ‘‘Michel le Basque.’’ The most common modern spelling of his surname in Spain would likely be Artiga or Artigas, or in France Artigue.

Most of what is known about his activities stems from second-hand sources, such as the chronicles of Jean-Baptiste Du Tertre or Alexandre-Olivier Exquemelin. D’Artigue was first mentioned as being part of a buccaneer band which landed on Cuba in 1657, where ‘‘they slayed a great serpent.’’ Nine years later, Exquemelin wrote that he was a man who ‘‘had won so much by marauding, he no longer went to sea.’’ D’Artigue had even been appointed as one of Saint-Domingue’s district officials known as Majors by its private Governor Bertrand d’Ogeron, yet nevertheless, when the rover chieftain Jean-David Nau—widely acknowledged as le Capitaine Franc¸ois or the ‘‘French Captain,’’ designated leader of all flibustiers—began to prepare an expedition in the spring of 1666 to attack the Spaniards, Le Basque offered to command its land contingent, because of his considerable military experience in Europe. In fact, he received the official commission to mount this attack from Governor d’Ogeron, storming ashore at Maracaibo in June 1666. Le Basque seems to have spent the next couple of years as Nau’s trusted subordinate, backing him on most of his forays and ventures along the Central American coast. One of the few exceptions occurred when Le Basque assumed direct command of Nau’s frigate Dauphin and captured a Spanish ship off Portobelo in February 1668. It is believed that D’Artigue may have perished that same year, while leading a boat-party up a Central American river.

See also Exquemelin, Alexandre-Olivier; Nau, JeanDavid; Ogeron, Bertrand d’.

Asiento

References Du Tertre, Jean-Baptiste, Histoire g
en
erale des Antilles habit
ees par les Franc¸ois (Paris: Thomas Jolly, 1671). Exquemelin, Alexandre-Olivier, The Buccaneers of America (London: Penguin, 1969). Lugo, Am
erico, Recopilaci
on diplom
atica relativa a las colonias espa~ nola y francesa de la isla de Santo Domingo, 1640
1701 (Ciudad Trujillo, Dominican Republic: Editorial ‘‘La Naci
on,’’ 1944). Marley, David F., ‘‘Nau l’Olonnais a Maracaibo: un rapport espagnol, janvier 1667,’’ G
en
ealogie et Histoire de la Cara€ıbe [France] 217 (September 2008), pp. 5638
5640.

Majesty’s stores and the ship’s furniture; and he was obliged to offer them one-third of what they could save, or could get them to do nothing.

See also Ash, Isle of (Volume 2); Morgan, Sir Henry.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 9 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1893).

ASH, ISLE OF

ASIENTO

English mispronunciation of ^Ile a Vache—literally, ‘‘Cow Island’’—the French name for the lonely island off the southwestern peninsula of SaintDomingue or Haiti, long a favorite pirate haunt. In one of many instances of this term’s usage, Captain Joseph Knapman wrote to a friend how he had lost his ship Jamaica Merchant:

Any contract to supply the Spanish Crown or its dependencies with goods or services; foreigners came to misinterpret this word during the 17th century as exclusively meaning the supply of African slaves to Spain’s American markets. In reality, the Spanish government entered into countless asientos every year for a great diversity of items, from gunpowder to ships’ biscuits, leasing each individual contract to the highest bidder, provided that they were Spanish subjects. One of the few exceptions to this latter restriction was the cruel business of shipping slaves to its empire, because Spain maintained no slaving-stations in West Africa—so that while the titular holder of a slave asiento might be a Spanish national, the captives themselves must of necessity be furnished by an international cartel. Foreign merchants were very attracted to this traffic, for beyond its

. . . on the 25th February [1675 O.S.] on the east side of the Isle of Ash, on the south side of Hispaniola, within 24 hours’ sail of [Port Royal]. Knows not what evil genius led him there, and never was any man more surprised, considering the course they steered. Saved all the people, and five or six days after, one Captain Thomas Rogers, a Jamaica privateer now sailing under the French, carried Sir Henry Morgan and all the passengers for Jamaica; but he and his men stayed behind to save, if possible, His

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Aviso obvious profitability, their vessels could also gain entry into SpanishAmerican ports, which would otherwise be closed to them. Therefore, exporting slaves offered an even more lucrative sideline in contraband goods as well. Soon, the asiento came to be synonymous abroad with slaving, such as when Governor Sir Thomas Lynch of Jamaica learned in February 1684 of the arrival of a new Venetian factor at Cartagena, representing the Dutch cartel of Baltasar Coymans. ‘‘If we can get Negroes,’’ the Governor assured his superiors in London, ‘‘it is very likely that, let who will have the Assiento [sic], they will likely come to us.’’

See also Asiento (Volume 2).

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898).

AVISO Spanish word for a dispatch vessel or mail boat, derived from the verb avisar, meaning ‘‘to advise or forewarn.’’ Whenever a fleet was scheduled to depart a Spanish port, or some other major event was about to occur, it was customary to send an aviso ahead to give advance notice. These were usually small private vessels hired specifically for this purpose, and at busy ports such as Cadiz, Cartagena, or Veracruz, departures became so regular as to constitute a semi-official mail service. Once at sea, these avisos

carried their dispatches in small wooden chests that were weighted so they could be thrown overboard at any threat of capture. Because attacks happened with such frequency along the 17th-century sea-routes, both Crown officials and private citizens routinely wrote their letters in triplicate or even quadruplicate, sending copies on successive avisos so as to ensure safe delivery. In one such instance, the Mexican diarist Gregorio Martı´n de Guijo recorded in June 1663 how an aviso arrived off the coast pursued by English buccaneers, but ‘‘Our Lord was pleased that while fleeing from the enemy, it ran aground at Antigua Veracruz, and so the people and letters were saved.’’ From the Spanish, this expression passed directly into English. For example, the inhabitants of Jamaica were alarmed in late May 1678 by news that a huge French fleet was marshalling in the Windward Isles under ViceAdmiral Duc d’Estr
ees. Although England had been at peace for several years, the Dutch and Spanish continued to fight against the French. Fearful that this vast armada might be intended to make a descent against Jamaica— because of some as yet-unknown policy shift in Europe—LieutenantGov. Sir Henry Morgan imposed martial law on the island, closed Port Royal, and sent the sloop of Captain Thomas Wigfall to Hispaniola for intelligence. It returned a few days later, reporting D’Estr
ees’ force had been sailing toward Dutch Curac¸ao, when it was lost on the Aves Islands. A relieved Jamaican Council voted ‘‘the advice sloop having returned from Hispaniola, that she have £20 and Mr. Wigfall £10 for his particular good service, and readiness to obey the Governor’s orders.’’

Aylett, John (fl. 1655
1669) A similar use was made in June 1693, the fourth year of King William’s War, when Benjamin Skutt petitioned the Crown in London that: . . . in consequence of the losses of West Indian merchants, he may have a license for his advice boat of 150 tons and 16 guns to sail to and from Barbados, also a commission for her as a private man o’ war, and immunity from embargo or press gang.

The young couple soon had a daughter, Mary, born on October 8, 1655 (O.S.). Tragically, it appears as if both the young mother and infant died very shortly thereafter, leaving Aylett distraught. Late that same year, he sold to William Hudson the shipping establishment, called ‘‘by the name or sign of Noah’s Ark,’’ that had belonged to his father-in-law and prepared to relocate to recently-conquered Jamaica.

Spanish Captivity (1656
1657) See also Aviso (Volume 2).

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 10, 14 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1896
1903). Guijo, Gregorio M. de, Diario, 1648
1664 (Mexico City: Editorial Porr
ua, 1952).

AYLETT, JOHN (fl. 1655
1669) Puritan seaman from New England, who became a Captain in the Commonwealth Navy, and died violently while dining aboard Henry Morgan’s flagship. It is believed that Aylett may have been born in Colchester, England, around 1628. Details about his early life and career are a blank, yet at some point he must have emigrated to Boston. We know that the 26-year-old seafarer was married there on November 21, 1654 (O.S.), to Mary Hawkins, a daughter of Captain Thomas Hawkins, a local shipowner and shipwright.

Oliver Cromwell sent special appeals from London to the Puritan colonists of New England, requesting their support for this new Antillean foothold. The widowed Aylett seems to have responded personally, by selling his properties and raising a few recruits, so as to relocate permanently and start a new life on Jamaica. Departing Boston very early in 1656, as Master of the tiny ketch Providence, Aylett had scarcely entered those war-torn waters when he was intercepted by a Spanish corsair, and carried into Santo Domingo. On November 4, 1656 (O.S.), he managed to write the following appeal directly to ‘‘His Highness Oliver, Lord Protector of England,’’ which was smuggled out from that island by a friend: Your Highness may be pleased to take notice that we are here at present, a poor parcel of your subjects which were led by your army, and myself and company taken in February last [1656 O.S.], being laden with provisions and bound for Jamaica from New England, that are in great distress and lie under the burden of many afflictions; and humbly crave of Your Highness to

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20

Aylett, John (fl. 1655
1669) take some course for our redress, for we are daily shipped from this port to the Main and to the Havana, but for what intent I know not, but I fear it is a prolonging of our misery, unless we have some redress from Your Highness. Here is a new governor sent from Spain, which hath been a soldier, for he intends to fortify this place with all expedition, but at present he hath done little, unless he hath sent away the English. Here hath been since my coming to the place, several ships of Flemings from Spain, with some six hundred soldiers, much powder and arms, so that they are well supplied with all necessaries for war. Here arrived some ten days since a Dutch frigate from Spain, only with advise that Your Highness had a fleet upon the coast of Spain, so that there were now coming for these parts; but they intend that what shipping are bound for Spain, shall touch at the Canaries for advise, so that they intend to proceed for Spain if possible; but if not, I do suppose they will for Holland, for here is a very rich ship to depart from hence in forty days, and that is her intended voyage; the Dutch standing by them much, and have promised to carry them by way of our North Channel. They have bought of the Dutch a frigate that shall carry twelve pieces of ordinance, a purpose for to keep betwixt Cuba upon the porte Aneckow [?] and this place, which I heard will do much mischief in the taking of small vessels that may be bound for Jamaica. So as I being one of Your Highness’ faithful

subjects, I have thought it fit to make bold to write these lines to give you advise of proceedings here; and I hope God will in his good time work my deliverance, so that I may live to serve you in this good cause of God’s that Your Highness have now undertaken, which I do beseech God to make prosperous. I rest, Your Highness’ most humble and faithful servant. A few months afterward in the spring of 1657, Aylett somehow contrived to regain his freedom, either through an arranged release or an escape. He then made his way to England.

Naval Service (1658
1666) Almost a year later, Aylett, described as ‘‘now of London, mariner, formerly living in New England,’’ appeared before the High Court of Admiralty in London on March 22, 1658 (O.S.), and in a deposition described how he ‘‘was master and part-owner of a ketch called the Providence, which in a voyage from New England to Jamaica, was taken by the Spaniards and carried into San Domingo, where deponent was held prisoner for twelve months and better.’’ He also seems to have received a warm reception from Puritan members of the Commonwealth government; as a veteran seafarer with first-hand experience of the Spanish West Indies, he received a command in the State’s Navy shortly thereafter. By mid-June 1658 (O.S.), Aylett was at Plymouth making the final preparations to take his new ship

Aylett, John (fl. 1655
1669) Coventry to sea. This vessel had been the 28-gun Spanish ship San Miguel, captured off the Scilly Islands in February 1658 by the State Ships Constant Warwick and Adventure. Aylett reached Jamaica aboard his renamed ship by early September of that same year, almost immediately sailing with Coventry to take part with four other warships in Commodore Christopher Myngs’ foray against the Spanish Main, during which both Tol
u and Santa Marta were torched, before this squadron regained Cagway toward year’s end. However, the ensuing year of service on the Jamaica station evidently did Aylett little good, for his fellow-Captain William Dalyson would write by February 22, 1660 (O.S.): Thinks Captain Aylett, commander of the Coventry, will be the next to go home; the General forced to suspend him, but he has since restored him to his command, who has again given himself over to debauchery and drunkenness, and he stands indicted of burglary for stealing £8 out of a chest, but is not prosecuted by reason of the alterations in England—our court of judicature is put down. Captain Cornelius Burrough regretfully concurred, adding that he was ‘‘almost ashamed to have Dalyson write home such stuff about Captain Aylett, and yet there is just necessity, for he might have written ten times as much and not exceeded the truth.’’ Coventry was eventually ordered surveyed at its anchorage on June 5, 1660 (O.S.), and one week later was deemed by Captain Abraham Langford

as ‘‘defective and unfit for any further service in the island,’’ so Aylett departed for England aboard his debilitated ship shortly thereafter. He managed to limp into the Irish port of Kinsale by October, but Coventry suffered considerable more damage in running aground while exiting Milford, then driven into Falmouth by a storm, and was scarcely able to stagger into Woolwich by late November 1660 (O.S.). With the English monarchy now restored, the disreputable Aylett seems to have remained unemployed over the next few years, until the Royal Navy was again worked up to full strength in 1664, just prior to the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Dutch War. Aylett soon rose to command of the 48-gun, 600-ton HMS Portland, but the fiercely contested Four Days’ Battle of June 1
4, 1666 (O.S.), ended so disappointingly for the English, that he was one of several Captains dismissed from the Royal Navy ‘‘for want of courage’’ in its immediate aftermath by an angry Admiral George Monck, Duke of Albemarle. Once tempers cooled, Aylett apparently regained his rank, ending the war as Captain of the 48-gun HMS Foresight. Three weeks after the peace treaty had been signed at Breda, he submitted a petition on August 10, 1667 (O.S.): . . . to the King for a grant of the prize-ship Cazamine [sic?] of 60 tons, now lying at Deptford. His father was ruined in the late King’s service at the siege of Colchester, and he has served faithfully against the Dutch, but now on the peace is left without employment.

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22

Azogue

Death As a Privateer (1668
1669) No longer a naval officer, Aylett ventured back to Jamaica, where on January 12, 1669, eight English and French corsair captains met aboard Henry Morgan’s flagship Oxford, anchored off ^Ile a Vache at the southwestern tip of Saint-Domingue, to decide on a descent against the Spaniards. They had already been mustering for several weeks, and so numbered 900 freebooters. Their strength was such that the captains agreed to attempt the great port of Cartagena on the Spanish Main, after which ‘‘they began on board the great ship to feast one another for joy of their new voyage.’’ Morgan and Captains Aylett, Bigford, Edward Collier, John Morris the Elder, John Morris the Younger, Thornbury, and Whiting all sat down to dinner on the quarterdeck, while the men celebrated on the forecastle. ‘‘They drank the health of the King of England and toasted their good success and fired off salvoes,’’ as the tropical darkness fell, until suddenly the Oxford’s magazine accidentally exploded. Ship’s surgeon Richard Browne, who sat toward the foot of the officers’ table on the same side as Morgan, later wrote: I was eating my dinner with the rest, when the mainmast blew out and fell upon Captains Aylett, Bigford, and others, and knocked them on the head. Only six men and four boys survived out of a company of more than 200, including the lucky few sitting beside the Admiral on the quarterdeck.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 1 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1860). Earle, Peter, The Sack of Panama: Captain Morgan and the Battle for the Caribbean (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2007). Exquemelin, Alexandre-Olivier, The Buccaneers of America (London: Penguin, 1969). Pope, Dudley, Harry Morgan’s Way: The Biography of Sir Henry Morgan, 1635
1684 (London: Secker & Warburg, 1977). Savage, James, A Genealogical Dictionary of The First Settlers of New England, Showing Three Generations of Those Who Came Before 1692, on the Basis of the Farmer’s Register (Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1860
1862) four volumes. Thurloe, John, A Collection of the State Papers of John Thurloe, Volume 5 (London, 1742).

AZOGUE Spanish word for mercury or quicksilver, but which also came to be applied to the ships themselves that conveyed this heavy liquid across the Atlantic for the Crown. Mercury was a vital ingredient for refining American ores during the 17th century, being used to separate silver from other unwanted materials. Peru had its own source of azogue at Huancavelica, but Mexico’s had to be imported across the ocean from the royal mines of Almad
en in southwestern Spain. A pair of merchantmen was usually hired to perform these transatlantic runs, being specially selected for their

Azogue strength, speed, and soundness, to sail independently of the annual plate fleets. Such azogue or ‘‘quicksilver’’ ships proved valuable prizes, as the cargos of outgoing vessels were in great demand throughout all of Spanish America, while on their return-passages toward Spain, they also occasionally conveyed some of the King’s bullion. The Marı´a was one such vessel, outward bound from Seville with a cargo of mercury, merchandise, and correspondence, when it was intercepted by the privateer Captain William Cooper and carried into Port Royal, Jamaica. Sir Charles Lyttelton would write on October 23, 1663 (O.S.), to describe this incident: On the 19th instant [October 1663 O.S.], there were brought into port two Spanish prizes by a captain of a small vessel, who in fight with the first so disabled his own ship that he was forced to quit her and enter the prize; and when plying on the coast of Hispaniola fell in with the second, which—finding that he carried an English flag on a Spanish vessel—bid ‘‘him amaine for the King of Spain,’’ but after four hours’ fight, being cruelly torn and damnified, at length submitted. This ship is the Maria of Seville, of 300 tons, carrying 1,000 quintals of

quicksilver for the King of Spain’s mines in New Spain, besides wines, olives, and other goods, which on account of the loss of the bills of lading, are not yet known. There are 70 prisoners, amongst them some friars, one of whom ‘‘goes Visitor-General to his order, which is Mercenarians.’’ The captain and owner of most of the cargo, Don Miguel de Valencia, is a person of quality, and treated with all civility; and he and a merchant, Joseph de Castro, will at their own request be shortly sent to Campeachy [sic]. The letters, which seem much to aim at attempts upon Jamaica, say that they cannot despatch a fleet from Spain before June. The first prize was worth very little, and the goods are like to be sold for a quarter at most of their value, by reason of the want of money.

See also Azogue (Volume 2).

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 5 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1880).

23

B All servants that can, run away and turn pirates, encouraged by the late successes, and some die. —Governor Sir Thomas Lynch of Jamaica, February 1684

BAMFIELD, JOHN (fl. 1665)

The Crown official was particularly grateful that they would be serving ‘‘at the old rate of no purchase, no pay, and it will cost the King nothing considerable, some powder and mortar pieces.’’ Their landing was made successfully, but the Colonel, ‘‘being a corpulent man,’’ died from heat exertion during the chase, and his expedition disbanded shortly thereafter.

English privateer who commanded the single-gun Mayflower in Colonel Edward Morgan’s expedition against Dutch Sint Eustatius and Sab
a, during the Second Anglo-Dutch War. This force departed Jamaica in two divisions, five sail putting out of Port Royal on April 5, 1665, and Morgan himself following with another four on the 28th. There were 650 men in all, described in a letter by Gov. Sir Thomas Modyford as:

References Cruikshank, E. A., The Life of Sir Henry Morgan (Toronto: Macmillan, 1935). Interesting Tracts Relating to the Island of Jamaica (St. Jago de la Vega, Jamaica: Lewis, Lunan and Jones, 1800). Pope, Dudley, Harry Morgan’s Way: The Biography of Sir Henry Morgan, 1635
1684 (London: Secker & Warburg, 1977).

. . . chiefly reformed privateers, scarce a planter amongst them, being resolute fellows and well armed with fusils [the Spanish word for muskets] and pistols. 25

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Barlovento, Armada De

BARLOVENTO, ARMADA DE Spanish naval squadron—its name literally meant ‘‘Windward Fleet’’—which defended the Caribbean against pirates and smugglers. The Spaniards had occasionally stationed war-fleets in the Americas as early as the 16th century; yet following the English seizure of Jamaica and other foreign incursions during the late 1650s, Madrid felt that a permanent naval presence in that region would be required, even in peacetime. As a result, the Spanish government sent a special agent to Amsterdam in 1663 to arrange the construction of four new galleons to serve in American waters. Poor financing threatened this project’s completion, until officers’ commissions were promised to anyone in Spain willing to advance money. Many of the Armada de Barlovento’s first commanders were therefore individuals bent on recouping their investments or otherwise profiting from their service in the New World. For example, Agustı´n de Di
ustegui obtained overall command of the squadron in return for a loan of 50,000 pesos, plus the use of two of his frigates. Other appointments, such as those of Flag-Captain Mateo Alonso de Huidobro or ship’s Captain Antonio de Layseca y Alvarado, also resulted from the loans of lesser sums.

First Fleet (1667
1669) Early in May 1664, the first new galleon reached Spain from Amsterdam, followed a few months later by the remaining three. A long delay ensued before the squadron was finally ready

to depart for the Americas, by which time only two of the Dutch-built vessels remained under Di
ustegui’s command: the 572-ton flagship San Felipe, and 507-ton vice-flagship Nuestra Se~ nora de la Concepci
on. On July 21, 1667, they set sail from Seville accompanied by the 412-ton Magdalena, plus the frigates Concepci
on and Nuestra Se~ nora de la Soledad, alias Marquesa (Marchioness). This Armada also transported a large quantity of azogue or ‘‘quicksilver’’ for the Mexican mines. More than 100 of its 963 officers and men deserted, after being paid during a stopover at the Canary Islands. On August 27, 1667, the five ships reached Puerto Rico, from where San Felipe and Magdalena proceeded to Veracruz to deliver their quicksilver, while the squadron’s second-incommand Alonso de Campos retained the other three to patrol the coasts of Santo Domingo and southern Cuba. He captured a single sloop out of Jamaica, before rendezvousing with Di
ustegui at Havana in February 1668. The reassembled Armada then sailed through the Antilles toward Caracas, before returning to what was supposed to become its permanent home base of San Juan de Puerto Rico. Judging these port facilities inadequate, though, Di
ustegui transferred to Havana for repairs. The local Spanish-American authorities, for their part, considered the large Armada ships too cumbersome to chase pirates, so that the flagship and vice-flag were almost immediately recalled to Spain for duty in its renewed war against France. Magdalena and the two frigates were to remain at Santo Domingo, reinforced by local auxiliaries. This recall order reached the Armada at Puerto Rico, and Di
ustegui instantly

Barlovento, Armada De set sail for Veracruz to load the King’s treasure for his return passage to Spain. Campos and the three smaller ships meanwhile hovered off Cuba’s Cape San Antonio, inspecting three English ships under Captain Francis Stuart, as well as a Dutch vessel, yet letting all four go (allegedly in return for bribes). Campos thereupon retired into Havana, where he learned that buccaneers had assaulted the south Cuban port of Trinidad, so that he sent his newly-acquired frigate Nuestra Se~ nora de los Remedios and Marquesa to Veracruz for reinforcements. Remedios was wrecked less than 50 miles from Campeche, but when the survivors reached Veracruz, they found that the Mexican Exchequer had purchased another frigate, the 218-ton San Luis. Together with Marquesa, this frigate carried almost 300 reinforcements back into Havana by 5 January 1669. In the meantime, Di
ustegui had sailed for Spain, leaving Campos as senior Armada commander to handle the news of Henry Morgan’s attack against Portobelo. Campos sortied with Magdalena, San Luis, and Marquesa, laying in a course for Puerto Rico, where he heard of a large freebooter gathering at ^Ile a Vache. From a Dutch merchantman that he met in the Mona Passage, Campos also learned that five French ships from Martinique were allegedly preparing to raid Santo Domingo. He therefore backtracked, arriving to reinforce its garrison on March 25, 1669; however, this report proved to be false, and he was then correctly informed that more than a dozen buccaneer sail had passed by Santo Domingo on their way toward the Spanish Main. Sailing in their wake, he heard from another Dutch merchantman that the enemy was in the Lago de Maracaibo, so that he arrived outside by

mid-April 1669. Inside lay Morgan’s flotilla, busily ransacking the interior. Campos had his 38-gun flagship Magdalena, the 26-gun frigate San Luis under his second-in-command Mateo Alonso de Huidobro, plus the 14-gun sloop Marquesa, manned by a total of 500 men. Having found that the 11-gun fortress guarding the Laguna’s entrance had been devastated, the Admiral decided to reoccupy it with 40 harquebusiers, repair six of its guns, and dispatch messengers inland calling for further assistance from the local militias. After several days, Campos also lightened his warships and passed them over the bar, before sending a letter to Morgan in Maracaibo, calling on him to surrender. Yet although his Armada had trapped the raiders inside, they were far from subdued. Morgan’s 13 vessels approached the anchored Spanish squadron on April 25, 1669, and two days later rushed Campos’ formation at 9:00 A.M. led by a large Cuban prize flying multiple ensigns, which bore down on Campos’ Magdalena and grappled. But when the Spaniards surged over its bulwarks, they found its decks lined with wooden dummies and 12 buccaneers hastily decamping over its far side. The Cuban ship thereupon burst into flames, engulfing Magdalena and forcing Campos to leap into the water along with his panic-stricken crew. Seeing this terrifying spectacle, De Huidobro’s smaller San Luis and Marquesa cut their cables and ran for the shelter of the fort, pursued by Morgan’s lesser craft. Both Spanish vessels ran aground and so were set ablaze by their crews before abandoning ship, although Marquesa was boarded and saved by the buccaneers. Despite his victory, though, Morgan was still unable to get past the fort because its garrison had been further

27

28

Barlovento, Armada De Morgan’s Victory Bar Maracaibo, April 1669.

N

While Henry Morgan’s buccaneers were ransacking the shorelines of Lake Maracaibo in April 1669, Admiral Campos’ three Armada warships arrived outside its bar (1). They shuttled boatparties around to reman its devastated fort (2), then worked their lightened warships carefully through the channel to trap the raiders inside (3). Morgan appeared and confronted the Spaniards for two days (4), before launching a devastating strike (5) which destroyed all three of the Armada’s men-of-war. But Morgan could still not get past its fort, so that he returned to Maracaibo (6), before returning again at a later date using guile to slip past.

Barlovento, Armada De augmented by 70 militiamen from the interior, plus most of the surviving Armada crews. When the buccaneers attempted a land-assault on April 28, 1669, this attack was easily repelled, so that Morgan was obliged to retire back into Maracaibo and consider another plan. After his offer to exchange his Spanish captives for free passage out to sea was rebuffed by Campos, Morgan returned to the bar a few days later and set his boats busily plying back and forth just out of sight of the Spanish fort. Believing that the English were depositing a large force in anticipation of another assault, Campos’ garrison manhandled their few guns into the landward embrasures, and braced for a nocturnal onslaught. Yet Morgan had again deceived them, his boat-movements merely being a feint: no buccaneers had actually disembarked. Instead, his ships quietly weighed and slipped past the Spanish fortress’ unguarded seaward side under cover of darkness, depositing their prisoners outside, before sailing triumphantly away.

Second Fleet (1677
1678) Following its humiliating annihilation, a halfhearted attempt to reconstitute the Armada three years later was deferred once Spain became embroiled in another conflict against France. It was not until late 1676 that the impoverished Spanish Crown could assemble five ships for Caribbean duty: the 450-ton flagship San Jos
e, Santa Rosa Marı´a y San Pedro de Alc
antara, purchased by the Governor-designate of Venezuela, Francisco de Alberr
os, on the understanding that it would transport him out to his destination and be reimbursed out of local taxes; the 350-ton vice-flagship Nuestra Se~ nora de Aranzazu y San

Lorenzo, sold by Antonio de Astina on condition that he be appointed almirante or second-in-command of the Armada, and might recoup its value at Puerto Rico; the 240-ton San Juan, formerly the French Dauphine or ‘‘Princess,’’ which had been captured in the North Atlantic that previous year, and was more commonly known as the Princesa or Francesa; the 200-ton Nuestra Se~ nora del Camino, purchased from Do~na Gracia de Atocha; and the 200-ton Santo Cristo del Buen Viaje, alias Mogole~ no, bought from Pedro de Castro. The flagship San Jos
e sailed from Cadiz early next year, depositing the new Venezuelan Governor at Caracas by July 6, 1677. It remained there while Francesa, Camino, and Mogole~ no reached Cartagena a few days later, having quit Cadiz on May 26th. Capts. Jos
e de Arizmendi, Felipe de Di
ustegui, and Francisco L
opez de G
omara reported there to their new capit
an general or Armada commander-in-chief, Antonio de Quintana, a veteran officer who had directed Cartagena’s guardacostas for the past 20 years. Immediately, the trio was dispatched along with two merchantmen and 500 troops to rescue the nearby city of Santa Marta, which had been surprised by a French contingent under Captains La Garde, Coxon, and Barnes. Quintana’s flotilla supposedly bombarded the invaders before being driven off by a storm, but Spanish observers charged that the men-of-war had engaged only reluctantly, because they were laden with merchandise. By the time they returned to resume their attack a few days later, the enemy had withdrawn, taking the city Governor, Bishop, and other prominent citizens with them as hostages.

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Barlovento, Armada De The three Armada ships then proceeded to Portobelo to deliver the King of Spain’s dispatches (along with their own wares), retiring much worn into Cartagena. There were no suitable repair facilities at that port, though, and the crews began to fall ill and desert, not having been paid and receiving only a daily ration of a ‘‘pound and a half of cassava and twelve ounces of meat.’’ In October, the flagship San Jos
e at last stirred forth from Caracas’ port of La Guaira, sailing to Santo Domingo and Campeche, where it deposited the Governor-designate of Yucatan, Antonio de Layseca, before reaching Veracruz. The vice-flagship Aranzazu also departed Spain in October 1677, conveying a quicksilver consignment to Veracruz, where it joined the flagship. Fear of the huge French fleets of the Duc d’Estr
ees, as well as material deficiencies and personnel losses, kept both Armada units mostly idle throughout all of 1678.

Cruises of 1679
1681 Early in 1679, the two capital ships at Veracruz were reinforced by the frigate Santo Cristo de San Rom
an (the patron saint of the port of Campeche, where it had been built), and the 650-ton urca or ‘‘cargo-ship’’ San Juan Bautista, San Antonio y San Cayetano, which had been expropriated at Puerto Rico for trading illegally. The Acting-Mexican Viceroy then additionally purchased two 6-gun pataches—San Antonio y las Animas and Jes
us, Marı´a y Jos
e—to act as fleet auxiliaries, and recruited 800 men. When word arrived that the French flibustiers under the ‘‘Chevalier’’ de Grammont had assaulted Maracaibo, Astina sortied on February 25, 1679, only to limp into Havana on the last

day of March after being battered by a storm during his Gulf crossing, which had dismasted San Antonio y las Animas and forced it back into Campeche. A few days later, the annual plate fleet arrived at the Cuban capital from Cartagena, accompanied by Quintana with Francesa, Camino, and Mogole~ no. The latter was broken up at the Havana yards and its crew incorporated into the Armada flagship, so that on May 14, 1679, the commander-in-chief led San Jos
e, Aranzazu, San Juan Bautista, Francesa, and Camino out to sea. The French raiders having long since withdrawn from Maracaibo, Quintana’s mission was now to deliver the annual situados or ‘‘payrolls’’ for the garrisons at Puerto Rico and Santo Domingo, then sweep the coasts of the Main for foreign interlopers. After visiting San Juan de Puerto Rico, the Armada intercepted a French sloop out of Petit-Go^ave bearing a cargo of cacao for Cuba, which was seized; however, an English sloop encountered a few days later was released. The French prize was then sold at Santo Domingo, and on exiting the Armada captured the Dutch sloop Tijger with a crew of 18 men, charging them with smuggling. While cruising the Main, they sighted an abandoned 80-ton English pink, which they boarded, proving to be the vessel of Edmund Cooke (who having been victimized many years before by Spanish guardacosta Philip FitzGerald, hid ashore rather than risk mistreatment, and then angered at the loss of this, his second ship, turned pirate). The Armada reached Caracas’ port of La Guaira by July 14, 1679, and subsequently used it as a base for forays along that coast including the San Juan Bautista and Francesa, which almost captured the Dutch Witte Lam of Pieter

Barlovento, Armada De Markus at nearby Puerto Cabello; the Aranzazu and Camino also sailed to investigate reports of a buccaneer landing near the Carguao Valley, followed a few days afterward by Tigre (which had become incorporated into the Armada), but fell victim shortly thereafter to French flibustiers operating under the Armada deserter Laurens de Graaf. Quintana’s flotilla then transported reinforcements to Araya and Coro, before returning to the coasts of Santo Domingo and Cuba on patrol. By late October 1679, the flagship and vice-flag had reentered Havana for refit, which proved to be lengthy, as they did not sail again until June 21, 1680, crossing the Gulf of Mexico to Veracruz. There, Quintana resigned command because of his advanced age, being replaced by Andr
es de Ochoa y Z
arate. The new commander sortied on September 13th, escorting the annual Mexican plate fleet across to Cuba, and reaching Havana by October 23rd. The reunited Armada exited on November 28th, but was driven back by foul weather, to depart again a month later and prowl through Nevis, Saint Christopher, Saint Barth
elemy, Saint Martin, and Anguilla before visiting Puerto Rico. They then continued for the Main, being struck by a storm off Santa Marta and limping into Cartagena with three damaged ships. Because of numerous reports of French and English privateers blockading Portobelo and crossing the Isthmus of Panama from Golden Island, a patrol was detached into that area, yet found nothing. Ochoa’s five ships weighed on February 19, 1681, to return to Veracruz, arriving in poor shape late in May, with only a tiny fishing-boat as a token prize. The Camino was broken up and Santo Cristo de San Rom
an underwent repairs, while

the other three departed once more on August 4th to escort a plate fleet across to Havana, and remained there.

Third Fleet (1682) Meanwhile, more vessels had been raised in Europe, so that in spring of 1681 the 350-ton Nuestra Se~ nora de la Soledad, purchased in Spain and commanded by Antonio de Olza, put into Santa Marta with troops, artillery, and ammunition. After delivering this consignment, Olza touched at Cartagena, from where Soledad was detached on May 29, 1681, to carry dispatches for Havana, then returned at the end of that year with 350 black slaves from Curac¸ao to be used as laborers on Cartagena’s fortifications. A new capitana and almiranta also arrived at La Guaira on the last days of 1681, having been built at Amsterdam: the new flagship was the 650-ton Santo Cristo de Burgos, and the new vice-flagship the 550-ton Nuestra Se~ nora de la Concepci
on, both manned by a total of 305 sailors and 413 Marines under a new commander-in-chief, Juan de Peredo. They had quit Cadiz on October 16, 1681, with a cargo of quicksilver, pausing at the Canary Islands to take on 800 Spanish soldiers. The latter were deposited at La Guaira and a contingent was forwarded to Maracaibo aboard a hired ship, while the two men-of-war continued toward Cartagena a month later. Peredo died shortly after arriving, so that temporary command devolved on Olza, who delegated Soledad under Captain Andr
es de Arriola to conduct the quicksilver to Veracruz, while the flagship and vice-flag visited Portobelo. However, Olza also died shortly thereafter, leaving the Armada without a leader until Ochoa could join.

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Barlovento, Armada De He departed Havana on March 25, 1682, with San Jos
e, Aranzazu, San Juan Bautista, and Santo Cristo de San Rom
an. (Francesa, which was still being careened, was to follow under Captain Manuel Delgado, but when it sailed on July 8th with the payrolls for Puerto Rico and Santo Domingo, it fell prey off Aguada to the pirate De Graaf.) Ochoa reached Cartagena in May to discover Peredo was dead, after which he found Santo Cristo de Burgos and Concepci
on lying at Portobelo in early June 1682 with their crews very sick and illsupplied. He therefore replaced them on that station with the smaller Aranzazu and San Juan Bautista, which mustered only 317 men between them, withdrawing the others into Cartagena. Ochoa also wished to return to Veracruz, as in the interim he had been promoted to castellano or ‘‘garrison commander’’ for its island-fortress of San Juan de Ul
ua, and his Armada ships needed refurbishing. He therefore sent the flagship and vice-flag into Havana under his second-in-command De Astina, while he sailed San Jos
e and Santo Cristo de San Rom
an to Veracruz, arriving in mid-August. Because of Peredo’s and Olza’s untimely deaths, the Mexican Viceroy persuaded Ochoa to stay on as Armada commander until replacements could be sent out from Spain, and also added two auxiliaries to the fleet: the 335-ton Nuestra Se~ nora del Honh
on and a new 8-gun Jes
us, Marı´a y Jos
e (alias ‘‘Sevillano’’), which had been launched at Campeche.

Cruise of 1683 Ochoa did not sortie from Veracruz until March 1683, crossing to Havana, where he reunited most elements of his

squadron to sail on May 26th with the flagship Santo Cristo de Burgos, viceflag Concepci
on, San Jos
e as gobierno, Soledad, Sevillano, and Santo Cristo de San Rom
an, manned by a total of 1,239 officers, Marines, and sailors. Putting into San Juan de Puerto Rico, he learned of a French squadron threatening Portobelo. Sevillano and Santo Cristo de San Rom
an were consequently detached to reinforce Aranzazu and San Juan Bautista on the Panamanian coast, while the rest of the Armada swept through the Caribbean, before retiring toward Veracruz. This was one of the most successful cruises in the Armada’s history with six vessels and 110 French and English prisoners taken. At first, the prizes were innocuous: the tiny six-man sloop Margaret of William Roberts, supposedly bound from Curac¸ao to Bermuda, yet apprehended off Puerto Rico as a suspected smuggler; the ketch of Peter Carr intercepted near Santo Domingo while sailing from New England for Curac¸ao with a cargo of dry goods. However, on August 4, 1683, Ochoa seized the Proph ete Daniel of Antoine Bernard and Dauphin of Pierre d’Orange at Little Cayman, learning that they had taken part in a massive pirate assault against Veracruz. The Spanish prize Nuestra Se~ nora de Regla was also recuperated, having been set ablaze by its pirate captors with 90 slaves aboard, who managed to extinguish the flames. Hastening back toward his base, Ochoa combed the Laguna de T
erminos in passing, driving off the New Englander William ‘‘Jualen’’ [Walton? Wallace?], and capturing five of his men who had been poaching logwood ashore. Yet Veracruz lay in ruins by the time the Armada arrived on August 22,

Barlovento, Armada De 1683, with one in four of its 6,000 inhabitants having been carried off into bondage. There was bitterness at this belated return of the Armada with its prizes, especially when citizens learned that they would have to buy back their own goods at public auction. The pirate captives were executed, and the smugglers incarcerated ashore.

Tampico Foray (May 1684) Demoralized, Ochoa remained at Veracruz until April 29th of next year, when news was received of a pirate attack six days previously against Tampico, 300 miles farther up the Gulf coast. Part of the Armada therefore sortied on May 4, 1684, and four days later caught the frigate Presbyter and a small sloop still inside Tampico’s bar, with 104 freebooters aboard. The original attackers consisted of three frigates and eight sloops that had come from New Providence in the Bahamas under Captain John Markham and others, yet had mostly dispersed by the time Ochoa arrived. The captives—77 Englishmen and New Englanders, 26 Dutchmen, and a Spaniard—included some buccaneers who had participated in the sack of Veracruz, so that on returning to base two weeks later, 13 of these Englishmen and the lone Spaniard were sentenced to death and were executed at the Veracruz waterfront on the morning of June 14th. Yet despite this isolated victory, the Armada remained an object of universal scorn, and in Spain Francisco Garcı´a Gal
an was proposing that its elephantine flagship and vice-flag be substituted by his more nimble Biscayan privateers. San Jos
e had meanwhile been broken up at Veracruz, followed shortly thereafter by Aranzazu at Portobelo. Ochoa did not put to sea again until April 1685, when he

escorted two homeward-bound azogues across to Havana with Santo Cristo de Burgos, Concepci
on, Honh
on, Sevillano, and the new tender Santo Cristo y las Animas. On arriving, he was ordered to the Spanish Main because of the incursions of Peter Harris the Younger, Franc¸ois Grogniet, Jean Rose, and others crossing the Isthmus of Panama. The Armada reached Cartagena at the beginning of June, yet found hostilities well beyond their reach in the South Sea. While lying at Cartagena, word arrived that the pirates Grammont and De Graaf had captured the Mexican port of Campeche, and Ochoa was ordered to intercept and punish them as they withdrew. He set sail on August 2, 1685, with his flagship, vice-flag, Soledad, Honh
on, Sevillano, an auxiliary called Santo Cristo de Leso, and a supply-pink recently arrived from Spain. The latter separated on the second night, so that Ochoa wasted the next day trying to find it. Then, Soledad’s mainmast collapsed, leaving this warship astern; and on the night of August 5th-6th Santo Cristo de Leso also became lost. The remainder of the Armada checked the Cayman Islands for pirates, before touching at Trujillo (Honduras) on August 17th. The buccaneer lair of Roat
an was inspected but found uninhabited, before Ochoa repaired back into Trujillo for fresh provisions, then resumed his course northward on September 8th.

Failure at Alacr
an Reef (September 1685) At dawn three days later, five sail were sighted near Isla Mujeres off the Yucatan coast, and the Armada gave chase. Two lagged behind and were captured, proving to be the corsair Pierre

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34

Barnes, William (fl. 1676
1677) Bot’s 22-gun Nuestra Se~ nora de Regla and a sloop, which had been dividing the spoils of Campeche. With them was De Graaf’s Neptune; De Graaf was the greatest pirate of his day and the Spaniards desperately hoped to take him. They had lost sight of him while securing the prizes and scuttling the sloop, but spotted more sails to the northwest at two o’clock the next afternoon. Ochoa sent Honh
on and Sevillano to investigate, which recognized the largest of the vessels as De Graaf’s flagship. Honh
on shadowed, while Sevillano returned toward the Armada to report. By nightfall, Honh
on lost contact, and that following morning made off toward Veracruz. Sevillano, however, regained Santo Cristo de Burgos and Concepci
on, and led them toward De Graaf. At four o’clock on the afternoon of September 13th, they spotted him to the east of Alacr
an Reef, and the two warships gradually closed on the heavily-laden corsair. Enjoying both the weather gauge and a two-to-one superiority, Ochoa joined battle at dawn on September 14, 1685, despite being so infirm as to be lying under an awning on his own quarterdeck. De Graaf fought his ship brilliantly, outmaneuvering and out-shooting the Spaniards until nightfall. After dark, the flagship hailed almirante Astina aboard Concepci
on, to advise him that Ochoa had been given last rites, so that command of the Armada was now his. Next morning revealed that Neptune had slipped to windward, and as it fled over the horizon, the battered Armada gave up. Only Ensign Pedro de Iriarte, prize-master aboard the Regla, argued in favor of renewing the pursuit, adding: ‘‘What would be said of them in Veracruz, and that he wished to be landed far from port, where the people could not see him.’’ But the matter

was decided when the flagship’s weakened superstructure fell overboard. Ochoa died two days later, and Astina limped back into Veracruz with his four vessels on the night of September 28
29, 1685. Having previously failed to check small nimble corsairs, the Armada ships had now also shown themselves incapable of subduing larger opponents. A series of courts-martial ensued for Astina and other senior officers, while the Biscayan privateers were authorized back in Spain to raise a private squadron.

See also Azogue; Barlovento, Armada de (Volume 2); De Graaf, Laurens de.

References Exquemelin, Alexandre-Olivier. The Buccaneers of America, Trans. Alexis Brown, with an introduction by Jack Beeching (London: Penguin, 1969). Robles, Antonio de, Diario de sucesos notables, 1665
1703 (Mexico City: Editorial Porr
ua, 1972). Rodrı´guez Demorizi, Emilio, Invasi
on inglesa de 1655; notas adicionales de Fray Cipriano de Utrera (Ciudad Trujillo: Montalvo, 1957). S
aiz Cidoncha, Carlos, Historia de la piraterı´a en Am
erica Espa~ nola (Madrid: Editorial San Martı´n, 1985). Torres Ramı´rez, Bibiano, La Armada de Barlovento (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1981).

BARNES, WILLIAM (fl. 1676
1677) English privateer who served under French colors.

Barreda Villegas, Felipe De (fl. 1680
1685) Barnes presumably participated in the Third Anglo-Dutch War, but shifted allegiance to the French once England withdrew from these hostilities in the spring of 1674. As such, he became one of those captains who embarrassed London by continuing depredations against the Spanish and Dutch even after England’s declaration of peace, provoking diplomatic protests on account of his nationality. On November 22, 1676 (O.S.), Barnes was identified by Gov. Sir William Stapleton of the Leeward Islands as operating a vessel ‘‘with 12 guns and 150 men’’ in those waters. In June 1677, Barnes joined the French Capitaine La Garde and John Coxon in a descent against Santa Marta on the Spanish Main. This flibustier force surprised the town at dawn and took many captives, including its Governor and Bishop, holding them for ransom until a trio of Spanish warships of the Armada de Barlovento appeared from Cartagena with 500 soldiers, to drive them off. The raiders then retired toward Port Royal, Jamaica, and on July 28, 1677, Sir Thomas Lynch noted: Five or six French and English privateers lately come to Jamaica from taking Santa Marta, Barnes being one and Coxon expected every hour. On board the Governor and the Bishop, and Captain Legarde [sic] has promised to put them on shore. The plunder of the town was not great, money and broken plate [i.e., silver] about £20 a man. Three days later, Coxon entered and personally escorted the Bishop Dr. Lucas Fern
andez y Piedrahita and a Spanish friar into the presence of the new island Governor, Lord Vaughan.

The prelate was nobly housed, and royal officers sent aboard the buccaneer flotilla to attempt ‘‘to procure the liberty of the [Spanish] Governor and others, but finding the privateers all drunk, it was impossible to persuade them to do anything by fair means.’’ Vaughan therefore ordered the French to depart, advising Barnes and the Englishmen that it was now against the law for them to serve under foreign colors. The French were ‘‘damnably enraged’’ at being deprived of their English consorts, so sailed off without releasing their captives. Barnes apparently retired from roving around this time.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Vols. 9 and 10 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898
1899). Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924). Pope, Dudley, Harry Morgan’s Way: The Biography of Sir Henry Morgan, 1635
1684 (London: Secker & Warburg, 1977).

BARREDA VILLEGAS, FELIPE DE (fl. 1680
1685) Spanish officer who defended the Laguna de T
erminos and Campeche against pirates. Born in the Toranzo Valley of the Santillana Mountains in Santander, Spain, De Barreda arrived at Campeche in 1655 as a 20-year-old soldier in the train of Yucat
an’s new provincial Governor, Francisco de Baz
an. De Barreda was immediately named to

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Barreda Villegas, Felipe De (fl. 1680
1685) help oversee the construction of Campeche’s defenses, and next year was appointed as Ensign of one of its garrison companies under that city’s LieutenantGovernor, Captain Antonio Maldonado de Aldana. Because De Barreda’s greatuncle Pedro de la Barreda y Ceballos was an influential member of the Council of Indies in Madrid, the young officer also served as a prosecutor and sheriff in the small coastal city, and was able to marry Ana de la Oliva y Vergara, the daughter of a prominent local figure, Captain Pedro de la Oliva. Furthermore, he would even be addressed later in life by the honorific name of Felipe de la Barreda y Villegas, although he retained the simpler form of ‘‘Felipe de Barreda’’ as his signature throughout. Promoted to infantry captain, he commanded a contingent of 25 soldiers during the unsuccessful defense of Campeche against the English assault led by Commodore Christopher Myngs and Edward Mansfield in February 1663, retreating inland after losing a number of his troops. De Barreda was evidently held blameless for this loss, though, being retained as guarda mayor of the devastated city after the enemy retirement. Then on February 15, 1673, he was appointed by Yucat
an’s new Gov. Miguel Codornio de Sola to command the coast-guard frigate Nuestra Se~ nora del Carmen, Santa Teresa de Jes
us y Santa Rosa, alias the Pescadora, and over the next year-and-a-half De Barreda would make seven voyages transporting a total of 692 stone slabs from the Campeche quarries to Veracruz, for use on its offshore island-fortress of San Juan de Ul
ua. On his last voyage, he also entered Veracruz with a captured foreign ketch from the Laguna de T
erminos, so earned a special letter of commendation from the acting Mexican Viceroy,

Archbishop Payo Enrı´quez de Rivera, dated December 19, 1674.

Laguna de T
erminos Campaign (1680) Another important command occurred in 1680, after being elected alcalde ordinario or town magistrate, when the reinstated Governor of Yucatan Antonio de Layseca y Alvarado appointed him to sweep the English logwood cutters from the nearby Laguna de T
erminos. De la Barreda sailed with a small flotilla of piraguas and on February 6th took some prizes; bolstered by this success, his second expedition consisted of a barco luengo, two piraguas, and 115 men, which netted a 24-gun merchantman. Delighted, on April 12th Governor de Layseca appointed him asteniente de capit
an general or ‘‘Captain-General’s Lieutenant’’ for Campeche, as De la Barreda prepared a third raid. At his own expense, he secured halfownership of the 24-gun prize and reinforced it with two brigantines and six piraguas, plus more than 500 troops: 200 mulatto militiamen from the provincial capital of M
erida, 70 regulars and 16 gunners from the Campeche garrison, plus 240 volunteers. His officers included the corsair Capts. Pedro de Castro and Juan Corso, and burst into the Laguna on April 17, 1680. More than 38 craft of all sizes were seized, along with 163 Baymen, and numerous Spanish hostages and slaves. De la Barreda also learned that a force of 240 buccaneers had departed in seven vessels to waylay the annual cocoa harvest of Tabasco and sent a detachment in their pursuit. His prisoners and prizes were carried triumphantly into Campeche, but De la Barreda himself did not arrive. Ironically, he had become separated from his

Barreda Villegas, Felipe De (fl. 1680
1685) expedition and been captured by English stragglers. Conveyed to London, he was allegedly detained in the Tower before being released. By January 1682, he was in Madrid reporting to the Crown, and returned to Campeche next year to resume his duties. On September 1, 1683, he was officially promoted to capit
an de mar y guerra by Yucatan’s Gov. Juan Bruno T
ellez de Guzm
an, and appointed one of Campeche’s two alcaldes ordinarios on January 4, 1684.

Sack of Campeche (July 1685) Two years later, reports began reaching De Barreda of a large pirate formation gathering off the northeastern tip of Yucatan. Specifically, Captain Crist
obal Martı´nez de Acevedo arrived with his coast-guard frigate Nuestra Se~ nora de la Soledad y San Antonio, to report that his two-ship convoy had been pursued on the high seas by hostile craft on May 27, 1685. De Barreda ordered Soledad to remain in port as a reinforcement for its garrison, while 25 of its sailors were delegated to man a reconnaissance piragua and return around the peninsula, along with 25 soldiers under Baltasar Navarro. They spotted numerous interlopers prowling off Cape Catoche and Isla Mujeres, reporting their sightings to both De la Barreda and Yucatan’s provincial Governor, Juan Bruno T
ellez de Guzm
an. The buccaneer ships included those of Laurens de Graaf, Sieur de Grammont, Michiel Andrieszoon, Joseph Bannister, Jan Willems, and many others, who unknown to the Spaniards were mustering for a descent against Campeche. By late June 1685, De Barreda learned that the enemy were advancing, creeping past Sisal toward his port. Fortifications were strengthened, and non-combatants

sent inland along with most valuables. Finally, on the afternoon of July 6, 1685, the pirate fleet of six large and four small ships, six sloops, and 17 piraguas hove into view half a dozen miles offshore. A landing force of 700 buccaneers took to the boats and began rowing in toward the beach, but De Barreda was ready: four militia companies totaling roughly 200 men exited, and positioned themselves opposite the intended disembarkationpoint. The surprised pirates put up their helms, not wishing to wade into the muzzles of Spanish infantry. All night they remained in check by De la Barreda’s deployment, until they began to draw off toward their ships the next morning. Yet this proved to be a feint, as the freebooters suddenly rushed the outskirts of the city and stormed ashore before the defense could react. Several columns bore down on Campeche, scattering De Barreda’s men back into the city. Out in the harbor, Martı´nez prepared to scuttle Soledad, but instead of boring holes in its bottom as originally planned, the speed of the enemy advance made him run a trail of powder into the magazine, and light the fuse. Soledad exploded with a deafening blast, collapsing the defenders’ morale and sending them reeling into their citadel, while the pirates entered unopposed. De Barreda attempted to mount a counterattack, yet was beaten off into the countryside with his men; that night he saw to the safety of his wife and family. Over the next few days, the raiders subdued the isolated strong-points within Campeche, until only the citadel remained. They began bombarding this fortress at dawn on July 12, 1685, but at ten o’clock that morning two reliefcolumns of Spanish militiamen appeared from M
erida de Yucat
an. In the past, such troops simply had to appear for

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Barreda Villegas, Felipe De (fl. 1680
1685) smaller bands of rovers to scuttle back out to sea, so the overconfident volunteers ignored De la Barreda’s call to assemble at the town of Santa Lucı´a, and instead rushed piecemeal into battle. Well-aimed volleys greeted them, from a freebooter army which stood and fought from behind Campeche’s ramparts. All day, the two sides struggled, De Barreda throwing his troops into the fray only to have Grammont circle behind the Spaniards, and catch them between two fires. The relief force drew off in defeat, leaving the citadel in such despair that it was abandoned that same night. His city having fallen, De Barreda was forced to wait until another expedition could be dispatched from the provincial capital. More than two weeks later, he received an order from Governor T
ellez, directing that all troops be marshaled at Tenab
o, eight leagues outside Campeche. De la Barreda set out with his own 46-man company, only to be captured near Cholul on July 28, 1685, by two columns of buccaneer horsemen. The pirates, who had commandeered mounts from outlying ranches and sent riders to ravage the countryside, brought De la Barreda and many other captives back into Campeche the next day. Their frustration at finding most of the Spaniards’ wealth withdrawn led to numerous instances of cruelty. On August 25th, the French flibustiers celebrated Louis XIV’s saint day with fireworks and festivities, then that following morning began preparations to decamp. A message was sent inland demanding a ransom of 80,000 pesos and 400 head of cattle for Campeche. T
ellez’s reply arrived a few days later, addressed to De Barreda. He was forced to read aloud a sneering rejection of the pirates’ demand, in which the Governor stated:

. . . they would be given nothing and might burn down the town, as [Spain] had ample funds with which to build or even buy another, and people with which to repopulate it. Furious, Grammont had the houses torched the next dawn; one of the few to be spared was De Barreda’s, which lay outside of the city limits and was occupied by the pirate leaders. The flibustier commander then sent another missive in which he threatened to massacre his captives, yet received the same response. Next day, the unfortunate prisoners were paraded in the main square, and executions began. After half-a-dozen men had been hanged, De Barreda and other leading citizens: . . . presented themselves before ‘‘Lorencillo’’ [de Graaf], whom they knew to be more humane than the Frenchman, and offered to serve him for the rest of their lives as slaves if he saved the rest of the inhabitants of Campeche. Lorenzo, after a lengthy discussion with Grammont, ordered a halt to the executions, and that the remaining prisoners be carried out to the ships. Immediately after this incident, all the pirates evacuated the citadel, having spiked the guns. De Barreda was fortunate in that he was left behind when the raiders eventually quit Campeche in early September 1685. He was cleared at the subsequent inquest into the loss of his city two months later, but apparently retired from active campaigning. He was last heard from in 1704, giving his opinion as to a new projected assault against the Laguna de T
erminos. He must have died

Beef Island shortly thereafter, as in January 1705 his wife petitioned the Crown for a pension.

BASQUE, MICHEL LE See Artigue, Michel d’

References
Eugenio Martı´nez, Marı´a Angeles, La defensa de Tabasco, 1600
1717 (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispanoamericanos, 1971). Ju
arez Moreno, Juan, Piratas y corsarios en Veracruz y Campeche (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1972).

BARRE’S TAVERN One of the more genteel establishments at rollicking Port Royal, Jamaica, noted for its light refreshments: ‘‘silabubus [sic], cream tarts and other quelque choses,’’ according to one satisfied patron. ‘‘Sillabubs’’ or ‘‘syllabubs’’ were drinks or dishes made by curdling cream or milk with an admixture of wine, cider, or some other acid, producing a soft curd which was then whipped or solidified with gelatin, to be sweetened or flavored. The name of this establishment may actually have been ‘‘Barre’s Tavern,’’ most probably owned or operated by the family of Charles de La Barre, Gov. Sir Thomas Lynch’s French secretary.’

See also Barr
e’s Tavern (Volume 2).

BEAUREGARD, CHARLES FRANÇOIS LE VASSEUR DE BECQUEL, CAPTAIN (fl. 1659
1663) French privateer commander who was mentioned under the name ‘‘Bequell’’ in the journal of Colonel Edward D’Oyley, Governor of Jamaica, as having been issued a ‘‘let-pass’’ on December 3, 1659 (O.S.). He is presumably the same ‘‘Captain Buckell’’ listed as commanding an 8-gun French frigate with a crew of 70 men in 1663, being described as ‘‘belonging to Tortuga,’’ yet bearing a commission from the English authorities on Jamaica.

Reference Pawson, Michael, and Buisseret, David J., Port Royal, Jamaica (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1975).

BEEF ISLAND A not uncommon name in the 17thcentury Caribbean, as the quest for fresh meat was a constant preoccupation for many rovers.

Mexico References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London, 1898). Pawson, Michael, and Buisseret, David J., Port Royal, Jamaica (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1975).

One such ‘‘Beef Island’’ was in fact not an island at all, but rather a long narrow strip of land named Xicalango Point, connected to the Mexican mainland due west of Isla del Carmen. It encloses the western portion of the Laguna de T
erminos, which was then a popular

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Beeston, Sir William (fl. 1660
Post 1695) destination for adventurers sortieing from Jamaica, who referred to it as the ‘‘Bay of Campeche.’’ Some visitors into this region were cruel marauders who came to plunder the Spanish coastal towns; others were relatively honest merchantmen who came to gather or buy logwood from the resident poachers or ‘‘Baymen.’’ To all of them, Beef Island was a particular stretch of low coastline where, over the years, cattle had routinely been rustled or slaughtered. In November 1681, for example, an Englishman named Jonas Clough described how a year-and-a-half earlier he had been aboard one of three New England sloops, when a Spanish expedition under Felipe de la Barreda had suddenly appeared and ‘‘took two of the sloops and forced the third ashore on Beef Island, called by the Spaniards Jica Lanoga [sic; Xicalango].’’ More than 80 interlopers had remained marooned there, he added, until they agreed to surrender more than a month later. These Englishmen thought that they had been promised safe-conduct to the Cayman Islands or Jamaica, but were instead carried off as prisoners to Mexico City, where they were harshly treated.

Virgin Islands Another ‘‘Beef Island’’ was at the eastern extreme of Tortola in the Virgin Islands, which still bears this name today. Early in 1684, one of pirate George Bond’s prizes—a Dutch ship which he had seized at Suriname—was reportedly recaptured ‘‘at Beef Island, near Saint Thomas.’’

See also Beef Island (Volume 2).

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London, 1898). Gerhard, Peter, The Southeast Frontier of New Spain (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1979).

BEESTON, SIR WILLIAM (fl. 1660
Post 1695) English pirate-hunter who became Governor of Jamaica. Beeston was born at Tichfield, Hampshire, England, and apparently was baptized on December 2, 1636 (O.S.). He was the second son of William and Elizabeth Beeston. His elder brother Henry became master of Winchester School and warden of New College, Oxford. William emigrated to Jamaica in May 1660, and little more than three years later was elected to its first Council, as a member for Port Royal. He was made Judge of the Court of Common Pleas in December 1664, and that following November 1665 was sent by the new Gov. Sir Thomas Modyford with three ships to recall a group of privateers, who were reportedly gathered off Cuba for an attack against the town of Sancti Spı´ritus. Beeston was to read them ‘‘a proclamation from the King to keep peace with the Spaniards’’ and recall them for the defense of Jamaica against the Dutch, the Second Anglo-Dutch War having recently erupted back in Europe; yet after six weeks without being able to find them, he returned into Port Royal empty-handed, learning that the rovers had indeed carried out their design.

Beeston, Sir William (fl. 1660
Post 1695) Modyford’s successor Sir Thomas Lynch delegated Beeston on a similar commission six years later: Having brought out the peace treaty with Spain, Lynch and Modyford chose ‘‘Major Beeston and Captain Reid to carry the articles of peace, &c,’’ to the Spanish Governor of Cartagena, and bring back any English prisoners who were incarcerated there. The frigates HMS Assistance of 40 guns and Welcome of 36 were placed at Beeston’s disposal, sailing on July 16, 1671 (O.S.), yet they were hardly out of sight of Port Royal when Captain John Hubbart of Assistance fell ill. He died three days later, being succeeded in command by Lieutenant John Wilgress. Cartagena was reached on July 23rd (O.S.), where arrangements were made for the publication of the treaty and release of English captives. By August 7th (O.S.) Beeston was back in Jamaica, and five days later witnessed the arrest of Modyford for his deportation toward England.

Pirate Hunting (1671
1672) On December 8, 1671 (O.S.), Wilgress was dismissed from command of HMS Assistance for ‘‘wicked, drunken behavior,’’ being replaced two days later by Beeston. On December 16th (O.S.) he set sail for Trinidad (Cuba), returning into Port Royal by January of next year. Then, as noted in Beeston’s journal: January 31, 1672 [O.S.]. The Assistance sailed again to the south cays of Cuba after privateers and pirates, by the desire of the Governor of Santiago [de Cuba]; yet when she came there, he would not suffer them to have provision for their money, nor would he

let them come into Santiago, though the captain [Beeston] brought and delivered him a ship he took from the privateers (which belonged formerly to the Spaniards) without any charge; therefore the 18th of March [O.S.] the Assistance again returned to Port Royal. During this cruise, Beeston had vainly pursued the renegade privateer ship Seviliaen of Jelles de Lecat and Jan Erasmus Reyning near Campeche, where he had also seized the rogue ship Charity of Francis Weatherbourne and the French vessel of Capitaine du Mangles, both for committing ‘‘great violence against the Spaniards.’’ The latter two captains were tried for piracy and condemned to be shot to death aboard Assistance a couple of days after reentering Port Royal, yet eventually were ordered deported to England aboard Welcome, when that frigate departed Jamaica on April 6, 1672 (O.S.), with Henry Morgan as a prisoner. Five days afterward, Beeston again sailed with Assistance, this time ‘‘to Hispaniola to look for privateers, and thence to the Havana to fetch away the [English] prisoners, from whence she returned [to Jamaica] the 15th of June [O.S.].’’ Beeston then commanded the warship on its return passage to England, quitting Port Royal on July 10, 1672 (O.S.), with a convoy comprised of the merchantmen Friesland, Thomas and Charles, Huntsman, and Endeavour. They reached the mouth of the Thames that October, and shortly thereafter Beeston relinquished his command, returning to Jamaica the next summer, perhaps aboard Captain Canning’s 40gun frigate HMS Portland, or Captain

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Beeston, Sir William (fl. 1660
Post 1695) Gollo’s smaller Thomas and Francis, both of which entered Port Royal on July 21, 1673 (O.S.).

Subsequent Career (1673
1702) Two years later, when Lord Vaughan reached Jamaica as that island’s new Governor, Beeston was appointed one of its Commissioners of the Admiralty (along with the recently-returned Lieutenant-Gov. Sir Henry Morgan, and the latter’s brother-in-law, Colonel Robert Byndloss). In April 1677, ‘‘Lieutenant-Colonel’’ Beeston was chosen Speaker of the Jamaican Assembly, and led the opposition to proposed changes in its government from London. Differences with the new Governor, the Earl of Carlisle, eventually reached such a point that the Assembly was dissolved and Beeston, along with the island’s Chief Justice, Colonel Samuel Long, were ordered to travel to England and ‘‘answer for their contumacy.’’ Beeston set sail on July 6, 1680 (O.S.), reaching London two months afterward—before either Carlisle or Long, both of whom had departed fourteen weeks previously. Together with the Chief Justice, Beeston then filed counter-charges against the Earl, and after lengthy proceedings was cleared of any wrongdoing. In June 1692, Beeston was named Lieutenant-Governor for Jamaica and also became a factor for the Royal African Company, was knighted at Kensington on October 30th (O.S.), and set sail from Portsmouth aboard HMS Ruby on December 19th (O.S.) to return to Port Royal in mid-March 1693. Although he had missed the dreadful earthquake which devastated that harbor

shortly before noon on June 7, 1692 (O.S.), he nonetheless found the island still suffering from its terrible aftereffects, and wrote to a friend: ‘‘By the mortality which yet continues, I have lost all my family but my wife [Anne] and one child [their daughter Jane], and have not one servant left to attend me but my cook, so it is very uneasy being here.’’ His discomfiture was further increased by the War of the League of Augsburg or King William’s War, which left Jamaica vulnerable to an attack from the French on Saint-Domingue. The next summer, Jean-Baptiste Ducasse led a massive descent on Jamaica, which Beeston managed to resist, although the French rampaged unchecked throughout the southern plantations for the better part of a month, before retiring. Beeston was superseded as Governor at the end of January 1702; he sailed for England by April 25th (O.S.) and arrived two months later and died shortly thereafter.

See also Beeston, Sir William (Volume 2).

References Dictionary of National Biography (London, 1885
1900, 63 volumes; reissued by Oxford University Press, 2004). Interesting Tracts Relating to the Island of Jamaica (St. Jago de la Vega: Lewis, Lunan and Jones, 1800). Pawson, Michael, and Buisseret, David J., Port Royal, Jamaica (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1975). Pope, Dudley, Harry Morgan’s Way: The Biography of Sir Henry Morgan, 1635
1684 (London: Secker & Warburg, 1977).

Bernardson, Albert (fl. 1665)

BENNETT, JOHN (fl. 1670
1676) English privateer who served in Henry Morgan’s sack of Panama. Late in 1670, Bennett joined the buccaneer fleet gathering at ^Ile a Vache off southwestern Hispaniola with his tiny Virgin Queen of 50 tons and 30 men, to take part in the expedition against the Spaniards. He must have sailed to Providencia Island and Chagres, then led his contingent across the Isthmus as part of Morgan’s main body. Following this attack, little more is heard about Bennett’s activities, although he presumably continued roving during the Third Anglo-Dutch War of 1672
1674. When England withdrew from the confederation against The Netherlands, many West Indian corsairs shifted allegiance to continue privateering. Bennett was one such commander, obtaining a commission from Bertrand d’Ogeron, Governor of French SaintDomingue, to make war against the Spaniards. His reputation became such that he was the principal renegade to whom Morgan drafted a letter in March 1675, offering liberty to all English rovers who returned to Jamaica. This proposal was never sent, the Jamaican authorities preferring other measures to recall English subjects from foreign service. Meanwhile, Bennett remained busy, intercepting the Buen Jes
us de las Almas of Master Bernardo Ferrer Espejo, as it approached the coast of Hispaniola with 46,471 pesos as the annual situado or ‘‘payroll’’ for that island’s garrison. The Spanish authorities were highly suspicious of this capture, noting that Bennett only had a small brigantine with 20 men, whereas Ferrer Espejo’s 50-ton frigate

held three times that number. They therefore believed that Ferrer had colluded in this capture, allowing Buen Jes
us to be carried into Saint-Domingue in April 1675, and ordered his arrest; furthermore, they believed him guilty of fraud as well on his previous voyage to Cartagena and Havana for another situado. They furthermore lodged a protest with London pointing out that the English renegade had run away with his brigantine from Jamaica, ‘‘had Frenchmen on board, French commission, fought under French colors, had the prize condemned and adjudged in French ports.’’ The protest was rejected. Nevertheless, the English would have happily detained Bennett, except that chance intervened. On February 9, 1677 (O.S.), a Jamaican newsletter reported: Two French vessels lately well beaten by a Spanish hulk [sic; urca] in the Gulf of Mexico with the loss of 80 men, Captain Bennett killed in the engagement.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 9, 10 (London: Her Majest’s Stationery Office, 1893
1896). Pope, Dudley, Harry Morgan’s Way: The Biography of Sir Henry Morgan, 1635
1684 (London: Secker & Warburg, 1977).

BERNARDSON, ALBERT (fl. 1665) Privateer who commanded the 6-gun Trueman in Colonel Edward Morgan’s

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Bigot expedition against Dutch Sint Eustatius and Saba, during the Second AngloDutch War. This force departed Jamaica in two divisions, five sail putting out of Port Royal on April 5, 1665, and Morgan himself following with another four on the 28th. There were 650 men in all, described in a letter by Gov. Sir Thomas Modyford as: . . . chiefly reformed privateers, scarce a planter amongst them, being resolute fellows and well armed with fusils [Spanish word for muskets] and pistols. The Crown official was particularly grateful that they would be serving ‘‘at the old rate of no purchase, no pay, and it will cost the King nothing considerable, some powder and mortar pieces.’’ Their landing was successfully made, but the Colonel, ‘‘being a corpulent man,’’ died from heat exertion during the chase, so that his expedition disbanded shortly thereafter.

References Cruikshank, E. A., The Life of Sir Henry Morgan (Toronto: Macmillan, 1935). Interesting Tracts Relating to the Island of Jamaica (St. Jago de la Vega: Lewis, Lunan and Jones, 1800). Pope, Dudley, Harry Morgan’s Way: The Biography of Sir Henry Morgan, 1635
1684 (London: Secker & Warburg, 1977).

BIGOT See Vigot, Guillaume

BILBO OR BILBOES In the 17th century, ‘‘bilbo’’ was apparently a nickname for any rapier or fine, flexible thrusting-sword, supposedly derived from the name of the Spanish port of Bilbao, where many such blades were bought. ‘‘Bilboes,’’ on the other hand, referred to a long iron bar with shackles, used to confine the feet of prisoners. For example, a man named John Yardley gave a deposition before the President of the Council of Barbados on the last day of 1661 (O.S.), complaining of the brutalities inflicted on him by Captain Richard Whiting and various seamen of the anchored 40-gun Royal Navy frigate HMS Diamond, alleging that while: Returning from Carlisle Bay to St. Michael’s on November 5th last [1661 O.S.], after commemorating the Gunpowder Treason by pistol firing, he was on a sudden assaulted and deprived of his pistol, tripped up, kicked, and hauled into a boat, which was then rowed away to the Diamond frigate, where he was kept in the bilboes all that night with one Mr. Hunt. About 9 or 10 o’clock next morning, he and Hunt were released. Some of the Diamond’s men assaulted him and took away his pistol, and the Captain kicked him in the boat.

See also Bilbo (Volume 2).

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 5

Binckes, Jacob (?
1677) (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1893
1899).

BILLIARDS Popular 17th-century diversion, particularly in English drinking establishments. Several taverns at Port Royal, Jamaica, sported billiards rooms, which seem to have been situated in the yard or otherwise removed from the main bar, so as to minimize frictions. According to a contemporary report, the ‘‘George’’ tavern, which ‘‘fronted to the old market place’’ in town, had a special room built for the game; the same was true at the ‘‘Feathers,’’ whose billiard room was situated over another room in its yard.

See also Billiards (Volume 2).

Reference Pawson, Michael, and Buisseret, David J., Port Royal, Jamaica (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1975).

BINCKES, JACOB (?
1677) Also spelled Benckes. Frisian commander who led two expeditions into the West Indies. Binckes was a veteran of the Second Anglo-Dutch War, having fought in the Two Day Battle off Dunkirk in 1666, and the daring Medway raid of the following year. At the outbreak of the Third Anglo-Dutch War in 1672, he was given command of the 70-gun Woerden by the Admiralty of Amsterdam, fighting in the Battle of Sole Bay, and off West Kapellen that June aboard Groot Hollandia. In September, he was

Portrait of the Dutch admiral Jacob Binckes, by Nicolaes Maes; this officer led a pair of lucrative privateering forays into the West Indies, before being killed on the island of Tobago. (The Metropolitan Museum of Art/Art Resource, NY)

unjustly accused along with four other senior officers of having quit the Battle of Sole Bay, being quickly cleared.

First Caribbean Campaign (1673) After this trial, Binckes rejoined Admiral Michiel de Ruyter at the Texel. The Anglo-French invasion threat having been defused and summer campaigning drawing to a close, he was ordered to lead a small squadron into the West Indies. His flagship was the two-year-old frigate Noordhollandt of 46 guns and 210 men, accompanied by three other men-of-war. He quit the Texel on December 18, 1672, and by late May 1673 had taken two prizes and was blockading Cul-de-Sac

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Binckes, Jacob (?
1677) Bay, Martinique. At noon on May 22nd, he saw four ships approaching, and turned toward them with French colors displayed, hoping to lure them nearer. The strangers immediately hoisted Dutch flags, proving to be a Zeeland squadron under Cornelis Evertsen. Having left Vlissingen [Flushing] on an identical mission, they agreed to join forces and attempted to force the French harbor that same night, but were prevented by contrary winds. Both squadrons then proceeded to Guadeloupe, seizing the merchantmen Saint Joseph and Franc¸oise, as well as the island trader Nouveau France and Irish merchantman Saint Michael of Galway, from beneath the Monserrat batteries. Nevis and St. Kitts were bombarded, before the former Dutch island of Sint Eustatius was overrun on May 29, 1673. Binckes and Evertsen raided the Virginia coast in mid-July, reoccupying New York City (formerly New Netherland) at the end of that month. Having reinstated Dutch rule, they detached four ships to raid Newfoundland, before sailing with their main body to the Azores and Europe. By the time they reached neutral Cadiz in December 1673, they had captured a total of 34 English or French prizes during their cruise, and destroyed at least 150 more. However, a peace treaty was just being concluded with the English, so that New York was restored to English domination.

Second Caribbean Campaign (1676) Binckes was promoted to Vice-Admiral of Amsterdam and sent back out to the West Indies again on March 16, 1676, with a fleet of three ships-of-the-line of 56 to 44 guns, six frigates of 36 to 24 guns, a fire-ship, and three troop

transports. On May 4, 1676, he dropped anchor off Cayenne, landing 900 men and taking Fort Saint-Louis with almost no resistance. Leaving behind a garrison, he proceeded northward and visited a like treatment on Marie-Galante, throwing down its fortifications and carrying off its French colonists. When he sighted Guadeloupe on June 16th, he considered its defenses too strong, so passed it by, unsuccessfully pursuing a trio of French vessels. A few days later, he landed 500 men and overran Saint-Martin, killing the French Governor and seizing 100 slaves. From there, Binckes continued toward Tobago, which according to his instructions he was to fortify, while at the same time detaching his second-in-command Pieter Constant to attempt to incite the boucaniers of Saint-Domingue to revolt against the high tariffs newly-imposed by the French West Indies Company. A French counterattack was not long in developing; Louis XIV dispatched a large fleet into the New World under Vice Admiral Jean, Duc d’Estr
ees. In December 1676, this French officer recaptured Cayenne, then pressed on for Martinique, where he gained intelligence and was heavily reinforced by numerous flibustiers. He set sail again on February 12, 1677, for Tobago, which Binckes had transformed into a heavily-fortified base, although the Dutch were outnumbered by 1,700 to 4,000. On the evening of 21 February 1677, the French landed 1,000 soldiers near Rockly Bay, and sent 14 light vessels to make a feint against its harbor mouth.

First Battle of Tobago (March 1677) D’Estr
ees launched his major assault on the morning of March 3, 1677.

Blackburne, Lancelot (fl. 1681
1683) Fighting was intense both on land and especially in the harbor, with Binckes eventually emerging victorious, although losing 10 of his 13 anchored vessels to a spreading conflagration (which also consumed four of the attacking French men-of-war). Two French vessels were also captured, and D’Estr
ees was forced to retreat to Grenada and Martinique with over 1,000 casualties and by early July was back in Versailles reporting on his failure. The ‘‘Sun King’’ immediately ordered his Admiral to return to the West Indies and complete his mission. D’Estr
ees therefore departed Brest on September 27, 1677, with 17 more ships, arriving off Tobago on December 6th, having destroyed the Dutch slaving-station of Gor
ee in West Africa while en route. Binckes’ squadron and garrison had meanwhile not been reinforced from Holland, being reduced to less than 500 effectives by the first battle and ravages of tropical disease. Binckes’ sole advantage lay in the torrential weather, yet despite this, the French quickly threw a contingent of 1,000 troops ashore and installed siege artillery, refusing to be drawn into a suicidal charge like the last time. The harbor was no longer a consideration, as the Dutch only had two ships lying there.

Second Battle of Tobago (December 1677) On December 12, 1677, the chief French gunner began firing rangingshots against the Dutch fortification, laying odds that he would blow it up at the third attempt. Incredibly, the third round landed within the magazine,

killing Binckes and 250 defenders with a mighty blast. The French swarmed exultantly over the ruins, while Dutch resolve collapsed, and the island fell.

References Buchet, Christian, La lutte pour l’espace cara€be et la fac¸ade atlantique de l’Am
erique centrale et du Sud (1672
1763) (Paris: Librairie de l’Inde, 1991). Shomette, Donald G. and Haslach, Robert D., Raid on America: The Dutch Naval Campaign of 1672
1674 (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1988).

BLACKBURNE, LANCELOT (fl. 1681
1683) Archbishop of York, who allegedly served aboard buccaneer ships as a young man in the West Indies. Blackburne was educated at Westminster School, and in 1676 matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford, at the age of 17. Five years later, shortly after his ordination, he went to Antigua on a brief secret mission, the sum of £20 appearing opposite his name in the record of ‘‘Moneys paid for Secret Services’’ for the year 1681. By January 28, 1683 (O.S.), he was back in England, receiving his Masters of Arts degree. Henceforth, he concentrated on his Church career, slowly gaining preferments until he became Archbishop of York in 1724. This rise, coupled by political influence, made him the target of jealous enemies, who repeated many injurious rumors—the most persistent being that Blackburne had acted as

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Bl
enac, Charles De Courbon, Seigneur De Romegoux, Comte De (1622
1696) chaplain aboard ships engaged in buccaneering, and even shared in their loot. One joke of the day had a buccaneer return to England after many years and ask what had become of his old chum, only to be told that he was now Archbishop of York. Blackburne’s jolly, earthy personality lent itself to this image. Another story described how on a visitation to St. Mary’s, Nottingham, he ordered pipes with tobacco and liquor brought into the vestry ‘‘for his refreshment after the fatigue of confirmation.’’ The merry old cleric passed away on March 23, 1743 (O.S.), ‘‘at a time of extreme cold,’’ and was buried at St. Margaret’s, Westminster, England.

Reference Dictionary of National Biography (London, 1885
1900, 63 volumes; reissued by Oxford University Press, 2004).


NAC, CHARLES DE BLE COURBON, SEIGNEUR DE ROMEGOUX, COMTE DE (1622
1696) Governor-General of the French Antilles, who on several occasions raised flibustiers for West Indian campaigns. Bl
enac was born in Saintonge, France, in 1622, of a noble family. He married his cousin’s widow Ang
elique de la Rochefoucauld in 1649, by whom he would have 11 children. He served the infant Louis XIV throughout the Fronde rebellions, rising in military rank. In 1669, Bl
enac transferred to the nascent French Navy, and commanded the Infante or ‘‘Infanta’’ in the Comte d’Estr
ees’

expedition against the Barbary pirates, as well as Fort or ‘‘Strong’’ at the 1672 Battle of Sole Bay. Hot-tempered and quarrelsome, he was briefly incarcerated the next year for insulting a superior officer, yet saw action again against the Dutch that same August 1673, when he captained Fortun
e at the Battle of the Texel. Late in 1676, Bl
enac sailed in D’Estr
ees’ first Caribbean expedition, commanding Fendant or ‘‘Swordstroke’’ in the unsuccessful assault against Dutch Tobago. Retreating to Grenada, the French furthermore learned of the death of Jean-Charles de Baas-Castelmore, Governor-General of the Antilles, so that Bl
enac was temporarily appointed to succeed him. He returned to France with D’Estr
ees to have this nomination confirmed, then sailed back to Martinique with the Admiral’s second fleet in autumn 1677, assuming office that November. Bl
enac was instrumental in raising a large force of flibustiers for D’Estr
ees’ subsequent venture against Curac¸ao, which ended in disaster when this force was wrecked amid the Aves Islands grouping on the evening of May 11, 1678. Bl
enac also employed buccaneer contingents during the War of the League of Augsburg, especially at its inception in 1689, when he launched offensive operations against English St. Kitts and Dutch Sint Eustatius. His early successes were soon reversed, and he was so severely criticized by subordinates such as Jean-Baptiste Ducasse that he offered to resign. Bl
enac returned to France ‘‘on leave’’ aboard Pont d’Or or ‘‘Golden Bridge’’ in 1690, and did not resume his duties at Martinique until February 16, 1692. He died at Fort-Royal of lingering dysentery on the night of June 8—9,

Blot, Capitaine (fl. 1679
1684) 1696, being succeeded by the Marquis d’Amblimont.

See also Bl
enac, Charles de Courbon (Volume 2).

Reference Baudrit, Andr
e, Charles de Courbon, Comte de Bl
enac, 1622
1696 (Fort de France: Soci
et
e d’Histoire de la Martinique, 1967).

BLOT, CAPITAINE (fl. 1679
1684) French flibustier and salvor, who operated out of Saint-Domingue. This little-known figure was first mentioned in official records in 1679, as bearing a privateer commission to command a 2-gun frigate with a crew of 44 men. While cruising off Havana, he apparently joined Pierre Br
eha in a venture to the Bahamas, where they captured two Spanish vessels under Captain Martı´n de Melgar, who was diving on the wreck of the longlost galleon Maravillas. Br
eha and Blot took over this operation, using Melgar’s own divers and equipment to raise 200,000 pesos’ worth of silver bars. On regaining Saint-Domingue toward the end of that same year with this treasure, Blot was hastened back out to the wreck-site by Gov. Jacques Nepveu, Sieur de Pouanc¸ay, aboard the 2-gun, 80-man frigate Trinitaire. Blot was back working the galleon by April 1680, returning into port that September for re-supply, before resuming salvagework for a third time, with his frigate and two or three lesser consorts in May 1681.

Having evidently exhausted the site, Blot was next heard of in 1682, capturing an 8-gun Spanish ship and sailing this prize to the Cayman Islands, where he joined forces with Jan ‘‘Jantje’’ Willems. They in turn ventured to the coast of Honduras, to participate in Laurens de Graaf and the Sieur de Grammont’s subsequent sack of Veracruz in May 1683. On returning to Saint-Domingue, Blot seemingly served as one of eight Captains in the stillborn strike ordered against Santiago de Cuba in early November 1683, weighing from Petit-Go^ave, only to see this expedition disintegrate after the planter and militia Major Jean Le Goff, Sieur de Beauregard, attempted to discipline a disgruntled flibustier. Finally, Blot is known to have weighed from Petit-Go^ave for the last time in March 1684, his 8-gun, 90-man vessel Quagone [sic?] forming part of the fiveship flotilla which Jean, Sieur de Bernanos, would lead against the Spanish Main. After securing a commission from the French Governor of Saint Croix, and allying themselves with a party of Carib auxiliaries, this force advanced up Venezuela’s Orinoco River to seize the newly-completed Spanish fort of San Francisco de Asis by May 30, 1684. The flibustiers then pushed farther upstream to sack the frontier outpost of Santo Tom
e de Guayana, and held onto Fort San Francisco until August 1684, before retiring to the islands of Margarita and Trinidad. Although information is uncertain, it appears as if Blot died sometime during this penetration up the Orinoco, or shortly thereafter.

See also Bernanos, Jean, Sieur de (Volume 2); Br
eha, Pierre; De Graaf, Laurens; Flibustier; Grammont, Sieur de;

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Blunden, Robert (fl. 1662
1664) Pouanc¸ay, Jacques Nepveu, Sieur de; Willems, Jan (Volume 2).

References Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924). Ju
arez Moreno, Juan, Piratas y corsarios en Veracruz y Campeche (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1972). Lugo, Am
erico, Recopilaci
on diplom
atica relativa a las colonias espa~ nola y francesa de la isla de Santo Domingo, 1640
1701 (Ciudad Trujillo, Dominican Republic: Editorial ‘‘La Naci
on,’’ 1944).

BLUNDEN, ROBERT (fl. 1662
1664) English privateer out of Jamaica. When the new Governor Lord Windsor arrived at Port Royal in August 1662, his instructions included a suggestion that an attempt be made to win over the boucaniers of Tortuga Island, before they could threaten the burgeoning English colony. The idea was to make them a discreet overture, hoping to persuade them to submit to English rule, yet without openly antagonizing the French government. Windsor only remained in office 10 weeks before returning to England, so that the matter was left to the Council of Jamaica, which dispatched Colonel Samuel Barry and Captain Abraham Langford on this business, aboard the privateer vessel Charles of Robert Blunden. This trio set sail in January 1663, crossing to western Santo Domingo, but on arriving learned that the boucaniers

of Tortuga were quite hostile to such a notion, and might contest their approach by force of arms. Blunden flatly refused to proceed any farther, and the Charles was redirected—over Barry’s objections—to the mainland settlement of Petit-Go^ave. Here, a different band of boucaniers acclaimed Blunden as their chieftain, even raising the English flag. Langford apparently seconded Blunden, departing soon after for England to petition Charles II for appointment as Governor of ‘‘Tortuga and the coasts of Hispaniola.’’ Barry returned to Jamaica several months later and reported on this strange conclusion, which London never approved because Blunden’s claim would have annoyed not only the French government, but also the Spaniards of Santo Domingo.

References Pawson, Michael, and Buisseret, David J., Port Royal, Jamaica (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1975). Pope, Dudley, Harry Morgan’s Way: The Biography of Sir Henry Morgan, 1635
1684 (London: Secker & Warburg, 1977).

BOND, GEORGE (fl. 1683
1684) English master turned pirate. Bond arrived in the West Indies commanding the Summer Island of London, but at Saint Thomas in the Danish Virgin Islands was persuaded to go a-roving, so that in May 1683 he was seen fitting out his ship, now renamed Fortune’s Adventure. He was abetted with ‘‘spars, sails, and provisions’’ provided by the local Gov.

Bonidel, Capitaine (fl. 1659) Adolf Esmit. Bond departed on a cruise and returned with a Dutch prize, stopping at the east end of Saint Thomas to send Esmit word of his arrival. The Governor met Bond at sea, offering ‘‘his sloop and storehouse [to offload and hide] the captured goods,’’ plus protection for the rovers. Soon, Bond’s depredations began to multiply, one of his captures being the English merchantman Gideon, which he sent into Saint Thomas. His prize crew (all Englishmen) were well received by the Governor, their booty being stored in the castle, and the pirates themselves ‘‘given an ounce of gold dust a man,’’ presumably as payment for their plunder. By August 25, 1683, things had become so problematical that Gov. Sir William Stapleton of the Leeward Islands sent a letter from Nevis, informing London that: Captain Carlile goes this very day to look for one Cooke and one Bond, two English pirates fitted from Saint Thomas. I have furnished him with men and powder lest he should be overpowered. Carlile evidently met with no success, for two months later—after it was falsely reported that the great corsair Laurens de Graaf had been hanged by the Spaniards—Stapleton was moved to add: There is now no pirate abroad but Bond with a small ship and 100 men. He is expected at Saint Thomas, where Captain Carlile is ready for him. Yet the English renegade continued to evade the Royal Navy; only a few of his prizes were intercepted. On one

occasion, Bond apparently purchased a Dutch ship at Saint Thomas, which was then seized by a trio of English privateers sent out in his pursuit. Early in 1684, another Dutch ship which Bond had taken off Suriname was recaptured at Beef Island, east of Tortola. Its English liberators carried it into Nevis, but were disappointed to discover that the cargo had already been offloaded at Saint Thomas. The Jamaican sloop Fox underwent an even more complicated ordeal, first being taken by French flibustiers who carried it to Saint Croix, where it was subsequently cut out by Bond, and brought to Saint Thomas. He made a gift of it to Esmit, who in turn refused a Jamaican request to restore the sloop to its English owners, instead putting a cargo of timber aboard and dispatching it to Barbados. On its return passage, Fox dropped anchor off Saint John’s Island ‘‘by Captain Hill’s ship, who seized the sloop and took possession,’’ sailing it into Nevis in June 1684.

Reference Calendar of State Papers: Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898).

BONIDEL, CAPITAINE (fl. 1659) French privateer commander who was mentioned in the journal of Colonel Edward d’Oyley, Governor of Jamaica, as having been issued a ‘‘let-pass’’ on November 24, 1659 (O.S.), to sortie from Port Cagway, and operate against the Spaniards.

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Bourillon, François (fl. 1669)

Reference Pawson, Michael and Buisseret, David J., Port Royal, Jamaica (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1975).

BOURILLON, FRANÇOIS (fl. 1669) French adventurer from Marseilles, who according to a memorandum he submitted in November 1669, had ‘‘made many voyages in Spanish America, with the Spaniards and in their service, and lived many years both in the Islands as well as Tierra Firme, always passing himself off as a Spaniard.’’ In a rather simplistic proposal for promoting French expansion overseas, Bourillon suggested that an expedition of 10 large ships and 8,000 troops be sent to Tortuga Island, where it could be augmented by boucaniers. Part of this force would then be deployed to overrun the Spanish stronghold of Santiago de los Caballeros in the interior of eastern Hispaniola, before continuing overland to meet up with the rest of this formation, which was to land outside of the island’s Spanish capital. Once this city fell, ‘‘the same army and same ships could make a descent on Cuba,’’ he concluded. This was one of many half-baked schemes submitted to the French Crown during the 17th century, and there is no indication that it was ever acted on.

Reference Lugo, Am
erico, Recopilaci
on diplom
atica relativa a las colonias espa~ nola y francesa de la isla de Santo Domingo,

1640
1701 (Ciudad Trujillo, Dominican Republic: Editorial ‘‘La Naci
on,’’ 1944).

BRADLEY, JOSEPH (fl. 1665
1671) English privateer and estate-owner on Jamaica, who died storming the Spanish defenses at Chagres. The first mention of Bradley’s activities occurred in December 1665, when he commanded a small craft in Edward Mansfield’s illegal sweep through the south cays of Cuba, as well as the seizure of J
ucaro and torching of Sancti Spı´ritus that same Christmas. Bradley also participated in Mansfield’s failed advance into Costa Rica, which ended short of Turrialba in April 1666, obliging this freebooter force to retreat and instead the next month reconquer Providence or Santa Catarina Island from the Spaniards. Bradley was also to participate in Henry Morgan’s projected attack against Cartagena late in 1668, but quit his company after the accidental explosion of the flagship HMS Oxford, apparently opting to sail in January 1669 on an independent French cruise against Cuman
a and northeastern Venezuela. Later that same spring of 1669, Bradley seems to have steered his 80-man frigate Mayflower into the Gulf of Mexico along with the brigantines of Gerrit Gerritszoon—better known as Rok Brasiliano—and Jelles de Lecat, to campaign against the Spaniards in and around the Laguna de T
erminos. For two or three weeks, this trio hovered off the port of Campeche, without taking any prizes. They then attempted some disembarkations along that coast, before Bradley finally captured a Cuban vessel

Bradley, Joseph (fl. 1665
1671) laden with flour, so that the raiders could retire into the Laguna de T
erminos to rest. They remained there for two months, while Brasiliano’s brigantine was being careened, and De Lecat laid in a cargo of logwood. At the end of this interlude, Bradley and Brasiliano returned to blockade Campeche, Mayflower taking up station directly opposite that port, while Brasiliano’s brigantine hauled up close inshore, four leagues to the southwest off Las Bocas. On December 18, 1669, the Spaniards sortied with three armed ships, chasing these intruders away. Brasiliano was shipwrecked on the north shores of Yucatan, from where he was later rescued by De Lecat, transferred aboard Bradley’s frigate, and returned to Jamaica. Shortly after arriving home from this foray to his small Jamaican estate, reports began to arrive of renewed depredations by Spanish corsairs in the West Indies, culminating with a series of raids against Jamaica itself by Manoel Rivero Pardal during the summer of 1670. The Jamaican Governor Sir Thomas Modyford and his Council therefore decided to organize a retaliatory strike under ‘‘Admiral’’ Morgan, whose enterprise Bradley promptly joined. When it seemed that the 22gun, 120-ton Satisfaction would not reappear in time to lead this expedition, Morgan selected Bradley’s 70-ton Mayflower as his flagship, but at the very last moment Satisfaction did return, so that Morgan transferred aboard it before setting sail from Port Royal on August 11, 1670, at the head of a fleet of 11 vessels and 600 men. They ventured toward Cuba on a brief sweep, before touching at Tortuga Island to recruit more followers

among the French flibustiers, and then reached the agreed rendezvous off ^Ile a Vache by September 12th. In a report written to Lord Arlington on September 20, 1670 (O.S.), Governor Modyford mentioned how: Captain Bradley last week brought in a Quaker’s vessel commanded by one Watson, which he recovered from a Spanish man-of-war thirteen days after he had taken her, with six sailors; said Watson, two quaking preaching-women; and the rest the man-of-war carried into The Havana, chased by Bradley within shot of the Morro Castle. Bradley played a prominent role in the subsequent series of conferences which eventually ratified a decision to attack Panama, being furthermore invested with the title of ‘‘Lieutenant Colonel’’ for this campaign.

Chagres Assault (January 1671) Toward the end of that year, Morgan’s huge fleet of 36 vessels and 2,000 buccaneers at last got under way, pausing during its traverse to recapture tiny Providencia Island from the Spaniards on Christmas Day. Three days afterward, Bradley was sent on ahead of the fleet with 470 men aboard his own ship, ‘‘Major’’ Richard Norman’s 10-gun Lilly, and De Lecat’s Seviliaen, to capture the crucial San Lorenzo Castle at the mouth of the Chagres River, which was to be used as the pirates’ advance-base for their overland march against Panama. Bradley and his consorts landed within sight of this fortification at noon on January 6, 1671, with 400 freebooters disembarking and approaching ‘‘with

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Brand, Bartel (fl. 1665
1667) flags and trumpets’’ to make their initial assault that afternoon. The 360 Spanish defenders waited confidently under their castellano or ‘‘garrison commander,’’ Pedro de Elizalde y Urs
ua, who had defiantly written: ‘‘Even if all England were to come, they would not capture this castle.’’ Bradley’s first and second charges were halted by a deadly hail of bullets, so that as dusk fell, he led his men forward through some gullies, creeping up to toss grenades and fire-pots inside, which ignited the wooden stockades. These fires spread gradually throughout that night, consuming the defenses and detonating San Lorenzo’s magazines. In the darkness, some 150 Spanish soldiers deserted, yet enough remained to break Bradley’s first two assaults the next day. Finally, a contingent of flibustiers from Tortuga fought their way inside on the third attempt, swords in hand, so that a badly-wounded Bradley could hear them shouting ‘‘Victoire! Victoire!’’ above the din. Elizalde and his remaining 70 defenders fought bravely to the last man (this commander’s parents later being rewarded with 1,000 ducats from the Spanish Crown, for their son’s brave defense). At least 30 buccaneers had been killed and another 76 injured during these assaults, including Bradley, who was shot through both legs. Norman assumed overall command while Bradley convalesced, but five days later, just as Morgan’s ships hove into view, he died of his wounds. William Fogg later summarized Bradley’s activities after the seizure of Providence Island, as follows: . . . they sent Captain Bradley with 400 men to take Chagre Castle; where after nine days he landed. They fired a volley at the castle, and fell into the trench,

which was twelve foot deep; that night they fired the castle, which made it so hot they could not enter, it being of double palisades and thatch, and lay under the walls the next day; the third day they fell on, but were beaten back, the enemy being 370 men, but they rallied, entered the castle, and put all to the sword, saving none but slaves and such as hid themselves. In this conflict they lost Captain Bradley, Lieutenant Powell, and 150 men.

See also Gerritszoon, Gerrit; Lecat, Jelles de; Mansfield, Edward; Morgan, Sir Henry.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 7 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1889). Earle, Peter, The Sack of Panama: Captain Morgan and the Battle for the Caribbean (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2007). Pope, Dudley, Harry Morgan’s Way: The Biography of Sir Henry Morgan, 1635
1684 (London: Secker & Warburg, 1977). Vrijman, L. C. Dr. David van der Sterre: Zeer aenmerkelijke reysen door Jan Erasmus Reyning. (Amsterdam: P. N. van Kampen & Zoon, 1937).

BRAND, BARTEL (fl. 1665
1667) Flushing privateer who swept the Caribbean for English prizes during the Second Anglo-Dutch War. Little is known about Brand’s early life or career, his surname also being

Brand, Bartel (fl. 1665
1667) spelled in various different records as Brandt or Brant. He was apparently a native of the Dutch seaport of Vlissingen or Flushing, and had operated from the late 1640s to 1654—along with his brother Leyn—as members of the socalled Brasilie Directie, a privateering company which was trying to support the isolated Dutch outposts in Brazil. When the Second Anglo-Dutch War erupted 11 years later, it is possible that Brand may have made some West Indian forays: in September 1665, he was recorded as having jointly captured and brought in some English sugar-ships, in consort with his fellow privateer Capts. Pieter Constant and Adriaen Tant. Then on August 11, 1666, Brand alone disposed of the English tobacco-ship Alexander at Flushing. Such successes must have encouraged the States-General to commission him for another wintertime cruise into Caribbean waters, with orders to return for European service by next summer.

West Indian Sweep (1667) On reaching the Lesser Antilles early in 1667, Brand apparently made a few captures in the Windward Isles, which he dispatched homeward. This entire archipelago was at that moment in turmoil because of various major French, English, and Dutch offensives and counteroffensives, so that the passing of his lone warship was scarcely noticed. Brand subsequently coasted along the north shores of Hispaniola, and in early April 1667 visited the allied French base of Tortuga Island. Its regional Gov. Bertrand d’Ogeron described Brand’s warship as ‘‘a large vessel mounting 37 guns,’’ adding that the Dutch commander had also

requested from him a separate commission to seize Spanish prizes which the Governor ‘‘felt that I should not refuse,’’ because of his desire to retain such a powerful ally against the threat of Jamaican privateers. Shortly thereafter, Brand must have sailed through the Windward Passage and caught an English pink bound from Jamaica toward England, aboard which was traveling the wealthy Jewish merchant Isaac Cardozo. Off Grand Cayman Island, the Dutch commander also re-took the 22-gun Nuestra Se~ nora del Carmen, originally owned by Juan N
u~nez Meli
an of Havana, but which had been previously captured off Cape Tibur
on by some English privateers, while on its return-passage from the City of Santo Domingo. Brand next circled around the western tip of Cuba and on Saturday, May 21, 1667, sighted a sail which he lured close to his flagship by hoisting English colors, and having his trumpeters blow welcoming salutes. Once this vessel lay beneath his guns, though, Brand bellowed across at its captain and crew to heave to ‘‘for the Prince of Orange and if not, he would sink them.’’ The stranger proved to be an English privateer, which four days earlier had captured the small frigate of Alberto Bazarra, as he was returning home into Havana from San Marcos de Apalache (Florida). Brand freed Bazarra and the other Spanish captives held aboard the English privateer, then steered for Bahı´a Honda— an open anchorage 35 miles west of Havana—where a quartet of English vessels was known to be lying at anchor, smuggling goods ashore for sale to wealthy Cubans. The Dutch commander seized all four, and at that point released his total of 240 English captives to make

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Brand, Bartel (fl. 1665
1667) their best way back to Jamaica aboard an unarmed Spanish prize, a bark which had until recently belonged to Captain Juan Gonz
alez de Carvajal of Havana. When the despoiled Englishmen reached Port Royal a few weeks later, they would apparently misinform Gov. Sir Thomas Modyford as to the true locale of their capture, reporting that they had been taken ‘‘by a stratagem’’ while lying at the Cayman Islands. Both the Jamaican Governor and his brother Sir James Modyford wrote to the Secretary of State Lord Arlington on July 30, 1667 (O.S.), alleging that the presence of a Royal Navy frigate in those waters: . . . might have saved £40,000 loss to His Majesty’s subjects, by securing the five ships taken at the Caimanos, one whereof the Royal Company [of Adventurers] was deeply concerned in, and the Duke of York himself £3,000. Brand had meanwhile appeared outside the Cuban capital on May 26, 1667, with his flagship and six remaining prizes, sending a launch in toward its harbor-mouth shortly before noon with his pilot Kasper [or Jasper] Boudewijn and the captive Cardozo, to report on his success in clearing the Cuban coastline. Both visitors were housed overnight in the home of Captain Francisco de Garro y Bolivar, who the next day reported to the Cuban Gov. Francisco D
avila Orej
on Gast
on that, according to what he had learned from his guests, the waiting Dutch vessel did indeed seem to be a legitimate States’ warship, and not merely a West Indiaman seeking an excuse to enter their neutral harbor and conduct illicit trade.

Governor D
avila therefore sent Garro and infantry Captain Ambrosio de Gatica aboard Brand’s flagship that same May 27, 1667, to offer thanks to the Dutch commander for his good services, and to permit him to enter Matanzas Bay farther east of Havana, so as to re-provision. But the Spanish officers found Brand vexed ‘‘because the city had not sent him a golden chain as a gift for what he had done,’’ nor would he be allowed to profit by selling his prizes directly back to their original Cuban owners. Brand nonetheless put into Matanzas Bay the next day and peacefully re-supplied, before burning his three smallest prizes, and then standing out to sea again on June 4, 1667. He must have returned to Zeeland within the next few weeks, just as the peace treaty with England was being signed at Breda, marking an end to the Second Anglo-Dutch War; for it was recorded that he sold two of his English prizes at Vlissingen on August 23, 1667, ‘‘a flute-ship and a frigate with cacao and other goods.’’

See also Flute; Modyford, Sir Thomas; Ogeron, Bertrand d’.

References Binder, Franz, ‘‘Die Zeelandische Kaperfahrt, 1654
1662,’’ Archief: Mededelingen van het Koninklijk Zeeuws Genootschap der Wetenschappen (1976), pp. 40
92; later re-issued as a monograph. Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies., Volume 5. (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1893
1899).

Brandenburg Privateers

BRANDENBURG PRIVATEERS Despite their name, actually Dutch frigates, commissioned by the Elector of Brandenburg to raid the Spanish West Indies. The circumstances which led to their creation had originated during the fighting in the Low Countries of the 1670s, when the bankrupt Spanish government had incurred a considerable debt with Friedrich Wilhelm, Elector of the German Duchy of Brandenburg, which it was unable to meet once peace was concluded with the signing of the Treaty of Nijmegen late in 1678. The ambitious Friedrich Wilhelm, with budding overseas ambitions of his own, consequently decided to exact restitution by issuing letters-of-reprisal to two unemployed Dutch privateers at Zeeland in the spring of 1679. When the French government learned that these two men-of-war were preparing to sail, they objected as they had not finalized their own on-going conflict with the Elector, so that this pair might also attack French interests. Colbert therefore threatened to send the Admiral Duc d’Estr
ees with a squadron of fourteen vessels ‘‘to seize or sink’’ these would-be marauders, thereby constraining them to remain in port until peace with France was concluded at the end of June 1679. By this time, the season was too far advanced to consider any departure for the New World that year. Over that ensuing winter of 1679 to 1680, the original pair was reinforced with two more Dutch frigates and a fireship. This flotilla eventually sailed from K€ onigsberg on April 14, 1680, its

commander Cornelis Reers flying the Elector’s standard aboard his flagship, renamed Kurprinz or ‘‘Prince Elector.’’ This small force was comprised of another three frigates mounting from 32 to 16 guns, named Roter L€ owe, Fuchs, and Berlin, while the fire-ship Salamander boasted only two, a total of 500 men serving aboard all these craft. They made their first capture outside Oostende (Belgium), a Spanish merchantman bound for Cadiz with dry goods, which they sent back to Brandenburg before traversing the Atlantic in August, searching for further prey in the West Indies. At Santa Marta (Colombia), they spotted a galliot and merchant vessel lying inside at anchor and decided to employ a cunning ruse: The merchant ship had originally been the William and Anne of London, which had sailed to Bilbao in Spain and exchanged part of its English crew for Spaniards, before continuing to the Canary Islands, where the remainder were replaced by Spanish seamen—save for the first mate, who became master, and the ship’s carpenter Samuel Button of Boston (Massachusetts). Loaded with Canary wine and brandy, the ship had thereupon cleared for Cartagena on the Spanish Main, entering Santa Marta to take on water, where it was delayed by the local Governor to act as an escort for the galliot, which was also bound for Cartagena. ‘‘After we had been two or three days in the road,’’ Button later declared: . . . we espied five ships lying off and on, by the space of two or three days. At length they sent in their pinnace with Dutch colors to the Governor, to get liberty to wood and water, pretending to be Dutchmen come to clear the coast of privateers.

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Brandenburg Privateers The unsuspecting Spaniards allowed them into port, yet four or five nights later, when the William and Anne was preparing to put to sea on the land breeze, it was boarded in the darkness. These mysterious captors secured the Spaniards, then asked Button if he was the ship’s carpenter. When he replied in the affirmative, they told him: ‘‘That’s good, you be an Englishman. That doeth no harm.’’ The ship was slipped out of harbor, and next morning the prize-master Marsilius Cock of Salamander gleefully informed Button that ‘‘they would show me such colors as I never saw, and then spread their Brandenburg colors.’’ With the William and Anne and galliot taken, the Dutch also intercepted a Spanish merchantman called Torito, before arriving at Port Royal, Jamaica, on December 20, 1680 (O.S.). Acting-Gov. Sir Henry Morgan allowed them in to refit, and later reported to London how these privateers ‘‘urged the Duke [of Brandenburg’s] alliance with England for permission to sell their prizes, that by the produce thereof they might purchase all necessary refreshments for their present expedition.’’ Morgan agreed, even allowing William and Anne to join a convoy assembling for England, as Reers hoped to return it to Brandenburg. The privateers remained in Port Royal for a month, where curiosity-seekers noted the strange blue uniforms and bonnets of the Elector’s soldiers. Eventually, Reers set sail with his four frigates in early February 1681, ‘‘bound eastward to cruise and search the coast of Hispaniola first,’’ Morgan noted, ‘‘then the [Spanish] Main.’’ Yet luck now abandoned the Dutch, as few sightings were made, and their sole prize never reached its destination. The William and Anne had apparently been renamed Salamander when

the fire-ship of that same name was sold off at Port Royal, then sailed with the convoy some weeks after Reers’ departure. But early in April 1681, Cock put into ‘‘Piscataqua’’ [New Hampshire], complaining of leaks and lack of provisions, remaining more than three months to make repairs. Finally, the English authorities began to suspect that ‘‘he intended to sell the said ship and deceive the Duke,’’ while his crew grew surly at their prolonged idleness and commensurate lack of pay. Cock ‘‘cruelly beat twelve of the ship’s company at the capstan and otherwise, as made them weary of their lives,’’ so that on July 21, 1681, the Salamander was ordered to Boston to anchor within range of its harbor guns and send its sails ashore. Meanwhile, Reers had returned to Prussia by May 1681, inspiring the Elector to dispatch other expeditions. That same summer, a little Brandenburghian establishment was begun on the West African coast, and their vessels would continue to visit the West Indies. Gov. Sir Thomas Lynch of Jamaica, for example, reported at the end of June 1684 that ‘‘two or three pirate [ships] have been lately taken,’’ one of which claimed to be a Brandenburger, while in March 1691 three Brandenburg vessels touched at Nevis, bound for Danish Saint Thomas.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 11, 13 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1899
1903). Jameson, John F., comp. and ed., Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period: Illustrative Documents (New York: Macmillan, 1923).

Br
eha, Pierre (Fl. 1678
1685) Marley, David F., Sack of Veracruz: The Great Pirate Raid of 1683 (Windsor, Ontario, Canada: Netherlandic Press, 1993).

BRASILIANO, ROK See Gerritszoon, Gerrit

BRAUNS, KOEN DE (fl. 1670
1671) Little-known Dutch Captain, who apparently took part in Henry Morgan’s expedition against Panama. While incarcerated in the Tower of London to stand trial for illegally encouraging Jamaica’s privateers against the Spaniards, Governor Sir Thomas Modyford presented ‘‘A list of the ships under the command of Admiral Morgan’’ to the court in December 1671, which listed ‘‘Coone de Brauns’’ as commanding the 6-gun, 60-ton Constant Thomas in the Panama assault, with a crew of 40 men. This curious name was most likely a phonetic rendering of Koen de Bruinsz, itself a contraction for Koenraad de Bruinszoon (or perhaps Bruining)—Koen being a common Dutch nickname for Conrad. Nothing more is known about this particular Captain’s activities.

See also Modyford, Sir Thomas; Morgan, Sir Henry.

References Livingstone, No€el B., Sketch Pedigrees of Some of the Early Settlers in Jamaica (Kingston: Educational Supply Company, 1909). National Archives [UK], PRO CO 138/1, f. 105.


HA, PIERRE BRE (fl. 1678
1685) Wide-ranging French flibustier and salvor, who operated principally out of Saint-Domingue. He is believed to have been born at Vanes in Brittany, about 1650. His surname was to be often misspelled in official records as ‘‘Br
ehal,’’ ‘‘Br
eal,’’ ‘‘Bhra,’’ ‘‘Braha,’’ ‘‘Brahan,’’ ‘‘Braugham,’’ ‘‘Brea,’’ ‘‘Brouage,’’ etc. He apparently arrived in the Lesser Antilles aboard the 56-gun royal warship Bourbon, which was wrecked as part of the fleet of Vice Admiral Jean, Comte d’Estr
ees, in the Aves Island grouping off Venezuela on the night of May 11
12, 1678. Rather than depart for Petit-Go^ave with the rest of its survivors, Br
eha attached himself to the buccaneer flotilla under the Sieur de Grammont, which mounted a devastating sweep instead against the neutral Spaniards in the Laguna de Maracaibo that same June 1678. Reaching Saint-Domingue that Christmas with Grammont’s triumphant flotilla, Br
eha obtained command of a small bark at Petit-Go^ave, and made a turtling voyage to southern Cuba. Attacked and badly wounded by some Spaniards, he decided to turn flibustier and seek revenge.

Salvage Operations (1679
1682) By the spring of 1679, Br
eha had become Captain of the 2-gun, 70-man frigate Saint-Franc¸ois, with which he sortied to prowl off the Cuban coast. While hovering outside Havana, he apparently met his fellow-rover Capitaine Blot, and joined forces for a venture to

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Br
eha, Pierre (Fl. 1678
1685) the Bahamas. There they captured two Spanish vessels under Captain Martı´n de Melgar, who was diving on the wreck of the long-lost galleon Maravillas. Br
eha and Blot took over this operation, using Melgar’s own divers and equipment to raise 200,000 pesos’ worth of silver bars. Br
eha seemingly used his share to buy property at Petit-Go^ave, and briefly retire from the sea. A little more than a year later, though, he weighed once again in command of a barco luengo named La Fortune in February 1681, hoping to meet up with Blot and some other rovers for an assault on Saint Augustine in Florida. However, while rounding Cape San Antonio at the western tip of Cuba in August 1681, Br
eha was intercepted by the flibustier chieftain Marquis de Maintenon, who relieved him of his commission and many of his men. As a result, Br
eha made a second visit in 1682 to the Maravillas wreck site, from where he put into the anchorage Nassau late that same year, to refresh. Learning of another Spanish shipwreck lying east of Havana, Br
eha and two English commanders apparently probed for it in January 1683, before returning to New Providence.

Saint Augustine Raid (1683) Br
eha was once more lying in the Bahamas by March 1683 with the privateer vessels of Capts. Conway Wooley, John Markham, and Jan Corneliszoon (commander of a New York brigantine), preparing to once more attempt ‘‘to fish for silver from a Spanish wreck,’’ when the bark Pearl of Thomas Paine arrived. The latter had a commission from Gov. Sir Thomas Lynch of Jamaica to hunt pirates, so that these five Captains conspired to unite in a raid against the

nearby Spanish outpost of St. Augustine in Florida—despite the peace then prevailing with that nation, as well as not having any other authorization for such a venture beyond Paine’s commission. The attackers nonetheless landed on the Florida coast flying French colors, yet found the Spaniards forewarned, so withdrew after merely releasing some captives which they had brought along with them, and looting the countryside. In the official report describing this incident, written on June 28, 1683, by the Spanish garrison commander, he referred to Br
eha as leader of this expedition, calling him ‘‘Capit
an Braha.’’ The freebooters returned to New Providence in the Bahamas, where Gov. Robert Lilburne allegedly wished to impound the two English ships, ‘‘but failed for want of a force.’’ Br
eha and Paine went wrecking, and by the time the Governor manned a large ship that had arrived and followed them to the wreck site, both had sailed on their separate ways.

Cuban Blockade (1684) Meanwhile, Br
eha had returned to Saint-Domingue, and possibly participated in Markham’s Tampico raid of late April 1684. A French document from that same year lists Br
eha as commanding the ship Fortune of 14 guns and 100 men, and in early November 1684—after a renewal of hostilities between Spain and France—he was blockading the southern coast of Cuba along with a pair of sloops. When his flotilla began to run low on supplies, Br
eha dispatched his consorts to impress the services of Jamaican turtlers in the region. Anthony Griffin, master of the sloop Prosperous, later declared:

Br
eha, Pierre (Fl. 1678
1685) I was leaving the South Cays with turtle when two sloops, which I had thought to be English, ordered me to anchor, and some Frenchmen came on board and took me prisoner. Anthony Hawkes of the sloop Elizabeth was also taken a few hours later, and we were all carried to Boga Pavillione [?], six leagues off which Captain Breha [sic] was lying with his ship. He took all our turtle and detained us. Daniel Pindar of the sloop Greyhound had already been ‘‘boarded by a piragua with several men, commanded by Captain Breha, who cut our cable and compelled us to catch turtle for them for several days.’’ The same had happened a little earlier to Henry Smith of the Seaflower, while John Griffin’s True Love had been relieved of 30 turtles before being released, and Francis Powell’s Speedwell had managed to escape despite being pursued. Shortly thereafter, the tiny, 4-gun Royal Navy warship Bonito appeared and learned the turtlers’ fate. Gathering a convoy of seven frightened sloops around him, Captain Edward Stanley sailed in search of the raider flagship, which he described as ‘‘a French privateer of 16 guns and 180 men, commanded by one Captain Braugham [sic].’’ At 9:00 A.M. on November 19, 1684, he found Fortune at anchor with its prizes, and sent a message across to Br
eha asking ‘‘why the four sloops with him did not hoist their English colors?’’ The flibustier chieftain boarded Bonito to personally explain that he had been forced to impress their services to feed his crews, and intended to release the sloops. ‘‘He

promised to end all difference next morning,’’ Stanley concluded, ‘‘but the wind blowing fresh in the night, he hove up anchor and went to sea.’’

Complaint at Petit-Go^ave (1684) Less than a month later, Acting-Gov. Hender Molesworth of Jamaica dispatched Captain David Mitchell’s 48-gun HMS Ruby with a complaint to the French authorities at Petit-Go^ave. Although mostly concerned with Willems’ capture of the English sloop James off Cartagena, he added: A privateer, Captain Brahan [sic], belonging to your port, has lately robbed several of our turtling sloops to the value of £500. I trust that you will grant us satisfaction, or give us leave to take it. Mitchell arrived off Petit-Go^ave on the morning of December 16th, sighting both Willems’ Dauphine and Br
eha’s Fortune in the roads, as well as other privateers. He immediately sent his message ashore, but Gov. Pierre-Paul Tarin de Cussy was absent, being instead represented by Captain Boisseau. He returned a polite answer to the Royal Navy officer’s submission, saying: With regard to your complaints against Captain Br
eha, it is true that with a ship full of people he met the frigate commanded by Captain Stanley, and asked him for provisions, of which he was much in need, and which Captain Stanley was so good as to give him. As to the restitution which you request, I doubt if it can

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Brenningham be made, and I do not see that I can compel it. Ruby’s master could only acquiesce in this reinterpretation of events off southern Cuba, and four days later reported back to Port Royal.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London; Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898).

BRENNINGHAM See Brimacain, George

BRIMACAIN, GEORGE (fl. 1662
1666) Early Jamaican privateer, whose captures allowed him to become a successful planter. His difficult surname may suggest that he was originally Dutch, possibly born as Joris Breemaken. Many phonetic variants of his surname would be written into the English records over ensuing years: ‘‘Brimacain,’’ ‘‘Brimacam,’’ ‘‘Bremicam,’’ ‘‘Brimicain,’’ or ‘‘Brimicane,’’ while even more garbled versions have since been produced by historical researchers and scholars, such as ‘‘Brenning’’ or even the ‘‘Brenningham’’ (the latter by C. H. Haring in his Buccaneers in the West Indies). However spelled, though, the first notice of this rover’s activities occurred amid the feverish preparations at Port Royal to dispatch Commodore

Christopher Myngs’ quick-strike expedition against Santiago de Cuba. Brimacain was one of six Captains issued a privateering commission by the newly-arrived Governor Thomas, Lord Windsor, on September 18, 1662 (O.S.), and unlike his colleagues John Bull, Jacob Fackman, Robert Searle, John Purdue, and Abraham Mitchell, Brimacain secured a 10-month license to operate his 6-gun, 70-man frigate Fortune; as opposed to only the six-month permits which all the others received. Doubtless Brimacain weighed shortly thereafter as part of Myngs’ flotilla, to participate in the sack and destruction of Santiago de Cuba. However, Fortune evidently sortied on an independent cruise on their triumphal return, so that he thus missed the subsequent venture early next year against the Mexican port of Campeche. For the very day that distant assault was going forward, Brimacain seems to have been before Judge William Mitchell of Jamaica’s ViceAdmiralty Court, who on January 30, 1663 (O.S.), ruled that: . . . having fully and maturely considered the full process, nature, and merits of the cause, and of all the proofs therein made, did and doth pronounce decree-sentence and adjudge the said ship, Nuestra Se~ nora de la Soledad y Jes
us Nazareno, her tackle and furniture, and all and singular the goods, wares, and merchandise taken and seized in her as aforesaid, to have been the ship, goods, wares, and merchandise of the subjects of the King of Spain in America, and they belonged to such Spanish subjects at the time of the seizure and surprisal; and that the same were lawfully surprised by force and virtue of the said commission,

Brimacain, George (fl. 1662
1666) and according to the true intent and meaning thereof, and that the same ought to be decreed and adjudged to the said Captain George Bremicam and company, and to the owners, victuallers, officers, mariners, and soldiers of the said frigate Fortune. Later that same summer, Brimacain obtained a second privateering commission on July 22, 1663 (O.S.), to cruise for another 12 months, and finally secured a third 12-month commission for his new ship Resolution on February 1, 1664 (O.S.), before apparently ending his freebooting career on a profitable note, to settle down as a property-owner.

Privateer Turned Planter (1666
1677) Two years later, the planter-dominated Jamaican Council passed a resolution on February 22, 1666 (O.S.), enumerating a dozen reasons why ‘‘it is to the interest of the island to have letters-ofmarque granted against the Spaniard,’’ the fourth reason given being that: It hath and will enable many to buy slaves and settle plantations, as [John] Harmenson, [Richard] Guy, Brimacain, and many others, who have considerable plantations. Apparently Brimacain by then owned a sizeable estate in Saint Andrew’s Parish, yet his name was not clearly listed when the new Royal Governor, Sir Thomas Modyford, submitted a detailed census and survey of Jamaica to London in late September 1670. The retired privateer was to appear in official records one last time, after being tried and found guilty of murder.

However, the circumstances must have been such that an appeal was addressed to Charles II in England, and on August 8, 1675 (O.S.), the King issued a warrant from Windsor, instructing his Solicitor-General that: Whereas His Majesty has been informed that Captain George Brimicane of Jamaica, at a Court of King’s Bench held in that island, was found guilty of murder and sentence of death passed upon him; and whereas the Governor has informed His Majesty that the Judges having certified him that the fact could scarcely be adjudged murder, and having recommended said Captain Brimicane to mercy, he had reprieved him for His Majesty’s pleasure; it is His Majesty’s pleasure that a bill be prepared to pass the Great Seal, containing a grant of pardon to said Captain George Brimicane for said murder, and of all penalties and forfeitures by reason thereof. Apparently this pardon was eventually received in Jamaica on January 28, 1677 (O.S.).

See also Bull, John; Fackman, Jacob; Mitchell, Abraham; Modyford, Sir Thomas; Myngs, Sir Christopher; Purdue, John; Searle, Robert; Windsor, Thomas, Lord.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies Volumes 5, 9, 10 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1880
1896). Calendar of State Papers, Domestic: Charles II, 1675
76 (London, 1907).

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Browne, James (fl. 1676
1677) Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924). Marsden, Reginald G., editor, Documents Relating to Law and Custom of the Sea (London: Navy Records Society, 1916), Volume 2. National Archives [UK], PRO HCA 49/59, folios 83
92. Pawson, Michael and Buisseret, David J., Port Royal, Jamaica (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1975).

BROWNE, JAMES (fl. 1676
1677) Scottish privateer hanged for capturing a Dutch slaver. Browne left Jamaica in October 1676, with a crew comprised mostly of ‘‘English, the rest French and Dutch’’ sailors, plus an old commission issued by the French Governor of Saint-Domingue, Bertrand d’Ogeron, which Browne used to take the Dutch Goude Zon or ‘‘Golden Sun’’ early in 1677, while it was standing in Cartagena with a consignment of 200 slaves belonging to the Dutch West Indies Company. The Dutch master and several of his crew were killed during this affray. By May 1677, Browne was once again off Jamaica, where he landed 150 blacks ‘‘in a remote bay on this island,’’ hoping to sell them among the planters. Word of this covert introduction was carried to Lord Vaughan, Governor at Port Royal, who although he learned that Browne’s ship was already gone, nevertheless ordered the apprehension and interrogation of some of the seamen which he had left behind. Discovering through them the particular circumstances surrounding Browne’s depredation, Vaughan sent a frigate which seized about 100 of the slaves ‘‘concealed in several planters’ hands,’’ as well as Browne and eight

of his crewmembers. The Governor furthermore apprised the Dutch authorities at Curac¸ao, who filed a complaint and demanded the return of their slaves. The English Governor, plagued by unruly privateers who refused to restrict their activities, decided to make an object lesson of Browne. He and his crew were tried for piracy because their French commission was patently out of date, Governor d’Ogeron having ‘‘been dead above a year.’’ The crew was pardoned, but Browne was condemned to be executed, so appealed to the Assembly to have the benefit of the ‘‘Act of Privateers.’’ The House of Assembly twice sent a committee to Lord Vaughan to beg a reprieve, which the Governor refused, ordering the immediate execution of Browne. Halfan-hour after he was hanged, the ProvostMarshal appeared with an order signed by the Speaker to stop the execution.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 10 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1896). Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924). Interesting Tracts Relating to the Island of Jamaica (St. Jago de la Vega: Lewis, Lunan and Jones, 1800). Pope, Dudley, Harry Morgan’s Way: The Biography of Sir Henry Morgan, 1635
1684 (London: Secker & Warburg, 1977).

BUCKINGHAM, CAPTAIN (fl. 1679
1680) English master captured in Mexico’s Laguna de T
erminos, for attempting to poach logwood.

Bull, John (fl. 1662
1663) Buckingham set sail from London, England, in 1679 with his ship John of 300 tons, 20 guns, and 70 men, bound on a trading voyage to the West Indies. According to his surgeon’s mate, Lionel Wafer: . . . when we came to Jamaica, the season of sugars being not yet come, the Captain was willing to make a short voyage in the meanwhile to the Bay of Campeche, to fetch logwood; but having no mind to go further with him, I stayed in Jamaica. Unfortunately, the Spanish authorities chose that same time to send an armed patrol into the Laguna, so that the John was taken in January 1680 along with the pink Loyal Farmers of Boston, the ketch Susan of London, a ship belonging to Hugh Pering of New England, plus numerous lesser craft. All were carried into Campeche, from where the captives were forwarded to Mexico City to be tried, arriving in early July 1680. Having long suffered at the hands of the Baymen, the Spaniards were not inclined to show any mercy. The prisoners were therefore condemned to obrajes, public works from where they could be hired out as forced laborers at six pieces of eight per head (to help defray the costs of their incarceration). Their work was often grueling, in conditions akin to slavery. Russell, an English seaman who managed to escape, later told Wafer that he last saw ‘‘Captain Buckenham with a log chained to his leg and a basket on his back, crying bread about the streets of Mexico for his master, a baker.’’

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898). Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924). Robles, Antonio de, Diario de sucesos notables 1665
1703 (Mexico City: Editorial Porr
ua, 1972).

BULL, JOHN (fl. 1662
1663) Early English privateer, who operated out of Jamaica. Amid the feverish preparations at Port Royal to dispatch Commodore Christopher Myngs’ quick-strike expedition against Santiago de Cuba, Bull was one of six Captains issued a privateering commission on September 18, 1662 (O.S.), by the recently-arrived Governor Thomas, Lord Windsor. Like his colleagues Jacob Fackman, Robert Searle, John Purdue, and Abraham Mitchell, Bull secured a six-month license to rove with his vessel John and Mary; only George Brimacam received a 10-month permit. Doubtless Bull sailed shortly thereafter as part of Myngs’ flotilla, participating in the sack and destruction of Santiago de Cuba. He may have also served in the subsequent strike against the Mexican port of Campeche in February 1663, although no further details about his activities have been recorded. It is remotely possible that he may have been referred to again on January 28, 1667 (O.S.), when it was reported from the Isle of Wight off southern England how: ‘‘Last night arrived at

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Bull, John (fl. 1662
1663) Cowes the John and Mary of London from Barbados, laden with sugar and indigo, who came without meeting any enemy with about twenty sail, but by storms they lost each other.’’ Whether this convoy had in fact been escorted back across the Atlantic by Bull’s privateer frigate, or merely by some other armed vessel with the same name, cannot today be determined.

See also Brimacain, George; Fackman, Jacob; Mitchell, Abraham; Myngs, Sir

Christopher; Purdue, John; Searle, Robert; Windsor, Thomas, Lord.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 5 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1880). Calendar of State Papers, Domestic: Charles II, 1666
1667 (London, 1864), Volume 189. National Archives [UK], PRO HCA 49/59, folios 83
92.

C The Governor of Trinidad would neither give nor sell them victuals, but bid Cooke go like a dog and thief. —From the castaway Master Edmond Cooke’s complaint against ill-usage off Cuba, March 1674


S CABALLERO, ANDRE (fl. 1673)

in the ensuing defense of the Spanish colony that ended with the invaders’ retreat three weeks later. Early in 1659, Caballero traveled to Margarita Island off Venezuela, to conduct the official visita or inquiries at the conclusion of Gov. Pedro de Rojas y Manrique’s term. However, during Caballero’s absence from Santo Domingo, he was suspended from office that same August 1659 under suspicion of having issued false documents. Three years later, he was ordered home to Spain as a prisoner, where he appealed to clear his name. While preparing his defense, Caballero was also commissioned by the Crown in June 1664 to serve for five years as one of the commercial judges on the Canary Islands. Eventually, the slow-moving Spanish legal system convicted him of the Dominican charge, yet with a fine of only

Spanish colonial official victimized by pirates. A lawyer, Caballero began his career as corregidor or ‘‘municipal magistrate’’ of the city of Salamanca, Spain, being promoted to its alcalde mayor or Mayor. As a reward for his successful tenure, he was given the overseas title of senior oidor of the Royal Audiencia of Santo Domingo in October 1654. He set sail for the New World accompanied by his wife and two children on February 13, 1655, in the train of Governor-designate Bernardino de Meneses Bracamonte 15 days before the huge English expedition of Admiral William Penn and General Robert Venables appeared to mount an assault. Caballero played a minor role 67

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Cachemar
ee 100 pesos and a year’s suspension from office. A dozen years having already elapsed, Caballero appealed in August 1671 for reinstatement, and by that same November won reappointment to the Audiencia of Santo Domingo, departing Cadiz on February 27, 1672. He stopped at Puerto Rico en route to conduct some official inquiries, most especially into the activities of the former Governor of Cuman
a, Sancho Fern
andez de Angulo. Once concluded, Caballero took ship once again in June 1673, to complete his voyage to Santo Domingo.

Pirate Encounter (1673) But during this brief passage he ‘‘was made prisoner by the English, who took from him his clothes, money, silverware, and a slave that accompanied him.’’ The freebooters set most of their victims ashore, yet retained Caballero, his son Francisco (a cleric), and other ‘‘people of worth,’’ hoping to extort ransoms for their release. When these were not forthcoming, they set their captives ashore at an uninhabited stretch of coastline near Coro [Venezuela], where the unhappy Spaniards ‘‘underwent great discomfort, hunger, and nakedness.’’ Eventually, Caballero and his son reached Coro proper, but were so weakened by their ordeal that the father died there on August 30, 1673, ‘‘being buried in a pauper’s grave.’’

Reference Rodrı´guez Demorizi, E., Invasi
on inglesa de 1655; notas adicionales de Fray Cipriano de Utrera (Ciudad Trujillo: Montalvo, 1957)


E CACHEMARE See Grogniet, Franc¸ois (Volume 2)

CAGAWAY Also spelled Cagway, Cagua, etc. English distortions of Cayagua, the original Carib-Spanish name for Port Royal, Jamaica. The first English invaders of 1655 mistook the name of the tip of Palisadoes Spit for that of the entire cay, thus translating the name of their new port as ‘‘Cagaway’’ or ‘‘Cagway.’’ This was officially changed to ‘‘Port Royal’’ in 1660, in honor of the Restoration of Charles II to the English throne, although old hands continued to refer to it by its original name for quite some time thereafter. Commodore Sir Christopher Myngs, for example, wrote to Governor Lord Windsor on his return passage from Santiago de Cuba in late October 1662: ‘‘We are now in safety in the harbor, on our return to Cagaway.’’ Robert Searle had also fitted out a privateering ship for that same expedition, naming it Cagway; etc.

References Dyer, Florence E., ‘‘Captain Christopher Myngs in the West Indies, 1657
1662,’’ The Mariner’s Mirror, Vol. XVIII (April 1932), pp. 168
187. Pawson, Michael, and Buisseret, David J., Port Royal, Jamaica (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1975). Pope, Dudley, Harry Morgan’s Way: The Biography of Sir Henry Morgan, 1635
1684 (London: Secker & Warburg, 1977).

Campos Y Espinosa, Alonso De (fl. 1667
1678)

CAMPOS Y ESPINOSA, ALONSO DE (fl. 1667
1678) Spanish Admiral defeated by Henry Morgan at the Bar of Maracaibo. Campos was born in the Canary Islands on an unknown date in the 1620s, the son of Admiral Juan de Campos Cervantes. His older brother Gaspar commanded a military company in Galicia, which Alonso joined in 1640, soon being promoted to ensign. In 1655, he transferred into the Royal Spanish Navy as an harquebusier, quickly rising to command of a patache, then a company of Marines, followed by a galleon. In 1663, he raised 6,000 pesos toward the construction of four new galleons in Amsterdam for the Armada de Barlovento, which won him appointment as almirante or ‘‘second-incommand’’ of the fleet. He assumed command of the 507-ton vice-flagship Nuestra Se~ nora de la Concepci
on when it reached Cadiz that following summer, and saw some action against the French off Spain, before the Armada sailed under Agustı´n de Di
ustegui from Seville for the New World on July 21, 1667. The five ships reached Puerto Rico more than a month later, where the flagship and gobierno Magdalena parted company to convey a cargo of quicksilver to Veracruz. Campos remained behind to patrol the coasts of Santo Domingo and southern Cuba with his vice-flagship, plus the frigates Concepci
on and Nuestra Se~ nora de la Soledad (alias Marquesa or ‘‘Marchioness’’), before rendezvousing with Di
ustegui at Havana. During this sweep, Campos made a single capture: a sloop sailing from Jamaica to the Laguna de T
erminos to warn of the Armada’s arrival in Caribbean waters.

In February 1668, Campos was reunited with Di
ustegui at Havana, and the Armada sailed together through the Antilles toward Caracas, before returning to Puerto Rico. The squadron then transferred to Havana for repairs and shortly thereafter revisited Puerto Rico, where it was lying when the flagship and vice-flag were recalled to Spain. Campos was to remain behind as commander of the reduced force, now comprised solely of Magdalena and two frigates. Di
ustegui meanwhile sailed to Veracruz to pick up a load of silver bullion before heading for Spain, while Campos hovered off Cuba’s Cape San Antonio inspecting passing ships. He allegedly detained three English ships under Captain Francis Stuart, as well as a Dutch ship, letting all four go in exchange for bribes. Campos then proceeded to Havana, where word arrived of an attack on the southern Cuban port of Trinidad. Campos sent his newly-acquired frigate Nuestra Se~ nora de los Remedios and Marquesa to Veracruz for reinforcements. Remedios was wrecked less than 50 miles from Campeche, but when the survivors reached Veracruz they found that the Mexican authorities had purchased another frigate, the 218-ton San Luis. Together with Marquesa, this frigate carried almost 300 reinforcements back into Havana on January 5, 1669. Meanwhile, news had been received of an enemy attack against Portobelo. Campos sortied with Magdalena, San Luis, and Marquesa, laying in a course for Puerto Rico, where he heard of a large freebooter gathering at ^Ile a Vache. Then, from a Dutch merchantman which he met in the Mona Passage, he was told that five French ships from Martinique were

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Caper preparing to raid Santo Domingo, so he backtracked to reinforce the Spanish island’s garrison by March 25, 1669. This report proved to be false, though, until he was at last correctly advised that more than a dozen buccaneer sail had passed by Santo Domingo on their way to the Spanish Main. Sailing in their wake, he learned from another Dutch merchantman that they were in the Lago de Maracaibo, so that he arrived outside by mid-April. Inside laid the flotilla of Morgan, who had landed to ransack the Venezuelan interior. Campos reoccupied the fort guarding the Lake entrance; then several days later he lightened his warships and crossed over the bar. The Armada had thereby trapped the raiders inside, but at dawn on April 27, 1669, they were rushed by Morgan, who destroyed Magdalena with a fire-ship. San Luis of Mateo Alonso de Huidobro ran aground attempting to shelter beside the fort, so was deliberately set ablaze by its crew, while the 50-ton Soledad was captured by the buccaneers, who then slipped past the fort and sailed off in triumph. The defeated Campos was eventually exonerated at his court-martial in Spain, so that in October 1674 he was appointed as Governor of Puerto Rico. He assumed office in April 1675, was promoted to maestre de campothe next year, and in June 1677 elevated to the Governorship of Havana, although his Puerto Rican term still had two years to run. Departing San Juan for Cuba, Campos disappeared en route, his ship being lost with all hands.

References
L
opez Cantos, Angel, Historia de Puerto Rico (1650-1700) (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1975).

Torres Ramı´rez, Bibiano, La Armada de Barlovento (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1981).

CAPER See Kaper

CAPITANA Spanish term for ‘‘flagship.’’ Almiranta is the word for ‘‘vice-flagship,’’ the two often being confused by foreigners, as they seemingly reverse the natural order whereby captains are subordinate to admirals. However, when these expressions first gained currency in the language of Medieval Spain, it was customary for fleets to be commanded by a capit
an general, while the designation almirante was later adapted from the Arabic al-amir or ‘‘the emir.’’ To northern Europeans, though, ‘‘admiral’’ only ever meant a senior naval officer.

CAREEN Expression meaning to tilt a stationary vessel so as to expose its underside for cleaning, caulking, or repairs. The term came from the Latin word carina, for a ship’s keel. When carefully beached, a lightened vessel would come to rest with its hull exposed as the tide receded, allowing the crew to scrub off barnacles and other impediments to swift sailing, as well to protect against worms or other forms of wood rot. During such an interlude, the ship would be highly vulnerable, lying immobile and tilted, with its guns removed. Pirate

Carlile, Charles (fl. 1683)

A French vessel being careened around 1670, so as to repair its hull; from the Album de Colbert. (Service Historique de la Marine, Vincennes, France/The Bridgeman Art Library)

commanders, who seldom enjoyed the sanctuary of a protected harbor, had to careen with great caution in isolated bays. It was while thus occupied on the northeastern coast of Hispaniola in the summer of 1686, for example, that Joseph Bannister’s 36-gun Golden Fleece was destroyed by the Royal Navy, virtually ending his career.

See also Careen (Volume 2).

CARLILE, CHARLES (fl. 1683) Royal Navy pirate-hunter who ran Jean Hamlin to ground at Saint Thomas in the Danish Virgin Islands. At three o’clock on the afternoon of August 8, 1683, Carlile—described as

‘‘a brave discreet young commander’’ by Gov. Sir William Stapleton of the English Leeward Islands—appeared with HMS Francis before the port of Saint Thomas (modern-day Charlotte Amalie), seeing a large ship inside ‘‘with white color flying, jack, ensign, and pendant.’’ Although these were the insignia of an English man-of-war, Carlile knew that there was no such warship in those waters, and his pilot confirmed that it was Trompeuse or ‘‘Trickster,’’ a pirate frigate of 32 guns and six ‘‘patararoes’’ [sic; pedreros or ‘‘swivel guns’’] which had been hijacked 10 months previously by a band of buccaneers under Hamlin, then sailed all the way to West Africa and back on a rapacious cruise that had made it the most infamous raider in the Caribbean. Carlile stood into port, but both the pirate ship and shore-batteries opened fire, forcing Francis to retreat. He sent

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Cassava a boat ashore with a letter requesting cooperation from the Danish Governor, Adolf Esmit, a notorious abettor of pirates, who invited Carlile ashore next day. The Royal Navy officer demurred, believing Esmit might be attempting to buy time for a pirate consort to arrive, which was ‘‘daily expected.’’ Carlile therefore took Francis’ pinnace and another boat into harbor after nightfall on August 9th, with 14 men. They exchanged shots with Trompeuse’s anchor watch, but most of the pirates had already quit Hamlin’s service with their booty. The few remaining now fled ashore, leaving the Royal Navy boarders to set fire to the frigate before withdrawing. Carlile and his men lay on their oars: . . . to see that none came off [from shore] to put out the fire. When she blew up she kindled a great privateer that lay by, which burned to the water’s edge. This second vessel was Bartholomew Sharpe’s Santı´sima Trinidad, which he had abandoned the previous year after his return from the South Sea, and had been converted into a depot for buccaneers. With the two wrecks left smoldering within the harbor, Francis got under way next morning, but had only tacked about a league to eastward when it sighted ‘‘a ship aground, a Flemish vessel of 300 tons, full of good ship’s stores for the pirates.’’ Carlile’s men cut down its masts and set it on fire, ‘‘but could not stay long, the people coming to oppose me.’’ (This may possibly have been a prize which Hamlin had seized two months previously off West Africa, a Flushinger of 20 to

24 guns, that had been given over to one of his English subordinates masquerading under the alias of ‘‘Captain Morgan.’’ Three months later, it was reported at Antigua and Barbados ‘‘that Morgan, the pirate who parted from Hamlin of Trompeuse, is now in these parts. He was seen at anchor at Saint Thomas, where he had taken some ships and sloops.’’) Carlile returned to blockade the port of Saint Thomas, until the weather changed a few days later and he was forced to depart, having determined that Hamlin and his principal confederates had transferred ‘‘to another part of the island in an open boat.’’ Retiring to Nevis, Carile replenished his supplies, and on August 25th sortied again ‘‘to look for one Cooke and one Bond, two English pirates fitted from Saint Thomas.’’

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898).

CASSAVA A slender erect shrub of the spurge family, native to tropical America and the West Indies, whose tuberous roots were harvested in the 17th century to provide sustenance for slaves and indentured servants, usually in the form of bread or tapioca. Because of this lowly association, it came to have a negative connotation. For example, in a letter dated November 19, 1681, the Governor-General of

Castro, Pedro De (fl. 1676
1685) the French Antilles, the Comte de Bl
enac, declared: The manner in which engag
es are treated is enough to make one tremble; it has to be seen to be believed. Of 600, not 50 will survive. A settler treats his engag
e in the following manner: he usually puts him on a diet of cassava, water, and three pounds of stinking beef a week. The engag
e, who is unaccustomed to such a life, falls prey to colic, swelling of the legs, fever, and stomachache. The settler believes his money lost, as the agreed indenture continues to expire, so no matter how sick, will beat him to make him work. From such treatment, emerged many runaways to swell the ranks of flibustiers and who presumably retained a lifelong distaste of cassava.

Reference Baudrit, Andr
e, Charles de Courbon, Comte de Bl
enac, 1622
1696 (Fort de France: Soci
et
e d’Histoire de la Martinique, 1967).

CASTEN, CAPTAIN (fl. 1668) Dutch privateer with a Jamaican commission. When the Dutch adventurer Jan Erasmus Reyning regained his freedom from the French and reached the Cayman Islands in 1668, he found ‘‘Captain Casten of Amsterdam’’ careening his ship. Reyning joined his company, and sailed as far as Aruba. Having taken a

Spanish prize, Casten then put into Port Royal to dispose of it, paying the requisite one-tenth of its value to the King of England, and one-fifteenth to the Duke of York.

Reference Vrijman, L. C., Dr. David van der Sterre: Zeer aenmerkelijke reysen door Jan Erasmus Reyning (Amsterdam: P. N. van Kampen & Zoon, 1937).

CASTRO, PEDRO DE (fl. 1676
1685) Spanish captain who became a guardacosta in the Gulf of Mexico. De Castro was apparently first mentioned in the summer of 1676, when a man of this same name sold his 200-ton frigate Santo Cristo del Buen Viaje (literally ‘‘Holy Christ of the Fair Voyage,’’ alias Mogole~ no) to the Crown in Spain, as one of five vessels which were to be used to reconstitute the Armada de Barlovento in the New World. It is unknown whether De Castro then traveled to the Americas next year with this force, perhaps aboard the flagship San Jos
e, Santa Rosa Marı´a y San Pedro de Alc
antara, which deposited the Governor-designate for Yucatan, Antonio de Layseca y Alvarado, at Campeche by November 30, 1677. In any event, De Castro was soon performing coast-guard duty out of that port, under Captain Juan Gonz
alez Moreda.

Initial Captures (1680) On January 7, 1679, De Castro obtained his own privateering commission from

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Castro, Pedro De (fl. 1676
1685) Governor Layseca in the provincial capital of M
erida, and began cruising on his own account. He took part in the expedition which Captain Felipe de la Barreda mounted in April 1680 to sweep English logwood cutters from the Laguna de T
erminos; then after returning, sailed again in mid-July with his two piraguas to scour the Yucatan peninsula as far around as the Bay of Honduras. Off Cocinas Island, he espied a large vessel at anchor, then another small frigate nearby, which he suspected of poaching logwood. Boarding the smaller vessel at night, he captured eight or nine Englishmen and marched inland to destroy their logging camp, killing two cutters and scattering the rest, before torching the huts. The larger ship thereupon surrendered and De Castro released three Spanish captives, transferred on board, and burnt the frigate. While putting back out to sea, he believed that he had too many prisoners to guard—some 50 English men, women, and children—so he deposited the still ‘‘bellicose’’ captain and eight hands on a nearby island (suggesting that this must have been Robert Oxe of the Laurel, although De Castro had renamed his prize Le
on Coronado or ‘‘Crowned Lion’’). When De Castro regained Campeche, he was informed by the pilotboat that another large intruder lay at the Laguna de T
erminos, which had seized a coaster loaded with salt near Sisal. De Castro immediately went in pursuit, and found the 36-gun ship inside the bar. Unable to penetrate with the heavy Le
on Coronado, he nonetheless persuaded its French captain and few crewmembers to surrender, learning that it was Nuestra Se~ nora del Honh
on, captured by John Coxon’s

flotilla off Portobelo 11 months previously. Rather than return to Campeche with these prizes, De Castro decided to put into Veracruz, sending his lieutenant Juan Corso back in a single piragua to request supplies. The Campeche authorities were greatly annoyed at this deviation, so arrested Corso, and sent 50 soldiers aboard a piragua in pursuit. Meanwhile, De Castro reached Veracruz on October 19, 1680, a day after Honh
on had anchored outside between Sacrificios and Blanca Islands under its prize master. Both ships were examined by Crown officials; Le
on Coronado was found to be a brand-new 300-ton vessel with 40 gun-ports (although only mounting 20 cannon), and reputedly ‘‘built in Virginia.’’ Honh
on was much the same size, pierced for 36 guns (although only mounting 22), ‘‘and well supplied with arms, powder, cannon balls, grenades, and other explosives.’’ After a lengthy inquiry in Mexico City, they were deemed legitimate prizes, so that De Castro did not have to pay any Crown share on their value, in accordance with the terms of his commission. Furthermore, the Mexican Viceroy appointed him on March 26, 1681, as ‘‘coast-guard Captain’’ for the entire Province of Yucatan, arranging to have his two new frigates maintained out of public funds. This arrangement did not last long, though, as the impoverished port of Campeche could not meet such heavy costs, nor were such large vessels suitable for inshore patrols. Within a year, Honh
on was transferred to the Armada de Barlovento, while De Castro and Corso shifted their operations to the southern coast of Cuba. Here, Corso acquired a reputation for brutality among his English victims, while De Castro was seldom mentioned,

Castro, Pedro De (fl. 1676
1685) presumably because he left such roughand-tumble work to his lieutenant.

Search for La Salle (1685) In the spring of 1685, De Castro was one of the first Spaniards to learn of a secret new French colony being established in the Gulf of Mexico by Ren
e Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle. Realizing that such an outpost would be an unwelcome infringement on Spain’s hegemony, he went in quest of the settlement, knowing its destruction would be well received by the Crown. He and Corso therefore sailed their galliot to Tuxpan and Tampico in Mexico that April, hoping to take on provisions and a pilot for the uncharted Gulf waters. On May 4, 1685, four days after leaving Tampico on an east-northeasterly heading, they were driven by a storm close inshore ‘‘two leagues to windward of Espı´ritu Santo Bay.’’ While riding out the weather, they saw signs of white habitation, and going ashore met a party of six Indians who informed them through sign-language that many people with muskets had preceded inland. De Castro led 50 well-armed men and three Indian guides in search of the intruders. A day-and-a-half later, they reached the shores of the Bay proper, where they saw ‘‘barefoot tracks in the sand and many broken casks and bottles.’’ Half-a-dozen canoes could be distinguished on the far bank, yet it was impossible to recognize people at that distance. De Castro retired to his galliot, and on May 19th stood out to sea, only to be driven into another unknown inlet by

contrary winds and currents, where he lost his anchor. Desperate to keep off the rocks, he put 25 men into the water to fashion a mooring, then abandoned them when the wind veered round. Three days later, he returned in rough weather to rescue 16 of them, but the rest had ventured inland to forage for food. By the time they reappeared, the surf was too dangerously high, so that De Castro hailed them to meet his galliot at Apalache Bay, many miles farther along the coast. This was to be the last time he was ever seen. The nine men survived their grueling trek, yet the galliot never appeared at the rendezvous, having been lost with all hands. Early in July 1687, it was reported at Mexico City that two vessels had returned to Veracruz from a reconnaissance along the Gulf coast, having failed to find any sign of La Salle. However, they did ‘‘bring back a scarred Spanish boy, of the Merced district in this City of Mexico, who was lost with the two ships of Corso and Castro on those shores, the others being drowned or eaten by the Chichimec Indians.’’

References Ju
arez Moreno, Juan, Piratas y corsarios en Veracruz y Campeche (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1972). Robles, Antonio de, Diario de sucesos notables 1665
1703 (Mexico City: Editorial Porr
ua, 1972). Torres Ramı´rez, Bibiano, La Armada de Barlovento (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1981). Weddle, Robert S., Wilderness Manhunt: The Spanish Search for La Salle (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1973).

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Charte-Partie or ‘‘Charter Party’’

CHARTE-PARTIE OR ‘‘CHARTER PARTY’’

Period: Illustrative Documents (New York: Macmillan, 1923).

Freebooter covenant, drawn up prior to a cruise to predetermine the division of any spoils. This term was originally a commercial one, used when two or more merchants agreed to share a hired vessel. If only a single individual were involved, the question of assigning cargo-space would not be a pressing concern; yet in the case of a charte-partie—literally, a ‘‘split charter’’—each consignor’s portion had to be carefully allotted. Seventeenthcentury French flibustiers, many of whom were former merchant sailors, adopted this expression to their own needs by agreeing on a proportional distribution of ‘‘purchase’’ before any cruise, with special provisos for compensating the wounded, senior commanders, etc. Yet this expression was commonly understood in other contexts as well. When the damaged 160-ton ship Holy Ghost limped into Nantasket Bay in July 1653, during the First Anglo-Dutch War, the Massachusetts authorities at first suspected that Captain Robert Harding had illegally carried away a neutral Spanish vessel from Carlisle Bay in Barbados, rather than a Dutch belligerent. But after examining Holy Ghost’s certificate from Amsterdam, ‘‘together with a charter partie found in the s’d ship,’’ they ruled it a legitimate prize.

CINCUENTENA

See also Charte-partie (Volume 2); Flibustier; Purchase.

Reference Jameson, John F., comp. and ed., Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial

Spanish irregular cavalrymen on Santo Domingo, greatly feared by French boucaniers. These riders were all volunteer militiamen raised in companies of 50—in Spanish, cincuenta, hence their nickname. Originally, they had been organized to contest the advances of French boucaniers and settlers pushing in from the northwestern coastline, and as many of these horsemen were local Spanish landowners or their retainers, they resented such encroachments as landgrabs. The boucaniers, who often had to hunt wild cattle singly or in small bands, dreaded falling into their hands, and told lurid tales about their cruelty.

CLARKE, ROBERT (fl. 1681
1684) English Governor of the Bahamas, dismissed for granting letters-of-marque against the Spaniards in peacetime. Clarke, a Bahamian settler described as ‘‘one of Cromwell’s officers,’’ had been appointed Governor by the colony’s Lord Proprietors back in England sometime prior to 1681, after his predecessor Charles Chillingworth had so provoked the inhabitants that they ‘‘assembled tumultuously, seized him, shipped him off for Jamaica, and lived every man as he thought best for his pleasure and interest.’’ Despite this seeming autonomy, the Bahamas actually depended quite heavily on Jamaica for its survival, so that when Gov. Sir Thomas Lynch learned that John Coxon had been

Cobham, Nathaniel (fl. 1665) raiding Portobelo and the South Sea— allegedly with a commission granted by Clarke—he wrote to the latter to complain. Clarke replied in July 1682, explaining that he had never sanctioned such actions, and citing recent Spanish depredations against two English ships in the Bahamas, plus the carrying-off of planters from the southern islands to Cuba as prisoners. He would therefore continue authorizing attacks against local Spaniards, and a New York merchant arriving at Jamaica in late September 1682 reported that the Bahamians had just ‘‘taken a piragua, a barco luengo, diverse Indians from Florida and seventeen from Cuba, whom they have sold for slaves.’’ When he learned of these seizures, Lynch wrote: ‘‘I am more than ever apprehensive of the consequences of this folly and rapine.’’ The Crown having grown increasingly intolerant of such ventures, Clarke’s commissions were invalidated and a warrant issued in London for his arrest. The Lord Proprietors also disavowed him, ordering Clarke home and replaced with another settler, Robert Lilburne, late in 1682. Yet before Clarke could be deported back to England, the Spaniards took matters into their own hands. In January 1684, a large force sortied from Havana and attacked English shipping off Andros Island, capturing one William Bell to serve as their pilot. Juan de Larco (?) then led 150 picked men in two barcos luengos to New Providence, landing on the eastern end of the island, and guided by Bell—with a halter around his neck—marched against Charles Town, as Nassau was then called. Clarke and his son Judah brought some men out to investigate this commotion, yet were met by musket fire, in which the former Governor was

wounded and captured. He died in Spanish captivity, allegedly roasted over a spit, although this tale was likely invented by the Bahamians to justify their continual hostilities against the Spaniards.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898). Craton, Michael, A History of the Bahamas (London: Collins, 1968). Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924).

‘‘CLOSTREE,’’ CAPITAINE (fl. 1663) French flibustier named in an English document of 1663 as commanding a 9-gun ship with a crew of 68 men, and holding a commission from the Governor of Tortuga. This name may have been merely a pseudonym, perhaps more properly spelled ‘‘Claustr
e.’’

Reference Pawson, Michael, and Buisseret, David J., Port Royal, Jamaica (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1975).

COBHAM, NATHANIEL (fl. 1665) English privateer who commanded the 2-gun Susannah in Colonel Edward Morgan’s expedition against Dutch Sint Eustatius and Saba, during the Second Anglo-Dutch War.

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Cocket This force departed Jamaica in two divisions, five sail putting out of Port Royal on April 5, 1665, and Morgan himself following with another four on April 28th. There were 650 men in all, described in a letter by Gov. Sir Thomas Modyford as: . . . chiefly reformed privateers, scarce a planter amongst them, being resolute fellows and well armed with fusils [Spanish word for muskets] and pistols. The Crown official was particularly pleased that they would be serving ‘‘at the old rate of no purchase, no pay, and it will cost the King nothing considerable, some powder and mortar pieces.’’ Their landing was successfully made, but the Colonel, ‘‘being a corpulent man,’’ died from heat exertion during the chase, and his expedition disbanded shortly thereafter.

References Cruikshank, E. A., The Life of Sir Henry Morgan (Toronto: Macmillan, 1935). Interesting Tracts Relating to the Island of Jamaica (St. Jago de la Vega: Lewis, Lunan and Jones, 1800). Pope, Dudley, Harry Morgan’s Way: The Biography of Sir Henry Morgan, 1635
1684 (London: Secker & Warburg, 1977).

COCKET A written certificate issued by a customhouse, confirming that merchandise being transported by a vessel had been duly registered, and paid the appropriate duties.

Correct documentation could be crucial for any merchant Master, in dealing with distant and far-flung authorities. For example, the licensed Jamaican privateer John Morris and his 7-gun Virgin Queen intercepted the pink Blue Dove of London early in 1664; the rover’s suspicions being aroused because this vessel had seemingly been steering toward Cuba when sighted and was ‘‘laden with ammunition and goods suitable to the Spanish trade.’’ Morris therefore placed two or three men aboard, and Virgin Queen accompanied Blue Dove until it arrived just outside Cagway, entering for adjudication. But when the matter was brought to trial three or four days later before Deputy-Governor Sir Charles Littleton, sitting in his capacity as Judge of Jamaica’s Vice-Admiralty Court, Robert Lord would later testify how from the pink’s: . . . bills of lading appeared that they were bound to Jamaica, their cockets and dispatches being clear from the King’s Custom-house at Dover; this deponent speaking in court to Sir Charles Littelton (then sitting Judge of the Court) that he knew the Master Robert Cooke, and that he lived in Ratliffe near to him [in London], which also testifies Captain Isaac Bowles, commander of the Blackmore (one of the Royal Company’s ships), the Governor (Sir Charles Littelton) did thereupon declare them to be a free ship, and to have their liberty of trade as any other ship whatsoever that was then in the harbor. A disappointed Morris would complain that the only profit he got for his effort was ‘‘an English ensign, and a hogshead of strong beer.’’

Cooke, Edmond (fl. 1673
1683)

See also

Reference

Cagaway; Cocket (Volume 2); Morris, John.

Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898).

Reference Jameson, John F., comp. and ed., Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period: Illustrative Documents (New York: Macmillan, 1923).

COFFIN, CAPTAIN (fl. 1683) English privateer issued a commission by Gov. Sir Thomas Lynch of Jamaica early in 1683, to cruise the leeward or western portion of that island and clear it of pirates. Coffin’s patent was one of many granted by the Governor around that time, ostensibly to clear the sea-lanes of raiders such as Jean Hamlin, but also to give employment to privateers idled by the peace, as well as to turn them against one another. John Coxon, George Johnson, and Thomas Paine were among others so designated. Toward the middle of March 1683, Coffin, who had sortied in a sloop with 70 men, returned to Port Royal to report that he had engaged two rogue privateers. The captain and seven crew-members of one had been killed, with 20 others wounded, while the second had also been considerably damaged, ‘‘but both got away with oars.’’ Coffin brought in three French prisoners, two of whom were executed, while the third had been a gunner aboard Hamlin’s notorious Trompeuse or ‘‘Trickster,’’ so was held over for a later trial.

COOKE, EDMOND (fl. 1673
1683) English master, who after enduring some rough usage at Spanish hands, turned corsair. Cooke was in command of the 130-ton merchant pink Virgin out of London, when it was intercepted in May 1673 while homeward-bound from Jamaica by the Irish-born renegade and Cuban guardacosta, Philip FitzGerald. According to a complaint lodged almost 10 months later by Cooke before the Committee for Trade and Plantations in London, he had been: . . . seized off Santa Lucia on Cuba by Captain Philip Fitzgerald and two other men-of-war, who demanded French goods, and then seized the ship and turned them all into a boat with a fortnight’s provisions. They were two months and three days reaching Jamaica; and the Governor of Trinidad would neither give nor sell them victuals, but bid Cooke go like a dog and thief. He had 42 tons of logwood laden at Jamaica, and the Spaniards said they had commission to destroy all ships that had two pounds of logwood in them. All this proved in the Admiralty. His vessel had meanwhile been condemned in Havana for carrying ‘‘prohibited’’ cargo, i.e., logwood, which its captor argued could only have been

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Cooke, Edmond (fl. 1673
1683) illegally obtained from Spain’s American dominions. On his return to Europe, Cooke and his owners instituted a £15,000 lawsuit in the autumn of 1674 against this illegal seizure, which the Captain pursued at the court of Madrid. Nine months later, the aggrieved Englishmen petitioned their own monarch Charles II for letters of reprisal, which were denied to them, and the case languished for several more years. Meanwhile, Cooke resumed his sea career, making another voyage to Jamaica in 1679, during which he apparently called at Mexico’s Laguna de T
erminos for a cargo of logwood; but while later lying off Aruba, Cooke saw the Armada de Barlovento bearing down on him, so that he and his men abandoned ship and went ashore in their boats. The Armada seized his ship and sailed it off, Governor Lord Carlisle of Jamaica later observing that the English master and crew preferred: . . . to sacrifice their ship rather than fall into the hands of the Spaniards, by whom they knew so many to have been ill treated and undone. This caused Cook [sic] to turn privateer, he never having been so before. Marooned on Aruba, Cooke and his crew waited until a Spanish bark approached, which they rowed out and seized. Finding it ladened with cacao, hides, and money, he sailed his prize to Jamaica, smuggling the cargo ashore and selling it in October 1679.

Portobelo Attack (1680) Determined to wreak vengeance on the Spaniards, Cooke followed an unofficial expedition which had quit Port Morant,

Jamaica, in January 1680 to attack Portobelo. Sailing to the rendezvous-point at Isla de Pinos, 130 miles east of that port amid the Archipi
elago de las Mulatas on Panama’s northern shoreline, Cooke espied a bark approaching in heavy weather which proved to be that of the chief commander, Coxon. The freebooters were ‘‘glad of his company,’’ the rest being at Golden Island some miles away. Coxon therefore detached Cooke to carry the order for this flotilla to join up before the Spaniards discovered their presence. Cooke, new to the business, almost ruined matters when on his way across to the main body he met: . . . a Spanish galliot from Cartagena, bound to Portobelo with Negroes, but there being a dissension among the company, some desirous to board him, others not, so that in fine they lost him. The current under shore setting strong to the eastward and having hard westerly winds, Captain Cooke could not get the Golden Islands, but was drove down into the Bay of Darien. Despite this setback, Coxon was able to get 250 buccaneers into boats and row westward along the coast, slipping ashore at the Gulf of San Blas, then proceeding afoot until they surprised Portobelo. The city was ransacked over two days, the freebooters retiring 10 miles northeastward to be picked up by their ships. A brief blockade ensued, after which a general distribution of booty was made, resulting in shares of 100 pieces of eight per man. The flotilla retired to Bocas del Toro at the northwestern extremity of present-day Panama to careen, and once refitted, the pirates decided to

Cooke, Edmond (fl. 1673
1683) return to Golden Island ‘‘to travel overland to Panama,’’ and attack the Spaniards on the Pacific side.

Pacific Campaign (1680) Coxon, Cooke, Robert Allison, Peter Harris, Thomas Magott, Richard Sawkins, and Sharpe all anchored close inshore in a small cove on Golden Island, out of sight of any Spanish ship which might chance to pass. An anchorwatch was left aboard each vessel, with orders to rally to Coxon’s and Harris’—the two largest—if they should be discovered. At six o’clock on Monday morning, April 15, 1680, 332 buccaneers went ashore and began to obtain Indian guides to cross the Isthmus. Ten days later, the pirates came on the Spanish stockade of Santa Marı´a at the confluence of the Chucunaque and Tuira Rivers. Sawkins led a dawn attack which carried the place. The buccaneers then pressed on into the Pacific, capturing Spanish coastal craft until they had assembled a small flotilla, with which they bore down on Panama City. The Spaniards sent out a hastily-assembled force to offer battle, which the raiders captured after a three-hour fight. Coxon’s reluctance to go any farther resulted in his being deposed from command, sailing away on May 5, 1680, with 70 loyal hands to retrace their steps across the Isthmus. Sawkins became chief commander aboard the captured Spanish flagship Santı´sima Trinidad, while Cooke commanded a bark of about 80 tons, and Sharpe a slightly smaller one. That very next day, a large Peruvian ship was intercepted arriving from Lima, which became Sharpe’s new

command. The flotilla thereupon roamed westward past Coiba Island, where Sawkins went aboard Cooke’s bark two days later with 60 men, to attempt a landing at the town of Remedios. He was killed in the disembarkation with Cooke bringing off the survivors. On quitting this river-mouth on May 11th (May 1, 1680 O.S.), the pirates seized a Spanish bark ladened with pitch, which Cooke transferred into and renamed Mayflower. Rejoining the main body, though, he found circumstances altered. Sawkins’ death created an upheaval, with 60 of his followers abandoning the enterprise altogether to sail away in Cooke’s former bark for the Caribbean. Sharpe was now promoted principal commander aboard Trinidad, while Cooke was turned out of Mayflower by his own crew. The former merchant-captain had never displayed the proper touch for privateering, ‘‘and went on board the great ship [Trinidad] as a private soldier.’’ Sharpe named his old friend John Cox, a New Englander, to command Mayflower in his stead. Cooke served out the remaining two years of the voyage in a minor capacity, apparently roving all up and down the South American coast, and may have still been aboard when Trinidad eventually rounded the Strait of Magellan and reached the English West Indies in late February 1682. At least one buccaneer noted that a merchant captain they met ‘‘went away with one Cook, our [sailing] master, to the Governor of Antigua [to ask] liberty to come in.’’ All the pirates scattered at this point, each according to his inclinations. It is said that Cooke’s flag was red striped with yellow, on which was a device of a hand and sword.

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Cooke, John (fl. 1679
1684)

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 7, 9, 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1889). Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924). Interesting Tracts Relating to the Island of Jamaica (St. Jago de la Vega: Lewis, Lunan and Jones, 1800).

COOKE, JOHN (fl. 1679
1684) English buccaneer who twice raided the Spaniards in the Pacific Ocean. Cooke was apparently born on the West Indian island of St. Kitts, and at one time served as quartermaster to the legendary Dutch rover Jan Willems. It is even claimed that Cooke captured a Spanish prize, of which he should have been given command were it not for the jealousy of Willems’ French followers, who marooned Cooke and his English band on ^Ile a Vache. His first documented exploit came during Bartholomew Sharpe’s incursion into the South Sea, when Cooke led a splinter-group of some 50 buccaneers including William Dampier, Edward Davis, and Lionel Wafer, who parted company in April 1681 and marched back across the Isthmus of Panama to Point San Blas, where they were rescued by Capitaine Tristan. Later, Cooke and some other Englishmen made off with Tristan’s ship at Dominica, while the flibustier chieftain was ashore. About 20 of this group went to Virginia in July 1682, which is where Cooke met them next April, having taken two French ships laden with

wine. He used the profits from this coup to plan a second raid against Peru, Cooke and his reunited followers leaving Chesapeake Bay on August 23, 1683, aboard his 18-gun Revenge, with a crew of 70 men. It soon became apparent that this vessel would not be adequate to round the Horn, so the buccaneers steered to the West African coast, where they seized a 36-gun Danish ship off Sierra Leone in November, renaming it Bachelor’s Delight. At Sherbro, a little farther along that same coast, they burnt Revenge so ‘‘she should tell no tales,’’ according to their pilot William Ambrose Cowley. Cooke then laid in a course for the Horn, sighting the Seebald de Weert Islands on January 28, 1684, as well as ‘‘great shoals of small lobsters, which colored the sea in red spots.’’ He passed the Isla de los Estados (Staten Island) on February 7th, emerging into the Pacific about a month later. On March 19, 1684, Bachelor’s Delight pursued a sail in the vicinity of Valdivia, Chile, which proved to be the Nicholas out of London, commanded by John Eaton. Although originally intended as a trade mission, Eaton’s purpose had quickly degenerated into simple plundering, so that the two rovers decided to join forces. They repaired to the Juan Fern
andez Islands for fresh supplies, and on April 8th headed northward in hopes of surprising the Peruvian coastal traffic. They seized a vessel on May 3rd, bearing timber from Guayaquil toward Lima, yet from whose crew they learned that their presence in those waters was already known. Withdrawing to the Lobos de Afuera Islands on May 9th to careen and revise their plans, the buccaneers could only muster 108 men

C
ordoba Y Z
u~niga, Luis Bartolom
e De (ca. 1650
post 1706?) between them, having many sick, including Cooke himself. While lying there, they sighted and pursued three sail, which they overhauled next day. They proved to be Spanish supply ships bearing flour, ‘‘seven or eight tons of quince marmalade,’’ and other goods for Panama, which Cooke and Eaton diverted to the remote Gal
apagos Islands and unloaded as a reserve supply. They remained there from May 31st to June 12th, and then proceeded farther north toward New Spain, hoping news of their depredations had not yet reached that far. As they approached the Gulf of Nicoya in present-day Costa Rica to raid for beef, Cooke died, and was succeeded in command of Bachelor’s Delight by Edward Davis.

of prisoners were also included, among them several friars bound for Campeche and Veracruz. In a separate document dated that same year, Cooper’s ship was described as a frigate of 10 guns, with a crew of 80 men.

References

Spanish Governor of Veracruz during the pirate invasion of May 1683. De C
ordoba was born in Veracruz, when his father Admiral Lorenzo de C
ordoba y Z
u~niga, Knight of the Order of Santiago, served as castellano or ‘‘garrison commander’’ for its islandfortress of San Juan de Ul
ua. After going abroad to serve the King, Don Luis returned with his own appointment as Governor early in 1677. He was considered the puppet of his older, corrupt brother-in-law, Diego Ortiz de Largacha, Knight of the Order of Santiago, whose unpopularity soon encompassed De C
ordoba as well. The Governor’s prestige was considerably diminished when Ortiz de Largacha was extradited to stand trial in Mexico City in 1681. At three o’clock on the afternoon of Monday, May 17, 1683, De C
ordoba was attending a banquet in Veracruz, when word arrived of two sails out at sea. Such arrivals were dealt with by

Bradley, Peter T., The Lure of Peru: Maritime Intrusion into the South Sea, 1598
1701 (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1989). Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924). Lussan, Ravenau de, Journal of a Voyage into the South Sea (Cleveland, OH: Arthur H. Clark, 1930).

COOPER, CAPTAIN (fl. 1663) English privateer who on October 29, 1663, brought two Spanish prizes into Port Royal, Jamaica. One was the Marı´a of Seville, a royal azogue ship carrying 1,000 quintals of quicksilver for the mines of Mexico, besides trade items such as oil, wine, and olives. A number

References Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924). Pawson, Michael, and Buisseret, David J., Port Royal, Jamaica (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1975).


~
NIGA, CORDOBA Y ZU
DE LUIS BARTOLOME (ca. 1650
post 1706?)

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C
ordoba Y Z
u~niga, Luis Bartolom
e De (ca. 1650
post 1706?) San Juan de Ul
ua’s commander, so Don Luis resumed his meal; yet on quitting the banquet hall more than an hour later, he was approached by ‘‘Don Juan Morfa’’ [John Murphy] with the suspicion that they were behaving oddly by not entering on the prevailing wind. This opinion was seconded by the city’s sargento mayor or ‘‘military commander,’’ Mateo Alonso de Huidobro, but dismissed by the Governor. That evening, De C
ordoba received a message from nearby Antigua Veracruz of strange ships out at sea, and San Juan de Ul
ua’s commander advised him that the island was being placed on full alert. The Governor ordered his own city troops into barracks rather than their individual billets, yet did not alert his militia units; moreover, he ignored the fact that his regulars had not yet received their monthly allotment of powder and shot. That night, a false report was brought in of a signalflare being fired on San Juan de Ul
ua, so Don Luis ordered more sentries posted along the waterfront, then ‘‘wrapped in a cape’’ he visited each of his separate barracks. Satisfied, he went back to bed, not realizing that his inspection had been observed by pirates from the shadows. They had infiltrated the city from the landward side under Laurens de Graaf and the ‘‘Chevalier’’ de Grammont, preparing to attack at first light. Gunfire awakened the Governor at dawn of May 18th, and he scrambled downstairs with sword and baton to rally his household company, but they lacked powder. Outside, Grammont led two columns of heavily-armed flibustiers against the palace, firing volleys. Those Spaniards brave enough to form a line were mown down, the survivors

fleeing back inside to bar the door. De C
ordoba ran upstairs with his troops, then emerged onto a balcony to call for quarter, yet a soldier behind warned him ‘‘not to do so with a naked blade in his hand, for he might be killed.’’ Withdrawing hastily, the Governor tried to dispose of his official papers by sweeping them off his desk into a couple of baskets, with orders to hurl them down the well. His wooden writing-case with its correspondence was tossed underneath a rolled awning. With that, he joined his panic-stricken men on the rooftop, flinging himself over the wall to the adjacent private homes. Soon, the invaders cut off this escape, but De C
ordoba had disappeared. He hid for 24 hours in the palace stables with an injured leg, but was discovered on the morning of May 19th by an English buccaneer—reputedly Captain Spurre—and the pirates beat him mercilessly. Bloodied, Don Luis was kept hostage along with a dozen leading citizens. He offered ransom, writing a pitiful letter to his sister Do~na Ana Marı´a (the wife of Ortiz de Largacha) in Puebla, asking her to raise the sum. Eventually 150,000 pesos was paid for all the captives, and Don Luis was released along with the rest. He was then arrested on charges of neglect of duty and cowardice, being transferred on June 14, 1683, from the Veracruz jail to San Juan de Ul
ua, vilified by a jeering mob. On August 11th, he was sentenced to death at his courtmartial, but a year later the Mexican Viceroy commuted this verdict to ‘‘perpetual destitution of office and banishment from the Indies, plus ten years imprisonment in Mamora or some other African presidio.’’ Outraged petitions were raised in Veracruz, calling for the execution to be carried out. The

Corso, Juan (fl. 1680
1685) ex-Governor languished on San Juan de Ul
ua for many years, until finally a royal c
edula authorized his release in 1706.

References Ju
arez Moreno, Juan, Piratas y corsarios en Veracruz y Campeche (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1972). Marley, David F., Sack of Veracruz: The Great Pirate Raid of 1683 (Windsor, Ontario, Canada: Netherlandic Press, 1993).

reentered New Providence. When Gov. Robert Lilburne visited the site of the sunken galleon a few weeks later, he found all the rovers gone.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898).

CORSAIR CORNELISZOON, JAN (fl. 1683) Rover of Dutch descent, who operated out of New York. In March 1683, Corneliszoon was lying at New Providence in the Bahamas with his brigantine and Captains Markham, Conway Woolley, and the French flibustier Br
eha, preparing to jointly ‘‘fish silver from a Spanish wreck.’’ However, Captain Thomas Paine’s bark Pearl of eight guns and 60 men then arrived, with a license from Gov. Sir Thomas Lynch of Jamaica to hunt pirates. The five consequently decided to raid the nearby Spanish outpost of Saint Augustine, Florida, using Paine’s commission as authorization, despite the official peace prevailing with Spain. They landed flying French colors, yet found the Spaniards forewarned, so withdrew after releasing some captives they had brought, and looting the surrounding countryside. Once back in the Bahamas, Corneliszoon and Woolley apparently proceeded directly to the wreck site, while the other three

Synonym for privateer, meaning an individual or vessel officially licensed to commit hostilities. The word is believed to be derived from the Latin cursus or corsa, for ‘‘course’’ or ‘‘cruise.’’ It remained current among many Latin-speaking peoples, particularly the Spanish, even after the English introduced ‘‘privateer’’ into their language, and the Dutch adopted kaper into theirs. The Spaniards retained its classic usage, referring to privateering or ‘‘sailing on the account’’ as andar a corso, or a privateering commission as a patente de corso.

CORSO, JUAN (fl. 1680
1685) Famous Cuban corsair, greatly feared and hated by his victims. His real name was apparently Giovanni Michele, born on Corsica at a time when that island was governed by the Republic of Genoa, which was a satellite of Spain. Therefore, he and his younger brother Biagio were able

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Corso, Juan (fl. 1680
1685)

A dashing West Indian corsair, as depicted by Howard Pyle. (Johnson, Merle [compiled by]. Howard Pyle’s Book of Pirates: Fiction, Fact & Fancy Concerning the Buccaneers & Marooners of the Spanish Main, 1921)

to win authorization from Madrid to emigrate to the New World and take employment as mercenary privateers. They were commonly referred to by the Spaniards under their Hispanicized names of ‘‘Juan Corso’’ and ‘‘Blas Miguel Corso.’’ Gov. Sir Thomas Lynch of Jamaica would lump the two brothers and all the other guardacostas of his day as ‘‘Corsicans, Slavonians, Greeks, mulattoes, a mongrel parcel of thieves.’’ Certainly Corso was subordinate to the Spaniard Pedro de Castro throughout his West Indian career, while Corso’s first mate, Giorgio Niccolo (‘‘Jorge Nicol
as’’) was known to be a native of Venice.

It is possible that Corso took part in De Castro’s early cruises, but the first direct reference to his activities occurred in April 1680, when both sailed in the expedition which Captain Felipe de la Barreda led against the English logwood cutters of the Laguna de T
erminos. After returning from this highly successful sweep, De Castro and Corso departed in mid-July with two piraguas to patrol the Yucatan coastline as far around as the Bay of Honduras. Off Cocinas Island, they espied a large vessel at anchor, then another small frigate nearby, which they suspected of poaching logwood, and captured both. The larger ship was most likely Robert Oxe’s brand-new Laurel, renamed Le
on Coronado or ‘‘Crowned Lion,’’ and carried back toward Campeche. On approaching their home port, though, De Castro and Corso were informed that another large intruder lay at the Laguna de T
erminos, so they immediately went in pursuit and spotted a 36-gun ship inside its bar. Unable to enter with the heavy Le
on Coronado, De Castro nonetheless persuaded the enemy captain to surrender, learning that it was the ex-Spanish Nuestra Se~ nora del Honh
on, captured 11 months previously off Portobelo by John Coxon’s flotilla. Rather than return with these prizes to Campeche, De Castro decided to put into Veracruz in October 1680, sending only Corso back to their base with a single piragua. Its authorities were greatly annoyed at this deviation from usual procedure, arresting Corso and sending 50 soldiers in De Castro’s pursuit aboard a piragua. The dispute was not resolved until March 1681, when De Castro’s action was deemed legitimate, and Corso was released. Both then resumed their coastal patrols aboard Le
on Coronado and Honh
on,

Corso, Juan (fl. 1680
1685) until the latter became incorporated into the Armada de Barlovento in 1682, and the corsairs shifted their operations across to the southern coast of Cuba. This proved to be a very active arena with Spanish residents being embroiled in a bitter peacetime feud against the French flibustiers of SaintDomingue, as well as English smugglers, hunters, and fishermen arriving from Jamaica. Corso’s name soon became prominently featured, both because De Castro left much of the patrol duties to him, as well as some captures made by other rovers, which were erroneously attributed to Corso. The English, in particular—neutral in this Franco-Spanish conflict, yet with many ships plying those waters— became incensed at his growing number of depredations. By April 1683, Governor Lynch of Jamaica was writing to: . . . the Governor of Havana complaining of the piracies of Juan Corso, and desiring to know if he owned them; but neither he nor the Governor of Santiago de Cuba would ever answer. This Juan a month since [late June or early July 1683] took a boat of ours bound to New Providence [in the Bahamas]; he has killed diverse of our people in cold blood. In one case he cut off a man’s head because he was sick, and could not row so strongly as he expected. Barbarities like these and worse he commits daily. The Governor also reported that a New England ketch which had gone turtling to the ‘‘Salt Tortugas’’ (modern Isla La Tortuga, off Venezuela) had been seized by some French corsairs and carried towards Saint-Domingue, yet intercepted by Corso before it could arrive. Sailing

his prize into Santiago de Cuba, the French captives were: . . . condemned to death as pirates, but the vessel and the Englishmen detained. As the French pirates were marched to execution, the town mutinied and reprieved them from fear of the Frenchmen’s revenge, and paid the Governor 200 piecesof-eight in composition. This is the manner in which they do everything. A few weeks later, in early August 1683, Lynch again advised his superiors that it was Corso: . . . who by landing off the coast of Hispaniola and carrying away many prisoners, slaves, etc., caused the French government to grant commissions of war, and it is feared that on the privateers’ return [from the sack of Veracruz under Laurens de Graaf and the Sieur de Grammont] they will destroy Santiago de Cuba, where Corso shelters himself. On August 18, 1683 (O.S.), Lynch once again enumerated his complaints against the corsair in a letter to the Spanish Governor of Havana, averring: This Juan Corso, or some such villains, have killed Captain Prenar, pretending to come to trade with him in a canoe. He or some others came aboard one Bodeler and one Wall, when at anchor in an uninhabited bay, killed both of them and several men, and carried the sloops to Santiago de Cuba. The same surprised Captain Van den Claus[en] in an uninhabited bay, and tortured the men to make them

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Corso, Juan (fl. 1680
1685) confess that they were trading. The Governor [of Santiago de Cuba], bribed by a share, condemned her. These pirates constantly rack their prisoners, and the Governors make no effort to stop it. Corso having captured an English boat with four men, killed one with his own hand because he was sick. He or others have lately taken a vessel bound for New Providence without cargo. He has often declared that he will serve us as he served the French, and threatens to come and take Negroes from the north side of Jamaica. Lynch ended his disquisition by telling the Governor of Havana that if ‘‘you could receive anybody at Havana, I could much strengthen my case against Juan Corso.’’ Early in March 1684, Lynch again wrote his superiors in London: It is reported that Juan Corso attacked a Frenchman with three ‘‘periagos’’ [sic; piraguas] and was killed, but that the French were taken and all killed to the number of 100. The Spaniards are said to have lost as many. This is reported to have taken place off Havana, Corso having come from New Providence, which he had destroyed. This information was incorrect, as both Corso and De Castro continued to operate out of Cuba. In the spring of 1685, they were among the first Spaniards to learn of a secret new French colony being established in the Gulf of Mexico by Ren
e Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle. Realizing that Madrid would welcome the destruction of this intruder

settlement, they sailed in a galliot to Tuxpan and Tampico in Mexico that April, hoping to take on provisions and a pilot to probe the uncharted Gulf waters. On May 4, 1685, four days after leaving Tampico on an east-northeasterly heading, they were driven by a storm close inshore ‘‘two leagues to windward of Espı´ritu Santo Bay.’’ While riding out the weather, they saw signs of white habitation, and going ashore met a party of six Indians who informed them through sign-language that many people with muskets had preceded inland. De Castro led 50 wellarmed men and three Indian guides in search of the intruders, yet returned empty-handed a few days later. On May 19th, he and Corso stood out to sea, only to be driven into another unknown inlet by contrary winds and currents, where they lost their anchor. Desperate to keep off the rocks, 25 men were put into the water to fashion a mooring, then abandoned when the wind veered round. Three days later, Corso and De Castro returned in rough weather to rescue 16, but the rest were absent foraging inland for food. By the time they reappeared, the surf was too dangerous, so they were hailed to meet the galliot at Apalache Bay, many miles farther along the coast. The nine men survived this grueling trek, yet the galliot was never seen again, being lost with all hands including Juan Corso.

References Archivo General de la Naci
on [Mexico], Serie Reales C
edulas (Originales), Volume 18, Exp. 151, Folios 329
330. Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11

Coxon, John (fl. 1676
1688) (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898). Robles, Antonio de, Diario de sucesos notables 1665
1703 (Mexico City: Editorial Porr
ua, 1972). Weddle, Robert S., Wilderness Manhunt: The Spanish Search for La Salle (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1973).

COXON, JOHN (fl. 1676
1688) English privateer who prowled the West Indies for many years. The first mention of Coxon’s name appears to have occurred on August 2, 1676 (O.S.), when Peter Beckford wrote from Port Royal, Jamaica: Captain Coxen [sic] about the island with a French commission. My Lord [Vaughan, Governor of Jamaica] uses all possible means to take him, and proclaimed mercy to all his men if they delivered their captain up, who was declared a pirate, but they refused, so My Lord sent to take him, but he ran away immediately. England being then at peace, it was illegal for Jamaican privateers to participate in the on-going hostilities between France, Spain, and Holland, yet Coxon was one of several who ignored this stricture, and in June 1677 sailed with his French commission to attack Santa Marta on the Spanish Main under Capitaine La Garde.

Capture of Santa Marta (June 1677) The flibustier force surprised this town at dawn and took many captives,

including its Governor and Bishop, holding them for ransom until a trio of Armada de Barlovento warships appeared from Cartagena with 500 soldiers, and drove them off. The raiders thereupon retired to Port Royal, so that on July 28, 1677, Sir Thomas Lynch noted: Five or six French and English privateers lately come to Jamaica from taking Santa Marta, Barnes being one and Coxon expected every hour. On board the Governor and the Bishop, and Captain Legarde [sic] has promised to put them on shore. The plunder of the town was not great, money and broken plate [i.e., silver] about £20 a man. Three days later, Coxon entered port, and personally escorted the 53year-old Bishop Dr. Lucas Fern
andez y Piedrahita and a Spanish friar into the presence of the new island Governor, Lord Vaughan. The prelate was nobly housed, and English officers went aboard the buccaneer flotilla to attempt ‘‘to procure the liberty of the [Spanish] Governor and others, but finding the privateers all drunk, it was impossible to persuade them to do anything by fair means.’’ Vaughan therefore ordered the French to depart, and officially advised Coxon and his English followers that it was illegal for them to continue serving under foreign colors. The French were ‘‘damnably enraged’’ at being deprived of their English companions, so sailed off without releasing any more captives. Fern
andez y Piedrahita was soon after restored to the Spaniards at Cartagena, and having previously been appointed to act as Bishop of Panama, continued to his new see this same year,

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Coxon, John (fl. 1676
1688) while his previous Santa Marta diocese was occupied as of 1678 by Dr. Diego de Ba~ nos y Sotomayor.

Indigo Seizure (September 1679) Coxon soon resumed his activities anyway, leading a mixed party of English, French, and other privateers on a foray into the Bay of Honduras in the summer of 1679. On September 26th, they captured a Spanish merchantman ladened with valuable cargo, and again approached Jamaica to dispose of it. By late October, it was being reported at Port Royal: There has been lately taken from the Spaniards by Coxon, Bartholomew Sharpe, Bothing, and Hawkins [Richard Sawkins?] with their crew, 500 chests of indigo, a great quantity of cacao, cochineal, tortoise shell, money, and plate. Much is brought into this country already, and the rest expected. The English Governor tried to prevent its introduction, yet the rovers threatened that ‘‘they would leave their interest in Jamaica and sail to Rhode Island or to the Dutch, where they would be well entertained.’’ Despite naval patrols, the goods were smuggled ashore and sold, to the noticeable benefit of both the island’s economy and treasury.

Portobelo Campaign (February 1680) Coxon then convened an illegal assemblage at Port Morant, off the southeastern tip of Jamaica, which was attended at the end of December 1679 by the barks of

Capts. Cornelius Essex and Sharpe, as well as the sloops of Robert Allison and Thomas Magott, all of whom agreed to unite under Coxon’s leadership for an assault against Spanish Portobelo. The authorization for such a venture was very sketchy, the privateers holding a mixture of outdated French and English commissions, including ‘‘let-passes’’ from the new Jamaican Governor Lord Carlisle to simply ‘‘go into the Bay of Honduras [modern Belize] to cut logwood.’’ They quit Port Morant on January 17, 1680, and less than 20 miles out at sea met the brigantine of the French flibustier Jean Rose, who also joined the expedition. The weather turning bad, Coxon hailed his vessels to make their best way to Isla Fuerte, 90 miles south-southwest of Cartagena on the Main. Whosoever got there first was ‘‘to leave a note on the Sandy Point, to satisfy the rest.’’ Only Essex and Sharpe failed to keep this rendezvous, after which Coxon raided the nearby San Bernardo or ‘‘Friends’’ Islands for landing craft. He returned three days later with ‘‘four piraguas and six very good large canoes,’’ discovering Essex had in the meantime rejoined. The formation then proceeded toward Isla de Pinos, 130 miles east of Portobelo amid the Archipi
elago de las Mulatas, although only Coxon’s bark was able to shoulder through the contrary winds and gain this isle, the rest being forced into Isla de Oro or ‘‘Golden Island’’ some miles away. There, the pirates befriended the local Indians, while Coxon learned that Sharpe had preceded him, and that the privateer Edmond Cooke had come to join him, for which he was grateful because his force ‘‘wanted men.’’ The winds continuing to blow foul, Coxon took 250 buccaneers into boats

Coxon, John (fl. 1676
1688) and rowed westward along the coast, hoping to strike before the Spaniards could detect his presence. Near his goal, he came on ‘‘a great ship riding at anchor,’’ which proved to be that of the flibustier Capitaine Lessone, who added 80 Frenchmen to the boat parties. Shortly thereafter, the buccaneers slipped ashore in the Gulf of San Blas, proceeding afoot to avoid the Spanish coastal-watchers. They marched three days ‘‘without any food, and their feet cut with the rocks for want of shoes,’’ until they came on an Indian village three miles short of Portobelo. A native spotted them and shouted ‘‘¡Ladrones!’’ or ‘‘Thieves!’’ before setting off at a run toward the city. ‘‘Good boys,’’ Coxon called to his men, ‘‘you that are able to run, get into town before we are descried!’’ The buccaneers trotted in pursuit, but the Indian arrived half-an-hour before them and raised the alarm. Nevertheless, the vanguard under Allison was able to sweep in unopposed, the Spaniards withdrawing inside their citadel in fear, leaving the raiders to ransack Portobelo unchallenged over the next two days. Coxon then retired 10 miles northeastward, entrenching himself with his booty and a few prisoners on a cay half-a-mile offshore from Bastimentos, while Allison sped in a boat to recall the anchored ships. Three days later, several hundred Spanish troops appeared and began firing on the pirates from the beach, yet were unable to exact vengeance before the vessels arrived. Coxon instituted a blockade of Portobelo; Sharpe, who in the interim had reappeared, intercepted a barco luengo from Cartagena. Three days later Coxon and Allison combined to take a new

90-ton ship of eight guns, which had also come from Cartagena bearing 30 slaves, timber, salt, corn, and allegedly 500 pieces of gold in a jar of wine (which Coxon ‘‘wronged the party of by keeping it to himself,’’ according to a disgruntled follower). A general distribution of booty was subsequently made, resulting in shares of 100 pieces of eight per man. Afterward, Coxon’s confederates agreed to retire to Bocas del Toro at the northwestern extremity of present-day Panama, ‘‘to make clean our ships, there being the best place to careen our ships, by reason there is good store of turtle and manatee and fish.’’ Coxon found the barco luengo of Richard Sawkins already there, who in turn advised him that Captain Peter Harris was careening at Diego’s Point on nearby Isla Solarte. Coxon transferred into his new Spanish prize, abandoning his old bark. Once refitted, he suggested that the pirates return to Golden Island and avail themselves of their friendship with the Indians ‘‘to travel overland to Panama,’’ and attack the Spaniards on their Pacific flank. The English all agreed, only the French under Lessone and Rose refusing, preferring to prowl the Gulf of San Blas again. Thus the two contingents parted, in true Brotherhood fashion.

Pacific Incursion (April 1680) Coxon, Allison, Cooke, Harris, Magott, Sawkins, and Sharpe all anchored their ships close inshore in a small cove on Golden Island, out of sight of any Spaniards who might chance to sail past. An anchor-watch was also left aboard each, with orders to rally to

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Coxon, John (fl. 1676
1688) Coxon’s and Harris’ ships—the two largest—if any attack should occur. At six o’clock on Monday morning, April 15, 1680, Coxon led 332 buccaneers ashore and obtained guides from the local Indians to cross the Isthmus. Ten days later, the pirates came on the Spanish stockade of Santa Marı´a, at the confluence of the Chucunaque and Tuira Rivers. This fort had no artillery, so that Sawkins led a mad rush of buccaneers at dawn, which penetrated the palisades after a heated half-hour exchange of small-arms’ fire. Seventy of the 200 Spanish defenders were killed outright, the rest being massacred later by Indians. Flushed with their victory, the buccaneers pressed on toward the Pacific, although it was noted how ‘‘our general, Captain Coxon, seemed unwilling, but with much persuasion went.’’ He apparently felt that they did not possess sufficient strength to emulate Henry Morgan’s feat of subduing Panama City, so should be satisfied with smaller gains, but his ‘‘people was eager for more voyage’’ despite the dangers, and other captains assumed the lead. Once on the Pacific side, the pirate boats captured an anchored Spanish bark one night, and Sharpe went aboard it with 135 men. Next night, Harris captured a second bark, and the buccaneers soon had a small flotilla, with which they bore down on Panama City. The Spaniards sent out a hastily-assembled force to do battle, and the raiders captured it after a three-hour fight. By this time, Coxon’s prestige had become so eroded, that he was deposed. ‘‘Our former admiral not behaving himself nobly in time of engagement,’’ a pirate wrote, ‘‘was something hooted at

by the party, that he immediately went away to go overland.’’ On May 5, 1680, Coxon quit the campaign with 70 loyal hands in a small bark, retracing his steps across the Isthmus. Sharpe, Sawkins, and Cooke remained in command of the expedition, which began an epic two-year campaign of terror along the South American coast.

Cruises (1680
1682) Meanwhile, Coxon forged back up the Chucunaque River and regained the Caribbean, reappearing before Jamaica a few weeks later. The retiring island Governor, Carlisle, met with the corsair and 55 men: . . . off Point Negril on my passage home. We gave chase with the Hunter frigate in company for 24 hours, but he outsailed us and we could not come up with him, but we took two vessels belonging to him forsaken by their crews, who were all aboard his vessel. The next spring, Coxon was rumored to be calling for another assemblage of pirates ‘‘somewhere in the Gulf of Honduras,’’ perhaps at Roat
an, and is also known to have raided the Spanish outpost of Saint Augustine, Florida. By early June 1681, he was lying at Springer’s Key in the San Blas Islands again, with a ship of 10 guns and 100 men accompanied by Rose, Jan Willems, George Wright, and four other captains. They were joined there by Capitaine Tristan, who had just rescued John Cooke’s band of rovers at nearby La Sound’s Key, fresh from their South Seas adventures. William

Coxon, John (fl. 1676
1688) Dampier, who was among the latter group, recorded how Coxon and the others were overjoyed to see them, having ‘‘never heard what became of us.’’ The whole flotilla then decided to make a descent on the Central American coast, for which they sailed toward San Andr
es Island to procure boats. Yet a gale scattered the formation, and an armadilla of a dozen tiny men-of-war sent from Cartagena drove others away. Coxon put into Bocas del Toro to careen, his expedition having disintegrated.

Jamaican Service (1682
1683) Apparently tiring of his nomadic existence, Coxon approached yet another new Governor of Jamaica, Sir Thomas Lynch, in May 1682 and showed him his old commission, issued by CaptainGeneral Robert Clarke of the Bahamas, to operate against the Spaniards. Lynch was appalled, considering this document a violation of the peace prevailing with Madrid, yet did not hold the matter against Coxon personally. Instead, he wrote reprovingly to Clarke, who replied on July 16th of that same year: Captain John Coxon being denied a commission to take St. Augustine, Florida, went hence in contempt of any orders and contrary to law and custom, carrying away some persons that are indebted to the inhabitants [of the Bahamas]. All that he did in landing and plundering on Spanish territory was done by his own power. I thought fit to inform you of this, since I hear he is now at Jamaica. Lynch was unconvinced, and continued to put his trust in the veteran

privateer. Four months later (November 6, 1682 O.S.), he reported to his superiors that he had recently sent: . . . Coxon and two other vessels to the Bay of Honduras to bring away our logwood cutters. So far from doing so, he was in danger of losing his ship and his life. His men plotted to take the ship and go privateering, but he valiantly resisted, killed one or two with his own hand, forced eleven overboard and brought three here, who were condemned last Friday. I shall order one or two to be hanged for an example to others and encouragement to him. I am hiring him to convey a Spaniard to Havana. In February 1683, Lynch again entrusted Coxon with a special commission, dispatching him in search of Willems, to jointly mount a pursuit of Jean Hamlin, the French renegade who had been making captures with the hijacked vessel Trompeuse or ‘‘Trickster.’’ The Governor was willing to offer Willems: . . . (who commands an admirable sailer), men, victuals, pardon, naturalisation, and £200 in money to him and Coxon, if he will go after La Trompeuse. But the Dutchman was otherwise engaged, and Coxon did not come up with him. Instead, on his return passage toward Port Royal, Coxon met the corsair flagship Saint Nicholas of Nikolaas van Hoorn and the Sieur de Grammont to leeward or westward of Jamaica, who informed him that they were ‘‘trying to unite all the privateers for an attack on Veracruz.’’ Although he must have been

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Coxon, John (fl. 1676
1688) sorely tempted, Coxon refused and reentered Port Royal by mid-March, subsequently learning that the buccaneers had met with Laurens de Graaf, Michiel Andrieszoon, George Spurre, Jacob Hall, Pierre Bot, Antoine Bernard, Pierre d’Orange, and many others, and made a spectacular assault on that Mexican port, obtaining enormous amounts of booty with almost no casualties. Such a missed opportunity must have galled him, as Lynch was noting by November 12th that ‘‘Coxon is again in rebellion,’’ having resumed his old piratical ways.

Renegade (1683
1688) Nothing more was recorded about Coxon for more than two years, until Lieutenant-Gov. Hender Molesworth of Jamaica reported in late January 1686: Captain John Coxon, a notorious privateer, who took advantage of a clause in the act for restraining and persuading pirates to return to the honest life, became weary of it and reverted to piracy, has wearied again of that and returned here. His bond for good behavior, when required, could not be found, but I have evidence against him and have ordered him to be apprehended. The place of trial will be Santiago de la Vega, where there will be fewer sympathisers among the jury. The veteran commander apparently remained as wily as ever, however, for Molesworth was complaining by midNovember 1686: I hear that Coxon is cutting logwood in the Gulf of Campeche [sic; Laguna

de T
erminos], and has written to his friends that he has given up privateering and means to earn an honest living. I shall nonetheless send the proclamation declaring him a pirate to those parts by first opportunity. He followed this up by issuing a warrant on November 24, 1686 (O.S.), commissioning ‘‘Captains Rich Cubitt and Conway to apprehend John Coxon, the pirate, said to be logwood-cutting in the Bay of Campeche.’’ Even so, Coxon could not be caught, although when Royal Navy Captain Thomas Spragge returned to Port Royal in August 1687 with 71 English prisoners restored to him by the Spanish Governors of Campeche and Veracruz, he also ‘‘brought in six French pirates who had robbed some [Jamaican] vessels, and eleven of Coxon’s men.’’ The latter were tried on August 18th, eight being convicted after the other three turned informers. Yet it was not until October 1688 that Coxon himself and several of his men finally surrendered to the new Jamaican Governor, the Duke of Albemarle, who in turn handed them over to Stephen Lynch, Sir Robert Holmes’ agent in the Americas. Coxon’s barco luengo, called the Dorado (Spanish for the ‘‘Golden One’’), was taken over ‘‘by one Lisle, whose company numbered 80 English, three French, and five Flemings,’’ and was later seized off ^Ile a Vache by the French authorities on November 16, 1688. It is believed that Coxon may have retired to live ashore on the island of Roat
an off Honduras, as its principal harbor was to remain known for many years as ‘‘Coxen’s Hole,’’ and local legend avers that the old pirate continued to be there until 1697.

Crane, William (fl. 1675)

References

See also

Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 10
13 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1893
1899). Dampier, William, A New Voyage Round the World (New York: Dover, 1968). Interesting Tracts Relating to the Island of Jamaica (St. Jago de la Vega: Lewis, Lunan and Jones, 1800). Jameson, John Franklin, comp. and ed., Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period: Illustrative Documents (New York: Macmillan, 1923). Ju
arez Moreno, Juan, Piratas y corsarios en Veracruz y Campeche (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1972). Marley, David F., Pirates and Engineers: Dutch and Flemish Adventurers in New Spain (1607
1697) (Windsor, Ontario, Canada: Netherlandic Press, 1992). Pope, Dudley, Harry Morgan’s Way: The Biography of Sir Henry Morgan, 1635
1684 (London: Secker & Warburg, 1977).

Crab Island (Volume 2).

CRAB ISLAND English name for what is today Vieques Island, east of Puerto Rico, noted for its large crabs. In a letter dated at Nevis on October 28, 1684 (O.S.), Gov. Sir William Stapleton of the Leeward Islands described Crab Island as: . . . the best of all the Virgins, if not better than them altogether. It is a small traject [i.e., distance] of Puerto Rico. Although occasionally occupied by foreigners, the Spaniards were able to retain ownership over this outpost, thanks largely to its proximity to Puerto Rico.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898). Prebble, John, The Darien Disaster (London: Secker & Warburg, 1968).

CRANE, WILLIAM (fl. 1675) English privateer who sailed under French colors. In the summer of 1675, Crane approached Captain John Edmunds of Point Negril on the western extremity of Jamaica, to ask whether he might safely come in with his ship, even though he held a French privateering commission. Until that previous year, England had been allied with France in its wars against the Dutch, although peace had since been declared by London, and English subjects were now discouraged from participating in the hostilities. Edmunds wrote on Crane’s behalf to the recently returned Sir Henry Morgan, DeputyGovernor for the island, who replied on August 25, 1675 (O.S.), that Crane ‘‘will be very welcome in any harbor.’’

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 9 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1893).

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Crijnssen, Abraham (fl. 1667)

CRIJNSSEN, ABRAHAM (fl. 1667) Dutch Commodore who led a daring raid during the Second Anglo-Dutch War. After seizing the English colony of Suriname on the Wild Coast in February 1667, Crijnssen (or ‘‘Crimson,’’ as the English called him) led his Zeeland squadron northward and retook the island of Sint Eustatius. From there, he appeared unexpectedly off Chesapeake Bay in the first days of June, where his four warships and an 8-gun dogger quickly snapped up a small Carolina-bound shalloup, plus another English merchantman. Learning of a convoy assembling up the James River to convey the annual tobacco crop to market in London, Crijnssen hoisted English colors and followed his captured shallop in past Point Comfort. Englishspeaking crewmembers were used to call out soundings as the Dutch advanced and passing vessels were hailed in the same language, so that everyone they met was deceived. Three leagues upriver, they came on the sole Royal Navy vessel on that station, the 20-year-old, 46-gun frigate HMS Elizabeth, which had just arrived the previous month from its transAtlantic crossing. It was being repaired and had a 30-man skeleton crew on board, so that Crijnssen blasted it with a broadside, then boarded, yet could not haul the warship off, so burned it at its mooring. The Dutch thereupon reversed course downriver, seizing everything in their path. The English attempted to mobilize a defense, but even after hastily arming a dozen merchantmen, found the masters reluctant to match broadsides with Crijnssen. The raiders were suffered to burn half-a-dozen tobacco ships, and man more than a dozen others before sailing away.

Reference Shomette, Donald G. and Haslach, Robert D., Raid on America: The Dutch Naval Campaign of 1672
1674 (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1988).

CUSACK, GEORGE (fl. 1668
1675) Irish pirate, allegedly intended for the priesthood, who briefly operated in the West Indies. In 1668, Cusack seized the Hopewell of Tangier and renamed it Valiant Prince, sailing for the Leeward Islands, where it was retaken. He and his men were imprisoned at Barbados, but escaped in a small boat, then captured the San Josef of Lisbon. Dubbing it Flying Devil, they sailed to New England, burnt it, transferred to small boats, and reached Virginia, from where they re-crossed the Atlantic to resume their attacks off the Irish and English coasts. Cusack’s final captures were the Robert and Saint Anne, the latter disposed of at Aberdeen. Coming down into the Thames estuary, Cusack was captured off Leigh by Colonel Kennedy. There exists a small contemporary quarto entitled The Grand Pyrate: or, the life and death of Captain George Cusack, the great sea-robber (London: Jonathan Edwin, 1676), which describes his trial at the Old Bailey in January 1675, and subsequent execution.

Reference Piracy & Privateering, catalog, Volume Four, National Maritime Museum Library (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1972).

D You are to take notice and advise your fleet and soldiers that you are on the old pleasing account of no purchase, no pay, and therefore that all which is got, shall be divided amongst them, according to accustomed rules. —From Henry Morgan’s instructions, July 1670

on the high seas, ‘‘drunk out several pipes of wine and taken away a cable value £100,’’ before forcibly carrying this vessel into Jamaica. When Governor Lord Vaughan learned of these violations, he decided to make an example of Deane, as the Crown had been attempting to curtail the activities of privateers since the conclusion of the Third Anglo-Dutch War two years previously. Consequently, Vaughan instructed his Deputy Gov. Sir Henry Morgan ‘‘to imprison the offenders,’’ which the latter grudgingly did. Morgan felt, as did many others, that Deane’s mischief did not warrant charging him with piracy. Nevertheless, the captive was brought before Vaughan in his capacity of Judge on April 27, 1676 (O.S.), at which time it was revealed that he had also frequently sailed ‘‘wearing Dutch, French,

DAVIS, CAPTAIN (fl. 1663) English privateer described in 1663 as operating a 6-gun Dutch ship out of French Tortuga, with a crew of 40 men and a Portuguese commission.

Reference Pawson, Michael, and Buisseret, David J., Port Royal, Jamaica (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1975).

DEANE, JOHN (fl. 1676) English privateer who commanded the Saint David out of Jamaica. In the spring of 1676, Deane was accused by John Yardley of having intercepted his merchant ship John Adventure 97

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Dedenon, Capitaine (fl. 1684) and Spanish colors without lawful commission,’’ so was condemned to death. This verdict did not sit well with the public, and the Governor was soon hearing how ‘‘since the trial Sir Harry has been so impudent and unfaithful at the taverns and in his own house, to speak some things which seemed to reflect upon my justice, and to vindicate the pirate.’’ Yet Morgan was not alone in his opinion, and Vaughan’s resolve began to waver. Finally, after Deane’s ‘‘great repentance, confession of his faults, and often petitioning,’’ the Governor pardoned him in early October 1676. It was well that he did so, for within a few weeks a stay of execution arrived from London, the trial having been considered ‘‘not warranted by the laws of this Kingdom.’’ Vaughan was forced to explain away his original charges as a mere warning to other privateers, ending his report: ‘‘so if I was not right in the law, no great harm is done, it being very prudential and seasonable at that time to do what I did, however, I humbly beg your Lordships particular directions for the future.’’

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 9 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1893
1899). Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924).

DEDENON, CAPITAINE (fl. 1684) French flibustier listed as commanding the 20-gun Chasseur at Saint-Domingue

in 1684, with a crew of 120 men. His name is sometimes misspelled ‘‘Dednau,’’ or even ‘‘De Drain.’’

Reference Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924).

DE GRAAF, LAURENS CORNELIS BOUDEWIJN (fl. 1682
1704) Gifted Dutch seaman, who became the greatest corsair of his day. At the height of his powers, he would be described as tall, blonde, and handsome, with a spiked Spanish-style moustache ‘‘which suited him very well.’’ It was also noted: He always carries violins and trumpets aboard with which to entertain himself and amuse others, who derive pleasure from this. He is further distinguished amongst flibusters by his courtesy and good taste. Overall he has won such fame that when it is known he has arrived at some place, many come from all around to see with their own eyes whether ‘‘Lorenzo’’ is made like other men. Various records indicate that he was born most probably in 1653, in the Dutch seaport of Dordrecht, its name often contracted as ‘‘Dor’t’’ or ‘‘Dort.’’ By the age of 21, he had moved to Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands, where he married a local woman named Francisca Petronila de Guzm
an in 1674. According to Raynald Laprise, De Graaf had also begun

De Graaf, Laurens Cornelis Boudewijn (fl. 1682
1704)

The small Dutch seaport of Dordrecht or Dor’t, birthplace of the future Caribean rover Laurens de Graaf, as it appeared about 1650, by Jan van Goyen. (Erich Lessing/Art Resource, NY)

making voyages to the West Indies aboard the 30-gun, 300-man merchantman San Juan Bautista, San Antonio de Padua y San Cayetano of Juan Rico de Moya, but when this vessel reached Havana on August 13, 1676, both this Captain and first mate were arrested for transporting contraband and San Juan Bautista was impounded. The unemployed De Graaf, as a skilled coxswain and gunner, was pressed aboard another ship, which soon after fell into buccaneer hands. Evidently, he decided to join their ranks, but his name would not be mentioned again until September 1682, when Governor Jacques Nepveu, Sieur de Pouanc¸ay of Saint-Domingue, reported that De Graaf was a native of ‘‘Doort [sic] in Holland’’ who had been roving on the account for the past five

or six years—i.e., since 1676
1677 ‘‘never having wanted to take out a commission from anyone,’’ nor ‘‘put into the port of any nation.’’ His rise as a pirate, the Governor added, had been: ‘‘From a small bark, he took a small ship; from this a bigger one, until at last there came into his power one of 24 to 28 guns.’’ This was the ship Tigre, wrested from the Armada de Barlovento in the autumn of 1679 off the Spanish Main. By the spring of 1682, De Graaf had become so notorious a rover that even a veteran observer such as Acting-Governor Sir Henry Morgan of Jamaica had described him as ‘‘a great and mischievous pirate,’’ furthermore warning Captain Peter Heywood of the frigate HMS Norwich when he departed on patrol ‘‘to look out for one

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De Graaf, Laurens Cornelis Boudewijn (fl. 1682
1704) Laurence . . . who commands a ship of 28 guns and had 200 men on board.’’ As an added precaution, Morgan even reinforced this Royal Navy warship with 40 soldiers from the Port Royal garrison.

Capture of the ‘‘Situados’’ (1682) De Graaf’s first famous coup came in July 1682, when the frigate Princesa of the Armada de Barlovento (formerly the French Dauphine, commonly called Francesa by the Spaniards) stood into the Mona Passage out of the northwest, bound from Havana under Captain Manuel Delgado to deliver 120,000 pesos in Peruvian silver as the annual situados or ‘‘payrolls’’ for the garrisons of Puerto Rico and Santo Domingo, as well as sundry other goods. Its decks a-clutter in anticipation of making its Puerto Rican landfall at Aguada, Francesa was surprised by De Graaf’s Tigre, and during the ensuing battle 50 of its 250-man crew were killed or wounded. The triumphant chieftain and his crew, most of them French boucaniers, repaired to Saman
a Bay on the northern shores of Hispaniola with their prize, where they allegedly ‘‘made 140 shares and shared 700 pieces of eight a man.’’ The Spanish prisoners and wounded were transferred to a pink for their return to Cuba, while Francesa became De Graaf’s new flagship. When news of this depredation reached Santo Domingo, the outraged Spaniards retaliated by expropriating a consignment of slaves brought into port that same November by Nikolaas Van Hoorn, another Dutch adventurer with French ties. Furious, Van Hoorn

escaped and in February 1683 obtained a letter of reprisal from the French Governor of Petit-Go^ave, to exact vengeance. In order to recruit freebooters for his cause, Van Hoorn left Petit-Go^ave with the Sieur de Grammont, steering toward the pirate haunts on the Central American coast to find De Graaf and his Dutch confederate Michiel Andrieszoon, who were reputedly lying there with ‘‘two great ships, a bark, a sloop . . . and 500 men.’’ The latter, after refurbishing Francesa, had sailed to Cartagena, but encountering only small coastal craft had returned into the Bay of Honduras where two large Spanish merchantmen, Nuestra Se~ nora de Consolaci
on and Nuestra Se~ nora de Regla, lay temptingly at anchor. The intended victims were part of the regular traffic out of Cadiz, who had landed their cargo some months earlier to be transported overland to Guatemala. Soon, the proceeds of sales would be brought back over the jungle trails, along with valuable bundles of indigo, to be stowed aboard the empty vessels. Both would thereupon weigh for Havana, to join the Mexican plate fleet on its homeward leg to the Old World. De Graaf had therefore cleverly retired to Bonaco Island to careen his flagship, waiting for the Spaniards to bring their treasures aboard. Instead, he was annoyed to find Van Hoorn noisily entering the roadstead a few weeks later, having taken the two unladened vessels at anchor. De Graaf consequently departed in anger, but was overtaken at Roat
an by Grammont and Van Hoorn. On April 7, 1683, a huge gathering of pirates met on the beach and heard them propose an assault against Veracruz. De Graaf and

De Graaf, Laurens Cornelis Boudewijn (fl. 1682
1704) his followers agreed, quickly shifting the pirate fleet to nearby Guanaja Island for further reinforcements, then scurrying northward around the Yucatan Peninsula before word of this design should reach Spanish ears. De Graaf led the way in the captured Nuestra Se~ nora de Regla and Jan Willems’ Spanish prize, while the main body of three ships and eight sloops trailed astern, out of sight.

Sack of Veracruz (May 1683) On the afternoon of May 17, 1683, De Graaf’s two advance scout-ships approached Veracruz, breaking off after closing within 10 miles, and determining that the annual plate fleet had not yet arrived from Spain. The port lookouts assumed that these two Spanish-built craft were merchantmen fearful of navigating the shoals after dark, so experienced no undue alarm. That night, De Graaf piloted his two vessels close inshore, and landed a force of 200 buccaneers. While leading them on a reconnaissance of the sleeping city, Grammont and Van Hoorn brought another 600 ashore farther away, and stealthily marched to join him. Veracruz held 6,000 inhabitants, of whom 300 were regular troops, and another 400 civilian militiamen; there were an additional 300 soldiers on the outlying island fortress of San Juan de Ul
ua. But its landward stockades were low and neglected, with sand dunes drifted up against them, so that the pirates stole over them and into the city. At dawn of May 18th, they attacked, firing indiscriminately so as to stampede the defenders. Within halfan-hour, Veracruz was theirs, several thousand half-dressed captives being

herded into the principal church. The city was ransacked over the next four days, and numerous prisoners tortured to reveal their hidden treasures. De Graaf and Grammont then marched the bulk of their captives down the coast and transferred them two miles offshore to Sacrificios Island, beyond any hope of rescue. There, the pirates began loading their booty, while waiting for the payment of a final ransom out of Mexico’s interior. Despite the atrocities they had endured, the Spaniards regarded De Graaf as the more humane of the buccaneer commanders, which was confirmed by an incident on Sacrificios. Van Hoorn, impatient because the ransom was not forthcoming, decided to send a dozen captives’ heads ashore. According to Spanish eyewitnesses, De Graaf arrived from his flagship to prevent this brutality, and when his countryman rounded on him with drawn sword, De Graaf wounded Van Hoorn and sent him aboard Francesa in chains. Shortly thereafter, the ransom was received, and after herding 1,500 blacks and mulattos aboard as slaves, the pirate fleet weighed. They encountered the annual plate fleet just as they were standing out from the coast, but its commander Admiral Diego Fern
andez de Zaldı´var deferred combat, so that the raiders escaped scot-free. De Graaf and the rest of the formation paused at Coatzacoalcos to take on water, before shouldering their way back round Yucatan to Isla Mujeres, where by late June 1683 they had split their spoils. Each then went their separate ways, De Graaf and his followers sailing into the maze of islands off Cuba’s southern coast to sell off their goods, and smuggle the profits onto Jamaica.

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De Graaf, Laurens Cornelis Boudewijn (fl. 1682
1704)

First English Overture (September 1683) While lying at ‘‘Petite Goua^ine’’ [sic; Petit-Go^ave] on September 3rd, De Graaf wrote a letter in French to Gov. Sir Thomas Lynch of Jamaica, thanking him for some small favor and adding: I beg you to believe me the most humble of your servants, and to employ me if there be any place or occasion in which I can be of service to you. You will see how I shall try to employ myself. If by chance I should go to your coast in quest of necessities for myself or ship, I beg that my interests may be protected and no wrong done me, as I might do so if the opportunity presented itself for doing you service. Lynch recognized that De Graaf was offering England his allegiance, which ‘‘would be a mighty service to the Spaniard, for if he pieces with the French they will go near to attack Cartagena.’’ Such words proved prophetic, for shortly thereafter De Graaf and his cohorts did indeed invest that port on the Spanish Main. The Lords of Trade and Plantations in London would soon empower the Jamaican Governor ‘‘to treat with Laurens the pirate, in order to pardon him and let him settle on [Jamaica], on giving security for his good behavior for the future.’’

Failed Santiago de Cuba Venture (November 1683) De Graaf’s offer may have been motivated by the hostile reception which he and his followers had received on

their return to Saint-Domingue from its Acting-Governor Franquesnay, who was angry that they had sold off most of their booty from Veracruz to Jamaican interests. Passions had become so aroused, that an ugly mob of 120 flibustiers had even marched on his home, threatening to kill Franquesnay. To defuse this tension and placate the rovers, the beleaguered Governor authorized a strike against Santiago de Cuba in early November 1683. De Graaf was to exercise naval command, weighing from PetitGo^ave with almost 1,000 men distributed aboard eight vessels. However, military command was to be exercised by the planter and militia Major Jean Le Goff, Sieur de Beauregard, who shortly after departure attempted to discipline a flibustier, so that the buccaneers promptly mutinied and this expedition disintegrated. De Graaf and his minions Andrieszoon, Willems, Franc¸ois Le Sage, and others instead made for the Main, arriving near Cartagena by late November 1683.

Battle off Cartagena (Christmas 1683) When Gov. Juan de Pando Estrada learned that the pirates were before his harbor, he commandeered the 40-gun private ship San Francisco, 34-gun Paz, and a 28-gun galliot to chase them away. This trio exited on December 23, 1683, manned by 800 soldiers and sailors under the command of Andr
es de Pez. However, the result was scarcely as the Governor had envisioned, for the seven smaller pirate ships swarmed all over his vessels, and in the confusion San Francisco ran aground. Paz struck after four hours, and Willems took the galliot. Ninety

De Graaf, Laurens Cornelis Boudewijn (fl. 1682
1704) Spaniards were killed, as opposed to only twenty pirates. De Graaf refloated San Francisco as his new flagship, renaming it Fortune (later changed to Neptune); Andrieszoon received Paz, dubbing it Mutine or ‘‘Rascal’’; while Willems was given De Graaf’s old Francesa or Dauphine. On December 25th, the triumphant buccaneers deposited their Spanish prisoners ashore, along with a message for the Governor, thanking him for the Christmas presents. De Graaf then settled down to blockade the port. In mid-January 1684, a small convoy of English slavers arrived escorted by 48-gun HMS Ruby. De Graaf let them pass, even inviting their officers aboard for a visit. Among the passengers was a Dutch trader named Diego Maquet, who was bearing a letter from De Graaf’s wife Petronila de Guzm
an on the Canary Islands, promising him a pardon if he gave up his piratical career and rejoined the King of Spain’s service. Instead, De Graaf, along with Andrieszoon and Willems, entered into an arrangement to buy wine and meat from Maquet, which significantly was to be delivered from Port Royal, Jamaica, to Roat
an.

Second English Overture (May 1684) Shortly thereafter, the pirates quit their blockade, traveling northwestward. En route, De Graaf spotted a 14-gun Spanish vessel and another ship, following both from a great distance until nightfall. He quietly closed and boarded the Spaniard in the dark, seizing it with only two shots being fired, and finding it laden with ‘‘quinine and 47 pounds

of gold.’’ Next morning, he took its consort as well, discovering it to be an English ship which the Spanish had captured and were carrying to Cuba. De Graaf restored this vessel to its crew, and on May 6, 1684, wrote to Lynch again from ‘‘Saint Philip’s Bay’’ [?]: I present my humble respects and hope that your health is good. I have a few details to give you about a small English ship laden with sugar, which I found in the hands of a Spaniard. I took both ships in the night, kept the Spaniard and set the Englishman free. The English captain told me that the Spaniard was taking him and his ship into Havana, but I gave him the ship back without doing him any harm. I send this short note only to show you that I am far from injuring your nation, but on the contrary, am anxious always to do it service. The Jamaican Governor replied some time later: I have received your three letters, and thank you most particularly for letting the poor Irishman go. I shall show my gratitude to you when I have opportunity, for anyone who treats the English well lays me under obligation, and I expect no less from you who hold a patent from the Most Christian King [i.e., of France]. Franc¸ois Le Sage behaves very differently, for he has frequently injured and insulted our ships, and has by present report 60 pirates on board his ship from [Jean Hamlin’s] La Trompeuse. I shall inform M. de Cussy of this. While you behave with such respect to the justice and

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De Graaf, Laurens Cornelis Boudewijn (fl. 1682
1704) friendship that exist between the French and English Crowns, I am always your friend. The English would eventually be prepared to offer the rover ‘‘a pardon for all offences and naturalisation as an Englishman,’’ provided De Graaf would swear an oath of allegiance and buy a plantation on their island. The Crown authorities were furthermore willing to ‘‘procure the necessary letters for the safe-conduct of his wife from the Canaries, provided Laurens pays the fees and the expenses of the passage,’’ while the English Ambassador would secure him a pardon from the King of Spain. But in the meantime, De Graaf’s flotilla had intercepted a Spanish dispatch-vessel off the southern coast of Cuba, bearing news of a renewal of official hostilities between Spain and France (at least partly on account of his destructive raid against Veracruz). De Graaf therefore left Andrieszoon and Willems to blockade Cuba with his other ships, while he sailed the 14-gun Spanish prize into Petit-Go^ave to dispose of its cargo and enter French service. He apparently remained several months, during which he was given a brevet de gr^ ace or honorary commission. Also during his absence, Andrieszoon and Willems ransacked the Dutch West Indiamen Stad Rotterdam and Elisabeth as they approached Havana on May 18, 1684, and in July a Spanish privateering piragua espied De Graaf’s Neptune at anchor off Pinos Island, on the southern Cuban coast. With part of its crew ashore wooding, the Spaniards landed and snuck up to ambush the unwary buccaneers, killing

or capturing all ashore, obliging Neptune to cut its cables and flee back out to sea. De Graaf was still at Petit-Go^ave by mid-November, when Willems brought in the Jamaican sloop James for trading with the Spanish, and its crew noted: ‘‘Laurens the pirate, who gave Yankey [sic; nickname for Jan Willems] his commission, took three barrels of flour from our ship.’’

Cruise to the Spanish Main (January 1685) The reason for this appropriation was that De Graaf was at last about to quit Petit-Go^ave, setting sail on November 22, 1684, aboard his 14-gun Spanish prize. Among his 120-man crew was a new recruit, Ravenau de Lussan, who has left a record of this voyage. He described his commander as ‘‘a man of good character’’ and relative newcomer to Saint-Domingue, whom he admired very much. Intending to reunite with his corsairs off Havana, De Graaf worked into the Windward Passage, yet did not clear it until New Year’s Day 1685. Because of this slow progress, he instead veered round for the Main, reaching South America two weeks later. On the night of January 17th, De Lussan recorded how: . . . toward the setting moon we sighted two ships and four small vessels only a cannon’s shot to windward. This caused us to come about and clear our decks for action. Next morning, one of the small vessels hailed, to which De Graaf responded that his was a French ship. Its Spanish lines made the other commander suspicious,

De Graaf, Laurens Cornelis Boudewijn (fl. 1682
1704) though, so that the stranger fired a pair of rounds and ordered De Graaf to heave to. Thinking that he had blundered into a Spanish armadilla, De Graaf had two powder-kegs stove in so as to be able to blow up his vessel; for such a fate was preferable ‘‘to falling into the hands of men who gave no quarter and would inflict on us hideous tortures, beginning with the captain.’’ At that moment, one of the more distant ships signaled, and the two identified themselves as Neptune and Mutine, with Andrieszoon in command. The tartan which had fired was captained by Jean Rose, who had not recognized De Graaf’s vessel. He and two other small French corsairs had joined Andrieszoon off that coast, along with an English trader. Next day, De Graaf ordered the formation toward Curac¸ao. At two o’clock that afternoon, while within sight of Bonaire, they sighted a Flemish ship out of La Guaira, which they chased and captured that evening. On January 20, 1685, De Graaf detached one of his consorts to request permission from the Governor of Curac¸ao to buy masts for his ship, replacing those lost in a storm off Saint Thomas. This application was refused and the city gates were closed, because of Andrieszoon’s and Willems’ ransacking of the two Dutch West Indiamen the previous year. Nevertheless, a couple hundred buccaneers managed to enjoy individual liberties ashore, until they were driven out ‘‘by beating drums’’ four days later. On January 27, 1685, De Graaf set sail for Cape de la Vela (Venezuela), arriving three days later to post a lookout atop its headland, and begin careening his ships. Meanwhile, Rose visited Rı´ohacha and attempted to deceive its Spanish residents that he

was a peaceful English trader, to no avail. Returning empty-handed on February 8th, the pirates decided to split up. De Graaf hoped to organize another major venture such as his Veracruz raid, yet not everyone was in accord. The buccaneers therefore redistributed themselves around the vessels according to their inclinations, after which Lussan and 87 others sailed away in the 14-gun prize which had been brought from Petit-Go^ave. De Graaf laid in a course for the Gulf of Honduras aboard Neptune, hoping to recruit more freebooters for his project. His fame ensured plenty of willing spirits, so that a vast assemblage of 22 sail gathered off Cuba’s Pinos Island in April 1685, including Grammont, Willems, George Bannister, and Jacob Evertsen. Yet this mob insisted on a repeat assault against Veracruz, which De Graaf patiently explained would not be caught napping for a second time. Frustrated, he sailed away to the Mosquito Coast, where he was overtaken by Grammont and the others, and it was eventually decided to make a descent on the smaller Mexican port of Campeche. The pirates then shifted to Isla Mujeres to marshal their strength.

Sack of Campeche (July 1685) Compared to two years previously, the attack on Campeche was a clumsy affair, the buccaneers maintaining vessels off Cape Catoche for more than a month to advise passing freebooters of their scheme, yet which also forewarned the Spaniards. The preparations grew so notorious that the Deputy Governor of Campeche, Felipe de la Barrera y Villegas, even had time to

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De Graaf, Laurens Cornelis Boudewijn (fl. 1682
1704) dispatch lookouts and spy-boats up the coast to give advance warning of their actual approach. Late in June 1685, a stream of reports began reaching him of unidentified vessels creeping ever closer to his port. Then, on the afternoon of July 6, 1685, the pirate fleet of six large and four small ships, six sloops, and 17 piraguas finally appeared half a dozen miles off Campeche. A landing force of 700 buccaneers took to the boats and began rowing in toward shore, yet the Spaniards were prepared: four militia companies totaling roughly 200 men exited, and positioned themselves opposite the intended disembarkationpoint. The surprised pirates therefore put up their helms, not wishing to wade ashore into the muzzles of Spanish infantry. All night they remained bobbing on the swell, until next morning they began to draw off toward their ships, which were standing in to meet them. But this proved to be a feint, and before the Spanish defenders could react, buccaneers came swarming ashore at the very outskirts of the city itself. A hundred formed up behind Captain Rettechard as the vanguard; 200 joined De Graaf and marched directly toward the city center; another 200 advanced under Captain Toccard along a street parallel to De Graaf’s; and the 200 followed Grammont in an encircling maneuver. The Spaniards fell back, while out in the harbor Captain Crist
obal Martı´nez de Acevedo prepared to scuttle his coast-guard frigate Nuestra Se~ nora de la Soledad y San Antonio, as per his instructions. Originally, he had intended to do so by boring holes in its bottom, yet given the speed of the invaders’ advance, he now directed his

boatswain to run a trail of powder into the magazine. From the frigate’s boat, Martı´nez lit the fuse, and Soledad exploded with such a deafening blast that it collapsed the defenders’ morale, sending them scurrying into their citadel while the pirates entered Campeche uncontested. Over the next few days, they subdued isolated strong points, until only the citadel remained. The pirates began bombarding this fortress at dawn on July 12, 1685, but at ten o’clock that same morning, two relief-columns of Spanish militiamen appeared on the beach, having been hastened down from M
erida. In the past, such troops simply had to appear for smaller bands of raiders to scurry back out to sea; this time, though, the freebooters stood and fought from behind Campeche’s ramparts, so that the first ranks of Spaniards went down to well-aimed volleys. All day the two sides battled, until Grammont circled behind the Yucatecan militia and caught them between two fires. The Spanish relief-force drew off in dismay, and that night the city garrison mutinied. As their officers begged them to remain at their posts until daybreak, when terms might be sought, the soldiers replied that ‘‘pirates keep faith with no one,’’ and threatened to shoot any officer who got in their way. By 11 P.M., the citadel was deserted, and a couple of English prisoners shouted to the besiegers, who called back asking that the fort’s artillery be discharged, so that the buccaneers might advance knowing the heavy guns to be empty. Once done, they poured over the walls, led by De Graaf and Grammont in person. The pirates then dispatched riders to ravage the surrounding countryside, and remained in undisputed possession

De Graaf, Laurens Cornelis Boudewijn (fl. 1682
1704) of Campeche for the next two months. However, as most of the city’s wealth had been withdrawn because of ample warnings prior to the assault, little plunder was found. Captives were threatened with death if ransoms were not forthcoming, yet Yucatan’s Gov. Juan Bruno T
ellez de Guzm
an strictly prohibited any such payments. Finally, Grammont had the Spanish prisoners paraded in the Plaza Mayor late in August, and began making summary executions. Six had been hanged when De la Barreda and other leading citizens approached De Graaf, ‘‘whom they knew to be more humane than the Frenchman,’’ and beseeched him to intercede. After a lengthy discussion with Grammont, the brutality ceased, and the pirates evacuated the city after putting it to the torch.

Battle of Alacr
an Reef (September 1685) Pausing briefly at Sisal, the raiders rounded the Yucatan Peninsula to their base at Isla Mujeres to divide their loot. De Graaf then set sail for Petit-Go^ave with his heavily-laden Neptune, accompanied by Pierre Bot in Nuestra Se~ nora de Regla, and three other freebooter vessels. On September 11, 1685, they were sighted by a powerful contingent of the Armada de Barlovento under elderly Admiral Andr
es de Ochoa y Z
arate, who gave chase. Bot’s Regla and a pirate sloop fell astern and were captured, the Spaniards heaving-to to take possession of these prizes. Next afternoon, the royal frigate Nuestra Se~ nora del Honh
on sighted De Graaf inside the Gulf of Mexico, and sent the 8-gun

tender Jes
us, Marı´a y Jos
e (alias Sevillano) beating upwind to advise Ochoa. The Spanish Admiral did not locate Neptune again until four o’clock on the afternoon of September 13th, by which time Honh
on was no longer in sight. The Spanish flagship Santo Cristo de Burgos and viceflagship Nuestra Se~ nora de la Concepci
on pressed down on their opponent. Outnumbered and outgunned, De Graaf frantically tried to gain the weather gauge by lightening his ship, yet failed. That night, he tensely awaited the Spanish onslaught, which began at dawn of September 14th, when Santo Cristo bore down and received De Graaf’s opening broadside. All day, the three vessels maneuvered and fired repeatedly on one another, the Spanish flagship loosing off ‘‘fourteen full broadsides’’ and countless individual shots, while Concepci
on blasted away 1,600 rounds. Yet Neptune continued to dodge any crippling blow, thanks to the great skill with which it was handled. De Graaf on occasion fought both sides of his ship simultaneously, and supplemented his cannon-fire with musket volleys, so that only a couple of his spars were shot away. As daylight faded, so did Ochoa’s will. The aged Spanish Admiral had begun the day in a canvas chair on his quarterdeck, and by nightfall was so enfeebled and delirious as to be administered last rites. In the darkness, Santo Cristo hailed Vice Admiral Antonio de Astina to inform him that he was now in command, at almost the same time as De Graaf took the desperate expedient of jettisoning his artillery and every other non-essential to gain the wind. Next morning, the Spaniards found

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De Graaf, Laurens Cornelis Boudewijn (fl. 1682
1704) themselves to leeward of Neptune, and began a half-hearted upwind beat as their opponent clawed away into the Yucatan Channel. In a rising southeasterly wind, Santo Cristo’s weakened superstructure fell overboard, and Concepci
on heaved to so as to remain by its damaged consort. Miraculously, De Graaf had escaped, dealing the Armada’s pride a shattering blow. For years, their ponderous warships had been derided as unsuitable for pursuing nimble corsairs; now, when they had at last caught a major enemy exposed on the high seas, their elephantine strength had also been found wanting. Ochoa died a few days later, thus being spared the disgrace of a courtmartial. De Graaf soon resumed his activities, going ashore at Cuba in December 1685 to rustle cattle and careen his five vessels, seemingly unfazed by his lucky escape.

Valladolid Raid (1686) In the spring of that following year, De Graaf organized yet another raid, perhaps motivated by the fact that in February 1686 more than 100 of his slaves had been carried off from SaintDomingue by the local Spaniards. Apparently in retaliation, he rallied freebooters round his flag and led a flotilla of seven ships into Ascensi
on Bay (today’s Emiliano Zapata Bay), on Yucatan’s eastern shores. Five hundred buccaneers disembarked and marched inland against the town of Tihosuco, which was abandoned by its terrified inhabitants, before being ransacked and burnt by the raiders. De Graaf then penetrated deeper toward the city of Valladolid, while frightened refugees streamed ahead of his invaders, sowing

panic throughout the countryside. By the time the buccaneers arrived within half-a-dozen miles of Valladolid, only 36 Spaniards remained to defend their city. Yet suddenly, De Graaf gave the order to wheel about and return to the coast. This inexplicable retreat led to a legend being born in Yucatan, that the withdrawal had been the work of a clever mulatto named N
u~nez. Noticing how the weary refugees littered their trail with items that they could no longer carry—and which were snatched up by the greedy freebooters—N
u~nez added a fake set of instructions to one such pile, purporting to be from Luis de Briaga, military commander for the province. According to these, the pirates were to be enticed inland into a deadly trap. Whatever the truth behind this tale, De Graaf had retired to Ascensi
on Bay by April 1686, soon afterward making away for Roat
an. By July, LieutenantGovernor Hender Molesworth of Jamaica was reporting: ‘‘Laurens passed our north coast the other day, bound for Tortugas, but not in command [of a French freebooter fleet], as he himself told the master of one of our sloops.’’

Cartagena Shipwreck (Autumn 1686) This was to be De Graaf’s last major invasion of Spanish territory, as the French government was no longer as tolerant of indiscriminate raids against Spain’s colonies. However, he did continue plying the sea, and in the autumn of 1686 was wrecked off the Spanish Main. The exact circumstances, as

De Graaf, Laurens Cornelis Boudewijn (fl. 1682
1704) related to Molesworth that same November, were that: Laurens was wrecked off Cartagena while in pursuit of a small bark, but nevertheless took her with his boat and saved his people. It is uncertain whither he is gone, but certainly my letter offering him terms has never come to his hand. This news was confirmed next summer, when the Royal Navy frigate Falcon of Captain Charles Talbot brought in six of De Graaf’s former English crewmembers from Portobelo, to stand trial in Jamaica.

Battle with the Biscayans (May 1687) At the beginning of that same year of 1687, there arrived in the West Indies a squadron of Biscayan privateers, which had been raised in Spain to combat pirates and interlopers in the New World. Before departing San Sebasti
an, its commander Francisco Garcı´a Gal
an had sworn ‘‘to go in search of the pirate Lorencillo (‘‘Little Lawrence,’’ as the Spanish called De Graaf) before anything else.’’ But when the lone Biscayan frigate of Fermı´n de Salaberrı´a at last encountered the rover off J
ucaro on the southern coast of Cuba in May 1687, it was promptly driven into the shallows. De Salaberrı´a found himself aground in unfamiliar waters and in serious danger of being captured, when a force of small Cuban coast-guard vessels hurried out to his rescue. De Graaf turned on these as well, seizing a schooner and sinking a piragua, during which

fighting numerous Cubans were killed, wounded, or carried off.

Blas Miguel’s Counter-raid (August 1687) Blas Miguel, brother of the deceased Corsican privateer Juan Corso, apparently intended to avenge this attack. Despite an uneasy truce prevailing with the French on Saint-Domingue, Miguel came gliding into Petit-Go^ave’s roadstead at daybreak on August 10, 1687. He had chosen this date with care, as it is when Saint Lawrence’s day is celebrated on the Church calendar, so that he hoped to catch his enemy offguard, about to celebrate his feast-day. Although accompanied by no more than 85 men in a brigantine and piragua, Miguel stormed ashore and launched his attack, yet could not find De Graaf before being surrounded and captured. The rover was actually present during this battle, fighting bravely and even wading out into the surf to slay the corsair left guarding Miguel’s boat, before the Cuban captain was taken and broken alive on the wheel.

^Ile a Vache Stronghold (September 1687) Shortly thereafter, the Governor of Saint-Domingue ordered De Graaf to sail with 250 flibustiers in two small vessels to ^Ile a Vache, supposedly to confirm French dominion over this island, as De Cussy advised Molesworth in a letter. The Jamaican Governor learned thereby that ‘‘no more of our ships might be sent to fish nor hunt on that coast,’’ or else it would be regarded as a breach of the Treaty of

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De Graaf, Laurens Cornelis Boudewijn (fl. 1682
1704) Neutrality between the two nations. Molesworth made inquiries, and was informed: . . . that few of our ships do fish there, and then not for the edible turtle but for the tortoise shell, and as to hunting, the thing is unknown; so I issued a proclamation ordering compliance with Monsieur de Cussy’s request. In reality, the French Governor wanted De Graaf’s presence to scare treasure-hunters away from an old Spanish shipwreck recently uncovered near Cap Carcasse, for which purpose he also appointed him major or ‘‘royal adjutant’’ of that quartier. De Graaf promised ‘‘to acquit himself with the same zeal and fidelity as he had done during the ten years he has served under the French standard,’’ and set sail on November 30th. The day before, a small Spanish bark had arrived at Petit-Go^ave, with proposals from the President of Santo Domingo regarding peace. ‘‘One cannot describe the joy these Spaniards felt when they learned said Monsieur Laurens would cease making war on them,’’ De Cussy later wrote. ‘‘They could not cease staring at him, being unable to believe he was made like other men.’’

Treasure-Hunting Expedition (1689) Little more than a year later, the French captured a Spanish captain who had been sent with an 18-gun ship and patache to work another ancient wreck on the Serranilla Bank, 180 miles south-southwest of Jamaica. De Cussy

therefore proposed that De Graaf visit this site, for which purpose he recruited four small vessels and set sail at the beginning of March 1689. By the end of April, the new Acting Governor of Jamaica, Sir Francis Watson, was noting: ‘‘A number [of French vessels] under Laurens have left PetitGo^ave after a wreck, as they give out.’’ The English doubted the veracity of this report, as the War of the League of Augsburg was just then breaking out back in Europe, so that they assumed the corsair chieftain intended greater mischief. Yet in fact, De Graaf had departed before the full scope of hostilities had become apparent, and remained blissfully unaware of the true state of affairs in his enforced isolation off the Serranilla Bank. On his arrival there, he found the remains of a galleon being worked by an English salvor, and after several weeks’ diving with his own men, De Graaf succeeded in raising four cannon and three pedreros. He then sent his largest vessel back to Saint-Domingue for more supplies and an additional 15 to 20 divers, but this vessel became delayed by contrary winds, so did not return to the site until two months later. By this time, De Graaf had been forced to retire to the southern cays of Cuba to steal provisions, and did not reappear at the Serranilla Bank until two-and-a-half months later. When he learned of the spreading European conflict, De Graaf began to tack back toward Saint-Domingue, and in early November 1689 Watson wrote: Laurens with a ship and 200 men touched at Montego Bay the other day and did no harm, but said that

De Graaf, Laurens Cornelis Boudewijn (fl. 1682
1704) he would obtain a commission at Petit-Go^ave and return to plunder the whole of the north side of the island. The people are so affrighted that they have sent their wives and children to Port Royal. One month later, the corsair would make good on this threat.

Jamaican Blockade (December 1689) De Graaf returned at the beginning of December 1689 with some other French vessels, snapping up 8 or 10 Jamaican merchant sloops off the north coast. His raiders also landed and plundered at least one plantation, generally sowing panic throughout the island. An official declaration of war had not yet been received from London, so the English defenders were caught by surprise. Trading ships were ordered to remain in port, while a flotilla was hastily assembled and sent out under Captain Edward Spragge of HMS Drake to drive the flibustiers away, but to little effect. A second sortie against De Graaf had to be mounted in early March 1690, and it was not until the end of May that the embargo on Jamaican shipping was at last lifted.

Engagement off the Caymans (June 1690) Nevertheless, De Graaf still remained in the offing, and when HMS Drake was deemed unfit for further service, Jamaica’s armed sloop had to sail alone to the Cayman Islands as protection for English turtling-vessels. There, it had the misfortune to encounter him,

and in the words of the new Gov. William O’Brien, 2nd Earl of Inchiquin: Laurens, the great pirate of PetitGo^ave, engaged the sloop, and the rest of the [turtling] craft escaped. The firing was heard continuing till eleven at night, and as this was a month since and nothing has been heard of the sloop, we conclude that Laurens has taken her, he having two men against one in his barco luengo. We have therefore no ships now except HMS Swan, which is so bad a sailer that she is little better than nothing. De Graaf hurried back to SaintDomingue before the middle of June, as his prisoners had informed him that the English authorities were proposing to the Spaniards a joint military operation against that colony. But De Cussy discounted this danger, although he did order De Graaf to transfer from ^Ile a Vacheto the much larger quartier of Cap Franc¸ois on the north coast of that island, ‘‘so as not to risk further a person so zealous in his service in such a feeble quarter.’’

Disaster at La Limonade (January 1691) The French Governor also used his flibustier vessels to transport a small army to the north shores of Santo Domingo, from where De Cussy marched inland to attack the town of Santiago de los Caballeros. The Spaniards responded wholly unexpectedly in January 1691, when a fleet of six Armada de Barlovento warships under Admiral Jacinto Lope Gij
on deposited

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De Graaf, Laurens Cornelis Boudewijn (fl. 1682
1704) 2,600 Spanish troops near Cap Franc¸ois, to meet up with another 700 marching overland from Santo Domingo under maestre de campo Francisco de Segura Sandoval. The French under De Cussy decided to meet the invaders on the open plain called Savane de la Limonade, despite being outnumbered three-to-one, for they felt confident that they could defeat the Spaniards as of yore. However, this time they were not dealing with some surprised Spanish garrison caught amid their loved ones; rather it was the reverse. The resultant Battle of La Limonade of January 21, 1691 (called the ‘‘Victory of S
abana Real’’ by the Spanish), turned into a crushing rout, in which as many as 500 Frenchmen died, including De Cussy and most of his officers. Much to the attackers’ annoyance, De Graaf was one of the few survivors who fled into the hills. The Spaniards then rampaged unchecked through his new quartier, before withdrawing in triumph some weeks afterward. The French gradually recuperated their strength under a vigorous new Governor, Jean-Baptiste Ducasse. As one of the few remaining royal officers, De Graaf now attained greater prominence among his adoptive countrymen, being described in French records of 1692 as the ‘‘Sieur de Graffe, lieutenant du Roi (‘‘King’s Lieutenant’’) for the government of Ile la Tortue and coast of Saint Domingue,’’ with residence at Cap Franc¸ois. As such, De Graaf played a prominent role in the French deployments of February
March 1692, when it appeared that the Spaniards might again overrun his territory, although they eventually contented themselves with remaining on

their own side of the frontier. Nonetheless, Ducasse noted how ‘‘he is a man who would fulfill his duty much better in a ship’’ than on land, going on to advise the King’s minister Pontchartrain: ‘‘I am obliged to tell you, Monseigneur, that he is one of the finest sea officers there is in Europe and if you should employ him as such, he will give you ample proofs.’’

Jamaican Raid (June 1694) Cap Franc¸ois was put on alert again in 1693, yet nothing happened. That following summer, the French launched a counteroffensive of their own, when Ducasse and De Graaf led a seaborne raid against Jamaica. In June 1694, more than 3,000 flibustiers and seamen swarmed ashore from Ducasse’s 22 ships to ravage the eastern tip of that island, before feinting toward Cow Bay near the Jamaican capital. When the English marched out to meet them, the invaders quickly re-embarked and sailed under De Graaf to Carlisle Bay, west of Port Royal. He brought his 1,500 men ashore on the night of July 28, 1694, and next day advanced on the 250 soldiers and 12 artillery-pieces guarding the town. Holding fire until they were within point-blank range, the French then loosed a murderous volley which drove the English out of their trenches, and across the river. English reinforcements arrived from Port Royal after a desperate overnight march, preventing an utter defeat. Still, De Graaf remained in control west of the river, sending out 500 flibustiers to strip the adjoining countryside. Such action proved more difficult than anticipated, as each plantation constituted a miniature fortress, impossible to breach without artillery. As the French did not

De Graaf, Laurens Cornelis Boudewijn (fl. 1682
1704) have any heavy guns ashore, they satisfied themselves with whatever they could carry off. Ducasse rejoined a few days later, at which point De Graaf gave the order to withdraw. More than 1,600 slaves were carried away when the French finally departed the coast on August 3rd.

Defeat on Saint-Domingue (June 1695) Next spring, it was the French who suffered when the expedition of Commodore Robert Wilmot and Colonel Luke Lillingston arrived to unite with Spanish Admiral Francisco Cort
es and General Gil Correoso. On May 24, 1695, this huge combined force descended on the north coast of the French colony, where De Graaf was once more commanding a small detachment at Cap Franc¸ois. Heavily outnumbered, he called for reinforcements from Ducasse in the south, while continually falling back before the invading host—much to the disgust of his French followers, who watched as their homes and farms went up in flames. When the enemy closed in on Cap Franc¸ois, De Graaf abandoned it without a fight, and the Spaniards even captured his French wife and two daughters. The Anglo-Spanish force then pressed on toward Port de Paix, which was overrun in July 1695 after a bungled defense. Satisfied with this havoc, the enemy withdrew, leaving the French to exchange heated recriminations. Blame was leveled at De Graaf and the commander of Port de Paix; it was even alleged that the Dutchman may ‘‘have had some secret understanding with the enemy’’ because of

his birth, Holland being aligned with the Anglo-Spanish coalition against France. Both De Graaf and his French counterpart were relieved of their commands, and sent to France to stand trial. The resultant courts-martial completely exonerated De Graaf, yet by the time he returned to Saint-Domingue the war had concluded, and his prestige was greatly diminished. His wife, the former widow Le Long, called ‘‘MarieAnne Dieu-le-Veut’’ or ‘‘Marianne God-Wills-It’’ by the Spaniards, was not freed from Santo Domingo with her children until the final prisoner exchange of October 1698. Thus, when Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville touched at Saint-Domingue at the end of that same year on his way to colonize Louisiana, the disgraced and penniless De Graaf agreed to join his expedition.

Emigration to Louisiana (1699) On a foggy morning in January 1699, the tiny Spanish settlement at Pensacola, Florida, was startled to discern five French ships outside its bar, calling for a pilot. The Spanish officer who went aboard the 58-gun flagship Franc¸ois was even more perturbed to recognize D’Iberville’s enormous interpreter as ‘‘Lorencillo.’’ When the visitors requested permission to put into the harbor, this was denied, and next dawn French boats could be seen taking soundings in the channel under the direction of De Graaf. Worried, the Spanish garrison commander sent out a protest, and the boats withdrew. Shortly thereafter, the French flotilla stood away to the west, establishing their new colony at what is today Biloxi, Mississippi. A census taken there on

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Delacourt, Zachariah (fl. 1663) May 25, 1700 listed under staff officers: ‘‘Le sieur Graffe, clerk for the King.’’ It is believed that De Graaf was later to have been one of the original settlers of Mobile, Alabama, yet apparently never made this trip, dying sometime early in 1704.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 11
13 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1893
1899). Crouse, Nellis M., The French Struggle for the West Indies, 1665
1713 (New York: Octagon, 1966). Ju
arez Moreno, Juan, Piratas y corsarios en Veracruz y Campeche (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1972). Lugo, Am
erico, Recopilaci
on diplom
atica relativa a las colonias espa~ nola y francesa de la isla de Santo Domingo, 1640
1701 (Ciudad Trujillo, Dominican Republic: Editorial ‘‘La Naci
on,’’ 1944). Marley, David F., Sack of Veracruz: The Great Pirate Raid of 1683 (Windsor, Ontario, Canada: Netherlandic Press, 1993). Robles, Antonio de, Diario de sucesos notables 1665
1703 (Mexico City: Editorial Porr
ua, 1972). Weddle, Robert S., Wilderness Manhunt: The Spanish Search for La Salle (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1973).

DELACOURT, ZACHARIAH (fl. 1663) Minor rover, possibly of French origin, who obtained a letter-of-reprisal from the Jamaican authorities in August 1663 to campaign against the Spaniards with his frigate Bridget.

DELANDER, ROBERT (fl. 1668
1671) English buccaneer who served under Henry Morgan during his attacks against Portobelo and Panama. Delander allegedly hated the Spaniards because, having once sprung his mast off the Cuban coast, he requested permission to enter Havana for repairs. The Spanish Governor agreed, then seized his ship, sold it, and incarcerated Delander and his crew. He later participated in the sack of Portobelo and commanded a chata or small coasting craft. He was sent ahead of Morgan’s main body, when the buccaneer army marched from San Lorenzo Castle to mount their final assault against Panama City in January 1671.

References Earle, Peter, The Sack of Panama: Captain Morgan and the Battle for the Caribbean (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2007). Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924). Pope, Dudley, Harry Morgan’s Way: The Biography of Sir Henry Morgan, 1635
1684 (London: Secker & Warburg, 1977).

DELISLE, CAPITAINE (fl. 1660) Also spelled De l’Isle. Little-known French buccaneer, who led an early sack of the Dominican town of Santiago de los Caballeros. According to the chronicler-priest Jean-Baptiste Du Tertre, the alleged

Delisle, Capitaine (fl. 1660) motivation behind this raid was the interception previously of a Dutch ship, which had been transporting 10 or 12 French passengers away from Tortuga Island [Haiti] to resettle themselves on either Saint Kitts, Martinique, or Guadeloupe. Only one day out at sea, though, this neutral vessel was intercepted by a Spanish warship and after some resistance, the Dutch master was obliged to surrender his passengers, on condition that their lives would be spared. Instead, their captor put into the nearby harbor of Monte Cristi and ordered his harquebusiers to execute the captives by firing-squad, leaving their fallen bodies as a deterrent to any other such trespassers into Spanish realms. Only a Frenchwoman and her young son were spared, through the intercession of a kindly priest. When news of this atrocity reached Tortuga, its French settlers thirsted for revenge. An opportunity soon arose through the chance arrival of a large merchant frigate from Nantes under a Captain named Lescouble, providing a ship of force, so that they decided to unite and seek revenge. Some 400 mostly French buccaneers gathered and elected four leaders: Delisle, Adam, Lormel, and Le Roux. Because a peace treaty had recently been concluded back in Europe between France and Spain, these freebooters moreover armed themselves with a letter-ofreprisal obtained from Tortuga’s nominal English Governor, Elias Watts, and demanded of Lescouble the use of his frigate and threatening to otherwise take it by force. Delisle’s expedition of ruffians set sail from Tortuga on Palm Sunday, March 21, 1660, crowded aboard this frigate and three lesser coastal craft.

They stole ashore next evening near Puerto Plata, and moved stealthily for more than 20 miles up into the Cibao Valley over the next couple of days, hiding during daylight hours and following hidden jungle-trails by night, so as to take the inland town of Santiago de los Caballeros completely by surprise. Arriving within striking distance by Good Friday night, they burst out of the nearby woods next dawn, March 27, 1660. Some 25 or 30 Spaniards were killed outright during their initial onslaught, and its Alcalde Mayor seized in his bed. Hearing his captors speaking in French, the Spaniard expressed surprise at this attack, given the treaty recently concluded between both nations in Europe. They gruffly informed him of their English commission; then they thoroughly ransacked the town on Easter Sunday, even stripping the church of its ornaments. Delisle and his men departed with a number of hostages on Monday, March 29, 1660, to return toward the coast. Several hundred Dominican militia cavalrymen had in the interim managed to rally from throughout the district, and prepared an ambush ahead of the French column. The leading two buccaneers were shot dead and a twohour firefight ensued, before the Dominicans finally broke. Delisle had suffered 10 killed and 6 wounded during this affray, yet his column reached the sea without being challenged again, because of even heavier Spanish losses. After waiting in vain on the coast for several days for ransoms to be paid for their hostages, these captives were released and the French formation sailed home to Tortuga. Delisle’s share of this booty apparently made him quite a rich man, so

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Dempster, Edward (fl. 1667
1669) that he took passage aboard an English ship for France, ‘‘to there live at his ease.’’ Yet Du Tertre concluded his account by reporting that during this voyage the English master falsely accused his buccaneer passenger and cast him overboard, so as to steal his riches. And according to the priest, the rest of his raiders also did not prosper from their booty—impiously stolen on an Easter Sunday—so that ‘‘many of them perished unfortunately.’’

See also Adam, Capitaine; Cincuentena; Le Roux, Anne; Lormel, Capitaine.

captured ship Nuestra Se~ nora de la Concepci
on y San Jos
e of Campeche. This vessel was duly condemned on August 28, 1667 (O.S.), at the inland capital of Santiago de la Vega, by the Governor’s brother Sir James Modyford, in his capacity of Judge of the Vice-Admiralty Court. Sold to Hender Molesworth and other investors, Concepci
on was renamed the Crescent, and sailed for England with its Spanish cargo still intact. On arriving there, though—peace having since been concluded between London and Madrid—the Spanish Ambassador requested its return.

References References Du Tertre, Jean-Baptiste, Histoire g
en
erale des Antilles de l’Am
erique habit
ees par les Franc¸ais (Fort-de-France, 1973 reedition). Tejera, Emiliano, ‘‘Gobernadores de la isla de Santo Domingo, siglos XVI
XVII,’’ Boletı´n del Archivo General de la Naci
on [Dominican Republic] 18, No. 4 (1941), pp. 359
375.

DEMPSTER, EDWARD (fl. 1667
1669) English privateer who in 1668 was in command of several vessels and 300 men blockading Havana, and afterward joined Henry Morgan’s expedition against Maracaibo. The first mention of Dempster’s activities had occurred that previous autumn, when authorized by a commission ‘‘for taking the ships and goods of His Catholic Majesty or subjects’’ issued by Jamaica’s Governor Sir Thomas Modyford, his frigate Relief brought into Port Royal the

Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 5 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1880). Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924).

DESENNE, JACQUES (fl. 1653
1659) Huguenot rover from Dieppe, who had numerous early dealings with the English in the Antilles. His surname figured in several different variants among the official records: Desenne, Decenne, De Senne, De Seine, etc. Apparently he had proved helpful during the first Cromwellian ventures into the West Indies, as on January 31, 1653 (O.S.), he was issued a ‘‘Certificate of the services rendered by Captain Desenne to English ships,’’ and he was granted license by the Commonwealth to trade with the English half of Saint Kitts. Back home in Dieppe by April 1654,

Dey, Dennis (fl. 1683) Desenne also participated in the municipal Council meeting where the Catholic order of the Knights of Malta was issued letters-patent to govern over that Antillean island’s French half, so that his allegiance presumably began to waver. Shortly after news of the English conquest of Jamaica had reached London, the English Council of State on February 8, 1656 (O.S.), issued a special warrant ‘‘for James de Senne, Master of the Bonaventure of Dieppe, to trade with the English on Jamaica,’’ and in early spring he cleared his home-port for the West Indies once more. By July 2, 1656 (O.S.), his ship was riding at anchor in ‘‘Jamaica harbor’’—Cagway, renamed Port Royal a few years later—while Desenne received special dispensation from both Admiral William Goodson and General Edward D’Oyley ‘‘to trade, without prejudice to the Act for trading.’’ Regaining Europe next year, he personally addressed a petition at Whitehall in London on October 1, 1657 (O.S.), to the Lord Protector, Oliver Cromwell, describing how Captain ‘‘James’’ Desenne had: . . . been assistant in convoying English ships, and rescuing some of them from the enemies of the Commonwealth; and desirous to continue his trade for Jamaica, has shipped certain commodities necessary for the inhabitants. Prays for licence to trade to Jamaica without interruption. His request was granted two weeks afterward, and that same December 1657 Desenne was back in Dieppe, recruiting engag
es for transportation to the new settlements being founded on SaintDomingue (Haiti).

The last occurrence of his name in Jamaican records began in May 1659, when Desenne purchased the Dutch prize Nieuw Tuin of Flushing and its cargo for £400, which had been captured by Captain Lloyd of the State Ship Diamond. In September 1659, now rearmed as a privateer and bearing a commission from Governor D’Oyley, he set sail with this vessel as his new Bonaventure.

See also D’Oyley, Edward; Engag
e.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 1 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1860).

DEY, DENNIS (fl. 1683) One of a trio of privateers—Andries van de Velde and Laurens Westerband being the other two—who were commissioned by Sir William Stapleton, Governor of the English Leeward Islands, ‘‘to look after pirates’’ late in 1683. Specifically, they were to hunt the renegade George Bond, and learning that he had recently bought a Dutch ship at Saint Thomas in the Virgin Islands, went there and seized it, over the objections of the Danish Gov. Adolf Esmit. The trio thereupon sailed their prize back to Nevis.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898).

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Dockyer, Richard (fl. 1656)

DOCKYER, RICHARD (fl. 1656) English captain commissioned by the Council of Bermuda to sail for the Bahamas in 1656, and salvage the remains of a Spanish treasure-galleon ‘‘for the benefit of the Lord Protector [Sir Oliver Cromwell], the Honorable [Somers Island] Company, and of the recoverers that shall adventure therein.’’ The Council had learned of this shipwreck from Spanish survivors, who had been rescued at sea and carried into Bermuda.

Lightfoot took 150 Spanish hides and put them aboard Vice Admiral Lawson’s dogger, which he says he did for supply of the vessel. Other similar references to this expression abound, such as when the Earl of Shaftesbury wrote to his friend Andrew Percivall in June 1675: ‘‘Two or three other families called Quakers come in His Lordship’s dogger, harbingers of a great number that intend to follow.’’

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 9 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1893).

Reference Crump, Helen J., Colonial Admiralty Jurisdiction in the Seventeenth Century (London: Longmans Green, 1931).

DOGGER Modern term for a type of North Sea fishing-vessel, usually two-masted and with a bluff bow, its name derived from the Dutch word dogger-boot or ‘‘codfish boat.’’ However, it appears that ‘‘dogger’’ may have originally had another connotation as well in 17th-century English, equivalent to ‘‘tender’’ or an auxiliary vessel manned out of a larger ship. This seems to have been the sense intended, when Vice Admiral William Goodson wrote to the Commissioners of the Admiralty from Jamaica in late March 1656: . . . a small vessel called the Red Horse was taken off Hispaniola by the Grantham, out of which Captain

DOTSON, THOMAS (fl. 1673) Boston privateer who unwittingly precipitated a confrontation with the Dutch. On November 3, 1673, during the closing stages of the Third Anglo-Dutch War, Dotson chanced on the dismasted merchantman Expectation stranded near Nantucket. This vessel had been taken by the Dutch during their recent reconquest of ‘‘New Netherland’’ (modern New York, New Jersey, and Delaware) by Cornelis Evertsen, who had then dispatched it on September 2nd under Captain Maerten Jansse Vonck to carry news of his victory to The Netherlands. Struck by a storm, Expectation had been driven aground. Dotson boarded it from his own tiny brigantine of two to four guns and 14 to 20 crewmembers, re-floating and sailing it home to Boston along with its Dutch captain and

D’Oyley, Edward (1617
1675) crew, who had been lodging ashore among the inhabitants of Nantucket. This seizure, although fully warranted by Dotson’s commission and the ongoing war against Holland, was nonetheless unwelcome to the Massachusetts authorities, who had thus far refrained from any overt involvement in the fighting farther to their south. Meanwhile, Captain Cornelis Eewoutsen had sortied from New York with the 6-gun snow Zeehond to aid the stranded Expectation, and on learning that it had been carried off by Dotson, retaliated by capturing four New England ketches and taking them into New York on November 15th. The Dutch sent these masters and crews to Boston in an express boat, receiving Vonck and his men by way of exchange; yet they refused to restore either the ketches or their cargos, leading to heightened tensions which culminated with an armed confrontation at Southold, Connecticut, in late February 1674.

Reference Shomette, Donald G. and Haslach, Robert D., Raid on America: The Dutch Naval Campaign of 1672
1674 (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1988).

DOUBLOON Term for the largest of Spanish gold coins, derived from the word dobl
on, signifying an escudo or piece of gold-currency, worth double the regular face value. During the 17th century, the dobl
on or ‘‘doubloon’’ was the most valuable gold coin minted by Spain, although its purity varied. When the Council of Jamaica was ordered in November 1671—because

of a recent peace-agreement between London and Madrid—to restore captured Spanish slaves to Cartagena, a survey was conducted of all that island’s plantations to identify any Spanish-speaking captives, although English planters were also assured that: . . . it is not intended that one of said Negroes shall be commanded out of their hands, without securing to be paid within two months for every sound Negro above twelve years, 80 pieces of eight or 20 doubloons; and under twelve years, the moiety. The ducado or ‘‘ducat’’ was a lesser Spanish gold coin worth 11 reales, while the escudo was worth 10. The silver pesos or ‘‘pieces of eight’’ struck in the Americas were infinitely more plentiful, their name reflecting the fact that each was worth eight reales.

See also Doubloon (Volume 2); Ducat; Pieces-ofEight.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 7 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1889).

D’OYLEY, EDWARD (1617
1675) First Governor of Jamaica, who greatly encouraged privateering. D’Oyley was born at Albourne in Wiltshire, England, and as a young

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D’Oyley, Edward (1617
1675) man trained as a lawyer at the Inns of Court, fighting on the Parliamentary side during the English Civil War. In December 1654, he sailed as LieutenantColonel in William Penn’s and Robert Venables’ expedition to conquer an English colony in the West Indies, being promoted full Colonel next March of a regiment raised during their layover at Barbados. After the conquest of Jamaica, he rose to commander-in-chief and de facto Governor of the island, as disease claimed 4,500 of the original 7,000 expeditionary officers and men within the first year, while many other leaders fled back to England. The new colony was left in a precarious state, beset by Spanish counterattacks, while its naval defenses shrank to less than 10 warships by 1656. Nevertheless, D’Oyley was able to defeat an enemy disembarkation at Ocho Rios in the autumn of 1657, and at Rio Nuevo next summer. Still, England’s hold remained so tenuous that D’Oyley began granting commissions to privateers, both English and foreign, to keep local Spanish forces off balance. He furthermore sold government prizes on easy terms to likely campaigners, such as when Maurice Williams bought the Spanish frigate Avispa or ‘‘Wasp’’ for £120 in May 1659, renaming it Jamaica. D’Oyley also issued Williams a patent, sold him five cannon from the State warehouses to help arm his vessel, and even published a proclamation allowing Williams to recruit sailors out of Commodore Christopher Myngs’ flagship, with the words: . . . that such seamen aboard the Marston Moor frigate that will go along with the aforesaid Captain Maurice Williams, may have liberty

to go on board the said Jamaica frigate at their pleasure. More importantly still, D’Oyley made Jamaica a haven for corsairs of all nationalities, where they might dispose of their booty, obtain supplies, and effect repairs in relative safety. By 1661, his policy had become almost too successful, for the privateers refused to restrain their activities even when the colony was peacefully expanding, and a tentative peace had been concluded with the Spaniards back in Europe. D’Oyley noted that his attempts to rein in the rovers at this juncture merely vexed the Jamaican populace, who had come to ‘‘live only upon spoil and depredations.’’ His position was moreover eroded by the unexpected Restoration of Charles II, who although he briefly confirmed D’Oyley as Governor of Jamaica, soon superseded him with the Royalist, Lord Windsor. When this new representative reached Port Royal on August 21, 1662, he was scarcely civil to his predecessor, and obliged D’Oyley to sail for England a month later aboard the Westergate, notwithstanding the latter’s petition to remain on the island. D’Oyley was to live out the remaining 13 years of his life quietly at St. Martin’s in the Fields, London, and died about March 1675.

References Buisseret, David J., ‘‘Edward D’Oyley, 1617
1675,’’ Jamaica Journal (1971), pp. 6
10. Dictionary of National Biography (England), Supplement. Interesting Tracts Relating to the Island of Jamaica (St. Jago de la Vega: Lewis, Lunan and Jones, 1800).

Duchesne, Capitaine (fl. 1680
1689) Pawson, Michael, and Buisseret, David J., Port Royal, Jamaica (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1975).

DRY GRIPES English name for a West Indian ‘‘disease’’ during the 17th century, which was actually a kind of poisoning induced by drinking large quantities of rum distilled in lead pipes.

Reference Pawson, Michael, and Buisseret, David J., Port Royal, Jamaica (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1975).

DRY TORTUGAS Seventeenth-century English nickname for the shoals at the western extremity of the Florida Keys. According to the buccaneer chronicler William Dampier, turtling was such a frequent occupation among Caribbean seafarers, that this particular group of isles was so called to distinguish it from the Salt Tortuga off Venezuela, and the French island of Tortuga (Ile de la Tortue) off Hispaniola. Quite possibly, the ‘‘Dry Tortugas’’ got their name from the sun-drying method employed in curing meat there, as opposed to the ‘‘Salt Tortuga,’’ which drew on the vast natural pans of the nearby Araya Peninsula opposite Cuman
a.

DUCAT English name for a Spanish gold coin originally called a ducado, worth 11 reales. The dobl
on or ‘‘doubloon’’ was the most valuable Spanish gold coin, while the escudo was another worth only 10 reales. The silver pesos or ‘‘pieces of eight’’ struck in the Americas were infinitely more plentiful, their name derived from the fact that each was worth eight reales.

DUCHESNE, CAPITAINE (fl. 1680
1689) Flibustier commander almost arrested by the English authorities while careening his ship at Lucea, Jamaica. On November 26, 1685, LieutenantGov. Hender Molesworth wrote to his superiors in London: A week since one Dushean [sic], a French privateer, was careening in Porto Lucia [sic] on the north side of this island. Hearing that many people were consorting to him, I pressed a sloop, manned her with [HMS] Ruby’s men, and sent her to bring the vessel in, which she did; but the captain and several men escaped ashore. Duchesne was subsequently rescued by the English renegade Joseph Bannister, who carried his French colleague safely to Saint-Domingue, while on his own returnpassage from the sack of Campeche.

Reference Reference Dampier, William, A New Voyage Round the World (New York: Dover, 1968).

Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 12 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1899).

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Ducking

DUCKING Naval punishment, whereby a malefactor was dropped from a great height into the sea to plunge painfully beneath the surface, and then bob back up again like a duck. A particularly vivid example occurred in late September 1683, when HMS Falcon was riding at anchor in Port Royal, Jamaica, and the cooper of a nearby merchantman came aboard to offer to enlist. Captain George Churchill of Falcon demurred until he had first contacted the merchant master, Francis Mingham, whom he sent for; yet the latter ‘‘insolently replied that he would not come, but that he dined at such and such places, and that Churchill might come to him.’’ Irked, the Royal Navy officer entered the cooper into his ship’s books and sent a boat to fetch the man’s clothes; yet Mingham’s mate rebuffed this approach with such ‘‘ill words and affronts’’ that Churchill angrily ordered five merchant sailors impressed as well. Mingham’s son and the mate of a nearby merchant vessel thereupon directed such harsh words against Churchill’s coxswain, that the Captain sent back his boat to fetch away Mingham’s mate. This unfortunate individual was carried aboard Falcon ‘‘and there hoisted up to the very top of the gunbill, shamefully exposed as a criminal for more than an hour, to the derision and scorn of the ship’s company, in all readiness to be ducked.’’ At this point, the mate of the second merchant ship, William Flood, came aboard to intercede, and was seized in the other’s stead, being ‘‘hoisted up to the yardarm

and three times ducked, with a gun fired over his head.’’ When even this rough usage failed to curb his tongue, a furious Churchill ordered that he be given 20 lashes, and set ashore.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898).

DUGLAS, JEAN (fl. 1662
1664) French privateer who roamed the West Indies in peacetime, with a Portuguese commission. On September 20, 1662, Duglas was lying at Lisbon where he became empowered by Charles de Bils[?], holder of a patent which allowed him ‘‘to make war with the enemies of this Crown of Portugal.’’ The Portuguese had revolted against Spanish rule more than two decades previously, and a state of hostilities still persisted between both nations, although not with much intensity. Armed with this permit, Duglas sailed his 4-gun Saint John to Spain’s Canary Islands, remaining there for four or five months ‘‘without taking any prize.’’ Discouraged, he crossed the Atlantic to the Lesser Antilles, where within a few days Saint John had a bloody encounter with a man-of-war off Martinique. Many of his men were killed or wounded, Duglas himself receiving a musket round in the arm, forcing him to retire to the English-held island of

Duglas, Jean (fl. 1662
1664) Montserrat. He remained there for most of 1663, until the Saint John foundered at anchor. Duglas thereupon traveled to Jamaica, where early in 1664 he bought and armed a frigate, sortieing once more with his Portuguese commission. After three months’ uneventful cruise, he learned of a sloop called the Blue Dove, which the privateer John Morris had carried into Port Royal on suspicion of intending to smuggle contraband into Cuba. As the sloop’s papers indicated that it was coming from Amsterdam for Jamaica, Blue Dove was released. However, it was widely believed that Morris’ surmise was correct that his prize-claim had been rejected solely because of the influence of the sloop’s consigners, the Jewish merchants Isaac Cardozo and Benjamin Musket. Lying at the Cayman Islands, Duglas decided to seize this sloop once it sailed again—not as a smuggler, but as a transporter of Spanish cargo, hence liable to Portuguese capture. His scheme was doubtless fueled by his unsuccessful hunting, so that he shifted to Bluefields Bay at the west end of Jamaica, anchoring close inshore to await Blue Dove’s departure. The sloop quit Port Royal soon afterward, accompanied by the merchantman Lucretia commanded by Captain Charles Hadsell. As was the usual practice, both put into Bluefields Bay to take on wood and water for their upcoming voyage, and while Hadsell and Captain Robert Cooke of Blue Dove went ashore, Duglas visited the Lucretia to determine whether its crew would defend their consort. That evening at seven o’clock, the two masters returned

aboard, and half-an-hour later Hadsell beheld Duglas’ bark gliding out on the land breeze. He hailed to inquire where the vessel was from, and whither bound; from Barbados to the Caymans, Duglas replied. When Hadsell shouted that he himself was headed for New England, Duglas mischievously responded that he would be there before him. ‘‘In what ship?’’ the bewildered master asked. No matter what ship, came the ominous reply, and with that Duglas clapped his helm hard a-starboard and bore down on Blue Dove, boarding in the gloom. Thirty privateersmen swarmed over its side, firing a ragged volley which wounded Captain Cooke in an arm. Blue Dove’s Scottish crew, outnumbered three-to-one, was driven below, while its cables were being cut and sails hoisted. Lucretia’s crew simultaneously deserted Hadsell, rowing across to join Duglas, disappearing into the night. Three days later, a small English bark from the Caymans put into Bluefields Bay bearing the injured Cooke, along with his passengers, and a few loyal hands. All had been transferred out of Blue Dove off Point Negril, being given ‘‘some victuals and a case of spirits’’ for their return toward Port Royal, yet nothing else. Duglas’ privateers thereupon ‘‘lashed their bark aboard of the prize and took most of their things out of her, and let her go adrift.’’ Afterward, the rover laid in a course for the Windward Passage and Old Bahama Channel, steering Blue Dove northward. Duglas later averred that his intention had been ‘‘to sail into Portugal with this, his said prize, to give knowledge to the King,’’ but called first at New England for

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Duglas, Jean (fl. 1662
1664) provisions. The more likely explanation is that he wished to dispose of the sloop’s West Indian cargo—most notably its sugar and cocoa—at this ready market. Blue Dove consequently appeared before Portsmouth (New Hampshire) in early July 1664, requesting permission to take on water and ‘‘sell some goods for to buy victuals.’’ This was granted, and Duglas furthermore had legal depositions drawn up from his remaining captives, as to the nature of their cargo. He particularly sought to stress that the Port Royal merchant Isaac Cardozo had supervised the loading of 30 chests of azogue or ‘‘quicksilver,’’ which could only have been Spanish in origin. This substance was mined in southern Spain for use in their American colonies, where it was used to refine silver ores. (It is likely that Cardozo’s consignment had been part of a much larger shipment brought into Jamaica late in 1663, when the Marı´a had been intercepted while bound toward Mexico by Captain Cooper.) The Spaniards were known to pay handsomely to retrieve this element, which had no other large-scale application than their mining operations, so Blue Dove’s chests must have been intended as contraband. Yet despite Duglas’ intimation, the Portsmouth authorities soon became

suspicious of his activities, so that a few weeks later (July 18, 1664 O.S.) the sloop was seized. Duglas and his crew were taken to nearby Boston aboard Blue Dove (now described in the records as a pink) where they were incarcerated. Three weeks later, they were released and given their clothes back, along with a few score shillings ‘‘to preserve them alive till they can provide some honest employ for themselves.’’ However, the capture at Bluefields Bay was declared illegal and the Blue Dove forfeit. Late in September 1664, the ship’s owner, Sir William Davidson, Royal Commissioner at Amsterdam, drew up a writ in London demanding Blue Dove’s return, saying it had been ‘‘villainously and roguishly taken by pirates, rovers, and thieves.’’ By the time this complaint reached North America, Duglas and his men had vanished.

References Jameson, John F., comp. and ed., Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period: Illustrative Documents (New York: Macmillan, 1923). Zahedieh, Nuala, ‘‘The Merchants of Port Royal, Jamaica, and the Spanish Contraband Trade, 1655
1692,’’ William and Mary Quarterly 43, No.4 (October 1986), pp. 570
593.

E The Spaniards hate us, for the multitudes of English that prey on them here . . . —In a letter from Governor Sir Thomas Lynch of Jamaica, June 1684

Reference

EARRING Although often associated with pirates in popular fiction, earrings and other jewelry were in fact commonplace among seamen since very early times, being a simple yet effective means of carrying personal wealth aboard ship. The association with pirates may have become particularly vivid during the 17th century because of their predilection for the theft of such items, as well as the incongruity of hard-bitten rovers wearing such exquisite pieces. Spanish officials estimated that the booty carried away from Veracruz in May 1683 by Laurens de Graaf’s and the Sieur de Grammont’s raiders consisted of 800,000 pesos in coin, 400,000 in wrought silver, and 200,000 in ‘‘gold chains, charms, jewels, and pearls.’’

Marley, David F., Sack of Veracruz: The Great Pirate Raid of 1683 (Windsor, Ontario, Canada: Netherlandic Press, 1993).

EATON, JOHN (fl. 1683
1686) English rover who prowled the South Sea. Eaton left London during the latter half of 1683 in command of the private vessel Nicholas, supposedly bound to conduct clandestine peacetime trade along the Pacific coast of South America, although more likely intending to emulate the piratical exploits of Bartholomew Sharpe by plundering hapless Spaniards. Certainly, Eaton left a trail 125

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Edmunds, John (fl. 1675) of destruction during his passage down the Brazilian coast, raiding the River Plate and capturing a Portuguese prize, which subsequently sank in a storm. At the entrance to the Strait of Magellan he encountered the 16-gun Cygnet of Charles Swan (with Basil Ringrose aboard), also out of London on a similar mission. Both ships rounded the Horn in company, but became separated by bad weather. On March 19, 1684, the Nicholas was pursued in the vicinity of Valdivia, Chile, by another sail, which proved to be the 36-gun Bachelor’s Delight of John Cooke (with William Dampier aboard). Together, they repaired to the Juan Fern
andez Islands to refresh provisions, and on April 8th steered northward in hopes of surprising the Peruvian coastal traffic. They seized a vessel bearing timber from Guayaquil toward Lima on May 3rd, yet learned their presence was already known to the Spaniards. Withdrawing to the Lobos de Afuera Islands on May 9th to careen and revise their plans, the 108 remaining buccaneers sighted three sails passing by, which were pursued and overhauled next day. They were Spanish supply-ships bearing flour, ‘‘seven or eight tons of quince marmalade,’’ and other goods for Panama, which Eaton and Cooke sailed to the remote Gal
apagos Islands to unload. The rovers remained there from May 31st to June 12th, when they proceeded farther north for New Spain, hoping news of their depredations had not yet penetrated that far. As they approached Nicoya in Costa Rica to raid for beef, Cooke died and was succeeded by Edward Davis. He and Eaton did not cooperate as well, so that after spending August 1684 refreshing on the coast of Mexico, they returned independently to

Peru and anchored off Isla de la Plata (literally ‘‘Silver Island,’’ also known as ‘‘Drake’s Island’’) on September 21st. But after failing to win a ransom for two prizes containing black slaves and a cargo of sugar off Paita, Eaton finally struck out across the Pacific where his crew eventually disbanded. He thereupon returned to England in 1686.

Reference Bradley, Peter T., The Lure of Peru: Maritime Intrusion into the South Sea, 1598
1701 (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1989).

EDMUNDS, JOHN (fl. 1675) Minor English privateer, who continued operating under a French commission, even after London had declared neutrality and withdrawn from the ongoing conflicts between Holland, Spain, and France. Shortly after John, Lord Vaughan, had arrived at Port Royal from England as Jamaica’s new Royal Governor in the spring of 1675—with Sir Henry Morgan as his Lieutenant-Governor— all English rovers in the West Indies were expected to refrain from serving under foreign flags. Later that summer, Edmunds put into Port Negril in western Jamaica and used his friend William Crane to contact Morgan, presumably believing that he, an exprivateer himself, might prove more sympathetic to an appeal. Morgan duly wrote back from Port Royal on August 25, 1675 (O.S.), assuring Edmunds that ‘‘he will be very welcome in any harbor, and Mr. Crane, the bearer, will inform him he shall have as much

Essex, Cornelius (fl. 1679
1680) privilege as he can in reason expect from the writer.’’ Whether Edmunds ever availed himself of this opportunity or not, is unknown.

See also Morgan, Sir Henry; Vaughan, John, Lord.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 9 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1893).

ENGAGE
French indentured servant, brought out from Europe as a worker for hire in the Americas. Although it is generally conceded that engag
es enjoyed better terms of service than their English counterparts—signing up for only three to four years’ servitude on average, for example, as opposed to seven—it was nonetheless a deeply-resented position which fed a steady stream of disillusioned recruits into freebooter ranks. Alexandre-Olivier Exquemelin and Ravenau de Lussan were only two of many young adventurers who began their privateering careers by fleeing ‘‘cruel’’ West Indian masters, to go a-roving. Many became runaways simply because they despised manual labor, although there were also frequent instances of ill-usage. The written instructions issued by Gov. Bertrand d’Ogeron to the captain of his ship Nativit
e in August 1665 ‘‘for the preservation of engag
es and their health,’’ reveals a host of potential abuses. The transportees

were not to be struck by seamen, D’Ogeron wrote, but only by ‘‘the captain, pilot, or quarter-master’’; they were to be allowed ashore once land was reached, not kept on board where ‘‘sadness might make them fall ill, as I have often witnessed.’’ They were to be provided adequate sleeping- and storagespace during their passage, their belongings being well-protected from sailors ‘‘who are ordinarily very given to thieving.’’ Fresh food and drink were also to be supplied, not some ‘‘wretched, rotten meal’’ which would make them sicken and die; and they were not to be overcharged for their provisions.

Reference Lugo, Am
erico, Recopilaci
on diplom
atica relativa a las colonias espa~ nola y francesa de la isla de Santo Domingo, 1640
1701 (Ciudad Trujillo, Dominican Republic: Editorial ‘‘La Naci
on,’’ 1944).

ESSEX, CORNELIUS (fl. 1679
1680) English rover who participated in John Coxon’s raid against Portobelo. The first mention of Essex’s name occurred in early November 1679, when Governor Lord Carlisle of Jamaica delegated the 28-gun HMS Hunter to patrol the coasts off that island, and arrest any rogue privateers attempting to land indigo from a depredation made against the Spaniards in late September by Coxon and Bartholomew Sharpe in the Bay of Honduras. The Royal Navy frigate returned a few days later: . . . with one Cornelius Essex, commander of the Great Dolphin, who

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Essex, Cornelius (fl. 1679
1680) was tried with twenty of his men for riotously comporting themselves and for plundering Major Jencks of St. James’ Parish in this island, and two of them sentenced to death. Despite this harsh verdict, Essex was absolved of the more serious charge of suspected piracy, and released. Unfazed by his ordeal, Essex attended an illegal gathering of privateers the following month at Port Morant, off the southeastern tip of Jamaica. Besides his own bark, there were present the barks of Coxon and Sharpe, as well as the sloops of Robert Allison and Thomas Magott. All five agreed to unite under Coxon’s leadership for an assault against Spanish Portobelo, although having little authorization for such a venture. They quit Port Morant on January 17, 1680, and less than 20 miles out at sea met the brigantine of French flibustier Jean Rose, who also joined the expedition. The weather turned foul as they made for Isla Fuerte, 90 miles south-southwest of Cartagena on the Spanish Main. Essex’s bark was very old and in such poor shape that it had been ‘‘woolded,’’ or wrapped around with two hawsers to help keep its hull intact. Falling behind, he and Sharpe failed to keep the rendezvous, although Essex managed to rejoin the main body at Isla Fuerte a couple of days later. The formation thereupon cleared for Isla de Pinos, 130 miles east of Portobelo in the Archipi
elago de las Mulatas; Coxon’s vessel was the only one capable of gaining that place with the rest being forced into Isla de Oro or ‘‘Golden Island’’ some miles away. There, the pirates befriended the local Indians, until Coxon ordered 250

buccaneers into boats to row westward along that coast, so as to fall on Portobelo before the Spaniards could learn of their presence. Nearing their destination, they came on ‘‘a great ship riding at anchor,’’ which proved to be that of flibustier Capitaine Lessone, who added 80 Frenchmen to this force. Shortly thereafter, the buccaneers slipped ashore at Puerto del Escribano in the Gulf of San Blas, proceeding afoot to avoid any Spanish coastal lookouts. They marched for three days, until they came on an Indian village three miles short of Portobelo on the morning of February 7, 1680, where a native boy spotted them and set off at a run to warn the distant city. The footsore buccaneers trotted in pursuit, yet the boy arrived half-anhour before them and raised the alarm. The approaching pirates could hear the city signal-gun being fired, but nevertheless swept in, suffering only five or six wounded while the Spaniards retreated inside their citadel and left the raiders to ransack Portobelo unchallenged over the next two days. The freebooters then retired 10 miles northeastward, entrenching themselves with their booty and a few prisoners on a cay half-a-mile offshore from Bastimentos, from where they were rescued three days later by their ships. A brief blockade of Portobelo ensued, after which a general distribution of booty was made, resulting in shares of 100 pieces of eight per man. The flotilla retired to careen at Bocas del Toro at the western extremity of present-day Panama, where the privateers Richard Sawkins and Peter Harris were found lying. When a general refit began, Essex decided to simply abandon his bark, ‘‘she being so rotten.’’

Estr
ees, Jean, Comte and Later Duc d’ (fl. 1676
1679) Henceforth, his name disappears from the narratives; whether he and his men were incorporated into another crew and served in the subsequent incursion into the South Sea is unknown.

References Bradley, Peter T., The Lure of Peru: Maritime Intrusion into the South Sea, 1598
1701 (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1989). Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 10 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1896). Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924). Jameson, John F., comp. and ed., Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period: Illustrative Documents (New York: Macmillan, 1923).


ES, JEAN, COMTE ESTRE AND LATER DUC D’ (fl. 1676
1679) French Admiral who commanded several expeditions into the West Indies, reinforcing them with large contingents of flibustiers.

Early Career D’Estr
ees was born on November 3, 1624, at Soleure in present-day Switzerland, the son of an ancient family out of Picardy. He joined the French army and campaigned in Flanders from 1644 to 1647, being promoted to Colonel of the Navarre Regt. He served under the legendary Cond
e against the Spaniards at Lens on August 20, 1648, being promoted to

Field Marshal next year. He remained loyal to the infant Louis XIV during the revolt known as the ‘‘Fronde of the Princes,’’ serving under Turenne in Lorraine during 1652 to 1653, then once more in Flanders. D’Estr
ees was promoted to Lieutenant-General in June 1655, but was imprisoned at Valenciennes next summer, where he remained until the conclusion of the Franco-Spanish War in 1659. It was during this interlude that he apparently became interested in nautical studies. When the so-called ‘‘War of Devolution’’ began in the spring of 1667, D’Estr
ees joined the French armies invading the Spanish Netherlands, but soon quarreled with the senior commander Louvois and quit the service. Haughty and difficult with superiors and underlings alike, D’Estr
ees has been described as ‘‘a brave man but a bad leader, and worst subordinate.’’

Naval Service Transferring to France’s Royal Navy, D’Estr
ees made his maiden voyage to the Antilles in 1668. Because of his seniority, noble birth, and influential connections, he was promoted to viceamiral du Ponant or ‘‘Vice Admiral of the West’’ in May 1671, sweeping down the West African coast with Admiral Abraham Duquesne. On the outbreak of the Franco-Dutch War in spring of 1672, D’Estr
ees was given overall command of the 26 French ships-of-the-line sent to join the English fleet. He commanded the Allied van from his 78-gun flagship SainPhilippe during the Battle of Sole Bay on June 6
7, 1672, against the great Dutch Admiral Michiel de Ruyter. The

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Estr
ees, Jean, Comte and Later Duc d’ (fl. 1676
1679) inexperienced French squadron performed poorly, contenting itself with long-range gun exchanges while the English and Dutch hammered out a draw at close quarters, resulting in a postponement of the projected invasion of The Netherlands. D’Estr
ees was again in command of the French contingent, when the Allies resumed their offensive that following summer. He held the center aboard his flagship Reine at the two Battles of Schooneveldt or Walcheren on June 7
14, 1673, where the raw French ships once more acquitted themselves indifferently, having their line broken by De Ruyter, and seeing an Allied disembarkation frustrated. The same occurred on August 21st, when the French were driven out of the van at the Battle of the Texel, having their line pierced. In no small part because of D’Estr
ees’ conduct, England made peace with Holland that coming winter, forcing the French Navy back into its ports by 1674. D’Estr
ees nonetheless retained his command, not being held entirely culpable for these defeats. He sortied again two years later, after the Dutch Admiral Jacob Binckes had sailed to the West Indies in the spring of 1676 to seize Cayenne, Marie-Galante, and Saint Martin. In response, Louis XIV dispatched D’Estr
ees with four 50-gun ships, four 30- to 40-gun frigates, and some lesser craft, plus 400 hastilyraised troops. The Crown provided these ships and soldiers, while private investors subscribed funds in an arrangement called course de compte et demi (roughly, ‘‘shared-cost’’ or ‘‘joint-venture privateering’’), whereby both sides agreed to split any prize money.

D’Estr
ees set sail from Brest on October 6, 1676, with his flag aboard the 60-gun Glorieux, pausing for five days in early November at Cape Verde to take on provisions. He then appeared before Cayenne on the afternoon of December 17th, landing 800 men at two different spots under cover of darkness to launch an assault once the moonlight faded and supported by fire from his frigates. The 300 Dutch defenders were overwhelmed with 33 killed and 37 wounded, as opposed to 40 dead and 95 injured among the French. D’Estr
ees thereupon proceeded to Martinique, where he was reinforced by several hundred men raised by the local Governor, Jean-Charles de BaasCastelmore. The French Admiral also obtained intelligence about Dutch dispositions at Tobago.

First Battle of Tobago (March 1677) Binckes had transformed the island into a heavily-fortified base. On the evening of February 21, 1677, D’Estr
ees landed 1,000 soldiers near Rockly Bay, and sent 14 light vessels ahead to feint against the harbor mouth. He mounted his major assault on the morning of March 3, 1677, the fighting being fierce both on land and within the harbor. The Dutch emerged victorious, although losing 10 of their 13 anchored vessels to conflagrations which raged throughout the harbor, and also consumed four of the heaviest French men-of-war. Two French vessels were also captured, so that D’Estr
ees retired to Grenada and Martinique with 1,000 losses and was back in Versailles by early July to report his failure to his monarch.

Estr
ees, Jean, Comte and Later Duc d’ (fl. 1676
1679)

Second Battle of Tobago (December 1677) The ‘‘Sun King’’ immediately ordered his Admiral to return to the West Indies and complete his mission, so that D’Estr
ees departed Brest on September 27, 1677, with 17 more ships. He arrived off Tobago by December 6th, having paused en route to destroy the Dutch slaving station of Gor
ee in West Africa. The weather at Tobago was rainy, but the French nonetheless threw a large contingent ashore and installed siege artillery, refusing to be drawn into a suicidal charge like the last time. The Dutch were much reduced by hunger and disease, only two of their ships remaining in the harbor. On December 12, 1677, the chief French gunner began firing ranging shots against the Dutch fortification, laying odds that he would blow it up at the third attempt. Incredibly, the third round landed squarely in the magazine, killing Binckes and 250 defenders with a mighty blast. The French swarmed exultantly over the ruins, while Dutch resolve collapsed.

Shipwreck on Aves Islands (May 11, 1678) Curac¸ao, the last Dutch outpost in the West Indies, braced for D’Estr
ees’ inevitable assault. On this occasion, though, fortune smiled on the Dutch, for when the French expedition of some 18 royal warships and more than a dozen flibustier craft confidently headed out of St. Kitts toward Curac¸ao five months later, D’Estr
ees chose a course closely parallel to the Spanish Main despite warnings from local pilots that these were dangerous waters. At 9 P.M. on May

11th, one of the Admiral’s flibustier consorts suddenly began firing musket shots, followed immediately by a gun, signaling that the fleet was sailing onto the reefs surrounding the Aves Islands group. The warning came too late, though, as seven ships-of-the-line, three transports, and three corsair vessels ran aground and were destroyed, including D’Estr
ees’s own flagship Terrible, with a total loss of 500 lives. His forces thrown away, the Admiral had no choice but to retire toward Saint-Domingue with his survivors, further embittered to see flibustiers openly scavenging among the wreckage of his fleet. (Rather than retreat with D’Estr
ees, the rovers preferred to pursue a project of their own, subsequently attacking Maracaibo under their leader the Sieur de Grammont.) By the time the Admiral departed for France in early June, the war was virtually ended. Nevertheless, D’Estr
ees returned into the West Indies next summer with another squadron, ostensibly to demand the return of prisoners from the Spanish American authorities at Cartagena and Havana, although more likely to reestablish French naval prestige in the region by showing the flag. The appearance of his eight men-of-war off Jamaica on July 18, 1679 caused considerable alarm with Governor Lord Carlisle ordering the defenses manned, while its citizenry fled inland; yet one of D’Estr
ees’s subordinates, the Comte d’Erveaux, Knight of Malta, merely came ashore to request permission to take on water and provisions at Bluefields Bay, which was readily granted. The French squadron then worked its way through the Greater Antilles, piloted by the Marquis de Maintenon, before returning to Europe.

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Evertsen De Jongste or ‘‘the Youngest,’’ Cornelis, Alias ‘‘Kees the Devil’’ (fl. 1673)

Later Career (1680
1707) In March 1681, D’Estr
ees’s seniority ensured that he was promoted to Marshal of France, and four years later he was sent to campaign against the Barbary States in the Mediterranean, bombarding Tripoli in June 1685 and securing the release of numerous captives. Three years later, he performed a similar service against Algiers, bombarding that port in July 1688. He became a Duke in March 1687, Lieutenant-General of Brittany in 1701, and died in Paris on May 19, 1707.

References Buchet, Christian, La lutte pour l’espace cara€be et la fac¸ade atlantique de l’Am
erique centrale et du Sud (1672
1763) (Paris: Librairie de l’Inde, 1991). Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 10 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1896). Crouse, Nellis M., The French Struggle for the West Indies, 1665
1713 (New York: Octagon, 1966).
Taillemite, Etienne, Dictionnaire des Marins Franc¸ais (Paris: Editions Maritimes et d’Outre-mer, 1982).

EVERTSEN DE JONGSTE OR ‘‘THE YOUNGEST,’’ CORNELIS, ALIAS ‘‘KEES THE DEVIL’’ (fl. 1673) Dutch Commodore who reconquered Sint Eustatius and New York during the Third Anglo-Dutch War. Evertsen came from a proud naval tradition, being a direct descendant of

The notorious ‘‘Kees the Devil’’ as painted by Nicolaes Maes in 1680, a few months after succeeding his deceased cousin Cornelis Evertsen de Jonge as Vice Admiral of Zeeland. (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam)

the first Sea Beggars. Born at the Zeeland seaport of Vlissingen or Flushing on November 16, 1642, he was the second son of what would eventually be 12 children born to Captain Cornelis ‘‘Kees’’ Evertsen, and his first wife Johanna Gorcum. (The nickname ‘‘Kees’’ is a common Dutch contraction for Cornelis.) As his infant son and 14year-old nephew shared this exact same name, Cornelis the father, who would eventually become Lieutenant-Admiral of Zeeland, was to become known as Evertsen de Oude or ‘‘the Elder’’; Cornelis the cousin, who would rise to the rank of Vice Admiral, was to be called Evertsen de Jonge or ‘‘the Younger’’; while the infant Cornelis, destined to become a Lieutenant-Admiral like his father, would gain fame as Evertsen de Jongste or ‘‘the Youngest.’’

Evertsen De Jongste or ‘‘the Youngest,’’ Cornelis, Alias ‘‘Kees the Devil’’ (fl. 1673) He would prove so willful and hottempered a child, that he also came to be known as Keesje de Duivel or ‘‘Little Kees the Devil.’’ By the age of 10, the youngest Evertsen had already sailed aboard his father’s warship, and three years later was entered into the books of Zeeland’s Navy. By 1661, young Kees was second officer aboard his father’s flagship Vlissingen, and when frictions worsened with England during the winter of 1664
1665, was given command of the 32-gun privateer Eendracht. In February 1665, just prior to the actual eruption of the Second AngloDutch War, Evertsen and another Dutch ship fought a pitched duel against a trio of British men-of-war, before being captured. Next month, the diarist John Evelyn recorded how he had taken the young captive officer before Charles II, who ‘‘gave him his hand to kiss, and restored him his liberty.’’ The English King’s younger brother James, Duke of York, who was also present, asked about a bullet-hole in Evertsen’s hat, and was impressed when the 23-yearold Dutchman casually replied ‘‘that he wished it had gone through his head, rather than be taken.’’ Restored to Zeeland, Evertsen fought that same year in the Battle of Lowestoft, then in June 1666 commanded his father’s flagship Walcheren

Name Swaenenburgh (flag, ex-HMS St. Patrick) Schaeckerloo Suriname (ex-English Richard and James) Zeehond or ‘‘Sea Lion’’ (snow) Sint Joris (ketch) Eendracht (victualler)

during the Four Days’ Fight, seeing his parent cut in two by the last shot fired that first evening by the escaping HMS Henry of Rear Admiral Sir John Harman. Then in August 1666, Evertsen took part in the Battle of Saint James’s Day, where his uncle was also slain. And in 1667, Kees had the satisfaction to serve in Michiel de Ruyter’s bold Medway raid, which helped to bring an end to that conflict. Five years later, Evertsen would fight the opening battle of the Third Anglo-Dutch War as well, by defending the Smyrna convoy against Sir Robert Holmes before hostilities were even declared, then commanded Swaenenburgh in the Battle of Solebay in May 1672. Being a Zeelander, he had been an early supporter and intimate of Willem II of Orange, so that after the 22-year-old Prince was acclaimed as Stadthouder that same June 1672, Kees would start to rise into higher positions. As the European campaigning season was winding down with the onset of that winter, he was dispatched by the Zeeland Chamber of the West India Company on an independent privateering cruise.

West Indian Campaign (1673) Evertsen quit Flushing on December 5, 1672 with the following ships:

Guns

Men

44 30 25 6 6 4

186 157 158 22 34 30

Captain Evert Evertsen Corneliszoon Passchier de Witte Evert Evertsen Franszoon Daniel Thijssen Cornelis Eewoutsen Maerten Andriessen

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Evertsen, Jacob (fl. 1681) He proceeded to Madeira, the Canaries, and Cape Verde Islands, where in February 1673 he blundered into an English force. Realizing that this encounter dimmed his hopes of surprising the anticipated East Indiamen, Evertsen consequently turned to his alternative commission, which called for him to cross the Atlantic into the Caribbean to reinforce its Dutch colonies, while attacking Anglo-French interests. His half-dozen vessels therefore arrived off Surinam by March 1673, landing troops and provisions, after which he chanced to meet an Amsterdam squadron under Jacob Binckes off Martinique. Together they rampaged through the Lesser Antilles, pausing at Sint Eustatius in June 1673 to remove it from English control; they then raided the Virginia coast in mid-July, being bravely resisted in Chesapeake Bay by the Royal Navy’s hired vessels Barnaby and Augustine. No such defense was mounted when they reached New York City at the end of that same month and the city was quickly occupied. Having reinstalled Dutch government, Evertsen and Binckes subsequently detached Captain Nikolaas Boes with four ships to raid Newfoundland, later rendezvousing with the main body at the Azores. When the two Dutch Commodores finally reached the neutral port of Cadiz in December 1673, they had captured a total of 34 English and French prizes, and destroyed at least 150 more. However, Evertsen’s actions did not meet with approval at The Hague, which was in the final stages of concluding a peace treaty with the English. New York was to be restored to English domination, and nothing was said about the damages which he had

wrought. Unlike Binckes, who was promoted to ‘‘Vice-Admiral of Amsterdam’’ and sent back out to fight the French, Evertsen did not receive appointment as ‘‘Rear-Admiral of Zeeland’’ until 1675, nor served again in this particular conflict.

Later Career Once peace with France was restored in 1679, Evertsen was promoted to Vice-Admiral, then Lieutenant-Admiral in 1684, and finally Supreme Admiral of Zeeland in 1688. That autumn, he served as second-in-command to the incompetent Lord Torrington in the fleet that carried William and Mary to England for the ‘‘Glorious Revolution,’’ and the following summer fought the French most gallantly at Beachy Head. Kees the Devil finally retired from sea command in 1690, and died at Middelburg 16 years later on his 64th birthday.

Reference Shomette, Donald G. and Haslach, Robert D., Raid on America: The Dutch Naval Campaign of 1672
1674 (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1988).

EVERTSEN, JACOB (fl. 1681) Dutch privateer killed on Sir Henry Morgan’s orders, for illegally visiting Jamaica. On a Saturday night in Port Royal, January 29, 1681 (O.S.), Morgan was advised of the arrival off that coast ‘‘of one Captain James Everson [sic],

Exquemelin, Alexandre-Olivier (ca. 1645
post 1707) commander of a sloop, a notorious privateer,’’ with a brigantine prize that he had seized. Doubtless, this chance appearance seemed an ideal opportunity for Morgan to prove the honesty of his administration to his superiors in London, as he had often been suspected of collusion with pirates in the past and was temporarily serving as Governor because of the death of Sir Thomas Modyford. He therefore: . . . secured all the wherries on the Point and manned a sloop with 24 soldiers and 36 sailors, which at midnight sailed from hence, and about [Sunday] noon came up with him in Bull Bay. Then, letting the King’s jack fly, they boarded him; they received three musket shot, slightly wounding one man, and returned a volley killing some and wounding others of the privateers. Everson and several others jumped overboard and were shot in the sea near shore. The victors brought back the sloop and 26 prisoners, reentering Port Royal by Monday night. All the captives were English, except for six Spaniards, whom Morgan forwarded to the authorities at Cartagena (Evertsen’s 70-man crew was largely comprised of Englishmen). The names of those who had slipped ashore were obtained and warrants issued for their arrest, while the prisoners were confined aboard HMS Norwich to await trial. ‘‘Such is the encouragement which privateers receive from my favor,’’ Morgan wrote to the Secretary of State in London. Evertsen’s survivors were tried at the Admiralty Court in late March 1681, most being convicted of piracy and sentenced to hang. However, Morgan

decided ‘‘it not fit to post them to execution, lest it should scare all others from returning to their allegiance,’’ so they were spared. Evertsen’s sloop was incorporated into the Royal Navy as a ‘‘tender’’ or auxiliary to the Norwich; Morgan pointed out that it could sound ‘‘dangerous places and is able to pursue pirates where the frigate cannot go.’’ He also deemed it useful for carrying messages ‘‘of such accidents as happen.’’

See also Evertsen, Jacob (Volume 2).

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898). Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924). Pope, Dudley, Harry Morgan’s Way: The Biography of Sir Henry Morgan, 1635
1684 (London: Secker & Warburg, 1977).

EXQUEMELIN, ALEXANDRE-OLIVIER (ca. 1645
post 1707) Flibustier surgeon who became famous as a chronicler of buccaneers. He was apparently born around 1645 at the seaport of Honfleur, in France’s Baie de la Seine, and raised as a Huguenot or ‘‘French Protestant.’’ In the spring of 1666, war having just been declared against England, Exquemelin prepared to depart France as an impoverished engag
e or ‘‘indentured servant,’’ bound for service in the

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Exquemelin, Alexandre-Olivier (ca. 1645
post 1707) Antilles. He set sail from Havre on May 2, 1666, aboard the West Indian Company ship Saint-Jean of 28 guns, which joined a convoy of 30 merchantmen assembling at Barfleur, then struck out into the open Atlantic one foggy morning escorted by the Commodore Franc¸ois d’Escoubleau, Chevalier de Sourdis. A relatively uneventful passage ensued, Barbados, Martinique, Guadeloupe, and Puerto Rico being sighted before Tortuga Island was at last reached on July 7th, lying off the north coast of Saint-Domingue (modern Haiti). Here, Exquemelin was sold into indenture to ‘‘the wickedest rogue in the whole island,’’ as he later wrote, the Deputy Governor or ‘‘Lieutenant General.’’ Falling sick a year later, Exquemelin was in turn resold to a surgeon, ‘‘and when I had served him for a year, he offered to set me free for 150 pieces of eight, agreeing to wait for payment until I had earned the money.’’ Exquemelin seems to have joined the flibustiers during the late 1660s, possibly serving under Jean-David Nau l’Olonnais in 1667 to 1668, for he compiled a most detailed account of this leader’s raids against Maracaibo and Central America. In later writings, Exquemelin stated that he remained with the buccaneers ‘‘until the year 1670,’’ although he must have meant only among the flibustiers of SaintDomingue, for he certainly participated in Henry Morgan’s sack of Panama in January 1671. Disappointed at the meager booty from that enterprise, as many other freebooters were, Exquemelin returned to Europe some time later, and by the late 1670s was studying medicine in Amsterdam. While there, he wrote an account of the buccaneers of the West Indies

entitled De Americaensche ZeeRoovers (Jan ten Hoorn, publisher, 1678), which became a celebrated bestseller. A German edition appeared in 1679, a Spanish one in 1681, and two rival English editions in 1684. (Morgan, who figured prominently in Exquemelin’s work, sued the latter two publishers for £10,000 on account of his negative portrayal, and succeeded in winning £200 with damages from each, plus a public apology.) Little else is definitely known about the life of Exquemelin, beyond the fact that he qualified as a doctor with the Dutch Surgeons’ Guild on October 26, 1679, and 17 years later served aboard Admiral Bernard de Pointis’ 84-gun flagship Sceptre, when it set sail from France in January 1697 to participate in the sack of Cartagena. Exquemelin evidently returned from that enterprise, for it is believed that he was still alive in France 10 years later.

See also Exquemelin, Alexandre-Olivier (Volume 2).

References Camus, Michel Christian, ‘‘Une note critique a propos d’Exquemelin,’’ Revue franc¸aise d’histoire d’outre-mer, Vol. 77, No. 286 (1990), pp. 79
90. Exquemelin, Alexandre-Olivier, The Buccaneers of America (London: Penguin, 1969). Piracy and Privateering, catalog,Volume 4 (National Maritime Museum Library. London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1972).
Taillemite, Etienne, Dictionnaire des Marins Franc¸ais (Paris: Editions Maritimes et d’Outre-mer, 1982).

F What compliance can be expected from men so desperate and numerous, that have no element but the sea, nor trade but privateering? —Thomas Lynch from Jamaica, May 1664

Commodore Christopher Myngs’ sack of Campeche early in 1663), they knew nothing of the cessation of hostilities against the Spaniards, so continued operating under two-year-old commissions issued by Governor Lord Windsor. This was an unconvincing excuse, yet perhaps their real motivation had been reports of Mateo Alonso de Huidobro’s probes against the English logwood cutters in the Laguna de T
erminos in August 1664.

FACKMAN, JACOB (fl. 1664
1666) Jamaican privateer who participated in raids against New Spain and Central America. His curious surname may suggest that he was originally born Dutch, possibly as Jakob Fokman. Late in 1664, Fackman joined John Morris, David Martien, Henry Morgan, and Captain Freeman in mounting a small peacetime expedition against the Spaniards in the Gulf of Mexico. Strictly speaking, such ventures were illegal, as the new Gov. Sir Thomas Modyford had proclaimed as far back as June 16, 1664 (O.S.), ‘‘that for the future all acts of hostility against the Spaniards should cease.’’ However, the privateers ignored this injunction, later arguing that ‘‘having been out 22 months’’ (i.e., since

Mexican Raid (Spring 1665) Morris and Martien were the apparent leaders of this venture, seconded by the other three. Together, they mustered a few vessels and 200 men, departing Jamaica in January 1665. Rounding Yucatan, they moved gingerly down the Gulf coast until arriving opposite Campeche, where one night in mid-February

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Fackman, Jacob (fl. 1664
1666) they cut out an 8-gun Spanish frigate from the roads. Sailing this prize past the Laguna de T
erminos, they anchored on February 19th before the tiny town of Santa Marı´a de la Frontera, at the mouth of the Grijalva River. Some 110 to 120 buccaneers disembarked and traveled 50 miles upriver through marshy, winding channels, until they came within sight of the provincial capital of Villahermosa de Tabasco. At four o’clock on the morning of February 24th, they fell on the sleeping city, capturing most of its inhabitants in their beds. A general sack ensued, with booty and captives being loaded aboard a coaster moored in the river. The raiders then headed downriver, seizing a second coaster bearing flour. Near the river mouth, they discovered that their anchored ships had been captured during their absence by a Spanish naval patrol. Three Spanish frigates and 270 men had been sent out of Campeche by Lieutenant-Gov. Antonio Maldonado de Aldana, which sighted the interlopers’ trio of vessels on February 22nd and boarded them without a fight. A few Englishmen fled aboard a single vessel, abandoning their 10-gun flagship and 8-gun prize to the Spaniards. Seven buccaneers left behind revealed to their captors that ‘‘Captain Mauricio [sic; Morris] and David Martin [sic; Martien]’’ had led the bulk of the raiders inland. Their retreat therefore cut off, the main body of freebooters released their remaining hostages and began moving westward with their two coasters, hoping to find another river-channel whereby to escape. On the afternoon of March 17th, they were overtaken by the Spanish guardacostas opposite Santa Ana Cay, this time sailing the privateers’ former 10-gun flagship and 8-gun prize, having

crewed them with 300 volunteer militiamen from Campeche. Jos
e Aldana, the Spanish commander, sent a messenger in a boat to call on the buccaneers to surrender, yet they pretended not to understand. When an interpreter approached shore next morning, the buccaneers replied that they would not give up without a fight, so that the Spaniards reluctantly disembarked and discovered that the raiders had entrenched themselves behind a palisade reinforced with sandbags, bristling with seven small cannon. The Spanish force, mostly comprised of armed civilians, showed little inclination for an assault, and were easily repelled without a single loss inflicted among the freebooters. Next day, March 19th, the Spanish ships were found conveniently run aground, thus allowing the raiders to exit undisturbed with their two coasters.

Central American Campaign (Summer 1665) Fackman and the other privateers proceeded northward, hugging the coastline and capturing smaller boats, as well as landing occasionally to obtain supplies. Off Sisal, they looted a vessel laden with corn, whose crew was allegedly released with a message to the Governor of Yucatan, vowing to return and lay waste to the province. They then rounded the peninsula and traversed the Bay of Honduras as far south as Roat
an, where they paused to take on water. Striking next at Trujillo (Honduras), they overran this port and seized a vessel from its roads, before continuing to Cape Gracias a Dios and the Mosquito Coast. Native guides were hired there, and the buccaneers continued southward to ‘‘Monkey

Fermı´n De Huidobro, Juan (fl. 1664
) Point’’ (modern Punta Mono, Nicaragua), where they hid their ships before heading up the San Juan River in lighter boats. They emerged into the great Lago de Nicaragua, crossing it stealthily by traveling at night, thus sneaking up on Granada and taking it by surprise on June 29, 1665, when they: . . . marched undescried into the center of the city, fired a volley, overturned 18 great guns in the Plaza de Armas, took the sargento mayor’s [garrison commander’s] house wherein were all their arms and ammunition, secured in the great church 300 of the best men prisoners, abundance of which were churchmen, plundered for 16 hours, discharged all the prisoners, sunk all the boats, and so came away. Retracing their course across the lake, at its southeastern extremity ‘‘they took a vessel of 100 tons and an island as large as Barbados, called Lida [sic; Solentiname?], which they plundered.’’ Eventually, they regained their anchored vessels and by the end of August 1666, William Beeston was noting in his journal at Port Royal: Captain Fackman and others arrived from the taking of the towns of Tabasco and Villahermosa, in the Bay of Mexico, and although there had been peace with the Spaniards not long since proclaimed, yet the privateers went out and in, as if there had been an actual war, without commission.

References Cruikshank, E. A., The Life of Sir Henry Morgan (Toronto: Macmillan, 1935).


Eugenio Martı´nez, Marı´a Angeles, La defensa de Tabasco, 1600
1717 (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispanoamericanos, 1971). Interesting Tracts Relating to the Island of Jamaica (St. Jago de la Vega, Jamaica: Lewis, Lunan and Jones, 1800). Ju
arez Moreno, Juan, Piratas y corsarios en Veracruz y Campeche (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1972). Pope, Dudley, Harry Morgan’s Way: The Biography of Sir Henry Morgan, 1635
1684 (London: Secker & Warburg, 1977).

FERMI´N DE HUIDOBRO, JUAN (fl. 1664
) Venezuelan militia officer, who helped defend the islands of Trinidad and Margarita against pirate raids. Apparently born on Margarita, he was the son of a Spanish soldier named Luis Fermı´n, who had settled on that island and eventually rose to become one of its alcaldes ordinarios. The earliest mention of young Juan’s activities, on February 6, 1664, is as an alcalde of the tiny Spanish capital of San Jos
e de Oru~na on Trinidad. He was delegated by its Governor Pedro de Viedma to lead a contingent of troops down to the coast to protect its principal anchorage (modern Port-of-Spain). After more than six months serving at that post, Fermı´n had traveled to the viceregal capital of Bogot
a (Colombia). A few years later, he was selected on May 24, 1668, to take a militia column to Tunja, for a forthcoming expedition which Juan Bautista de Vald
es was preparing to lead into the Guianas. Fermı´n was furthermore commissioned as an infantry Captain on June 6th, and after

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Filibuster completing his mission, requested leave on October 23, 1668. A mere six days afterward, he was assigned to carry messages by sea to Trinidad, and on January 6, 1669, was temporarily installed as that island’s Lieutenant-Governor and Chief Justice. He helped repel a piratical advance against San Jos
e de Oru~na in March 1669, presumably by a faction of French flibustiers who had declined to join Henry Morgan’s expedition against Maracaibo. This splinter group was led by Charles Hadsell, who also failed in his assault against the Venezuelan town of Cuman
a. When Fermı´n had subsequently attempted to sail from Trinidad to Margarita, though, he was captured by this French contingent and ‘‘suffered greatly,’’ before allegedly managing to make his escape ‘‘at considerable risk to his life.’’ Four years afterward, while at Margarita in late July 1673, word arrived there that open war with France was looming and six privateer sloops were preparing to sortie from Martinique for a surprise strike. Fermı´n had therefore volunteered to carry word of this threat to Trinidad, and successfully returned to Margarita. While preparing to sail his ship on a run to Veracruz, the island Governor Francisco Mexı´a y Alarc
on ordered him to make a stopover during his voyage to deliver provisions to the garrison at San Juan de Puerto Rico. But a day after exiting from Margarita’s main anchorage at Pampatar, Fermı´n encountered a ‘‘large French pirate ship’’ believed to have been the Jamaican privateer Thomas Rogers, serving under French colors, who had battered his vessel so badly that it limped back into port, and could not put to sea again. When the privateer flotilla of Charles-Franc¸ois d’Angennes, Marquis de Maintenon, overran and

sacked Margarita Island in late January 1677, Fermı´n was visiting at the mainland port of Cuman
a.

See also Hadsell, Charles; Maintenon, Charles Franc¸ois d’Angennes, Marquis de.

Reference Archive of Indies, Indiferente General 127, Number 83.

FILIBUSTER See Flibisiter.

FLIBUSTIER Synonym for privateer or corsair, meaning a private vessel or individual licensed to conduct naval warfare. The commonly-accepted root for this name is the Dutch word vrijbuiter or ‘‘freebooter.’’ However, a more plausible suggestion might be vliebooter, the name originally given to sailors who plied short distances across the Zuiderzee in very tiny craft, sailing only as far as the offshore island of Vlieland, rather than out into the open ocean. During the Netherlandic struggle for independence from Spain in the 16th century, this term came to be applied as a form of ridicule to the small vessels of the Dutch rebels or Sea-Beggars. They in turn transformed vliebooter into an expression of pride, so that by the end of that same century, ‘‘flyboat’’ had come to mean any ‘‘fast sailing vessel used for warlike purposes or voyages of discovery.’’ The word was certainly known in a similar context during the 17th century.

FitzGerald, Philip (fl. 1672
1675) For example, Gov. Sir Jonathan Atkins of Barbados wrote on November 14, 1675: ‘‘This day came in a flyboat, bound to New England to fetch masts for the King.’’ But it also came to denote seaborne raiders, particularly among the French, who rather significantly spelled the word as flibustier, omitting the initial ‘‘i.’’ With the passage of time, this expression came to imply invaders, warmongers, or pirates in general. It also developed a special meaning in the United States, where a Congressman accused a 19th-century opponent of acting as a ‘‘filibuster’’ by halting all business through continuous speaking. From this incident, came the concept of Congressional filibusters—the delay of bills through long-winded, rambling speeches.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 9 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1893
1899).

FITZGERALD, PHILIP (fl. 1672
1675) Irish corsair who served the Spaniards at Havana and Campeche. FitzGerald was apparently first issued a local guardacosta commission by the Havana authorities late in 1672, when such patents once again began to be authorized by the Spanish Crown after a brief hiatus. He operated under the Hispanicized name of ‘‘Felipe Geraldino,’’ and one of his most notorious early captures was that of Matthew Fox’s Humility out of London, which he intercepted

and carried into Havana in December 1672. Timothy Stamp and other members of this crew were so ill-treated that they died at FitzGerald’s hands. Another of his captures that caused a diplomatic furor around this same time was that of the 130-ton merchantman Virgin of London, commanded by Edmond Cooke, which was seized before Havana in May 1673 as it was bound from Jamaica toward England. FitzGerald bore this prize into port, where it was condemned for carrying ‘‘prohibited’’ cargo—logwood—which the Spaniards always assumed came illegally from their American dominions. After more than a year of hardships and tribulations, Cooke succeeded in reaching home and demanding satisfaction from the government in Madrid, which was only grudgingly conceded. He later turned pirate in retaliation for this abuse, raiding the Spaniards in the South Sea. In November 1673, when Spain was drawn into the Franco-Dutch War on the side of The Netherlands, FitzGerald found his scope of activities widened, being dispatched early the next year by the Governor of Havana to patrol Mexico’s Laguna de T
erminos. FitzGerald sailed to Campeche with 80 Spanish soldiers as reinforcements for his own 150-man crew, capturing two English vessels en route. By summer, he was back in Havana, where an English prisoner working on its fortifications claimed to have seen: Don Philip FitzGerald, commander of a Spanish man o’ war of 12 guns, come into the harbor with a New England bark as prize, whose lading was only provisions, liquor, and money; and he had five English tied ready to hang, two at the main

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Flota yardarms, two at the fore yardarms, and one at the mizzen peak, and when he came near El Morro castle he caused them to be turned off, and they hanged till they were dead, and FitzGerald and his company shot at them from the deck of the frigate. A few days later, FitzGerald visited the English captives ashore, hoping to recruit more hands for his ship. He showed them his commission to take all English and French vessels, and when they refused to join him, allegedly stabbed one to death with his sword. As England had by then been neutral in the European conflicts for several months, FitzGerald’s continuing depredations against their craft led to increasing animosity. He became the most hated corsair in the Caribbean (in no small part because of the anti-Irish antipathies prevailing among the English), until finally in October 1675 the Lords of Trade and Plantations authorized their West Indian officials to ‘‘bring in the head of FitzGerald the Pirate from the Havana.’’ Charles II also issued a proclamation ‘‘for the discovery and apprehension of Captain Don Philip Hellen, alias Fitz-gerald,’’ yet there is no evidence that the elusive Irish rover was ever caught.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 9 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1893
1899). Marley, David F., Sack of Veracruz: The Great Pirate Raid of 1683 (Windsor, Ontario, Canada: Netherlandic Press, 1993). Piracy and Privateering.

S
aiz Cidoncha, Carlos, Historia de la piraterı´a en Am
erica Espa~ nola (Madrid: Editorial San Martı´n, 1985).

FLOTA Seventeenth-century Spanish expression for the annual plate fleets sailing to and from Veracruz. The other great convoys were the galeones which serviced Cartagena (Colombia) and Panama. As both formations were comprised of fleets of galleons, to avoid confusion when referring to either one, it had become customary in Spain and its overseas possessions to speak of those formations headed for Veracruz as flotas, and those making for Cartagena were called the galeones.

FLUTE A type of 17th-century transport ship, developed in The Netherlands. To maximize the volume of bulkcargo which could be carried overseas employing only a minimal crew, Dutch yards began launching broad-bottomed vessels with radically tapered upper works, known as fluyts. This term passed into the English language as ‘‘flutes,’’ and into French as fl^ utes. Although boasting ample holds, the narrowness of a flute’s upper decks and simplicity of their rigging, meant that they could be handled by relatively small complements—sometimes a mere 10 to 15 men, making this a highly-efficient means of carrying freight. But naturally, such limited manpower and cramped deck-space also meant that they could only mount light armaments, making them vulnerable to capture. Consequently, flutes were most often used as supply-ships during times of war,

Forlorn with naval escorts. For example, the French Ambassador in The Netherlands wrote in October 1673 to advise his English allies how the Dutch were preparing an expedition at Middleburg, and had: . . . agreed with the Deputies of the particular men to furnish six frigates, three of 40 guns, one of 36, one of 34, one of 24, and a flute to serve for a magazine.

See also Flute (Volume 2).

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 7 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1889).

FORBAN French synonym for ‘‘pirate’’ or lawless sea-rover, as opposed to a licensed corsaire or flibustier. In a report dated May 4, 1681, and addressed to the King’s chief minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert by Jacques Nepveu, Sieur de Pouanc¸ay and Governor of Saint-Domingue, this colonial official justified his decision to allow privateering sorties against the Spaniards of Hispaniola to continue—even after publication of a general peace in Europe—with the argument: ‘‘It is certain that if one wishes to prevent these sort of voyages, they [the flibustiers or freebooters] will become forbans, and one could never dispose of them again.’’

See also Forban (Volume 2).

Reference Lugo, Am
erico, Recopilaci
on diplom
atica relativa a las colonias espa~ nola y francesa de la isla de Santo Domingo, 1640
1701 (Ciudad Trujillo, Dominican Republic: Editorial ‘‘La Naci
on,’’ 1944).

FORLORN Seventeenth-century English military slang for any advance unit or vanguard, the French equivalent being les enfants perdus—literally, ‘‘the lost children.’’ When the pirate fleet of Laurens de Graaf, the ‘‘Chevalier’’ de Grammont, and Nikolaas Van Hoorn stole on Veracruz on the night of May 17
18, 1683, a force of 200 picked freebooters first slipped ashore to reconnoiter the Spanish defenses, before the main body of 600 additional buccaneers disembarked. This advance party was known as the ‘‘forlorn,’’ as when Gov. Sir Thomas Lynch of Jamaica later reported: ‘‘In the action the Spaniards killed but one man. Some three more, all English that were of the forlorn, were killed by the French themselves.’’ In this same sense, the Jamaican privateer Thomas Rogers apparently commanded a small ship called the Forlorn (meaning the ‘‘vanguard’’) in Henry Morgan’s 1669 victory at the Bar of Maracaibo.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898). Ju
arez Moreno, Juan, Piratas y corsarios en Veracruz y Campeche (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1972).

143

144

Francis, Captain (fl. 1676) Marley, David F., Sack of Veracruz: The Great Pirate Raid of 1683 (Windsor, Ontario, Canada: Netherlandic Press, 1993).

FRANCIS, CAPTAIN (fl. 1676) Mulatto privateer who operated in the Lesser Antilles. On November 22, 1676 (O.S.), Gov. Sir William Stapleton of the English Leeward Islands described Francis as one of a handful of privateers frequenting those coasts, in a vessel ‘‘with 12 guns and 60 men.’’ Presumably Francis served under a foreign commission, for although England had been at peace for more than two years, the French were still at war against the Dutch and Spanish.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 9 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1893
1899).

FREEBOOTER General term for any individual performing military or naval service without salary, instead serving for plunder or prize-money alone (a common arrangement for 17th-century West Indian privateers). This word is believed to be derived from the Dutch vrijbuiter, which probably entered the English language during the frequent wars in the Low Countries of the late 16th and early 17th centuries.

G The news of these parts is not very pleasant, the country being filled with the noyse of pyrats … —Captain Henry Watson to General Robert Monck, July 1656


N, GARCI´A GALA FRANCISCO (fl. 1680
1686)

References Garizmendia Arruabarrena, Jos
e, ‘‘Armadores y armadas de Guip
uzcoa (1689
1692).’’ Boletı´n de Estudios Hist
oricos de San Sebasti
an (San Sebasti
an: Biblioteca de la Sociedad Bascongada de los Amigos del Paı´s, 1985), pp. 259
277. Lugo, Am
erico, Recopilaci
on diplom
atica relativa a las colonias espa~ nola y francesa de la isla de Santo Domingo, 1640
1701 (Ciudad Trujillo, Dominican Republic: Editorial ‘‘La Naci
on,’’ 1944).

Spanish captain mentioned in French records as having visited the Cayman Islands in 1680 with a 40-gun ship, where he seized a vessel from Nantes and sent it into Havana for adjudication. This was possibly an early reference to Francisco Garcı´a Gal
an, a Guipuzcoan sailor from San Sebasti
an who five years later was given command of the Biscayan squadron of privateers, raised to hunt pirates in the West Indies. Garcı´a Gal
an died on November 12, 1686, after an ill-considered attack against the English East Indiaman Caesar off Cape Verde, West Africa.

GALEONES Seventeenth-century Spanish expression for the annual plate fleets sailing to and from Cartagena.

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146

Galesio, Francisco (fl. 1670
1673) The other great convoys were the flotas which serviced New Spain. Both were comprised of fleets of galleons, so that in order to avoid confusion whenever referring to either one, it had become customary in Spain and its overseas colonies to speak of those formations headed for Cartagena as the galeones, while those making for Veracruz were called the flotas. This practice was also observed in English circles, as when Hender Molesworth wrote from Jamaica on July 8, 1672 (O.S.), to complain to Thomas Duck: ‘‘Yesterday had advice of a ketch trading at Cartagena with 70 negroes, of which four were his own, being seized by the General of the galleons, the goods burnt in the market place, and the negroes sold for the King [of Spain]’s account.’’

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 7 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1889).

GALESIO, FRANCISCO (fl. 1670
1673) Spanish corsair, slaver, and trader. Galesio obtained a privateering commission against the English for his ship San Nicol
as Tolentino on February 5, 1670, from the Governor of Santiago de Cuba, one of several issued by SpanishAmerican authorities around this time. Queen Regent Mariana of Spain had inaugurated this aggressive new policy on April 20th of that previous year, as an angry reaction to the news of Henry Morgan’s assault against Portobelo. There is no indication that Galesio ever

captured any prizes with his license, but Gov. Mathias Beck of the neutral Dutch colony of Curac¸ao obtained a copy, and forwarded it to Gov. Sir Thomas Modyford of Jamaica as a piece of intelligence. The Englishman was annoyed to discover an undeclared war existing with Spanish corsairs in the West Indies, especially as Manoel Rivero Pardal then interpreted his patent so broadly as to make raids against Jamaica itself. Modyford had spent the previous months attempting to curtail English hostilities, even issuing a public proclamation of peace with the Spaniards at Port Royal on June 24, 1669, only to learn that circumstances had changed. English displeasure over the granting of Spanish-American commissions such as Galesio’s would lead directly to Morgan’s retaliatory strike against Panama in early 1671. A year-and-a-half later, Galesio arrived at the port of Veracruz with a consignment of slaves in August 1672. There, he met the Dutch mercenary Jan Erasmus Reyning, whose ship Seviliaen had been temporarily impounded by the Mexican authorities, despite having Spanish papers. Galesio informed Reyning that war had broken out back in Europe between England, France, and Holland, prompting the Dutchman to sail off—once his ship was released at the end of that month—to join the fighting on behalf of his homeland. Reyning traveled by a roundabout route to Caracas, where he again met Galesio, and escorted the Spaniard’s vessel across to Curac¸ao early in 1673.

References Earle, Peter, The Sack of Panama: Captain Morgan and the Battle for the Caribbean (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2007).

Gerritszoon, Gerrit, Alias ‘‘Rock Brasiliano’’ (fl. 1663
1678) Marley, David F., Sack of Veracruz: The Great Pirate Raid of 1683 (Windsor, Ontario, Canada: Netherlandic Press, 1993). S
aiz Cidoncha, Carlos, Historia de la piraterı´a en Am
erica Espa~ nola (Madrid: Editorial San Martı´n, 1985). Vrijman, L. C., Dr. David van der Sterre: Zeer aenmerkelijke reysen door Jan Erasmus Reyning (Amsterdam: P. N. van Kampen & Zoon, 1937).

GALLION, CAPTAIN (fl. 1664) Privateer mentioned as having brought two prizes into Port Royal during the Second Anglo-Dutch War. Little more than seven years later, a warrant was issued on January 2, 1672 (O.S.), ordering the Jamaican Governor Sir Thomas Modyford to release £1,100 to Sir Charles Lyttleton as the product of ‘‘two Dutch ships [which] were during the late war taken by one Gallion, a privateer, in November 1664, and condemned in the Court of Admiralty in Jamaica.’’

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 7 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1889).

GERRITSZOON, GERRIT, ALIAS ‘‘ROCK BRASILIANO’’ (fl. 1663
1678) Dutch-born refugee from Brazil, who resettled among the English on Jamaica, and became a fearsome rover. According to the chronicler AlexandreOlivier Exquemelin, Gerritszoon was originally from the city of Groningen in

The Dutch-born Jamaican rover Gerrit Gerritszoon, better known as ‘‘Rock Brasiliano,’’ as depicted in an early edition by Exquemelin. (Exquemelin, Alexandre Olivier. The buccaneers of America: a true account of the most remarkable assaults …, 1893)

the northernmost province of The Netherlands, from where his family migrated to one of the Dutch colonies in Brazil and there ‘‘lived for a long time.’’ When the last Dutch outposts surrendered as Portuguese forces closed in to reclaim all of Brazil by spring of 1654, he apparently made his way to the Lesser Antilles and then on to Jamaica, probably within a few years of its conquest by the English expedition sent out by Oliver Cromwell. And again according to Exquemelin, ‘‘not knowing what else to do, [Gerritszoon] joined the buccaneers, who called him Rock the Brazilian.’’

Rise to Captain (1663
1664) Gerritszoon first shipped out from Jamaica as a common seaman, apparently making a couple of privateering forays,

147

148

Gerritszoon, Gerrit, Alias ‘‘Rock Brasiliano’’ (fl. 1663
1678) until it is believed that he departed Port Royal in January 1663 as one of a hundred hands crammed aboard the 14-gun frigate Griffin of the Dutch-born mercenary Captain Adriaen van Diemen Swart. This vessel was supposed to serve as vice-flagship for the expedition which Commodore Christopher Myngs was leading into the Gulf of Mexico to assault Campeche; yet it became separated from the main body during the two-week traverse, and so missed out on his successful surprise and sack of that Mexican port. Rather than return into Port Royal empty-handed, Swart chose to prowl along the southern coast of Cuba, but in March 1663 he made an incautious disembarkation near the River Cauto, where 28 of his men were massacred by a militia force led from the nearby Spanish town of Bayamo by Captain Andr
es Cisneros Estrada. Having sustained heavy losses, Swart seems to have spent a miserable year scrounging for food, equipment, and prizes in those same waters. It was possibly during this difficult period that Gerritszoon, according to Exquemelin: … became very popular with the crew. A party of malcontents rallied to his side and parted company with their captain, taking a bark, of which they made Rock the captain.

Ship

Guns

Gerritszoon reputedly used this small craft to capture a rich Spanish ship in 1664 known as the Sevillana or ‘‘Sevillian,’’ outward-bound from New Spain: … with much money on board, and brought it to Jamaica. Rock acquired great renown from this exploit.

St. Eustatius Campaign (1665) Apparently this success vaulted Gerritszoon into a position of leadership among the privateers. During that ensuing winter, frictions worsened overseas between the English and Dutch governments, until finally Governor Sir Thomas Modyford of Jamaica authorized his own regional offensive next spring. A flotilla of privateers was gathered under the command of his DeputyGovernor, Colonel Edward Morgan, and set sail by April 15, 1665 (O.S.), ‘‘to fall upon the Dutch fleet trading at St. Christopher’s, capture Eustatia, Saba, and Curac¸ao, and on their homeward voyage visit the French and English buccaneers at Hispaniola and Tortuga.’’ Their strength consisted of nine vessels, with Rock’s name being featured in its Anglicized form:

Commander

Speaker 18 Maurice Williams Sevillian 16 Garret Garretson Saint John 12 John Harman Pearl 10 Robert Searle Olive Branch 6 John Outlaw Trueman 6 Albert Bernardson Susannah 2 Nathaniel Cobham Mayflower 1 John Bamfield Unnamed galliot—Abraham Malarka (or Malarkey)

Gerritszoon, Gerrit, Alias ‘‘Rock Brasiliano’’ (fl. 1663
1678) They started the long upwind beat, pausing off Santo Domingo to buy supplies, which was refused by the Spaniards. Morgan’s formation reached Montserrat by July 7, 1665 (O.S.), where some landing-craft were procured, before running northwestward shortly thereafter on the prevailing winds, until coming within sight of Sint Eustatius. The corpulent Colonel led a charge of 350 buccaneers ashore, easily overwhelming the island’s outnumbered and surprised Dutch garrison, although he died of a heart attack amid the heat and excitement. Gerritszoon and the other privateers consequently remained in control of Sint Eustatius, with Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Morgan as acting Governor. They seized 910 slaves and considerable booty, renamed the island ‘‘New Dunkirk,’’ and deported 250 residents to Barbados, before detaching a single vessel with 70 men under Major Richard Stevens to occupy adjoining Sab
a; however, Colonel Morgan’s death had ended all incentive to attack any further Dutch outposts. Each privateer Captain therefore chose to disperse and make their own independent cruise, Gerritszoon evidently returning to cruise once again in his more familiar Cuban hunting-grounds. Having been pursued near there by a Spanish squadron, he gave a joint declaration before the Admiralty Court at Port Royal on January 11, 1666 (O.S.): ‘‘Sam Sherdlaw and Garrett Garretson, alias Rocky, depose[d] to having been chased by Spanish men-of-war, one of which was the Griffin, which formerly belonged to His Majesty, and was commanded by Captain Swart.’’ On one of his first cruises, he was taken prisoner at Campeche and deported to Spain, although he managed to regain

his freedom and return across the Atlantic to Jamaica. Detailed accounts of Brasiliano’s activities begin early in 1668, when the French flibustier Jean-David Nau l’Olonnais touched at Jamaica to sell an 80-ton, 12-gun Spanish brigantine which he had taken. Brasiliano was installed as its Captain, with Jelles de Lescat as his first mate. They ventured to the Mosquito Coast and joined Henry Morgan’s attack against Portobelo that same July, after which they participated in another assault against the Spanish-American port of Cuman
a (Venezuela). Returning to Port Royal with a second captured brigantine, Brasiliano assumed command of this new vessel, while De Lescat remained aboard the old one.

Gulf of Mexico Campaign (1669
1670) In the spring of 1669, both accompanied the 80-man frigate Mayflower of Joseph Bradley into the Gulf of Mexico, to campaign against the Spaniards in and around the Laguna de T
erminos. Brasiliano’s 40-man crew consisted of 34 Dutchmen and six Englishmen, and for two or three weeks this trio of vessels hovered off the port of Campeche, without taking any prizes. Forays were therefore attempted ashore; Brasiliano lost two men during a disembarkation at the town of Lerma before Bradley finally captured a Cuban vessel laden with flour, so that the marauders could retire back into the Laguna de T
erminos to rest. They remained there over the next two months, Brasiliano’s brigantine being careened, while De Lecat laid in a cargo

149

150

Gerritszoon, Gerrit, Alias ‘‘Rock Brasiliano’’ (fl. 1663
1678) of logwood. At the end of this period, Bradley and Brasiliano returned to blockade Campeche once again, the frigate taking up station directly opposite that port, while the brigantine hauled up closer inshore off Las Bocas, four leagues to its southwest. Here, Brasiliano seized three fishermen and tortured one, who revealed that a ship from Veracruz would soon be bringing ‘‘a new Governor’’ for the province. (Actually, the oidor and Licentiate Fructos Delgado was scheduled to arrive, having been sent out from Mexico City as a visitador or ‘‘auditor’’ for the outgoing provincial administration; a new Governor would not be appointed from Spain for another year.) On December 18, 1669, the Spaniards suddenly sortied with three armed ships, chasing the intruders away. Brasiliano became caught in a stiff norther which forced him to claw away northeastward, hoping to get clear of Yucatan. He managed to round the northwestern tip of its peninsula, but was eventually wrecked on Chicxulub Beach, a thin strip of barrier-sand just east of the present-day town of Progreso. One of his prisoners escaped, carrying word to the Spanish authorities at the provincial capital of M
erida that the rovers were ashore, which prompted the immediate dispatch of a cavalry patrol to the site. They found the pirates hastily burying their artillery, tools, and other heavy items rescued from their wrecked vessel in the sand and bore down on them. Brasiliano’s men scattered for their boat, leaving two behind as they pulled frantically away from shore. This pair surrendered to the Spaniards, who then dug up Brasiliano’s trove—an ancient bronze cannon bearing the arms of Spain’s King

Philip II, two bronze pedreros or ‘‘swivel guns,’’ plus 60-odd iron balls—before returning to Yucatan’s capital at the end of that same month.

Panama Campaign (1670
1671) Meanwhile, Brasiliano and his surviving crewmembers were rescued by De Lecat, who transferred them to Bradley’s frigate for their return to Jamaica. Shortly after arriving on that English island, its populace became agitated by the growing depredations being committed by Spanish corsairs, in particular the nuisance raids of Manoel Rivero Pardal against their coastline. Consequently, Brasiliano sailed once more with Bradley and De Lecat in August 1670 to join Morgan’s retaliatory strike against Panama, which was to first rendezvous at ^Ile a Vache for supplies and reinforcements. This corsair fleet then descended on Providencia Island, overwhelming its tiny Spanish garrison, before Morgan sent Bradley and his two cohorts on ahead to seize San Lorenzo Castle at the mouth of the Chagres River, as a foothold for a march overland against Panama City. Brasiliano and De Lecat were therefore among the 470 buccaneers who served in the three ships of this advance force, which departed Providencia on December 30, 1670. They disembarked a few days later and successfully stormed the castle, despite heavy opposition—both Brasiliano and Bradley being wounded, the latter fatally, and the Spanish defenders ruthlessly massacred. It is believed Brasiliano recuperated sufficiently to participate in Morgan’s subsequent march across the Isthmus a few weeks afterward,

Gobierno where in spite of the harsh climatic conditions and shortages of food and water, the freebooters fought their way into Panama and held that city for a month. Booty, though, proved disappointingly meager, and the raiders furthermore found on their return to Jamaica that they no longer enjoyed official sanction, as the new Gov. Sir Thomas Lynch had arrived and begun recalling commissions.

gobernador de tercio was an important position. Unfortunately, it also perpetuated the age-old practice of subordinating naval officers to their military counterparts, thus hampering the evolution of a skilled and independent class of seagoing commanders, such as the Dutch and English would do.

Reference References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America. and West Indies., Volume 5 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1893
1899). Earle, Peter, The Sack of Panama: Captain Morgan and the Battle for the Caribbean (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2007). Exquemelin, Alexandre-Olivier, The Buccaneers of America (London: Penguin, 1969). Vrijman, L. C., Dr. David van der Sterre: Zeer aenmerkelijke reysen door Jan Erasmus Reyning (Amsterdam: P. N. van Kampen & Zoon, 1937). Weddle, Spanish Sea.

GOBERNADOR DE TERCIO Spanish officer charged with raising and maintaining the tercio or ‘‘regiment’’ that served as Marines or ship-borne infantry aboard the Armada de Barlovento. As such, this officer also became de facto third-in-command for the entire squadron, subordinate only to the Capit
an General and Almirante, and sailing aboard his own individual flagship known as the gobierno. The Spaniards traditionally maintained large contingents of troops aboard their ships, so

Torres Ramı´rez, Bibiano, La Armada de Barlovento (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1981).

GOBIERNO Name for the warship bearing the third-in-command of any Spanish naval formation. In the Armada de Barlovento, for example, the overall commander was the capit
an general serving aboard his capitana or ‘‘flagship’’; the second-incommand was the almirante aboard his almiranta or ‘‘vice-flagship’’; the gobernador de tercio was the third-in-command, responsible for the military companies scattered throughout the fleet and flying his flag aboard his gobierno. Such designations were also used in other Spanish squadrons, such as Peru’s Armada del Mar del Sur, or the privately-raised Biscayan privateers.

References Garmendia; P
erez, Mallaı´na. Torres Ramı´rez, Bibiano, La Armada de Barlovento (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1981).

151

152

Gonz
alez De Perales, Juan (fl. 1665
1666)


LEZ DE PERALES, GONZA JUAN (fl. 1665
1666) Spanish shipowner and master, who was temporarily pressed into service as a guardacosta operating out of La Guaira, the port of Caracas. Along with his fellow merchant-captain, Esteban de Hoces, Gonz
alez de Perales was designated to patrol the Spanish Main by the Governor and CaptainGeneral of Venezuela, Admiral F
elix Garci-Gonz
alez de Le
on, Knight of the Order of Santiago. Their armadilla apparently made several captures, including the pirate ship Caballero Romano [sic; possibly the French Chevalier Romain]. However, Gonz
alez is known to have returned across the Atlantic by 1666 with a valuable cargo to his home-port of Cadiz, where he sold his ship Nuestra Se~ nora del Rosario.

See also Armadilla; Guardacostas; Hoces, Esteban de; Spanish Main.

Reference Sucre, Luis Alberto, Gobernadores y capitanes generales de Venezuela (Caracas: Litografı´a Tecnocolor, 1964).

GOODSON, WILLIAM (fl. 1655
1656) Puritan merchant-adventurer who became the first commander-in-chief of the Jamaican naval station. Goodson is believed to have been from Yarmouth, England, and seems to have traveled to the New World at a

young age, reputedly living at Cartagena circa 1634, although not long enough to acquire a perfect knowledge of the Spanish language. He entered the Protectorate’s service in 1649, and next year contracted one of his ships—the Hopeful Luke of London—to the State, and in October 1651 was petitioning for a license to transport shoes to Barbados. His first direct involvement in the Navy seems to have occurred in January 1653, when he was appointed Captain of the Entrance and took part in the Battle of Portland against the Dutch. Promoted to Rear Admiral aboard Rainbow after this victory, Goodson served in the hardfought triumphs off Gabbard Bank and Scheveningen later that same summer, for which he and the other flag-officers received a gold chain and medal. On the cessation of the First AngloDutch War in the spring of 1654, Goodson became Vice Admiral of the Blue under William Penn. (He was also a major government contractor, supplying clothes for the Navy’s seamen.) Toward the end of that year, he was appointed to Paragon, vice-flagship of the fleet intended to conquer an English foothold in the West Indies. This ill-prepared formation of 17 warships and 21 transports left Portsmouth on December 24, 1654 (O.S.), with General Robert Venables sailing aboard Goodson’s vessel. Barbados was reached 35 days later, where a convoy of victuallers awaited and 3,500 volunteers were raised over the next two months, supplementing the 2,500 soldiers brought out from England. Goodson, in addition to his other duties, was appointed Colonel of ‘‘a regiment of seamen’’ intended to serve on land, with Robert Blake’s brother Benjamin as his Lieutenant-Colonel.

Goodson, William (fl. 1655
1656) The whole expedition materialized before Santo Domingo in late April 1655, and while Penn bore down on its defenses to create a diversion, Goodson led the bulk of the fleet westward seeking a disembarkation point. Because of uncertainty regarding shoals, he deposited the army 30 miles away, an absurdly long distance which contributed to the defeat of this enterprise. The troops spent several days struggling back through the jungle, while the outnumbered Spaniards recovered from their initial shock and beat off the enfeebled English assaults, until the invaders finally withdrew after the loss of 1,000 men, mostly due to disease. Goodson served ashore with some distinction, yet his personal bravery hardly compensated for his poor strategic judgment. Hoping to salvage something from this fiasco, the English turned their attention against smaller Jamaica, landing unopposed that same May 1655. Penn immediately prepared to return to England, leaving Goodson as overall commander of nine small men-of-war and four converted victuallers, with his flag aboard Torrington. The main body departed in early July 1655, and a month later Goodson sailed for the Spanish Main, leaving a few ships behind to defend Jamaica. He tacked 450 miles upwind to take, sack, and burn Santa Marta, although for scant booty. Moving down the coast toward Cartagena, he discovered his force was insufficient to attempt this place, so returned to Jamaica by mid-November 1655 ‘‘to refit and consider of some other design.’’ Next spring, Goodson again assaulted the Main, sailing from Jamaica with a diminished force in late April 1656 to fall on Rı´ohacha. After devastating that

place, he proceeded down the coast to water at Santa Marta, before once more anchoring impotently off Cartagena for a day, then returning to Jamaica by early June 1656. Unsuccessful attempts followed against the Spanish plate fleets, and by August several of Goodson’s vessels were deemed unfit for duty, including his own flagship, so that they were ordered home while he transferred his flag to Marston Moor. In January 1657, he moved into Mathias and sailed for England, arriving in late April complaining of ill health. His tenure had been uninspiring, for despite undoubted courage and many logistical problems, Goodson lacked the flair for independent command. His successor Christopher Myngs was to shine by comparison. Goodson assumed command of a squadron in the Downs that same summer of 1657, and continued in important sea-commands over the next couple of years, until he fell out of favor and left the Navy entirely following the Restoration of Charles II in the spring of 1660. His Roundhead sentiments made him a suspect in a plot to kill the King three years later, although nothing ever came of this charge. Because of his connection with Penn, it is believed that he was also the father of John Goodson, ‘‘the first English physician that came to Pennsylvania.’’

References Dictionary of National Biography (London, 1885
1900; 63 volumes; reissued by Oxford University Press, 2004). Pope, Dudley, Harry Morgan’s Way: The Biography of Sir Henry Morgan, 1635
1684 (London: Secker & Warburg, 1977).

153

154

Goody, Captain (fl. 1663)

GOODY, CAPTAIN (fl. 1663) English privateer from Jamaica, who in 1663 was described as commanding a pink of six guns and 60 men.

References Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924). Pawson, Michael, and Buisseret, David J., Port Royal, Jamaica (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1975).

GRAHAM, CAPTAIN (fl. 1684
1685) English corsair mentioned in a letter of Gov. Sir Thomas Lynch of Jamaica, dated at Port Royal on June 20, 1684 (O.S.). Speaking of several pirate vessels which had been operating in the West Indies, the Governor noted: Many of the men are of this island, but the chief pirate, Graham, is not. It is said that they mean to sail for the South Sea. This may have been the same Captain Graham who commanded a shallop with 14 men in 1685, sailing up and down the coast of Virginia and New England in company with Captain Veale.

See also Veale, Captain.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11

(London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898). Dow, George F. and Edmonds, John H.; The Pirates of the New England Coast, 1630
1730 (Salem, MA: Marine Research Society, 1923 edition re-issued in 1996 by Dover). Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924).

GRAMMONT, ‘‘CHEVALIER’’ OR SIEUR DE (fl. 1678
1686) Greatest of flibustier commanders. Little is known about Grammont’s early life, and there is even some doubt regarding his first name, which has been variously reported as Franc¸ois, Michel, or Nicolas. Legend has it that he was born in Paris around 1650, although as he was later described by a man who met him in 1683 as an ‘‘honest old privateer,’’ he may have been born earlier. The son of a French officer, Grammont allegedly killed a man in a duel when he was 14, then ran away to sea. He made his way to SaintDomingue, where his bravery, quick wit, and openhandedness soon made him popular among the hard-bitten boucaniers. ‘‘He has a particular secret for winning their hearts,’’ an observer wrote, ‘‘and insinuating himself into their spirits.’’ Small, dark, and active, the ‘‘Chevalier’’ was primarily a land commander (like his contemporary Sir Henry Morgan), using ships principally to reach his military objectives, and undergoing several wrecks. On the battlefield, though, he was invincible and greatly feared for his cruelty to prisoners by the Spaniards, who called him ‘‘Agrammont’’ or ‘‘Ram
on.’’

Grammont, ‘‘Chevalier’’ or Sieur De (fl. 1678
1686) During France’s wars against Holland and Spain in the 1670s, Grammont rose to prominence among the flibustiers, and was the leader of the Saint-Domingue contingent which sailed as auxiliaries for the Vice-Admiral Comte d’Estr
ees’s expedition against Curac¸ao, the last major Dutch stronghold in the West Indies. This formidable French armada quit Martinique on May 7, 1678, yet four days later suffered disaster when most of its royal warships ran aground off Aves Islands. The Admiral turned back with his few survivors, but Grammont and the flibustiers decided to mount an alternate attack of their own.

Maracaibo Campaign (1678) Leapfrogging past Curac¸ao, the freebooters materialized unexpectedly in the Gulf of Venezuela during the first days of June 1678, a host 2,000-strong aboard six large ships, and 13 smaller ones. Grammont disembarked half his men and marched along the San Carlos Peninsula toward the fort guarding its approaches, whose artillery he knew to be mostly pointed seaward. The garrison commander Francisco P
erez de Guzm
an was only able to stave off an immediate assault by stationing 100 harquebusiers outside its walls, yet heavy guns were then landed from the buccaneer flotilla, and after a brief bombardment the Spanish defenders surrendered. Grammont passed his smaller ships over the bar, leaving the six largest to blockade the entrance while he pressed on for Maracaibo with the other 13. The city and its surrounding district were thrown into panic by this fearsome incursion, while the ancient and sickly Governor Jorge Madureira

Ferreira, who had only been in office scarcely a week, was unable to inspire any confidence in the troops. People began fleeing in every direction, soon followed by Madureira himself, who retired to the inland town of Maicao with his handful of regulars. Thus, Grammont occupied Maracaibo largely unopposed on June 14th, and gave it over to plunder. A Spanish eyewitness said of him: ‘‘this French enemy was so tyrannical that after taking everything people had, he would torture them unto death, something which not even a Turk nor a Moor would do.’’ Flibustier columns struck out in pursuit of the Spanish Governor and other notables, scattering them even farther afield. On June 28th, Grammont abandoned the gutted remains of Maracaibo, crossing to the eastern shores of the Laguna and falling on Gibraltar. This town, too, was already quite deserted, and after bombarding its walls, the garrison of only 22 soldiers gave up. Emboldened by this lack of opposition, Grammont marched almost 50 miles inland to the town of Trujillo, defended by a fort with 350 troops and four artillerypieces. Again he prevailed, storming this fortification from the rear on September 1st, ‘‘by some hills where it seemed impossible to do so,’’ according to one defender. Once more, terrified Spanish citizens crowded the roads, straggling 75 miles southwestward into M
erida de la Grita to escape from the rapacious raiders. Having defeated or dispersed every Spanish concentration he met, Grammont deliberately retraced his steps toward the Laguna, eventually reentering Gibraltar. This unfortunate town was stripped bare, and put to the torch on September 25th. The invaders then

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Grammont, ‘‘Chevalier’’ or Sieur De (fl. 1678
1686) Map G.1 Grammont: Maracaibo, 1678.

away from the Laguna de Maracaibo, his ships heavy-laden with booty and captives. They arrived at Petit-Go^ave on Christmas Eve, and Grammont was given a hero’s welcome. The war was officially winding down in Europe, yet local hostilities would continue to smolder for a long time against the Spaniards in the Americas.

La Guaira Raid (1680)

N

After overwhelming the fort guarding San Carlos Bar (1), Grammont pressed on to Maracaibo (2), plundering it and its district. His pirate fleet then crossed the Lake and took Gibraltar (3), pushing inland to storm the city of Trujillo (4) on September 1, 1678. After torching Gibraltar, Grammont retraced his steps—dotted line—and remained in devastated Maracaibo until early December, when he departed for Saint-Domingue (5).

remained in undisputed possession of the entire region till almost the end of that year, for it was not until December 3, 1678, that Grammont finally sailed

A year-and-a-half later, Grammont reappeared off the Spanish Main and led an exceptionally daring assault against La Guaira, the port of Caracas. On the night of June 26, 1680, he came ashore with a mere 47 followers, and infiltrated the sleeping city. Next dawn, its garrison commander and 150 soldiers were taken without a struggle, and the inhabitants awakened to find their city occupied during the night. Grammont and his flibustiers quickly set about looting, before a relief-force could arrive. A small company of Spanish soldiers under Captain Juan de Laya Mujica had escaped capture and dispatched a warning to Caracas, while at the same time marching around to Pe~n
on de Maiquetı´a, just outside the port, to rally its outlying defenders. When word of the freebooter attack reached Caracas that same morning, there was such widespread concern that mule trains immediately began traveling inland with the royal treasure and other valuables. Meanwhile, every ablebodied militiaman fell in to resist the invaders, and a large host set off toward the beleaguered port under Gov. Francisco de Alberr
o. Before they could arrive, though, Captain de Laya

Grammont, ‘‘Chevalier’’ or Sieur De (fl. 1678
1686) launched his own counterattack, encouraged by the small number of flibustiers visible in broad daylight. Grammont was forced to make a fighting retreat to the beach, during which he was slashed across the neck with a machete, nine of his buccaneers were killed, and several others wounded. Although repelled, this raid had been successful in that it produced a goodly amount of booty and numerous hostages for the flibustiers, as well as shaking the Spaniards’ morale by its breathtaking audacity. Grammont’s stock soared even higher among the Brethren of the Coast, and was scarcely diminished when he subsequently lost most of his captives and profits in a shipwreck off Petit-Go^ave during a hurricane.

Cuban Blockade (1682) Considerably less success was enjoyed when Grammont led a flotilla of eight pirate vessels along the northern shores of Cuba in the summer of 1682. After spending two months vainly hovering off Hicacos Point east of Matanzas Bay, hoping to snap up a homewardbound Spanish galleon, he was obliged to retire to Saint-Domingue emptyhanded. His flotilla remained prowling westward as far as Santa Lucı´a with ships such as Diligente and Cagone, commanded by Pierre Bot and Jan Willems. After careening a pink on that coast, the force veered round for the Bahamas, then stemmed the Windward Passage early in 1683. Bot captured a Spanish merchantman and set its survivors ashore at Guant
anamo, before the whole flotilla headed for Petit-Go^ave.

Meanwhile, a Dutch-born rover from French Cayenne named Nikolaas Van Hoorn had been cheated out of a large consignment of slaves at Santo Domingo, and fled to the French half of that island with 20 crewmembers aboard his ship Saint Nicholas. Gov. Jacques Nepveu, Sieur de Pouanc¸ay, granted him a letter of reprisal to exact revenge against Spanish interests and put him in contact with Grammont, who agreed to help the rover. He even lent Van Hoorn his own corvette Colbert to recall the flotilla from Cuba, meeting it just as it was reentering Petit-Go^ave. Saint Nicholas’ complement was then increased to more than 300 men with the infusion of Grammont’s followers, and cleared for Roat
an on the Central American coast to obtain further reinforcements, for a projected attack against the main Mexican port of Veracruz. They paused outside Port Royal on February 27, 1683, to deliver letters to the Jamaican authorities, assuring them that no hostilities were being contemplated against English interests. Gov. Sir Thomas Lynch sent out his French secretary, Charles de la Barr
e, to visit the Saint Nicholas, who found Grammont nominally serving as lieutenant under Van Hoorn, but in fact regarded as captain by his loyal flibustiers, who furthermore resented the Dutchman’s ‘‘insolence and passion.’’ They bore away to westward and a few days later met Captain John Coxon, telling him that they were ‘‘trying to unite all the privateers for an attack on Veracruz.’’ Then they proceeded into the Bay of Honduras, where the legendary Dutch corsair Laurens de Graaf and his consort Michiel Andrieszoon were reputed to be with ‘‘two great ships, a bark, a sloop … and 500 men.’’ As Van

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Grammont, ‘‘Chevalier’’ or Sieur De (fl. 1678
1686) Hoorn and Grammont prowled the Bay, they spotted two Spanish merchantmen lying at anchor, Nuestra Se~ nora de Consolaci
on and Nuestra Se~ nora de Regla, which they promptly seized. Little did they realize that De Graaf had been careening his flagship Dauphine (better known by its Spanish nickname of Francesa) at nearby Bonaco Island, patiently waiting for the Spaniards to bring back the proceeds from their commercial fair in Guatemala. Annoyed at this clumsy intrusion into his plans, De Graaf made away for Roat
an, where he was overtaken by Saint Nicholas with its two prizes. On April 7, 1683, a huge gathering of buccaneers met on the beach to hear of the proposed assault against Veracruz. This port had not even been attempted in living memory, yet doubters were swayed when Grammont reputedly declared: ‘‘I would believe it almost impossible, except for the experience and valor of those who hear my words.’’ Heartened, the freebooters endorsed this plan by a roar of acclamation, and after pausing at Guanaja Island to raise more men, a pirate fleet of five ships and eight lesser craft stood into the Gulf of Mexico, bearing 1,300 to 1,400 raiders.

Sack of Veracruz (May 1683) On the afternoon of May 17, 1683, De Graaf cunningly reconnoitered the port with two ships, then led an advance force of 200 buccaneers ashore under cover of darkness to infiltrate the city from its landward side. Grammont and Van Hoorn landed the main body of 600 men at nearby Punta Gorda sometime later, following De Graaf’s trail through the dunes, over Veracruz’s low

stockades, and directly into the darkened streets. There, the buccaneers silently redistributed themselves, Grammont personally assuming command over the crucial column of 80 flibustiers which was to snuff out Spanish resistance around the Governor’s palace. The attack commenced at 4 A.M., and easily overwhelmed the startled garrison. Van Hoorn immediately saw to the amassing of booty, while Grammont and De Graaf looked to the city defenses, anticipating a Spanish counterattack out of the surrounding district. In a brilliant stroke, Grammont organized a company of mounted buccaneers from the stables within Veracruz. When first light dawned on May 19, 1683, the second day of pirate occupation, a large body of horsemen was revealed drawn up to the west of the city, to which Grammont responded by sending out a flying column of more than 100 mounted flibustiers. The Spanish irregular cavalrymen were astonished to behold heavily-armed men bearing down on them ‘‘with a flag and trumpet in regular order,’’ so melted away without a fight. The buccaneer riders then followed up their sally by making a reconnaissance far afield, finding no other Spanish concentrations. Grammont also played a prominent role in extorting money from the thousands of unhappy captives within Veracruz. In addition to the wealth already stolen from their homes and warehouses, the freebooters demanded that ransoms be raised in Mexico’s interior to spare the city and its inhabitants once they withdrew. In order to inspire the proper tone of terror in the prisoners’ letters pleading for help, Grammont made a grand show of stockpiling wood around La Merced Church where the captives

Grammont, ‘‘Chevalier’’ or Sieur De (fl. 1678
1686) were being held, and loudly calling for the death by fire of every man, woman, and child inside. Thanks to these cruel threats, a sum of 150,000 pesos was agreed. On May 22, 1683, the raiders evacuated Veracruz, Grammont riding his horse directly into the church to marshal the 4,000 prisoners into bearers. They carried massive amounts of booty a mile down the coast and were transferred offshore to Sacrificios Island, beyond any hope of rescue. A week later, the ransoms were paid, and after herding 1,500 blacks and mulattos aboard as slaves, Grammont and the rest of the pirate flotilla weighed. They encountered the annual plate fleet just as they were standing out from the coast, but its commander Admiral Diego Fern
andez de Zaldı´var deferred combat, so that the raiders escaped scot-free. They then paused at Coatzacoalcos to take on water, before shouldering their way back around Yucatan to Isla Mujeres. There, they completed dividing the spoils and Van Hoorn died, having been wounded in a fight with De Graaf. By late June 1683, the commanders began going their separate ways, Grammont sailing the 52-gun Saint Nicholas (which he was apparently soon to rename Hardi or ‘‘Audacious’’) toward Tortuga Island. His progress was greatly hampered by contrary winds, to such an extent that his crew and 236 prisoners were in danger of starving. This problem was solved by a chance encounter in late July with the Spanish merchantman Nuestra Se~ nora de la Candelaria out of Havana, which he detained to rob of its cargo of flour. Seeing that he still could not beat upwind to Tortuga, though, Grammont eventually decided to make for PetitGo^ave, releasing Candelaria after having

impressed five of its seamen and removed most of the sails. He also transferred 22 prisoners from Veracruz aboard, and gave its Captain Luis Bernal a pass ‘‘so that no other corsair would harm him.’’ Rumors spread throughout the Caribbean during 1684 of Grammont and De Graaf uniting for another major exploit, yet this did not actually occur until April 1685, when another huge pirate gathering was held off Isla de Pinos on Cuba’s southern coast. The captains could not concur on an objective, however, a majority insisting on a repeat assault against Veracruz, while De Graaf patiently explained that this city would not be caught napping a second time. Finally, the Dutchman sailed away in frustration to Central America’s Mosquito Coast, where he was followed by Grammont and the others, who eventually agreed to a descent on the smaller Mexican port of Campeche. The pirate host shifted to Isla Mujeres to gather greater strength, maintaining vessels off Cape Catoche for more than a month to advise passing freebooters of their scheme, but which also forewarned the Spaniards. These preparations grew so notorious that the Deputy Governor of Campeche, Felipe de la Barreda y Villegas, even had time to dispatch lookouts and spy-boats up the coast to give advance warning of their actual approach. Finally, a steady stream of reports began reaching him in late June 1685, of unidentified vessels creeping ever closer to his port.

Sack of Campeche (July 1685) On the afternoon of July 6, 1685, the pirate fleet of six large and four small

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Grammont, ‘‘Chevalier’’ or Sieur De (fl. 1678
1686) ships, six sloops, and 17 piraguas appeared half-a-dozen miles off Campeche. A landing force of 700 buccaneers took to the boats and began rowing in toward shore, yet four Spanish militia companies totaling roughly 200 men exited, and positioned themselves opposite the intended disembarkation-point. The surprised pirates therefore put up their helms and waited until next morning, when they began to feint a withdrawal toward their ships. Before the Spaniards realized it, the pirate boats sped inshore and disgorged at the very outskirts of the city itself. A hundred buccaneers quickly formed up behind Captain Rettechard as the vanguard; 200 joined De Graaf and marched directly toward the city center; another 200 advanced under Captain Toccard along a street parallel to De Graaf’s; and the final 200 followed Grammont in an encircling maneuver. The Spaniards fell back, while out in the harbor Captain Crist
obal Martı´nez de Acevedo prepared to scuttle his coast-guard frigate Nuestra Se~ nora de la Soledad y San Antonio, as per his instructions. Originally, he had intended to do so by boring holes in its bottom, yet given the speed of the invaders’ advance, he now directed his boatswain to run a trail of powder into the magazine. When the fuse was lit, Soledad exploded with such a deafening blast that it collapsed the defenders’ morale, sending them scurrying into their citadel while the pirates entered Campeche uncontested. Over the next few days, Grammont subdued isolated strong-points, until only the citadel remained. The pirates began bombarding this fortress at dawn of July 12, 1685, but at ten o’clock that same morning, two relief-columns of Spanish

militiamen appeared on the beach, having been hastened down from the provincial capital of M
erida de Yucat
an. In the past, such troops simply had to appear for smaller bands of raiders to scurry back out to sea; this time, though, Grammont’s flibustiers stood and fought from behind Campeche’s ramparts, so that the first ranks of Spaniards went down to wellaimed volleys. All day the two sides battled, until Grammont circled behind the Yucatecan militia and caught them between two fires. The Spanish reliefforce drew off in confusion, and that night the city garrison abandoned their posts. By 11 P.M., the citadel was deserted, and a couple of English prisoners shouted to the besiegers, who called back asking that the fort’s artillery be discharged, so that the buccaneers might advance knowing the heavy guns to be empty. Once done, they poured over the walls, led by Grammont and De Graaf in person. Again, Grammont organized troops of mounted buccaneers, who were dispatched to reconnoiter and ravage the surrounding countryside as far as 25 miles inland. As at Maracaibo, the invaders were left in undisputed possession of the city for the next two months, yet as most of Campeche’s wealth had been withdrawn prior to the assault, little plunder was found. Their frustration led to numerous instances of cruelty. On August 25, 1685, Grammont’s flibustiers celebrated Louis XIV’s saint day with fireworks and festivities, and then the next morning began preparations to break camp. A message was sent inland demanding a ransom of 80,000 pesos and 400 head of cattle to leave Campeche’s gutted buildings intact. Gov. Juan Bruno T
ellez de Guzm
an’s reply arrived a few days later, addressed to the captive De la Barreda. He was forced to

Grammont, ‘‘Chevalier’’ or Sieur De (fl. 1678
1686) read aloud a sneering rejection of the pirates’ demand, in which the provincial Governor averred: … they would be given nothing and might burn down the town, as [Spain] had ample funds with which to build or even buy another, and people enough with which to repopulate it. Furious, Grammont had the houses torched the next dawn, then sent another missive inland threatening the captives themselves. He received the same response, so the day afterward paraded the prisoners in the main square, where executions began. Six had been hanged when De la Barreda and other leading citizens approached De Graaf, ‘‘whom they knew to be more humane than the Frenchman,’’ and offered to serve him for the rest of their lives as slaves if he saved the rest of the inhabitants of Campeche. Lorenzo, after a lengthy discussion with Grammont, ordered a halt to the executions and that the remaining prisoners be carried out to the ships. Immediately after this incident, all the pirates evacuated the citadel, having spiked the guns. The raiders quit Campeche in early September 1685, pausing briefly at Sisal, before rounding the Yucatan Peninsula to Isla Mujeres, where they dispersed. Grammont’s Hardi, Nicolas Brigaut’s captured Spanish galliot, and a sloop sailed together to Roat
an to careen, after which Grammont decided to mount an attack against the tiny Spanish outpost of Saint Augustine, Florida, perhaps in alliance with the English settlers of Carolina.

Saint Augustine Raid (1686) This trio of flibustier vessels worked its way out into the Atlantic and on

April 30, 1686, Brigaut’s galliot flying false Spanish colors stood in alone toward Matanzas (Florida) to gather intelligence. Grammont’s flagship and sloop remained concealed at anchor farther south, awaiting his scout’s return; but when Brigaut failed to reappear, Grammont sailed to Matanzas himself three days later, examining the shoreline from his quarterdeck. The galliot had sunk in heavy weather, and now Grammont was also driven northward by the same storm. He touched at South Carolina in July 1686, then struck out across the Atlantic aboard Hardi for West Africa. Off the Azores, he took a Dutch vessel, which proved to be the great commander’s last prize. Grammont’s flagship was lost shortly thereafter in a storm, with all hands. More than a year later, a flibustier captain named Du Marc escaped from a Spanish prison and reported a rumor to Gov. Pierre-Paul Tarin de Cussy of SaintDomingue that ‘‘the Sieur de Grammont has perished with approximately 180 men that were aboard his ship.’’

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898). Ju
arez Moreno, Juan, Piratas y corsarios en Veracruz y Campeche (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1972). Lugo, Am
erico, Recopilaci
on diplom
atica relativa a las colonias espa~ nola y francesa de la isla de Santo Domingo, 1640
1701 (Ciudad Trujillo, Dominican Republic: Editorial ‘‘La Naci
on,’’ 1944). Marley, David F., Sack of Veracruz: The Great Pirate Raid of 1683 (Windsor, Ontario, Canada: Netherlandic Press, 1993).

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Gregge, Thomas (fl. 1659) Robles, Antonio de, Diario de sucesos notables 1665
1703 (Mexico City: Editorial Porr
ua, 1972). Sucre, Luis Alberto, Gobernadores y capitanes generales de Venezuela (Caracas: Litografı´a Tecnocolor, 1964). Weddle, Robert S., Wilderness Manhunt: The Spanish Search for La Salle (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1973).

GREGGE, THOMAS (fl. 1659) English privateer mentioned in the journal of Colonel Edward D’Oyley, Governor of Jamaica, as having been issued a ‘‘let-pass’’ for his ship Aime [sic; Aim
ee?] on September 28, 1659 (O.S.). A French soldier igniting a hand-grenade, as shown in the 1686 edition of Collombon’s Art militaire franc¸ais pour l’infanterie. (Author’s Collection)

Reference Pawson, Michael, and Buisseret, David J., Port Royal, Jamaica (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1975).

GRENADE One of the favorite assault weapons used by 17th-century pirates. Oftentimes buccaneers found themselves outnumbered, so had to rely on surprise, mobility, and superior firepower to gain their objectives. Not wishing to be encumbered with artillery, they substituted hand grenades to sow confusion and panic among larger enemy concentrations. For example, the contingent of 40 buccaneers which rushed the northern Caleta Bastion of Veracruz at dawn on May 18, 1683, as part of Laurens de Graaf’s and the Sieur de Grammont’s concerted attack against that city, tossed grenades through its apertures before swarming onto its rooftop. The detonations could be plainly

heard three-quarters of a mile away on San Juan de Ul
ua Island, and caused the bastion to surrender without a struggle.

See also Grenade (Volume 2).

Reference Marley, David F., Sack of Veracruz: The Great Pirate Raid of 1683 (Windsor, Ontario, Canada: Netherlandic Press, 1993).

GRILLO, DIEGO (fl. 1670
1673) Mulatto corsair originally from Havana, sometimes confused with Diego de los Reyes or ‘‘Diego Lucifer,’’ a much earlier mulatto pirate also from

Guardacostas Cuba, but who operated during the 1630s and 1640s. After the general amnesty offered to privateers in 1671 by the new Governor of Jamaica, Sir Thomas Lynch, Grillo was mentioned as one (along with Humphrey Thurston and Jelles de Lecat) who continued to act as renegades, attacking Spanish ships and carrying them into his lair at Tortuga Island, most likely under a French commission. Grillo apparently commanded a vessel mounting 15 guns, and succeeded in defeating three armed ships in the Bahama Channel which had been sent to take him, massacring all the Spaniards of European birth that he found among their crews. As late as October 1673, when Mateo Alonso de Huidobro captured the brigantine of Dutch captain Jan Lucas outside Mexico’s Laguna de T
erminos, Grillo was still reportedly operating in the West Indies, although shortly thereafter he was caught and hanged.

References Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924). Weddle, Robert S., Spanish Sea: The Gulf of Mexico in North America Discovery, 1500
1685 (College Station, TX: Texas A & M University Press, 1985).

GUARDACOSTAS Privateers commissioned by SpanishAmerican authorities to operate coastguard vessels in the West Indies. For a long time, Spain’s officials in the New World were restricted from issuing patents in peacetime, yet when piratical raids, logwood poaching, and foreign smuggling became too endemic during the early 1670s, Madrid relented.

Ironically, many of the first and most successful guardacostas were foreignborn mercenaries: Philip FitzGerald, who was based at Havana before transferring to Campeche; Jelles de Lecat, who patrolled Mexico’s Laguna de T
erminos; John Philip Beare, who served at Havana and Puerto Rico; etc. As distinct from the Armada de Barlovento—a royal squadron assigned to patrol the entire Caribbean—guardacostas were usually authorized to operate only along specific stretches of shoreline, and returning into a particular port. This somewhat limited their activities, although it also meant that their vessels were usually heavily manned with fresh crews. As the Spaniards had been so often victimized by seaborne raiders, they took a dim view of any foreign vessels which they encountered. Legally, they were not even allowed to enter SpanishAmerican ports, so that many honest merchants and fishermen were waylaid by guardacostas. Such activities increased the animosity already being felt against Spain in the New World. In early August 1683, for example, Gov. Sir Thomas Lynch of Jamaica wrote to his superiors in London, complaining that the Spaniards had: … armed some small craft and ordered them to take all ships that have on board any frutos de estas Indias [‘‘fruits of these Indies’’], whereby they make all fish that come to net. They have committed barbarous cruelties and injustices, and better cannot be expected, for they are Corsicans, Slavonians, Greeks, mulattoes, a mongrel parcel of thieves and rogues that rob and murder all that come into their power, without the least respect to humanity or common justice.

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Guy, Richard (fl. 1659
1664) The guardacostas were unpaid mercenaries, who lived off of their takings. Colonel Hender Molesworth, as Acting Governor of Jamaica, has left an unflattering portrait of one such group operating off the southeastern coast of Cuba in 1684: These galleys and piraguas are mostly manned by Greeks, but they are of all nations, rogues culled out for the villainies that they commit. They never hail a ship; and so they can but master her, she is certain prize. They lurk in the bushes by the shore, so that they can see every passing vessel without being seen. When our sloops are at anchor they set them by their compasses in the daytime, and steal on them by night with so little noise, that they are aboard before they are discovered. Such captors often colluded with local Spanish judges as well, so as to ensure that every vessel which they brought in was condemned as a prize. The Spanish Crown furthermore abetted this policy by claiming that it was prohibited for foreign vessels to carry even such items as logwood or pieces of eight, which they presumed could only have been obtained illegally from their dominions. As a result, traders wandering too close to Spanish waters became liable to seizure, their vessels and cargos being deemed forfeit if so much as a single Spanish coin or piece of dyewood were found aboard.

See also Guardacostas (Volume 2).

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898).

GUY, RICHARD (fl. 1659
1664) English military officer, who thanks to several bountiful cruises as a privateer, became a prosperous Jamaican planter and Assemblyman. Precise details about his origins or early life are unknown, except that Guy apparently joined Cromwell’s ‘‘Western Design’’ expedition with a militia contingent during its layover at Barbados in 1655, while this force was outwardbound to assault Santo Domingo and eventually conquer Jamaica. His relationship to other members of the Guy family on Barbados has also never been fully established. He first came to official notice as Major Richard Guy, in command of the Guanabo Vale Regiment in northern Jamaica, during its post-conquest fighting against die-hard Spanish guerrillas and their Maroon allies. After the defeat of the Mexican reinforcements landed at Rio Nuevo in May 1658, Guy entered into secret negotiations with the principal Maroon leader, Juan de Bolas, eventually persuading him to switch allegiance, and help drive the last Spaniards from the island.

Profits As a Privateer (1659
1664) With the military campaigns in Jamaica’s interior winding down, Guy, who

Guy, Richard (fl. 1659
1664) evidently had some seafaring experience from his days on Barbados, sortied from Port Cagway with his ship Hopewell Adventure, armed with a ‘‘let-pass’’ issued by Governor Edward D’Oyley dated November 24, 1659 (O.S.). Guy enjoyed considerable good fortune during his first cruise, capturing a Spanish prize in May 1660 with 14,775 pieces-of-eight on board, as well as another rich vessel next month, for which he paid ‘‘133 pounds, 9 ounces of bullion’’ as the tenth-part of its value into the State coffers, after its adjudication at Port Cagway. Guy seems to have invested at least part of these profits into acquiring more lands on the island, beyond his military allotment, and which a couple of years later he would fear losing—as an appointee left over from the failed Commonwealth regime—once the exiled Stuart monarch had been welcomed back into London and restored onto the throne as Charles II. Indeed, one of the very last orders issued by the sitting Jamaican Council on July 16, 1662 (O.S.)—a few weeks before the arrival of the island’s first Royal Governor—included the following provision: On petition of Captain [Cornelius] Burroughs, Robert Nelson, John Colebank, and Humphrey Freeman, ordered that they may dispose of the plantations now in possession of Captain Rich. Guy, on certain conditions. However, when Thomas, Lord Windsor, disembarked less than a month later at the newly-renamed ‘‘Port Royal’’ to assume office in the King’s name, it quickly became apparent that no vindictive measures would be taken against former Parliamentarians.

In fact, when Windsor discharged the original Cromwellian veterans with a generous gratuity and began reorganizing Jamaica’s forces into five militia regiments, Guy was appointed as one of six Captains in the new Third Regiment (another fellow-Captain of the Third being Henry Morgan). An aggressive new Crown policy was also instituted against local Spanish interests, and it seems quite likely that Guy participated in Commodore Christopher Myngs’ immediate strike against Santiago de Cuba. An undated document from around this same time featured Guy’s name as commander of one of the largest privateers on the island, the 14-gun James, with a crew of 90 men. It has also been recorded how he had secured a new privateering commission by early November 1662, apparently to sortie in company with Captain William James’ smaller frigate American, each commander having stood surety for the other. It is also assumed that Guy was one of the many freebooters who participated in Myngs’ next organized raid against Campeche in February 1663, after which these Captains dispersed to pursue their individual interests, as Lord Windsor had abruptly left for England, leaving a vacuum in leadership. Guy reputedly visited the disputed buccaneer stronghold of Tortuga Island (Haiti) in the spring of 1663, and that same July helped four other English vessels pillage a Dutch slaver off the Cayman Islands. Guy’s last recorded Spanish prize was brought into Port Royal in April 1664, two months before a new Royal Governor, Sir Thomas Modyford, reached Jamaica from Barbados, and tried to reverse the open-handed licensing of privateers. Within two weeks of assuming

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Guy, Richard (fl. 1659
1664) office, he proclaimed on June 16, 1664 (O.S.), ‘‘that for the future, all acts of hostility against the Spaniards should cease,’’ adding that every English privateer should return into port and surrender his commission. Guy was apparently one of the few who actually did so, on a permanent basis, forsaking the sea so as to concentrate on developing his businesses and plantations.

Later Career (1665
1683) Guy’s decision was viewed as a good example by the authorities. When the planter-dominated Jamaican Council passed a resolution on February 22, 1666 (O.S.), enumerating a dozen reasons why ‘‘it is to the interest of the island to have letters-of-marque granted against the Spaniard,’’ the fourth one given was that: It hath and will enable many to buy slaves and settle plantations, as [John] Harmenson, Guy, [George] Brimacain, and many others, who have considerable plantations. Yet despite his growing respectability, when Modyford submitted a census and survey of Jamaica to London in late September 1670, Guy was listed as a medium landowner, holding 758 acres in Saint John’s Parish and another 270 in Saint Catherine’s. On January 8, 1672 (O.S.), Guy was one of two representatives elected from the remote Northside Parish to the Jamaican Assembly; in May 1673, he was reelected for Saint Anne and Saint James’ Parish, and again in February 1674. On April 26, 1675 (O.S.), he was presented along with Samuel Jenks

as the elected representatives for Saint James’ Parish before the 32-member Jamaican Assembly, although Guy himself could not be sworn in until two days later, being absent on business. (He was also not actually a freeholder of that particular northern parish, yet was reelected two years later, and again in 1679.) Guy was also listed in May 1680 as one of two Justices of the Peace for Saint Anne’s Parish. Guy’s Hill in Saint Catherine’s Parish still bears his name today. Seven years after his death, his daughter Mary on July 24, 1690 (O.S.), married the wealthy lawyer Richard Lloyd, who would himself be elected to the Jamaican Assembly, serve as Judge of its Vice-Admiralty Court and Chief Justice, before finally emigrating to England and being elected to Parliament.

See also Brimacain, George; Cagaway; D’Oyley, Edward; Harmenson, John; James, William; Lecat, Jelles de; Let-pass; Maroon; Modyford, Sir Thomas; Piecesof-eight; Reyning, Jan Erasmus; Windsor, Lord Thomas.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 5, 7, 9
11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1880
1898). Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924). Hayton, David, et al., The History of Parliament: The House of Commons, 1690
1715 (Cambridge University Press, 2002). Pawson, Michael and Buisseret, David J., Port Royal, Jamaica (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1975).

H Captain Beeston has orders to burn the ship and make examples of all these obstinate thieves. —Jamaican Governor Sir Thomas Lynch’s directive, prior to an anti-piracy patrol, January 1672

Spanish Captivity and Escape (1660
1664)

HADSELL, CHARLES (fl. 1660
1675)

The first mention of Charles Hadsell occurred on August 29, 1660. After turtling at the Cayman Islands, his pink Prosperous out of London was captured by the Spanish privateer Santo Cristo de Maracaibo under Captain Juan de Soto. Carried into Santo Domingo for adjudication, Hadsell was confined there until news arrived shortly thereafter of a cessation of hostilities between Spain and England. He unsuccessfully petitioned the Dominican authorities to have his vessel and goods restored, before being transferred in November 1661 to Havana for repatriation toward Europe. A year later, local fighting flared anew when a

English master, who after three years spent as a Spanish captive, turned to roving. Apparently born about 1618, he may possibly have been related to Captain Henry Hadsell, a prominent Puritan officer who had served as naval Commissioner at Plymouth during the 1650s under Oliver Cromwell’s Commonwealth government, and also had extensive business contacts throughout the West Indies and New England. On the restoration of the English monarchy, Henry Hadsell emigrated to New Haven, Connecticut and died there in 1667. 167

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Hall, Jacob (fl. 1683
1684) Jamaican expedition devastated Santiago de Cuba, so that Hadsell and five other English detainees eventually had to steal a canoe and make their own way to Port Royal. In a deposition sworn on January 29, 1664 (O.S.), before Sir Charles Lyttelton, judge of its Vice-Admiralty Court, Hadsell recounted his misadventures at the hands of the Spaniards, presumably with the aim of establishing a claim for his lost pink and goods, whose value he estimated at £3,000. He then secured command of the merchant ship Lucretia, which along with the Blue Dove of Robert Cooke, weighed for New England. During a brief stopover in nearby Bluefield’s Bay, though, Hadsell saw this consort captured by the French rover Jean Douglas. Upon reaching Boston with Lucretia in late July 1664, Hadsell testified in court as to the circumstances of its seizure.

Raider and Smuggler (1665
1675) Next year, he returned to Jamaica and joined the buccaneer flotilla of Edward Mansfield in its raids against the Spaniards. Hadsell served as an officer during Mansfield’s successful and daring night-attack in May 1666, against the island of Providence (or Santa Catalina), during which a mere 200 buccaneers captured its fort and Spanish Governor. Installed as Captain, Hadsell was left behind with 35 men to hold the island, while Mansfield sailed to the mainland with his captives, who had surrendered on condition that they would be granted safe-conduct. Hadsell may have also been the ‘‘Captain Hansel’’ who behaved so courageously at the taking of Portobelo two years later, that, after Henry Morgan’s

flagship exploded accidentally off ^Ile a Vache early in 1669, a detachment of some 400 men in four ships chose Hadsell to be their ‘‘Admiral,’’ and attempted a descent on the town of Cuman
a in eastern Venezuela. This attack was a complete failure, the pirates being driven off ‘‘with great loss and in great confusion.’’ When the defeated men arrived back at Jamaica, they found the rest of Morgan’s men had returned before them, who ‘‘ceased not to mock and jeer at them for their ill success at Comana,’’ adding: ‘‘Let us see what money you brought from Comana, and if it be as good silver as that which we bring from Maracaibo.’’ Hadsell subsequently retired from privateering, instead becoming active in smuggling logwood out of the Bay of Campeche in Mexico. He was last recorded as arriving at Port Royal in August 1675, in command of a small ketch, aboard which William Dampier would ship out as a hand.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 5 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1880). Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924). Jameson, John F., comp. and ed., Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period: Illustrative Documents (New York: Macmillan, 1923).

HALL, JACOB (fl. 1683
1684) English freebooter who took part in the French peacetime raid against Veracruz. Early in 1683, a Dutch rover named Nikolaas Van Hoorn arrived at Saint-

Hamlin, Jean (fl. 1682
1684) Domingue and obtained a letter of reprisal from the French Gov. Jacques Nepveu, Sieur de Pouanc¸ay, because the Spaniards had impounded a consignment of slaves which Van Hoorn had delivered at Santo Domingo. Reinforced with a heavy contingent of flibustiers commanded by the ‘‘Chevalier’’ de Grammont and Jan Willems, Van Hoorn then set sail into the Bay of Honduras to recruit further help from such pirate chieftains as Laurens de Graaf and Michiel Andrieszoon. Together, they decided to assault the Mexican port of Veracruz, but felt that they needed still more men. Consequently, the raiders visited Guanaja Island and paused briefly off Yucatan’s Cape Catoche to gather greater strength, at which point Hall and several other freebooter ships joined the expedition. The pirate fleet then descended on the unsuspecting city of Veracruz on the night of May 17
18, 1683. Its Spanish inhabitants were surprised in their beds and the city occupied for four days by the pirates, during which time it was ruthlessly ransacked. The freebooters withdrew back around the Yucatan Peninsula, although Hall appears to have been one of the few to stand away directly toward the Strait of Florida and Carolina, rather than the rendezvous at Isla Mujeres. When word of this assault reached Port Royal in early August 1683, Gov. Sir Thomas Lynch of Jamaica wrote to his superiors in London, saying that among the pirate commanders were ‘‘no English, except one [George] Spurre, and Jacob Hall in a small brig from Carolina.’’ He later learned that the latter had proceeded to Carolina: … where he is free, as all such are; and therefore call it Puerto Franco [Spanish for ‘‘free port’’]. The

colonists are now full of pirates’ money, and from Boston I hear that the privateers have brought in £80,000. However, the Earl of Craven replied on May 27, 1684 (O.S.): On inquiry I learn that one Jacob Hall did touch there [Carolina] to wood and water on his way from Veracruz, but he did not belong to the place, and had no inhabitants of Carolina with him. After a very few days’ stay, he sailed for Virginia. The Earl added that Hall had served under Van Hoorn’s French commission, it not then being known in Carolina that English privateers were forbidden from serving under foreign princes, which ‘‘accounts, I conceive, for his not being secured.’’

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898).

HAMLIN, JEAN (fl. 1682
1684) French pirate who made a 10-month rampage with his frigate Trompeuse or ‘‘Trickster.’’

First Cruise (1682
1683) The Trompeuse was a 30-gun French royal frigate hired for a peacetime commercial venture by Pierre LePain, who sailed it into Port Royal (Jamaica) in January 1682, and decided to

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Hamlin, Jean (fl. 1682
1684) remain. Consequently, he prepared the frigate for return to Europe that autumn, by loading it with a valuable consignment of merchandise for Hamburg, then dispatching it into the Bay of Honduras for an additional cargo of logwood. The ship was surprised off the Central American coast by two sloops carrying a band of 120 ‘‘desperate rogues,’’ most of them French, who commandeered it as their flagship. They began making captures with Trompeuse and after seven or eight English losses, Gov. Sir Thomas Lynch of Jamaica commissioned the privateer Captain George Johnson to sortie in late October 1682 to recapture the frigate, equipping him for this purpose with ‘‘a ship of 35 or 40 guns and 180 men.’’ Off Cape Tiburon, Johnson came on an English sloop from Antigua and Tobago that had been recently robbed by the pirates, from whose survivors it was learned that they were talking ‘‘of going to Mona to intercept Irish and New England vessels.’’ Johnson therefore hurried toward this Passage, furthermore believing the Trompeuse to be ‘‘in bad condition and ready to sink, for they cannot get victuals to enable them to go and careen.’’ Yet this intelligence proved faulty, for the pirates’ commander Hamlin was actually still operating around ^Ile a Vache, the island off the southwestern tip of French Hispaniola, which Johnson bypassed. On the morning of January 25, 1683, while this first English pursuer was searching as far eastward as Puerto Rico, Trompeuse was almost caught at anchor when another Jamaican piratehunter, Captain Matthew Tennant of HMS Guernsey, put into ‘‘Jaqueene’’ (Jacmel, Haiti?). However, the breeze dying away to a calm, Tennant could not get near Hamlin ‘‘for want of oars,’’ and

when a wind finally did spring up, it blew into such a gale that the pirates easily eluded him, for the Trompeuse could sail ‘‘three feet to his one.’’ Governor Lynch therefore began commissioning a growing number of privateers to bring in Hamlin, including such experienced men as John Coxon and Thomas Paine; yet despite their best efforts, vessels continued to be looted. The most valuable of 18 ships taken was the Royal African Company slaver Thomas and William, of between 20 to 30 guns commanded by Richard North, which had been traveling from Barbados toward Jamaica when its crew: … spied a ship standing towards us, which coming up ordered Captain North to strike, hoist out his boat and come aboard, at the same time firing a volley of small shot and the great guns. North answered the fire but was perplexed, some of the crew saying that this was an English frigate firing to make him strike his topsail yard. Some of the crew hauled down the colors, while others presently rehoisted them. Amid the confusion, North sent over in a boat his mate, who was clapped into the hold while this bombardment continued, until North finally surrendered. Hamlin’s pirates thereupon manned the prize, transferred their prisoners to Trompeuse, and sailed into a quiet bay on the coast where they tortured their principal captives by ‘‘squeezing their thumbs and privy members in vices, hanging them up in the brails by their hands tied behind them; and so found out what riches they carried.’’ Hamlin looted the Thomas and William of 65 pounds of gold and other

Hamlin, Jean (fl. 1682
1684) valuable items, including slaves and skilled seamen, before releasing the vessel. He then took a small pink from New England, into which some of his men transferred, and quit SaintDomingue before any more English men-of-war could find him. Sailing to Saint Thomas in the Danish Virgin Islands, he captured a Jamaican sloop and spoke with a French convoy just outside its harbor, before sending a message ashore inquiring whether Trompeuse might enter. The Governor was the notorious Adolf Esmit, who readily acceded to the pirate’s request and sent out refreshments. Hamlin ‘‘in return sent him silks and satins, and arranged with him a private signal.’’ The pirates tallowed their ship and took on provisions, before setting out once again with a new pilot for West Africa. They arrived off Sierra Leone in May 1683, and began working their way down its coast, ‘‘generally anchoring at night.’’ They took a Dutch trader, exchanging its cargo ashore for gold, then turning the vessel itself into a fireship. The Trompeuse was now masquerading as a Royal Navy man-of-war, flying ‘‘the King’s Jack and pendant,’’ so the next day was able to sail right in on an anchored vessel, which struck its colors in salute. Hamlin returned the greeting, but after anchoring athwart its bows, let fly with a full volley and broadside. The stranger cut its cable and attempted to escape, yet was soon captured and discovered to be a 20-gun Flushinger ‘‘with 70 pounds of gold on board and abundance of liquor.’’ Hamlin joyfully made it his consort. Next, the English vessel Sevenoaks was sunk, and three ships and a pink were ransacked in quick succession near Cape Coast castle (off present-day

Ghana). Hamlin then laid in a course for Accra, but overshot and reached Ouidah instead, robbing and sinking some coastal boats. Espying three Royal African Company ships anchored close inshore, he employed the same ruse as before, approaching under Royal Navy colors, then loosing a broadside. His pirates captured and tortured the crew of the first vessel, shooting the gunner dead, and flogging the rest to make them confess where their gold was hidden. The second was found abandoned, while the third deliberately cut its cable and wrecked on shore. Hamlin thereupon refitted his two craft and proceeded to ‘‘Cape Lopus,’’ where within a few days he intercepted a large 20-gun Dutch West Indiaman; and according to an eyewitness: She surrendered without resistance, but had little on board but slaves. The pirates did not torture the Dutch, favoring them more than the English. The raiders then landed near Cape St. John’s to divide their booty and part company. The spoils came to around ‘‘30 pound weight of gold a man,’’ and the jubilant rovers redistributed themselves on the two ships according to inclination. Hamlin remained in command of the Trompeuse with 120 men; an anonymous Englishman from Jamaica became captain of another 70 aboard the consort. While rounding Cape Lopus again together in early June 1683, the latter boarded the Royal African Company ship Eaglet one evening, obtaining still more plunder when they ‘‘stretched [its Captain John] Waffe and his officers,

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Hamlin, Jean (fl. 1682
1684) and put screws on their thumbs to make them confess what gold they had.’’ Having robbed the Eaglet, the pirates then warned Waffe to make shift during the night, lest Hamlin ‘‘take all he had.’’ Determined to disappear back into civilian life, the rovers refused to reveal their names, ‘‘and punished one of Waffe’s sailor who asked the pirate captain’s name.’’ (He had apparently adopted the pseudonym ‘‘Morgan.’’) Hamlin chose to sail Trompeuse back across the Atlantic to Dominica, where at least 46 of his men voluntarily left him, so that eventually only 16 white men and 22 black slaves remained aboard when he set out for Saint Thomas. The blacks rose against the whites during this crossing, ‘‘but were beaten back with loss of three killed.’’ On August 6, 1683, Trompeuse appeared before Saint Thomas, ‘‘made the private signal, and was admitted.’’ Hamlin’s booty was stored in the harbor castle for safekeeping, and a scant two days later HMS Francis of Captain Charles Carlile appeared off the harbor mouth at three o’clock in the afternoon, sealing the pirate vessel’s doom. Although still disguised as a Royal Navy warship ‘‘with white color flying, jack, ensign, and pendant,’’ Carlile was undeceived. When Governor Esmit showed himself unwilling to cooperate against Hamlin, the English officer sent in two boats that following night, which boarded Trompeuse while the corsair captain and his men fled ashore, then set it alight. The frigate exploded after the victorious English withdrew; Hamlin and half-a-dozen companions reputedly escaping from the harbor castle in an armed boat provided by Esmit.

Second Cruise (1683
1684) Within weeks, reports began reaching the English authorities at Nevis that Hamlin had bought a sloop from Esmit, and abandoned the Danish Virgin Islands. ‘‘It is thought that he is gone to Petit-Go^ave,’’ Gov. Sir William Stapleton of the Leeward Islands wrote, ‘‘where there are enough of that trade [i.e., piracy] to protect him, and from thence to Campeche to get some good ship.’’ It was also known that several of Hamlin’s followers had remained on Saint Thomas; John Poynting, master of an English sloop who visited several times, claimed to have met them. But of Hamlin nothing more was heard for several months, until he made a spectacular reappearance, for once again English intelligence was faulty. On April 3, 1684, the sloop Three Sisters of Captain John Thomas lay at Tortola, having been dismasted and forced back after attempting to reach St. Kitts. ‘‘While he lay at anchor, a three-master vessel came in under a commander supposed to be Hamlin, who boarded the sloop, plundered it and threatened to kill [Thomas], telling the Governor of Tortola he would cut him into meat for the pot.’’ The French corsair, after his Trompeuse had been burnt at anchor, had manned a Dutch frigate lying in the roads of Saint Thomas, and in September 1683 set out on a cruise to Brazil. There he took several vessels, including a large Portuguese prize which he sailed back to Cayenne. Once more, some of his people left him there, before Hamlin continued to Tortola with his prize, chancing on the Three Sisters. The raiders remained in possession of the sloop for a day and a night, then left it in the roads when Hamlin sailed away to

Hamlyn or Hamlin, William (fl. 1674
1676) Saint Thomas. He and the Portuguese ship arrived shortly thereafter, being welcomed by Esmit. Meanwhile, the Three Sisters’ captain reclaimed his sloop, repaired its mast, and sailed to Nevis to report the pirate chieftain’s return into Caribbean waters by the end of that month. Within two more months, Governor Lynch of Jamaica was recording a somewhat garbled version of this report: Hamlin, captain of La Trompeuse, got into a ship of 36 guns on the coast of the Main last month [i.e., May 1684], with 60 of his old crew and as many new men. They call themselves pirates and their ship La Nouvelle Trompeuse, and talk of their old station at Isle des Vaches [^Ile-a-Vache]. I have consequently sent to apprise the French Governor [of Saint-Domingue] and warn our merchantmen.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898).

HAMLYN OR HAMLIN, WILLIAM (fl. 1674
1676) Adventurer originally born around 1651 in Plymouth, England, who emigrated to Antigua and, in December 1674, was pressed with his sloop Betty by the Deputy-Governor of that island, Colonel Philip Warner, to carry dispatches to nearby Nevis.

On his return, Hamlyn had 34 troops placed aboard Betty by Colonel Warner, and was ordered to accompany him with another two ships and 300 men to the island of Dominica, where they arrived on Christmas Day 1674 (O.S.). There, the Colonel met his illegitimate halfbreed brother Thomas Warner, head of one of the local tribes, and asked him to assist in a retaliatory strike against some Indians who had supposedly raided Antigua. This was merely a ruse, though. Once Thomas’ followers had assembled, the Colonel ‘‘made them very drunk with rum, gave a signal,’’ and had them slaughtered, presumably to eradicate all traces of his unwanted sibling and nephews. To his credit, Hamlyn attempted to intervene, and even ‘‘took an Indian boy in his arms to preserve him, but the child was wounded in his arms and afterwards killed.’’ On the dispersal of this ruthless expedition, Hamlyn proceeded to Barbados and laid a deposition before Gov. Sir Jonathan Atkins, who was outraged at Warner’s action. Aside from its inhumanity, it had cost the English the loyalty of many native islanders, ‘‘whose friendship was so necessary in time of war, to the great damage of the French.’’ Atkins judged Hamlyn to be ‘‘a serious and intelligent man of his quality,’’ and duly ordered Warner deposed, arrested, and forwarded to the Tower of London in chains to stand trial. Once these proceedings began, however, a lack of material witnesses hampered the prosecution, while the Colonel portrayed his ambush of Dominica’s natives as a legitimate tactic of war, and cast aspersions on the absent Hamlyn. Warner was therefore acquitted in September 1675 and restored to his offices, having—in

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Handley, Thomas (fl. 1684) his own view—‘‘proved Hamlin a perjured rogue.’’ This verdict was reinforced by a report subsequently received from Atkins’ chief rival, Governor Stapleton of the Leeward Isles, who justified Warner’s use of such a ‘‘stratagem to destroy a skulking heathen enemy,’’ and stigmatizing Hamlyn as ‘‘a fellow of an evil life [who] dare not return to Plymouth, and has since run away to Jamaica, and is now master in a Dutch privateer [England’s recent enemy], and has chased and fired on an English boat.’’ Stapleton’s resentment against Hamlyn led him to file a complaint with the Governor of Curac¸ao, accusing the young renegade of ‘‘stealing 30 odd Negroes from the English part of St. Christopher’s, which he did twice, and other felonious acts.’’ As Hamlyn had allegedly committed these depredations while holding a Dutch privateering commission from Curac¸ao—but only to operate against the French—Stapleton was delighted to learn in late November 1676 that he had been ‘‘sent to Holland in irons’’ to be punished.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 9 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1893
1899).

HANDLEY, THOMAS (fl. 1684) English privateer commissioned by Gov. Robert Lilburne in late March 1684, ‘‘for defence of the Bahama Islands’’ with his frigate Resolution. This measure was adopted two months after the devastating Spanish

assault against Charles Town (New Providence), capital of that colony, and proved entirely in vain, for the Spaniards shortly afterward drove the English out of the archipelago by a summer-long series of raids.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898).

HARDUE OR HERDUE, CAPTAIN (fl. 1663) Privateer listed in an English document of 1663 as commanding a 4-gun frigate (originally a Spanish prize) with a crew of 40 men, and holding a Jamaican commission. Perhaps his name is misspelled, and should instead be ‘‘Hardee’’ or ‘‘Hardy.’’

References Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924). Pawson, Michael, and Buisseret, David J., Port Royal, Jamaica (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1975).

HARMENSON, JOHN (fl. 1665
1667) English privateer who commanded the 12-gun Saint John in Colonel Edward Morgan’s expedition against Dutch Sint Eustatius and Saba, during the Second Anglo-Dutch War.

Harris, Peter (fl. 1671
1680) This force departed Jamaica in two divisions, five sail putting out from Port Royal on April 5, 1665, and Morgan himself following with another four on April 28th. There were 650 men in all, described in a letter by Gov. Sir Thomas Modyford as: …chiefly reformed privateers, scarce a planter amongst them, being resolute fellows and well armed with fusils [Spanish word for muskets] and pistols. The Crown official was particularly pleased that they would be serving ‘‘at the old rate of no purchase, no pay, and it will cost the King nothing considerable, some powder and mortar pieces.’’ Their landing was successfully made, yet the Colonel, ‘‘being a corpulent man,’’ died from heat exertion during the chase, so that his expedition disbanded shortly thereafter. Two years later, Harman led his own expedition from Jamaica to reconquer the Guianas from the Dutch, not realizing that hostilities had already ceased back in Europe, with these territories being ceded to The Netherlands under provisions of the Treaty of Breda. Harman’s squadron fell first on Cayenne, sacking it, then assaulted Suriname. Its main defensive work of Fort Zeelandia was taken after a savage battle, and the entire colony decimated, with most of its mills being destroyed. It was only then that the English learned of the prevailing peace, and while they submitted to its terms, much pressure was brought to bear on former English colonists remaining in Suriname to transfer to Jamaica. Some resisted, and it was not until the last group of 500 was shipped

off under Major James Banister that tranquility was fully restored.

References Cruikshank, E. A., The Life of Sir Henry Morgan (Toronto: Macmillan, 1935). Interesting Tracts Relating to the Island of Jamaica (St. Jago de la Vega: Lewis, Lunan and Jones, 1800). Pope, Dudley, Harry Morgan’s Way: The Biography of Sir Henry Morgan, 1635
1684 (London: Secker & Warburg, 1977). Shomette, Donald G. and Haslach, Robert D., Raid on America: The Dutch Naval Campaign of 1672
1674 (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1988).

HARRIS, PETER (fl. 1671
1680) English privateer who joined John Coxon’s pioneering expedition into the South Sea. In late November 1679, Governor Lord Carlisle of Jamaica heard ‘‘of the capture of a valuable ship of 28 guns, belonging to the United Provinces, by one Peter Harris, a privateer ever since the taking of Panama [by Henry Morgan more than eight years previously].’’ Doubtless, Harris had been operating since with a variety of French commissions, that nation having been at war against both Holland and Spain throughout this interval; yet these hostilities were at last winding down, and it was furthermore now against Jamaican law for privateers to serve under foreign colors. The Governor therefore dispatched the 32-gun HMS Success to cruise the south cays of Cuba for Harris—the news

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Harris, Peter (fl. 1671
1680) of his latest depredation being confirmed a few days after this Royal Navy frigate’s departure, ‘‘by the arrival of eleven men belonging to the Dutch ship in their long boat.’’ At first the pursuit went well, Captain Thomas Johnson of Success intercepting the brigantine of another renegade, Richard Sawkins, and sending it into Port Royal for adjudication. However, on sighting Harris off the Cuban coast in the first days of December 1679, the frigate blundered into shoal waters and tore its bottom out on a sand bank, Success being ‘‘irrecoverably lost,’’ while Harris made good his escape. The rover was next heard from in early March 1680, careening his 150ton prize at Diego’s Point on Isla Solarte, within the maze of islands known as Bocas del Toro at the northwestern extremity of the present-day

Panamanian Republic. While lying there, Harris had met the barco luengo of Sawkins, who had also eluded the authorities from Jamaica, and was then further joined by Coxon’s flotilla fresh from its sack of Portobelo. The raiders refitted their vessels, then suggested returning to Golden Island to avail themselves of their newfound friendship with the local Indians, ‘‘to travel overland to Panama’’ and attack the Spaniards on their vulnerable Pacific flank. Harris agreed to join the expedition with his 107 men, and on April 2nd the freebooters weighed.

Pacific Incursion (1680) Coxon, Harris, Sawkins, Robert Allison, Edmond Cooke, Thomas Magott, and Bartholomew Sharpe all anchored their

A sea-battle against corsairs, by the Dutch painter Willem van de Velde. (Jupiterimages)

Harris, Peter (fl. 1684
1686) ships close inshore at Golden Island, out of sight in a small cove. An anchor watch was left aboard each, with orders to rally to Coxon’s and Harris’ ships—the two largest—if any attack should occur. At six o’clock on Monday morning, April 15, 1680, 332 buccaneers went ashore and obtained guides to cross the Isthmus. Ten days later, they came on the Spanish stockade of Santa Marı´a at the confluence of the Chucunaque and Tuira Rivers. This fort had no artillery, so at dawn Sawkins led a rush of buccaneers that penetrated the palisades. Seventy of the 200 Spanish defenders were killed outright, the rest being massacred later by the Indians. Flush with their victory, the buccaneers determined to press on into the Pacific, although it was noted ‘‘our general, Captain Coxon, seemed unwilling, but with much persuasion went.’’ Henceforth, other captains began to assume the lead, most particularly Sawkins, Harris, and Sharpe. Reaching the Pacific, the pirates traveled westward along the coast in their river boats, until they captured an anchored Spanish bark one night, which Sharpe took command of with 135 men. Next night, Harris came on a second: … in his canoe, and took [it]. She had on board her about 20 armed men. They fought about a quarter of an hour, wounded one of our men. Soon, the buccaneers had assembled a small flotilla, with which they bore down on Panama. The Spaniards sent out a hastily-mustered force to do battle, and the raiders engaged it in a three-hour fight, during which: ‘‘Brave, valiant Captain Peter Harris was shot in his canoe through both his legs,

boarding of a great ship.’’ The day ended with all the Spanish vessels taken, but Harris was grievously injured, being transferred aboard the 400-ton Santı´sima Trinidad along with the other wounded to be tended, as it now became the buccaneer flagship. The surgeons removed one of his legs, but the stump became ‘‘fester’d, so that it pleased God he died.’’

References Bradley, Peter T., The Lure of Peru: Maritime Intrusion into the South Sea, 1598
1701 (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1989). Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 10 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1896). Jameson, John F., comp. and ed., Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period: Illustrative Documents (New York: Macmillan, 1923). Pawson, Michael, and Buisseret, David J., ‘‘A Pirate at Port Royal in 1679,’’ The Mariner’s Mirror, Vol. LVII (1971), pp. 303
305. Webster, John C., Cornelis Steenwyck: Dutch Governor of Acadie (Ottawa: Canadian Historical Association, 1929).

HARRIS, PETER (fl. 1684
1686) Nephew of the foregoing, who also led a buccaneer incursion into the South Sea. Toward the end of June 1684, Harris arrived at Golden Island from the Mosquito Coast with 99 men aboard a bark and two sloops, which he scuttled

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Harris, Peter (fl. 1684
1686) before heading inland to attack the Spaniards. In alliance with 300 Darien Indians, he fell on the Santa Marı´a stockade at the confluence of the Chucunaque and Tuira Rivers one dawn, massacring the defenders and sharing about 24 ounces of gold dust per man among his buccaneers, leaving ‘‘the other gross plunder to the Indians.’’ More importantly, Harris seized a bark armed with four pedreros or ‘‘swivel guns,’’ as well as eight large canoes, which he and his men used to reach the Pacific Ocean. Off that coast, they took a trading bark laden with provisions and wine, which they then sailed to Isla del Rey and snapped up some pearling vessels. While prowling off Punta Chame just south of Panama City, a flotilla of five Spanish barks suddenly sortied, killing five of Harris’ men in an all-day fight, but eventually retiring in defeat. The buccaneers veered westward for the Gulf of Nicoya in present-day Costa Rica, intending to secure a larger craft and knowing that this was ‘‘a place where the Spaniards built their ships.’’ Within sight of that coast, they came on a ship at anchor on August 3rd, which proved to be Charles Swan’s Cygnet of 16 guns, 150 tons, but a relatively small and unhappy crew. This captain had originally entered the South Sea as a merchant trader, not a raider, but meeting with continual rebuffs from the Spaniards, his crew now wished to go a-roving. Confronted with Harris’ much more numerous freebooters, Swan finally acceded, or else he would have been left with ‘‘no one to sail the ship.’’ Nonetheless, he insisted on exchanging part of his cargo for some of the buccaneers’ Santa Marı´a gold, seeing that Cygnet’s owners receive a share in any

prize money. Harris grudgingly agreed, after which all but one of his prize barks was set adrift, and the rovers sailed together to rendezvous with John Cooke’s 36-gun Bachelor’s Delight off Isla de Plata (Ecuador). Harris and Swan arrived there on October 2nd, to discover that Cooke had died and been succeeded by Edward Davis, who now assumed overall command over the flotilla. Between them, they mustered close to 200 men, and on October 20th sailed for the South American mainland. Paita was assaulted on the morning of November 3, 1684, but nothing much of value was found before the town was put to the torch. The Lobos Islands were visited next, followed by an abortive raid against Guayaquil in early December, which ended when the pirates’ captive Indian guide escaped as they were approaching overland. A few small prizes were taken off that coast, but Harris and the other rovers realized that they were too weak for greater enterprises, so headed northward for Panama in hopes of meeting other buccaneers crossing the Isthmus. At the end of December, they captured an aviso off Gallo Island bound for Callao, which revealed that the annual plate fleet had arrived at Portobelo on November 28th, and the Peruvian silver ships would soon meet it. The buccaneers therefore established a blockade south of Panama in January 1685, where they were joined over the next few months by fresh contingents under Capts. Franc¸ois Grogniet, Francis Townley, Jean Rose, Pierre le Picard, and a bark bearing about a dozen Englishmen separated from William Knight’s expedition. Harris and his men were transferred into this latter vessel, and thus he was

Harris, Thomas (fl. 1670
1671) in command of it when a fleet of six Spanish men-of-war suddenly emerged from a morning shower off Pacheca Island on June 7, 1685, catching the pirates unawares. An indecisive engagement ensued, after which the buccaneer forces fell out among themselves and separated. Harris attached himself to Davis, and in 1686 was still serving as his lieutenant off the South American coast.

References Bradley, Peter T., The Lure of Peru: Maritime Intrusion into the South Sea, 1598
1701 (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1989). Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 12 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1899). Interesting Tracts Relating to the Island of Jamaica (St. Jago de la Vega: Lewis, Lunan and Jones, 1800).

HARRIS, THOMAS (fl. 1670
1671) English buccaneer who participated in raids on Colombia, Nicaragua, and Panama. In the summer of 1670, Harris served along with Captain Ludbury under the senior rover Laurens Prins, sailing on a peacetime expedition against the Spanish Main. In a singularly bold stroke, the flotilla headed up the Magdalena River in present-day Colombia, attempting to reach the inland town of Momp
os, 150 miles from the sea. This daring attempt was foiled by a fort which had recently been erected on an island in that river,

so the trio was obliged to venture westward in August to the Mosquito Coast, hoping to find better fortune there. Despite the fort which had also been installed on that river after Henry Morgan’s raid five years previously, Prins and his cohorts ascended the San Juan River, stole across the Lago de Nicaragua, and with only 170 men surprised the city of Granada. According to a Spanish account, they angrily ‘‘made havoc and a thousand destructions,’’ because the city had been so recently victimized that their plunder only came to £20 per man. A few weeks later, they were back in Port Royal, William Beeston noting in his journal for October 19, 1670 (O.S.): ‘‘Arrived the ships that had taken Grenada [sic], who were Captains Prince, Harris, and Ludbury.’’ Jamaica’s Gov. Sir Thomas Modyford mildly reproved the trio for attacking Spaniards without commissions, but thought it prudent not ‘‘to press the matter too far in this juncture.’’ Instead, he ordered them to join Morgan’s own expedition, which was gathering off ^Ile-a-Vache to attack Panama, ‘‘which they were very ready to do.’’ Harris incorporated his ship Mary into Morgan’s fleet late that same year, and evidently participated in the subsequent captures of Providencia Island and Chagres, as well as the epic march overland through Isthmian jungles in January 1671. The city was quickly subdued and looted over the next four weeks, producing a disappointingly small booty, because much of its wealth had been evacuated prior to the assault. He then returned to Port Royal in April 1671, along with Morgan aboard Joseph Bradley’s Mayflower, Prins’ Pearl, and John Morris’ Dolphin.

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Henley, Thomas (fl. 1683
1685)

References Exquemelin, Alexandre-Olivier, The Buccaneers of America (London: Penguin, 1969). Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924). Pope, Dudley, Harry Morgan’s Way: The Biography of Sir Henry Morgan, 1635
1684 (London: Secker & Warburg, 1977).

HAWKINS, CAPTAIN A 17th-century Barbados pirate notorious for his cruelty, which led to his fighting a duel against one of his crew, ‘‘Red Legs’’ Greaves, who defeated him and was elected captain in his stead.

Reference Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924).

HENLEY, THOMAS (fl. 1683
1685) English privateer who in 1683 sailed from Boston ‘‘bound for the Rack,’’ and afterward went to the Red Sea, where he allegedly plundered Arab and Malabar ships. Two years later, he was operating with a commission from Gov. Robert Lilburne of the Bahamas, and that same summer appeared before Bermuda with a prize, when the new Gov. Richard Cony was struggling to impose royal rule over its recalcitrant colonists. On June 4, 1685 (O.S.), Cony reported to London:

Captain Henley, a privateer, lately arrived here in a Dutch ship and as is reported, landed £3,000 or £4,000 worth of Dutch goods. He was piloted in by one Zachariah Burrows, but the country [i.e., inhabitants] would not permit his ship to come under my command. I laid hold of Henley, however, and imprisoned him; but the country forced me to set him at liberty. My very Council and captains of militia, though all protesting that they would bring him under my command, yet would not, nor would the sheriff lay his broad arrow [i.e., the symbol made by his royal stamp] on the goods he landed, that account might be given to the King in case the Dutch should redemand them. On May 28th (O.S.), while all of this was transpiring, one Christopher Smith also attested before the Governor: ‘‘That it was commonly reported at the Bahama Islands in April that Thomas Henley and Christopher Goffe had been proclaimed pirates at Jamaica.’’ Confirmation soon followed, specifying that Henley had been proclaimed at Jamaica, while Goffe at New England. The hard-pressed official was unable to detain either one, and concluded his account with the words: It is the intention of the people to make this island a pirates’ refuge. I expect two more pirates by what Henley said, and daily dread the capture or plunder of the country.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 12 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1899).

Huidobro, Mateo Alonso de (fl. 1663
1683) Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924).

HISPANIOLA English name for the Antillean island today shared between the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Christopher Columbus originally gave this island its name, visiting on his first trans-Atlantic voyage. Having encountered exotic new flora and fauna during his passage through the Bahamas and along eastern Cuba, the explorer found the rugged coastline of this next island reassuring. According to his son, seeing that it was: … very large, and that its fields and trees are like those of Spain and that in a net that they had made the crew caught many fish like those of Spain—that is to say sole, skate, salmon, shad, dories, gilthead, conger, sardines, and crabs—the Admiral decided to give the island a named related to that of Spain; and so on Sunday 9 December he called it Isla Espa~ nola [literally, ‘‘Spanish Island’’]. With the passage of time, the Spaniards came to shorten this term into plain Espa~ nola when in conversation, from which it passed into the English language in its phonetic equivalent of ‘‘Hispaniola.’’

HOCES, ESTEBAN DE (fl. 1665
1669) Spanish guardacosta who operated out of La Guaira, the port of Caracas.

In conjunction with Captain Juan Gonz
alez de Perales, De Hoces was designated to patrol the Spanish Main by the Governor and Captain-General of Venezuela, Admiral F
elix GarciGonz
alez de Le
on, Knight of the Order of Santiago. Their armadillas made numerous captures, including the pirate ship Caballero Romano [sic?].

Reference Sucre, Luis Alberto, Gobernadores y capitanes generales de Venezuela (Caracas: Litografı´a Tecnocolor, 1964).

HUIDOBRO, MATEO ALONSO DE (fl. 1663
1683) Spanish officer who spent many years fighting pirates in the Caribbean. Huidobro (sometimes spelled Huydobro) was already a veteran of more than 10 years’ service, when he was commissioned on May 29, 1657, by the Mexican Viceroy Francisco Fern
andez de la Cueva y Enrı´quez, Duque de Alburquerque, as Captain of one of the new Spanish infantry companies being raised to fight the English invaders of Jamaica. Huidobro held this rank over the next 20 months, during which he accompanied the Tercio Mexicano or ‘‘Mexican Regiment’’ in its disastrous landing at Rio Nuevo in May 1658, and made at least two voyages bringing supplies across to its survivors from Santiago de Cuba. His company was then reformed, and he was granted leave on January 4, 1659, to travel home to Spain. Four years later, Huidobro’s name was listed as having lent 2,000 pesos to

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Huidobro, Mateo Alonso de (fl. 1663
1683) the Spanish Crown in 1663 toward the construction of four new galleons at Amsterdam, destined to reconstitute the West Indian squadron known as the Armada de Barlovento or ‘‘Windward Fleet.’’ As a reward for this contribution, Huidobro was promised command of the new 572-ton flagship San Felipe, and early the next year was in Malaga recruiting men for its crew. On August 27, 1664, he was officially appointed as a royal Captain of Marines, and assumed command of San Felipe by November 12th; yet the Armada did not actually sail for the New World until July 1667, nor did its flagship remain in the Caribbean any more than a few months before being ordered back to Spain. Consequently, De Huidobro transferred to the newly-acquired Armada frigate Nuestra Se~ nora de los Remedios, so he could remain in the West Indies.

Meanwhile, news had been received of another enemy attack against Portobelo, so Campos sortied with Magdalena, San Luis, and Marquesa, laying in a course for Puerto Rico, where they learned that a large freebooter gathering had recently been held at ^Ile a Vache. From a Dutch merchantman encountered in the Mona Passage, a false report was received of French preparations to raid Santo Domingo, so the Spaniards backtracked to that island on March 25, 1669, to reinforce its garrison. They were then correctly advised that more than a dozen buccaneer sail had passed by some weeks previously en route to the Spanish Main, and following in their wake, they heard from another Dutch merchantman that the raiders were already inside the Lago de Maracaibo.

Cruises (1668
1669)

Defeat off Maracaibo (April 1669)

While lying at Havana in the autumn of 1668, word was received of an English attack against Trinidad (Cuba). De Huidobro was dispatched by Admiral Alonso de Campos to advise the Mexican Viceroy and request reinforcements. Exiting Havana in September 1668 with his own frigate and the 50-ton fleet auxiliary Nuestra Se~ nora de la Soledad (better known as the Marquesa or ‘‘Marchioness’’), De Huidobro sailed past western Cuba until his Remedios was wrecked in a storm ‘‘sixteen leagues’’ from Campeche. Reaching Veracruz, De Huidobro found that the 218-ton frigate San Luis had been recently purchased by the Crown for the Armada, so he assumed command. Together with Marquesa and almost 300 troops, he returned into Havana on January 5, 1669.

The Armada vessels stemmed the entrance by mid-April, discovering the flotilla of Henry Morgan still inside, having landed his men to plunder the interior. The Spaniards therefore reoccupied the fort guarding its entry, then several days later lightened their warships and crossed over its bar. The Armada had trapped the raiders within the Laguna, but at dawn on April 27, 1669, were rushed by Morgan, who attacked Campos’ Magdalena with a fire-ship. De Huidobro’s San Luis had at first steered to help the flagship, but when he saw flames shooting up, he veered instead toward the fortress, hounded by three enemy privateers. Although managing to reach the safety of its guns, San Luis grounded on a sandbank with the falling tide, so that

Huidobro, Mateo Alonso de (fl. 1663
1683) De Huidobro ordered his 140-man crew to take all their weaponry and provisions ashore to reinforce the garrison. Meanwhile, he and a small party set the frigate ablaze, to prevent it falling into enemy hands. The buccaneers completed their sweep of the Armada warships by capturing Diego del Barrio’s Marquesa, before slipping triumphantly past the fort and back out to sea a few days afterward. The defeated and demoralized Spaniards bought a small barco luengo at Maracaibo and sailed back to Mexico with only 56 men, the rest having either died or deserted. Campos blamed Marquesa’s captain for the entire disaster, so that Del Barrio made this voyage in chains. After touching at Campeche for water, they arrived at Veracruz, where an official inquiry was convened on August 12, 1669, and decided to deport all the senior officers to Spain aboard that year’s plate fleet to face a general courtmartial. This eventually returned some guilty verdicts, but which after a few years were overturned, so that each man resumed his career.

Laguna de T
erminos Campaign (August 1673) Huidobro was appointed as sargento mayor or ‘‘garrison commander’’ for the City of Veracruz, from where he made several patrols against the English logwood cutters in the Laguna de T
erminos. After a particularly audacious raid by a small English vessel into the environs of Coatzacoalcos (Mexico), in which three native villages were ransacked and eight Indians carried off as hostages, the Viceroy Marqu
es de Mancera ordered De

Huidobro to pursue these interlopers with a frigate and three piraguas. He overtook the corsairs near Santa Ana Bar (Tabasco), forcing them to beach their vessel and set it ablaze, before disappearing into the jungle. Yet on his return into Veracruz, more reports of nuisance raids continued to arrive, and two enemy ships were sighted inside the Laguna de T
erminos. Thus a second, larger enterprise was mounted, De Huidobro quitting Veracruz again on August 14, 1673, with three frigates, a sloop, and 300 soldiers from the San Juan de Ul
ua garrison. This expedition arrived undetected off Xicalango Point (known as ‘‘Beef Island’’ among the English ‘‘Baymen’’), where they were boldly approached by three piraguas, which belatedly realizing their danger, suddenly veered round to flee into the Laguna and spread the alarm, while De Huidobro’s men stormed ashore behind them. One interloper was killed and several wounded, while abandoned huts and boats were set ablaze; however, the Spanish men-of-war drew too much water to pass over the bar. A brigantine could be discerned heading deeper into the lagoon, but De Huidobro had no other choice but to continue up the coast toward Campeche. En route, he chased another piragua manned by a mixed crew of Englishmen, Frenchmen, and Indians, but they escaped when a storm set in. After visiting Campeche, De Huidobro reversed his course back toward Veracruz, and this time had the good fortune to intercept the brigantine which had eluded him, lying outside the Laguna with a Spanish prize. Its Dutch captain, Jan Lucas, was carried back into Veracruz along with his crew

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Huidobro, Mateo Alonso de (fl. 1663
1683) and prize, when De Huidobro returned triumphantly in late October 1673.

Pirate Raid (May 1683) A decade later, De Huidobro underwent a much more terrible ordeal at the hands of the buccaneers. The Mexican port had not been attacked in more than a century, but at three o’clock on the afternoon of May 17, 1683, two sails were seen approaching from out at sea. De Huidobro was attending a banquet along with Gov. Luis de C
ordoba and other city dignitaries, in anticipation of the appearance of that year’s plate fleet. Arriving vessels were traditionally received offshore at the island fortress of San Juan de Ul
ua, so there was no immediate call for De Huidobro’s involvement; but on quitting the banquet hall more than an hour later, the Governor and his retinue were approached by ‘‘Don Juan Morfa’’ (i.e., John Murphy), who expressed a fear that the pair was behaving suspiciously because they did not enter, despite having a favorable wind. De Huidobro seconded this opinion, even getting into an argument with one of his captains, who downplayed such apprehensions. But the arrogant young Governor dismissed the question entirely by presuming the ships to be merchantmen from Caracas, who would make another attempt at first light next morning. De Huidobro remained unconvinced, and at seven o’clock that same evening was at the city wharf when a messenger landed from San Juan de Ul
ua, reporting that its island garrison was being placed on full alert. Governor de C
ordoba grudgingly followed suit, ordering Veracruz’s 300 city troops into barracks, although he did not alert its

400 militiamen; worse, he ignored the fact that De Huidobro’s regulars had not yet received their monthly allotment of powder and shot, as he was still unconvinced of any imminent danger. Yet the two vessels had actually been Spanish prizes piloted by the Dutch freebooters Laurens de Graaf and Jan Willems, who in turn were serving as advance scouts for a much larger flibustier formation over the horizon under the Sieur de Grammont and Nikolaas van Hoorn. The pirates circled back and deposited 800 men near the city that night, infiltrating it from its landward side under cover of darkness. At four o’clock on the morning of May 18, 1683, gunfire erupted throughout the streets, and the Spanish garrison was caught utterly by surprise. De Huidobro rushed to the Governor’s palace, baton and sword in hand, hoping to rally its guardhouse company. However, they were almost without ammunition, so De Huidobro bravely ordered them to form up with cold steel only, as twin columns of heavilyarmed flibustiers closed in under Grammont, firing murderous volleys. ‘‘Ea, sons,’’ De Huidobro bellowed above the din, ‘‘it only remains for us to sell ourselves dearly according to our obligations!’’ Moments later he was struck, and died before sunrise.

References Earle, Peter, The Sack of Panama: Captain Morgan and the Battle for the Caribbean (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2007).
Eugenio Martı´nez, Marı´a Angeles, La defensa de Tabasco, 1600
1717 (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispanoamericanos, 1971).

Huidobro, Mateo Alonso de (fl. 1663
1683) Ju
arez Moreno, Juan, Piratas y corsarios en Veracruz y Campeche (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1972). Marley, David F., Sack of Veracruz: The Great Pirate Raid of 1683 (Windsor, Ontario, Canada: Netherlandic Press, 1993).

Torres Ramı´rez, Bibiano, La Armada de Barlovento (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1981). Weddle, Robert S., Spanish Sea: The Gulf of Mexico in North American Discovery, 1500
1685 (College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press, 1985).

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I I shall deliver myself to the King’s justice, and I had rather die than live skulking like a vagabond for fear of death. —Captain Charles Swan, writing from the Pacific, April 1685

References

INCH OF CANDLE

Calendar of State Papers, Domestic: Charles II, 1663
1664 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1862). Pawson, Michael, and Buisseret, David J., Port Royal, Jamaica (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1975).

An expression used to denote—quite literally—the fixing of a time-limit, by marking a line on a lit candle. This ancient practice has been defined as a ‘‘sale by auction, the duration of the burning of an inch of candle being allowed for the bidders.’’ This device was commonly employed at the selling of prize vessels brought into Port Royal, Jamaica. For example, the well-known privateer Captain Maurice Williams bought the Spanish prize Avispa or ‘‘Wasp’’ for £120 in May 1659, ‘‘by inch of candle.’’ In other words, after proclaiming the highest price, Williams waited while a candle was lit and scored an inch from the top; when no higher bid was received before the flame burned down past this mark, the ship legally became his.

INDIGO Blue dye produced from the genus Indigofera (Leguminosae) plants, a valuable crop for the West Indies and Spanish America during the 17th century. Once harvested and refined, these plants produced a bluish-purple powder which was a coveted commercial dye in Europe, just as logwood was used for tinting red colors. The great 187

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Indigo

A West-Indian indigo factory, illustration from Histoire G
en
erale des Antilles by JeanBaptiste Du Tertre, 1667. (Library of Congress)

permanence and rarity of these dyes meant that they commanded high prices, so that shipments attracted the attention of privateers. Maurice Williams brought a Spanish prize loaded ‘‘with logwood, indigo, and silver’’ into Port Royal, Jamaica onNovember 23, 1664 (O.S.), and 15 years later John Coxon and consorts made an even more spectacular haul, when they returned with 500 chests of indigo from a Spanish merchantman

which they had seized as it was loading in the Bay of Honduras, leaving a like amount behind to rot on the beach.

Reference Interesting Tracts Relating to the Island of Jamaica (St. Jago de la Vega: Lewis, Lunan and Jones, 1800).

J About 1st of May [1671 O.S.] he helped one Captain John Erasmus to a horse at the house of Richard Guy, to go to Withy Wood, he having an order from Sir Thomas Modyford to go to the Caimanos in pursuit of Jylles De Lacade, to bring him with his ship and company to Jamaica. —Sir Henry Morgan’s deposition, December 1671

That about 90 leagues this side of Campeche, he met three sail of the fleet, viz. Captain William James his ship, sunk in the sea by foul weather, who was the best ship in the fleet next the Admiral, and that many of their men in the fleet were dead.

JAMES, WILLIAM (fl. 1660
1663) English privateer named in the journal of Colonel Edward D’Oyley, Governor of Jamaica, as having been issued a ‘‘let-pass’’ for his frigate America or American on May 16, 1660 (O.S.). Three years later, James was apparently still in command of the same vessel, described as having six guns and a crew of 70 men. He evidently sailed as part of Commodore Christopher Myngs’ expedition against Campeche, exiting Port Royal with 11 other ships on January 21, 1663. However, James’ frigate never reached its destination, for some months later it was reported by Captain Abraham Mitchell of the Blessing:

Notwithstanding such setbacks, Myngs had succeeded in carrying Campeche, although James was apparently not present to take part in this victory. Legend has it that James may have also been the privateer who ‘‘discovered’’ the commercial value of logwood for the Brethren of the Coast, thereby inaugurating the poaching of this product from Mexico’s Laguna de T
erminos and the Bay of Honduras. According to the story, a certain ‘‘Captain James’’ carried 189

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Janszoon, Pieter off a Spanish prize full of logwood, being astonished on reaching port at the high price which his cargo fetched; until then, he had supposedly ‘‘known so little of its real value, that he had burned much of it for fuel on the voyage.’’ When news of this spread, hundreds of poachers began descending on the Campeche coast, setting up logging camps and initiating a protracted guerrilla struggle against the local Spaniards.

References Cruikshank, E. A., The Life of Sir Henry Morgan (Toronto: Macmillan, 1935). Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924). Interesting Tracts Relating to the Island of Jamaica (St. Jago de la Vega: Lewis, Lunan and Jones, 1800). Pawson, Michael, and Buisseret, David J., Port Royal, Jamaica (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1975).

JANSZOON, PIETER See Johnson, Peter

JOHNSON, GEORGE (fl. 1682
1683) English privateer sent in pursuit of the renegade Trompeuse. Early in 1682, the Huguenot sea captain Pierre LePain arrived at Port Royal, Jamaica, requesting citizenship because of the increasing religious intolerance in his native France. He brought with him the French royal frigate Trompeuse or ‘‘Trickster,’’ which—it being peacetime—he had been able to hire for a commercial voyage to Cayenne. LePain’s

petition for naturalization being granted, he prepared to return Trompeuse to Europe by lading a valuable cargo of merchandise for Hamburg, then dispatching the ship across to the Bay of Honduras for an additional consignment of logwood. Unfortunately, Trompeuse was surprised there by some 120 pirates under the Frenchman Jean Hamlin, who seized it as their flagship. When news of this seizure reached Port Royal in early November 1682, Gov. Sir Thomas Lynch commissioned George Johnson to set out and recapture the frigate. He was provided with a ship of 35 or 40 guns and a crew of 180 men, plus £100 and provisions, ‘‘all of which has been raised by merchants and traders here,’’ Lynch later informed his superiors in London. The Governor furthermore instructed Johnson that on encountering Trompeuse, he was to try ‘‘to preserve the ship as the French King’s property,’’ although privately doubting whether this could be accomplished, as the pirate vessel was reportedly ‘‘in bad condition and ready to sink, for they cannot get victuals to enable them to go and careen.’’

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898).

JOHNSON, PETER (fl. 1661
1672) Dutch-born rover, who sortied from Jamaica and roamed during peacetime

Johnson, Peter (fl. 1661
1672) as a pirate; he was tried twice and then executed. It is possible that he may have originally arrived at Port Cagway as Master Pieter Janszoon of the Flemish slaver Sint Pieter, owned by Martin Van Rosen of Middleburg, of which ‘‘there was seizure made in [June] 1661 by HMS Diamond,’’ and condemned as a lawful prize along with its cargo. If so, he may have been detained for a period on the island, during which he made friends and eventually became a naturalized English subject under the name of ‘‘Peter Johnson.’’ Lynch submitted a lengthy report dated January 27, 1672 (O.S.), to Joseph Williamson, mentioning among many other things how he had lately received news: . . . that one P. Johnson, with 90 desperate English pirates that lately took the Spanish frigate he is on, is now careening in the South Cays of Cuba, and likewise one of the French pirates that did the mischief on Cuba; so orders the Assistance, America, Lilly, and Floaty pink and sloop to sail tomorrow, and Captain Beeston has orders to burn the ship and make examples of all these obstinate thieves. Immediately after his arrival and the publication of the Peace, one Captain Peter Johnson went out of harbour with ten men, and joining with one Thurston took a new Spanish ship, killing the captain and 12 or 14 more; then got about 100 men, English and French, took some small vessels, cruised off the Havana, till chased thence by the Assistance they went to the north of Cuba; where

they took a great ship laden with wines from the Canaries, killing a Governor, two captains, and eighteen men. Afterwards hearing the King’s ships were gone, and growing weary of the French, Johnson came to this coast with his share of the prize to capitulate with Sir Thomas, and stood for Morant Bay to move Colonel Freeman to intercede for him, but he was no sooner at anchor than this gust threw his ship on shore, when everything was lost but the captain and men, who were preserved for another destiny. The minutes of the meeting held by the Council of Jamaica at Santiago de la Vega on September 27, 1672 (O.S.), included the following: On the account given of the acquittal of one Peter Johnson, a pirate, because of errors in the indictment—which contained only one offence, whereas Johnson had committed diverse piracies since publication of the peace—ordered that the Attorney-General forthwith draw two new indictments, copies to be delivered to Johnson, that he be proceeded against according to law.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 5, 7 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1880
1889). Jameson, John F., comp. and ed., Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period: Illustrative Documents (New York: Macmillan, 1923).

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K The General forced to suspend him, but he has since restored him to his command, who has again given himself over to debauchery and drunkenness, and he stands indicted of burglary . . . —News about naval Captain John Aylett at Jamaica, February 1660

These Capers being so numerous, do make Middleburg and Flissingen [sic; Vlissingen or Flushing] so dead, and so unpeopled them of men, that it appears not how our Fleet can be manned.

KAPER Dutch word for ‘‘privateer’’ or ‘‘corsair,’’ being a private man-of-war outfitted with a government commission to conduct hostilities. Just as in English, the word kaper could be applied both to the privateersmen themselves, or to the vessels in which they served. The term was almost always written as ‘‘caper’’ in both French or English. The London Gazette, for example, in February 1673 (the second year of the Third Ango-Dutch War) transcribed various complaints which had been heard out of the United Provinces, Dutchmen lamenting that they were having difficulty recruiting men for their states’ fleets, because of competition from their own privateers:

The term was so commonplace during the early and mid-17th century, that it even came to be applied generally to other nationalities. During the peaceful summer of 1667, for example, the English authorities received a report from two vessels arriving at Plymouth ‘‘that two of their company were taken off the Lizard by a French caper, and they hardly escaped.’’ Five years later, Crown officials were informed how ‘‘two small hoys taken near Heligoland by a Scotch caper’’ had been brought into port. But as Dutch privateering activity went into such a marked decline during the last

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Keelhauling quarter of the 17th century, the term also gradually faded from use.

References Calendar of State Papers, Domestic: Charles II, 1667 and 1672. Gehring, Charles T. and Schiltkamp, Jacob A., trans. and eds., Curac¸ao Papers, 1640
1665, Volume XVII, ‘‘New Netherland Documents’’ (Interlaken, NY: Heart of the Lakes Publishing, 1987). Shomette, Donald G. and Haslach, Robert D., Raid on America: The Dutch Naval Campaign of 1672
1674 (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1988).

KEELHAULING A savage form of naval punishment, even for such a cruel age. Perhaps the most graphic recorded instance occurred at the Dutch colony of Sint Eustatius in June 1673, when the Zeeland squadron of Commodore Cornelis Evertsen (also known as ‘‘Kees the Devil’’) arrived to reconquer that island from the English. Having secured the settlement after a brief firefight, Evertsen learned that during the British occupation, three Dutch sailors had treacherously murdered the former Governor of that outpost, Jan Symonsen de Buck. Determined to make an example of these men, the Commodore ordered all three tried within the next few days, and they were duly found guilty. The prisoners were thereupon forced to draw lots, as only one was to be hanged, the other two being condemned to keelhauling, flogging, and marooning on a desert isle.

On execution day, all three were paraded to the gallows and had nooses placed around their necks, yet only one was actually turned off to die. The remaining two were then rowed out to the anchored flagship, where one by one they were hoisted out to dangle from their wrists at the tip of its mainyard. A weighted line was tied to their feet, the other end being passed under the hull, and run up to the opposite tip of the yardarm. An oil-soaked rag was tied over their mouths and noses to prevent drowning, after which each was dropped into the sea and the line hauled in, tugging each beneath the ship in suffocating agony over its sharp barnacles, to emerge—barely conscious and upsidedown—on the far side of the vessel. This exercise was repeated three times for both men, after which the rest of their sentences were carried out. Given such officially-sanctioned barbarity, pirates had little trouble devising their own fiendish tortures for their victims, and indeed resorted to keelhauling on more than one occasion.

Reference Shomette, Donald G. and Haslach, Robert D., Raid on America: The Dutch Naval Campaign of 1672
1674 (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1988).

KILDUIJVEL Literally ‘‘Kill-Devil,’’ a 17th-century Dutch euphemism for rum. For example, when the 30-gun Schaeckerloo of Captain Passchier de Witte captured a large English merchant

Kilduijvel yawl on May 18, 1673, as it was outward-bound from Barbados toward Maryland, he gleefully reported to his superior Commodore Cornelis Evertsen that it was carrying a cargo of ‘‘kilduijvel and molasses.’’

Reference Shomette, Donald G. and Haslach, Robert D., Raid on America: The Dutch Naval Campaign of 1672
1674 (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1988).

195

L I have no authority to condemn prizes, and to let men take ships and plunder them at sea, is to give them too much latitude. —Lieutenant-Governor Sir William Beeston of Jamaica, March 22, 1693 (O.S.)

LAARS

LA GARDE, PIERRE (fl. 1677
1684)

Dutch name for a ‘‘cat o’ nine tails,’’ a whip used to administer floggings aboard ships. The one used in meting out punishment aboard Cornelis Evertsen’s squadron in 1673 is described as ‘‘a one-yard length of unraveled fourinch rope, tipped with felt.’’

Flibustier who raided the Spanish Main. In June 1677, during France’s war against both Holland and Spain, La Garde led an attack against the SpanishAmerican port of Santa Marta, seconded by the English freebooters John Coxon and William Barnes. This force surprised the town at dawn and took many captives, including its Governor and Bishop, holding them for ransom until a trio of Spanish warships of the recently-reconstituted Armada de Barlovento appeared from Cartagena, with 500 soldiers to drive them off. The raiders thereupon retired toward Port Royal, Jamaica, and

Reference Shomette, Donald G. and Haslach, Robert D., Raid on America: The Dutch Naval Campaign of 1672
1674 (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1988).

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Laguna de T
erminos on July 28, 1677, Sir Thomas Lynch noted: Five or six French and English privateers lately come to Jamaica from taking Santa Marta, Barnes being one and Coxon expected every hour. On board the Governor and the Bishop, and Captain Legarde [sic] has promised to put them on shore. The plunder of the town was not great, money and broken plate [i.e., silver] about £20 a man. Three days later, Coxon entered and personally escorted the Bishop, Dr. Lucas Fern
andez y Piedrahita, and a Spanish friar into the presence of the Jamaican Governor, Lord Vaughan. This prelate was nobly housed, and royal officers were sent aboard La Garde’s flotilla to attempt ‘‘to procure the liberty of the [Spanish] Governor and others, but finding the privateers all drunk, it was impossible to persuade them to do anything by fair means.’’ Vaughan therefore ordered the French to depart, advising Barnes and the Englishmen that it was now against the law for them to serve under foreign colors. La Garde and his followers were ‘‘damnably enraged’’ at being thus deprived of their English consorts, and sailed off without releasing their captives. Seven years later, La Garde was listed as still commanding a flibustier vessel out of Saint-Domingue, the ship Subtille of two guns and 30 men.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 10 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1896).

Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924). Ju
arez Moreno, Juan, Piratas y corsarios en Veracruz y Campeche (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1972). Lugo, Am
erico, Recopilaci
on diplom
atica relativa a las colonias espa~ nola y francesa de la isla de Santo Domingo, 1640
1701 (Ciudad Trujillo, Dominican Republic: Editorial ‘‘La Naci
on,’’ 1944). S
aiz Cidoncha, Carlos, Historia de la piraterı´a en Am
erica Espa~ nola (Madrid: Editorial San Martı´n, 1985). Torres Ramı´rez, Bibiano, La Armada de Barlovento (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1981).


RMINOS LAGUNA DE TE Huge shallow bay on the Gulf coast of Mexico, which became a sanctuary for sea rovers during the 17th century. Located amid steamy tropical mangroves, within easy striking distance of the Spanish towns of Campeche and Tabasco, the Laguna became known as the ‘‘Bay of Campeche’’ to English interlopers. The first of them had infiltrated this area as early as 1658, shortly after the conquest of Jamaica. They found its region largely uninhabited, the Spaniards never having settled these torrid backwater inlets, which they believed to be unhealthy. But what really attracted foreign trespassers were the large stands of logwood trees, whose resin fetched handsome profits in Europe as a dye for tinting cloth. (Legend has it the raiders had first learned of its profitability when a certain Captain James carried off a Spanish prize full of logwood, being astonished later at the price which this cargo commanded; until then he had supposedly ‘‘known so little of its real value, that he had burned much of it for fuel on the voyage.’’)

Langford, Abraham (fl. 1659
1682) Soon, poachers began streaming into the Laguna, where hundreds established themselves ashore, eking out a living as loggers. They existed much as the boucaniers of Saint-Domingue, except rather than hunt wild cattle for their livelihood, the Baymen felled and hauled trees to the coast in anticipation of selling these to merchant traders who came to call. Like their French counterparts, they were rugged individualists content to live beyond government rule, supplementing their sporadic income with raids on the local Spaniards. William Dampier, who lived for two years among the English loggers during their heyday, wrote that: … they often made sallies out in small parties amongst the nearest Indian towns, where they plundered and brought away the Indian women to serve them in their huts, and sent their husbands to be sold at Jamaica; besides they had not forgot their old drinking-bouts, and would still spend £30 or £40 at a sitting on board the ships that came hither from Jamaica, carousing and firing of guns three or four days together.

References Dampier, William, A New Voyage Round the World (New York: Dover, 1968). Gerhard, Peter, The Southeast Frontier of New Spain (Princeton University Press, 1979).

LANGFORD, ABRAHAM (fl. 1659
1682) English naval officer who almost became Governor of the French

boucanier strongholds of Tortuga Island and Petit-Go^ave. Langford had been one of the first settlers at ‘‘Point Cagway,’’ on Palisadoes spit at the entrance to Jamaica’s main harbor, where he received a small plot of land in July 1659. He was apparently the ‘‘Naval Officer’’ for that station, a position which called for him to survey men o’ war ‘‘and report upon their fitness for doing service in the island.’’ In the overheated political climate of those early days, he had no shortage of enemies, being described in the Council minutes of August 1661 as a ‘‘promoter of mutiny.’’ In January 1663, Langford accompanied Colonel Samuel Barry and privateer Captain Robert Blunden in a peaceable attempt to reduce the boucaniers of Tortuga Island to English rule. The new Jamaican Governor, Lord Windsor, had brought out specific instructions from Whitehall, suggesting an attempt be made to win over these rugged individualists, although without provoking a reaction from the French government. The trio sailed across to western Santo Domingo aboard Blunden’s ship Charles, but on arriving, learned that the boucaniers of Tortuga were hostile to any such notion and might well resist, at which Blunden flatly refused to proceed with the project. Instead, over Barry’s objections, the delegates visited the mainland camp of Petit-Go^ave, where a different band of boucaniers was persuaded to acclaim Blunden as their chieftain, and even raised an English flag. A disapproving Barry returned to Jamaica several months later, while Langford sailed for England to petition Charles II to be appointed Governor of ‘Tortuga and the coasts of Hispaniola.’’ This was denied; the

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Langford, Abraham (fl. 1659
1682)

French fort erected on Tortuga Island, off the northern shores of Haiti, during the early 1650s, providing sanctuary for that region’s earliest buccaneers and rovers. (Du Tertre, Jean Baptiste. Histoire g
en
erale des Antilles habit
ees par les Franc¸ois, 1667)

opinion on Langford at that time being that he: … speaks no French, nor does he understand it; he is a man of no wisdom, his interest in Jamaica and person is despicable, his fortune forlorn, his honesty questionable. Fears lest all his contrivance amounts to no more than a desire to repay out of the King’s purse debts he has contracted by his debonair life and defrauding, as ‘tis said, his principals. Denies not he is a good seaman and skilled in those parts, but so opiniative he will boast of much more than he knows. His dreams of advancement dashed, Langford sank back into relative obscurity. He apparently returned to the West

Indies, remaining in minor postings for the next decade-and-a-half. On August 28, 1682 (O.S.), he again petitioned the King, explaining that being Clerk of the Navy Office at Barbados, he had deputized his son and now wished him to succeed ‘‘after his own death.’’ Evidently in weak health, Langford died before anything could be resolved. A rather tantalizing note appended to his petition said that the King would ‘‘remember him if he be told this was the man who prosecuted him with the Guaicum powder.’’

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898).

Layseca Y Alvarado, Antonio De (fl. 1667
1683) Pawson, Michael, and Buisseret, David J., Port Royal, Jamaica (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1975). Pope, Dudley, Harry Morgan’s Way: The Biography of Sir Henry Morgan, 1635
1684 (London: Secker & Warburg, 1977).

LAQUES OR JACQUES, CAPTAIN (fl. 1659) Privateer captain mentioned in the journal of Colonel Edward d’Oyley, Governor of Jamaica, as having been issued a ‘‘let-pass’’ for his bark on December 31, 1659 (O.S.).

Reference Pawson, Michael, and Buisseret, David J., Port Royal, Jamaica (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1975).

LARCO, JUAN DE See Alarc
on, Juan de

LAYSECA Y ALVARADO, ANTONIO DE, CONDE DE LA LAGUNA DE
RMINOS TE (fl. 1667
1683) Well-connected Spanish naval officer who became Governor of Yucatan. Layseca was born in Madrid on January 16, 1638, the son of one of King Philip IV’s royal secretaries. Little is known about his early career, although he apparently saw his first service in

the Americas at a very tender age, in 1650. Thirteen years later, he made a loan to the Spanish Crown toward the construction of four new warships in Amsterdam to reconstitute the Armada de Barlovento in the West Indies, which contribution won him appointment as one of these vessels’ future captains. By the time this Armada sailed from Seville for the New World in July 1667, Layseca was serving as gobernador de tercio or third-in-command for this entire force, aboard his 412-ton gobierno called Magdalena. This vessel and the Armada flagship both transported a large quantity of azogue or quicksilver for the Mexican mines, and after reaching Puerto Rico on August 27th, proceeded to Veracruz together while the other three men o’ war swept the coasts of Santo Domingo and Cuba under almirante or second-incommand Alonso de Campos. The Armada then reassembled at Havana in February 1668, before patrolling through the Antilles toward Caracas and returning to what was supposed to become its permanent home-base of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Judging these port facilities to be inadequate, though, they instead transferred to Havana for repairs. Shortly thereafter, the flagship and vice-flag were recalled to Spain for the renewed war against France. Magdalena and two smaller frigates were to remain at Santo Domingo, reinforced by local auxiliaries. This order reached the Armada when it was once again lying at Puerto Rico, and its capit
an general or commander-in-chief, Augustı´n de Di
ustegui, immediately set sail for Veracruz to load a shipment of the King’s bullion, before returning toward Spain. Campos and the three smaller ships hovered off Cuba’s Cape San Antonio, inspecting passing vessels before putting

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Layseca Y Alvarado, Antonio De (fl. 1667
1683) into Havana. While there, Di
ustegui touched at that port and made his final dispositions, before relinquishing command of the Armada. Layseca was promoted to almirante over Di
ustegui’s objections. In that capacity he must have accompanied Campos when Magdalena, San Luis, and Marquesa sortied to counter enemy activities.

Maracaibo Campaign (Spring 1669) This trio first laid in a course for Puerto Rico, where it was learned that a large freebooter gathering had recently been held at ^Ile a Vache. The men o’ war then reached Santo Domingo on March 25, 1669, where they learned that more than a dozen buccaneer sail had passed by for the Spanish Main some weeks previously, and so followed in their wake. The Spanish warships stemmed the entrance to the Laguna de Maracaibo by mid-April 1669, discovering deeper inside the flotilla of Henry Morgan, whose men had landed to plunder the interior. At dawn on April 27, 1669, the Spaniards were rushed by Morgan, who destroyed Magdalena and Mateo Alonso de Huidobro’s San Luis, while capturing the Marquesa. The defeated Spaniards sailed a small barco luengo back to Mexico with only 56 men, the rest having either died or deserted. After touching at Campeche for water, they arrived at Veracruz, where an official inquiry was convened on August 12, 1669, and decided to deport all the senior officers to Spain to stand trial. The subsequent courts-martial eventually resulted in some guilty verdicts, but after a few years these were overturned, and each man resumed his career. Campos became

Governor of Puerto Rico in October 1674, and two years later Layseca was appointed almirante of a new quintet of warships destined to replace the shattered Armada. While lying at Cadiz preparing to depart, Layseca was then promoted to a five-year term as Governor of the Mexican province of Yucatan, by a real c
edula dated November 12, 1676, and which reached him before the ships had sailed. He therefore transferred aboard the 450-ton Armada flagship San Jos
e, Santa Rosa Marı´a y San Pedro de Alc
antara as a passenger, which was also transporting the Governor-designate of Venezuela, Francisco de Alberr
o, Knight of the Order of Santiago, to his own destination. This vessel quit Cadiz early the following year, and deposited De Alberr
o at Caracas on July 6, 1677. After a lengthy layover, San Jos
e at last stirred forth from Caracas in October of that year, touching briefly at Santo Domingo before depositing Layseca at Campeche on November 30, 1677. He arrived in the capital of M
erida de Yucat
an on December 18th to assume office.

Campeche Assault (Summer 1678) A scant few months later, the province’s principal port was seized by pirates. An hour before daybreak on Sunday, July 10, 1678, a large group of people appeared at one of Campeche’s small landward gates, answered the sentinel’s challenge, and was allowed to enter. Rather than native worshipers come to early morning church services, though, as the sentry had assumed, these were actually 160 buccaneers under Captains George Spurre and Edward Neville,

Layseca Y Alvarado, Antonio De (fl. 1667
1683) come to plunder. The attackers advanced swiftly through the streets, and once in front of the LieutenantGovernor’s residence, ‘‘with a great shout fired a heavy volley.’’ The garrison was taken utterly by surprise, and virtually every prominent citizen was captured. They were terrified into paying ransoms, and their buildings ransacked. Two sloops and eight piraguas appeared from out at sea, and the freebooters remained in possession of the town until evening of Tuesday, July 12th, when they began to withdraw with their loot. The raiders additionally carried off three craft and 250 black, mulatto, and Indian townspeople to sell as slaves. Layseca’s response had been slow, as he did not arrive with a relief-column until long after the enemy had disappeared. This led to angry recriminations being forwarded to Mexico City, accusing the Governor of incompetence and other charges. A special prosecutor or visitador was sent out to investigate, but who died en route, so that it was not until February 20, 1679, that a replacement could arrive and suspend Layseca from office. These inquiries lasted a year, resulting in exoneration and restitution to his post as Governor; but Layseca was anxious to regain his reputation as well, so he promptly visited Campeche and delegated the veteran Captain Felipe de la Barreda y Villegas to begin sweeps against the English logwood cutters in the Laguna de T
erminos.

Spanish Counteroffensive (Spring 1680) De la Barreda sailed with a small flotilla of piraguas and on February 6, 1680,

took some prizes. Bolstered by this success, his second expedition consisted of a barco luengo, two piraguas, and 115 men, which netted a 24-gun merchantman. Delighted, Layseca appointed De la Barreda as teniente de capit
an general (‘‘lieutenant commander-in-chief’’) for Campeche on April 12th, and helped prepare a third raid. The 24-gun prize was reinforced with two brigantines and six piraguas, plus more than 500 troops—200 mulatto militiamen from M
erida, 70 regulars, and 16 gunners from the Campeche garrison, plus 240 volunteers, including the corsair captains Pedro de Castro and Juan Corso, who burst into the Laguna on February 17th. More than 38 craft of all sizes were seized, along with 163 Baymen and numerous Spanish hostages and slaves. De la Barreda also learned that a force of 240 buccaneers had departed in seven vessels to waylay the annual cocoa harvest of Tabasco and sent a detachment in their pursuit. His prisoners and prizes were sent triumphantly into Campeche, but De la Barreda himself did not return. Ironically, he had become separated from his expedition and fell into the hands of English stragglers, who bore him off as a captive. Layseca of course was unfazed by the loss of his champion, instead busily writing to his superiors in Mexico City and Spain to claim that the Laguna de T
erminos had at last been cleared of foreign interlopers. This was not entirely true, but the Baymen had certainly been dealt some major blows, and the Governor followed up his advantage by maintaining regular patrols into the region with guardacostas such as Baltasar Navarro. When Layseca’s term expired in the summer of 1683, he returned to Spain and three years later was ennobled

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Le Basque, Michel with the title of ‘‘Count of the Laguna de T
erminos,’’ in honor of his services. He died in Seville two years later, being succeeded in the title by his son F
elix Francisco, product of a union with Josefa de Alberr
o y Cangas.

References Marley, David F., Sack of Veracruz: The Great Pirate Raid of 1683 (Windsor, Ontario, Canada: Netherlandic Press, 1993). Rubio Ma~n
e, Jos
e Ignacio, ‘‘Las jurisdicciones de Yucat
an: la creaci
on de la plaza de teniente de Rey en Campeche, a~no de 1744,’’ Boletı´n del Archivo General de la Naci
on [M
exico], Segunda Serie, Vol. VII, No. 3 (Jul
Sept. 1966), pp. 549
631. Rubio Ma~n
e, Jos
e Ignacio, ‘‘Ocupaci
on de la Isla de T
erminos por los ingleses, 1658
1717,’’ Boletı´n del Archivo General de la Naci
on [M
exico], Primera Serie, Vol. XXIV, No. 2 (April
June 1953), pp. 295
330. Sucre, Luis Alberto, Gobernadores y capitanes generales de Venezuela (Caracas: Litografı´a Tecnocolor, 1964). Torres Ramı´rez, Bibiano, La Armada de Barlovento (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1981).

LE BASQUE, MICHEL See Artigue, Michel d’

LECAT, JELLES DE (fl. 1668
1672) Dutch freebooter who served both the English and Spanish. De Lecat’s unusual first name probably indicates a Frisian origin, being often garbled in the official records of

his day as ‘‘Yallahs,’’ ‘‘Yelles,’’ or ‘‘Yellowes’’ by the English; ‘‘Hels’’ or ‘‘Ycles’’ by the Spaniards. The first notice of his activities occurred shortly after the French raider Jean-David Nau l’Olonnais reached Jamaica in 1668, bringing in an 80-ton, 12-gun Spanish brigantine. This was sold, Rok Brasiliano being installed as its captain, De Lecat as first mate. They cruised to Cartagena and Portobelo on the Spanish Main, capturing another Spanish brigantine before returning to Port Royal, where Brasiliano took command of this new vessel, while De Lecat remained aboard the old one.

Laguna de T
erminos Campaign (1669) The two brigantines then ventured into the Gulf of Mexico in the spring of 1669, in the company of Joseph Bradley’s privateer frigate (Mayflower?), to operate jointly around the Laguna de T
erminos. Plunder proving scarce, De Lecat began loading logwood, while Bradley and Brasiliano blockaded Campeche. The Spaniards finally sortied with three armed ships on December 18, 1669, chasing the rovers away. A norther wrecked Brasiliano on the Yucatan peninsula where De Lecat rescued him and then transferred him to Bradley’s frigate for return to Jamaica. Shortly thereafter, De Lecat and his mate Jan Erasmus Reyning seized a Spanish merchantman which they renamed Seviliaen, scuttling the brigantine to sail this prize back to Port Royal. On arriving, they found the English colony in an uproar because of the nuisance raids of the Spanish privateer Manoel Rivero Pardal. In August 1670, they sailed as part of Morgan’s retaliatory

Lecat, Jelles De (fl. 1668
1672) strike against Panama, pausing at ^Ile a Vache for supplies and reinforcements. From there, the corsair fleet descended on Providencia Island, overwhelming its tiny Spanish garrison. Morgan then sent Bradley on ahead to seize San Lorenzo castle at the mouth of the Chagres River, as a base camp for the forthcoming attack on Panama. De Lecat, Reyning, and Brasiliano were all part of this advance force, which disembarked into heavy opposition, but finally carried the fort in a bloody assault in which the Spanish defenders were massacred, and Bradley fatally wounded.

Sack of Panama (1670
1671) De Lecat then took part in Morgan’s epic march across the Isthmus, where despite hunger, disease, and repeated jungle ambushes, the freebooters fought their way into Panama and looted the city for a month. Retiring to the Atlantic coast, they were disappointed at the subsequent division of spoils, feeling that Morgan had cheated them by making off with the lion’s share. Sailing in his wake toward Jamaica, De Lecat and Reyning had a brush with the Cartagena coastguard vessel Santa Cruz and another Spanish vessel, before gaining Montego Bay, where Reyning disembarked. He found the political climate greatly altered, with the new Governor Sir Thomas Lynch having arrived on July1, 1671, with the warships Assistance and Welcome, to arrest his predecessor and revoke all anti-Spanish privateering commissions. Reyning was asked to bring in the Seviliaen, but when he met up with De Lecat at their prearranged rendezvous off the Caymans, they simply sailed away together to

Cuba. There they rustled cattle, until a trio of Spanish warships exiting Havana prompted them to cross the Gulf of Mexico to their old hunting-grounds. Immediately on reaching the Mexican coast, they seized a small Spanish coast-guard vessel, De Lecat assuming command while Reyning captained the Seviliaen. Shortly thereafter, HMS Assistance hove into view, having been detached under William Beeston to bring in rogue privateers. De Lecat and Reyning withdrew close inshore, beyond the reach of their powerful antagonist, so the English sailed to nearby Campeche to hire shallow-draft vessels to cut them out of their anchorage. But the wily Dutchmen frustrated this scheme by following the frigate into the Spanish port, whose neutrality offered protection until the Royal Navy grew tired of the game and left.

Spanish Service (1671
1672) Realizing how risky it was to continue prowling the Caribbean, De Lecat and Reyning purged their crews of English seamen, marooning them on the island of Tris (where they were eventually rescued by the former privateer Lilly in January 1672). Meanwhile, the two Dutchmen struck a deal with the Campeche authorities and were issued Spanish commissions. The Spaniards, desperate to stem the foreign incursions into that region, but without funds for a defense, overlooked the rovers’ checkered past as they were willing to serve for prize-money alone. De Lecat and Reyning, for their part, hunted by the English, agreed to these terms and further cemented the deal by beginning indoctrination in the Catholic faith.

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Le Moign, Bernard (fl. 1674
1680) On their first patrol into the Laguna de T
erminos, they captured four English vessels, auctioning them off at Campeche. Soon a routine developed, whereby De Lecat took care of the rough-and-tumble aspects of coast-guard duty, while Reyning remained in port attending to business. Within a few months they seized 32 prizes, and at Jamaica the logwood trade declined because of fears of ‘‘Captain Yellowes.’’ On April 28, 1672, while De Lecat was patrolling in a captured sloop, Reyning exited Campeche with the Seviliaen to transport retiring Governor Fernando Francisco de Escobedo to Tabasco. Reyning then contracted a rich cargo of cacao and dyewood from that port, departing Tabasco on July 18th. He reached Veracruz five days later, where his ship was briefly impounded because of irregularities regarding its ownership. While waiting to be released, he learned from the Spanish slaver and privateer Francisco Galesio that war had broken out back in Europe between England, France, and Holland. Thus, once Seviliaen was cleared in late August 1672, Reyning hurried back to Campeche in ballast to pay off his Spanish hands and reassemble his Dutch crew. The Seviliaen was careened while hoping for De Lecat to rejoin, but Reyning eventually left Mexico without him. Nothing more is known about De Lecat’s activities.

Vrijman, L. C., Dr. David van der Sterre: Zeer aenmerkelijke reysen door Jan Erasmus Reyning (Amsterdam: P. N. van Kampen & Zoon, 1937). Weddle, Robert S., Wilderness Manhunt: The Spanish Search for La Salle (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1973).

LE MOIGN, BERNARD (fl. 1674
1680) French privateer. In mid-May 1680 (O.S.), Governor Simon Bradstreet of Massachusetts informed the Committee for Trade and Plantations in London: No privateers or pirates frequent their coasts; perhaps once in seven or ten years a prize may be brought to the harbour; two years since Captain Bernard Lamoyne, a Frenchman, brought a Dutch prize taken on the coast of Cuba.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 10 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1896).

See also Bradley, Joseph; Brasiliano, Rok; Nau, Jean-David; Spanish Main.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 7 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1893
1899).

LEPAIN OR PAIN, PIERRE (fl. 1682
1684) Huguenot sea captain who carried a French royal frigate into Port Royal, Jamaica, in a misguided attempt to acquire English citizenship.

Le Roux, Anne (fl. 1660) Late in January 1682, LePain appeared before Acting Governor Sir Henry Morgan and the Council of Jamaica, presenting a petition which described ‘‘the inhuman treatment of the Protestants in France, of which he is one,’’ and asking to settle in Jamaica. His vessel was the royal frigate Trompeuse (Trickster), which LePain had hired from the peacetime French navy ‘‘at five hundred francs a month,’’ for a commercial venture to Cayenne. Aware of increasing anti-Huguenot sentiments in France, where Protestants were being forced to convert to Catholicism, the Council ‘‘unanimously resolved that he should be received into the King’s protection and naturalised, on his engaging to use his best endeavors to return his ship to the French King.’’ This latter point proved LePain’s undoing, for three months later France’s ambassador complained to Charles II that the captain had ‘‘disposed of the ship and cargo,’’ rather than return these. An order was issued in London during the summer of 1682 for the arrest of ‘‘Peter Paine,’’ as he was now styled, which was enacted at the end of that same October by the new Jamaican Governor, Sir Thomas Lynch. Unfortunately, the Trompeuse’s cargo of sugar and wine had already been sold off and the proceeds dispersed, while the vessel itself had been ‘‘sent to the Bay of Honduras to load logwood’’ for a voyage to Hamburg, but been captured by a band of 120 ‘‘desperate rogues’’ under Jean Hamlin, who turned it into a formidable pirate vessel. Captain George Johnson and other privateers were sent out to recapture it, while the unfortunate LePain was held over and stripped of his new English citizenship in late October 1683, and ordered deported to Petit-Go^ave.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898). Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924).

LEPENE, JACQUES (fl. 1659) French flibustier who in May 1659 bought the prize Nieuwe Tuin (New Garden) of Flushing for £300 at Port Royal, Jamaica, along with its cargo of 110 hides and ten barrels of rosin. He sold the latter back to the ‘‘State’’ (i.e., the English government) at £3 per barrel, for which he was paid in cacao nuts, and renamed the ship Bonaventure. He departed on September 17, 1659 (O.S.), armed with a privateering commission issued by the English Governor, Colonel Edward d’Oyley.

Reference Pawson, Michael, and Buisseret, David J., Port Royal, Jamaica (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1975).

LE ROUX, ANNE (fl. 1660) French commander, involved in the sack of the Dominican town of Santiago de los Caballeros. According to the chronicler-priest Jean-Baptiste Du Tertre, 400 boucaniers on Tortuga Island (Haiti), thirsting to avenge the massacre of a dozen French captives at Monte Cristi by the cruel

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Le Sage, François (fl. 1684) commander of a Spanish warship, decided to unite and commandeer a recentlyarrived merchant frigate from Nantes, under a Captain named Lescouble. These freebooters then elected Captains Delisle, Adam, Le Roux, and Lormel as their leaders, and because a peace treaty had been signed that previous year between France and Spain in Europe, also obtained a letter-of-reprisal from Tortuga’s nominal English Governor, Elias Watts. This expedition set sail on Palm Sunday, March 21, 1660, crowded aboard Lescouble’s frigate and three lesser craft. They stole ashore next evening near Puerto Plata, and moved stealthily for more than 20 miles up into the Cibao Valley over the next couple of days, hiding during the daylight hours and following hidden jungle-trails by night, so as to take the town of Santiago de los Caballeros completely by surprise. Arriving within striking distance by Good Friday night, they burst out of the nearby woods next dawn, March 27, 1660. Some 25 or 30 Spaniards were killed outright during their initial onslaught, and the Alcalde Mayor seized in his bed. Delisle’s and Le Roux’s men ransacked the buildings on Easter Sunday, even stripping the church of its ornaments, before departing with a number of hostages on Monday, March 29, 1660, to return toward the coast. Several hundred Dominican militia cavalrymen—traditionally organized into companies of fifty or cincuenta men apiece, hence known as cincuentenas—had meanwhile rallied from throughout the district, and prepared an ambush ahead of the retiring French column. The leading two buccaneers were shot dead and a two-hour firefight ensued, before the Dominicans finally broke. The French had suffered 10 killed and a half-dozen

wounded during this attack, yet their column reached the sea without being challenged again, because of even heavier Spanish losses. After waiting in vain on the coast for several days for ransoms to be paid for their hostages, these captives were released, and Le Roux and the rest of this formation sailed home to enjoy their spoils on Tortuga.

See also Adam, Captain; Cincuentena; Delisle, Capitaine; Lormel, Capitaine.

References Du Tertre, Jean-Baptiste, Histoire g
en
erale des Antilles de l’Am
erique habit
ees par les Franc¸ais (Fort-de-France, 1973 reedition). Tejera, Emiliano, ‘‘Gobernadores de la isla de Santo Domingo, siglos XVI
XVII,’’ Boletı´n del Archivo General de la Naci
on [Dominican Republic] 18, Number 4 (1941), pp. 359
375.

LE SAGE, FRANÇOIS (fl. 1684) French flibustier captain who is listed in an official government document of 1684 as being in command of the ship Tigre, of 30 guns and 130 men, at Saint-Domingue. He may possibly have been a former lieutenant or confederate of Laurens de Graaf, as the Tigre had been the latter’s flagship until the Dauphine (Princess, more commonly known as Frances) was taken from the Spaniards in the autumn of 1682. Le Sage is also mentioned in a letter written by Governor Sir Thomas Lynch of Jamaica, dated August 25, 1684, and

Lescuyer, Jean (fl. 1685) addressed to De Graaf. Having previously freed a small English merchantman captured by the Spanish and being carried into Cuba, the Governor wrote to thank the pirate admiral for this kindness. He then added, as if by way of comparison: ‘‘Franc¸ois Le Sage behaves very differently, for he has frequently injured and insulted our ships, and has by present report 60 pirates on board his ship taken from La Trompeuse [Trickster].’’ This latter vessel had looted numerous English merchantmen during a 10-month rampage under Jean Hamlin, before being destroyed at anchor in August 1683 at Saint Thomas in the Danish Virgin Islands. Virtually all the pirate crew had escaped ashore, and were still being assiduously sought by the English.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898). Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924). Lugo, Am
erico, Recopilaci
on diplom
atica relativa a las colonias espa~ nola y francesa de la isla de Santo Domingo, 1640
1701 (Ciudad Trujillo, Dominican Republic: Editorial ‘‘La Naci
on,’’ 1944).

LESCUYER, JEAN (fl. 1685) French freebooter who died in the South Sea. Early in 1685, Lescuyer and his fellow captain Franc¸ois Grogniet led a contingent of 200 French flibustiers and 80 English buccaneers from Golden Island across the Isthmus of Panama into the Pacific Ocean, hoping to join

other rovers under Captain Townley, who had preceded them into those waters a month earlier, in attacks on the Spaniards. Commandeering more than two dozen coastal craft and canoes as transport, Lescuyer and Grogniet reached Taboga Island south of Panama City, where on the night of February13, 1685, they sighted a burning vessel to the north. The next morning, a force of English buccaneers under Edward Davis and Charles Swan appeared, offering to give the new French arrivals the 90-ton Santa Rosa which they had recently captured, while the English contingent was to be absorbed into Bachelor’s Delight and Cygnet. (The chronicler William Dampier, who was sailing aboard Davis’ flagship, later identified the two French commanders as ‘‘Captain Gronet [sic] and Captain Lequie [sic].’’) Lescuyer apparently died soon after, for when another band of mainly French flibustiers arrived two months later, its member Ravenau de Lussan noted how only the Santa Rosa, out of 10 vessels in the pirate fleet, was captained by a Frenchman, the rest having English commanders. This ship, he added, had been given ‘‘to Captain Grogniet and Lescuier’s [sic] crew, who had recently lost their captain.’’

References Bradley, Peter T., The Lure of Peru: Maritime Intrusion into the South Sea, 1598
1701 (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1989). Dampier, William, A New Voyage Round the World (New York: Dover, 1968). Lussan, Ravenau de, Journal of a Voyage into the South Sea (Cleveland, OH: Arthur H. Clark, 1930).

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Lessone, Capitaine (fl. 1680)

LESSONE, CAPITAINE (fl. 1680) Flibustier who joined John Coxon’s assault on Portobelo. In early February 1680, Lessone was lying at anchor with his ship in the Archipi
elago de las Mulatas (or San Blas Islands) north of Panama, when a large flotilla of 250 buccaneers appeared in boats, heading westward to attack the Spanish-American town of Portobelo. Lessone added 80 of his crewmen to this force, which shortly thereafter slipped ashore at Puerto del Escribano in the Gulf of San Blas and proceeded afoot for three days, surprising the Spaniards the morning of February 7th. After ransacking Portobelo over the next two days, the raiders retired 10 miles northeastward, entrenching themselves with their booty and a few prisoners on a cay half a mile offshore from Bastimentos, until they were rescued by their vessels. Lessone continued in company with Coxon and his consorts while they briefly blockaded Portobelo, made a general distribution of booty, then retired to careen at Bocas del Toro (literally ‘‘Bull’s Mouths’’ or ‘‘Entrances of the Bull,’’ at the northwestern extremity of present-day Panama). But once refitted, all the English commanders decided to return to Golden Island and have the Darien Indians guide them over the Isthmus to attack the Spaniards on the Pacific coast, while Lessone and his French colleague Jean Rose preferred remaining in the Caribbean.

Reference Jameson, John F., comp. and ed., Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial

Period: Illustrative Documents (New York: Macmillan, 1923).

LET-PASS Simplest form of license issued to English vessels in the West Indies, merely identifying the bearer and requesting that he be allowed to proceed—i.e., let-past—into a particular destination (see sidebar). Privateer captains such as Richard Guy, William James, and Edward Mansfield often sortied with no more authorization for their cruises than this simple license, while the freebooter flotilla of John Coxon, Cornelius Essex, Bartholomew Sharpe, Robert Allison, and Thomas Magott—who jointly mounted a violent peacetime assault on Spanish Portobelo in March 1680—later attempted to justify their depredation by a combination of outdated French commissions and ‘‘letpasses’’ from the new Jamaican Governor Lord Carlisle, ‘‘to go into the Bay of Honduras [modern Belize] to cut logwood.’’ This sort of fraud and misrepresentation meant that little faith could sometimes be placed in such documents, while the Spaniards furthermore objected to even legitimate ‘‘let-passes’’ being issued to destinations such as Honduras which they regarded as lying entirely within their territory, hence off-limits to foreigners. As a result, even relatively honest Captains such as Robert Oxe might find their passes contemptuously flung aside when boarded by Spanish guardacostas, thereby adding unnecessarily to ill-will on both sides.

See also Allison, Robert; Coxon, John; Essex, Cornelius; Guardacostas; Guy, Richard; James, William; Magott, Thomas; Mansfield, Edward; Oxe, Robert; Sharpe, Bartholomew.

Letter of Reprisal

LITTLE BETTY’S LET-PASS Here below is reproduced a typical handwritten let-pass from the British West Indies, this particular one issued on April 20, 1680 (O.S.), by Governor Sir Jonathan Atkins of Barbados to allow ‘‘Capn. John Poyntz to sail from and depart this Island with his galliot hoy Little Betty, bound for Surinam.’’ During the subsequent voyage, though, this Captain veered into Port-of-Spain’s anchorage on the Spanish island of Trinidad, entering with Dutch colors flying from Little Betty’s masthead, to inform its harborauthorities that he had come to sell off a small consignment of slaves. Such transactions were authorized for certain Dutch vessels, but Trinidad’s Spanish Governor soon became suspicious of the anchored galliot, so ordered it boarded and searched. On discovering Governor Atkins’s English let-pass, Poyntz was arrested and his vessel impounded, along with his 17 remaining slaves and 25,000 pesos in profits. This incriminating document was then appended to his trial-papers, and is today preserved in the Archives of Indies in Seville under the call-number Audiencia de Santo Domingo 179, Ramo 1, Number 26, Folio 39.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 10, 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1893
1899). Jameson, John F., comp. and ed., Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period: Illustrative Documents (New York: Macmillan, 1923).

LETTER OF MARQUE Another name for a privateer or corsair vessel, yet apparently distinct in that its crew received regular wages ‘‘as any merchant marine sailors,’’ in addition to shares from captures, while privateersmen served for booty alone. Up until 1701, English merchant and privateering vessels both flew a Union Jack ‘‘with a white escutcheon in the center.’’ This was later changed so that letters-of-marque and letter-of-reprisal vessels wore a two-pointed red burgee flag ‘‘with the Union Jack described in a

canton at the upper corner near the staff,’’ while only Royal Navy warships were allowed to fly the full Union Jack.

See also Letter of Marque (Volume 2).

Reference Chapin, Howard M., Privateer Ships and Sailors: The First Century of American Colonial Privateering, 1625
1725 (Toulon: G. Mouton, 1926).

LETTER OF REPRISAL Special type of privateering commission, issued during peacetime to redress a wrong, which could not be satisfied through legal recourse; a letter-of-reprisal thus allowed the bearer to seek restitution through the capture of foreign vessels. For instance, when English merchant captains such as John Cooke or Joseph Zohy were unjustifiably detained and

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Light Money pillaged by Spanish guardacostas, yet could not later obtain satisfaction by appealing to Madrid through proper channels, they requested ‘‘letters of reprisal’’ from the English government to exact their own form of compensation, by seizing and disposing of Spanish ships on the high seas. Such permits were relatively rare, and unique in that they did not constitute an official declaration of war, nor allow the bearer to accumulate more than a specific amount of prize-money.

LIGHT MONEY Seventeenth-century English euphemism for clipped or poor-grade coinage, worth less than its purported face value. For example, the minutes of a meeting of the Lords of Trade and Plantations in London on February 14, 1683 (O.S.), read: ‘‘The gentlemen of Jamaica added that light money may be refused in payments.’’

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898).

LILBURNE, ROBERT (fl. 1682
1684) Governor of New Providence in the Bahamas at the time of the Spanish invasions of 1684. Lilburne, himself a resident of the Bahamas, had succeeded Robert Clarke as Governor of the Islands in 1682,

when his predecessor was dismissed for issuing privateering commissions against the Spaniards in peacetime. It was feared that Lilburne would prove just as bad, only more devious, so a strong set of instructions was sent out from London dated October 1683. Before these could be enacted, however, the Spaniards attacked the Bahamas in retaliation for Thomas Paine’s landings at nearby St. Augustine, Florida, and numerous other infractions. In January 1684, the first of a series of expeditions from Havana suddenly descended on the English shipping off Andros Island, scattering these vessels and seizing one William Bell to act as their pilot. The Spaniards then pressed on to New Providence, disembarking 150 men half-a-mile from Charles Town (as Nassau was then called), and advancing on the settlement. Lilburne was seated in the ‘‘Wheel of Fortune’’ Inn when he heard the gunfire, and fled into the woods with most of the inhabitants. Charles Town was taken almost without resistance and thoroughly ransacked, while the lone ship in the harbor, the frigate Good Intent of 10 guns, fled out to sea. The raiders departed at dusk, leaving the frightened citizenry to creep back and assess the damage. Other assaults followed, including a second major descent on Charles Town by Gaspar de Acosta and Tom
as Uraburru a few months later, which convinced many settlers to emigrate. New Providence would remain uninhabited until December 1686, when a new group of English colonists arrived. Lilburne sent a message to his Spanish counterpart at Havana, inquiring as to the reason for these attacks, and was told that it was because the inhabitants of the Bahamas were all ‘‘pirates proven.’’

Lormel, Capitaine (fl. 1660)

Reference Craton, Michael, A History of the Bahamas (London: Collins, 1968).

LOGWOOD OR DYEWOOD Dark-red tropical tree native to the West Indies (Haematoxylum campechanium), which was harvested to produce a black or brown dye that became highly prized in Europe for tinting cloth, because—in the words of the pirate chronicler Alexandre-Olivier Exquemelin—it does ‘‘not fade like ours.’’ The secret of this product had been long known to the Indians, who imparted it to the Spanish shortly after their conquest of the Americas. Small local industries developed, until European traders began to realize its potential market overseas. As early as July 7, 1654, the directors of the Dutch West India Company in Amsterdam were writing to their representative on Curac¸ao, ordering him ‘‘to promote the cutting of dyewood as much as possible’’ on that island, ‘‘but paying attention nevertheless that the young saplings are spared.’’ English rovers venturing out of Jamaica a few years later stumbled on large stands in the uninhabited coastal regions of both Campeche and Belize, where they set up their own independent camps and began cutting trees. The Spanish Crown feared that these poaching settlements would eventually develop into full-fledged colonies, so sent occasional patrols to attempt to drive the interlopers out, provoking counterraids by foreign rovers. Despite such dangers, many peaceful merchants also visited the outposts, in

hopes of obtaining a potentially valuable cargo at very low cost (oftentimes saving money by harvesting the trees with their own crews, although preferring them already cut and seasoned). Within a few decades, the price of a ton of logwood in Port Royal, Jamaica was £20, although worth twenty times that much in London, England—a powerful temptation for homeward-bound masters.

References Dampier, William, A New Voyage Round the World (New York: Dover, 1968). Exquemelin, Alexandre-Olivier, The Buccaneers of America (London: Penguin, 1969). Gehring, Charles T. and Schiltkamp, Jacob A., trans. and eds., Curac¸ao Papers, 1640
1665, Volume XVII, ‘‘New Netherland Documents’’ (Interlaken, NY: Heart of the Lakes Publishing, 1987). Gerhard, Peter, The Southeast Frontier of New Spain (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1979). Marley, David F., Sack of Veracruz: The Great Pirate Raid of 1683 (Windsor, Ontario, Canada: Netherlandic Press, 1993). McJunkin, David M., ‘‘Logwood: An Inquiry into the Historical Biogeography of Haematoxylum campechanium L. and Related Dyewoods of the Neotropics,’’ Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of California at Los Angeles, 1991.

LORMEL, CAPITAINE (fl. 1660) French commander, involved in the sack of the Dominican town of Santiago de los Caballeros. According to the chronicler-priest Jean-Baptiste Du Tertre, 400 boucaniers

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Lucas, Jan (fl. 1668
1673) of Tortuga Island (Haiti), thirsting to avenge the massacre of a dozen French captives at Monte Cristi by the heartless commander of a Spanish warship, decided to unite and take over a recently-arrived merchant frigate from Nantes, under a Captain named Lescouble. These freebooters elected Captains Delisle, Adam, Le Roux, and Lormel as their leaders, and because a peace treaty had been signed that previous year between France and Spain back in Europe, also obtained a letter-of-reprisal from Tortuga’s nominal English Governor, Elias Watts. This expedition set sail by Palm Sunday, March 21, 1660, distributed aboard Lescouble’s frigate and three lesser craft. The raiders stole ashore next evening near Puerto Plata, and moved stealthily for more than 20 miles up into the Cibao Valley over the next couple of days, hiding during the daylight hours and following hidden jungle trails by night, so as to take the town of Santiago de los Caballeros completely by surprise. Arriving within striking distance by Good Friday night, they burst out of the nearby woods at dawn, March 27, 1660. Some 25 or 30 Spaniards were killed outright during their initial onslaught, and the Alcalde Mayor seized in his bed. Delisle’s and Lormel’s men ransacked the buildings on Easter Sunday, even stripping the church of its ornaments, before departing with a number of hostages on Monday, March 29, 1660, to return toward the coast. Several hundred Dominican militia cavalrymen—traditionally organized into companies of fifty or cincuenta men apiece, hence known as cincuentenas—had meanwhile rallied from throughout the district, and prepared an ambush ahead of the retiring French column. The leading two buccaneers were shot dead and a two-hour firefight ensued,

before the Dominicans finally broke. The French had suffered 10 killed and a halfdozen wounded during this attack, yet their column reached the sea without being challenged again, because of even heavier Spanish losses. After waiting in vain on the coast for several days for ransoms to be paid for their hostages, these captives were released, and Lormel and the rest of this formation sailed home to enjoy their spoils on Tortuga.

See also Adam, Captain; Cincuentena; Delisle, Capitaine; Le Roux, Anne.

References Du Tertre, Jean-Baptiste, Histoire g
en
erale des Antilles de l’Am
erique habit
ees par les Franc¸ais (Fort-de-France, 1973 reedition). Tejera, Emiliano, ‘‘Gobernadores de la isla de Santo Domingo, siglos XVI
XVII,’’ Boletı´n del Archivo General de la Naci
on [Dominican Republic] 18, Number 4 (1941), pp. 359
375.

LUCAS, JAN (fl. 1668
1673) Minor Dutch freebooter who apparently served under both Nau l’Olonnais and Henry Morgan. Lucas was born in Amsterdam around 1644. He first sailed for the New World in 1661, as a teenaged seaman aboard a 14-gun Zeeland merchantman bound for St. Kitts. Over the next few years, he would serve aboard various tradingvessels plying the Lesser Antilles. By the summer of 1666, he was seemingly a

Lynch, Sir Thomas (1632
1684) crewmember of the merchant convoy assembling at Barbados, which was then commandeered by Lord Willoughby to sail to the relief of St. Kitts, recently conquered by the French. Yet after overrunning The Saintes instead, this entire 20-ship formation was destroyed by a hurricane on the night of August 4
5, 1666. Lucas miraculously survived, being aboard one of only two vessels to ride out this storm: a flute which staggered heavily-damaged into Montserrat. When a French counter-expedition subsequently moved against the hapless English Leeward Islands in late October 1666, Lucas was evidently delegated to sail from Nevis for Jamaica aboard the pink of Captain ‘‘Exterman’’ [?], part of a small convoy carrying 60 women and 150 slaves to safety. Once all hostilities ceased, Lucas was dispatched from Jamaica aboard a sloop, to go and cut logwood at Cape Catoche. Homewardbound with a cargo, this sloop was intercepted off Cuba’s Pinos Island by the French privateer squadron of Jean-David Nau l’Olonnais, which consisted of three medium-sized vessels and four small ones. Lucas remained aboard this formation for nine months as a captive, witnessing their capture of the 36-gun Spanish registry-ship San Francisco de Asis at Santo Tom
as de Castilla (Guatemala), as well as another medium-sized vessel ‘‘of twelve pieces and sixteen swivel-guns.’’ When Nau subsequently tried to steer for Nicaragua, though, both prizes were lost in what ‘‘the English call Guanabey Cove and the Spaniards, Almirante Bay.’’ The French flagship was also wrecked near Cape Gracias a Dios, and as only three piraguas remained for all the survivors, new craft had to be built from the wreckage. A boat which they sent toward

Tortuga Island for help was seized by the Spaniards at Cape Corrientes (Cuba). The survivors eventually managed to struggle along the coast to Bluefields (Nicaragua). From here, Lucas managed to ship out aboard an English brigantine loaded with logwood, and thus returned to Jamaica. When resentment on that island escalated against Spanish privateering raids during the summer of 1670, a counterexpedition was prepared. Lucas, now a veteran West Indian rover, was put in command of a privateer brigantine by Captain Cooper. This vessel served as a patache or auxiliary to Henry Morgan’s own flagship Satisfaction.

LYNCH, SIR THOMAS (1632
1684) Fourth Governor of Jamaica, who labored tirelessly to restrain its privateers. Lynch was born in Cranbrook, in the English County of Kent, and came to the West Indies as a junior officer in the Cromwellian expedition sent out in 1654 under Admiral Sir William Penn and General Robert Venables. By 1660, he was back in England on furlough, and seems to have adapted well to the restoration of Charles II to the throne that same year, despite being an Old Stander. On November 28, 1660 (O.S.), Lynch petitioned the government for passage back to Jamaica aboard one of the King’s ships, describing himself as a Captain, and in January 1661 was appointed Provost-Marshal of the island for life. When Lord Windsor arrived to inaugurate Royalist rule and administrative reforms that following year, Lynch secured appointment as LieutenantColonel of the newly-created Fifth

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Lynch, Sir Thomas (1632
1684) Regiment of militia in December 1662, and by April 1663 was sworn in as a member of Jamaica’s first Council. A year later, he was elected its President, and acted as interim Governor for two months until Sir Thomas Modyford could transfer from Barbados. Lynch was also a factor for the Royal African Company, which meant that he—unlike Jamaica’s privateers and planters—hoped to establish peaceful trade with Spanish America. The first tentative contacts had been dashed by Commodore Christopher Myngs’ descents on Santiago de Cuba and Campeche, which in turn had inspired such rovers as John Morris and Henry Morgan to continue their depredations, despite the official truce with Spain. ‘‘What compliance can be expected from men so desperate and numerous,’’ Lynch wrote in late May 1664, ‘‘that have no element but the sea, nor trade but privateering?’’ Within the first few weeks of Modyford’s administration, however, Lynch confronted other problems. The new Governor was soon writing privately to London to suggest Lynch be created sheriff rather than marshal, ‘‘for he is a pretty understanding gentleman and very useful here; he has an estate, and would be very well beloved were he sheriff instead of marshall.’’ But such changes were not being sought by Lynch nor many other members of the Council, and they bristled when Modyford began forcing the issue. Lynch was dismissed both from the Council and as Chief Justice of the island, protesting that the reason was his ‘‘uncourtly humor of speaking plain and true’’ to Modyford. Nonetheless, he was obliged to return to England, something he resented as it had been

his intent to marry, send for his relations, and make Jamaica his permanent home. He spent much of his exile visiting Spain, where he learned the language ‘‘and to perfect it spent a whole winter in Salamanca, not talking to foreigners, learning much about the things of the Indies through his own studies and by talking to merchants and others there and in Andalusia.’’ Gradually, his reputation grew with such ministers as the Secretary of State Lord Arlington, who also believed that England’s best policy would be to forsake hostilities and develop trade with Spanish America. By late 1670, this faction was in the ascendant at Whitehall, and Lynch was being groomed to replace Modyford. He was knighted on December 3, 1670 (O.S.), being described as ‘‘of Rixton Hall in Great Sonkey Lane,’’ and a few days later married Lady Vere, the daughter of Sir Edward Herbert and sister of the Earl of Torrington. By January 1671, Lynch was designated the new Governor and naval commander-in-chief for Jamaica, as well as being secretly issued a royal warrant to arrest Modyford, on the charge that he ‘‘hath, contrary to the King’s express commands, made many depredations and hostilities against the subjects of His Majesty’s brother, the Catholic King.’’

First Term (1671
1675) Lynch sailed for Jamaica aboard HMS Assistance and Welcome, officially entering Port Royal on July 1, 1671 (O.S.). He was greeted with full honors, and invited to a banquet at Modyford’s house. There, the revocation of the old Governor’s commission was

Lynch, Sir Thomas (1632
1684) read out, and Lynch noted: ‘‘The people seemed not much pleased.’’ Modyford’s aggressive policy against the Spaniards had been quite popular on the island, Henry Morgan having recently returned from his spectacular success at Panama, so that Lynch feared a backlash against his more pacific plans. His situation was made more awkward by a bout of illness, and the fact he was being generously accommodated in Modyford’s own home. Finally, he lured his host aboard Assistance six weeks later, on the pretext he had ‘‘something of import to him from the King,’’ and informed Modyford of the arrest warrant. The latter behaved with great dignity, wishing that he might have been given the opportunity to show his loyalty ‘‘by his voluntary submission to His Majesty’s pleasure,’’ and an embarrassed Lynch promised him ‘‘his life and estate was not in danger,’’ but that a show of sternness was needed to assuage Spanish complaints. Lynch then had to placate the Jamaica Council and privateers, assuring the latter they would be pardoned if they returned to Jamaica and submitted. There was no immediate outburst, but many muttered privately that the new Governor was ‘‘a trepan’’ (i.e., snare or trap) who had ‘‘betrayed the good general.’’ Modyford departed for England 10 days later as a prisoner aboard the Jamaica Merchant, and rovers such as Jan Erasmus Reyning and Alexandre-Olivier Exquemelin began avoiding Jamaica, preferring to seek service with the French or even the Spanish. Meanwhile, Madrid had reacted angrily to the news of Morgan’s raid, and by November 1671 it was feared that an invasion of Jamaica

was imminent. At this same time, Lynch received orders from London to arrest Morgan, which he was loath to do for it would further alienate the privateers, on whom he now relied for the island’s defense. He therefore decided to send the freebooter home in such a manner ‘‘as he shall not be much disgusted,’’ and deferred the actual arrest because of Morgan’s ill health. It was not until mid-April 1672 that the great privateer was conducted aboard the 36-gun royal frigate Welcome of Captain John Keene, along with the condemned prisoner Captain Francis Weatherbourne, to sail for England with a three-ship convoy. This was virtually around the same time as the Third Anglo-Dutch War was erupting back in Europe, with England and France ranged against the Netherlands. Hostilities against the Protestant Dutch were not very popular, especially when the French proved inept allies, and then went to war against Spain next year. All of which resulted in a complete reversal of policy at Whitehall, with surprising consequences. On March 5, 1675 (O.S.), the 40-ton privateer Gift of Captain Thomas Rogers entered Port Royal with Morgan on board, now bearing a knighthood and commission as Lieutenant Governor of the island. The following day, Lynch resigned and seven days afterward, his successor Lord Vaughan arrived aboard the 522ton frigate HMS Foresight. By May 24th (O.S.), William Beeston was noting in his journal: ‘‘Sir Thomas Lynch sailed from Jamaica in the Saint Thomas, Captain [Joseph] Knapman commander, and with him Captain [Hender] Molesworth. Nevertheless, Lynch was not entirely out of favor,

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Lynch, Sir Thomas (1632
1684) carrying dispatches from Vaughan as to his ‘‘prudent government and conduct of affairs.’’

Second Term (1682
1684) Six years later, Crown policy reversed again, and once more Lynch’s proSpanish sentiments came into vogue. Following numerous complaints against the Jamaican privateers and Morgan, Charles II opted to appease the Spaniards by reappointing Lynch to that post. A confidential report from London noted: The Spanish Ambassador has given his thanks with great solemnity for this mark of His [Majesty’s] friendship to the King of Spain, and he has complimented the ministers likewise upon the occasion and it is certain that as he is satisfied Sir T. Lynch will be a good Governor for the satisfaction of the Spaniard, so he will be a nursing father for the improvement of that plantation. Lynch’s new commission was dated July 28, 1681 (O.S.), and by the end of October he and his family had gone aboard the frigate HMS Sweepstakes of 42 guns. Winter gales forced this vessel into Plymouth, and it was not until mid-February 1682 that the frigate could put to sea again. He arrived at Port Royal on May 14th (O.S.) with only his five-year-old daughter Philadelphia, his wife and 10year-old son Charles having been left behind at Madeira to recuperate from an illness. That same day, Lynch sent a letter ashore to Morgan, who was Acting Governor, informing him that

his commission was cancelled. Finding the official residence uninhabitable, Lynch lodged with his old friend Colonel Hender Molesworth, now the Royal African Company’s chief agent in Jamaica. Less than two weeks later, Lynch convened his first Council meeting and plunged into business. He found the island’s clandestine trade in slaves and other goods to the Spanish Main very promising: … were we not undersold by the great Dutch ships that haunt the coast of the Main and islands, and were we not fearful of pirates, which is the reason why the ships are so strongly manned. Those and other expenses and hazards carry away much of the profit. As during his previous administration, he actively discouraged privateering because of its deleterious effects on commerce, and hunted pirates ruthlessly. But Lynch was a sick man, who complained of gout and ‘‘the disorders of my head,’’ his spirits further receiving a heavy blow when he learned his wife and son had both died at Madeira. On June 24, 1684 (O.S.), he wed Mary Temple, the 17-year-old sister-in-law of the Speaker of the Assembly, but did not live long enough to enjoy his second marriage. When the pirate Joseph Bannister was acquitted by a Jamaican jury, Lynch’s vexation reputedly created ‘‘such disturbance of mind’’ that he died a week later on August 24, 1684 (O.S.). His friend Molesworth succeeded him as interim Governor, burying Lynch the next day in the church at Spanish Town, and four years later marrying his widow.

Lynch, Sir Thomas (1632
1684)

References Dictionary Of National Biography (London, 1885
1900, 63 Volumes); Issued by Oxford University Press, 2004. Earle, Peter, The Sack of Panama: Captain Morgan and the Battle for the Caribbean (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2007).

Exquemelin, Alexandre-Olivier, The Buccaneers of America (London: Penguin, 1969). Interesting Tracts Relating to the Island of Jamaica (St. Jago de la Vega: Lewis, Lunan and Jones, 1800). Pope, Dudley, Harry Morgan’s Way: The Biography of Sir Henry Morgan, 1635
1684 (London: Secker & Warburg, 1977).

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M Hither our Pirates came, having made a tour of half the Globe, going about like roaring Lions, seeking whom they might devour, as the Psalmist says of the Devils. —Charles Johnson, A General and True History

the brigantine of French flibustier Jean Rose, who also joined this force. The weather turning bad, Coxon hailed his vessels to make toward Isla Fuerte, 90 miles south-southwest of Cartagena on the Spanish Main. Only Essex and Sharpe failed to keep the rendezvous, while Coxon captured ‘‘four piraguas and six very good large canoes’’ at the nearby San Bernardo or ‘‘Friends’’ Islands, to provide landing craft for the forthcoming disembarkation. Essex had meanwhile rejoined, so that the formation then steered toward Isla de Pinos, 130 miles east of Portobelo amid the Archipi
elago de las Mulatas. Only Coxon’s bark, though, was able to shoulder through the contrary winds and gain this place, the remainder being constrained to put into Isla de Oro or ‘‘Golden Island,’’ some miles away. There, the pirates befriended the

MAGOTT, THOMAS (fl. 1679
1680) English privateer who served under John Coxon at Portobelo. Late in December 1679—England having been at peace for several years, while France and Spain were winding down their hostilities in the New World—Magott attended a gathering of privateers at Port Morant, off the southeastern tip of Jamaica. Along with his own sloop of 14 tons and 20 men, there were the barks of Coxon, Cornelis Essex, and Bartholomew Sharpe, as well as the sloop of Robert Allison. All five agreed to unite under Coxon’s leadership for an assault against Spanish Portobelo, although having no clear authorization for such a venture. They quit Port Morant on January 17, 1680, and less than 20 miles out at sea met 221

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Magott, Thomas (fl. 1679
1680) local Indians, until Coxon ordered 250 buccaneers into boats to row westward along the coast, and fall on Portobelo before the Spaniards could learn of their presence. Nearing their destination, they came on ‘‘a great ship riding at anchor,’’ which proved to be that of flibustier Capitaine Lessone, who added 80 Frenchmen to the force. Shortly thereafter, the buccaneers slipped ashore at Puerto del Escribano in the Gulf of San Blas, proceeding afoot to avoid Spanish coastal watchers. They marched for three days ‘‘without any food, and their feet cut with the rocks for want of shoes,’’ until at last they came on an Indian village three miles short of Portobelo on the morning of February 7, 1680, where a native boy spotted them and set off at a run toward the distant city. Coxon called on his advance unit (commonly known among buccaneers as the ‘‘forlorn’’) to hurry after the Indian before the Spaniards could mount a defense. The men trotted gamely, but the boy arrived half-anhour before them, and raised the alarm. The approaching pirates could hear a signal-gun being fired, and ‘‘then certainly knew that we were decried.’’ Nevertheless, their vanguard swept in while suffering only five or six wounded, the startled Spaniards scurrying inside their citadel, and leaving the raiders to ransack Portobelo unopposed over the next two days. The freebooters retired 10 miles northeastward, entrenching themselves with their booty and a few prisoners on a cay half-a-mile offshore from Bastimentos. Allison was again called on to perform a singular service, being sent in a boat to recall the anchored privateer vessels from farther up the coast. By the time he returned three days later, several hundred

Spanish troops had appeared and were firing on the pirates from the beach, yet they retreated at the sight of these reinforcements. The raiders then mounted a brief blockade of Portobelo, but after a couple more captures a general distribution of booty was made, resulting in shares of 100 pieces of eight per man. Afterward the flotilla retired to Bocas del Toro (literally ‘‘Bull’s Mouths’’ or ‘‘Entrances of the Bull,’’ at the western extremity of present day Panama) to careen, where the privateers Richard Sawkins and Peter Harris were found. Once refitted, all the pirates except the French decided to return to Golden Island and obtain guides from the Indians ‘‘to travel overland to Panama,’’ and attack the Spaniards on the Pacific side. Coxon, Magott, Allison, Cooke, Harris, Sawkins, and Sharpe all anchored close inshore in a small cove on Golden Island, out of sight of any Spanish ship which might chance to pass. An anchor watch was left, and at six o’clock on Monday morning, April 15, 1680, 332 buccaneers went ashore to cross the Isthmus. Yet ‘‘Captain Allison and Captain Magott being sickly were unable to march,’’ so remained behind. The rest of the buccaneers disappeared into the jungle, and 10 days later took the inland town of Santa Marı´a, at the confluence of the Chucunaque and Tuira Rivers. From there the buccaneers pushed on into the Pacific, although Coxon proved hesitant. By the time the expedition captured some Spanish coastal craft and bore down on Panama, command had devolved on Harris, Sawkins, and Sharpe. Coxon returned with 70 men to Golden Island, and it is possible Magott may then have sailed away with him,

Maintenon, Charles François d’Angennes, Marquis de (fl. 1670
1682) although nothing more is known about his movements.

References Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924). Jameson, John F., comp. and ed., Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period: Illustrative Documents (New York: Macmillan, 1923).

MAINTENON, CHARLES FRANÇOIS D’ANGENNES, MARQUIS DE (fl. 1670
1682) French nobleman who became a West Indian naval officer, rover, smuggler, slaver, and wealthy plantation-owner. Maintenon was born at Chartres on December 5, 1648, the eldest son and fifth of six children in an ancient but impoverished family. His father Louis died when he was only eight, and young Charles was enrolled as an Ensign in France’s Royal Navy at Toulon in 1669. Next year, he sailed for the Antilles as a subaltern aboard the small royal frigate Sibylle. He assumed command of this small warship in 1672, after the death of its Captain du Lau. When war erupted that same year against The Netherlands, Sibylle participated in the expedition which Governor-General Jean-Charles de Baas Castelmore led against the Dutch stronghold of Curac¸ao early in 1673. Although this assault failed and a retreat was ordered by March 18, 1673, Maintenon was detached to carry home the official messages. After pausing en route six days later to check in Irois Bay

(western Haiti) for illicit traders, Sibylle regained France before that same year was out. While on leave at home, Maintenon apparently sold his marquisate at l’Eure-et-Loir in Maine early in 1674 to please Louis XIV, so that the King might bestow its title on his new favorite mistress, Franc¸oise d’Aubign
e, that following year. As a reward for this concession of his family title, Maintenon was henceforth to be granted considerable leeway in seeking his fortune in the New World.

Flibustier Chieftain (1675
1682) He departed Nantes for the West Indies again as a privateer late in 1675, when France was still at war against Holland, to which had now also been added Spain. His flag flew aboard the 24-gun Fontaine d’Or, which was accompanied by the Toison d’Or under Captain Bernard Le Moigne. Eventually reaching the port of Petit-Go^ave (Haiti), Maintenon organized a privateering expedition to raid the Venezuelan coast during the winter months of 1676
1677. A newsletter from neutral Jamaica dated February 19, 1677 read: ‘‘The Marquis de Maintenon likely to do nothing, although he has all the French on Hispaniola and all their vessels ready for a design.’’ In fact, the new flibustier chieftain had already led this expedition of 11 vessels of various sizes on an attack against the thinly-populated Spanish island of Margarita (Venezuela). His flotilla had appeared offshore on January 24, 1677, and dropped anchor within its Morro Bay by 11:00 P.M., using 10 boats to begin disembarking roughly 600 men. Its forewarned Spanish

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Maintenon, Charles François d’Angennes, Marquis de (fl. 1670
1682) Governor, Francisco Mexı´a y Alarc
on, rode down from Margarita’s capital of La Asunci
on to view this scene from a distance, while his island militia was being mustered—although they were far too few in number, and too poorlyarmed, to resist Maintenon’s host. At dawn of January 25th, the French set off at a brisk pace along the beach to enter the Margarita Valley, three miles away. Mexı´a therefore positioned his 50 men in a roadside redoubt named Portada de Reinaldos, in hopes of at least delaying the raiders’ advance. But Maintenon, guided by Spanish and native captives, veered around this stronghold, and pressed on so swiftly toward the island capital of Asunci
on, that it had to be abandoned without a fight. The invaders remained in uncontested control of Asunci
on over the next eight days, while also sending out foraging columns to pillage outlying farms. Maintenon finally withdrew when a French frigate arrived with orders for his force to join the much larger expedition being gathered by Admiral Jean, Comte d’Estr
ees, for an assault against Dutch-held Tobago. Maintenon’s privateers consequently torched 29 houses in Margarita’s capital and destroyed its church-bells, before departing with 44 captives. On March 2, 1678, Maintenon married Catherine Giraud de Poincy, the beautiful daughter of Louis Giraud, Sieur du Poyet, a wealthy militia captain from the island of Saint Christopher. That same year, Maintenon also commanded the 16-gun, 130-ton royal frigate Sorci ere (‘‘Sorceress’’), which with some flibustiers from Tortuga cruised the coast of Caracas on the Spanish Main. They ravaged the islands of Margarita and Trinidad, but apparently

gained little plunder, for soon afterward the fleet scattered. The chronicler Ravenau de Lussan later related a lurid tale about the Marquis’ adventures, to highlight the ferocity of American natives. [Maintenon] had taken a prize carrying 14 cannon. On this he embarked and having been separated from his warship found himself one day forced to take on water at Bocas del Drag
on [between the island of Trinidad and Venezuela] on the mainland, a place inhabited by a tribe similar to those on Cape Vela. Having brought his vessel as close in as possible, he lined up his cannon on deck and under cover of these, sent his small boat ashore with 22 armed men to fill their casks. The savages, who were hiding near the shore, did not even give the boat a chance to land, but jumping suddenly into the sea, attacked. In spite of the incessant fire from the ship’s cannon, they pushed the boat more than 50 feet up on shore where, after killing them, they threw them over their backs and departed. Then they swam out into deep water to cut the ship’s cables and so force it to founder, hoping in the same way to annihilate those on board. The crew, fortunately, had time to unfurl their sails and push out from shore. On April 24, 1679, peace having been restored by Paris with both The Netherlands and Spain, Maintenon was appointed as Governor of Marie-Galante, and that same summer he was also hired by the Governor-General Comte de Bl
enac to cruise the Caribbean with Vice Admiral duc d’Estr
ees, judging the Marquis to be ‘‘most experienced

Maintenon, Charles François d’Angennes, Marquis de (fl. 1670
1682) and very knowledgeable of the places which Monsieur the Vice Admiral wishes to visit.’’ On November 2, 1680, after having again visited France, Maintenon was furthermore granted exclusive privilege to trade clandestinely with the Spaniards in the West Indies for four years. This permit was backed by a lettre de cachet under Louis XIV’s privy seal, instructing French officials in the New World to impede any trade missions to the Spanish Main that did not enjoy the Marquis’ approval. When informed of this restriction, the Governor of Saint-Domingue, Jacques Nepveu, Sieur de Pouanc¸ay, puckishly observed: ‘‘I do not think that this order can apply to the flibustiers, as they never approach Spanish lands to trade.’’ Nevertheless, Maintenon dispatched Capitaine Tucker to advise John Coxon, Jean Rose, Jan Willems, and several other corsairs who were already operating with French commissions off the Spanish Main of this new arrangement. Tucker came up with them off the northeastern shores of Panama and in the early days of June 1681, the English and French contingents held a series of conferences on Springer’s Key in the San Blas Islands, during which the pirate chronicler William Dampier noted: The French seemed very forward to go [and attack] any [Spanish] town that the English could or would propose, because the Governor of PetitGo^ave (from whom the privateers take commissions) had recommended a gentleman lately come from France to be general of the expedition, and sent word by Captain Tucker, with whom this gentleman came, that they should if possible make an attempt

on some town before he returned again. The English when they were in company with the French seemed to approve of what the French said, but never looked on that general to be fit for the service in hand. Ironically, Maintenon made a peaceful visit to Margarita on January 17, 1682. His ship and a smaller consort dropped anchor in its main anchorage of Pampatar, informing the acting-island Governor Juan Fermı´n de Huidobro next day that he was under French royal orders to patrol the Caribbean against pirates, and restore stolen goods. Maintenon returned some jewels, money, and garments which he had taken from some flibustiers on Martinique, who had pillaged them from a Spanish piragua bearing servants of the Venezuelan Bishop, Doctor Marcos de Sobremonte, from Cuman
a toward La Guaira. Three days later, Maintenon weighed.

Later Career and Death (1683
1687) Eventually tiring of privateer commands, Maintenon henceforth dabbled in commercial ventures. He had purchased the ‘‘Montagne’’ plantation on Martinique (once owned by d’Esnambuc), which by 1685 boasted a work-force of 200 slaves. Maintenon had also been granted a special license by the Crown to import 400 African slaves into the French Antilles every year, to be resold to the Spaniards; but he openly disposed of them to French plantation-owners, to the detriment of royal customs revenues. He also profited from trade in ebony wood, so much so that as of January 1, 1686, he made over his governorship of MarieGalante (which he had scarcely ever

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Maldonado de Aldana, Antonio (fl. 1663
1665) bothered to visit) as a wedding present for his youngest sister Louise’s new husband Charles, Chevalier de Auger. Maintenon often issued passports for returning merchantmen to call at Dunkirk or Holland rather than sail directly for France, thereby breaking the Crown monopoly on trade. It is little wonder that he has been described as ‘‘more of a flibustier than a marquis.’’ In 1687, he retired from public life and lived off the proceeds of his two large plantations on Martinique, which he maintained with a work-force of 300 slaves, as well as a sugar refinery valued at 250,000 livres.

References Baudrit; Dampier, William, A New Voyage Round the World (New York: Dover, 1968). Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924). Lugo, Am
erico, Recopilaci
on diplom
atica relativa a las colonias espa~ nola y francesa de la isla de Santo Domingo, 1640
1701 (Ciudad Trujillo, Dominican Republic: Editorial ‘‘La Naci
on,’’ 1944). Lussan, Ravenau de, Journal of a Voyage into the South Sea (Cleveland, OH: Arthur H. Clark, 1930).

MALDONADO DE ALDANA, ANTONIO (fl. 1663
1665) Spanish defender of Campeche. Originally born in the town of Esparragosa in Extremadura, Spain, Maldonado emigrated to the Mexican port of Campeche, where he married the wealthy widow Juana de Vargas and settled down. Over the years, he came to finance numerous expeditions against pirates along the Gulf coast,

and as a regidor or ‘‘alderman,’’ General Treasurer of the Santa Cruzada or ‘‘Holy Crusade,’’ and an officer in the local militia, he was charged with the defense of the city’s tiny inland keep of Santa Cruz.

Myngs’s and Mansfield’s Raid (February 1663) At dawn on February 9, 1663, a cluster of anchored vessels was sighted three miles to leeward of Campeche, and its garrison hastily stood to arms. From his outpost at Santa Cruz, Maldonado beheld the advance of Christopher Myngs’s and Edward Mansfield’s host toward the city walls, but could not deflect their progress despite firing off the bulk of his fortress’ scanty supply of ammunition. The English went on to carry Campeche by storm, Myngs being badly wounded in the street-fighting. During the night Maldonado spiked his artillery and abandoned Santa Cruz, and on the morning of February 10th, and being the only Spanish official left free, approached the triumphant invaders under a flag of truce to discuss terms. He met personally with Mansfield, and both agreed that the 42 Spanish dead inside the city ‘‘should be cast into the sea and the [fourteen] wounded treated, which had not yet been done,’’ and all fires extinguished. Maldonado thereupon retreated inland and observed the invaders’ activities from a safe distance. On February 17th, he received a message offering to spare the city and its prisoners, if the raiders could draw water from the nearby Lerma wells. He acceded, and on February 23rd the enemy fleet finally departed, after releasing their captives and amassing an impressive booty.

Maldonado de Aldana, Antonio (fl. 1663
1665)

Spanish Pursuit (March 1663) Shortly thereafter word was received that a smaller landing of approximately 50 buccaneers had been made on the coastal town of Sisal, 80 miles north of Campeche. This was possibly a laggard element from Myngs’s force, and on March 2nd Maldonado was ordered by the Acting Governor of Yucatan to march to that town’s relief, at the head of 200 Spanish regulars and 600 Indian auxiliaries. He arrived in time to catch these intruders still on land, where they had burnt down a hacienda. An English officer and seven buccaneers were seized, while their comrades fled back out to sea. The prisoners were then brought victoriously into Campeche, where they were incarcerated and interrogated.

Morris and Morgan’s Raid (February 1665) Less than two years later, Maldonado organized another strike against what he assumed were the logwood cutters of the Laguna de T
erminos, after a cutting-out expedition had stolen an 8-gun Spanish frigate from Campeche’s roads one night. During the intervening period, his cousin Rodrigo Flores de Aldana had assumed office as the new Governor of Yucatan, and designated Maldonado his Deputy Governor for Campeche. Three frigates were assembled and 270 troops put on board, which set sail on February 20, 1665, under the command of Maldonado’s nephew Jos
e Aldana. Two days later, he came on three ships anchored opposite the tiny town of Santa Marı´a de la Frontera, at the mouth of the Grijalva River. These only had anchor-watches left on board, one of which escaped in a

single vessel, while seven of their comrades remained on the 10-gun flagship and 8-gun Spanish prize. The prisoners revealed that their ships were unmanned because ‘‘Captain Mauricio [sic; John Morris, Henry Morgan, Freeman, Fackman] and David Martien’’ had marched most of their force inland to sack the town of Villahermosa de Tabasco. Surprised, Aldana returned immediately to Campeche with his prizes, which were fitted out with 300 men and replaced the Spanish frigates, sallying again on March 11th. Near the Laguna he sighted six people ashore, who proved to be citizens of Villahermosa released by the raiders, and who indicated the enemy had found their retreat cut off, so continued westward in two captured river-boats to look for another avenue of escape. Aldana sailed in their pursuit, and on the afternoon of March 17th spotted the interlopers on Santa Ana cay. He sent a messenger close inshore, calling to the English from his launch to surrender, but the buccaneers pretended not to understand. When an interpreter approached the beach the following morning, Morris and Martien replied they would not give up without a fight, and the Spaniards discovered they had used the interval to entrench themselves behind a palisade reinforced with sandbags, and bristling with seven small cannon brought from Villahermosa. The Spanish troops reluctantly disembarked, but being mostly volunteer civilian militia, showed little stomach for the fight, despite outnumbering the English almost three-to-one. A fainthearted assault was made, but repelled without a single injury among the freebooters. The next day, March 19th, the Spanish ships were found mysteriously run aground, thus allowing the raiders

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Malherbe, Abraham (fl. 1665
1666) to exit unchallenged in their two small boats. Later that same morning, Aldana found the decrepit Spanish frigate Patarata wrecked a mile and a half away, having been dispatched by Maldonado with another 100 men under Captain Carlos Vocardo. The intruders were nonetheless allowed to make away undisturbed. This was the last action Maldonado seems to have been involved in; his cousin was soon after deposed as Governor of Yucatan, and Maldonado no longer figured in the campaigns against the pirates. It is believed he may have still been living in Campeche when George Spurre attacked on July 10, 1678, although this is not entirely certain.

References Calder
on Quijano, Jos
e Ignacio, Historia de las fortificaciones en Nueva Espa~ na (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispanoamericanos, 1953).
Eugenio Martı´nez, Marı´a Angeles, La defensa de Tabasco, 1600
1717 (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispanoamericanos, 1971). Ju
arez Moreno, Juan, Piratas y corsarios en Veracruz y Campeche (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1972).

MALHERBE, ABRAHAM (fl. 1665
1666) French rover from Saint-Domingue who served among the English of Jamaica, to whom he was known as ‘‘Malarka’’ or ‘‘Malarkey.’’ Malherbe commanded a 1-gun galliot in Colonel Edward Morgan’s expedition against Dutch Sint Eustatius and Saba, during the Second Anglo-Dutch

War. This force departed Jamaica in two divisions, five sail putting out of Port Royal on April 5, 1665, and Morgan himself following with another four on April 28th. There were 650 men in all, described in a letter by Gov. Sir Thomas Modyford as: . . . chiefly reformed privateers, scarce a planter amongst them, being resolute fellows and well armed with fusils [Spanish word for muskets] and pistols. The Crown official was particularly pleased that they would be serving ‘‘at the old rate of no purchase, no pay, and it will cost the King nothing considerable, some powder and mortar pieces.’’ Their landing was successfully made, but the Colonel, ‘‘being a corpulent man,’’ died from heat exertion during the chase, and his expedition disbanded shortly thereafter.

References Cruikshank, E. A., The Life of Sir Henry Morgan (Toronto: Macmillan, 1935). Interesting Tracts Relating to the Island of Jamaica (St. Jago de la Vega: Lewis, Lunan and Jones, 1800). Pope, Dudley, Harry Morgan’s Way: The Biography of Sir Henry Morgan, 1635
1684 (London: Secker & Warburg, 1977).

MANSFIELD, EDWARD (fl. 1660
1667) English privateer who commanded some of the earliest raids against Spanish America.

Mansfield, Edward (fl. 1660
1667) Mansfield may be regarded as one of the first freebooter ‘‘admirals’’ in the West Indies, a leader capable of rallying other captains for joint enterprises against the Spaniards. He was described in the 1678 book of Alexandre-Olivier Exquemelin as ‘‘an old buccaneer called Mansveldt [sic],’’ and listed in the journal of the Jamaican Governor, Colonel Edward d’Oyley as having been issued a ‘‘let-pass’’ as early as December 4, 1660 (O.S.), to sortie with his vessel. Mansfield possibly took part in Commodore Christopher Myngs’s large-scale assault against Santiago de Cuba two years later, and definitely served in that officer’s raid against the Mexican port of Campeche of early 1663. During this latter campaign Mansfield led the privateer contingent, but became de facto commander-in-chief when Myngs was wounded during the initial assault.

Sack of Campeche (1663) Encouraged by his success against Santiago de Cuba, Myngs had called for another expedition against the Spaniards on December 22, 1662, refitting his 40gun flagship HMS Centurion and viceflagship Griffin (with 14 guns and a crew of 100 men under the Dutch-born Captain Adriaen Swart), while the freebooters once again began to marshal. Among the latter was Mansfield with his brigantine of four guns and 60 men, along with other captains such as William James and many others. Soon a dozen ships were being made ready and on Sunday, January 21, 1663, they got under way from Port Royal. Myngs quickly rounded Yucatan and worked his flotilla down into the Gulf of Mexico, losing contact with Smart’s Griffin and

several other privateersmen along the way. Nonetheless, he pressed on and skillfully snuck almost 1,000 men ashore at J
amula beach, four miles west of Campeche, on the night of February 8
9, 1663 to begin his stealthy overland advance against the city. At first light, Spanish lookouts saw the smaller vessels lying opposite this disembarkation point, with two larger ships riding farther out to sea. They sounded the alarm, but too late, for the buccaneer army burst out of the nearby woods at eight o’clock that morning and rushed the city. Despite being surprised and heavily outnumbered, the 150 Campeche militiamen put up a stout resistance, especially from their ‘‘strong built stone houses, flat at top.’’ A bloody firefight ensued, in which Myngs received serious wounds in his face and both thighs while leading the charge. He was carried back aboard Centurion while Mansfield—given the absence of Swart—assumed overall command of the expedition. The Spanish defenders were eventually subdued after two hours’ heated battle, suffering more than 50 fatalities, as opposed to 30 English invaders slain. Some 170 Spanish captives were then rounded up, while many of the city’s thatched huts went up in flames. Next morning, the sole remaining Spanish official, Antonio Maldonado de Aldana, entered Campeche and agreed to a truce, in exchange for good treatment of the prisoners. As he dealt directly with Mansfield, this raid has gone down as ‘‘Mansfield’s assault’’ in Spanish histories, the few cryptic references to Myngs furthermore misidentifying him as ‘‘Crist
obal Innes [sic].’’ The buccaneers under Mansfield thereupon looted the city and withdrew two weeks later, on February 23rd, carrying off great booty and 14 vessels found lying in the

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Mansfield, Edward (fl. 1660
1667) harbor, described by a Spanish eye-witness as ‘‘three of 300 tons, the rest medium or small, and some with valuable cargo still on board.’’ The heavily-laden formation slowly beat back around Yucatan against contrary winds and currents, until Centurion eventually reached Port Royal on April 23, 1663, under the command of flag-captain Thomas Morgan, being followed ‘‘soon after [by] the rest of the fleet, but straggling, because coming from leeward every one made the best of his way.’’

Sancti Spı´ritus Raid (December 1665) Two years later, news of the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Dutch War back in Europe reached Jamaica, and Mansfield was one of those who sallied again to take advantage of these hostilities. However, most privateers still preferred attacking their traditional Spanish foe rather than the Dutch—notwithstanding the fact Madrid had remained neutral in the conflict—until finally the new Jamaican Governor Sir Thomas Modyford was obliged to recall them to their duty. Realizing the rovers would never willingly reenter Port Royal and place themselves at the mercy of the Crown, he convened a rendezvous at Bluefields Bay off the southwestern shore of Jamaica for November 1665. Eventually 600 buccaneers answered his summons, and responded to the Governor’s call for renewed efforts against the Dutch by assuring him they were ‘‘very forward to suppression of that enemy,’’ and accepting instruction for a descent against the Dutch West Indian colony of Curac¸ao. But instead the buccaneers immediately laid in a course for the south coast

of Cuba, supposedly to obtain provisions for their forthcoming campaign. A Spanish bark was intercepted and its 22 crewmembers murdered among the Cayos, after which the rovers reached the tiny port of Jı´caro around Christmastime. There their demand of ‘‘victuals for their money’’ was allegedly refused, furnishing them with an excuse for 200 to 300 men who: . . . marched 42 miles into the country, took and fired the town of Santo Spı´rito [sic; Sancti Spı´ritus], routed a body of 200 horse[men], carried their prisoners to their ships, and for their ransom had 300 fat beeves [i.e., beefcattle] sent down [to the coast]. The raiders later justified this depredation by arguing that some among their number held old Portuguese commissions (issued by the French Governor of Tortuga), which authorized such attacks. Having thus disposed of their supply problems, the privateers then chose Mansfield as their admiral and in midJanuary 1666 reassured an emissary from the Jamaican Governor that they now ‘‘had much zeal to His Majesty’s service and a firm resolution to attack Curac¸ao.’’ But this quickly evaporated again once they began the long upwind beat toward that Dutch island, until eventually even Mansfield’s crew refused to go any further, ‘‘averring publicly that there was more profit with less hazard to be gotten against the Spaniard, which was their only interest.’’ Consequently Mansfield fell away to leeward, and steered his ships to the buccaneer haunt at Bocas del Toro (on the northwestern shores of present day Panama). There, a fleet of 15 privateer vessels soon gathered, eight

Mansfield, Edward (fl. 1660
1667) sailing eastward to make a descent on the town of Nat
a in the Panamanian province of Veragua, while Mansfield led the remaining seven westward toward Costa Rica.

Cartago Campaign (April 1666) Arriving off Portete on April 8, 1666, the buccaneers were able to capture its coastal lookout before any alarm could be carried inland, and anchored their ships off Punta del Toro. It was Mansfield’s intent to take the provincial capital of Cartago by a surprise overland approach, and he commenced this enterprise well by bursting on the nearby town of Matina at the head of several hundred men, snapping up all its 35 Spanish citizens. But an Indian called Esteban Yaperi fled from the smaller hamlet of Teotique, carrying word of the invasion to the Costa Rican Governor, maestre de campo Juan L
opez de Flor. By April 15th, hundreds of militiamen began mustering at the mountain stronghold of Turrialba, ready—although only lightly armed—to dispute the invaders’ passage. Mansfield was experiencing even greater hardships in the jungle, though, as his men succumbed to hunger and fatigue. When they encountered some natives bearing bags of ground wheat, the buccaneers fell to fighting among themselves over this meager prize. Governor L
opez, heartened by this report, advanced with his troops and Mansfield was forced to retreat. By April 23rd, his survivors had staggered back aboard their ships at Portete, ‘‘exhausted and dying of hunger,’’ and shortly thereafter retired to Bocas del Toro. Here another two ships deserted Mansfield, and he was left in the

unenviable position of being regarded as a failure both by the mercurial privateers, as well as the King’s officials on Jamaica. In an effort to vindicate himself, Mansfield therefore decided to mount an attack against the tiny Spanish garrison on the island of Providencia or Santa Catalina, which had belonged to the English more than 20 years earlier.

Capture of Providencia Island (May 1666) Mansfield’s two remaining frigates and three sloops raised this island at noon on May 25, 1666, gliding down on its northern coast unobserved that evening, to drop anchor offshore by 10 o’clock. Around midnight the moon rose, and 200 buccaneers rowed in through the reefs by its faint glow: more than 100 Englishmen, 80 Frenchmen from Tortuga, plus Dutch and Portuguese. They marched across the island rounding up isolated Spanish residents, and stormed the lone citadel at first light of May 26th, without suffering a single loss. Only eight Spanish soldiers were found asleep inside, the remaining 62 being scattered around their civilian billets. Mansfield granted all the inhabitants quarter, and the French flibustiers prevented the English from ransacking the church. Ten days later, Mansfield set sail again with 170 Spanish captives, whom he had promised to restore to their compatriots. Captain Hadsell was left in command of the island with 35 privateers and 50 black slaves, until Mansfield or some other English authority returned. On June 11, 1666, Mansfield paused at Punta de Brujas (‘‘Witches Point’’) on the north coast of Panama, depositing his prisoners ashore before standing away for Jamaica.

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Manso de Contreras Rodrı´guez de Mendoza, Andr
es (fl. late 1650s
early 1660s) He arrived at Port Royal with just two ships on June 22nd, and there encountered a piece of good fortune: three-and-a-half months previously, Modyford and the Council had resolved ‘‘that it is the interest and advantage of the island of Jamaica to have letters of granted against the Spaniard.’’ Thus although Mansfield had never been authorized to attack any nation except the Dutch, he found his seizure of Providencia now enjoyed a retroactive veneer of legality. ‘‘I have yet only reproved him for doing it without order,’’ Modyford wrote the English Secretary of State Lord Arlington four days later, ‘‘which I should suppose would have been an acceptable service had he received command for it.’’

Mysterious Demise (1667) This operation was to prove the old buccaneer’s last; the next year he shifted to the French of Tortuga Island, after Modyford ceased granting commissions at Port Royal. Shortly thereafter, Mansfield died, the exact circumstances being somewhat disputed. A contemporary English report indicated that he had been captured by the Spaniards and carried to Havana, where he was ‘‘suddenly after put to death.’’ Spanish historians, on the other hand, insist that he died at Tortuga in early 1667, apparently of poison.

References Crump, Dr. Helen J, Colonial Admiralty Jurisdiction in the Seventeenth Century (London: Longmans Green, 1931). Earle, Peter, The Sack of Panama: Captain Morgan and the Battle for the Caribbean (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2007).

Exquemelin, Alexandre-Olivier, The Buccaneers of America (London: Penguin, 1969). Interesting Tracts Relating to the Island of Jamaica (St. Jago de la Vega: Lewis, Lunan and Jones, 1800). Ju
arez Moreno, Juan, Piratas y corsarios en Veracruz y Campeche (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1972). Pawson, Michael, and Buisseret, David J., Port Royal, Jamaica (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1975). Pope, Dudley, Harry Morgan’s Way: The Biography of Sir Henry Morgan, 1635
1684 (London: Secker & Warburg, 1977). S
aiz Cidoncha, Carlos, Historia de la piraterı´a en Am
erica Espa~ nola (Madrid: Editorial San Martı´n, 1985).

MANSO DE CONTRERAS RODRI´GUEZ DE
S MENDOZA, ANDRE (fl. late 1650s
early 1660s) Cuban corsair who had good success fighting against the English, in the years immediately after the conquest of Jamaica. He was born in 1630, the third and last son of a Spanish officer. Young Andr
es Manso de Contreras apparently settled at Remedios, where he married Antonia Armonı´a Campos Rodrı´guez de Arciniega in 1653. After a huge English expedition overran Jamaica a couple of years later, he became embroiled in numerous engagements against them. In one action, he beat off an enemy ship and patache that had attacked a merchant convoy which he was escorting to Veracruz, and later enjoyed other successes as well.

Mar del Sur, Armada del

MAR DEL SUR, ARMADA DEL Peruvian squadron based at Callao, whose principal duty was to conduct consignments of silver from Potosı´ to Panama, for export to Spain. This force—its full name literally meant ‘‘South Sea Fleet’’—had been created during the late 16th century, as a result of Francis Drake’s incursion into the Pacific. It fell under the jurisdiction of the Viceroys of Peru, in their military capacity as Captain-General, and so was administered through adjutants known as tenientes de capit
an general. Over the intervening decades of peace, this position had become a well-paid sinecure, usually occupied by viceregal relatives. For example, the fleet which Viceroy Pedro Fern
andez de Castro y Andrade, Conde de Lemus, hastened to dispatch to contain Henry Morgan’s invasion of Panama in 1671 was, at least nominally, under the orders of his seven-year-old son, the Marqu
es de Zurria. Actual command functions were exercised by the Captains of the capitana or ‘‘flagship’’ and almiranta or ‘‘vice-flagship,’’ who were military officers drawn from the Callao garrison rather than naval officers, and addressed as ‘‘General’’ or ‘‘Almirante,’’ respectively. The five companies garrisoning Callao provided sea-going infantry for the Armada, so that at any given time, 200 to 300 of these soldiers could be found aboard the warships, on cruises of several months’ duration. Early every year, the Armada would sail southward from Callao to Chincha, to load the mercury being extracted from the azogue mines at Huancavelica. It would then convey that year’s production

of this ingredient still farther south, unloading it at Arica in present-day Chile, to be conveyed high up into the Andes by mule-trains for use in refining ores at the Potosı´ mines. The anchored Armada would meanwhile receive that year’s raw silver output, crude bars which would be sailed back to Callao and carried inland to the Lima mint, for assaying and the striking of coins. Then in May or June, the Armada would depart again, this time northward for Panama with the King’s bullion and an accompanying convoy of Peruvian merchantmen, travelling to meet the annual plate fleet from Spain and conduct business. This voyage from Callao to Panama usually only took three weeks, but the Armada had to remain at anchor until the commercial fair concluded, after which it faced a slow upwind beat back toward Callao, normally arriving late in the year. Sometimes, passengers even disembarked at Paita and traveled the last few hundred miles overland, rather than tarry aboard the slow-moving ships. Because of the particular nature of their missions, Armada vessels had soon become quite large and cumbersome, more like Indiamen than fighting men-ofwar. Their tactics were completely defensive as well, relying on the remoteness of their routes for safety. Some artillery was often removed from their ships during peacetime, so as to accommodate greater cargos, while senior commanders were under orders that if approached by enemy vessels while bearing the King’s treasure, they were to defer combat until the silver could be set ashore.

Standing Fleet (1654) When a new Peruvian Viceroy arrived to assume office in 1656, he found only

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Mar del Sur, Armada del two men-of-war available to the Armada: its 900-ton vice-flagship Santiago of 40 guns, in need of extensive repairs, and the 360-ton San Francisco Solano of only 20 guns. The former flagship Jes
us Marı´a de la Limpia Concepci
on, an enormous vessel of 1,200 tons and 44 guns, had been wrecked on the Chanduy sand-banks at the mouth of the Guayas River on October 26, 1654. As a result, the Viceroy ordered two new galleons constructed at Guayaquil, each of 825 tons and capable of mounting 32 to 44 cannon apiece. They were completed by 1659 and given the names San Jos
e and Nuestra Se~ nora de Guadalupe; the Santiago was scrapped a few years later and the aged San Francisco Solano was reduced to making only the annual Arica run. Private merchantmen were also frequently hired to supplement the Armada’s duties, such as the San Antonio which sank off Itata near Concepci
on in the early 1660s, while bearing the annual situados or ‘‘payrolls’’ toward Chile. After a long period of tranquil cargoruns, the rising tide of distant Caribbean attacks began to sound a note of alarm. Henry Morgan’s sack of Portobelo in 1668 was the first to re-galvanize the Armada. When San Jos
e next sailed for Panama, it mounted 32 guns—ten more than had become customary—and carried a full complement of 400 men. The English freebooter then devastated Panama City itself in 1671, so that the Armada was used to hastily rush 2,400 reinforcements to the Isthmus. A new 20-gun patache called San Lorenzo was launched at Guayaquil to replace San Francisco Solano, and other smaller auxiliaries were built as well. In 1675, news arrived at Callao that an English settlement had been established within the

Strait of Magellan, so that Captain Antonio de Vea and the Biscayan seaman Pascual de Iriarte were dispatched with two vessels on September 21, 1675, to investigate. They found no signs of any intruder colony, but lost a boat and 17 men when Iriarte’s son attempted to place a bronze plaque bearing Spain’s royal crest on those shores. The survivors returned into Callao on April 20, 1676.

First Major Incursions (1679
1681) After yet another brief interlude of peace, the Spaniards were astonished when a foreign ship and two launches suddenly materialized off Callao on February 13, 1679, capturing a loaded vessel from its roads. These rovers had worked their way northward from the Strait, robbing diverse vessels off Chile and Arica, so that a force of 150 soldiers and 70 harquebusiers were sent out from Callao under Captain Diego de Frı´as to give chase. After a brief pursuit, the interlopers released their prize and sailed away. But in April 1680, John Coxon, Richard Sawkins, and Bartholomew Sharpe led a contingent of 332 buccaneers across the Isthmus of Panama into the Pacific, seizing a succession of coastal craft and instituting a blockade of Panama City. The acting-Viceroy of Peru, Archbishop Melchor de Li~n
an y Cisneros, was unable to dispatch any Armada warships in relief, as they were being careened. Instead, he hired private vessels and manned them with sailors and troops, so that on July 6, 1680, the following set sail from Callao:  the 12-gun Nuestra Se~ nora de la Concepci
on (flagship), bearing

Mar del Sur, Armada del three companies of regulars, 17 gunners, and 24 seamen;  the 10-gun Nuestra Se~ nora del Viaje as vice-flagship, with two companies of soldiers, 12 gunners, and 22 sailors;  the 8-gun San Jos
e as gobierno, with one company of troops, 12 gunners, and 18 seamen;  the tender Santa Rosa. This flotilla was commanded by Santiago Pontejos, with Pedro Dı´az Zorrilla as his almirante. They ventured northward and paused at Lobos Island, sending Santa Rosa on ahead to Paita, to deliver a supply of ammunition and gain intelligence of the enemy. Learning that they had not yet been sighted off that coast, Pontejos pressed on for Santa Clara Island, again detaching Santa Rosa into Guayaquil on a similar mission. His armadilla then pressed north in similar fashion, carefully probing the entire coastline as far as Panama City, without encountering the pirates. The flotilla remained on patrol for another three months, little realizing that the raiders were operating farther out to sea. It was San Lorenzo under Manuel Pantoja which finally discovered the pirates, after initially returning from Arica into Callao too late to join the original expedition. When his vessel was sent south from Callao once again with the Crown auxiliary Santı´sima Trinidad, to take up station off Pisco, they discovered the enemy had raided Ilo farther to its south, which they visited but found no enemy, so returned to Callao with this information. Meanwhile, the hired ship San Juan de Dios had been dispatched on

February 13, 1681, under Captain Diego Barrasa to convey the situado to Valdivia (Chile). In light of this news of an enemy attack against Ilo, however, the Peruvian authorities decided to send Pontejos’ Concepci
on out a few days later as well, having since given up its fruitless search of the Gulf of Panama. At the same time, the hired ship San Juan Evangelista and Santa Rosa under Captain Francisco Salazar Alvarado were delegated with two armed launches to carry the situados from Callao to Panama City and Portobelo, after which they were to remain off the Gulf of San Miguel and prevent the pirates from retracing their steps back into the Caribbean. All these dispositions proved to be for naught when the last buccaneer commander, Sharpe, sailed his prize out of the Pacific round Cape Horn. With this danger removed, the flagship San Jos
e and vice-flagship Guadalupe made their routine voyage to Panama in 1682 with the King’s bullion, returning to Callao by December of that same year. On arrival, both vessels were found to be in need of extensive repairs, the 23-year-old San Jos
e lacking its rudder and its hull seriously eroded by teredo worms (a common complaint after lying for several months in the warm waters off of Panama). However, there were not enough construction materials available at Callao for both warships, so that it was decided to dispatch San Lorenzo to Guayaquil for an overhaul, after which it could transport timbers back to Callao for the completion of San Jos
e and Guadalupe. San Lorenzo set sail on July 26, 1683, but did not return until 11 months later, having been almost completely rebuilt in the Ecuadorian yards. Its cargo of lumber was then used to supplement the wood which had already been

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Markham, John (fl. 1683
1684) expropriated from Lima’s Carmelite nunnery, so that repairs on the flagship and vice-flagship could be rushed to their conclusion on September 23, 1684.

See also Mar del Sur, Armada del (Volume 2); Patache; South Sea.

References Bradley, Peter T., The Lure of Peru: Maritime Intrusion into the South Sea, 1598
1701 (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1989). P
erez Mallaı´na Bueno, Pablo Emilio, and Torres Ramı´rez, Bibiano, Armada del Mar del Sur (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1987).

MARKHAM, JOHN (fl. 1683
1684) New York privateer who raided the Spaniards in the West Indies. In March 1683, Markham was lying at New Providence in the Bahamas with Captains Jan Corneliszoon, Conway Woolley, and the French flibustier Pierre Br
eha, preparing to go ‘‘fish silver from a Spanish wreck.’’ Then arrived Captain Thomas Paine with a license from Governor Sir Thomas Lynch of Jamaica to hunt pirates, so that the five decided to unite and raid the nearby Spanish outpost of Saint Augustine, Florida, supposedly using Paine’s commission (although England and Spain were then officially at peace). The raiders, in any event, landed flying French colors but found the Spaniards forewarned, so withdrew after releasing some captives that they had brought with them, and looting the surrounding countryside.

Returning to the Bahamas, Markham, Paine, and Br
eha reentered New Providence, while the other two proceeded directly to the wreck site. Governor Robert Lilburne allegedly wished to detain Markham and Paine for violating England’s truce with Spain, but could not do so ‘‘for want of a force.’’ Shortly thereafter the three rovers sailed away to the site and began working the wreck, although apparently with limited success, for by September 1683 Markham was back at New Providence, and Paine bound for Rhode Island. Some months later, Markham organized a freebooter force of three frigates and eight sloops for a descent on the Mexican port of Tampico. This assault took place at dawn on Sunday, April 23, 1684; Spanish survivors later related how ‘‘Captain Juan Marcan [sic] led his men in an encircling maneuver and firing musketry at the Spaniards,’’ until other buccaneers could overrun the town. Tampico was but an impoverished fishing village, and the raiders announced that they had come from ‘‘diving on a wreck in the Mimbres [Bahamas]’’ to obtain supplies. They then stole ‘‘wheat, fish, sugar, the church’s ornaments and its silver, as well as clothing,’’ plus indulging in their usual wanton destruction. An English buccaneer named John Tudor boasted that he had been with Laurens de Graaf at the sack of Veracruz the previous year, receiving a full share of 800 pesos as booty, and then ‘‘burned down a house and with his companions drank a barrel of spirits’’ in Tampico. The unhappy Spanish captives also noticed that it was Markham who gave the orders for them to be fed. He also loaded his plunder quickly aboard the ships, realizing that it was best not to tarry. Six days later, news of this

Martien, David (fl. 1663
1672?) attack reached the Armada de Barlovento at Veracruz, which sortied on May 4, 1684, and four days later caught the frigate Presbyter and a small sloop still inside the Tampico bar, with 104 freebooters on board. Markham and most of his cohorts had already departed, but these laggards—77 Englishmen and New Englanders, 26 Dutchmen, and a Spaniard—were carried to Veracruz in chains. Two weeks later, 13 Englishmen and the lone Spaniard were condemned to death, these sentences being carried out on the Veracruz waterfront the morning of June 14, 1684.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898). Ju
arez Moreno, Juan, Piratas y corsarios en Veracruz y Campeche (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1972). Robles, Antonio de, Diario de sucesos notables 1665
1703 (Mexico City: Editorial Porr
ua, 1972). Torres Ramı´rez, Bibiano, La Armada de Barlovento (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1981).

for his 25-ton, 43-man bark Charity from the newly-arrived Governor Thomas, Lord Windsor. It is unknown whether he then participated as an auxiliary in the ensuing descents on Santiago de Cuba or Campeche. Late in 1664, though, he joined four other Jamaican captains to mount a small peacetime raid against the Spaniards in the Gulf of Mexico. Strictly speaking, such ventures were now illegal, as Lord Windsor’s recently-arrived replacement, Governor Sir Thomas Modyford, had proclaimed as far back as June 16, 1664 (O.S.), ‘‘that for the future all acts of hostility against the Spaniards should cease,’’ a policy which had been repeatedly underscored. Yet the privateers chose to ignore this injunction, later arguing somewhat disingenuously that ‘‘having been out 22 months (i.e., since participating in Commodore Christopher Myngs’s sack of Campeche in early 1663) and hearing nothing of the cessation of hostilities between the King and the Spaniards,’’ they had continued operating under their two-year-old commissions issued by Windsor.

Mexican Raid (Spring 1665) MARTIEN, DAVID (fl. 1663
1672?) Rover from The Netherlands, who served in the West Indies under both English and French colors. Martien (or Maarten) appears to have already been a veteran commander, who had roamed the Antilles since as early as 1651. The first official notice of his activities occurred late in 1663, when he obtained a Jamaican privateering commission against the Spaniards

John Morris and Martien were the apparent leaders of this venture, seconded by Captains Thomas Freeman, Jacob Fackman, and Henry Morgan. Together they mustered a handful of vessels and 200 men, probably departing Jamaica by early January 1665. Rounding the Yucat
an Peninsula, they moved gingerly down its treacherous Gulf coast until arriving opposite Campeche, where one night in mid-February 1665 they cut out an 8-gun Spanish frigate lying in its roads. Then sailing past the

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Martien, David (fl. 1663
1672?) Laguna of T
erminos, they came to anchor on February 19, 1665, before the tiny hamlet of Santa Marı´a de la Frontera, at the mouth of the Grijalva River. Some 110 to 120 buccaneers disembarked and traveled 50 miles upriver through the marshy channels, until coming within sight of the provincial capital of Santa Marı´a de la Victoria de Tabasco. At four o’clock on the morning of February 24, 1665, they fell on the sleeping city, capturing most of its inhabitants still in their beds. A general sack ensued, after which booty and captives were piled aboard a coaster lying in the river. The raiders then paused at nearby Santa Teresa ranch to release the women captives, retaining the men, for whom they demanded a ransom of 300 head of cattle. Farther down river they came on a second coaster with a cargo of flour, which they also seized. Nearing the river mouth, though, they discovered that their waiting ships had been captured during their absence by a Spanish naval patrol. Three Spanish frigates and 270 men had been sent out by Campeche’s Lieutenant-Governor Antonio Maldonado de Aldana, in quest of the prize previously taken from their port. This armadilla had sighted the interlopers’ trio of vessels anchored off Santa Marı´a de la Frontera on February 22, 1665, boarding the 10-gun flagship and 8-gun prize without a fight. A few Englishmen had fled on a single vessel, abandoning the other two. Seven buccaneers had been left behind in the panic, and revealed to their captors that the ships had been left unmanned because ‘‘Captain Mauricio [sic; Morris] and David Martin [sic; Martien]’’ had led the bulk of the raiders inland. Their retreat out to sea cut off, the main body of freebooters released their

remaining hostages and began moving westward with their two coasters, hoping to find another river channel whereby to escape. On the afternoon of March 17, 1665, they were overtaken by the guardacostas opposite Santa Ana Cay, this time sailing the privateers’ former 10-gun flagship and 8-gun prize, having crewed these with 300 volunteer militiamen from Campeche. Jos
e Aldana, Spanish commander of this pursuit force, sent a messenger in a boat inshore to call on the buccaneers to surrender, but they pretended not to understand. When an interpreter approached shore again next morning, Morris and Martien replied that they would not give up without a fight. The Spaniards reluctantly disembarked, discovering the raiders had used the interval to entrench themselves behind a palisade reinforced with sandbags, and bristling with seven small cannon brought from Santa Marı´a de la Victoria. The Spanish contingent, mostly armed civilians, showed little stomach for an assault and was easily repelled, without incurring a single loss among the freebooters. The next day, March 19, 1665, the Spanish ships were found to have conveniently run aground overnight, thereby allowing the raiders to exit unchallenged aboard their two coasters.

Central American Campaign (Summer 1665) Morris and Martien proceeded northward hugging the coastline, capturing smaller boats and making occasional landings to obtain supplies. Off Sisal they looted a vessel laden with corn, whose crew they allegedly released with a message to the Governor of Yucat
an, vowing to return and lay waste to his province. They then

Martien, David (fl. 1663
1672?) Martien Morris, and Morgan’s Granada Campaign, June 1665.

N

After capturing a Spanish ship at the Honduran port of Trujillo and securing native guides from Cape Gracias a Dios, Martien and Morris proceeded to Monkey Point (1) to conceal their vessels. They then ascended the San Juan River in boats and traversed the Lago de Nicaragua by nocturnal stages, falling on the unsuspecting city of Granada (2). While withdrawing—dotted line—they also plundered the island of Solentiname (3), before regaining their anchored ships and sailing away for Jamaica (4).

rounded the Yucat
an Peninsula and traversed the Bay of Honduras as far down as Roat
an, where they paused to take on water. Striking next at Trujillo, a sleepy Spanish port on the north coast of Honduras, they overran its few dwellings and seized a vessel lying in its roads, before continuing to Cape Gracias a Dios and the Mosquito Coast. Nine native guides joined them there, sailing

southward to Monkey Point (Punta Mono, Nicaragua), where the buccaneers hid their ships in an inlet before heading up the San Juan River with their lighter boats. More than 100 miles and three waterfalls later, they emerged into the great Lago de Nicaragua. Crossing it by traveling at night and resting during the day, they snuck up on the provincial capital

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Martien, David (fl. 1663
1672?) of Granada and took it by surprise on June 29, 1665, when they: . . . marched undescried into the center of the city, fired a volley, overturned 18 great guns in the Plaza de Armas, took the sargento mayor [garrison commander’s] house, wherein were all their arms and ammunition, secured in the great church 300 of the best men prisoners, abundance of which were churchmen, plundered for 16 hours, discharged all the prisoners, sunk all the boats [to prevent pursuit], and so came away. Retracing their course across the vast lake, at its southeastern extremity ‘‘they took a vessel of 100 tons and an island as large as Barbados, called Lida [sic; Solentiname?], which they plundered.’’ The raiders then regained their anchored vessels and by the end of August 1665, William Beeston was writing in his journal at Port Royal: ‘‘Captain Fackman and others arrived from the taking of the towns of Tabasco and Villahermosa, in the Bay of Mexico.’’ They had traveled almost 3,000 miles in seven months, assaulting five Spanish towns and undergoing countless lesser engagements.

French Service (1665
1666) However, Martien did not return to that English island, for during the intervening period the Second Anglo-Dutch War had erupted back in Europe, with Holland and France ranged against England and Spain. Therefore, ‘‘being a Dutchman and fearing his entertainment at Jamaica,’’ Martien had sailed directly to the French boucanier stronghold of Tortuga Island, off the northwestern tip of Saint-Domingue (modern Haiti). His ship, it was

said, still carried some of the Indians which he had brought away from Nicaragua. Sometime prior to November 1665, he had evidently sailed on to the French island of Guadeloupe in the Lesser Antilles, for it is known that he furnished intelligence to its Governor Claude Franc¸ois du Lion as to Spanish defenses at Yucat
an and Honduras. Martien’s withdrawal appears to have been shortlived, though, for early next year it is believed that he may have assisted Edward Mansfield in his descent on Costa Rica, as well as in reclaiming Providencia Island. Governor Modyford also continued to show that he was willing to recruit freebooters of every nationality for his colony’s defense, so that by the summer of 1666, Martien—now commanding a pair of ships with a total of 160 men—offered to once again return to English service. At the end of that same August 1666, Modyford wrote to London: Had it not been for that seasonable action [of liberally granting commissions] I could not have kept this place against French buccaneers, who would have ruined all the seaside plantations, whereas I now draw from them mainly, and lately David Marteen [sic], the best man of Tortuga, that has two frigates at sea, had promised to bring in both.

Later Career (1668
1672) There exist a few scattered details about Martien’s remaining career. He may have participated in Captain Robert Searle’s peacetime sack of St. Augustine (Florida) in May 1668, but seems to have retired from privateering sometime after that, as his Charity was

Martin, Christopher (fl. 1673) reported more than a year-and-a-half later to be bringing in regular loads of logwood into Port Royal from the ‘‘Bay of Campeche’’ for sale. When an aggressive new offensive by Spanish corsairs that same summer of 1670 sparked a renewed upsurge in Jamaican privateering, Martien was known to have taken out a new commission, although there is no record of any captures which he may have made. The arrival of the new Jamaican Governor Sir Thomas Lynch brought an end to this offensive, and by December 17, 1671 (O.S.), he was reporting to London that there were but three privateers still operating: ‘‘One Captain Diego [Grillo], and Yhallahs [sic; Jelles de Lescat] and Martin.’’ Early next year, Beeston captured the renegade privateer ship Charity (now operating under Francis Weatherbourne) at Campeche, describing this vessel as having ‘‘been formerly Captain David Martyn’s [sic] man o’ war.’’

1635
1684 (London: Secker & Warburg, 1977). S
aiz Cidoncha, Carlos, Historia de la piraterı´a en Am
erica Espa~ nola (Madrid: Editorial San Martı´n, 1985).

MARTI´N, ALONSO (fl. 1684) Spanish corsair who apparently operated out of Santo Domingo. On June 20, 1684 (O.S.), Governor Sir Thomas Lynch of Jamaica reported to London: ‘‘Last week a sloop from Nevis and two of our fishermen were all robbed, their boats taken by one Alonzo Martin of Santo Domingo. The Governor [Francisco de Segura Sandoval] would not condemn the sloops, for these rogues [i.e., the Spanish corsairs] awe and hector them, so they carried them off to trepan others. This is what makes our men turn pirates.’’

See also Lynch, Sir Thomas; Trepan.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1893
1899).
Eugenio Martı´nez, Marı´a Angeles, La defensa de Tabasco, 1600
1717 (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispanoamericanos, 1971). Gerhard, Peter, The Southeast Frontier of New Spain (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1979). Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924). Pawson, Michael, and Buisseret, David J., Port Royal, Jamaica (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1975). Pope, Dudley, Harry Morgan’s Way: The Biography of Sir Henry Morgan,

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898).

MARTIN, CHRISTOPHER (fl. 1673) West Country merchant captain who defended St. John’s, Newfoundland, against an attack during the closing stages of the Third Anglo-Dutch War. Martin, originally from Cockington in the County of Devon, had resided in St. John’s since 1656, and had long

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Martı´nez Freire, Antonio (fl. 1651
1652) served as its private ‘‘Vice Admiral.’’ When the great Dutch Admiral Michiel de Ruyter materialized outside its harbor in mid-June 1665, during the Second Anglo-Dutch War, his fleet had entered uncontested to pillage the hapless town and anchored shipping over the next four days, before heading out across the open Atlantic for home. In the aftermath of this destructive visit, Martin had financed the erection of a small battery at St. John’s harbor entrance over the next several years, mostly at his own expense. When hostilities were renewed against The Netherlands during that following decade, he received word in October 1673 of a powerful Dutch squadron under Captain Nikolaas Boes attacking the nearby English fisheries at the Kirkes in Ferryland Bay. These raiders consisted of three warships mounting 40 guns apiece, plus another of 36, which had been detached by Commodore Cornelis Evertsen de Jongste (‘‘Kees the Devil’’) following his recent reconquest of New York. Improvising hastily, Martin stripped the vessel Elias Andrew, which lay anchored in the roads, of its six light pieces of ordinance and with 30 men, installed these into his new small earthen fort guarding the narrowest part of St. John’s harbor entrance. When the four Dutch men o’ war bore down menacingly a few days later, Martin greeted them with such a brisk fire that Boes assumed the English port must now be defended in strength, so veered off to instead sweep through the Grand Banks fisheries, before steering out across the Atlantic.

Campaign of 1672
1674 (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1988).

MARTI´NEZ FREIRE, ANTONIO (fl. 1651
1652) Basque privateer who made an unauthorized visit to Buenos Aires. Little is known about his early activities; Martı´nez is first mentioned in the official minutes of the July 15, 1651, Treasury meeting held at ‘‘the City of La Trinidad and Port of Buenos Aires’’—as the tiny Argentine capital was then known—as riding at anchor in its harbor, and being owed 20 pesos for two blank books which he had sold to the local Exchequer officers to serve as ledgers. Next spring, the Spanish Crown would send pointed inquiries from Madrid to his home-port of San Sebasti
an in Guip
uzcoa, both in late April and mid-June 1652, demanding to know how Martı´nez had been allowed to traverse the Atlantic to make this arribada at Buenos Aires, seemingly on the strength of his privateering commission alone.

See also Arribada.

Reference Archive of Indies (Seville), Audiencia de Buenos Aires 2, Legajo 6, Folios 70
70v. and 73
73v.

MATROSS Reference Shomette, Donald G. and Haslach, Robert D., Raid on America: The Dutch Naval

Seventeenth-century English expression for a gunner’s mate, doubtless derived from the Dutch word matroos, meaning a ‘‘sailor.’’

Mitchell, Abraham (fl. 1662
1663) This expression seems to have entered into common usage and became well established in England, before being transposed to the West Indies. For example, among the Crown expenses for defense of the English realm in January 1667, there is mention of a: ‘‘Warrant for admission of a gunner and matross, additional to the garrison of Sandown Castle, Isle of Wight.’’ And in one of many similar instances in the Americas, the Assembly of Barbados entered into its minutes for June 1681: ‘‘On the petition of Captain Samuel Norris, gunner of Hole Fort, ordered that 5,000 lbs. of Muscovado [sic] sugar be paid to him, and 3,000 lbs. to John Chilcott, his matross.’’ Mascabado was, and still, is the Spanish term for unrefined or brown sugar.

See also Matross (Volume 2).

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898). Calendar of State Papers, Domestic: Charles II, 1666
67.

MITCHELL, ABRAHAM (fl. 1662
1663) Early English privateer operating out of Jamaica. Amid the hurried preparations at Port Royal to dispatch Commodore Christopher Myngs’s quick-strike expedition against Santiago de Cuba, Mitchell was one of six Captains issued a privateering commission on September 18, 1662 (O.S.), by the recently-arrived Governor

Thomas, Lord Windsor. Like his colleagues John Bull, Jacob Fackman, John Purdue, and Robert Searle, Mitchell secured a six-month license to rove with his vessel Blessing; only George Brimacain received a 10-month permit. Doubtless Mitchell weighed shortly thereafter as part of Myngs’s flotilla, to participate in the sack and destruction of Santiago de Cuba. However, he seems to have been one of the privateers who then sortied again in late 1662 to rove independently, and so missed the subsequent raid led by Myngs against the Mexican port of Campeche early the next year. Still, Mitchell came across some of Myngs’s elements while prowling the Gulf of Mexico, and returned into Port Royal by Saturday, February 28, 1663 (O.S.), to report: That about 90 leagues this side of Campeche, he met three sail of the fleet, viz. Captain William James his ship, sunk in the sea by foul weather, who was the best ship in the fleet next the Admiral, and that many of their men in the fleet were dead. Mitchell added that the Spaniards at Campeche had been forewarned of an English attack, fuelling Jamaican fears that Myngs’s expedition had fared badly. However, the next evening, Sunday, March 1, 1662 (O.S.), word arrived that Captain Milner Mumford’s ketch had just reached Macarry Bay, with news that Myngs had succeeded in carrying Campeche, and the victorious expedition would soon be homeward-bound.

See also Brimacain, George; Bull, John; Fackman, Jacob; Myngs, Sir Christopher; Purdue,

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Modyford, Sir Thomas (fl. 1620
1679) John; Searle, Robert; Windsor, Thomas, Lord.

References Interesting Tracts Relating to the Island of Jamaica (St. Jago de la Vega: Lewis, Lunan and Jones, 1800). National Archives [UK], PRO HCA 49/59, folios 83
92.

MODYFORD, SIR THOMAS (fl. 1620
1679) First Royalist Governor of Barbados and second of Jamaica, dismissed from this latter post for encouraging privateers. Modyford was probably born about 1620, the first of five sons of a Mayor of the seaport of Exeter, England. Raised in comfort, he became a barrister at Lincoln’s Inn in London, married Elizabeth Palmer of Devonshire about 1640 ([by whom he was to have three children: Elizabeth, Thomas, and Charles), then served in the Royalist armies during the English Civil War. In June 1647, toward the latter stages of that conflict, Modyford took his family and withdrew to become a planter on the West Indian island of Barbados, buying half an estate (500 acres) for £7,000, and assuming a leading role in that little community. After the execution of Charles I, he played a prominent part in the Royalist resistance to Parliamentary rule on Barbados, but eventually succumbed and convinced his regiment to switch sides, so that the King’s Governor Lord Willoughby was forced to yield. Despite this service, Modyford was never fully trusted by the new Parliamentarian rulers, who deprived him of his regimental command in 1653. He was restored and also appointed to the Barbados Council after directly petitioning Cromwell.

Following the Restoration of Charles II in the spring of 1660, a commission was issued in London appointing Modyford as Governor of Barbados, which he enacted soon after receiving it there in late June, reestablishing royal rule without difficulty. However, by that same December (1660) word had arrived that Willoughby was to be restored to his former position, and Modyford might face charges for ‘‘his treachery in betraying the island to the usurper, and his persecution of Royalists ever since.’’ Consequently, he resigned and remained only as Speaker of the Assembly, while awaiting a resolution from England. He was never charged, thanks to his influential kinsman George Monck, Duke of Albemarle, who in February 1664 proposed that Modyford succeed Lord Windsor as Governor of Jamaica. This was approved, and Modyford was instructed to take as many settlers from Barbados as were willing to accompany him, and was also created a baronet on February 18, 1664 (O.S.).

Governor of Jamaica (1664
1671) By the end of May 1664, HMS Westergate and the ketch Swallow had arrived at Port Royal, bearing Modyford’s Lieutenant-Governor, Colonel Edward Morgan, who immediately assumed office until his superior could appear. The Blessing of Captain James Gilbert followed on June 1, 1664 (O.S.), with 400 people from Barbados, then another 200 came with Modyford himself on June 4th (O.S.) aboard Captain John Stokes’ HMS Marmaduke. The new Governor forthwith ‘‘caused his commission to be publicly read,’’ and set about launching his administration. One of Modyford’s first acts was to issue a proclamation on

Modyford, Sir Thomas (fl. 1620
1679) June 16th (O.S.), announcing ‘‘that for the future all acts of hostility against the Spaniards should cease,’’ a policy which was to become increasingly tenuous during his years in office. On the one hand, neither Whitehall nor Jamaica’s commercial traders wished to have petty buccaneer raids dictate their relations with Spain; on the other, planters and ordinary citizens depended on the privateers for their prosperity and defense, as did the Crown’s own garrison in times of war. Thus, Modyford was compelled to restrain the freebooters’ activities, without openly driving them to seek French, Dutch, Portuguese, or even Spanish commissions. He began in September 1664 by impounding two rich Spanish prizes brought in by the veteran Captain Robert Searle, in part prompted by a recent letter from the King which reiterated the prohibition of violence against the Spaniards, and furthermore ordered ‘‘entire restitution and satisfaction made to the sufferers.’’ In light of this reminder, Modyford and the Jamaican Council agreed ‘‘that Captain Searle’s commission be taken from him and his rudder and sails taken ashore for security,’’ while the prizes were returned intact to Santiago de Cuba. But later, the Governor discreetly allowed Maurice Williams and Bernard Nichols to bring in prizes, while privately communicating to London that the buccaneers must be allowed to dispose of their captures as they straggled back in to surrender their commissions, ‘‘otherwise they will be alarmed and go to the French at Tortuga, and His Majesty will lose 1,000 or 1,500 stout men.’’ He added that they might even be tempted to attack ships bound for Jamaica, as Captain Munro had already done, ‘‘for they are desperate people, the greater

part having been men o’ war for twenty years.’’ He concluded on the rather optimistic note that they might instead be set ‘‘a-planting,’’ and if afterward ‘‘His Majesty shall think fit to have Tortuga or Curac¸ao taken, none will be fitter for that work than they.’’ This suggestion was shortly put to the test, for in the spring of 1665 word arrived of the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Dutch War back in Europe. With Modyford’s backing, Lieutenant-Governor Morgan assembled a force of 10 privateer vessels and more than 500 men, leading them in the conquest of Dutch Sint Eustatia and Saba. However, Morgan died during this assault, and the buccaneers then refused to follow his second-in-command, Colonel Theodore Cary (‘‘a man of too easy disposition’’ according to Modyford) in a projected attack against Curac¸ao. Instead they dispersed, preferring to raid their traditional Spanish foes rather than the Dutch. By November 1665, Modyford was obliged to send ‘‘for the leading men of the privateers,’’ asking them to rendezvous at Bluefields Bay, where he again proposed that they sail against Curac¸ao under Edward Mansfield. The buccaneers agreed, but once out of sight of Jamaica turned on the Spaniards again. Even Mansfield’s own crew refused to beat upwind for Curac¸ao, ‘‘averring publicly that there was more profit with less hazard to be gotten against the Spaniard, which was their only interest.’’ Such sentiments were not limited to the privateersmen, for late in February 1666 the Jamaican Council presented Modyford with a resolution outlining 12 reasons why it was to the interest of that colony to grant letters-of-marque against the Spaniards, claiming ‘‘said commissions did extraordinarily conduce to the strengthening, preservation, enriching,

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Modyford, Sir Thomas (fl. 1620
1679) and advancing the settlement of this island.’’ Modyford concurred, justifying this belligerence by the hostility met from the Spanish Americans, adding: ‘‘it must be force alone that can cut in sunder that unneighborly maxim of their government to deny all access of strangers.’’ After complaining repeatedly to London about the depredations of Spanish guardacostas, he was given ‘‘latitude to grant or not to grant commissions against the Spaniards,’’ despite the official peace prevailing with that nation in Europe. The Governor continued to issue licenses even after the first Treaty of Madrid was signed in May 1667, motivated in part by the constant local frictions with the Spanish Americans, as well as the profits to be had from that kind of low-grade warfare. He contrived to appoint his brother James to replace Edward Morgan as LieutenantGovernor and Chief Justice of the Admiralty Court at Port Royal, then commissioned Henry Morgan in February 1668 ‘‘to draw together the English privateers’’ and determine whether the Spanish Americans intended to invade Jamaica. This threat was supposedly confirmed, then used to justify Morgan’s descent on Portobelo, which he seized in late June 1668 and held for ransom. Next spring, Modyford furnished the 34-gun frigate HMS Oxford to serve as Morgan’s flagship in his campaign against Maracaibo, and later welcomed the raiders on their victorious return. At this point, the licensed privateering might have begun to taper off, for Modyford had once more been ordered to put an end to hostilities against the Spaniards, and proclaimed this throughout the streets of Port Royal on June 24, 1669 (O.S.). However, the Spanish Americans again provided him with a convenient excuse, when they began issuing commissions of their own to corsairs

such as Manoel Rivero Pardal, who raided Jamaica in the summer of 1670. In retaliation, Modyford commissioned Morgan on July 2nd (O.S.) to gather a force and ‘‘use his best endeavors to surprise, take, sink, disperse, or destroy the enemy’s vessels, and in case he finds it feasible, to land and attack Santiago [de Cuba] or any other place.’’ Morgan sailed to ^Ile-a-Vache, off the southwestern tip of Saint-Domimgue, and spent several months recruiting men. Meanwhile Modyford was advised that a second Treaty of Madrid had been signed with the Spaniards that July, but allegedly could not then get word to Morgan before his freebooter host devastated Panama. Equally significantly, Albemarle had died in January 1670, thus depriving Modyford of his patronage and protection. As a sop to the Spaniards, it had already been decided to replace Modyford with his old Jamaican rival Sir Thomas Lynch, who believed in developing peaceful trade relations with Spanish America, and who further was instructed to ‘‘cause the person of Sir Thomas Modyford to be made prisoner and sent home under a strong guard, [because] he has, contrary to the King’s express commands, made many depredations and hostilities against the subjects of His Majesty’s good brother, the Catholic King.’’ On July 1, 1671 (O.S.), HMSs Assistance, 40, and Welcome, 36, reached Port Royal bearing Lynch, who immediately read his patent and the revocation of that of Modyford at a banquet given in his honor at the latter’s home. ‘‘The people seemed not much pleased,’’ Lynch noted in a letter, for Modyford had presided over a period of considerable growth and successful military ventures in Jamaica’s history.

Moreau, Jean (fl. 1663
1665)

Later Career (1671
1679) Six weeks later, Lynch completed the second part of his instructions when he inveigled Modyford aboard Assistance on the pretext that he had ‘‘something to import to him from the King,’’and then arrested him. Modyford learned that his younger son Charles had already been detained in the Tower of London against his father’s good behavior, and reacted with great dignity to his own detention. He only objected to the underhanded method employed, telling Lynch that he wished he might have been allowed to show ‘‘his obedience by his voluntary submission to His Majesty’s pleasure.’’ An embarrassed Lynch assured him that ‘‘his life and estate was not in danger,’’ but there was a need to make a convincing show of royal displeasure for the Spaniards’ benefit. On August 22, 1671 (O.S.), Modyford set sail for England, a prisoner aboard the Jamaica Merchant of Captain Joseph Knapman. On his arrival in London that same November 1671, Modyford was incarcerated in his son’s cell at the Tower on November 17th (O.S.). Less than a year later, on August 14, 1672 (O.S.), he was ordered to have the liberty of the prison, and remained in relatively easy confinement for a couple more years, without ever being brought to trial. When the Crown’s diplomatic priorities once again changed, he was released and restored to Jamaica as Chief Justice for the island in 1675. He died on September 2, 1679 (O.S.), being buried in the cathedral at Spanish Town.

References Dictionary of National Biography (London, 1885
1900, 63 Volumes); Issued by Oxford University Press, 2004.

Earle, Peter, The Sack of Panama: Captain Morgan and the Battle for the Caribbean (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2007). Exquemelin, Alexandre-Olivier, The Buccaneers of America (London: Penguin, 1969). Interesting Tracts Relating to the Island of Jamaica (St. Jago de la Vega: Lewis, Lunan and Jones, 1800). Pawson, Michael, and Buisseret, David J., Port Royal, Jamaica (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1975). Pope, Dudley, Harry Morgan’s Way: The Biography of Sir Henry Morgan, 1635
1684 (London: Secker & Warburg, 1977). Thornton, A.P., ‘‘The Modyfords and Morgan,’’ Jamaican Historical Review, Vol. 2 (1952), pp. 36
60.

MOREAU, JEAN (fl. 1663
1665) Minor French privateer who operated with an English commission, until he was deemed to have turned pirate, and so was hunted down. Late in 1663, Moreau apparently obtained a letter-of-reprisal against the Spaniards from Jamaica’s Governor Thomas, Lord Windsor. Two Frenchmen residing at Port Royal, Jean Grandmai
Filliot, stood surety for this son and Elie license. Yet amid the swelling number of seizures and counter-seizures plaguing Caribbean waters a year later, Moreau’s Saint-Louis was believed by the new Gov. Sir Thomas Modyford to be one of several flibustier vessels plying off Saint-Domingue ‘‘who have plundered a sloop, a Hamptonman, and a New England ketch, and killed a man in cold blood, the rest being forced to beg their lives on their knees.’’

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Morgan, Edward (fl. 1664
1665) Therefore, Modyford wrote to inform the Secretary Sir Henry Bennett in London on February 20, 1665 (O.S.), how he had: ‘‘Dispatched on 31st January the Swallow under Captain [Robert] Ensome to Cape Tiburon in Hispaniola, to capture the French pirate Moroe [sic], whose commission from Lord Windsor having expired, he has turned pirate.’’ Less than a fortnight later, on March 1st, the delighted Jamaican Governor would add: Captain Ensome has arrived with Moro’s ship and 12 prisoners, having after half-an-hour’s fight killed Moro, Grand Louis, and many of his men. The 12 have been condemned together with Moro’s ship. Captain Ensome lost but one man. This is a very considerable and seasonable piece of service, and will give a great stop to the villainous intentions of these revolting pirates. Modyford included the verdicts passed on 10 of the dozen surviving French and Dutch crewmen, for having ransacked the Prosperous of Hampton: ‘‘John Peanco and five others to be hanged, Cornelius Jacobson imprisoned, and three others acquitted.’’

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 5 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1880).

MORGAN, EDWARD (fl. 1664
1665) Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica, who died leading an expedition of privateers against the Dutch in the West Indies.

Edward Morgan was apparently an older relation of Henry Morgan, although the exact nature of their relationship has never been clearly established. Edward Morgan was born in the village of Llanrhymny (today Rhymney), near Tredegar in Wales. As a young man, he ventured abroad as a professional soldier of fortune sometime around 1624, serving in the Thirty Years War among the Dutch in the Low Countries, to whom he was known as ‘‘Heer van Lanrumnij.’’ He also saw action in Germany and while stationed in Westphalia married Anna Petronilla von Polnitz, daughter of the Governor of Lippstadt, Baron Hans Georg von Polnitz, by whom he had seven children. When the English Civil War erupted, Edward returned home to join the Royalist forces and by 1649 had risen to ‘‘Colonel-General’’ of the King’s forces in South Wales, under the Earl of Carberry. Following the defeat and collapse of the Royalist cause, he fled into exile to his wife’s family estate at Aschbach, near Bamberg, Germany. On the restoration of Charles II to the throne, an impoverished Edward Morgan returned to London with his family, and the newly-crowned monarch bestowed an income of £300 a year on his faithful retainer by letters-patent dated October 10, 1662 (O.S.). Although this salary was not immediately disbursed because of the chaotic Crown finances, he was then furthermore rewarded by being chosen to serve as Deputy-Governor of Jamaica in December 1663, as second to Sir Thomas Modyford. Given that international tensions were once again rising against the Dutch, Morgan’s four decades of active military duty and fluency in Dutch figured largely in his selection, as it was felt that he would prove valuable to Modyford—a man with legal training, who

Morgan, Edward (fl. 1664
1665) had spent his adult life as a plantationowner on Barbados—when hostilities did eventually erupt. (In a separate set of instructions sent with Morgan for Modyford, who was awaiting his DeputyGovernor’s stopover at Barbados, appears the sentence: ‘‘Colonel Morgan is particularly recommended to his [Modyford’s] friendship and good usage.’’) Morgan was allotted £3,000 from the Royal Treasury to hire ‘‘carpenters, masons, and other artificers’’ to build fortifications on Jamaica, as well as to buy military stores and ammunition in England, even before receiving his official appointment on January 18, 1664 (O.S.). The Colonel set sail by early March 1664 with his family, aboard HMS Westergate and the ketch Swallow, his eldest daughter Elizabeth dying during the ensuing trans-Atlantic crossing. Two other members of his family also succumbed after reaching Carlisle Bay at Barbados on April 21, 1664 (O.S.), allegedly of ‘‘a malign distemper by reason of the nastiness of the passengers.’’ Morgan resumed his voyage to Jamaica early next month, his convoy of new colonists pausing en route to deliver an official message to the Spanish Governor at Santo Domingo, in which it was proposed that the two nations ‘‘forbear all acts of hostility, but allow each other the free use of our respective harbors and the civility of food, water, and provisions for money.’’ The Spaniard returned a polite but evasive reply, and on May 18, 1664 (O.S.), Morgan arrived off Jamaica, entering Port Royal next day and ‘‘as soon as he came ashore, took the government into his hands and dissolved the Assembly,’’ until Modyford could appear two weeks later with another 700 transplanted Barbadians aboard HMS Marmaduke and its consort Blessing.

The new Governor approved of his subordinate’s energy and craft, writing to London: ‘‘I find the character of Colonel Morgan short of his worth and am infinitely obliged to His Majesty for sending so worthy a person to assist me, whom I really cherish as my brother.’’ In addition to his administrative duties, the Deputy-Governor had moreover received a new plantation on the island, which he and his son Charles soon began to clear. It is not known whether they met their distant relation, Henry Morgan, around this same time. Crown policy was demanding a recall of all Jamaican privateers, so as to curtail their depredations against the Spaniards—an activity in which Henry was deeply embroiled, so that any public contact might have proven embarrassing. By 28 June 1664 (O.S.), the new Lieutenant-Governor was even writing to London in defense of the rovers, arguing that they ‘‘do not now hinder the planters at all . . . but are a great security, and it is very necessary to continue them till the land is better settled.’’ Otherwise, he feared that the numbers of outright pirates would be very much increased: . . . by this inhibition of privateers. There are 14 or 15 sail still abroad who will not come in unless it be to lead the enemy in upon us, which is easily done, they being 2,000 or 3,000, we having not so much fortification as to lodge 100 men. Henry Morgan slipped away late that same year of 1664, to mount an unlicensed raid into the Gulf of Mexico under the veteran freebooters John Morris and David Martien. During his absence, frictions with the Dutch accelerated overseas, until Charles

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Morgan, Edward (fl. 1664
1665)

Ship Sevillian Saint John Pearl Olive Branch Trueman Susannah Mayflower Unnamed galliot

Guns 16 12 10 6 6 2 1

authorized his brother James, Duke of York—in his official capacity as High Admiral of England—on February 2, 1665 (O.S.) ‘‘to grant commissions to the Governors, Vice Admirals, or others of His Majesty’s islands and foreign dominions, to empower them to grant commissions to such as they shall think fit, for taking the ships and goods of [the] States, their subjects or inhabitants.’’ Even before this order reached Jamaica, though, Governor Modyford had already authorized his own regional offensive. He reported to London on April 12, 1665 (O.S.), how: ‘‘The privateers, upon my gentleness towards them, come in apace and cheerfully offer life and fortune to His Majesty’s service.’’ In particular, the rover Maurice Williams, who had recently brought in the Spanish prize Santo Cristo de Burgos for adjudication, was persuaded to use his 18-gun Speaker as flagship for an expedition to be headed by Colonel Morgan. According to Modyford: Their design is to fall upon the Dutch fleet trading at St. Christopher’s, capture Eustatia, Saba, and Curac¸ao, and on their homeward voyage visit the French and English buccaneers at Hispaniola and Tortuga. All this is prepared by the honest privateer [Williams], at the old rate of ‘‘no purchase no pay,’’ and it will cost the

Commander Gerrit Gerritszoon John Harman Robert Searle John Outlaw Albert Bernardson Nathaniel Cobham John Bamfield Abraham Malarka (or Malarkey)

King nothing considerable, some powder and mortar pieces. Morgan drew up his will and wrote to Sec. Sir Henry Bennett from Spanish Town that same day of April 12, 1665 (O.S.), beseeching him that if he should fall, his six children might ‘‘get that little which is due to him from the Court.’’ The Colonel’s wife having since died, he added the ominous rider: ‘‘An abuse to orphans would call for judgment from Heaven, which God bless our kingdoms from.’’ Morgan then set sail three days later aboard Williams’ Speaker, with three other vessels. His assembled force would total 650 buccaneers aboard his flagship, plus privateer craft as shown in the table above. Although the rovers showed scant enthusiasm for a campaign against the Dutch, they nevertheless started the long upwind beat toward this destination, during which Morgan paused off Santo Domingo to ask permission to buy provisions, firewood, and water, only to be refused by the Spanish. His expedition reached Montserrat by July 17, 1665, where Morgan refreshed and procured some landing-craft, before running northwestward shortly thereafter on the prevailing winds. Coming within sight of Sint Eustatius, Morgan led a charge of 350 buccaneers ashore, easily overwhelming its outnumbered and

Morgan, Sir Henry (fl. 1665
1675) surprised garrison, although in the words of his second-in-command, Colonel Theodore Cary: ‘‘The good old Colonel, leaping out of the boat and being a corpulent man, got a strain, and his spirit being great, he pursued overearnestly the enemy on a hot day, so that he surfeited and suddenly died.’’

See also Gerritszoon, Gerrit; Modyford, Sir Thomas; Morgan, Sir Henry; Williams, Maurice.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 5 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1893
1899). Calendar of Treasury Books, Volume 1, 1660
1667 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1904). Crouse, Nellis M., The French Struggle for the West Indies, 1665
1713 (New York: Octagon, 1966). Cruikshank, E. A., The Life of Sir Henry Morgan (Toronto: Macmillan, 1935). Interesting Tracts Relating to the Island of Jamaica (St. Jago de la Vega: Lewis, Lunan and Jones, 1800). Pope, Dudley, Harry Morgan’s Way: The Biography of Sir Henry Morgan, 1635
1684 (London: Secker & Warburg, 1977).

MORGAN, SIR HENRY (fl. 1665
1675) Greatest of freebooter commanders, who made his home on Jamaica. Morgan’s lineage has never been clearly established. He is believed to have been born around 1635, at Abergavenny or possibly in the manor of Llanrhymny, near the town of Newport

(a modern suburb of the Welsh capital of Cardiff). However, his name does not feature in the official family-tree of the noble Morgans of Tredegar Park, suggesting that perhaps he or his father had sprung from an illegitimate branch. When, many years later, Henry would be brought home from Jamaica to stand trial in August 1672, the family titleholder at that time, William Morgan of Tredegar, referred to the infamous buccaneer in a letter as ‘‘a relation and formerly a near neighbor.’’ And in Sir Henry’s own will, read after his death in 1688, he would acknowledge a sister, Catherine Lloyd, and ‘‘my ever honourable cousin, Mr. Thomas Morgan of Tredegar,’’ who had inherited the legitimate family title from his father William eight years previously. Yet the exact relationship of the Jamaican adventurer to the Morgan household has never been clearly defined, and even his parentage remains a mystery. During his youth, Henry was raised for a military life, noting years later that: ‘‘I left school too young to be a great proficient in [Admiralty] or other laws, and have been more used to the pike than the book.’’ His older relations Edward and Thomas Morgan had both served as professional soldiers-of-fortune in Europe, achieving high ranks on the Continent during the Thirty Years War. When the English Civil War erupted in 1642, Edward returned to fight in Monmouthshire for the King, while Thomas served on the Parliamentary side. After the Royalist defeat and execution of Charles I, Edward fled into exile, while Thomas remained in England and rose to become a Major-General in the New Model Army, a trusted subordinate of Oliver Cromwell. Although almost illiterate—able to ‘‘sign his name only with

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Morgan, Sir Henry (fl. 1665
1675)

Allegedly, a modern reproduction of a much earlier portrait of teenaged Henry Morgan, painted shortly before his departure for the West Indies in 1655. (Tredegar House, South Wales)

difficulty’’—Thomas Morgan served with distinction as the second-in-command of the Flanders expedition in 1657
1658, being described as ‘‘a little, shrill-voiced, choleric man’’ in action. However, young Henry and the other Royalist members of the family in Wales had apparently been left in reduced circumstances by the King’s defeat, so destitute that he had to be sold into indenture, a shameful fate. The Bristol Apprentice Books (Servants to Foreign Plantations) contains the following entry: ‘‘1655, February 9 [O.S.]. Henry Morgan of Abergavenny, laborer, bound to Timothy Townsend of Bristol, cutler, for three years to serve in Barbados.’’ Morgan would be

so embarrassed of the low status in which he had held early during his West Indian life, that almost 30 years later he would sue the English publishers of the buccaneer chronicler Exquemeling for, among other things, affirming that he had served a full term as an indentured servant on Barbados, before then regaining his freedom and taking ‘‘himself to Jamaica, there to seek new fortunes.’’ Morgan presumably reached Jamaica sometime late in 1658 or early 1659, but the first official notice of his activities occurred a few years later, after England’s monarchy had been restored. When the first Royal Governor Thomas, Lord Windsor, disbanded the remnants of the original Cromwellian occupationforce and reorganized Jamaica’s defense into five militia regiments in 1662, Morgan had achieved enough wealth and experience to be appointed a Captain in the Port Royal Regiment. He also received a privateering commission for a tiny vessel lying in the roads and sailed as part of Commodore Christopher Myngs’s initial strike against the Spaniards.

Santiago de Cuba Raid (October 1662) Myngs’s flotilla quit Port Royal on October 1, 1662, comprised of the 40-gun HMS Centurion, the 14-gun European privateer Griffin, and 10 freebooter vessels, bearing a total of 1,300 men. Slowly rounding Point Negril at the west end of Jamaica, they arrived off eastern Cuba and incorporated the corsair ship of Sir Thomas Whetstone into their number, as well as seven more Jamaican stragglers. They then came within sight of Santiago de Cuba at daybreak on October 16th, but could not close

Morgan, Sir Henry (fl. 1665
1675) because of the faint, erratic breezes. Finally, late that same afternoon Myngs decided to steer directly toward land and by nightfall had put 1,000 men ashore. Next day, they fought their way into the town and took possession of the vessels lying in the harbor, after which they sent columns in pursuit of the fleeing Spaniards. Five days later the fortifications and principal buildings were razed, and the raiders made off with their booty. Myngs’s expedition returned triumphantly into Port Royal on November 1st, having suffered only six men killed during this singularly successful campaign, and another 20 due to accidents or illness. Encouraged by this easy success, the privateers reputedly ‘‘all went to sea’’ for more plunder, while Myngs called for yet another expedition against the Spanish on December 22, 1662. It is not known whether Morgan was present in Port Royal for this second enterprise, but it seems plausible that he was. Soon a dozen ships were being made ready and on Sunday, January 21, 1663, they got under way for the Mexican port of Campeche. Myngs quickly rounded Yucatan and worked his flotilla down into the Gulf of Mexico, losing contact with the vice-flagship Griffin and several other privateersmen en route. Nonetheless he snuck almost 1,000 men ashore four miles west of Campeche on the night of February 8
9, 1663, and advanced against the sleeping city. At first light, Spanish lookouts saw his smaller vessels lying opposite this disembarkation point, with two larger ships riding farther out to sea. They sounded the alarm, but too late, for the buccaneer army burst out of the nearby woods at eight o’clock that morning and rushed Campeche. Despite being surprised and

heavily outnumbered, the 150 Spanish militiamen put up a stout resistance, especially from their ‘‘strong built stone houses, flat at top.’’ A bloody firefight ensued, in which Myngs received serious wounds in his face and both thighs while leading the charge. He was carried back aboard Centurion, while the privateer leader Edward Mansfield assumed overall command. The defenders were eventually subdued after two hours’ heated battle, suffering more than 50 fatalities as opposed to 30 English invaders slain. Some 170 Spanish captives were rounded up, while many of the city’s thatched huts went up in flames. The attackers then looted Campeche and withdrew two weeks later, on February 23, 1663, carrying off great booty and 14 vessels from the harbor. They slowly beat back around Yucatan against contrary winds and currents, until Centurion reached Port Royal on April 23, 1663, followed ‘‘soon after [by] the rest of the fleet, but straggling, because coming from leeward every one made the best of his way.’’ Morgan and some colleagues later claimed that they remained at sea roving continuously over the next 22 months after this return, which seems highly unlikely. What is known is that toward the end of 1664, the veteran Jamaican commanders John Morris and David Martien mounted a small peacetime expedition of their own into the Gulf of Mexico, seconded by Captains Fackman, Morgan, and Freeman. Strictly speaking, such ventures were now illegal, as the new Gov. Sir Thomas Modyford had proclaimed ‘‘that for the future all acts of hostility against the Spaniards should cease.’’ However, the privateers ignored this injunction, disingenuously arguing that they knew nothing of this cessation of hostilities and so had continued

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Morgan, Sir Henry (fl. 1665
1675) operating under their two-year-old commissions from Lord Windsor.

Tabasco Raid (Spring 1665) Together, the five captains mustered a few vessels and less than 200 men, departing Jamaica in January 1665. Once more circling around Yucatan, they moved down the Gulf coast until opposite Campeche, where one night in midFebruary 1665 they cut out an 8-gun Spanish frigate from the roads. They then anchored on February 19th before the tiny town of Santa Marı´a de la Frontera, at the mouth of the Grijalva River. Some 110 to 120 buccaneers disembarked and traveled 50 miles upriver through marshy channels, until coming upon the provincial capital of Villahermosa de Tabasco. At four o’clock in the morning on February 24th they fell on this city, capturing most of its inhabitants in their beds. A general sack ensued, with booty and captives being loaded aboard a coaster in the river. The raiders then headed downriver, seizing a second coaster bearing flour. Near the river mouth, they discovered their anchored ships had been captured during their absence by a Spanish naval patrol. Three Spanish frigates and 270 men had been sent out from Campeche by Lieutenant-Governor Antonio Maldonado de Aldana, which sighted the interlopers’ trio on February 22, 1665, and boarded them without a fight. A single English vessel fled, abandoning their 10gun flagship and 8-gun prize to the Spaniards. Seven buccaneer captives revealed that ‘‘Captain Mauricio [sic; Morris] and David Martin [sic; Martien]’’ had led the bulk of the raiders inland. Their retreat cut off, Morgan and the main body of freebooters released

their hostages and began moving westward with the two coasters, hoping to find another river channel whereby to escape. On the afternoon of March 17th, they were overtaken by the Spanish guardacostas opposite Santa Ana Cay, this time with the privateers’ former 10gun flagship and 8-gun prize crewed by 300 volunteer militiamen from Campeche. Jos
e Aldana, the Spanish commander, sent a messenger in a boat to call on the buccaneers to surrender, but they pretended not to understand him. When an interpreter approached shore next morning, the rovers replied they would not give up without a fight, and the Spaniards reluctantly disembarked. They discovered that the raiders had entrenched themselves behind a palisade reinforced with sandbags, and bristling with seven small cannon. The Spanish force, mostly armed civilians, showed little stomach for an assault, and were easily repelled without a single loss among the freebooters. The next day, March 19, 1665, the Spanish ships were found conveniently run aground, thus allowing the raiders to exit undisturbed.

Central American Campaign (Summer 1665) Morgan and the other privateers proceeded northward along the coast, capturing smaller boats and occasionally foraging ashore to obtain supplies. Off Sisal they looted a vessel laden with corn, whose crew was allegedly released with a message to the Governor of Yucatan, vowing to return and lay waste the province. They then rounded Yucatan and traversed the Bay of Honduras as far south as Roat
an, where they paused to

Morgan, Sir Henry (fl. 1665
1675) take on water. Striking next at Trujillo (Honduras), they overran this port and seized a vessel in the roads, before continuing to Cape Gracias a Dios and the Mosquito Coast. There native guides were hired, and the buccaneers continued southward to Monkey Point (Punta Mono, Nicaragua), where they hid their ships before heading up the San Juan River in lighter boats. They emerged into the great Lago de Nicaragua, crossing this by traveling at night and sneaking up on Granada, which they took by surprise on June 29, 1665 when they: . . . marched undescried into the center of the city, fired a volley, overturned 18 great guns in the Plaza de Armas, took the sargento mayor’s [or garrison commander’s] house, wherein were all their arms and ammunition, secured in the great church 300 of the best men prisoners, abundance of which were churchmen, plundered for 16 hours, discharged all the prisoners, sunk all the boats [to prevent pursuit], and so came away. Retracing their course across the lake, at the southeastern extremity ‘‘they took a vessel of 100 tons and an island as large as Barbados, called Lida [sic; Solentiname?], which they plundered.’’ Eventually they regained their anchored vessels, so that by the end of August 1665, William Beeston was noting in his journal at Port Royal: Captain Fackman [sic; Fackman] and others arrived from the taking of the towns of Tabasco and Villahermosa, in the bay of Mexico, and although there had been peace with the Spaniards not long since proclaimed, yet the privateers went out

and in, as if there had been an actual war, without commission. Toward the end of this same year, Morgan apparently married his cousin Mary Elizabeth Morgan (who had come out from England that previous summer with her father, LieutenantGov. Edward Morgan), and in February 1666 was promoted to Colonel of the Port Royal Volunteer Militia and assigned to supervise the expansion of its harbor defenses. The chronicler Alexandre-Olivier Exquemelin later wrote that Morgan also participated in Edward Mansfield’s final campaign against Providencia Island in May 1666, but this appears to have been an error.

Puerto del Prı´ncipe Raid (April 1668) Nevertheless, Morgan did inherit Mansfield’s mantle as unofficial leader of the buccaneers, so that late in 1667 during a period of renewed anti-Spanish fears, he was commissioned by Modyford ‘‘to draw together the English privateers and take prisoners of the Spanish nation, whereby he might inform of the intention of that enemy to invade Jamaica.’’ Such an open-ended license meant that rovers flocked to Morgan’s rendezvous off the south cays of Cuba, including John Morris and Edward Collier, as well as numerous French flibustiers [whose own country, unlike England, was at least at war with Spain]. After holding consultations, Morgan led this formation of a dozen ships and 700 men into the Gulf of Ana Marı´a, setting a large party ashore at dawn on March 28, 1668 at Florida Beach in the Ensenada de Santa

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Morgan, Sir Henry (fl. 1665
1675) Marı´a (today called Santa Cruz del Sur), to raid the inland town of Puerto del Prı´ncipe (modern Camag€uey). Spotted while pushing overland, the Spaniards attempted to dispute their advance next dawn with 800 militia cavalrymen and native lancers, but these were helpless before the superior firepower of the buccaneers, who inflicted several hundred casualties, including more than 100 deaths, before carrying Puerto del Prı´ncipe by storm that same afternoon. Three days of pillage ensued, although the raiders withdrew by April 1st with only 50,000 pieces of eight, a disappointing sum when it had to be redistributed among so many. Nonetheless the Spaniards also provided 500 head of cattle as ransom for their hostages, so that Morgan left the Cuban coast well supplied and steered his force toward Cape Gracias a Dios on the Mosquito Coast (Nicaragua). Here the two contingents parted company, when Morgan suggested a descent on the Panamanian port of Portobelo. The French, already resentful at the small purchase obtained at Puerto del Prı´ncipe, ‘‘wholly refused to join with us in that action,’’ Morgan later reported, ‘‘as being too full of danger and difficulty.’’

Portobelo Raid (July 1668) With only the four frigates, eight sloops, and less than 500 men left to him, Morgan sailed down the Central American coast searching for more recruits, before anchoring at Bocas del Toro (literally ‘‘Bull’s Mouths’’ or ‘‘Entrances of the Bull,’’ off the northwestern shores of Panama). He transferred his men into 23 piraguas and smaller boats, rowing

150 miles eastward in four nights—approaching Portobelo from its unguarded western approaches—until he arrived in the vicinity of Buenaventura by the afternoon of July 10, 1668. That night, his flotilla disgorged its men and Morgan led them in a swift overland march, taking the stunned Spanish citizenry by surprise at daybreak on July 11, 1668. An eyewitness described how the buccaneers fired ‘‘off their guns at everything alive, whites, blacks, even dogs, in order to spread terror,’’ and so secured Portobelo without suffering a single loss. Its 80-man Santiago de la Gloria citadel held out for a couple of hours longer, until Morgan rounded up a group of captives including the alcalde mayor, two friars, several women, and nuns to act as a human shield for a party of buccaneers that advanced on the main gate with torches and axes. The Spanish defenders reluctantly opened fire, wounding two friars and killing an Englishmen, but were unable to prevent the sappers from reaching their gate. While thus distracted, another band of buccaneers used scaling ladders to enter on the far side of the fortress, planting ‘‘their red flag on the castle walls’’ as they carried the building. At least 45 Spanish soldiers died in this bloodbath, and the rest were wounded. Next morning, Morgan led 200 buccaneers across the bay and after a token resistance, forced the surrender of the 50 Spanish soldiers still holding out in the San Felipe harbor-castle. This allowed his ships to anchor in the shelter of the roads once they arrived from Bocas del Toro, and at the cost of 18 buccaneer dead, Portobelo was theirs. Wealthy citizens were tortured to reveal their hidden riches, and other excesses committed. On July 14, 1668, Morgan wrote a letter

Morgan, Sir Henry (fl. 1665
1675) Morgan’s Sack of Portobelo, July 1668.

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After approaching stealthily—paddling upwind along the coast out of a westerly direction—to disembark quietly on the afternoon of July 10, 1668, at Buenaventura (1), Morgan burst on Portobelo next morning (2). Once its stubborn citadel surrendered, he then crossed its bay and drove the few defenders out of San Felipe harbor castle (3), allowing his ships to enter the roads (4) and anchor safely.

in good Spanish to the President of the Audiencia of Panama on the Pacific side of the Isthmus, saying: Tomorrow we plan to burn this city to the ground and then set sail with all the guns and munitions from the castles. With us we will take all our prisoners . . . and we will show them the same kindness that the English prisoners have received in this place. However, Morgan offered to spare the city if a ransom of 350,000 pesos was paid. Acting-President Agustı´n de Bracamonte, marching to Portobelo’s relief at the head of 800 Panamanian

militiamen, responded: ‘‘I take you to be a corsair and I reply that the vassals of the King of Spain do not make treaties with inferior persons.’’ Morgan unabashedly wrote back: Although your letter does not deserve a reply, since you call me a corsair, nevertheless I write you these few lines to ask you to come quickly. We are waiting for you with great pleasure and we have powder and ball with which to receive you. If you do not come very soon, we will, with the favor of God and our arms, come and visit you in Panama. Now it is our intention to garrison the castles and

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Morgan, Sir Henry (fl. 1665
1675) keep them for the King of England, my master, who since he had a mind to seize them, has also a mind to keep them. And since I do not believe that you have sufficient men to fight with me tomorrow, I will order all the poor prisoners to be freed so that they may go to help you. Much to his chagrin, Bracamonte’s army was too weak to assault Morgan’s positions when he arrived outside Portobelo next day, and the Spaniards remained unhappily bogged down for a week in the jungle. Finally on July 24, 1668, Bracamonte ordered a retreat, leaving a subordinate to negotiate the ransom. This was set at 100,000 pesos and paid in the first days of August, at which Morgan loaded up his ships and sailed away, returning to Port Royal in triumph by August 27th.

Oxford Explosion (January 1669) He sortied again in early October 1668, calling on freebooters to join him at ^Ile a Vache for another enterprise against the Spaniards. When the 34-gun loaned frigate HMS Oxford reached Port Royal shortly thereafter, to be maintained by Jamaica and used against piracy, Modyford decided to send it as a reinforcement for Morgan ‘‘to face Cartagena.’’ The ship’s captain paused at Port Morant that November 1668, where he culminated a dispute with his sailing master by killing the man and fleeing, so that the Governor appointed the veteran privateersman Edward Collier in his place, and fleshed out the crew to a total of 160 men. This new Captain then sailed on December 20, 1668, with additional instructions to detain the 14-gun French

corsair Cerf Volant (‘‘Kite’’) out of La Rochelle, which had recently plundered a Virginia merchantman. On arriving at ^Ile a Vache with the aggrieved master aboard Oxford as a witness, Collier found this culprit lying among Morgan’s flotilla, and so invited the French captain aboard. Identified by the Virginian, Capitaine Vivien and his 45-man crew were arrested, and sailed back to Port Royal along with their ship for adjudication. Cerf Volant was quickly condemned, renamed Satisfaction, and incorporated back into Morgan’s fleet. On January 12, 1669 (January 2 O.S.), Morgan and his colleagues decided that since 900 to 1,000 freebooters had gathered, their strength was sufficient to try the great port of Cartagena on the Spanish Main, after which they began a feast to celebrate both their forthcoming voyage and the New Year. Captains Aylett, Bigford, Collier, Morris, Thornbury, and Whiting all sat down to dinner with Morgan on the quarterdeck, while seamen caroused on the forecastle. ‘‘They drank the health of the King of England and toasted their good success and fired off salvoes,’’ until suddenly the Oxford’s magazine exploded. Ship’s surgeon Richard Browne, who sat toward the foot of the officer’s table on the same side as Morgan, later wrote: I was eating my dinner with the rest, when the mainmasts blew out and fell upon Captains Aylett, Bigford and others, and knocked them on the head. Only six men and four boys survived the accident, out of a company of more than 200 that were aboard. Miraculously, Morgan lived through this blast, but the

Morgan, Sir Henry (fl. 1665
1675) loss of so many others ended any prospects for a Cartagena campaign. Collier departed with Satisfaction to make an independent cruise against Campeche, while Morgan transferred into the 14-gun frigate Lilly and led his remaining forces eastward, hoping to raid the lesser targets of Trinidad or Margarita Islands (Venezuela). But by the time he reached Saona Island at the eastern end of Santo Domingo, three more of his best ships had deserted, leaving only eight and 500 men. (His loyal captains were John Morris, Jeffery Pennant, Edward Dempster, Richard Norman, Richard Dobson, Adam Brewster, and one other.) It was then that one of his French followers suggested a repeat of Jean-David Nau l’Olonnais’s feat of two years earlier, by raiding the rich yet vulnerable Laguna de Maracaibo.

Maracaibo Raid (March 1669) Morgan and the rest of his consorts agreed, so that after touching at Aruba a few weeks later to stock up on provisions, the buccaneer fleet stood into the Gulf of Venezuela. On March 9, 1669, they were nearing the Bar of Maracaibo, a string of islands and shoals marking the entrance to the Laguna proper, when they saw that it had been fortified since Nau’s foray. A small 11-gun castle now covered the channel, so that the freebooters landed and besieged its defenders. Yet despite the stout resistance being offered, there were in fact only one Spanish officer and eight soldiers within the keep, who slipped out of the fort that same night, after leaving a long slow fuse burning into the magazine. Morgan and an

assault-column meanwhile inched gradually into the darkened fortress out of the opposite side, ‘‘amazed to find no defenders’’ until a search revealed the fuse, which was extinguished ‘‘about an inch away from the powder,’’ according to Exquemelin. After spiking the guns, Morgan’s ships navigated through the shoals to Maracaibo, which was abandoned by its terrified citizenry, despite the garrison commander’s insistence that all militiamen must present themselves ‘‘on pain of their lives as traitors to the kingdom.’’ But when only 12 men reported for duty, he, too, took to his heels. The buccaneers then sent raiding parties out into the surrounding countryside ‘‘with complete liberty and no resistance,’’ rounding up scores of prisoners who were brutally tortured to reveal their riches. After three weeks, Morgan crossed to the east side of the Laguna, visiting a like treatment on the town of Gibraltar. By April 17th, he was back at Maracaibo with a captured Cuban merchant ship and five smaller piraguas from Gibraltar, ready to head back out to sea again.

Battle of the Bar of Maracaibo (April 1669) But while Morgan’s freebooters had been ransacking the interior, Spain’s Armada de Barlovento arrived outside the Laguna, bottling them up inside. Admiral Alonso de Campos y Espinosa had with him the 412-ton Magdalena of 38 guns, the 218-ton San Luis of 26 guns, and 50-ton Nuestra Se~ nora de la Soledad (Our Lady of Solitude, alias Marquesa or ‘‘Marchioness’’) of 14 guns, all manned by 500 officers, troops,

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Morgan, Sir Henry (fl. 1665
1675)

Morgan’s defeat of the Armada de Barlovento at the battle of the Bar of Maracaibo in April 1669, as depicted by Exquemelin. (Exquemelin, Alexandre-Olivier. The buccaneers of America: a true account of the most remarkable assaults. . . . , 1893)

and sailors. Finding the fortress guarding its channel devastated, the Spanish Admiral immediately reoccupied it with 40 harquebusiers, repaired six of the guns, and then sent messages to the inland provinces calling for assistance. After several days, he lightened his warships and brought them in over the bar, and sent a letter to Morgan calling on him to surrender, as else he had: . . . orders to destroy you utterly and put every man to the sword. This is my final resolution: take heed, and be not ungrateful for my kindness. I have with me valiant soldiers, yearning to be allowed to revenge the unrighteous acts you have committed against the Spanish nation in America.

When Morgan read this aloud to his followers in Maracaibo’s deserted marketplace, they roared back that they would rather fight to the death than hand over their spoils, as having risked their lives for it once, they were willing to do so again. After a week’s preparation, Morgan’s 13 vessels sailed from Maracaibo for the bar, arriving within sight of the anchored Spaniards on April 25, 1669. Two days later, they rushed toward the Armada at nine o’clock in the morning, led by their large Cuban prize, flying an admiral’s regalia. It bore down on Campos’ flagship as if to board, and indeed grappled; but when the Spanish surged over the bulwarks they found its decks lined only with wooden dummies, and a dozen buccaneers hastily

Morgan, Sir Henry (fl. 1665
1675) decamping over the far side. Just then, the Cuban ship burst into flames and Magdalena became completely engulfed, forcing Campos to leap into the water with his panic-stricken men. Witnessing this terrible spectacle, the smaller San Luis and Marquesa cut their cables and ran for the shelter of the fort’s guns, pursued by an angry swarm of buccaneer boats. Both Spanish vessels ran aground in the shallows and deliberately set themselves ablaze to prevent capture, although the latter was boarded, saved, and refloated by the buccaneers. Despite this stunning victory, though, Morgan’s flotilla could still not get past the fort. Its garrison had been heavily reinforced by 70 militiamen from the interior, as well as most of the Armada crews. When Morgan attempted a land assault next day, it was beaten off with ease, so that his ships returned to Maracaibo. He proposed a ceasefire and free passage out to sea in exchange for his Spanish captives, but this offer was refused by Campos. But when Morgan then learned that only six of the fort’s guns were still functional, he had found his way. Returning to the bar a few days later, his boats busily plied back and forth inshore, seemingly depositing a large landing-party. The Spaniards, who had observed this activity from a distance, manhandled their guns into position and braced for a nocturnal assault. But Morgan had again deceived them, his boat crews merely hiding men in their bottoms during return trips, and no one having actually disembarked. Under cover of darkness, his ships weighed and slipped past the fort, depositing their prisoners outside before sailing off in triumph.

By May 27, 1669, Morgan was back in Port Royal, and apparently destined to retire from roving. During his absence, Secretary of State Lord Arlington had once more reiterated the Crown’s directive against anti-Spanish hostilities, which was proclaimed throughout Jamaica by Modyford on June 24th, the Governor adding that he had been instructed ‘‘that the subjects of His Catholic Majesty be from now until further order treated and used as good neighbors and friends.’’ However, Madrid in the interim had also countered with a more aggressive policy of its own, authorizing Spanish-American officials to issue local commissions against the English. When the first of these corsairs began making attacks that following year, Jamaicans became outraged, especially by the nuisance raids of Manoel Rivero Pardal on their coastal plantations during the summer of 1670. By way of retaliation, Modyford met with the island Council on July 9, 1670, and passed a unanimous resolution, that Morgan be commissioned ‘‘to be Admiral and Commander-in-Chief of all the ships of war belonging to this harbor,’’ drawing them together into one fleet ‘‘to attack, seize and destroy all the enemy’s vessels that shall come within his reach.’’ Morgan set sail from Port Royal on August 11th, at the head of a fleet comprised of 11 vessels and 600 men, his flag flying aboard Satisfaction of 120 tons, now armed with 22 guns. He had furthermore called for a freebooter gathering at ^Ile a Vache for greater strength, but first ventured across to the south coast of Cuba, where he left Morris’ Dolphin on watch before touching at French Tortuga Island, and therefore not reaching ^Ile a Vache until September 12th.

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Morgan, Sir Henry (fl. 1665
1675) Four days later, Morgan detached another six vessels under Collier to gather provisions and ‘‘get prisoners for intelligence’’ on the Spanish Main. These appeared off Rı´ohacha (Colombia) at daybreak on October 24, 1670, landing and marching against the tiny four-gun fort with such disciplined display that the Spaniards assumed they were regular troops out of England. This impression faded once they drew closer, as the garrison included the crew of Rivero Pardal’s consort Gallardina (which was lying in the roads), and these men were terrified of falling into the buccaneers’ hands. The fort held out a day and a night before surrendering, after which Collier conducted a pair of executions and tortured captives for their wealth. ‘‘In cold blood they did a thousand cursed things,’’ a Spanish eyewitness noted, before weighing almost four weeks later with meat, maize, 38 prisoners, Gallardina, and another ship.

Reconquest of Providencia Island (Christmas 1670) Meanwhile, Morgan’s fleet had been scattered by a storm off ^Ile a Vache, and was slowly regathering its strength. Morris rejoined with Rivero Pardal’s San Pedro (alias Fama), which he had seized after killing that Spanish corsair off Cuba. Many other captains arrived, and by the time Morgan weighed on December 18, 1670, he had 38 vessels and more than 2,000 English, French, and Dutch freebooters under his command, the largest buccaneer enterprise ever mounted. Their intended target was Panama, but first Morgan paused en route to reclaim tiny Providencia Island, which on two previous occasions had belonged to English settlers.

Early on December 24th, his fleet appeared before that place, and forced its Spanish garrison to surrender next day by sheer weight of numbers. Morgan then detached three ships and 470 men (including Rok Brasiliano and Jan Erasmus Reyning), to sail ahead of his fleet and seize the fort guarding the mouth of the Chagres River, where he intended to land with his main force and advance across the Isthmus to Panama. The bulk of his fleet followed a few days afterward, coming within sight of Chagres on January 12, 1671, which the buccaneers had already secured. But as Satisfaction led the rest of the fleet into the roadstead, it struck a hidden reef and went down, along with the next four vessels in line. Ten men were drowned, but otherwise losses were minimal. Then after a week spent refurbishing the fort and installing 300 defenders under Captain Richard Norman, Morgan pushed upriver with 1,500 men, seven small ships, and 36 boats.

Sack of Panama (January 1671) An epic seven-day trek ensued through the jungles. Although the Spaniards shrank away before this invading host, the climate, terrain, and lack of provisions nonetheless proved to be daunting obstacles. Finally at nine o’clock on the morning of January 27, 1671, Morgan’s vanguard breasted a hill and ‘‘saw that desired place, the South Sea,’’ with a galleon and several smaller vessels faintly visible, riding on its waters. Toward noon they came on a great plain filled with cattle, some of which they slaughtered and paused to eat. Thus refreshed, they pressed on and that

Morgan, Sir Henry (fl. 1665
1675) afternoon sighted the tiled rooftops of Panama, with a Spanish army drawn up to bar their path. Morgan began his final advance at sunrise on January 28, 1671, with his remaining 1,200 men marching behind ‘‘red and green banners and flags, clearly visible to the Spaniards.’’ The Governor of Panama, Juan P
erez de Guzm
an, had his own 1,200 militia infantrymen drawn up in a long line, six deep, with two militia cavalry companies of 200 riders apiece on each flank. But his inexperienced troops had few firearms and no artillery, so that despite their bravery, they would prove no match for the better armed freebooters. Morgan’s vanguard was advancing on the Spaniards’s right flank, when P
erez de Guzm
an’s unwieldy throng suddenly launched an undisciplined dash against the buccaneer lines. These broke the Spanish charge with steady fusillades, more than 100 militiamen being killed in the initial volley. This murderous and one-sided fire, to which the Panamanians could make scant reply, broke their spirit and caused them to flee, leaving 400 to 500 dead or wounded on the battlefield, as opposed to only 15 buccaneers. Panama was occupied, but many of its buildings were set ablaze as the raiders entered, and most of its riches had already been removed to the ships offshore. Thus although Morgan was to remain in undisputed possession of Panama for the next four weeks, he found its wealth largely gone. Despite cruel tortures inflicted by the frustrated invaders, relatively little more could be extracted from the city or its outlying areas, especially when it had to be redistributed among the large number

of his followers. When the army finally marched back to Chagres and made a division of spoils, they received only £15 or £18 a head, so that there was much ugly talk they had been cheated.

Arrest (1672) Morgan departed Chagres on March 16, 1671, aboard Bradley’s Mayflower, accompanied by three other vessels. He reached Port Royal a couple of weeks later, to find English policy completely reversed. A new treaty had been signed with Madrid, so that attacks against the Spaniards were now most definitely out of favor. Three months afterward, HMSs Assistance and Welcome entered Port Royal with a new Jamaican Governor, Sir Thomas Lynch. Some time later, he informed his predecessor Modyford that he was to be arrested, although assuring him that ‘‘his life and estate was not in danger,’’ but that London had merely felt a show of sternness was needed to assuage Spanish complaints. A like gesture was required when news of Morgan’s Panama raid reached Europe a little while later, so that in November 1671, Lynch was ordered to arrest him as well. The new Governor was loath to do this, for it would further alienate the privateers on whom he was relying for the island’s defense. He therefore decided to send the Admiral home in such a manner ‘‘as he shall not be much disgusted,’’ and deferred the actual arrest because of Morgan’s poor health. It was not until mid-April 1672 that the great freebooter was conducted aboard the 36-gun royal frigate Welcome of Captain John Keene, to sail for England with a three-ship convoy.

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Morris, John (fl. 1658
1675) Three months later they arrived at Spithead, and because Morgan continued ‘‘very sickly,’’ he was not imprisoned on reaching London in August 1672, but rather housed at his own expense. The Third Anglo-Dutch War had already erupted that spring, with England and France ranged against The Netherlands. Hostilities against the Protestant Dutch were not proving very popular, especially when the French were revealed as weak allies at sea and then plunged into war against Spain as well the next year. All of which gradually produced another full-circle change in Whitehall’s policies, with the most surprising consequences: for instead of being tried, Morgan was able to use his liberty to meet the influential 30-year-old Christopher Monck, 2nd Duke of Albemarle, who intervened on his behalf before Charles II. By the end of July 1673, Morgan’s position was so improved that he was asked to submit a memorandum describing what was needed to ensure Jamaica’s security. In January 1674, the Council of Trade and Plantations decided to recall Lynch and replace him with the Earl of Carlisle, son of the Earl of Carberry, with Morgan to act as his Deputy Governor. Such a position called for a title, so that in November 1674 he was knighted, and next spring set sail for Jamaica.

Lieutenant Governor (1674
1688) On March 6, 1674 (O.S.), the 40-ton privateer Gift of Capt. Thomas Rogers entered Port Royal harbor, with Morgan on board. The following day Lynch resigned, and one week later his successor arrived aboard the 522-ton frigate HMS Foresight. For the remaining 14

years of his life, Morgan lived quietly as a plantation owner, growing fatter and embroiled in nothing more dangerous than the cut and thrust of local politics. He died of dropsy in 1688, the result of being ‘‘much given to drinking and sitting up late,’’ according to his physician. He left a personal estate valued at over £5,000 and several properties, being buried with a 22-gun salute from all the ships in Port Royal harbor.

References Cruikshank, E. A., The Life of Sir Henry Morgan (Toronto: Macmillan, 1935). Earle, Peter, The Sack of Panama: Captain Morgan and the Battle for the Caribbean (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2007).
Eugenio Martı´nez, Marı´a Angeles, La defensa de Tabasco, 1600
1717 (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispanoamericanos, 1971). Exquemelin, Alexandre-Olivier, The Buccaneers of America (London: Penguin, 1969). Interesting Tracts Relating to the Island of Jamaica (St. Jago de la Vega: Lewis, Lunan and Jones, 1800). Ju
arez Moreno, Juan, Piratas y corsarios en Veracruz y Campeche (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1972). Pope, Dudley, Harry Morgan’s Way: The Biography of Sir Henry Morgan, 1635
1684 (London: Secker & Warburg, 1977).

MORRIS, JOHN (fl. 1658
1675) One of the earliest and most active of English privateers operating out of Jamaica.

Morris, John (fl. 1658
1675) Morris was first mentioned in the summer of 1658, after Commodore Christopher Myngs returned to that island from a raid against the Spanish Main with three prizes. These were sold to men who would all prove formidable corsairs in their day: the largest, of eight guns and 60 tons, was bought by Robert Searle and renamed the Cagaway; one of four guns and 50 tons was purchased by Dutch-born Laurens Prins, who changed its name to Pearl; while the third later became Morris’ Dolphin. It is believed that Morris may have participated in Myngs’s attacks against both Santiago de Cuba and Campeche a few years later, and in 1663 he was listed as commanding a 7-gun brigantine (perhaps the Virgin Queen) with a crew of 60 men, and holding a commission from the former Governor of Jamaica, Lord Windsor. In January 1664, Morris escorted the merchant sloop Blue Dove into Port Royal ‘‘upon suspicion that she was to trade with the Spaniard as a Hollander [i.e., conduct clandestine trade with the Spanish by pretending that it was a vessel of Dutch, rather than English registry, thus avoiding Jamaican duties].’’ He had intercepted this vessel with his Virgin Queen between Hispaniola and Jamaica, detaining it because the sloop was sailing directly toward Cuba and laden with ‘‘ammunition and goods suitable to the Spanish trade.’’ The Blue Dove had in fact cleared Amsterdam and carried papers declaring its final destination to be Port Royal, so that it was freed by the Court of Admiralty because there was no proof that its master intended to break any law. Morris later complained he got nothing for his troubles but ‘‘an English ensign and a hogshead of strong beer.’’ In June 1664, a new Governor, Sir Thomas Modyford, reached the island

and immediately proclaimed ‘‘that for the future all acts of hostility against the Spaniards should cease,’’ as the English Crown hoped to promote a more benign policy with Spanish America. Yet Morris and four other privateer captains soon chose to ignore this injunction, later arguing, somewhat disingenuously, that ‘‘having been out 22 months [i.e., since participating in Myngs’s sack of Campeche in early 1663],’’ they had not known of the cessation of hostilities and so continued operating under their old commissions.

Mexican Raid (Spring 1665) Morris and the Dutch-born David Martien were the leaders of this new venture, seconded by Capts. Henry Morgan, Freeman, and Fackman. Together they mustered a few vessels and 200 men, departing Jamaica in January 1665. Rounding Yucatan, they moved gingerly down the treacherous Gulf coast until arriving opposite Campeche, where one night in mid-February 1665 they cut out an 8-gun Spanish frigate lying in its roads. Then sailing past the Laguna de T
erminos, they came to anchor on February 19th before the tiny town of Santa Marı´a de la Frontera at the mouth of the Grijalva River. Some 110 to 120 buccaneers disembarked and traveled 50 miles upriver through the marshy channels, until coming within sight of the provincial capital of Villahermosa de Tabasco. At four o’clock in the morning on February 24, 1665, they fell on the sleeping city, capturing most of the inhabitants in their beds. A general sack ensued, after which booty and captives were loaded aboard a coaster lying in the river. The raiders then paused at nearby Santa Teresa ranch to release their women

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Morris, John (fl. 1658
1675) captives, retaining the men, for whom they demanded a ransom of 300 head of cattle. Farther down the river, they came on a second coaster bearing flour, which they also seized. Nearing the river mouth, they discovered that their waiting ships had been captured by a Spanish naval patrol. Three Spanish frigates and 270 men had been sent out by Campeche’s Lieutenant-Gov. Antonio Maldonado de Aldana, in quest of the prize seized from that port. This armadilla had sighted the interlopers’ trio of vessels anchored off Santa Marı´a de la Frontera on February 22, 1665, boarding two without a fight. A few Englishmen fled on the other vessel, abandoning their 10-gun flagship and 8-gun prize, along with seven buccaneers. These had revealed to their captors that the ships had been left unmanned because ‘‘Captain Mauricio [sic; Morris] and David Martin [sic; Martien]’’ had led the bulk of the raiders inland. With their retreat cut off, the main body of freebooters released their remaining hostages and began moving westward with their two coasters, hoping to find another river channel whereby to escape. On the afternoon of March 17, 1665, they were overtaken by the guardacostas opposite Santa Ana Cay, this time sailing the privateers’ former 10-gun flagship and 8gun prize (the Spaniards having crewed these with 300 volunteer militiamen from Campeche). Jos
e Aldana, the Spanish commander, sent a messenger in a boat to call on the buccaneers to surrender, but they pretended not to understand. When an interpreter approached shore next morning, Morris and Martien replied that they would not give up without a fight, and the Spaniards reluctantly disembarked. They then discovered that the raiders had used the interval to entrench

themselves behind a palisade reinforced with sandbags, and bristling with seven small cannon taken from Villahermosa. The Spanish force, comprised mostly of armed civilians, showed little stomach for an assault, and were easily repelled without incurring a single loss among the freebooters. The next day, March 19, 1665, the Spanish ships were found conveniently run aground, thus allowing the raiders to exit undisturbed in their two coasters.

Central American Campaign (Summer 1665) Morris and Martien proceeded northward hugging the coastline, capturing smaller boats and making occasional landings to obtain supplies. Off Sisal, they looted a vessel laden with corn, whose crew they allegedly released with a message to the Spanish Governor, vowing to return and lay waste his province. They then rounded Yucatan and traversed the Bay of Honduras as far as Roat
an, where they paused to take on water. Striking next at Trujillo, on the north coast of Honduras, they overran this port and seized a vessel lying in its roads, before continuing to Cape Gracias a Dios and the Mosquito Coast. Nine native guides joined them there, sailing southward to Monkey Point (Punta Mono, Nicaragua), where the buccaneers hid their ships before heading up the San Juan River with lighter boats. More than 100 miles and three waterfalls later, they emerged into the great Lago de Nicaragua, crossing it by nocturnal stages and so sneaking up on Granada, taking this city by surprise on June 29, 1665, when they: . . . marched undescried into the center of the city, fired a volley, overturned

Morris, John (fl. 1658
1675) 18 great guns in the Plaza de Armas, took the sargento mayor’s [garrison commander’s] house wherein were all their arms and ammunition, secured in the great church 300 of the best men prisoners, abundance of which were churchmen, plundered for 16 hours, discharged all the prisoners, sunk all the boats [to prevent pursuit], and so came away. Retracing their course across the lake, at the southeastern extremity ‘‘they took a vessel of 100 tons and an island as large as Barbados, called Lida [sic; Solentiname?], which they plundered.’’ Amazingly, the raiders then regained their anchored vessels and by the end of August 1665, William Beeston was writing in his journal at Port Royal: ‘‘Captain Fackman and others arrived from the taking of the towns of Tabasco and Villahermosa, in the Bay of Mexico.’’ They had traveled almost 3,000 miles in seven months, assaulting five Spanish towns, and undergoing countless lesser engagements.

Morgan’s Lieutenant (1668
1671) Over the next few years, Morgan would be elevated to a position of prominence among the Jamaican privateers, in part because of his military skills, as well as his excellent political connections with Modyford. When the next major sortie was made from that island in early 1668, Morgan bore a commission from the Governor styling him as ‘‘General,’’ with instructions to unite the privateers ‘‘and take prisoners of the Spanish nation, whereby he might inform of the intention of that enemy to invade

Jamaica.’’ Because of this patent, veterans such as Morris suddenly found themselves serving under their former junior colleague, although apparently without much resentment. Morris in particular became a loyal subordinate in Morgan’s expeditions, starting with the sack of Portobelo in July 1668, where he even went over among the Spaniards as a hostage during the negotiations for the ransom of that city. Early the following year, Morris narrowly escaped death. On January 12, 1669, he was one of eight English and French corsair captains who met aboard Morgan’s Oxford off ^Ile a Vache to decide on an enterprise against the Spaniards. Both Morris and his son of the same name were aboard, and since 900 freebooters had been mustered, this strength made the captains agree to try the great port of Cartagena on the Spanish Main, and then they began a feast to celebrate their voyage. Captains Aylett, Bigford, Edward Collier, Thornbury, and Whiting all sat down to dinner with Morgan and the Morrises on the quarterdeck, while seamen caroused on the forecastle. ‘‘They drank the health of the King of England and toasted their good success, and fired off salvoes,’’ until suddenly the Oxford’s magazine accidentally exploded. Ship’s surgeon Richard Browne, who sat toward the foot of the officer’s table on the same side as Morgan, later wrote: I was eating my dinner with the rest, when the mainmasts blew out and fell upon Captains Aylett, Bigford and others, and knocked them on the head. Only six men including Morgan, Morris, and four boys survived out of a company

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Morris, John (fl. 1658
1675) of more than 200, but not the latter’s son. Despite his grief, Morris proceeded to serve in the subsequent campaign against Maracaibo.

Death of Rivero Pardal (October 1670) The following summer, Modyford attempted to rein in the privateers’ activities and Morris returned to his plantation, but the Spaniards then began issuing anti-English commissions of their own. One such was used by the Cartagena corsair Manoel Rivero Pardal to launch nuisance raids on Jamaica itself, which prompted angry calls for retaliation. Morgan and Morris sortied to organize yet another strike against the Spaniards, hosting an assembly of buccaneers off Hispaniola. Meanwhile, foraging parties, one of these commanded by Morris, were sent out to gather supplies and intelligence for the forthcoming expedition. In mid-October 1670, his 10-gun ship Dolphin with 60 men was forced to put into a small bay at the east end of Cuba by a threatening storm. Two hours later, just before dark, Rivero Pardal sailed in for this same purpose with his 14-gun ship San Pedro (alias the Fama), being delighted to see he had the smaller Jamaican ship embayed. Setting men ashore to cut off any escape, the Spaniards prepared to attack at dawn. But it was Morris who moved first the next morning, bearing down on Fama with the land breeze, and boarding it at the first attempt. Rivero was shot through the neck and killed, his crew panicking and jumping into the sea, where some drowned and many others were finished off by the privateers, with only five Spaniards being taken alive. Later that month,

the jubilant buccaneers at ^Ile a Vache beheld Fama being led in, now peacefully renamed the Lamb. Morris then accompanied Morgan on his successful campaign to reconquer Providencia Island, capture Chagres, and march across the Isthmus to punish Panama. In the final assault, Morris seconded Laurens Prins in command of the vanguard, which routed the Spanish host before Panama’s walls on January 28, 1671.

Later Career (1672
1675) Following the return of the privateers to Jamaica, Morris was spared the official opprobrium which descended on Modyford and Morgan, resulting in both being sent prisoners to England for persisting in these hostilities against Spanish America. Morris instead was assigned by the new Gov. Sir Thomas Lynch ‘‘to take up the straggling privateers that are to leeward [i.e., westward]’’ of that island, with the added recommendation that he was ‘‘a very stout fellow, good pilot, and we know he will not turn pirate.’’

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies., Volume 9 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1893
1899). Cruikshank, E. A., The Life of Sir Henry Morgan (Toronto: Macmillan, 1935). Earle, Peter, The Sack of Panama: Captain Morgan and the Battle for the Caribbean (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2007). Pawson, Michael, and Buisseret, David J., Port Royal, Jamaica (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1975). Pope, Dudley, Harry Morgan’s Way: The Biography of Sir Henry Morgan,

Mum 1635
1684 (London: Secker & Warburg, 1977).

MOSELEY OR MAUDSLEY, SAMUEL (fl. 1667
1675) New England privateer from Dorchester, Massachusetts. In early life, Moseley was said to have served at Jamaica and ‘‘in the way of trade visited other parts of the West Indies, where the adventurous spirit was excited and schooled, perhaps by Sir Henry Morgan and associate buccaneers, the result of which was his bringing home to Boston two prizes.’’ In 1667, Moseley acted as attorney for his privateer friend Captain Thomas Salter of Port Royal, Jamaica, when a Spanish vessel the latter had taken in the ‘‘Bay of Campeche’’ (i.e., Laguna de T
erminos) was illegally carried off to New York by its prize crew. During the Third Anglo-Dutch War, Moseley was given command of the ketch Salisbury with a crew of 47 men, to patrol the Massachusetts coast in company with the ketch Swallow. On February 15, 1675 (O.S.), he was ordered to sortie by the Council at Boston, in quest of certain Dutch privateers that had captured the bark Philip with George Manning master, and several other English vessels. He fell in with a French ship which was also hunting the Dutchmen, and soon came on the enemy privateers. These were Capts. Pieter Roderigo of the Edward and Thomas and Cornelis Andreson of the shallop Penobscot, who had apparently been joined by Manning’s Philip, as it was also flying Dutch colors. However, when Moseley and his French consort engaged Roderigo and

Andreson, Manning turned his guns on the Dutch vessels as well, and helped batter them into submission. Moseley then returned to Boston with his prizes on April 2, 1675 (O.S.). During the Indian conflict of that same year of 1675 known as ‘‘King Philip’s War,’’ Moseley formed a volunteer company made up of his crews and some of the released Dutchmen, called ‘‘Moseley’s privateers.’’

References Chapin, Howard M., Privateer Ships and Sailors: The First Century of American Colonial Privateering, 1625
1725 (Toulon: G. Mouton, 1926). Webster, John C., Cornelis Steenwyck: Dutch Governor of Acadie (Ottawa: Canadian Historical Association, 1929).

MOSQUITO COAST Nickname originally given to the eastern shores of present-day Nicaragua by Spanish explorers, and which extends from Cape Gracias a Dios in the Honduran province of Mosquitia in the north, all the way down to Monkey Point (Punta Mono) in the south. A torrid stretch of tropical mangroves and inlets, with few natural resources or arable farmland, it remained unsettled by the Spaniards and so became a natural sanctuary for runaway slaves, rovers, and outlaws.

MUM A strong ale popular in the 17th century, made from wheat and oat malts,

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Mu~noz Gadea, Juan (fl. 1663
) and flavored with herbs. Its original name was Mumme, from Brunswick in Germany, where it was first developed. In Dutch, it was called Mom.

Reference Gehring, Charles T. and Schiltkamp, Jacob A., Curac¸ao Papers, 1640
1665, Volume XVII, ‘‘New Netherland Documents’’ (Interlaken, NY: Heart of the Lakes Publishing, 1987).

~ MUNOZ GADEA, JUAN (fl. 1663
) Widely-traveled Spanish military officer, who fought pirates in several parts of the globe. Nothing is known about his early life, beyond the fact that he was born on November 12, 1634. Finding himself in Lima’s seaport of Callao, Mu~noz Gadea enlisted at the age of 15 on January 7, 1650, to serve as a harquebusier in the remote frontier outposts of Chile. Over the next eight years, the adventurous teenager would rise through the ranks of Ensign, Captain of infantry, light cavalry, and lancers, distinguishing himself during the southern Chilean native uprising of February 1654 when he escorted a herd of more than 1,000 horses from Maule through hostile territory, to provide mounts for the garrison trapped inside the coastal city of Concepci
on. He also served as Deputy Corregidor of the province of Colchagua, before eventually obtaining leave from the Governor of Chile on February 19, 1658, to travel home to Spain. However, on stopping over at Havana during his voyage later that same year,

he found that the annual plate fleet had already sailed for Europe and that his older brother, Nicol
as Mu~noz de Gadea, an influential lawyer from the Royal Council in Madrid, had just arrived to serve as Cuba’s Lieutenant-Governor. The youthful Captain therefore altered his plans. Learning that new regiments were being raised in Mexico after a disastruous setback against the English occupiers of Jamaica, Mu~noz Gadea crossed over to New Spain, and being a veteran 24-year-old field officer, received a military commission from the Viceroy Duque de Alburquerque on January 7, 1659, to raise and train a company of recruits in the city of Puebla. When the next Viceroy Conde de Ba~nos arrived to assume office as of September 1660, he, too, promoted Mu~noz Gadea to Provost Marshal of all the new companies being marched down from various Mexican cities to Veracruz.

Brushes with Pirates (1663
1673) A seaborne expedition to reinforce Spanish forces in the Antillean theater was eventually readied, and departed under maestre de campo Francisco de Leiva Issasi, with Mu~noz Gadea being appointed on December 14, 1662, to act as his second-in-command. But shortly after sailing early next year aboard the ship Nuestra Se~ nora del Rosario, Mu~noz Gadea was wrecked off the Cuban coast, remaining marooned on an offshore cay with his company of 100 troops, until they could be rescued from Havana. Meanwhile, the English Commodore Christopher Myngs had devastated Campeche with a raid in February 1663, so that Mu~noz Gadea was ordered to

Mu~noz Gadea, Juan (fl. 1663
) transfer his company back across the Gulf into that Mexican port, so as to help reconstitute its garrison and defenses. He and his men reached Campeche by January 1664, and that same October 15th Mu~ noz Gadea was promoted by the provincial Governor to sargento mayor and the city’s garrison commander. He supervised reconstruction of a stronger version of its elderly San Rom
an Bastion, and maintained a high state of alert, because of the repeated pirate sightings. Indeed, when he resigned his post four years later to travel to Mexico City, the ship bearing his personal goods was carried off by rovers, so that he reached the viceregal capital destitute. The Viceroy Marqu
es de Mancera offered him the title of alcalde mayor of the small coastal town of Antigua Veracruz on November 26, 1668, but rather than resume service along the Gulf Coast, Mu~ noz Gadea preferred to sail across the broad Pacific Ocean early next year to the Philippines. He served on the Governor’s staff at Manila until January 18, 1672, when he obtained license to sail back home to Spain via Mexico, to claim the inheritance left by the death of his brother Nicol
as. This voyage proved to be perilous, war having erupted that same spring between England and Holland, so that the Dutch ship on which Mu~noz Gadea was traveling was intercepted and carried into Jamaica, where he remained a prisoner until forwarded on to London by Governor Sir Thomas Lyttleton. Deposited penniless in the English capital on November 20, 1673, he was able to gain Cadiz by attaching himself to the retinure of the Spanish Ambassador in England, the Marqu
es del Fresno. Next year, having received his inheritance and with his 40th birthday looming, Mu~noz

Gadea petitioned the Crown on October 12, 1674, to be given a new assignment in the Americas.

Governor of Margarita (1677
) After a two-year wait, Mu~noz Gadea was appointed on November 25, 1676, as Governor of the Venezuelan island of Margarita, a sparsely-populated outpost often beset by enemy raiders. The war with France was just then entering its fourth year and his departure from Seville that same December was apparently delayed by news of a huge French battle-fleet having also sailed out for that region under Vice Admiral Jean, Comte d’Estr
ees. Mu~noz Gadea would not reach Margarita until late August 1677, to find that it had been laid waste earlier that same year by a privateering descent led by the Marquis de Maintenon. Immediately on assuming office, Mu~noz Gadea had ordered all ports on the island closed except Pampatar, and banned all visits by neutral Dutch or Portuguese vessels (on which lonely islanders depended for their scanty commerce). He also ignored the wishes of local inhabitants, who wanted to see the ruins of old Fort San Bernardo replaced above their capital of Asunci
on by a strong new castle, instead channeling every available resource, including more than 2,000 pesos of his own funds, into strenghthening and manning Fort San Carlos Borromeo, to protect Pampatar’s anchorage. He revived religious observances and antagonized wealthy landowners. One such influential citizen, Juan Fermı´n de Huidobro, soon led a movement that removed the despised Mu~noz Gadea from office, so that he withdrew to live

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Munro, Captain (fl. 1664
1665) with the Franciscan priests. Apparently in early September 1683, a copy of a private letter from the wealthy merchant Diego de Villatoro in Madrid to a colleague at Cadiz, Esteban de Alfaro, reached Margarita and revealed that Mu~ noz Gadea was about to be exonerated and restored to office. Bitter over his long suffering, he immediately ordered a gun fired and Asunci
on’s citizenry summoned with beating drums, to announce that he was reassuming his suspended title of Governor. When Fermı´n returned from the town of Porlamar, where he had been supervising construction of a new stone torre
on or guardtower, he found himself deposed and a rival faction running the administration. Mu~ noz Gadea soon began to heap legal charges on his hated rival, and exposed Fermı´n to the same indignities which he had endured, by embargoing his goods and properties, so that the latter finally fled to Santo Domingo and on March 2, 1684, beseeched intervention from its Royal Audiencia. This court agreed, decreeing all of Mu~ noz Gadea’s actions illegal until official word of his absolution had arrived from Spain, and dispatching their lawyer Gregorio de Mil
an Campusano to temporarily restore Fermı´n into office. Yet when this emissary’s vessel anchored off Porlamar on March 30, 1684, he would be met with hostility. After traveling into the Valley of Nuestra Se~nora to announce the purpose of his visit, Mil
an Campusano was rejected by the town council and ordered off the island next day. Maestre de campo Marcos de Ocampo promptly appeared with 250 armed men, to unceremoniously bundle the lawyer back aboard his ship. Six-and-a-half months later, a vessel arrived from the Canary Islands with

confirmation of Mu~noz Gadea’s favorable verdict, as well as a royal command dated March 28, 1684, officially restoring him as Margarita’s Governor.

See also Estr
ees, Jean, Comte d’; Fermı´n de Huidobro, Juan; Maintenon, Marquis de.

References Archive of Indies, Audiencia de Santo Domingo 65, Ramo 1, Number 25, and 181, Ramo 8, Numbers 25
61. Indiferente General 124, Number 122.

MUNRO, CAPTAIN (fl. 1664
1665) Renegade Jamaican privateer, who shortly after the installation of Sir Thomas Modyford as Governor of Jamaica, ‘‘turned pirate and took the English merchant ships bound thither.’’ After ransacked vessels began putting into Port Royal, about December 21, 1664 (O.S.), the Royal Navy’s armed ketch Swallow was sent out under Captain Ensom, who met Munro off that coast, ‘‘fought him, killed many and took the rest of his men, being thirteen,’’ which were carried back into Jamaica. Munro and his men were then swiftly tried and condemned, being hanged at Gallows Point in sight of all the vessels in the anchorage, where their bodies remained for several months, displayed in gibbets.

References Interesting Tracts Relating to the Island of Jamaica (St. Jago de la Vega: Lewis, Lunan and Jones, 1800).

Murphy Fitzgerald, John (fl. 1633
1662) Pope, Dudley, Harry Morgan’s Way: The Biography of Sir Henry Morgan, 1635
1684 (London: Secker & Warburg, 1977)

MURPHY FITZGERALD, JOHN (fl. 1633
1662) Irish adventurer, who began his career as a buccaneer on Tortuga Island, and rose to become a Captain in the service of Spain. According to Spanish records, he was born in Glassely in County Kildare, his mother’s surname being Fitzgerald. Murphy arrived on Tortuga Island as a boy-soldier, but deserted to the Spaniards with some companions late in 1633, after having killed a man in a dispute. He thereupon agreed to lead the Spanish on an expedition to eliminate his former settlement, being himself shot in the forehead during the resultant affray. Such a serious wound, coupled with his youth, Catholic faith, and an easy Spanish victory, ensured Murphy’s stay on Santo Domingo, although never fully trusted. Within a few years, he nonetheless became a Captain in the Dominican militia, and by 1650 was in Madrid obtaining a knighthood in the Order of Santiago. By December 1653, Murphy had returned to Santo Domingo, where he served as maestre de campo or secondin-command of the forces sent to once again clear the foreigners from Tortuga Island—this time those living there under the boucanier chieftain Chevalier de Fontenay. Murphy performed with some distinction, leading a crucial charge of 200 men against Cayenne which helped ensure the Spanish

triumph. However, even after all these years of service, he was still suspect, it being rumored that he secretly undermined his superiors and took too much of the spoils for himself. When the victors withdrew with their prisoners to Santo Domingo, Murphy was left behind in command of Tortuga, with a garrison of 100 men. However, Governor Juan Francisco Montemayor de Cuenca soon sent a Spanish officer to replace him, leery of his ancient connections with pirates, and uneasy to leave him alone in that stronghold. Such prejudice became even more marked after the failed English invasion of Santo Domingo in April
May 1655. Despite having been among the first defenders to sortie in opposition to the invaders’ advance, Murphy received no mention whatsoever in the official Spanish bulletins announcing their victory. It is perhaps because of this that his name no longer figured on Santo Domingo after 1655, as it is believed he may have left in disgust at such political intrigues, to start a new life elsewhere. His timing may have proved lucky, for seven years later on October 30
31 1662, the authorities at Yucat
an received an extraordinary deposition from a Portuguese captive. He declared that having been in London early in 1659, he learned through a countryman who was a pilot, that Parliament was secretly planning a second attempt against Santo Domingo: . . . and for this they wished to avail themselves of an Irishman who had business dealings in England, and by means of Don Juan Morfa, maestre de campo of the city of Santo Domingo, who was a friend of said Irishman, achieve their goal.

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Murphy, John (fl. 1683) This unfounded accusation was forwarded to the King in Madrid, yet evidently never acted on, as Murphy had long since left that island.

References Inch
austegui Cabral, Joaquı´n Marino, La gran expedici
on inglesa contra las Antillas Mayores (Mexico City: Gr
afica Panamericana, 1953). Pe~ na Batlle, Manuel Arturo, La isla de la Tortuga: plaza de armas, refugio y seminario de los enemigos de Espa~ na en Indias (Madrid: Ediciones Cultura Hisp
anica, 1951). Rodrı´guez Demorizi, Emilio, Invasi
on inglesa de 1655; notas adicionales de Fray Cipriano de Utrera (Ciudad Trujillo: Montalvo, 1957). Walsh, Micheline, Spanish Knights of Irish Origin: Documents from Continental Archives (Dublin: Irish Manuscripts Commission, 1960
1970).

MURPHY, JOHN (fl. 1683) Irishman long settled at Veracruz, who endured a brutal ordeal at the hands of Laurens de Graaf and Grammont, during their pirate raid. A well-to-do trader, married and with a family, Murphy owned a fine two-story house and numerous slaves in that Mexican port, as well as maintaining its only mounted militia troop entirely at his own expense. On a cloudless Monday afternoon, May 17, 1683, two sail were seen standing in toward the harbor. Despite the favorable wind, they did not draw appreciably closer, so that Murphy became concerned. When he saw Governor Don Luis Bartolom
e de C
ordoba y Z
u~ niga strolling through the Plaza Mayor with his staff, Murphy hastened

after him and said: ‘‘Sir, those ships cannot be good ones, for they have been able to enter, and yet not done so.’’ But the arrogant young Governor brushed off the Irishman. Next morning at daybreak, Veracruz’s streets exploded with volleys of gunfire. During the night, several hundred pirates had infiltrated the city under Laurens de Graaf, Grammont, and Nikolaas Van Hoorn, and in the dawn launched a series of coordinated attacks. In addition to military objectives, the raiders targeted major households such as Murphy’s. From the darkened street he heard a voice calling to him in English, saying that ‘‘if he opened up he would be given quarter, but if not his throat would be cut.’’ This was a band of a dozen buccaneers led by a vengeful English logwood cutter, who had been captured in the Laguna de T
erminos some years earlier, and had served a spell as convict laborer in the Irishman’s home. Yet for all his advanced age, Murphy had lost none of his fighting spirit, and began distributing swords and lances to his fourteen loyal black servants. When the pirates shot the lock off a small sideentrance and forged through the gap into the darkened interior, they blundered into a deathtrap. The first three were so savagely hacked to pieces that the rest ran away in fright. Murphy’s victory proved short-lived, though, for when he climbed onto his rooftop to scan the street, he saw another two-dozen pirates hastening to the attack. Again he was ordered to open up or suffer dire consequences, and this time ‘‘out of fear they might murder my wife and six children,’’ he obeyed. The enraged buccaneers rampaged throughout his home ‘‘destroying whatever they could’’ after finding their

Myngs, Sir Christopher (fl. 1656
1663) fallen comrades, and Murphy’s captivity promised to be a painful one. At first, he and his family were shut up inside Veracruz’s principal church, along with thousands of other captives. But next morning at eight o’clock, Wednesday, May 19, 1683, Murphy was led forth to endure the corsairs’ wrath. Carried into a jeering mob of buccaneers in the Plaza Mayor, he ‘‘was received by Lorencillo [De Graaf] himself.’’ The Irishman’s hands were bound behind his back, and he was cruelly hoisted to swing suspended from them on the public scaffold. As he dangled there: . . . with terrible pain and hurt, they told him to confess where he had his money and silver, to which he responded that those who had entered his house had taken everything. This could not be, his tormentors insisted, but Murphy gasped out that he had been left penniless. Even his silver service, which had been cast down the well before the looters penetrated his home, had been retrieved. At this: Lorencillo slashed him in the head with his cutlass, opening up a serious wound, then clubbed him many times on the body, almost killing him, before having him cut down and taken upstairs into the Governor’s palace, where a pirate surgeon attended him. Nor was Murphy’s ordeal over, for after being patched up, Grammont entered the prison and ‘‘pointing a carbine’’ in the Irishman’s face, ordered him to confess what monies he and his neighbors had. Again Murphy replied that he had lost

everything and did not know his neighbors’ wealth, at which the flibustier chieftain stormed out angrily. Other prominent citizens underwent this same ordeal, until more than a dozen had joined Murphy in his cell. They became the principal hostages, and were the last people released on Sacrificios Island when the pirates withdrew two weeks later. Murphy returned on foot to his gutted home, finding his wife dead and servants carried off into bondage. As a final blow, one of his daughters died three weeks later, and the Irishman was left to pick up the pieces of a shattered life.

Reference Marley, David F., Sack of Veracruz: The Great Pirate Raid of 1683 (Windsor, Ontario, Canada: Netherlandic Press, 1993).

MYNGS, SIR CHRISTOPHER (fl. 1656
1663) Adventurous naval officer, who employed sizeable contingents of freebooters during his operations while serving as station-commander at Jamaica, thereby setting a precedent. Born into a prosperous Norfolk family, Myngs was an experienced fighter by the time he reached the New World, having first gone to sea in colliers and coastal traders. After joining the Cromwellian Navy, his big break had come when he brought home the 38-gun man o’ war Elizabeth in May 1653, its captain having been killed in a duel with a Dutch ship, while returning from the

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Myngs, Sir Christopher (fl. 1656
1663) Mediterranean during the First AngloDutch War. Myngs was confirmed into this vacancy, and then in October 1655 was promoted to command of the 54-gun Marston Moor, recently returned from the calamitous Jamaican expedition. Having witnessed great suffering in the West Indies, Marston Moor’s crew mutinied on finding itself unpaid and ordered back to Jamaica. Despite his popularity, Myngs was forced to imprison or dismiss many of his men before shifting the anchorage altogether from Portsmouth to Spithead, where he insisted on the remainder being paid, over the objections of its local Admiralty agent. In November 1655, Marston Moor sailed to join Vice-Admiral William Goodson at Jamaica by January 25, 1656. Myngs took part in Goodson’s descent on Rı´ohacha in May of that year, which ended disappointingly as little booty was found, before the squadron returned to Jamaica in June. The fledgling colony continued to suffer because of hunger, slackness, and internal strife, there being considerable doubt whether London would even maintain the outpost. Goodson and Myngs weighed in a vain attempt to intercept the Spanish treasure-ships off Havana (which Admiral Stayner afterward took off Cadiz in September 1656), before passing across to Nevis to embark 1,400 planters who were willing to transfer to Jamaica. Having completed this mission, Goodson and Myngs then cruised off the island till early 1657, when the Admiral returned to England complaining of ill-health. Myngs followed a month later with a three-ship convoy, bringing Marston Moor into Dover by July 1657, after a brief stopover at the Bahamas during his

crossing to buy 8,560 pounds of turtlemeat as food for his crew. His men were paid off and Myngs allowed a leaveof-absence to get married, but by December 1657 he was back on board, departing the Downs with three victuallers for Jamaica. He arrived there on February 20, 1658 (O.S.), having captured the Dutch merchantmen Charity [Barmhatigheid?] of Amsterdam, Marie of Medemblik, John the Baptist [Johannes de Doper?], Hopewell [Goede Hoop?], the hoy Three Cranes [Drie Kraanvogels?], and a sixth unnamed vessel, for illegally trading at Barbados. He claimed all six as prizes, but was annoyed when eventually only one was declared so, the rest being released on technicalities.

Defense of Jamaica and Early Seaborne Campaigns (1658) Myngs was now the senior officer on the Jamaica station, and thus in command of the small trio of vessels which discovered four Spanish troop-transports anchored off the north coast of that island on May 22, 1658, having slipped 550 Mexican soldiers ashore. Returning a month later with Governor Edward D’Oyley and heavy reinforcements aboard 10 ships, Myngs was able to land this force, which then pulverized the invaders in a pitched battle. The Spanish artillery was conveyed back to Cagaway (as the island capital was still called), and installed as part of its harbor defenses. Shortly thereafter Myngs sailed on a counter-raid against the Spanish Main, assaulting Santa Marta and Tol
u in quick succession with the loss of only three men, then intercepting three Spanish merchantmen bound from Cartagena to Portobelo. Returning triumphantly to

Myngs, Sir Christopher (fl. 1656
1663) Jamaica six weeks later, he sold these to men who would all prove to be formidable corsairs in future: the largest vessel, of eight guns and 60 tons, was bought by Robert Searle and renamed the Cagaway; one of four guns and 50 tons was purchased by the Dutch-born Laurens Prins and renamed Pearl; while the third later became John Morris’ Dolphin.

Second Descent Against the Spanish Main (1659) Having enjoyed good success on his first cruise, Myngs’ss frigates Marston Moor, Hector, Diamond, and Cagaway were joined by numerous freebooters for his next raid against the Spanish Main, which he launched early that following year. In order to surprise different targets, Myngs tacked hundreds of miles further east than he or Goodson had previously operated—a tactic which paid handsome dividends when his formation burst on an unprepared Cuman
a on April 2, 1659. Spanish reports indicate that his force consisted of ‘‘one galleon of the State of England with 66 bronze pieces, a frigate with 24, a sloop with 6, and twelve small vessels.’’ They disgorged between 600 and 700 men on the beach nearest to that city, all armed with firearms, who brushed aside the 40 Spanish militiamen who attempted to dispute their traverse of a shallow stream and seizing of all the high ground, before overrunning Cuman
a itself. All buildings were ransacked over the next 24 hours, and at least 50 torched as the raiders departed. Myngs then hurriedly weighed and ran westward before the prevailing wind, falling on Puerto Cabello before

any alarm could be carried overland. He repeated this tactic a third time, racing still further west to make a rich haul at Coro. It is alleged that no less than 22 chests—and perhaps many more—were seized from two Dutch merchantmen flying Spanish colors at this latter place, each containing 400 pounds of silver ingots belonging to the King of Spain. Myngs himself declared there was ‘‘coined [i.e., minted] money’’ in the chests to the value of £50,000, besides bullion; but when the expedition returned to Jamaica four months after its departure, these were open and the authorities suspected that a great deal of silver had been plundered. Myngs did not deny some looting had occurred, but dismissed it as customary among privateersmen. The officials took a dimmer view, believing Myngs was ‘‘unhinged and out of tune’’ because the Jamaican Court had refused to condemn his earlier Dutch prizes, and therefore took justice into his own hands. Governor D’Oyley suspended him and ordered Marston Moor home, where Myngs was to stand trial for defrauding the State. But on his arrival in England in spring 1660, Myngs found the nation distracted by the Restoration of Charles II and, being an early public supporter of the monarch, he was soon cleared of all charges, after a sympathetic hearing that June 1660. By the end of that year he was restored, but because of many upheavals did not actually sail for Jamaica again until late April 1662, when he conveyed out the new Royal Governor Thomas, Lord Windsor, in the 46-gun Centurion. Shortly after reaching Port Royal on August 21, 1662, a more vigorous line was implemented against

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Myngs, Sir Christopher (fl. 1656
1663) Myngs’s Spanish Main Campaign, Spring 1659.

N

After repeated descents—indicated by the dotted line—against western portions of the Spanish Main by Commodore Goodson in 1655 to 1656, as well as Myngs himself in 1658, the latter adopted a more cunning variant for the spring of 1659. Reinforced by a sizeable body of freebooters, he beat a thousand miles upwind to fall on unsuspecting Cuman
a (1); after ransacking it, he hastened downwind to visit a like treatment on Puerto Cabello (2) and Coro (3), before either could receive any warning overland, thereby securing an unusual amount of booty.

the Spaniards. An uneasy truce had existed for the past three years, although Madrid still regarded all foreigners in the Americas as interlopers. To challenge this policy, Windsor had brought out instructions that allowed him to issue a proclamation less than one month later, offering privateering commissions and calling on volunteers for a major operation against the Spaniards. Within three days 1,300 men had been mustered (many of them former soldiers), and Myngs’s Centurion was joined by 10 privateering vessels, which included a tiny craft commanded by a

27-year-old militia captain named Henry Morgan.

Destruction of Santiago de Cuba (1662) Myngs was to lead these freebooters against Santiago de Cuba, which had been the Spaniards’ advance base in their efforts to reconquer Jamaica, and as a result much loathed by the English. This flotilla quit Port Royal on October 1, 1662, slowly rounding Point Negril at the west end of Jamaica in light winds. Landfall was made east of their Cuban

Myngs, Sir Christopher (fl. 1656
1663) target, where the advance ship of recently-arrived Sir Thomas Whetstone was spotted at anchor in the lee of a cay. Joining him, Myngs obtained intelligence as to recent Spanish dispositions, and then decided at a general conference held on board the Centurion to burst directly into the enemy harbor, catching them by surprise. Reinforced by Whetstone and seven more Jamaican privateers who belatedly overtook his expedition, Myngs steered down the Cuban coast in scanty winds. They came within sight of the small San Pedro de la Roca harbor-castle atop the 200-foot stony headland which guarded the approaches at daybreak on October 8, 1662 (O.S.), but could not close because of the faint, erratic breezes. Finally, late that same afternoon Myngs decided to change plans: he would use the land-breeze which sprang up every evening to steer directly toward the nearby village of Aguadores, two miles east of the entrance at the mouth of the San Juan River, and by nightfall had succeeded in putting 1,000 men ashore. In his own words: We decided to land under a platform two miles to windward of the harbor, the only place possible to land and march upon the town on all that rocky coast. We found no resistance, the enemy expecting us at the fort and the people flying before us. Before we were all landed it was night. We were forced to advance into a wood, and the way was so narrow and difficult, and the night so dark, that our guides had to go with brands in their hands to beat a path. By daybreak we reached a plantation by a riverside, some six miles from our landing and three miles from the town where being refreshed by water,

daylight and a better way, we very cheerfully advanced for the town, surprising the enemy who hearing our late landing, did not expect us so soon. At the entrance of the town the Governor Don Pedro de Morales, with 200 men and two pieces of ordinance, stood to receive us, Don Cristopher [de Issasi Arnaldo] the old Governor of Jamaica (and a good friend to the English) with 500 more being his reserve. We soon beat them from their station and with the help of Don Christopher, who fairly ran away, we routed the rest. Having mastered the town we took possession of the [seven] vessels in the harbor, and next day I despatched parties in pursuit of the enemy and sent orders to the fleet to attack the harbor, which was successfully done, the enemy deserting the great castle after firing but two muskets. Myngs spent the next five days pursuing the defeated Spaniards inland, ‘‘which proved not very advantageous, their riches being drawn off so far we could not reach it.’’ In frustration the freebooters razed the town, and Myngs used 700 barrels of gunpowder from the magazines to demolish the fortifications and principal buildings. After five days of calculated destruction, he reported: The harbor castle mostly lies level with the ground. It was built upon a rocky precipice, the walls on a mountain side some 60 feet high; there was in it a chapel and houses sufficient for a thousand men. It would take the Spaniards more than a decade to repair their stronghold (see sidebar), and meanwhile Myngs weighed with seven prizes and returned

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Myngs, Sir Christopher (fl. 1656
1663)

DEVASTATED SANTIAGO This small Cuban city would take several decades to recuperate from being razed by the English buccaneer raid of 1662. With little prior overseas traffic or any significant local production beyond the output of a few copper mines, Santiago had ironically enjoyed a brief boom when roughly two-thirds of the 1,500 Spaniards and slaves displaced from Jamaica had been re-settled in its environs in 1655. Now, all those gains would be reversed. As frightened citizens hesitated to rebuild their homes, the economy was also left crippled because copper production had ceased altogether, the Crown’s offer of a generous new lease on the mines in 1663 finding no takers. It was not to be until Pedro de Bayona Villanueva arrived from Spain on June 14, 1664, to assume office as Governor, accompanied by the military engineer Juan de Siscara ([alternate spelling: Ciscara), that the city falteringly began a recuperation. Both officers reported that they had found Santiago ‘‘as the enemy left it,’’ flattened and defenseless, so that a stone citadel christened Fuerte Real de San Francisco or ‘‘Royal Fort of Saint Francis’’ was initiated atop the ruined remnants of the old Franciscan convent in the city core. Its military value was doubtful, but the reassuring bulk might provide some measure of comfort, so that property-owners would start to resume residence. The San Pedro harbor-castle was also repaired and strengthened by the addition of the Estrella and Santa Catalina Batteries at water-level, although all these projects proceeded only fitfully because of frequent interruptions in money shipments from Mexico. Still, the defensive measures were sufficient to deter a small Dutch squadron from braving the entrance on May 2, 1667, as well as a dozen ships and 700 buccaneers under Morgan on March 1, 1668. Over the next few decades, Santiago led an uneasy existence, serving both as an advance base for Spanish attacks against Jamaica and French-held Saint-Domingue ([modern Haiti), as well as an entrep^ ot for clandestine deals with foreign traders seeking its meats, hides, tobacco, sugar, and dyewoods. An earthquake also rattled the city in 1675, and the French buccaneer Pierre de Frasquenay tried another surprise attack on November 9, 1677, disembarking 400 flibustiers at Justicia Inlet to march inland under cover of darkness, guided by a simpleminded Spanish captive named Juan Perdomo, who led the raiders by such a meandering path that one column mistakenly fired on another in the gloom killing 14 of their own men and revealing their presence. A much heavier earthquake damaged the city’s partially-reconstructed defenses and buildings on February 11, 1679, tempting the Breton corsair Pierre Bart into making one more disembarkation at nearby Sabana la Mar, which proved abortive. However, when a buccaneer fleet sacked Veracruz four years later, Santiago’s authorities were galvanized—despite feeble municipal revenues—into completing San Francisco citadel and installing 14 artillery-pieces, for fear that their own city might share that same fate. In December 1686, Madrid also dispatched judge Lic. Tom
as Pizarro Cort
es to conduct an investigation into the region’s illegal contacts with foreign traders, temporarily banishing Gov. Gil Correoso Catal
an to Baracoa while these inquiries were held, but accomplishing little as Santiago’s residents were now quite dependent on smuggling to supplement their livelihoods. As long ago as January 1664, the Bishop of Cuba, Mexican-born Dr. Juan de Santo Mathias S
aenz de Ma~ nosca y Murillo, explained to his superiors in Spain that

Myngs, Sir Christopher (fl. 1656
1663) no ecclesiastical visit had been made throughout the entire length and breadth of his island diocese in more than 40 years, and he dared not attempt one without a strong military escort ‘‘because of the risks of being taken prisoner by the English enemy, who as if he owns this island and the estates of its inhabitants, enters into them and robs them, and carries them away.’’ It would not be until the autumn of 1673 that an ecclesiastical visit was at last made as far east as Santiago de Cuba, and which recorded that the city still contained: . . . no more than 300 inhabitants, and although its garrison has a nominal strength of 300 men, usually filled positions do not ascend to 100. The fortification which exists at the mouth of the port is in ruins and of no use.

to Port Royal on October 21, 1662 (O.S.), where he was elected to the Council of Jamaica a few days afterward. The massive assault had only cost six men killed in the fighting and another 20 due to accidents or illness.

Sack of Campeche (1663) Encouraged by this success, ‘‘the privateers all went to sea for plunder,’’ while Myngs remained in port and on December 12, 1662 (O.S.), issued a call for another expedition. The Centurion refitted while freebooters once again began to marshal. Myngs was joined by Captains Fackman, William James, Edward Mansfield, Morgan, Adriaen Swart, and many others. Soon a dozen ships were being made ready and on Sunday, January 21, 1663, got under way. Myngs quickly rounded Yucatan and worked past uncharted shoals, losing contact with his vice-flagship and several privateersmen. Nonetheless he skillfully snuck almost 1,000 men ashore at J
amula beach, four miles southwest of Campeche, on the night of February 8
9, 1663, and began his advance on the sleeping city. At first light the Spanish lookouts saw his smaller vessels

lying opposite this disembarkation point, with two large men o’ war riding farther out to sea. They sounded the alarm, but too late, as the freebooter army burst out of the nearby woods at eight o’clock and rushed the city. Despite being surprised and heavily outnumbered, the 150 Campeche militiamen put up a spirited resistance, especially from within their ‘‘strong built stone houses, flat at top.’’ A bloody firefight ensued, in which Myngs received serious wounds in his face and both thighs while leading the charge. He was carried back out to Centurion, while Mansfield assumed overall command. The Spanish defenders were eventually subdued after two hours’ heated battle and suffered more than 50 fatalities, as opposed to 30 invaders slain. Some 170 Spanish captives were then rounded up, while many of the city’s thatched huts went up in flames. Next morning, February 10, 1663, the only Spanish official still at large, regidor Antonio Maldonado de Aldana, entered and agreed to a truce, leaving the English undisturbed within the gutted and burnt town in exchange for good treatment of the prisoners. (As he dealt directly with Myngs’s substitute, this raid has gone down in Mexican

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Myngs, Sir Christopher (fl. 1656
1663)

Commodore Christopher Myngs, as portrayed after the Battle of Lowestoft in 1665; modern painting based upon the now-lost seventeenthcentury portrait, attributed to Sir Peter Lely. (National Maritime Museum, London)

fourteen vessels found in the harbor, which were described by a Spanish eye-witness as ‘‘three of 300 tons, the rest medium or small, and some with valuable cargo still on board.’’ The heavily-laden formation slowly beat back around the Yucatan Peninsula against contrary winds and currents, so that the Centurion did not regain Port Royal until April 23, 1663, under the command of its flag-captain, Thomas Morgan, being followed ‘‘soon after [by] the rest of the fleet, but straggling, because coming from leeward every one made the best of his way.’’ They had been gone so long that many Jamaicans had begun to despair. Myngs’ss wounds required a lengthy convalescence, so that early in July 1663 he sailed for England aboard the Centurion.

Later Career (1664
1666) history books as ‘‘Mansfield’s assault,’’ the few direct references to Myngs further misidentifying him as ‘‘Christopher Innes.’’) But despite his injuries, Myngs recuperated sufficiently to order the release of four prominent captives on February 17, 1663, with a message to Maldonado offering to spare the city and release the rest of his prisoners unharmed, if the raiders could draw water from the nearby Lerma wells before departing. He also added his regrets at not coming personally to meet his Spanish counterpart ‘‘as he would have wished,’’ being impeded by his wounds. The Spaniard acceded and as a token of good faith, Myngs released all but six of his most important hostages before watering. On February 23, 1663, his fleet got under way, carrying off great booty and

He received widespread acclaim on his return home, and when the Second Anglo-Dutch War threatened in late 1664, was promoted Vice Admiral under Prince Rupert. Myngs served bravely at the Battle of Lowestoft in June 1665, being knighted for his role in that engagement. After winter patrols, he commanded the van as Vice Admiral of the Red aboard HMS Victory at the brutal ‘‘Four Days Fight’’ of June 1666, being engulfed by the Dutch fleet. With the battle raging all around him, Myngs was shot through the throat but refused to leave his deck, remaining upright compressing the wound with his fingers until a second bullet passed through his throat, and lodged in his shoulder. He lingered on a few days, living long enough to regain England and die at his home in

Myngs, Sir Christopher (fl. 1656
1663) Goodman’s Fields, Whitechapel. The diarist Samuel Pepys would eulogize him as a ‘‘very stout man, and a man of great parts, and most excellent tongue among ordinary men.’’

See also Cagaway; D’Oyley, Edward; Goodson, William; James, William; Maldonado de Aldana, Antonio; Mansfield, Edward; Morris, John; Prins, Laurens; Searle, Robert; Spanish Main; Whetstone, Sir Thomas; Windsor, Thomas, Lord.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Domestic Series, Interregnum, 1653
1660 (London: Her

Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1879
1886). Dictionary of National Biography (London, 1885
1900, 63 Volumes); Issued By Oxford University Press, 2004. Dyer, Florence E., ‘‘Captain Christopher Myngs in the West Indies, 1657
1662,’’ The Mariner’s Mirror, Vol. XVIII (April 1932), pp. 168
187. Eugenio, Ju
arez Moreno, Juan, Piratas y corsarios en Veracruz y Campeche (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispanoamericanos, 1972). Pope, Dudley, Harry Morgan’s Way: The Biography of Sir Henry Morgan, 1635
1684 (London: Secker & Warburg, 1977). Thurloe, John. A Collection of the State Papers of John Thurloe, Volume 6 (London: 1742).

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N I was eating my dinner with the rest, when the mainmast blew out and fell upon Captains Aylett, Bigford, and others, and knocked them on the head. —Survivor’s account of the explosion of Henry Morgan’s flagship, January 1669

Olivier Exquemelin, who, although a contemporary, apparently recorded many of his accounts second-hand, incorporating some lurid touches, but otherwise few verifiable facts. Exquemelin furthermore referred to this rover as ‘‘Franc¸ois l’Olonnais’’ throughout, while other sources indicate that his real name was Jean-David Nau, but nicknamed ‘‘l’Olonnais’’ because he was originally born about 1630 in the port of Les Sables-d’Olonne in the Vend
ee, France. Nau supposedly arrived at SaintDomingue sometime between 1650 and 1653 as an engag
e or ‘‘indentured servant,’’ after which he earned his livelihood among the sharp-shooting hunters known as boucaniers, then became a flibustier or sea-rover. His early campaigns included cruises to Cuba around 1657, and also Campeche, where he was once shipwrecked, yet managed to escape. He

NAU, JEAN-DAVID, ALIAS ‘‘CAPITAINE FRANÇOIS’’ OR ‘‘FRANÇOIS L’OLONNAIS’’ (fl. 1660s) Flibustier from Saint-Domingue, who sacked Maracaibo. Details are sketchy regarding his life, as Nau apparently operated from Tortuga Island, well beyond the early control of the French West Indies Company, which was the only official representation in that area during the 1660s. (A year after his death, the inhabitants of Tortuga were still so independent-minded as to fire hundreds of rounds at the private Governor Bertrand d’Ogeron’s ship, when he unwisely attempted to extend the Company monopoly against foreign trade to that island.) Most of what is known about Nau stems from the chronicler Alexandre285

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Nau, Jean-David, Alias ‘‘Capitaine François’’ or ‘‘François l’Olonnais’’ (fl. 1660s) reputedly had an abiding hatred of Spaniards and showed them little mercy, committing barbarous acts of cruelty. By early 1666, his reputation as a flibustier leader was such that he had been designated as their unofficial leader, being widely referred to as le Capitaine Franc¸ois or the ‘‘French Captain.’’ He was also appointed Major of the offshore ^Ile de la Tortue, and was able to muster a large force to invest the Spanish Main.

Sack of Maracaibo (June 1666) Nau sortied from Tortuga at the end of April 1666, with a flotilla of eight tiny vessels and 660 men, pausing at Bayah
a on the north coast of Hispaniola for an additional party of boucaniers and large stock of provisions. On standing into the Mona Passage, he sighted a 16-gun Spanish vessel which had just departed Puerto Rico, and so gave chase. The Spaniard struck to Nau’s 10-gun sloop ‘‘after two or three hours’ combat,’’ proving to be bound for Veracruz with a rich consignment of cacao. Nau sent this vessel back to Tortuga to unload, meanwhile taking up station with the rest of his flotilla off Saona Island. While waiting for his first prize to return, Nau took a second, an 8-gun Spanish ship carrying gunpowder and situados or ‘‘payrolls’’ for the garrisons of Santo Domingo and Cuman
a. When his first prize returned, Nau made it his flagship, and felt sufficiently strengthened to attempt a descent on the Main, which he had combed that previous year. His colleague Michel d’Artigue, universally known as Michel le Basque, received the official commission for this venture from Bertrand d’Ogeron, the private French Governor at Saint-Domingue, so that their joint force sailed into the

Gulf of Venezuela by June 1666, disembarking their followers near the battery guarding the Bar of Maracaibo, which consisted ‘‘of sixteen cannon surrounded by several gabions or earth-filled wicker cylinders, with a ramp of earth thrown against them to shelter the men inside.’’ The buccaneers quickly overran this feeble fortification, and passed their ships over the Bar into the Laguna. Next day, they reached Maracaibo, which they found being hastily abandoned by its Lietenant-Governor and the last 16 Spanish residents, so occupied it uncontested. During this interlude, buccaneer patrols were sent out into the outlying areas to bring in prisoners, a few being tortured to reveal their riches, with little results. Nau and d’Artigue therefore installed a 30-man garrison and penetrated deeper into the Laguna, bypassing the Indian town called Las Barbacoas and moving on to the town of Gibraltar, which the Spaniards had reinforced with several hundred troops under Gabriel Guerrero de Sandoval, the inland Governor from M
erida de la Grita. The flibustiers believed that this resistance meant the enemy had something worth guarding, so elected to mount an assault. Nau led them into battle with the roar: ‘‘Allons, mes fr eres, suivez-moi, et ne faites point les l^ aches!’’ (‘‘Come on, my brothers, follow me, and let’s have no cowards!’’) Gibraltar fell after a brutal battle in which 40 buccaneers were killed and 30 wounded. The Spaniards suffered much heavier casualties, hundreds of their dead, including Governor Guerrero, being loaded onto two old boats by the invaders, to be towed a mile out into the Laguna and sunk. The town was ruthlessly pillaged over the next month, after which Nau demanded a ransom of

Nau, Jean-David, Alias ‘‘Capitaine François’’ or ‘‘François l’Olonnais’’ (fl. 1660s)

Distorted map depicting the entrance into Lake Maracaibo, included in the 1686 French edition of Exquemelin’s Buccaneers of America; north is toward left. (Author’s Collection)

10,000 pesos out of the interior, to leave its buildings intact. Once paid, the flibustiers re-crossed the Laguna with their two additional prizes and extorted a ransom of 20,000 pesos and 500 head of cattle to spare that city as well. Nau finally quit the Laguna two months after he had entered it, and eight days later touched at ^Ile a Vache, before continuing on to Gona€ves to divide their spoils. These were calculated at ‘‘260,000 pieces of eight in ready money, wrought silver, and jewels,’’ plus another ‘‘100 pieces of eight for every man in linen and silk goods, as well as other trifles.’’ Roughly 400 freebooters having taken part in this expedition, they happily dispersed with English members departing for Jamaica. Shortly thereafter, Nau apparently sold one of his prizes—an 80-ton, 12-gun Spanish brigantine—to Gerrit Gerritszoon (alias ‘‘Rok Brasiliano’’) and

Jelles de Lecat, before finally reentering Tortuga in triumph a month later.

Central American Campaign (1667) Some time later, Nau sortied again with 700 flibustiers, 300 aboard the large Spanish prize which he had brought from Maracaibo. Accompanied by five smaller craft, he proceeded to Bayah
a to once more take ‘‘on board salt meat for their victuals.’’ The buccaneers then cruised southern Cuban as far as the Gulf of Bataban
o, seizing boats to use in an ascent up the San Juan River in Nicaragua, as they hoped to duplicate the feat of John Morris, David Martien, and Henry Morgan from two years previously, of sacking Granada. But when Nau attempted to

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Nau, Jean-David, Alias ‘‘Capitaine François’’ or ‘‘François l’Olonnais’’ (fl. 1660s) clear Cape Gracias a Dios on the Mosquito Coast, he was prevented by a lack of wind and drifted along the north coast of Honduras. Running low on provisions, he sent foraging-parties up the Agu
an River, and eventually prowled as far west as Puerto Cabellos. Here, according to Exquemelin, he captured a Spanish merchantman armed with 24 cannons and 16 pedreros or ‘‘swivel-guns,’’ as well as occupying the town. He terrified two captives into leading him inland to the nearest city, San Pedro Sula, setting off with 300 flibustiers, while leaving the remainder to garrison the tiny port under his Dutch-born lieutenant, Mozes van Klijn. Less than 10 miles into the jungle, they were waylaid by a party of Spaniards, and learned from prisoners that more ambushes had been prepared. ‘‘Mor’dieu,’’ Nau swore, ‘‘les bougres d’Espagnols me le payeront!’’ (‘‘God’s death, the Spanish blackguards will pay for this!’’) He gave the order for his men to give no quarter, for he believed that the more they killed on the way, the less resistance they would find in the city. Despite this, the Spaniards sprang more ambushes and even fought off Nau’s initial assault on San Pedro Sula, before being allowed to evacuate under flag of truce. The city and its outlying region were then pillaged over the next few days, being burnt to the ground when Nau retired to the coast. On returning to Puerto Cabellos, he learned that a wealthy galleon was due to arrive soon from Spain ‘‘at the Guatemala river’’ (i.e., Bay of Amatique), so posted a pair of lookout boats on the southern shore, before crossing to the western side of the Gulf of Honduras to careen. Three months elapsed, until word was finally received that the galleon had come. Recalling his scattered forces, Nau

quickly attacked, although the Spaniard had 42 cannon and 130 men. His 28-gun flagship and a smaller buccaneer consort were beaten off, but four boatloads of flibustiers carried the galleon by boarding. Its booty proved disappointing, however, as most of the cargo had already been unloaded and there only remained some iron, paper, and wine. Discouraged, Nau’s confederates Van Klijn and Pierre le Picard decided to quit his company, leaving him alone with his Maracaibo prize.

Death (1668?) This vessel proved a heavy sailer, and it ran aground some time later among the Pearl Islands, ‘‘twelve leagues east’’ of Cape Gracias a Dios. Nau and his crew were forced to live ashore, planting crops and attempting to build a longboat from the ship’s remains. When this was finally completed five or six months later, it was not big enough to accommodate all the survivors, so Nau went with a group of men to the San Juan River, to attempt to steal more boats. They were defeated by the Spaniards and forced to flee, after which Nau continued into the Gulf of Darien, determined to obtain some boats. Here, his small band was attacked by natives, and according to the sole survivor, ‘‘L’Olonnais was hacked to pieces and roasted limb by limb.’’

See also Artigue, Michel d’; Exquemelin, Alexandre-Olivier; Gerritszoon, Gerrit; Lecat, Jelles de; Ogeron, Bertrand d’.

References Du Tertre, Jean-Baptiste, Histoire g
en
erale des Antilles habit
ees par les Franc¸ois (Paris: Thomas Jolly, 1671).

Navarro, Baltasar (fl. 1681
1685) Exquemelin, Alexandre-Olivier, The Buccaneers of America (London: Penguin, 1969). Lugo, Am
erico, Recopilaci
on diplom
atica relativa a las colonias espa~ nola y francesa de la isla de Santo Domingo, 1640
1701 (Ciudad Trujillo, Dominican Republic: Editorial ‘‘La Naci
on,’’ 1944). Lussan, Ravenau de, Journal of a Voyage into the South Sea (Cleveland, OH: Arthur H. Clark, 1930). Marley, David F., ‘‘Nau l’Olonnais a Maracaibo: un rapport espagnol, janvier 1667. G
en
ealogie et Histoire de la Cara€be [France] 217 (September 2008), pp. 5638
5640. Sucre, Luis Alberto, Gobernadores y capitanes generales de Venezuela (Caracas: Litografı´a Tecnocolor, 1964). Vrijman, L. C., Dr. David van der Sterre: Zeer aenmerkelijke reysen door Jan Erasmus Reyning (Amsterdam: P. N. van Kampen & Zoon, 1937).

NAVARRO, BALTASAR (fl. 1681
1685) Spanish guardacosta who operated out of Campeche. Navarro’s activity was first mentioned in spring 1681, when he commanded a piragua sent on patrol into Mexico’s Laguna de T
erminos. The previous year, a series of Spanish sweeps organized by Captain Felipe de la Barrera y Villegas had succeeded in clearing this region of English trespassers, who had established themselves ashore many years before to poach logwood. Campeche’s authorities wished to maintain this advantage by dispatching regular patrols to cruise that shoreline, one such being Navarro’s boat. He spotted the 12-gun pink of John Hart lying inside the Laguna in early April 1681, chasing it away, and

capturing 12 men who had been landed to fell trees. Four years later, Navarro performed much more singular service in defense of Campeche. Early in June 1685, the coast-guard frigate Nuestra Se~ nora de la Soledad y San Antonio hurried into port with a two-ship convoy, its Captain Crist
obal Martı´nez de Acevedo reporting that they had been chased on May 27th by unidentified vessels. Rumors had already begun circulating of a pirate fleet gathering on the far side of the Yucat
an Peninsula near Isla Mujeres, and Lieutenant-Governor de la Barrera decided to act. Soledad was ordered to anchor beneath the protection of Campeche’s guns, while 25 of its crewmembers were transferred into Navarro’s piragua. A further 25 soldiers were added from the city garrison, and he was commanded to proceed to the tiny advance port of Sisal to reconnoiter for the enemy. On reaching that place, Navarro was instructed to round Yucat
an in search of strange sails. He probed as far as Isla Mujeres, where he saw a tall ship with 30 guns in the distance. Returning toward Sisal, his boat received a friendly hail from a sloop opposite Telchac, but Navarro refused to answer because he considered it suspicious. Next day, he sighted more small craft to leeward, about five miles from land, who withdrew as his piragua approached, and joined two large ships and several smaller vessels farther out at sea. Alarmed, Navarro hastened toward Sisal to give warning, and at the entrance to its harbor he heard from a coaster captain named Manzano that four more unidentified vessels were anchored inside the Gulf of Mexico. Twelve days after reporting these finds to the authorities at

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Navarro, Baltasar (fl. 1681
1685) Sisal, Navarro and his men learned more than a dozen sail had been sighted off Champot
on, heading toward Campeche. At this, his men became agitated, fearing for their loved ones at home, and insisting on an immediate return. Navarro sent an urgent request to the Governor of Yucat
an, who soon authorized him to quit Sisal. At four o’clock on the afternoon of July 9, 1685, Navarro’s piragua arrived off the northern approaches of Campeche, and set a man ashore at the outlying village of Platanar to make inquiries. He returned at a run to report that the pirate fleet of Laurens de Graaf and Sieur de Grammont had invaded the city two days earlier, although its citadel still held out. Lieutenant-Governor de la Barrera, who had been driven out of Campeche during this fighting, now ordered Navarro’s piragua directly into the roads to support the fort, whose guns prevented the pirate fleet from anchoring in the harbor. That night, Navarro rowed up close to the citadel and hailed its commander, sargento mayor Gonzalo Borrallo. In an attempt to disconcert the freebooters, who were listening, Navarro shouted across the darkened water that Yucat
an’s Gov. Juan Bruno T
ellez de Guzm
an would arrive next day with 800 troops, while Borrallo responded in a similar vein, loudly asserting that he had 300 troops inside the citadel and no need of water or supplies. Next day, Navarro defended the roads, fending off pirate attempts to encroach on the harbor, and that night neared the fort again, from where Borrallo asked him to make a disembarkation the following night to carry off and refill the citadel’s empty watercasks. During the night of July 11th, the piragua was beached and they were

taken aboard, after which Navarro struck out through the darkness for the town of Lerma, southwest of the city, and the nearest spot where he could safely complete this task. By eight o’clock on the morning of July 12th it was done, but Navarro discovered that three of his seamen had deserted. After a quick search failed to turn them up, he struck out toward Campeche. As his piragua approached the city, he and the crew could distinctly hear the boom of heavy artillery, as the pirates had landed guns from their ships and had commenced bombarding the citadel at dawn. While gliding past the outskirts, an Indian hailed and warned the men aboard the piragua that pirates had concealed two pieces close ahead, among the hides ‘‘behind the corner of the butcher shop,’’ to ambush them. Navarro scoffed at this report, but his men refused to take up their oars again, believing that ‘‘they would be sunk and slaughtered as they waded onto the beach’’ because they were guardacostas, to whom the pirates traditionally showed no mercy. Navarro vainly shouted orders, then cajoled his crew, ‘‘and when some began to undress to dive into the water, threatened them with a blunderbuss until they put on their clothes again,’’ yet could not persuade them to advance. Instead, they rowed directly in toward shore and abandoned the piragua, leaving him with only eight men. Navarro attempted to row back to Lerma with these few, but the winds and tides were too much, so that he was forced to scuttle his craft short of this destination by evening. Nevertheless, Navarro persisted with his efforts, marching toward the city

Neville, Edward (fl. 1675
1678) with the handful of followers left him. But that same day, a Spanish relief-column from M
erida de Yucat
an had been defeated by Grammont, and the citadel’s defenders deserted their posts that night. By the time Navarro drew near, resistance had ceased and the enemy was fanning out into the countryside, so that he made his way inland to the village of San Diego, where he found his wife and children among the refugees. A report arrived there a few days later that a column of mounted buccaneers was bearing down on the nearby town of Zamul
a, and Navarro was one who hastened to its aid. In the confusion, he came on the abandoned icon of Campeche’s patron saint, Santo Cristo de San Rom
an, which he helped defend until being shot in one leg. While the jubilant raiders pressed on to ransack the town, Navarro was fortunately able to crawl to a nearby Spanish company, and be carried off. His wound was so severe that it precluded any further participation in this campaign.

References Ju
arez Moreno, Juan, Piratas y corsarios en Veracruz y Campeche (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1972). Marley, David F., Sack of Veracruz: The Great Pirate Raid of 1683 (Windsor, Ontario, Canada: Netherlandic Press, 1993).

NEVILLE, EDWARD (fl. 1675
1678) English privateer who served under French colors. When England withdrew from the war against The Netherlands in early

1674, many of its West Indian corsairs shifted allegiance to continue privateering. One such captain was Neville, who obtained a commission from the French authorities on Saint Domingue to commit depredations against the Dutch and Spanish. On March 26, 1675 (O.S.), the new deputy governor of Jamaica, Sir Henry Morgan, drafted a letter promising Neville and his fellow rovers a friendly reception at Port Royal if they were to come in and cease their operations on behalf of foreign countries, which although legal, were an embarrassment to the English Crown. The retired buccaneer added that he hoped ‘‘their experience of him will give him the reputation that he intends not to betray them.’’ This proposal was never sent, though, as Morgan’s superior, Lord Vaughan, preferred other measures to recall the privateers. Thus, Neville was still active three years later, taking part in George Spurre’s assault on the Mexican town of Campeche. On April 10, 1678, Neville and his sloop lay in company with Spurre’s frigate before Havana, where they intercepted the outward bound dispatch vessel Toro (Bull) and made it their new flagship. Sailing across the Gulf of Mexico to the Laguna de T
erminos, they recruited additional men for an attempt on Campeche. Neville’s sloop accompanied Spurre’s Toro and eight piraguas up the coast, and on the night of July 6, 1678, Neville reconnoitered the port alone. At dawn he rejoined the main body to report that all was calm. That night, the pirates slipped ashore. Before daybreak on Sunday, July 10, 1678, the buccaneers entered the sleeping town and took it by surprise, suffering no casualties. They held it until the

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Nichols, Bernard (fl. 1664
1665) evening of Tuesday, July12th, when they withdrew with their prizes: the ship San Antonio, a barco luengo, and a boat, plus a great deal of booty. They also carried off 250 blacks, mulattos, and Indians to be sold as slaves at the Laguna de T
erminos. That same autumn, William Beeston noted in his journal at Port Royal, Jamaica: 18 October 1678 [O.S.]. Arrived Captain Splure [sic], who with one Neville about three months since, and 150 men, had taken Campeche, and with him a prize; for all of which he had his pardon, and leave to come in and spend their plunder.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 9 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1893
1899). Eugenio; Interesting Tracts Relating to the Island of Jamaica (St. Jago de la Vega: Lewis, Lunan and Jones, 1800). Pope, Dudley, Harry Morgan’s Way: The Biography of Sir Henry Morgan, 1635
1684 (London: Secker & Warburg, 1977).

NICHOLS, BERNARD (fl. 1664
1665) Minor English privateer who operated out of Jamaica. On November 23, 1664 (O.S.), William Beeston noted in his journal at Port Royal: ‘‘Bernard Nicholas [sic] brought in a prize.’’ This was exceptional in that the new Governor Sir Thomas Modyford had some months previously issued a

proclamation ‘‘that for the future all acts of hostility against the Spaniards should cease,’’ yet Nichols was apparently allowed to retain this vessel. On February 20, 1665 (O.S.), the Governor himself informed London: ‘‘The Spanish prizes have been inventoried and sold, but it is suspected those of Morrice [sic; Maurice Williams], and Bernard Nichols have been miserably plundered, and the interested parties will find but a slender account in the Admiralty.’’

References Interesting Tracts Relating to the Island of Jamaica (St. Jago de la Vega: Lewis, Lunan and Jones, 1800). Pawson, Michael, and Buisseret, David J., Port Royal, Jamaica (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1975).

NORMAN, RICHARD (fl. 1669
1671) English freebooter who operated out of Jamaica. In the summer of 1669, Norman served under Henry Morgan in his campaign against Maracaibo, and a year and half later sailed in the huge expedition against Panama. After recapturing tiny Providencia Island from the Spaniards on Christmas Day, 1670, Morgan sent ‘‘Lieutenant Colonel’’ Joseph Bradley on ahead with 470 men aboard three ships (with Norman as his ‘‘Major’’) to capture the crucial San Lorenzo castle at the mouth of the Chagres River, which was to be used as the pirates’ advance base for their overland march to the Pacific. This force landed within sight of that fortification at noon on January 6, 1671,

Norman, Richard (fl. 1669
1671) and carried it the next day, after repeated assaults. Bradley was badly wounded during the final attack, being shot through both legs, and Norman assumed overall command. Five days later, Morgan’s main body hove into view. Bradley died and Norman was left in charge of Chagres with 540 men, while Morgan crossed the Isthmus to attack Panama. During his absence, Norman set two vessels to maintain watch along the coast under Spanish colors, which met a big Spanish merchantman and chased it into Chagres, where it was easily caught by Norman. This proved to be a valuable prize, being loaded with all kinds of provisions that the buccaneers sorely needed.

References Earle, Peter, The Sack of Panama: Captain Morgan and the Battle for the Caribbean (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2007). Exquemelin, Alexandre-Olivier, The Buccaneers of America (London: Penguin, 1969). Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924). Pope, Dudley, Harry Morgan’s Way: The Biography of Sir Henry Morgan, 1635
1684 (London: Secker & Warburg, 1977). Vrijman, L. C., Dr. David van der Sterre: Zeer aenmerkelijke reysen door Jan Erasmus Reyning (Amsterdam: P. N. van Kampen & Zoon, 1937).

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O This French enemy was so tyrannical, that after taking everything people had, he would torture them unto death, something which not even a Turk or a Moor would do. —Spanish survivor of Maracaibo, describing Grammont’s sack in the summer of 1678

D’Ogeron lost all his possessions when carried past this destination and shipwrecked, after which he managed to struggle back to France the next year. While preparing to return to the Americas in 1662, D’Ogeron, as an int
eress
e or ‘‘shareholder’’ in one of the first French West Indian companies, also laid claim to the Lucayan and Caicos Islands ‘‘from the 20th to 28th degree North latitude,’’and then sailed for the Caribbean with 140 men aboard a 5-gun ship in July 1663. There, he gathered and shipped a cargo of tobacco from Port-a-Margot for the return passage, and became one of 30 colonists who successfully settled on the west coast of Hispaniola at L
eog^ane (a mispronunciation of its earlier Spanish name La Yaguana, which had become garbled into l’Yaguane in French, then eventually evolved into ‘‘L
eog^ane’’).

OGERON, BERTRAND D’,  RE SIEUR DE LA BOUE (1613
1676) Fourth French Governor of Saint-Domingue, who led its boucaniers to disaster. Bertrand d’Ogeron was the third and last child born to a merchant of this same name at Rochefort, France, being baptized on Tuesday, March 19, 1613. In October 1653, a few months after his father’s death, D’Ogeron was created e
cuyer or ‘‘squire’’ and enrolled as a captain in the Marine Regiment. By 1657, he was in the New World at Martinique, and two years later following the conclusion of the Franco-Spanish War, he was discharged and joined some adventurers on a colonizing expedition to the west coast of Saint-Domingue. 295

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Ogeron, Bertrand d’, Sieur de La Bouere (1613
1676) In the spring of 1664, the Compagnie des Indes Occidentales was created by the Crown, and in October of that same year its directors in Paris named D’Ogeron as Governor of the boucanier stronghold of Tortuga Island, situated off the northwestern tip of Saint-Domingue. Because of the usual delays in transAtlantic communications, D’Ogeron did not assume this new posting until June 6, 1665, being rather coolly received by the boucaniers themselves, who resented the Company’s attempts to monopolize their trade. In 1668, D’Ogeron was granted leave to travel to France for a year on personal affairs, deputizing his nephew Jacques Nepveu, Sieur de Pouanc¸ay, to serve during his absence. D’Ogeron left Paris to return to Saint-Domingue on Easter weekend of 1669, arriving at the colony in early autumn. He found the boucaniers’ resentment against the Company stronger than ever, and with extreme difficulty put down a serious revolt in the spring of 1670. This uprising exploded when D’Ogeron sailed from Cul de Sac to Tortuga with his Irondelle, encountering two Flushing ships of 300 to 400 tons who were bringing out goods for the boucaniers. D’Ogeron informed the Dutch captains, Pieter Constant and Pieter Marck, that such trade was prohibited, to which they replied that ‘‘he would have to be stronger than they to prevent it.’’ When the boucaniers learned of D’Ogeron’s threat they mutinied, and fired repeatedly on his ship. Order was restored many months afterward, with the aid of ships and men sent by the Governor-General of the Windward Islands, Jean-Charles de Baas-Castelmore, plus a general amnesty issued by the Crown.

Disaster at Puerto Rico (1673) News of the outbreak of the FrancoDutch War reached the Caribbean during the latter half of 1672, so that De Baas began organizing an expedition to attack the Dutch stronghold of Curac¸ao. He detached the 50-gun Ecueil or ‘‘Reef’’ and smaller Petite Infante (Little Infanta or ‘‘Spanish Princess’’) to Saint-Domingue, with orders for D’Ogeron to raise a large number of volunteers and join him off Saint Croix on March 4, 1673. At least 200 recruits boarded the Petite Infante at L
eog^ane, half transferring to the Ecueil at Petit-Go^ave, where another 200 had been mustered. This pair of ships then rounded M^ole Saint-Nicolas for Tortuga, where they arrived on February 18th and almost immediately got under way again, with further reinforcements plus half-a-dozen smaller privateer craft. The night of February 25
26, 1673, D’Ogeron’s Ecueil ran aground through navigational error in the vicinity of Arecibo, on the northwest shores of Puerto Rico. ‘‘More than half the people were saved,’’ he later wrote, 500 survivors struggling ashore through the surf. He sent his lieutenant Brodart and nephew De Pouanc¸ay with a message to the local Spanish authorities, informing them of the accident and requesting aid. But the French had so long victimized the Puerto Rican coastline that they were regarded as mortal enemies, despite the fact that this particular band had arrived purely by chance, and that Spain was neutral in the European conflict. Both emissaries were thrown into jail and a host of militiamen descended on the French survivors, subduing them after a one-sided clash in which 10 Puerto Ricans died and 12 were wounded, as opposed to perhaps 40 to 50 fatalities among D’Ogeron’s group.

Ogeron, Bertrand d’, Sieur de La Bouere (1613
1676) Following this outburst, the island Governor—a hard-bitten, surly veteran named Gaspar de Arteaga y Aunavidao, whose foul temper was made worse by the fact that he was dying from a lingering disease—ordered the Frenchmen detained, and so informed his Spanish counterparts at Santo Domingo, who sent two officials to examine the prisoners. This done, 460 French captives were marched to Aguada and then inland to San Germ
an, where they were settled and allotted cattle to sustain themselves, all the while loosely guarded by 60 Spanish soldiers. (D’Ogeron was apparently not among this first group, having been temporarily left behind. The chronicler Alexandre-Olivier Exquemelin later reported that D’Ogeron duped his captors by concealing his true identity and feigning madness, yet the official records show that the Spaniards knew exactly who he was.) After several months’ captivity, during which some of his men slipped away or were exchanged, and many others succumbed to sickness or neglect, D’Ogeron succeeded in escaping (perhaps with the barber surgeon Franc¸ois La Faverye, as Exquemelin wrote). The two allegedly made a daylong walk from the internment area at Hato de Arriba to the coast, where they stole a small fishing-boat by murdering its two-man crew and dropping their bodies into the sea. It took four days to clear Cape Rojo and reach the French settlement at Saman
a Bay, during which neither man had anything to eat or drink. Having already been given up for dead, ‘‘the return of Monsieur d’Ogeron to this island is a miracle,’’ one contemporary eye-witness noted. Diplomatic overtures had been previously made from Martinique for the release of both he and his fellow captives, yet D’Ogeron now insisted on a more

impetuous recourse. Despite the peace prevailing with Spain, he organized a force of 500 flibustiers at Tortuga, and sailed for Puerto Rico on October 7, 1673. Pausing at Saman
a for reinforcements, he appeared before Aguada in the middle of the month and was incorrectly informed that De Arteaga might consider an exchange. D’Ogeron therefore plunged ashore with a landing-party of 300 men and tried to seize some hostages, marching as far as six miles inland on his third day, where he was ambushed and lost 17 men before retreating. It is alleged that the Spaniards lost double this amount and in their wrath, butchered the French wounded found laying on the field. Nor did D’Ogeron’s attack benefit his men at Hato de Arriba, who suffered for his temerity. When De Arteaga was informed of this latest outrage, he ordered 40 prisoners executed and the rest placed in strict confinement. D’Ogeron cruised impotently off the coast for the next couple of months, until word arrived that France and Spain were at war, dashing his final hopes. The Spaniards would now be most unlikely to release their captives in the West Indies, so that a discouraged D’Ogeron returned to Tortuga on December 29, 1673, requesting permission to visit France. He never saw his men again. By the spring of 1674, scarcely 131 were still alive, toiling on the fortifications of San Juan de Puerto Rico. From there, the survivors were transported in groups to Havana, to await deportation to Spain. A curious sequel occurred two years later, when the Spanish vessel Nuestra Se~ nora del P
opulo was captured by the French in the Mediterranean, between Sicily and Italy in the Straits of Messina. The Spanish captain and two ensigns were carried to the border between southern France and Catalu~na, where a message

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Orange, Pierre d’ (d. 1683) was dispatched to the Spaniards offering to exchange them for any of D’Ogeron’s survivors. The Council of Indies in Madrid took this offer seriously, sending a circular dated December 23, 1676, to the Crown officials at Puerto Rico and Havana, ordering that any such captives be forwarded to Cadiz. The matter languished on account of the slowness of trans-Atlantic communications, due to naval blockades. Meanwhile, the Compagnie des Indes Occidentales had been disbanded in 1674, and that following year D’Ogeron had reached Paris to determine what his new role might be; but being ‘‘afflicted by an incurable diarrhea [lient
erie],’’ he never got to see either the King or his minister Colbert before dying on Friday, January 31, 1676, at the Rue des Mac¸ons or ‘‘Masons’ Street’’ in the Sorbonne. Two years afterward, Exquemelin’s book appeared in Amsterdam, its final chapter dedicated to D’Ogeron’s Puerto Rican ordeal.

References Exquemelin, Alexandre-Olivier, The Buccaneers of America (London: Penguin, 1969).
L
opez Cantos, Angel, Historia de Puerto Rico, 1650
1700 (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1975). Lugo, Am
erico, Recopilaci
on diplom
atica relativa a las colonias espa~ nola y francesa de la isla de Santo Domingo, 1640
1701 (Ciudad Trujillo, Dominican Republic: Editorial ‘‘La Naci
on,’’ 1944).

ORANGE, PIERRE D’ (d. 1683) French freebooter from Martinique, who helped sack Veracruz.

D’Orange may have been a descendant of the family which helped found the French colony of Guadeloupe in 1635. On March 5, 1683, he sailed from Martinique with the tiny 2-gun Dauphin or ‘‘Prince,’’ accompanied by the equally small Proph ete Daniel or ‘‘Prophet Daniel’’ of Antoine Bernard, intending to go turtling at the Cayman Islands. But a month after arriving, they heard of a great pirate assembly off the Central American coast preparing to attack the Spaniards, so crossed to Guanaja Island, and learned that this peacetime raid was being launched because a Dutch-born rover named Nikolaas van Hoorn had been defrauded of a consignment of slaves at Santo Domingo, and—being a resident of Cayenne, conquered five years previously by France, thus now a subject of Louis XIV—had procured a letter of reprisal from Jacques Nepveu, Sieur de Pouanc¸ay and Governor of Saint-Domingue, to exact restitution from the Spaniards. Van Hoorn had sortied with the ‘‘Chevalier’’ de Grammont and other buccaneer captains to recruit at Roat
an, to attempt to mount a surprise attack against the great Mexican port of Veracruz. D’Orange and Bernard joined the expedition, which eventually swelled to 13 vessels and perhaps 1,400 men. Hurrying round the Yucatan Peninsula, a landing-party of 800 freebooters stole ashore near Veracruz on the night of May 17-18, 1683, infiltrating and attacking the city at dawn. Its Spanish garrison was quickly subdued and several thousand half-dressed citizens were herded into La Merced Church, where some would later recall D’Orange as a jailer ‘‘who behaved most tyrannically, and whom the rest of the

Outlaw, John (fl. 1665) pirates greatly respected.’’ After thoroughly ransacking the city over four days, the raiders withdrew two miles offshore to Sacrificios Island with their hostages, transferring vast quantities of booty aboard their waiting ships. A fortnight later they weighed, and staggered back around Yucatan to divide their spoils at Isla Mujeres. The flotilla thereupon broke up, D’Orange and Bernard being among the first to attempt to beat across to PetitGo^ave, yet only getting as far the Caymans before the latter fell ill. D’Orange and his Dauphin persisted, though, gaining the French colony and making a brief cruise along the north coast of Cuba before rejoining his consort. On August 4, 1683, while lying at Little Cayman, the Armada de Barlovento suddenly hove into view and captured both vessels, the two prizes being carried into Veracruz three weeks later, and a hearing convened aboard the flagship Santo Cristo de Burgos. According to Spanish law, pirate leaders were to be tried at the scene of their crimes, while followers were to be deported to serve in the galleys of Spain. Thus, D’Orange remained in Veracruz when the plate fleet set sail for Cadiz a few days later, being held back to be judged in the still-devastated Mexican port. At his trial he was asked ‘‘how he, being a Catholic, could violate temples, steal icons, and profane holy places, actions only of heretics,’’ to which he lamely replied that everyone else had been doing so. D’Orange was condemned to death and on November 22, 1683, was paraded through the streets, as the town crier shouted: Esta es la justicia que manda hacer el Rey nuestro se~ nor or ‘‘Behold the justice ordered by the King our lord!’’ The rover was hanged in the

main square, decapitated, and his head spiked at the wharf.

References Ju
arez Moreno, Juan, Piratas y corsarios en Veracruz y Campeche (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1972). Marley, David F., Sack of Veracruz: The Great Pirate Raid of 1683 (Windsor, Ontario, Canada: Netherlandic Press, 1993). S
aiz Cidoncha, Carlos, Historia de la piraterı´a en Am
erica Espa~ nola (Madrid: Editorial San Martı´n, 1985). Torres Ramı´rez, Bibiano, La Armada de Barlovento (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1981).

OUTLAW, JOHN (fl. 1665) English privateer who commanded the ill-named Olive Branch of six guns in Colonel Edward Morgan’s expedition against Dutch Sint Eustatius and Saba, during the Second Anglo-Dutch War. This force departed Jamaica in two divisions, five sail putting out of Port Royal on April 5, 1665, and Morgan himself following with another four on April 28th. There were 650 men in all, described in a letter by Gov. Sir Thomas Modyford as: . . . chiefly reformed privateers, scarce a planter amongst them, being resolute fellows and well armed with fusils [Spanish word for muskets] and pistols. The Crown official was particularly grateful that they would be serving ‘‘at the old rate of no purchase, no pay, and it will cost the King nothing considerable, some powder and mortar pieces.’’ Their landing

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Oxe, Robert (fl. 1680) was successfully made, but the Colonel, ‘‘being a corpulent man,’’ died from heat exertion during the chase, and his expedition disbanded shortly thereafter.

References Cruikshank, E. A., The Life of Sir Henry Morgan (Toronto: Macmillan, 1935). Interesting Tracts Relating to the Island of Jamaica (St. Jago de la Vega: Lewis, Lunan and Jones, 1800). Pope, Dudley, Harry Morgan’s Way: The Biography of Sir Henry Morgan, 1635
1684 (London: Secker & Warburg, 1977).

OXE, ROBERT (fl. 1680) English logwood poacher caught off Mexico’s Laguna de T
erminos. On Sunday, May 12, 1680, Oxe appeared at the mouth of the ‘‘Bay of Campeche’’ with his ship Laurel of London and other vessels, hoping to visit the English logging establishments and obtain a cargo of dyewood, before proceeding north toward Boston. A bark of about 35 tons which accompanied him went over the bar to locate a pilot, little realizing that the Spaniards under Captain Felipe de la Barrera had recently swept the entire Lagoon, and were now maintaining regular patrols into the area. Next day, Laurel stood in toward the mouth of the Bay again, yet neither the bark nor pilot appeared. Instead, a sail was seen approaching along the coast that evening, and when Oxe sent his pinnace to investigate, discovered it to be a Spanish frigate, which gave chase. Oxe immediately fired a gun to warn the pink Recovery of Captain James Browne which was with him,

and the two fled into the night. Not realizing his bark had already been captured, Oxe returned to the mouth of the Lagoon with Browne, where they were again surprised on May 16th by the same frigate and two more Spanish men-of-war. Browne and his crew joined Oxe aboard the Laurel, setting the pink adrift and fighting the Spaniards for more than two hours (‘‘four or five glasses’’), before the latter drew off to seize the empty Recovery. That night, Oxe set watering-parties ashore at the mouth of the nearby San Pedro y San Pablo River, before resuming his futile watch off the Lagoon. Finally, he sailed away to ‘‘the Cays of Yucatan for water,’’ where one night he was caught by the Spanish, with most of his crew ashore. Two of his men were killed and Oxe himself mauled, the Spaniards ‘‘hanging him up at the fore braces several times, beating him with their cutlasses, and striking him in the face.’’ When he proffered Governor Lord Carlisle’s pass to the guardacosta captain—most likely either Pedro de Castro or Juan Corso—the latter flung it away, and boasted Laurel ‘‘was the twenty-second ship he had taken that summer.’’ Oxe and eight hands were put in a canoe with two days’ provisions, landing on the Turneffe Islands (opposite present-day Belize City), where they remained ‘‘fifteen days before any relief came.’’ By the end of that year, Oxe was back in Port Royal, complaining of his mistreatment, but grateful to be alive.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 10, 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1893
1899).

P Deponent asked him who he was and whence he came, to which the said Thatch replied he came from Hell, and he would carry him presently. —Blackbeard described by one of his victims, September 1718

was already prospering as a propertymanager, trader, and shipbuilder. Having recently become a widower himself, left with two young sons, the 41-year-old Mayhew had returned to England on business in 1634, and so sailed back to North America accompanied by his new wife, her nine-year-old daughter Jane, and her infant son Thomas Paine. Four more children would be born to this couple over the ensuing years. In 1641, when his stepson Thomas was still a boy, Mayhew secured ownership of Martha’s Vineyard, Nantucket, and the Elizabeth Islands from Sir Ferdinando Gorges and William Alexander, Earl of Sterling. Mayhew planned on relocating all his businesses to these new holdings, so that a groundbreaking party of 20 families began clearing a settlement next year under the direction of his eldest son, 21-year-old Thomas Mayhew,

PAINE, THOMAS (fl. 1675
1690) New Englander who roamed the Caribbean for many years as a freebooter, which helped him become a prosperous citizen of Rhode Island, and defend it late in life against the French. Details about Paine’s early life are rather sketchy. He was supposedly born around 1632 at Martha’s Vineyard, yet this latter fact is untrue. Rather, he was born that year in London, England, to a Puritan couple: Thomas Paine and Jane Gallion or Galliou. His father died shortly thereafter, and the infant’s mother remarried in 1634 to Thomas Mayhew, a Puritan widower who was just then back in the English capital on a visit. Three years previously, Mayhew had migrated out to the burgeoning Massachusetts Bay colony, where he 301

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Paine, Thomas (fl. 1675
1690) Jr. The senior Mayhew followed with another large group in 1646, taking up residence at Great Harbour (modern Edgartown) as the private Governor for Martha’s Vineyard. His farming and whaling enterprises soon began to flourish as well, and his 15-year-old stepson Thomas Paine apparently made his first seafaring voyage in 1647. A few West Indian forays may have followed, once Jamaica had been conquered in 1655 and the Puritan Lord Protector, Sir Oliver Cromwell, began encouraging more commerce to and from England’s North American colonies. Yet trouble also arose for the family: Mayhew’s eldest son was lost at sea during a voyage to England two years later, and after Cromwell’s death and the restoration of the English monarchy in May 1660, New England passed under the control of James, Duke of York. Mayhew would spend the next decade trying to get his Puritan-issued land-titles recognized. It would not be until 1671 that his original charter was at last ratified, and he was royally reappointed— along with his new heir, his grandson—as ‘‘joint Lords of the Manor of Tisbury.’’ Thomas Paine’s mother Jane died in 1666; as a stepson he was obviously not included in any of the Mayhew family arrangements, so was left to seek his own livelihood at sea. Legend has it that Paine’s first voyages into the Caribbean had included service under such notorious freebooter commanders as Jean-David Nau l’Olonnais and Henry Morgan, although these rumors cannot be confirmed. However, as a seasoned and knowledgeable seafarer, he may well have secured a post aboard a privateer when the Third Anglo-Dutch War erupted in the spring of 1672, pitting England and France in an alliance against The Netherlands.

French Service (1675
1682) No details are known about Paine’s early service, but he evidently continued to operate as a French privateer even after England withdrew from these hostilities two years later, in spite of the official disapproval expressed by London against any such mercenary service under foreign flags. The first mention of Paine occurred in December 1675, when the renegade Jamaican freebooter John Bennett gave the 43-year-old New Englander command of a Spanish prize, which Paine then fitted out as a 14-gun ship named the Saint David. Next April 1676, while cruising between Curac¸ao and Antigua in the company of two other English captains—all under a French commission issued by Gov. Bertrand d’Ogeron of Saint-Domingue (modern Haiti)—Paine helped recapture a merchantman from La Rochelle, which had been intercepted by a Dutch privateer. The trio then sailed their capture to Saint Croix, where it was adjudged a legitimate prize-of-war in May 1676. It is possible that Paine next proceeded with Saint David to the port of Petit-Go^ave (Haiti), to participate in the privateering expedition which Charles Franc¸ois d’Angennes, Marquis de Maintenon, was organizing to raid the Venezuelan coast during the winter months of 1676 to 1677. This force was subsequently diverted to support the recently-arrived French Vice Admiral Jean, Comte d’Estr
ees, in his first assault against the Dutch stronghold on Tobago in March 1677, which failed. Paine’s role is unknown in these two campaigns, as well as in the seizure that June of Santa Marta (Colombia) by an independent freebooter force,

Paine, Thomas (fl. 1675
1690) and a similar attempt against Santiago de Cuba in November 1677. Admiral d’Estr
ees returned from France with a second royal fleet to defeat the Dutch on Tobago by mid-December 1677, and in May 1678 he set sail from Martinique and St. Kitts to mount yet another joint enterprise that included many privateers against the last remaining Dutch outpost in the West Indies: Curac¸ao. However, this huge French formation blundered onto the treacherous Aves Islands grouping off the Venezuelan coast one evening, suffering great losses. Whether or not Paine witnessed this disaster, he is known to have revisited the wreck-site a few months later, to careen the 6-gun vessel which he now commanded. As he later declared, he intended ‘‘to fit himself very well, for here lay driven on the island masts, yards, timbers, and many things he wanted.’’ Yet after hauling his ship inside its main anchorage and beginning to unrig it so as to careen, Paine was distressed to spot a 20-gun Dutch warship materialize offshore, having been sent from nearby Curac¸ao to also salvage among the French debris. The Dutchmen: . . . seeing a ship in the harbor and knowing her to be a French privateer, they thought to take her first and came within a mile of her, and began to fire at her, intending to warp in the next day, for it is very narrow going in. Captain Pain [sic] got ashore some of his guns and did what he could to resist them, though he did in a manner conclude he must be taken. But while his men were thus busied, he spied a Dutch sloop turning to get into the road, and saw her at the evening anchor at the west

end of the island. This gave him some hope of making his escape, which he did by sending two canoes in the night aboard the sloop, who took her and got considerable purchase in her; and he went away in her, making a good reprisal and leaving his own empty ship to the Dutch man o’ war. After this lucky escape, Paine operated for the remainder of 1678 off the Spanish Main, in consort with his fellow freebooter Captain William Wright. Peace had been concluded between France and The Netherlands that same August 1678, yet as the separate Treaty of Nijmegen signed with Spain in September 1678 did not make any mention of the Americas, fighting was to persist in the Caribbean. As a result, Paine captured a small warship in 1679 from Spain’s permanent West Indian squadron, known as the Armada de Barlovento. He also seems to have become attached to the French flibustier chieftain Grammont, although it is unknown whether he took part in any of that leader’s actions off the coasts of Cuba and Florida around that time. However, Paine did participate in the remarkably bold raid which Grammont led against the Venezuelan port of La Guaira in late June 1680, a few-score rovers surprising its garrison and citizenry at dawn, before fighting their way clear with some booty, against heavy odds. It is not known when—or even whether—Paine returned home to New England throughout this entire interlude, perhaps during the seasonal pauses when hurricanes and weather shifts halted most West Indian campaigning. Local tradition at Plymouth (Massachusetts)

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1690)

The Old Eastham Windmill, built around 1680, allegedly with profits from Thomas Paine’s piratical activities in the West Indies. Originally erected at Plymouth, Massachusetts, it was moved in 1793 across Cape Cod Bay to Eastham, where it is still operated occasionally as a tourist attraction. (D. B. King)

maintains that he erected a large windmill there in 1680, presumably financed from proceeds of his captures as a French privateer. (This mill was dismantled and moved across Cape Cod Bay in 1793 to Eastham, where it still stands today, and is operated as the historic ‘‘Old Eastham Windmill.’’) Paine was identified by the pirate chronicler William Dampier as being back in the Caribbean by early June 1681, lying at Springer’s Key in the San Blas Islands off northern Panama with yet another French commission, in command of a ship of 10 guns and 100 men, part of a flotilla comprised of John Coxon, Jean Rose, Jan Willems, George

Wright, and four other freebooter captains. Together they decided to make a descent on a Spanish town along the Central American coastline, yet first sailed toward San Andr
es Island to steal boats for use as landing-craft and moving up rivers. A gale scattered their formation en route, though, and an armadilla of a dozen tiny men o’ war sent from Cartagena further dispersed these rovers. Paine must have been one of the captains blown to leeward, into Bocas del Toro (a maze of islands off the northwestern shores of present-day Panama). His ship damaged and the privateering expedition disintegrated, he apparently decided to make repairs ashore, during which he had an unpleasant encounter with the local natives, for as Dampier recorded: . . . having built a tent ashore to put his goods in while he careened his ship, and some men lying there with their arms, in the night the Indians crept softly into the tent and cut off the heads of three or four men, and made their escape; nor was this the first time they had served the privateers so.

English Service (1682
1683) By late October 1682, Paine, now 50 years of age, was evidently tiring of his renegade existence as a French flibustier, so put into Jamaica to obtain an English commission, which would prove more acceptable to the New England authorities. His moment was well chosen, for Jamaica’s Governor Sir Thomas Lynch, normally no friend to the privateers, was known to be issuing commissions for the

Paine, Thomas (fl. 1675
1690) recapture of the 30-gun frigate Trompeuse, which had been seized by a band of French cutthroats and was committing depredations against all merchant shipping. Lynch later wrote: While busy at Port Royal over the despatch of [George Johnson’s] vessel, one Captain Clarke, a very honest useful man, solicited me about one Payn [sic], in a bark with 80 men. He told me Payn had never done the least harm to any and that if I would allow him to come in, he would engage to bring in or destroy these pirates. The Jamaican Governor therefore agreed, issuing Paine a commission to ‘‘seize, kill and destroy pirates,’’ under which license he worked his way northward into the Bahamas. Paine arrived there in March 1683 with his bark Pearl, described as ‘‘a ship of eight guns and 60 men.’’ He found at anchor the privateering vessels of fellow Captains Conway Wooley, John Markham, Jan Corneliszoon, and the French flibustier Pierre Br
eha, who were preparing to go ‘‘fish for silver from a Spanish wreck.’’ Yet first, the five commanders decided to mount a raid against the nearby Spanish outpost of Saint Augustine, Florida, supposedly authorized by their old French commissions. They landed flying French colors, only to find the Spaniards already forewarned and so withdrew after merely releasing some Spanish captives which they had brought along, and looting the surrounding countryside. (The Spanish garrison commander later referred to Paine as ‘‘Tom
as de la Pe~na’’ in his official report about this incident.) Paine, Markham, and Br
eha thereupon returned to New Providence Island

(modern Nassau) in the Bahamas, where Governor Robert Lilburne allegedly wished to seize the two Englishmen’s ships for this depredation, ‘‘but failed for want of a force.’’ The raiders were suffered to depart to the wreck site, which was being worked by many other vessels, and Paine may have actually had the good fortune to raise some treasure (or possibly used this salvage-work as a convenient excuse, for later explaining his illicit acquisition of Spanish silver). In any event, the Bahamanian Governor soon manned a large ship that had arrived by chance at his capital of Charles Town, and went out to the wreck site himself, only to discover that Paine and his companions had already dispersed. (Within a few months, the Boston salvor William Phips would also visit this same site, and find it largely picked clean.)

Return to Rhode Island (Autumn 1683) Several weeks later, Pearl entered Newport along with Br
eha’s vessel, and a scandalized Governor Edward Cranfield of neighboring New Hampshire wrote in mid-October 1683: During my stay at Rhode Island two pirates came in. Pain [sic] was one of them, with a counterfeit commission from Sir Thomas Lynch styling him [i.e., the Jamaican Governor] one of the gentlemen of the King’s Bedchamber, instead of his Privy Chamber, whereby I knew it to be forged. Colonel Dongan and I asked the government to arrest them, but they refused. Pearl was also detained briefly at Boston early that same December 1683

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Paine, Thomas (fl. 1675
1690) ‘‘for breach of the Acts of Trade,’’ then released, for Paine’s papers were indeed quite legitimate. Nevertheless, he was specifically named next year in a circular issued by King Charles II from Windsor in England on April 13, 1684 (O.S.), in response to numerous complaints lodged by the Spanish Ambassador that West Indian rovers were using neutral North American ports to dispose of their ill-gotten booty, and plan further depredations. The monarch therefore instructed all his Royal Governors to ‘‘permit no succor nor retreat to be given to any pirates, least of all to Thomas Pain [sic], who with five vessels under Breha [sic], a Frenchman, is lately arrived at Florida.’’ Such rovers were, the King added, ‘‘a race of evildoers and enemies of mankind.’’ Based on this new order, Thomas Thacker, deputy customs collector for Boston, once again attempted to impound Paine’s vessel at Newport on the evening of August 16, 1684 (O.S.), yet without any better success. Therefore, he had Paine hauled before Governor William Coddington of Rhode Island next morning, and in the ‘‘presence of Governor Dongan of New York and Cranfield of New Hampshire,’’ insisted that the privateer once again exhibit his Jamaican commission. Cranfield and the others erroneously insisted that it was not in ‘‘Sir Thomas Lynch’s hand, nor were his titles correctly given, but Governor Coddington was of other mind,’’ and so found in Paine’s favor. The deputy customs collector returned into Boston three days later, angrily complaining that the private Rhode Island Governor refused to ‘‘see with eyes like other men.’’ Given this hostile reception, it is possible that Paine may have returned to

the West Indies with Br
eha, for the flibustier commander was known to be operating off southern Cuba again by early November 1684, accompanied by a pair of English-looking sloops. And a Royal Navy officer who visited PetitGo^ave on the French island of SaintDomingue on December 16
17, 1684, even reported that: ‘‘I saw in the port the ships commanded by Captain Yankey [sic; Jan Willems]; Breha [sic], Thomas, and Johnson.’’ However, if true, Paine must have returned once more to Rhode Island within the next few years, where he is known to have settled down and built a fine two-story house at Jamestown, on an estate called Cajacet (which still stands today on a nine-acre plot at 850 East Shore Road). He married Mary Carr, daughter of Judge Caleb Carr, who would eventually become Governor of that private colony. By 1688, Paine was even being mentioned as a respectable citizen serving on a Rhode Island grand-jury.

Battle Off Block Island (July 1690) Although now in his late fifties, Paine had nonetheless lost none of his vigor. During the winter of 1689 to 1690, official word was received of the outbreak in Europe of the War of the League of Augsburg—soon to become known in America as ‘‘King William’s War’’—and the Rhode Island legislature ordered on March 3, 1690 (O.S.), that ‘‘the King’s proclamation of war be forthwith published by beat of drum, by the Clerk of this Assembly in solemn manner, being against the French.’’ Later that same summer, a flotilla of French raiders appeared off the New England coast,

Paine, Thomas (fl. 1675
1690) commanded by the veteran Pierre le Picard (believed to be a former privateering colleague of Paine from his West Indian days). Picard led a landing-party ashore at Block Island on July 12, 1690 (O.S.), which plundered its inhabitants and seriously mistreated some. News of this depredation quickly reached the mainland, and warning bonfires were lit ‘‘from Pawcatuck to Seaconnet,’’ while a sloop with 34 men was sent out from Newport next day on a reconnaissance. That following night, the French tried to penetrate Newport itself, but drew off when they were discovered. Three days later, on July 17, 1690 (O.S.), Governor John Easton overrode his Quaker sensibilities and ordered the 10-gun sloop Loyal Stede of Barbados, which was lying in Newport roads, impressed into the colonial service. (This vessel was named in honor of Edwin Stede, Lieutenant-Governor of that West Indian colony.) Some 60 men were hastily mustered, and Paine was put in command of this sloop, as well as of a smaller consort which accompanied him under Captain John Godfrey. Three days later, the two craft set out for Block Island, with an extra contingent of soldiers crammed aboard. Picard had meanwhile moved off to attempt an attack against New London (Connecticut), so that Paine’s force gained Block Island without sighting their enemy. Next day, the two New England sloops beat about offshore, until they beheld the French formation bearing down on them that same afternoon of July 21, 1690 (O.S.): one large bark, one large sloop, and a smaller sloop. Paine retreated so as to be able to take up a defensive position in the shallows off Block Island, and therefore only have to work the guns on one side of his vessels. The French, misinterpreting this flight to mean that they

were frightened coastal traders, made all possible sail and ‘‘sent a piragua before them, full of men, with design to pour in their small arms [fire] on them and take them, as their manner was.’’ Unfortunately, Paine’s gunner opened fire too soon on this leading French vessel, missing and thus alerting Picard that his opponents were armed. The piragua sheered around and its men reboarded the French ships, before all three resumed their advance on the New Englanders. A brisk fire-fight erupted at five o’clock that same evening of July 21, 1690 (O.S.), lasting until nightfall, during which the French suffered 14 killed, including their second-in-command, ‘‘a very violent, resolute fellow’’ according to English sources, who was shot in the neck while drinking a glass of wine and wishing damnation on the opposition. Paine only emerged with one dead and six wounded, and next morning Picard made off. The two New England sloops pursued, forcing the French to scuttle a merchantman which they had captured, by firing ‘‘a great shot through her bottom.’’ When Paine reached it, he found this prize already standing straight up and down, so that none of its cargo of wine and brandy could be saved before it slipped beneath the waves. Paine nonetheless returned triumphantly into Newport, where he learned that reinforcements had since arrived from Boston under Captain Sugars, who was sent off after the retiring Picard.

Captain Kidd’s Confederate (1699) Two years after this successful defense, the 60-year-old Paine was appointed as Captain of a local militia company in 1692, yet saw no more active service

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Paine, Thomas (fl. 1675
1690) during King William’s War. Once peace was restored, he was also admitted as a freeman of the colony of Rhode Island in 1698. Having attained such a position, it was especially surprising when the next year, at the mature age of 67, he should become embroiled with the notorious Captain William Kidd, when the latter returned as a hunted fugitive from his Red Sea cruise. Presumably the two men may have known each other long ago as their rover days in the West Indies, although no details of their relationship have survived. In his moment of desperation, though, Kidd evidently felt that Paine could be trusted. In June 1699, his renegade sloop appeared in Narragansett Bay. The customs collector from Newport promptly set out with 30 well-armed men aboard a boat to try to seize Kidd’s vessel, but the fugitive Captain knew that he could not afford to be arrested until he got into Boston, where he might hope to be protected by his patron, the Earl of Bellomont. Kidd therefore fired two cannon-shots to drive back the collector’s boat, before continuing up the bay to drop anchor off Conanicut Island near Jamestown and summon aboard his old and trusted friend, Paine. The latter agreed to safeguard a considerable amount of Kidd’s captured gold, despite the very real danger that the retired freebooter might well be charged with receiving and concealing stolen goods, a capital offense. Kidd thereupon stood back out to sea and proceeded into Boston to meet his fate, being arrested there on July 6, 1699 (O.S.), after which a massive search was instituted by the Crown authorities to find his scattered caches of treasure. Most were quickly unearthed, yet Paine’s holding was overlooked. A few weeks later,

Kidd’s wife Sarah, who was also imprisoned, wrote the following letter, pleading for some of the funds entrusted to Paine: Captain Payen [sic], After my humble service to yourself and all our good friends, this cometh by a trusty friend of mine who can declare to you of my great grief and misery here in prison, by who I would desire you to send me 24 ounces of gold, and as for all ye rest you have in your custody, shall desire you for to keep in your custody, for it is all we have to support us in time of want, but I pray you to deliver to the bearer hereof the above-mentioned sum, whose name is Andrew Knott. Months later, during Knott’s own interrogation by the authorities, he would recall how: He went to Captain Payne’s house on Cononicutt Island and received from Captain Payne 7 bars of gold weighing 1 3=4 lb., being weighed by a pair of steelyards. Payne fetched the gold from out of an inner room and took Knott’s receipt. Knott saw no more gold than what Payne brought out, and upon the road on his way homeward, the weight of the gold broke his pocket, and he lost one of the bars. The other six he brought to Boston and Capn Kidd’s servant maiden, Rebecca, came to Kidd’s house and fetched the gold to Kidd, who later gave Knott 20 pieces of eight for his journey and trouble. The journey took 5 days. Even before Knott himself had been arrested, Paine had come under suspicion as well, and so was interviewed for the

Paine, Thomas (fl. 1675
1690) first time on September 26, 1699 (O.S.). He admitted that Kidd had asked him to hide some money, but claimed that he had refused, ‘‘alleging my house would be searched and [that] I could not do it.’’ However, the Earl of Bellomont did not believe Paine’s account, and so while in Newport on official business about a month later, took the opportunity to send ‘‘for one Pain, a pirate that has bought an estate on Conanicut Island, under the government of Rhode Island, and has lived there some years.’’ At first, Paine refused to offer any sworn statement before Bellomont on account of his religious scruples, an accepted practice from staunch Quakers; but when the Royal Governor threatened him with jail, he then ‘‘swore that Kidd had delivered no goods or treasure to him, but everyone that was present took notice that his behavior was extremely disordered and, I fancy, believing as I, that he did not swear nice truth.’’ Still, the disbelieving Governor could not press any charges until Knott’s home in Boston happened to be searched later as well, revealing a small trunk with some East India goods and Sarah Kidd’s letter addressed to Paine. Bellomont instantly noted that ‘‘Mrs. Kidd’s injunction to keep all the rest that was left with him till further order, was a plain indication that there was a good deal of treasure still behind in Paine’s custody.’’ The Governor therefore wrote to suggest to Governor Cranston of Rhode Island that a search be made of Paine’s home, yet no treasure was uncovered. By November 29, 1699 (O.S.), a frustrated Bellomont was reporting to the Council of Trade and Plantations in London: It seems nothing then was found, but Pain has since produced 18 ounces and

odd weight of gold, as appears by Gov. Cranston’s letter, Nov. 25, and pretends ‘twas bestowed on him by Kidd, hoping that may pass as a salve for the oath he made. I think ‘tis plain he foreswore himself and I am of the opinion he has a great deal of Kidd’s goods still in his hands, but he is out of my power and being in that government [i.e., under the jurisdiction of the privatecharter colony of Rhode Island, rather than in either of the Crown colonies of Massachusetts or New York], I cannot compel him to give up the rest. No charges were ever laid, and no more treasure discovered—until more than a century-and-a-half later, when a stray gold ingot fell out of Paine’s chimney during some renovations. In one final touch of irony, while Bellomont had been in Newport on his official business in September 1699, he had received a petition signed by 16 leading citizens, requesting that a parish of the Church of England be established on Rhode Island. The signers included at least six former West Indian rovers: Robert Colly, George Cutler, Robert Gardiner, James Gillam, Robert Powell, and Thomas Paine.

Later Career (1700
1715) Finally in 1708, although he was nearly 76 years of age, Paine embarked on one final expedition, when he seconded Major William Wanton in fighting against the French. Paine was eventually buried on the grounds of his Conanicut house, which still stands today.

See also Armadilla; Barlovento, Armada de; Careen; Coxon, John; Estr
ees, Jean, duc d’;

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Para Grammont, Chevalier de; Maintenon, Charles Franc¸ois d’Angennes, Marquis de; Morgan, Sir Henry; Nau, JeanDavid; Ogeron, Bertrand d’; Phips, Sir William; Purchase; Willems, Jan; Wright, George.

References Bartlett, John R., Records of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, in New England, Volume III (Providence: State Printers, 1858). Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898). Chapin, Howard M., Privateer Ships and Sailors: The First Century of American Colonial Privateering, 1625
1725 (Toulon: G. Mouton, 1926). Dampier, William, A New Voyage Round the World (New York: Dover, 1968). Earle, Peter, The Treasure of the Concepci
on: The Wreck of the Almiranta (New York: Viking, 1980). Ritchie, Robert C., Captain Kidd and the War against the Pirates (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1986).

PATACHE Generic Spanish term used to describe any smaller vessel which served as a consort to a larger ship, or a fleet auxiliary, rather than a particular type of craft. Pataches occurred in every size and shape throughout the 17th century, depending on individual circumstances.

See also Patache (Volume 2).

PEDNAU, JACQUES (fl. 1680
1685) Subordinate commander of the French flibustier chieftains Grammont and Laurens de Graaf. Pednau was first mentioned in the spring of 1680, commanding Grammont’s auxiliary brigantine Diligent while sailing from St. Kitts to Saint Croix. It is believed that Pednau then participated in Grammont’s remarkably bold strike against the Venezuelan port of La Guaira that same June.

PARA Dutch nickname for Paramaribo, capital of their South American colony of Suriname, whose approaches were guarded by Fort Zeelandia.

Reference Shomette, Donald G. and Haslach, Robert D., Raid on America: The Dutch Naval Campaign of 1672
1674 (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1988).

PEDRERO Spanish name for a swivel gun, a weapon which they—unlike their English, French, or Dutch counterparts—more frequently took into account when assessing a vessel’s defensive capabilities, especially aboard a small craft. These portable weapons afforded additional protection against boarders or other hordes of men, although, strictly

Pedrero

RELOCATION OF PANAMA CITY In the immediate aftermath to Henry Morgan’s brutal attack of January 1671, frightened Spanish survivors crept back into their capital, to find that only its Augustinian convent and a few shacks along its northern fringe had escaped the flames. Disease quickly appeared as well, more than 3,000 of 10,000 inhabitants perishing from these combined ordeals, in addition to another 600 marched off as buccaneer captives. It was not until eight ships bearing 2,500 Peruvians finally appeared in April 1671, that a few citizens began to consider rebuilding their homes. Yet once Antonio Fern
andez de C
ordoba y Mendoza, Knight of the Order of Santiago, arrived as new Audiencia President in mid-January 1672, it was agreed to abandon the original city altogether and shift five miles southwest, into the shadow of 560-foot Anc
on Hill, whose protruding La Punta headland could be easily converted into a defensible position by erecting ramparts along its narrow breadth, while its flanks would be protected by encircling reefs. In addition to financing construction of these defenses, the Crown agreed to increase the permanent garrison from 200 to 500 royal troops, plus 300 seamen. Fresh water was available from Chorrillo Spring to its west, while the Perico Island anchorage lay close by, so that cargos would only have to be lightered two miles before being deposited at El Taller beach. Peruvian merchants donated 40,000 pesos toward this relocation, so that clearance commenced within a year. By the time final approval was received from Madrid, it only remained for Governor Fern
andez to distribute plots to the first 300 residents in a formal ceremony celebrated on January 21, 1673. The original city—henceforth known as Panam
a la Vieja or ‘‘Old Panama’’—only gradually became depopulated, as moving proved expensive for people who had lost everything, while Fern
andez died in the diseased older city on April 8, 1673, being succeeded by the corrupt oidor or ‘‘justice’’ Luis de Lozada, who diverted public funds into a palatial private residence for himself, and expropriated plots for his personal use. Yet by 1675, the new city still only contained 1,600 residents, a fraction of its former population. Their transfer proved justified when 330 Caribbean buccaneers appeared in early May 1680, having followed Oxenham’s old route across the eastern Isthmus. Faced with this menace, the residents feverishly tried completing Panama’s unfinished stone circuit by throwing up earthen ramparts, while sending out a scratch naval force to do battle; the force was overwhelmed in a three-hour fight, yet displayed such spirited resistance that the raiders went in search of easier targets. Four years later, another Jamaican contingent occupied the offshore Pearl Islands, until chased away in June 1685 by four Peruvian warships and three hired merchantmen under Lieutenant General Tom
as Palavacino. Marauders would nevertheless continue to prowl the Pacific for several more years, rendering trade unsafe and Panama isolated. Such constant alarms would at least galvanize the Panamanians into completing their city’s granite walls, plus a dry moat and several batteries. Worse still, though, was the steady decline in trans-Atlantic and South American traffic, so that commercial fairs could only be held in 1691, 1698, and 1708, rather than annually as before.

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Pennon, Capitaine (fl. 1682) speaking, they did not constitute part of a ship’s main armament. Thus, the Spaniards often listed a small vessel’s cannon and pedreros separately, a practice not observed by other maritime powers. For example, on January 27, 1681 (O.S.), Acting Governor Sir Henry Morgan wrote to the Lords of Trade and Plantation in London: Since the beginning of November last, there has rid at anchor in this harbor one Captain John Crocker, commander of a small Spanish ship of ten guns and eight ‘‘patereras’’ [sic] and a hundred men, licensed by the Company of Seville to trade in the American seas for two years. It now waits for the Royal African Company’s ships with Negroes, intending to sail next week to Cartagena. In such an instance, these swivels would not only be a welcome defense in the pirate-infested Caribbean, but also useful against any slave uprising. The word pedrero itself is derived from the Spanish word piedra or ‘‘stone,’’ which was the most common type of ball fired by the earliest guns, when gunpowder was first introduced during medieval times.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898).

PENNON, CAPITAINE (fl. 1682) French flibustier who is named in a letter written by Governor Sir Thomas

Lynch of Jamaica to his counter-part at Saint-Domingue, Jacques Nepveu, sieur de Pouanc¸ay, complaining about the peacetime depredations committed by certain renegades. This communication, dated October 1682, specifically refers to the activities of ‘‘Pennon in a Spanish bark.’’

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898).


REZ DE GUZMA
N Y PE GONZAGA, JUAN (ca. 1618
1675) President of the Audiencia of Panama and knight of the Order of Santiago, who organized the swift reconquest of Providencia Island after Edward Mansfield’s attack in 1666, only to then suffer a stinging defeat at the hands of Henry Morgan when Panama City was sacked five years later. P
erez de Guzm
an was born in Seville around 1618, entering the Royal Spanish Navy at 20 years of age. He shipped out on a treasure-fleet bound for the New World, twice seeing action against the Dutch off Havana. By 1640, he was back in Spain, where he was allowed to raise his own companies of troops, before making a second trans-Atlantic voyage. On his next return to Europe, he was transferred to Milan in command of a military company, where he remained from 1643 until 1647. In 1651, he was again appointed to duty on New World convoys, and soon began carving a

P
erez De Guzm
an Y Gonzaga, Juan (ca. 1618
1675) reputation as a likely candidate for administrative service in the empire of the Americas. On January 19, 1657, P
erez de Guzm
an was designated as Governor of Antioquia in New Granada (present-day Colombia), yet never occupied that post, instead becoming interim Governor of Cartagena. He handled the affairs of this port so well that he was promoted to maestre de campo and Governor of Puerto Rico. He assumed the latter office on August 26, 1661, acquitting himself with some distinction. Because of this, he was again promoted when his term expired three years later, this time to the Presidency of the vital Audiencia of Panama and its surrounding province called ‘‘Tierra Firme.’’ On January 11, 1665, he was installed, and thus had been in office almost a year-and-a-half when the Spanish survivors of Mansfield’s assault on Providencia Island reached San Lorenzo castle at the mouth of the Chagres River in mid-June 1666. P
erez de Guzm
an reacted quickly, ordering his subordinate Jos
e S
anchez Xim
enez to lead an expedition to recapture this island, before the English could arrange reinforcements from Jamaica. But when the galeones reached the Isthmus that following year of 1667, bearing the new Viceroy-designate for Peru, Pedro Antonio de Castro y Portugal, tenth Conde de Lemus, P
erez de Guzm
an’s fortunes waned. He and the new Viceroy took an immediate dislike to each other, after which P
erez de Guzm
an was accused of defrauding the royal treasury of some silver bars. Suspended from office and arrested in July 1667, he was transported as a prisoner to Peru, his duties being assumed on an interim basis by Agustı´n de Bracamonte. The Council of Indies quickly

exonerated P
erez de Guzm
an in January 1668, but this pardon did not reach Peru until a year later. Released from solitary confinement at Callao, he set sail on February 4, 1669, aboard the ship Nuestra Se~ nora de la Granada to reassume office, arriving in Panama more than two months later. A year-and-a-half later (January 1671), P
erez de Guzm
an was ill in bed with ‘‘Saint Anthony’s fire’’ (erysipelas, a contagious skin disease caused by streptococcus, whose symptoms included boils and high fever), when news arrived that a trio of buccaneer vessels under Joseph Bradley had captured the fortress guarding the mouth of the Chagres River, on the north side of the Isthmus. The Governor rose from his sickbed to mobilize Panama’s troops, and on January 20th heard that more raiders had arrived under Morgan and were advancing upriver. Despite the large tumor on his right breast and repeated bleedings by his physician, P
erez de Guzm
an rode forth with 800 militiamen next day and camped at Guayabal to await the enemy. They advanced inexorably, despite the Spaniards’ hopes of delaying them in the jungle with ambushes, and on January 24th the Governor awakened to find two-thirds of his men had deserted. Retreating into Panama City, he gave the order for all able-bodied militiamen to muster at Mata Asnillos, a mile outside the city, while the civilians evacuated by ship. On the evening of Tuesday, January 27, 1671, Morgan’s 600-man vanguard appeared, still carrying the wine that they had looted at Venta de Cruces during their march. ‘‘We have nothing to fear,’’ a Spanish officer commented to the militiamen around him, ‘‘There

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P
erez De Guzm
an Y Gonzaga, Juan (ca. 1618
1675) are no more than 600 drunkards.’’ But more companies continued to arrive, so that by next morning double that number of buccaneers had mustered. Morgan began his advance at sunrise on January 28th, with ‘‘red and green banners and flags clearly visible to the Spaniards who awaited them on the plain a couple of miles away.’’ P
erez de Guzm
an had 1,200 militia infantrymen drawn up in a long line, six deep, with two militia cavalry companies of 200 riders apiece on both flanks. But his inexperienced troops had few firearms and no artillery, and the Governor pinned rather slender hopes on breaking the enemy formation by stampeding two great herds of cattle through their ranks. Morgan, however, swung round the Spaniards’ right flank, at which P
erez de Guzm
an’s unwieldy host launched an undisciplined dash against the buccaneer lines. These received the Spanish charge with concentrated fusillades, more than 100 militiamen being killed in the first volley. ‘‘Hardly did our men see some fall dead and others wounded,’’ P
erez de Guzm
an reported later, ‘‘but they turned their backs and fled.’’ He himself rode into the press with his staff raised high ‘‘like a mast,’’ hoping to rally his troops, but this was impossible. His staff shot from his hand, the Spaniards scattered pell-mell, leaving 400 to 500 killed and injured on the field as opposed to only 15 buccaneers. P
erez de Guzm
an rode back through Panama’s city streets, shouting that all was lost, and buildings were set ablaze as the raiders entered in hot pursuit. He himself eventually fled as far as the town of Nata, 70 miles southwest of Panama City on the Pacific coast,

where on February 4th he called for a fresh muster of conscripts. But only a few hundred volunteers appeared, not enough to dislodge Morgan, who was left in undisputed possession of Panama City and its environs for four weeks. He then withdrew with what booty the buccaneers had been able to extort, leaving P
erez de Guzm
an to creep back home. He found the Panamanian capital devastated and his own house cruelly vandalized, with beds, mirrors, desks, and priceless pictures in a smashed heap, and his personal library of 500 books torn to pieces. He was again suspended from office on October 9, 1671, when the inspector or visitador Francisco de Marichalar arrived from Peru to conduct hearings into the conduct of his government. This was a routine procedure for any outgoing official, and P
erez de Guzm
an’s term had now expired. But the extraordinary circumstances created by the invasion led to court-martial proceedings being instituted against him on November 17th, which lasted until February 20, 1672, when P
erez de Guzm
an was acquitted. Nevertheless, he was a broken man and died three years later, after having returned to Madrid.

References Earle, Peter, The Sack of Panama: Captain Morgan and the Battle for the Caribbean (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2007).
L
opez Cantos, Angel, Historia de Puerto Rico (1650
1700) (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1975). Pope, Dudley, Harry Morgan’s Way: The Biography of Sir Henry Morgan,

Petersen, Jon (fl. 1659) 1635
1684 (London: Secker & Warburg, 1977). S
aiz Cidoncha, Carlos, Historia de la piraterı´a en Am
erica Espa~ nola (Madrid: Editorial San Martı´n, 1985).

PETERSEN, JON (fl. 1659) Privateer from Kolding, Denmark, who operated with a Jamaican commission. On November 1, 1659, the Dutch slaver Sint Jan of Master Adriaen Blaes van der Veer ran aground ‘‘two hours before daybreak’’ on the northeast section of Los Roques, a dangerous group of Venezuelan cays located 125 miles east of Curac¸ao. Ninety West African slaves were left aboard in the heavy surf, while the Captain and crew took to an overcrowded boat. They stopped at Bonaire to lighten their craft by offloading some men, and reached Curac¸ao by November 4th. Its local West India Company officials provided Blaes van der Veer with two small vessels to mount a rescue: the bark Jonge Vogelstruis or ‘‘Young Ostrich,’’ and the sloop Jonge Bontekoe (literally ‘‘Young Spotted Cow,’’ but more properly ‘‘Spotted Calf’’). This pair set sail from Curac¸ao separately on November 7, 1659, and next afternoon the Jonge Vogelstruis came within sight of Bonaire. As they were approaching, a 4-gun frigate stood out from shore ‘‘and ordered them to strike, threatening to fire if they did not do so at once.’’ The Dutch complied and discovered that this rover was commanded by Petersen, with 30 ‘‘English, French, and German’’ crewmembers aboard his Kastel Fergat. Jonge Vogelstruis’ crew told him that they were merely visiting Company personnel on Bonaire, but Petersen, despite the recent peace treaty

signed between England and the United Provinces, put a prize-crew aboard and ordered them into the roads. On dropping anchor, the bark was immediately hailed by Blaes van der Veer’s survivors on shore, asking whether they had already rescued ‘‘the Negroes who were left behind on the stranded ship, or whether they were just on their way.’’ Angry at having almost been deceived by Jonge Vogelstruis’ lie, Petersen detained the Dutch, and the next day, Sunday, November 9, 1659, sent it to Little Curac¸ao to recall his lieutenant and some men whom he had stationed there to monitor ship movements. They were aboard a Spanish piragua which they had taken earlier off La Guaira, and now abandoned it at anchor to rejoin Petersen. Once reassembled, Petersen’s privateers set sail from Bonaire on the evening of November 10th, taking their captives with them. They tacked upwind in the direction of La Guaira, where they spotted a 6-gun Spanish frigate and a piragua, chasing both until their quarry beached themselves in the shallows. Petersen thereupon veered over onto the opposite tack and attempted to reach Los Roques, but only got as far as Aves Islands against the currents. Here, Kastel Fergat dropped anchor, and Petersen detached 14 privateers aboard Jonge Vogelstruis to visit the wrecked Sint Jan. When they approached it on November 16, 1659, they found that the sloop Jonge Bontekoe had already been at Los Roques for four days, and at one point had even fastened a line to the remains of the wrecked slaver. However, because the weather continued rough and there were so few hands aboard, they had not proceeded with the rescue ‘‘for fear of the Negroes,’’ preferring to wait until their consort arrived. Instead, Petersen’s

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Petit, Capitaine (fl. 1682
1684) men subdued these Dutch salvors and brought 82 adult slaves and two infants aboard the Bontekoe, sailing them to Aves to rejoin Petersen. Meanwhile, the captive Vogelstruis remained at the wreck site for another day, pillaging equipment and goods, including elephants’ tusks. After a week’s captivity, Petersen restored the Bontekoe to the Dutch, but kept the Vogelstruis. In light of the peace prevailing between England and Holland, his actions were entirely illegal, although he offered to pay for his captives’ ‘‘services’’ during the salvage, which was refused. Angry, Petersen bluntly told his prisoners: ‘‘Don’t mouth off too much or you shall all leave naked; and don’t make sail until we have gone.’’ On the evening of November 23, 1659, Kastel Fergat stood off toward the Spanish Main, and Bontekoe returned to Curac¸ao two days later to lodge an official protest. The island Governor noted that Petersen had ‘‘committed similar acts before this, under improper commission, and persists therein now as a public pirate.’’ He wrote to warn Peter Stuyvesant in New Amsterdam (modern New York) about these raiders, especially ‘‘a certain Peeckelharinck (literally, ‘Pickled Herring’) who previously sailed with Captain Beaulieu at the Cape, and now and then comes into Your Honor’s area in New Netherland.’’ Petersen was doubtless the same ‘‘Captain Peterson’’ mentioned in the journal of Colonel Edward D’Oyley, Governor of Jamaica, as having been issued a ‘‘letpass’’ on December 31, 1659 (O.S.).

1640
1665, Volume XVII, ‘‘New Netherland Documents’’ (Interlaken, NY: Heart of the Lakes Publishing, 1987). Pawson, Michael, and Buisseret, David J., Port Royal, Jamaica (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1975).

PETIT, CAPITAINE (fl. 1682
1684) During the early 1680s, two French brothers with this surname were known to be making commercial voyages from La Rochelle to the Lesser Antilles and Saint-Domingue. Late in 1682, one of the two departed Martinique aboard their brigantine Deux Fr eres, selling part of its cargo of liquors and wine at Jacmel to the piratical flibustiers who were careening their ship Trompeuse. The English authorities being in pursuit of that renegade vessel, Governor Sir Thomas Lynch of Jamaica mentioned to London in his report of February 22, 1683 (O.S.), how a ‘‘a small French bark owned by an honest man, Monsieur Petit, also came in[to Port Royal] from Guadeloupe; bound for Petit Guavos,’’ to give information about the renegades’ movements. Lynch then entrusted him with a letter for the French Governor of Saint-Domingue, complaining about these marauders. It is unknown whether either brother was the Captain listed in 1684 as being in command of the privateer Ruze of four guns and 40 men, which accompanied Capitaine Jean Bernanos on his cruise to Venezuela and the Spanish Main.

References

See also

Gehring, Charles T. and Schiltkamp, Jacob A., trans. and eds., Curac¸ao Papers,

Bernanos, Jean; Lynch, Sir Thomas; Spanish Main.

Pignier, Captain (fl. 1675
1676)

References

References

Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898). Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924).

Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 11, 13 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898
1899).

PICHELINGUE Also spelled pechilingue or pechelingue. Spanish nickname for any Dutchman, a term believed to have evolved from a garbling of the name of the great Zeeland seaport of Vlissingen or Flushing, where so many of ships seem to have sailed for the New World.

PIECES OF EIGHT English name for the silver coin known in Spanish as a peso de ocho reales (literally, a ‘‘peso worth eight reales’’). These were minted in such vast quantities at both Mexico City and Lima, Peru, that they came to circulate all around the world, from Europe as far away as China. They were a commonlyaccepted form of currency in England’s colonies, being valued at four-and-a-half shillings (or ‘‘four shillings sixpence’’) apiece, although oftentimes clipped or chopped into eight pieces—from which the expression ‘‘two bits’’ for a quarter was derived. On November 19, 1691, the newly-appointed Governor of Massachusetts, Sir William Phips, wrote to his friend Increase Mather: ‘‘There is practically only Spanish money in New England, and many of the people have been cheated by bad money.’’

PIGNIER, CAPTAIN (fl. 1675
1676) English freebooter who operated with a French commission. When England withdrew from the war against The Netherlands in early 1674, many of its West Indian corsairs shifted allegiance to continue privateering. One such captain was Pignier, who obtained a patent from the French authorities on Saint-Domingue against the Dutch and Spaniards. On March 26, 1675 (O.S.), the newly-appointed Deputy Governor of Jamaica, Sir Henry Morgan, drafted a letter promising ‘‘Pryniar’’ [sic] and his fellow English rovers a friendly reception at Port Royal if they were to come in and cease operations, which although legal, were becoming an embarrassment to the English Crown. The retired buccaneer added that he hoped ‘‘their experience of him will give him the reputation that he intends not to betray them.’’ This proposal was never sent, though, as Morgan’s superior Lord Vaughan preferred sterner measures for recalling the privateers. The failure of his approach can be judged from the fact that more than a year later, in a letter dated at Port Royal on June 24, 1676 (O.S.), it was being mentioned that: One Pignier, an Englishman with a French commission near our Island,

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Piragua

Typical silver ‘‘piece of eight’’ from 1714; such crudely-stamped coins were produced from Spanish-American mines, and circulated all over the world. (Private Collection/Peter Newark Pictures/The Bridgeman Art Library)

with considerable purchase taken from the Spaniards, but understanding they [i.e., English privateers serving under foreign colors] were to be hanged if our Governor could lay hold of them, made their way for Tortugas, where they were assured of being better treated.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 9 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1893
1899).

PIRAGUA Spanish-American term for any crude type of coastal craft or seagoing boat. Originally, piragua appears to have been the Carib word for ‘‘dugout canoe,’’ which was made by felling a soft cotton or cedar tree, then hollowing

it out with fire and axes. Many were quite large, measuring almost 40 feet in length and 6 feet in breadth, capable of traveling swiftly from one island to another with the aid of simple masts and numerous paddlers. Following the conquest of the Americas, the Spaniards continued to employ native carpenters in the construction of these and similar vessels, which they used as cheap port auxiliaries or coastal traders. By the late 17th century, they had become slightly more refined in their designs, differing from canoes— according to the buccaneer surgeon Lionel Wafer—‘‘as lighters and small barges do from wherries.’’ The typical piragua had a shallow draft, no decking and a single mast, having to hug the coastline or travel with a larger ship whenever it put out to sea. Nevertheless, its ability to work nimbly into any estuary, or land on any beach, made it highly popular with pirates, and the West Indian squadrons that hunted them.

Plate Fleet

PISTOLE Generic English term signifying any foreign gold coin, especially of Spanish or French manufacture. The name is believed derived from the same root as the word ‘‘pistol,’’ originally meaning a small weapon designed for use with one hand rather than two (such as the famous poignards made at Pistoia near Florence in Italy); in the same sense, ‘‘pistole’’ came to be applied to any half-crown coin, as opposed to the full crown. In early 1684, Captain Matthew Tennant of HMS Ruby traveled to Cartagena on the Spanish Main, as escort for a slaving convoy. While lying outside the roads, he was approached by the employee of a rival slaving consortium, Santiago de Castillo, who delivered ‘‘a present of 2,000 pistoles from him and from Don Juan Coleman, an Irish priest.’’ When the Spanish authorities learned of this money being smuggled out of their port, they demanded its return, but Tennant refused. When he reached Port Royal, Jamaica a few weeks later, Gov. Sir Thomas Lynch made him restore the sum, referring to the amount involved as both ‘‘pistoles’’ and ‘‘doubloons.’’

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898).

PLATE FLEET Convoy sent annually for the King of Spain’s American plata or ‘‘silver,’’ hence its name.

Traditionally, two fleets departed Seville and Cadiz every year, the first being the Mexican flota, which set sail early in spring and after touching at the Canary and Leeward Islands during its passage (to refresh water and provisions only), would traverse the Caribbean directly for Veracruz. The second was the Panamanian galeones, which got under way from Spain somewhat later in the year and after following the same route across the Atlantic, stood into Cartagena before making for Portobelo (Panama) to meet the rich merchants who had traversed the Isthmus from Peru. Both convoys were usually comprised of two men-of-war as capitana or ‘‘flagship’’ and almiranta or ‘‘vice-flagship,’’ escorting roughly a dozen large merchant galleons and some smaller pataches, all bearing expensive cargos of European manufactured goods. After celebrating their respective commercial fairs, the Mexican and Panamanian flagships received chests containing the King’s annual silver production, and the galleons bales of American wares such as indigo, logwood, hides, and cacao. They would then rendezvous at Havana, sailing jointly up the coast of Florida and Carolina, before striking out into the Atlantic toward the Azores and home. These fleets were usually too large and powerful to be attacked by West Indian privateers, who had to content themselves with hunting individual galleons such as the pair of ships which split off from the Mexican convoy every year to anchor in the Bay of Honduras and trade overland into Guatemala. Moreover, the Spaniards operated their plate fleets cautiously, almost like blockade runners, reconnoitering the sea

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Poincy, Philippe Lonvilliers De (1584
1660) before putting out from any port, and delaying their departure if any danger threatened. For all its slowness and inefficiency, this system seemed to serve Spain well—at least against piratical depredations.

References Robles, Antonio de, Diario de sucesos notables 1665
1703 (Mexico City: Editorial Porr
ua, 1972). S
aiz Cidoncha, Carlos, Historia de la piraterı´a en Am
erica Espa~ nola (Madrid: Editorial San Martı´n, 1985). Torres Ramı´rez, Bibiano, La Armada de Barlovento (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1981).

POINCY, PHILIPPE LONVILLIERS DE (1584
1660) French Knight of the Order of Malta, who after long service against the Turks and Protestants in Europe, emigrated to Saint Kitts in the Lesser Antilles, and stoutly defended that island against the English and Spanish, as well as extending French influence on to Tortuga. Born in Picardy in 1584, Poincy entered the Knights of Malta at the age of 21, and served brilliantly aboard the Order’s galleys against the Turks in the Mediterranean.

Reference
Taillemite, Etienne, Dictionnaire des Marins Franc¸ais (Paris: Editions Maritimes et d’Outre-mer, 1982).

PONS, JEAN (fl. 1683
1686) Flibustier from Martinique, whose arrest by the Royal Navy heightened international tensions. As early as September 28, 1683, Pons had been issued a commission at Fort Saint-Pierre by Claude de Roux, Chevalier de Saint Laurent and Acting Governor-General of the French West Indies, to operate in the Lesser Antilles. On July 26, 1686, it was renewed by his successor Comte de Bl
enac, and Pons sailed from Martinique to Tobago with his brigantine Franc¸oise, to fish and hunt. This island had been captured from the Dutch by the Duc d’Estr
ees almost a decade earlier during the Franco-Dutch War, and remained a French possession. While lying at anchor, there arrived nearby the frigate HMS Mary Rose of Captain Temple, to make a peacetime visit. Some Dutch settlers informed the Royal Navy officer that Pons had boasted he held a commission ‘‘to confiscate all English vessels found in the harbors of that island,’’ and moreover extended this authority to the English-claimed Saint Lucia, Dominica, and Saint Vincent as well. They added that the French rover seemed to be ‘‘on some piratical design, being armed and manned for more than his ostensible business.’’ These unsubstantiated charges were then apparently confirmed when the Mary Rose’s pinnace: . . . was attacked by two or three large piraguas full of Indians with some white men among them, who fired several arrows and killed two men. The pinnace put them to flight, took two of the boats, and some of the

Pons, Jean (fl. 1683
1686) Indians. The rest, with the whites, saved themselves by swimming, but in the boat were found French arms and apparel such as Indians do not wear, also some boxes. Hence the white men were suspected to belong to this brigantine. Consequently, Temple seized Pons’ Franc¸oise, and carried it into Barbados for adjudication at the end of September 1686. Lieutenant-Gov. Edwyn Stede believed the Royal Navy captain correct in his suspicions, but for lack of evidence the flibustiers were released, and their vessel and goods restored. Stede nonetheless dispatched a letter to Bl
enac, asking him to clarify the clause in Pons’ commission prohibiting ‘‘foreign ships in French anchorages,’’ and also requesting that all Frenchmen be recalled from Saint Lucia, ‘‘for I cannot allow them to continue there.’’ The LieutenantGovernor then dispatched Mary Rose and other English vessels to cut timber on Saint Lucia, with the express aim of maintaining ‘‘our claims and our possessions there.’’ When Franc¸oise returned to Martinique one month later, Pons immediately lodged a formal protest. The GovernorGeneral in turn availed himself of this complaint to denounce all of Temple’s proceedings, replying to Stede on October 24th: ‘‘I thought that I had to deal with a pirate, and that his credentials were forged, and but for your last letter I should think so still.’’ He dismissed the Lieutenant-Governor’s request for clarification, saying merely: ‘‘You wish to know which are the French anchorages; no one has ever asked this before, and they are well enough known.’’ But the real thrust of Bl
enac’s letter was revealed when he wrote:

You say you have orders to retake Saint Lucia and Dominica; I have orders to hold them. The matter is for our masters to decide. You say you wish to keep the peace between the two nations; allow me to inform you that Captain Temple’s proceedings are not best calculated to do so. That following month, word of Temple’s descent on Saint Lucia reached Paris, and the minister De Seignelay informed his English counterpart Lord Sunderland: I have laid this extraordinary proceeding before the King [Louis XIV], who is the more surprised at it since the Treaty of Neutrality between the two nations in America is but a year old. The King is convinced that both the [Lieutenant Governor of Barbados] and the [Royal Navy] captain have acted without orders. As to the property of Saint Lucia, it belongs incontestably to France. Throughout the subsequent diplomatic exchange, the English side was handicapped by the unjustified seizure of Pons’ Franc¸oise, as well as by the fact that not all the flibustiers’ goods had been restored as promised, but rather embezzled by Mary Rose’s officers and crew. These and many other incidents eventually contributed to the outbreak of the War of the League of Augsburg two years later, becoming known in America as King William’s War.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 12 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1899).

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Port Royal

PORT ROYAL Principal harbor and town for 17thcentury Jamaica, which gained undeserved notoriety as a buccaneer lair. When the Parliamentary expedition of Admiral William Penn and General Robert Venables swept down the island’s southeastern coast in May 1655, it came within sight of a fine natural harbor, whose 10 square miles of deep-water anchorage were protected from currents and storms by a slender, two-mile-long spit of land. A century-and-a-quarter earlier, Jamaica’s original Spanish colonists had fanned out from this very harbor—called Caguaya by native fishermen—to begin clearing farms on the fertile Liguanea Plain just to its west, and establish their capital six to seven miles inland at Santiago de la Vega or ‘‘Saint James of the Plain.’’ Ever since then, Spanish planters had ferried their harvests back down the Cobre or ‘‘Copper’’ River for export aboard the few small ships which called in what would later become known as Hunt’s Bay, which lay inside Caguaya’s protective natural breakwater. The westernmost tip of that land-spit remained uninhabited, though, known only to the Spaniards as Cayo Carena or ‘‘Careening Key.’’ Therefore, at dawn of May 20, 1655, Penn transferred from his 60-gun flagship Swiftsure aboard the lighter 12-gun galley Martin, to lead a flotilla of shallow-draught vessels inside this vast anchorage. Despite grounding a few times amid its uncharted outer shoals, plus a brief exchange of shots with the battery covering its inner roads (soon to be renamed ‘‘Passage Fort’’), Penn disembarked a contingent unopposed at Esquivel by 10:00 A.M., and the next day

pushed inland to occupy Santiago de la Vega, which forced the outnumbered Spaniards to sue for terms. Venables came ashore to announce that Jamaica’s 1,500 inhabitants must depart within a fortnight, yet not all agreed. The more defiant instead rallied at the inland town of Guatibacoa, allying themselves with the cimarrones or ‘‘renegade black slaves’’ of the mountainous interior to mount a guerrilla resistance. The English invaders meanwhile disgorged several thousand soldiers, who secured Caguaya Bay and Santiago de la Vega, which they renamed ‘‘Cagaway’’ and ‘‘Spanish Town’’ respectively. Yet as they were already suffering from tropical diseases contracted earlier during their unsuccessful assault against Santo Domingo, plus a scarcity of provisions, they soon began dying by the hundreds. Because of this fearsome outbreak, Penn hastily weighed for England on June 25th with 20 warships, leaving behind a dozen under Vice Admiral William Goodson.

Erection as Cagaway (1655
1660) Because of their tenuous toehold on Jamaica, the dwindling number of healthy Englishmen decided to start work a couple of weeks later on a 20-gun, rectangular sea-castle at the western tip of Caguaya’s land-spit, a strategic position which would be less vulnerable to surprise attacks out of the interior, and help secure this vital anchorage. By quarrying limestone out of the Port Henderson Hills on the mainland opposite, a stout new stronghold soon began to take shape, which was christened ‘‘Fort Cromwell’’ by October 1655. The

Port Royal old Spanish battery on the western side of Hunt’s Bay was also strengthened, while Santiago de la Vega was completely encircled by a wooden palisade as of that same November. Yet most construction efforts remained concentrated at Cagaway Point, whose stone citadel was sufficiently complete by January 1656 to receive a regiment withdrawn from Spanish Town, despite the fact that these troops at first had to bivouac amid the spit’s low scrubland dunes in 100 tents. Still, the site was deemed healthier than the island capital because of its cooling sea-breezes and sandy subsoil, which prevented stagnant puddles from forming. A round stone tower was also begun within Fort Cromwell’s circuit by March 1656, and as fears of a Spanish reconquest gradually faded, thousands of settlers began arriving from the Leeward Islands to clear farms on the nearby Liguanea Plain. Soon, the extemporized huts and shacks along Cagaway Point gave way to more permanent structures, development gaining further impetus after the Commonwealth’s acting military Gov. William Brayne noted in July 1657 that he intended ‘‘all our storehouses and trade shall be [there], which will soon make it a flourishing place.’’ A new Governor’s residence and large State storehouse were duly erected, while private plots were surveyed and sold in 60-foot lengths, facing the inner harbor. Christchurch was commenced by early January 1658, and a smithy’s forge next month. By August, there were at least three rows of houses lining the Point and as an added defense against attack, a line of palisades (spelled ‘‘pallisadoes’’) was erected across the spit’s eastern extremity, radiating out from a strong gatehouse. An oak-planked

courthouse was also added to the emerging town, while Fort Cromwell increased its ordinance to 75 guns. By the time news of the Protector’s death arrived early in 1659, private land was already becoming scarce on Cagaway Point, despite the disadvantages for residents of having to ferry drinkingwater and fresh food out from the mainland in canoes. Plantations were also multiplying across Liguanea Plain; while trade with England and New England was fast growing, so that by the summer of 1660 the town boasted roughly 200 houses—many built of brick—with a permanent populace of 600 to 700 people, not including its military garrison or the hundreds of transient seafarers.

Transformation into Port Royal (1661
1691) In August 1660, reports from London indicated that the Commonwealth had collapsed and Charles II had been restored to the throne, so that Fort Cromwell was renamed ‘‘Fort Charles,’’ and Cagaway became ‘‘Port Royal.’’ Jamaica’s first Royal Governor—Thomas, 7th Baron Windsor de Stanwell—did not actually arrive to assume office until August 1662, being well received as he had brought out the Cromwellian army’s back pay, discharging over 1,000 surviving soldiers with full wages and a gratuity. This official furthermore convened a legislative assembly at the old capital of Spanish Town, as well as establishing a Vice-Admiralty Court so that local cases would not have to be adjudicated across the Atlantic. But his most welcome innovation was the issuance of privateering commissions against the regional

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Pouançay, Jacques Nepveu, Sieur De (?
1683) Spaniards, despite the nominal peace existing with that nation back in Europe. Aggrieved by the continual threat of counter-invasion and other hostile acts by their Spanish-American neighbors, some 1,300 men—many of them discharged soldiers, including a 27-year-old militia Captain named Henry Morgan—eagerly volunteered in September 1662 for a raid against Santiago de Cuba, led by Jamaica’s naval commander-in-chief, Commodore Christopher Myngs. The easy success of this venture encouraged the island Council to authorize another such assault on December 12th of that same year against Campeche, which also triumphed. Port Royal was to consequently flourish as a major privateering base over the ensuing decade, Morgan emerging as ‘‘Admiral’’ of a host of freebooters drawn from throughout the West Indies, leading them on large-scale descents against Portobelo in 1668, Maracaibo next year, and Panama in 1671. The Jamaican port witnessed a commensurate rise in peaceful traffic as well with more than 200 merchantmen calling at its anchorage between January 1668 through January 1670, while Port Royal’s permanent populace grew by 1673 to ‘‘714 free men, 529 free women, 426 free children, and 312 slaves’’—1,981 inhabitants spread among roughly 800 dwellings. Seven years later, the town’s population had continued to rise so impressively that it was estimated to comprise almost 3,000 people: ‘‘. . . a little over 2,000 whites and about 850 blacks. . . .’’ Nevertheless, Spanish Town, which was smaller still legally remained the island’s capital, and the plantationowners who had come to dominate Jamaican affairs deplored the excesses committed by the Port Royal privateers,

whose bellicosity threatened the peaceful expansion of sugar, cacao, and tobacco exports. Thanks to the disproportionate political power wielded by this elite—as only large landowners were permitted to sit as representatives in the Assembly or on the Council—they were able to vote to curtail buccaneer raids during the early 1670s, while simultaneously encouraging the importation of African slaves to clear and operate ever-larger estates on the island. Such policies not only altered Jamaica’s demographics—its white populace declining from roughly 12,000 people in 1680 to 7,000 by 1700, while its slave population rose from 15,000 to 40,000 during that same interlude—they furthermore diminished Port Royal’s importance, as new outlets were created to export produce more directly. To add to its woes, Port Royal was buffeted by a pair of hurricanes in 1683 to 1684, producing extensive flooding and erosion. Still, it remained Jamaica’s largest and busiest town, as well as the region’s principal naval base, its defenses having been augmented by the erection of Forts James, Carlisle, and Rupert, as well as a 16-gun battery known as ‘‘Morgan’s Line.’’

POUANÇAY, JACQUES NEPVEU, SIEUR DE (?
1683) Fifth French Governor of Tortuga Island and Saint-Domingue and a great abettor to its flibustiers. Pouanc¸ay was the eldest of two children born to Bertrand d’Ogeron’s older sister Jeanne, by her husband Thomas Nepveu. He served for many years as his uncle’s aide on Saint-Domingue,

Pouançay, Jacques Nepveu, Sieur De (?
1683)

A rare depiction of Port Royal and its shipping in 1687 by John Taylor, a teacher and writer of mathematics who lived for a while on Jamaica, before returning home to England. (National Library of Jamaica)

deputizing for him as Governor of that colony on several occasions, and enduring the 1673 shipwreck on Puerto Rico by his side. Pouanc¸ay was evidently also in Paris when Ogeron died, being named as his successor in a commission dated at Saint-Germain-en-Laye on March 16, 1676. (Pierre-Paul Tarin de Cussy had been serving as interim Governor during both men’s absence in France.) On assuming office as Governor, Pouanc¸ay attempted to revive the colonial economy ‘‘by giving privateering commissions, on condition these return to the island’’ with their spoils, as otherwise he felt that Saint-Domingue had

few possibilities of prospering. Because of the continual frictions between the French and Spanish colonists, he felt justified in continuing this aggressive policy even after peace was declared in Europe three years later. At the end of July 1680, an envoy visited Pouanc¸ay from the Spanish Governor of Santo Domingo, bearing a copy of the recently-ratified Treaty of Nijemegen between France and Spain, as well as a private letter calling for peace on condition that Pouanc¸ay ‘‘restrain and contain the subjects of France that inhabit Tortuga,’’ prohibiting them from landing on the coasts of

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Powell, Henry (fl. early 1650s) Hispaniola. Pouanc¸ay rejected this proposal, pointing out that the peace treaty contained ‘‘no article concerning the affairs of this government,’’ having been deliberately crafted like previous agreements by Madrid to avoid any mention of French settlements in the New World. Pouanc¸ay said that he was willing to live in peace with the local Spaniards, but would place no unreasonable restraints on the movements of French citizens, who had inhabited large stretches of Santo Domingo’s northern and western shores for more than 40 years. Privately, Pouanc¸ay wrote to his superior Colbert that he believed the Spanish offer had been prompted only by the presence of Vice-Admiral the Duc d’Estr
ees’s squadron in the West Indies, which reached Petit-Go^ave in late August of that same year. The Governor felt that a profitable smuggling trade could eventually be developed with the Spaniards of Santo Domingo, yet doubted whether there was any sincerity in this particular offer of a truce. As proof, he pointed to the recent capture of a merchantman from Nantes off the Cayman Islands, taken by the 40-gun ship of Francisco Gal
an and sailed into Havana for adjudication. Consequently, Pouanc¸ay was to maintain this hard line against the Spaniards, which gave ample employment to the 1,000 to 1,200 flibustiers who operated out of Saint-Domingue under such captains as the Sieur de Grammont, Pierre le Picard, and Jean Rose. The French colony had a total population of 7,800 people, including engag
es and slaves, and depended on these raiders for their prosperity; as in the words of Pouanc¸ay, ‘‘What the flibustiers take is employed here, and their silver passes to France.’’ He was equally disturbed to see corsairs

retiring into ‘‘Jamaica, into some islands dependent on Curac¸ao, to the Virginias, to New England, and the coast of Florida’’ to dispose of their booty, actively seeking to entice them to his coast. Under these circumstances, it was hardly surprising that Pouanc¸ay issued a letter of reprisal to the Dutch rover Nikolaas Van Hoorn in early 1683, after the latter had been cheated out of a consignment of slaves at Santo Domingo. The French Governor was convinced that the Spaniards intended to attack his colony anyway, and believed such punitive raids kept them divided and off balance. Van Hoorn used his commission to mount a massive strike against Veracruz that May, with the combined forces of Grammont and Laurens de Graaf; this was doubtless more retaliation than Pouanc¸ay had in mind, but he died before any recriminations could reach him from Paris. On September 30, 1683, De Cussy was appointed to succeed him.

References Crouse, Nellis M., The French Struggle for the West Indies, 1665
1713 (New York: Octagon, 1966). Lugo, Am
erico, Recopilaci
on diplom
atica relativa a las colonias espa~ nola y francesa de la isla de Santo Domingo, 1640
1701 (Ciudad Trujillo, Dominican Republic: Editorial ‘‘La Naci
on,’’ 1944).

POWELL, HENRY (fl. early 1650s) English seaman, originally from Ratcliff, who prowled the Gulf of Mexico. On April 26, 1654 (O.S.), the English Secretary of State John Thurloe was

Prins, Laurens (fl. 1658
1680) informed that Powell ‘‘was roving in the Mexican Gulf from top to bottom, with his brother, near the space of two years.’’ Evidently, this seafaring experience in those waters meant that Powell was being considered for a role in Cromwell’s forthcoming Western Design.

Reference Thurloe, John, A Collection of the State Papers of John Thurloe, Vol. 2 (London, 1742).

PRINS, LAURENS (fl. 1658
1680) Dutch corsair who served for many years among the English of Jamaica, under the Anglicized name of ‘‘Lawrence Prince.’’ In the summer of 1658, Commodore Christopher Myngs returned to that island from a raid against the Spanish Main with three prizes, which were all sold to men who would eventually prove to be formidable corsairs: the largest, of eight guns and 60 tons, was bought by Robert Searle and renamed the Cagway; one of four guns and 50 tons was purchased by Prins, who changed its name to Pearl; while the third later became John Morris’ Dolphin. Six years later, Prins had become so trusted an English subject that he was commissioned to mount an expedition against his former countrymen on the tiny Dutch West Indian outpost of Bonaire.

Bonaire Raid (February 1665) By late 1664, trade rivalries between England and The Netherlands had become so intense that Gov. Sir Thomas

Modyford of Jamaica felt justified in issuing local licenses for attacks against Dutch possessions. One of these was granted to Prins, who sortied from Port Royal in command of Searle’s 8-gun frigate Cagway, with a crew of 61 ‘‘mostly English’’ freebooters. After a long upwind beat into the Lesser Antilles, he fell on the unsuspecting settlers of Bonaire four hours before daybreak on February 11, 1665. Oblivious of the danger that had been bearing down on them, they naturally proved easy prey, and were particularly outraged to discover the nationality of their captor. Prins openly bragged that he had been born in Amsterdam, ‘‘and acted with great insolence against the defenceless people,’’ ordering them bound, and forcing them to reveal the whereabouts of their livestock. The raiders remained on Bonaire for six days, causing considerable damage before withdrawing. It is believed that Prins and his men then also plundered the galliot Hoop or ‘‘Hope’’ of Jan Pietersz Poppen, removing a native pilot ‘‘in order to guide them in their villainous deeds.’’ When news of these depredations reached Curac¸ao, an arrest order was issued by the Dutch West India Company for both Prins and his English frigate.

Spanish Main and Nicaragua Raids (Summer 1670) Little more was heard of his activities over the next few years, although Prins was known to have sold Henry Morgan his first Jamaican plantation toward the end of that same decade. In the summer of 1670, Prins and Captains Harris and Ludbury took it on themselves to retaliate for the nuisance raids of the

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Prins, Laurens (fl. 1658
1680) Spanish corsair Manoel Rivero Pardal. In a singularly bold stroke, the Dutchman led his small flotilla up Colombia’s Magdalena River in an attempt to reach the important town of Momp
os, 150 miles from the sea. This daring attempt was checked by a fort which had recently been erected on an island in that river. But the trio then headed westward in August 1670 to the Mosquito Coast, hoping to find better fortune. Despite the fort which had been installed (after Morgan’s raid five years previously), Prins and his cohorts ascended the San Juan River, stole across the Lago de Nicaragua, and surprised the city of Granada. According to a Spanish account, Prins ‘‘made havoc and a thousand destructions,’’ further driving home his demand for ransom by ‘‘sending the head of a priest in a basket and saying that he would deal with the rest of the prisoners in the same way, unless they gave him 70,000 pesos.’’ A few weeks later, he was back in Port Royal, William Beeston noting in his journal for October 19, 1670 (O.S.): ‘‘Arrived the ships that had taken Grenada [sic], who were Captains Prince, Harris and Ludbury.’’ Governor Modyford allegedly reproved the trio for attacking the Spaniards without commissions, yet thought it prudent not ‘‘to press the matter too far in this juncture.’’ Instead, he ordered them to go join Morgan’s own retaliatory expedition that was gathering off ^Ile a Vache, ‘‘which they were very ready to do.’’

Panama Campaign (1670
1671) Prins incorporated his ship Pearl of 10 guns and 50 men into Morgan’s fleet,

and because of his fierce reputation and friendship with the Admiral, was considered a senior officer. He served in the subsequent capture of Providencia Island, and the advance overland from Chagres through the Isthmian jungles. When the 1,200-man buccaneer host finally confronted Juan P
erez de Guzm
an’s army outside the gates of Panama City at daybreak on January 28, 1671, Prins commanded Morgan’s 300-man vanguard with the rank of ‘‘Lieutenant-Colonel,’’ while John Morris served as his ‘‘Major.’’ This unit advanced to a hillock off the Spaniards’ right flank, and when the enemy charged, smashed their will with a murderous fire that killed almost 100 Panamanian militiamen with its opening volley. The city was quickly captured and looted over the next four weeks, producing a disappointingly small booty, because much of its wealth had been evacuated prior to the occupation. Curiously, the Spaniards later reported that the invaders had ‘‘brought with them an Englishman, whom they called the Prince, with intent there to crown him King of Tierra Firme [i.e., the Spanish Main].’’ Prins’ Pearl returned to Port Royal in April 1671, along with Morgan aboard Joseph Bradley’s Mayflower, Morris’ Dolphin, and Thomas Harris’ Mary. The Dutchman was spared the official opprobrium which subsequently descended on Modyford and Morgan for these unauthorized hostilities against Spanish America, and which resulted in their being sent as prisoners to England a few months afterward. Instead, Prins was assigned by the new Gov. Sir Thomas Lynch as deputy to the Lieutenant Governor, being described as ‘‘one of the great privateers,’’ who furthermore was:

Puerto del Prı´ncipe . . . a sober man, very brave, and an exact pilot. I thought it not amiss for that reason to employ him, and to let the Spaniards see the privateers are subjects to the King’s orders, and have not all left the island, but take it as an honor to serve the King in any capacity. Prins apparently forsook roving, and by 1672 had become a considerable landowner on the Liguanea Plain, which was then being opened up for new plantations. Eight years later, a man named Samuel Long brought charges in January 1680 against another Jamaican Governor, the Earl of Carlisle, asserting that among many other things, he had violated Crown policy by giving encouragement to pirates. As proof of this, Long declared: I have seen one Captain Prince, who is said to be a proclaimed pirate, with others said to be privateers, leading each his woman by the said Earl as he sat in his coach viewing affairs; many of the Council and Assembly standing by the said Earl, making some comment on them as they passed. I perceived he both saw and knew who they were.

References Gehring, Charles T., and Schiltkamp, Jacob A., trans. and eds. Curac¸ao Papers, 1640
1665. Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924). Interesting Tracts Relating to the Island of Jamaica (St. Jago de la Vega: Lewis, Lunan and Jones, 1800). Pawson, Michael, and Buisseret, David J., Port Royal, Jamaica (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1975).

Pope, Dudley, Harry Morgan’s Way: The Biography of Sir Henry Morgan, 1635
1684 (London: Secker & Warburg, 1977).

PUERTO DEL PRI´NCIPE Cuban town, whose demoralized citizens relocated after repeated pirate raids, and is today resurrected as Camag€uey. Despite its original name, Puerto del Prı´ncipe was not a seaport, although it started out as one. On February 2, 1514, the army of Spanish conquistadores invading Cuba from east to west had constituted a new town dubbed Santa Marı´a del Puerto del Prı´ncipe along its north coastline, sited atop a headland at Guincho Point, which dominated a vast natural harbor. Yet this arid setting (on the northeastern fringes of the modern city of Nuevitas) and the ensuing plagues of locusts drove its residents away only two years later, shifting to a former Indian settlement on the Caonao River banks (near modern Esmeralda). However, an even more tempting locale soon beckoned from deeper inland. As most Spaniards subsequently left Cuba to participate in the conquest of Mexico, cattle-ranching came to be a principal occupation of those few who remained behind. The entire small town was therefore moved once again in 1528, more than 45 miles inland from the sea (yet still within the boundaries of the vast original municipality), to a lush valley which had once been the core of chief Camag€uey’s native fiefdom. A new site was duly cleared between the Tı´nima and Hatibonico Rivers, while some 20 landowners claimed a sprawling network of

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Puerto Real outlying ranches. Slowly, the town evolved, serving as rural hub for this district. A Franciscan monastery was erected in 1599, and a Mercedarian two years afterward. When a fire claimed most structures in 1616, Puerto del Prı´ncipe was rebuilt. Numerous streams and rivers, known collectively as the Vertientes, ran down to Cuba’s southern coastline, providing many outlets for trade. The few Spanish island traders, though, were oftentimes supplemented by foreign vessels, who anchored discreetly in unfrequented bays to conduct their clandestine business, far from official eyes. Such visitors also rustled cattle, which were free-ranging, and became so familiar with the local terrain that unfortified Puerto del Prı´ncipe proved to be vulnerable.

Morgan’s Raid (March 1668) At dawn on March 27, 1668, Henry Morgan set a large party of buccaneers ashore at Florida Beach in Santa Marı´a Cove (today called Santa Cruz del Sur), to steal overland and attack Puerto del Prı´ncipe. The Spaniards attempted to dispute the raiders’ passage next sunrise with 800 militia cavalrymen and native spearmen, yet they were helpless against the buccaneers’ superior firepower, which inflicted several hundred casualties, including more than 100 deaths, before carrying Puerto Prı´ncipe by storm that same afternoon. Three days of pillage ensued, although the raiders withdrew by April 1st with only 50,000 pieces of eight, a disappointing sum when it had to be redistributed among so many. The Spaniards eventually provided 500 additional cattle to

ransom their hostages, so that Morgan left Cuba well supplied for his planned assault on Portobelo.

Grammont’s Raid (February 1679) On February 21, 1679, an expedition under Grammont disembarked from three ships, two brigantines, and four lesser craft in La Gloria Bay near Guanaja along the north coast of Cuba, and advanced overland with 600 flibustiers against Puerto del Prı´ncipe. The Spanish priest Francisco Garcer
an chanced to sight these raiders when they reached La Matanza, and carried a warning into Puerto del Prı´ncipe. Its inhabitants fled, allowing the invaders to enter unopposed, finding its dwellings mostly empty. Some 600 Spanish militiamen meanwhile gathered under alcalde mayor Benito de Ag€uero, challenging the buccaneers’ retreat back toward the coast with their few captives. In a pitched battle on February 25th in the Cubitas Range, Grammont was compelled to extemporize a redoubt, suffering 70 killed before his Dutch-born colleague Laurens de Graaf could extricate his contingent, inflicting 67 Spanish fatalities. Grammont regained the coast and took 14 prominent women prisoners aboard his flotilla, whom the Spaniards ransomed after 30 days.

PUERTO REAL Generic Spanish expression meaning ‘‘Port Royal,’’ and which during the 17th century was used by seamen to describe a large, deep-water anchorage.

Punch House Cartagena, warning that the pirate leader Laurens de Graaf had ‘‘in mid-February been at the island of Roat
an, by another name Puerto Real.’’ Inside Mexico’s Laguna de T
erminos on the Gulf Coast, the so-called ‘‘Bay of Campeche’’ often frequented by foreign logwood cutters or Baymen, lay yet another deep-water anchorage known as Puerto Real.

PUNCH HOUSE

Morgan’s men fighting their way into the inland Cuban town of Puerto del Prı´ncipe, March 1668; from a later edition by Exquemelin. (Exquemelin, Alexandre Olivier. The buccaneers of America: a true account of the most remarkable assaults. . . . , 1893)

One famous example would be Puerto Real de Santa Marı´a, a wide sheltered bay on the mainland behind the great Atlantic seaport of Cadiz, which sits at the tip of its own separate spit of land in southwestern Spain. Less well-known would be Puerto Real de Mampatare, a deep-water harbor at the southeastern corner of the Venezuelan island of Margarita, which is today known simply as Pampatar. The favorite buccaneer anchorage hidden on the southern face of Roat
an Island also went by this same name; in mid-March 1684, for instance, Gov. Pedro de Ponte of Panama wrote to his colleague Juan Pando de Estrada at

English nickname originally applied to any low drinking establishment where ‘‘punch’’ or some other such alcoholic concoction was sold, although also coming to mean a brothel. On September 30, 1678 (O.S.), the Assembly on the West Indian island of St. Kitts passed ‘‘An act touching tavernkeepers and rum punch-house keepers, not to trust any person upon account for above 200 pounds of sugar, before taking a note for the same.’’ In other words, as sugar served as currency on that island, an inebriated customer was not to be allowed to run up a high bill, without providing some confirmation in writing. And a visitor to 17th-century Port Royal in Jamaica would describe its punch houses as haunts of ‘‘such a crew of vile strumpets and common prostitutes, that ‘tis almost impossible to civilize’’ the town.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 10 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1896). Pawson, Michael, and Buisseret, David J., Port Royal, Jamaica (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1975).

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Purchase

PURCHASE English euphemism for ‘‘booty’’ or ‘‘loot,’’ commonly used among privateers and pirates. In particular, the phrase ‘‘no purchase, no pay’’ was employed to advise any prospective recruits for a cruise that if no prize-money—i.e., ‘‘purchase’’—resulted, there could be no pay for the men, who otherwise received no regular wages. These circumstances made rovers especially eager to tackle any rich target which they chanced on at sea, leading to acts both of astonishing bravery and low criminality. Just as a tempting reward could draw privateers into almost any harebrained venture, the lack of good prospects could also deter them from even the most necessary enterprise. For instance, Acting-Governor Hender Molesworth of Jamaica wished to dispatch a small expedition into the south cays of Cuba late in 1684, to protect English turtlers against the Spanish and French corsairs who were waging a bitter struggle in those waters. Despite the fact that Jamaica depended on this crucial source of food, Molesworth found few volunteers forthcoming ‘‘on the conditions of no purchase no pay,’’ as privateers thought that the elusive enemy piraguas employed in that struggle would prove worthless as prizes. The Governor therefore entered into an arrangement with several prominent Port Royal citizens, who agreed to hire the privateer sloops, in exchange for a two-month monopoly over turtling. Molesworth reported to London that he

had found this ‘‘a cheap and reasonable demand,’’ adding: . . . they have their choice of men (the lowest of whom gets 40 shillings a month), and so can depend on their crews, whereas if they had gone upon the first design, as volunteers, I should have been in constant fear of a mutiny, the damned privateering business reigning much in the minds of those people.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898).

PURDUE, JOHN (fl. 1662
1663) Early English privateer, who operated out of Jamaica. Amid the hurried preparations at Port Royal to dispatch Commodore Christopher Myngs’ quick-strike expedition against Santiago de Cuba, Purdue was one of six Captains issued a privateering commission on September 18, 1662 (O.S.), by the recently-arrived Governor Thomas, Lord Windsor. Like his colleagues John Bull, Jacob Fackman, Abraham Mitchell, and Robert Searle, Purdue secured a six-month license to rove with his 4-gun, 40-man Purdue, a former Spanish frigate; only George Brimacain received a 10-month permit. Doubtless Purdue weighed shortly thereafter as part of Myngs’s flotilla,

Purdue, John (fl. 1662
1663) to participate in the sack and destruction of Santiago de Cuba. He may have also served in the subsequent raid against the Mexican port of Campeche in February 1663, although no further details of his activities are recorded.

See also Brimacain, George; Bull, John; Fackman, Jacob; Mitchell, Abraham; Myngs, Sir

Christopher; Searle, Robert; Windsor, Thomas, Lord.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 5 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1880). National Archives [UK], PRO HCA 49/59, folios 83
92.

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R There never was a sober fellow, but what was a rogue. —Pirate joke, June 1722

Reference

REIJNIERSEN, CLAES (fl. 1673)

Shomette, Donald G. and Haslach, Robert D., Raid on America: The Dutch Naval Campaign of 1672
1674 (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1988).

Dutch privateer who operated out of Suriname. On March15, 1673, Reijniersen was patrolling the eastern reaches of the Wild Coast, when late that afternoon he saw the flotilla of Cornelis Evertsen (‘‘Kees the Devil’’) approaching with supplies from Zeeland. Knowing them to be desperately needed, as Suriname had been cut off from The Netherlands ever since the wars with France and England had begun that previous year, Reijniersen went aboard Evertsen’s flagship Swaenenburgh and piloted the formation into its anchorage opposite the principal town of Paramaribo, through a driving tropical downpour.


S DE LOS REYES, ANDRE (fl. 1659) Spanish trader who illegally seized a neutral Dutch vessel off of Cuba’s northern coastline, then tried to pass it off at Campeche as an English prize, and so was charged with piracy. De los Reyes was originally a native of the Port of Santa Marı´a, a suburb of Cadiz. After exiting from Havana with his 11-man sloop Nuestra Se~ nora de la Concepci
on y San Antonio, apparently during 335

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Reyning, Jan Erasmus (fl. 1667
1697) the early days of 1659, he sighted and boarded the 80-ton Dutch merchant pink Hoop or ‘‘Hope’’ of Nikolaas Direcksen, setting both its master and crew adrift in their boat. Such a capture was illicit, for although Spain was at war against England, Holland was a non-belligerent. The outraged Dutchmen consequently landed and traveled overland to lodge a formal complaint with the Governor of Havana, Juan de Salamanca, who issued Direcksen and his men special passes that same February 1659, which permitted them to sail for Seville aboard the annual plate fleet. Salamanca in the meantime also prepared messages for all Spanish-American port authorities, warning them to be on the lookout for De los Reyes. This renegade had meanwhile sailed his capture across the Gulf of Mexico into the minor port of Campeche, claiming to have bravely intercepted an English pink while it was bound toward Jamaica. In his deposition, De los Reyes had excused the lack of any prisoners to corroborate his statement, by arguing that his sloop lacked sufficient men to work both vessels, as well as guard the detainees. He had therefore been allowed to sell off his prize and its contents at Campeche for slightly less than 6,000 pesos, as well as his own sloop. When a ship subsequently arrived bearing dispatches from Havana, De los Reyes realized what this portended. He and his men quickly departed Campeche for Veracruz, as passengers aboard the
Spanish ship Rosario y las Animas of Manuel de Urrutia. When the provincial Governor, Francisco de Baz
an, at his inland capital of M
erida de Yucat
an, learned of this renegade’s deceit and criminality, he immediately issued orders for his arrest and the search of all outward-bound vessels. Governor de

Baz
an had been especially displeased to discover that the Dutch victims claimed their stolen goods were worth almost 30,000 pesos, most of which must have been concealed from his customs officials at Campeche. Governor de Baz
an therefore had himself conveyed by sedan-chair down from his capital, to personally hold inquests in early April 1659 at Campeche. The very same night that he arrived, he dispatched a frigate toward Veracruz with messages for the corregidor of that seaport, as well as the Mexican Viceroy, calling for De los Reyes’ arrest. This fugitive appears to have been caught some time shortly thereafter and sent back to Cuba, while the pink and part of its cargo were also recuperated from their new owners. On the very last day of 1659, Gov. Matthias Beck of Curac¸ao wrote to his Spanish counterpart at Havana, thanking the Governor de Salamanca for his successful intervention in this affair, and adding that Hoop and its goods would be retrieved from the Cuban capital.

Reference Gehring, Charles T. and Schiltkamp, Jacob A., Curac¸ao Papers, 1640
1665, Volume 17, ‘‘New Netherland Documents’’ (Interlaken, NY: Heart of the Lakes Publishing, 1987).

REYNING, JAN ERASMUS (fl. 1667
1697) Dutch adventurer who spent more than a decade roving the West Indies, under four different flags. He was born in Vlissingen or Flushing in 1640, the son of a sailor from

Reyning, Jan Erasmus (fl. 1667
1697) Copenhagen. Reyning first went to sea with his father at the age of 10, and saw action against both the English and French in the North Sea. His father was killed in a naval engagement during the First Anglo-Dutch War of 1652 to 1654, and Reyning himself was captured and imprisoned in Ireland for 18 months during the Second Anglo-Dutch War of 1665 to 1667. After a brief reunion with his wife and child, he signed on with a Middelburg ship bound for Suriname.

Jean-David Nau l’Olonnais reached Jamaica with an 80-ton, 12-gun Spanish brigantine he had captured, in which Reyning allegedly bought a share. Rok Brasiliano was installed as captain, Jelles de Lecat as first mate. They prowled the Spanish Main between Cartagena and Portobelo, seizing another brigantine before returning to Port Royal, where Brasiliano took command of the new vessel, while De Lecat and Reyning remained aboard the old one.

Arrival in the New World (1667)

Laguna de T
erminos Campaign (1669)

Once in the Antilles, Reyning was put ashore with six other men to attempt to reestablish the Dutch colony at Cayenne, seized by the French three years previously. The French in turn had been dispossessed by the English, but soon returned, carrying Reyning off to Martinique as a prisoner. He served briefly as boatman to the retiring Gov. Robert Le Frichot des Friches, Seigneur de Clodor
e, accompanying him as far as Tortuga Island on his return passage toward France, before Reyning deserted and became a plantation-hand on Saint-Domingue, then an indentured servant to a boucanier, and quickly regained his freedom. Resuming his sea career, Reyning reached the Cayman Islands sometime in 1668, where he found the Dutch privateer ‘‘Captain Casten of Amsterdam,’’ holder of a Jamaican commission, careening his ship. Reyning joined his company, and sailed as far as Aruba on a cruise. Taking a Spanish prize, they put into Port Royal to dispose of it, paying the requisite one-tenth of its value to the King of England, and one-fifteenth to the Duke of York. Shortly thereafter,

The two brigantines stole into the Gulf of Mexico in the spring of 1669, accompanied by the frigate [Mayflower?] of Joseph Bradley, to begin operations in and around the Laguna de T
erminos. Plunder proving scarce, Brasiliano and Reyning supposedly quarreled and separated. De Lecat’s vessel began loading dyewood, while Bradley and Brasiliano blockaded Campeche. The Spaniards finally sortied with three armed ships on December 18, 1669, chasing them away. A norther wrecked Brasiliano and his crew on the Yucatan Peninsula, from where they were rescued by De Lecat and Reyning, who transferred them to Bradley’s frigate for return to Jamaica. Shortly thereafter, De Lecat and Reyning seized a Spanish merchantman which they renamed Seviliaen, scuttling their brigantine and sailing this prize back to Port Royal. On their arrival, they found the colony in an uproar because of the nuisance raids of the Spanish privateer Manoel Rivero Pardal. In August 1670, Reyning sailed as part of Henry Morgan’s retaliatory strike against Panama, pausing first at ^Ile a Vache for supplies

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Reyning, Jan Erasmus (fl. 1667
1697) and reinforcements. The corsair fleet then descended on Providencia Island, overwhelming its tiny Spanish garrison, before Morgan sent Bradley on ahead to seize San Lorenzo Castle at the mouth of the Chagres River, as a foothold for their approach to Panama. Reyning, De Lecat, and Brasiliano all served in this advance force, which disembarked against heavy opposition. Reyning’s company was so badly decimated that the wounded Brasiliano reported to Bradley that they had all been killed. This was disproved next dawn, when Reyning’s survivors took part in the final assault, during which the Spanish defenders were massacred and Bradley fatally wounded.

Sack of Panama (1670
1671) Reyning thereupon led his company on Morgan’s epic march across the Isthmus, where despite hunger, disease, and repeated jungle-ambushes, the freebooters fought their way into Panama and looted the city for a month. Retiring to the Atlantic coast, they were disappointed at the division of spoils, feeling Morgan cheated them by making off with the lion’s share. Sailing toward Jamaica in his wake, Reyning had a brush with the Cartagena coast-guard vessel Santa Cruz and another Spanish vessel, before gaining Montego Bay. There, he found at anchor the Dutch merchantman Witte Lam of Zeeland, which chanced to have his brother-inlaw aboard, with a letter for Reyning. Nostalgic for his family, Reyning arranged passage home aboard this vessel, but his piratical minions held such riotous, drunken celebrations that the Witte Lam’s master grew scared, and

discreetly slipped away without him. Reyning thus had no choice but to proceed to Port Royal. Here he found the political climate greatly altered, with the new Gov. Sir Thomas Lynch having arrived on July 1, 1671, with the warships Assistance and Welcome, to arrest his predecessor and revoke all anti-Spanish privateering commissions. Reyning was asked to bring in the Seviliaen, but when he met up with De Lecat at their prearranged rendezvous off the Caymans, they simply joined forces and sailed away toward Cuba. There, they rustled some cattle, but when a trio of Spanish warships sortied from Havana, the corsairs decided to cross the Gulf of Mexico to their old hunting grounds off the Laguna de T
erminos. Immediately on reaching the Mexican coast they seized a small Spanish coastguard vessel; De Lecat assumed command of this prize, while Reyning captained the Seviliaen. Shortly thereafter, HMS Assistance hove into view, having been detached under William Beeston to bring in rogue privateers. Reyning and De Lecat withdrew close inshore, beyond the reach of such a powerful antagonist, so the English commander sailed to nearby Campeche to hire shallowdraft vessels to cut them out of their anchorage. But the wily Dutchmen frustrated this scheme by following the frigate into port, where the neutrality of the Spanish harbor offered protection against capture, until the Royal Navy grew tired of this game and left.

Spanish Service (1671
1672) Realizing how risky it was to continue prowling the Caribbean, Reyning and De

Reyning, Jan Erasmus (fl. 1667
1697) Lecat purged their crews of English seamen, marooning them on the island of Tris, where they were eventually rescued by the former privateer Lilly in January 1672. Meanwhile, the two Dutchmen struck a deal with the Campeche authorities, and were issued Spanish letters of marque. The Spaniards, desperate to stem the foreign incursions throughout the region, but without funds to mount an adequate defense, overlooked the Flushingers’ checkered past, as they were willing to serve for prize-money alone. Reyning and De Lecat, hunted by the English, agreed and further cemented the deal by initiating indoctrination into the Catholic faith. On their first patrol into the Laguna de T
erminos, they captured four English vessels, auctioning them off at Campeche. Soon a routine developed, whereby Reyning remained in port attending to business, while De Lecat took care of the rough-and-tumble aspects of coastguard duty. Within a few months, they seized 32 prizes, and the logwood trade at Jamaica declined because of fears of ‘‘Captain Yellowes.’’ On April 28, 1672, while De Lecat was patrolling in a captured sloop, Reyning exited Campeche with the Seviliaen to transport retiring Gov. Fernando Francisco de Escobedo to Tabasco. Reyning then hired out the Seviliaen to convey a rich cargo of cacao and dyewood to Veracruz, departing Tabasco on July 18th. He reached Veracruz five days later, where his ship was briefly impounded because of irregularities regarding its ownership.

Hostilities with France (1672) While awaiting adjudication, Reyning learned from the Spanish slaver and privateer Francisco Galesio that war had

broken out between England, France, and Holland back in Europe. Thus, once the Seviliaen was released in late August 1672, Reyning hurried back to Campeche in ballast to pay off his Spanish hands and reassemble his Dutch crew. The Seviliaen was careened while hoping for De Lecat to rejoin, but Reyning eventually left Mexico without him. Proceeding past Yucatan toward Cape Tiburon, the Seviliaen made a few captures, before going in pursuit of a lone French sail. It lured them round a headland into the large formation which Gov. Jean-Charles de Baas-Castelmore had sent from the Windward Islands to raise flibustiers on Saint-Domingue for an assault against Curac¸ao. The wind died away, and Reyning was forced to abandon his prizes and break out the oars to escape from this superior force. He allegedly beat off several French boarding-parties, before returning to seize two of their vessels. On reaching Caracas, Reyning again met up with Francisco Galesio and escorted his vessel across to Curac¸ao in early 1673. There, Reyning procured a Dutch privateering commission, and for the next two years helped maintain the island by bringing in numerous French and English prizes. During one of his cruises, the Seviliaen was wrecked in a storm off Hispaniola, but Reyning managed to get his crew safely ashore and to the Spanish capital of Santo Domingo. While awaiting passage from there, he and his men were supposedly used to man a ship and chase away a French privateer, for which the Spanish Governor showed himself exceedingly grateful. Put aboard a ship bound for Puerto Rico and Caracas, the passengers instead ordered it directly to Curac¸ao.

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Reyning, Jan Erasmus (fl. 1667
1697) Having lost his half-ownership in the Seviliaen, Reyning was given a quartershare in another Dutch privateer, and returned to Puerto Rico for food and water before going on a cruise. The English ship Laurel of Portsmouth was captured, its captain furious at discovering how few Dutchmen had defeated him. Reyning then snuck ashore at Englishoccupied St. Eustatius and seized its commander, only to learn that peace had been declared between Holland and England as of February 1674. Frustrated in this design, Reyning left for Curac¸ao, hijacking 60 slaves on Grenada while en route, and trading them for indigo at Montserrat.

Surrender at Grenada (1675) He now concentrated his efforts in the Lesser Antilles. After numerous smaller raids and seizures, Reyning joined forces with Jurriaen Aernouts to attack Grenada in 1675. The Dutch raiders succeeded in occupying its fort, but were in turn besieged inside it by the French, and starved into submission. On surrendering, Reyning and Aernouts were carried to
Martinique by the warship Emerillon of Captain Chadeau de la Clicheterre. Eventually, they succeeded in escaping from the plantation where they were being held by drugging the guards’ wine and stealing a piragua along with five other men. They laid in a course for Curac¸ao, but nearly died when their boat was carried westward by the winds and currents, landing them on Cora Island in presentday Venezuela. On gaining Maracaibo, they were briefly incarcerated by the Spaniards (who although common foes of the French, remained suspicious of any foreign trespassers on their territory), before being restored to Curac¸ao.

Binckes’ Campaign (1676) Early the next year, Reyning returned to Amsterdam, seeing his family again after a nine-year absence. Shortly thereafter, he was given command of the tiny, 8-gun frigate Fortuyn in Admiral Jacob Binckes’ expedition, which sailed for the West Indies that March. On May 4, 1676, they dropped anchor off Cayenne, landing 900 men and taking Fort Saint-Louis with almost no resistance. Garrisoning the island, the Dutch then sailed north and did the same to Marie-Galante, throwing down its fortifications and carrying off its French colonists. When Binckes sighted Guadeloupe on June 16th, he considered its defenses too strong and therefore passed by, unsuccessfully pursuing a trio of French vessels. A few days later, he landed 500 men and overran Saint-Martin, killing the French Governor and seizing 100 slaves. From there, part of the expedition proceeded to Santo Domingo under its second-in-command Pieter Constant, pausing at the Spanish half of that island for water, and seizing a French vessel off the coast. Reyning was with this contingent, which then rounded to Petit-Go^ave on the French half of the island, where Constant attempted to persuade its boucaniers to ‘‘throw off the unbearable yoke’’ of the French West Indies Company in favor of the more reliable, competitive Dutch. Although dissatisfied with their own traders, the French settlers nonetheless rejected this offer with musket fire, so that the Dutch sailed away after seizing the merchantmen anchored offshore. Reyning secured one of these prizes, and even fought a ‘‘duel’’ (i.e., brawl) with another captain over possession of a drum.

Reyning, Jan Erasmus (fl. 1667
1697)

First Battle of Tobago (March 1677)

Second Battle of Tobago (December 1677)

As a counter to Binckes’ efforts, the French government dispatched a large fleet of its own into the New World, under Vice Admiral Jean, Duc d’Estr
ees. Reyning claimed to have captured a French vessel off Nevis, with letters revealing that this force was on its way. In December 1676, D’Estr
ees appeared and recaptured Cayenne, then pressed on toward Tobago, which Binckes had transformed into a heavily-fortified base. On the evening of February 21, 1677, the French landed 1,000 soldiers near Rockly Bay, and sent 14 light vessels on ahead to make a feint against its harbor mouth. Reyning’s Fortuyn was one of the Dutch auxiliaries attacked there, being forced to retreat into the inner roads when the outnumbered Binckes wisely refused to strip his land defenses to reinforce these ships. Reyning transferred onto land, serving in the trenches when D’Estr
ees launched his major assault on the morning of March 3, 1677. The fighting was fierce both on land and in the harbor, with the Dutch emerging victorious, although losing 10 of their 13 anchored vessels to spreading conflagrations (which also consumed four of the heaviest French men-of-war). Two French vessels were also captured; Reyning claimed some of his crew-members were found aboard the dismasted Pr
ecieux, and that the French commander-in-chief had narrowly eluded him in a rowboat. D’Estr
ees meanwhile retired to Grenada and Martinique with 1,000 losses, and by early July was back in Versailles reporting on his failure to Louis XIV.

The ‘‘Sun King’’ immediately ordered his Admiral to return to the West Indies, and complete his mission. D’Estr
ees departed Brest again on September 27, 1677, with 17 more ships. He arrived off Tobago on December 6th, having paused en route to destroy the Dutch slavingstation of Gor
ee in West Africa. The tropical weather off Tobago was rainy, yet despite this the French quickly threw a large contingent ashore and installed siege artillery, refusing to be drawn into a suicidal charge against the Dutch entrenchments like the last time. The defenders were much reduced by hunger and disease, with Reyning serving aboard the Pr
ecieux, one of only two ships remaining in the harbor. On December 12, 1677, the chief French gunner began firing rangingshots against the Dutch fortification, laying odds he would blow it up at the third attempt. Incredibly, the third round landed squarely in the magazine, killing Binckes and 250 defenders with a mighty blast. The French swarmed exultantly over the ruins, while Dutch resolve collapsed. Reyning abandoned the Pr
ecieux to flee inland on foot, eventually escaping the island in a tiny craft, with a sail made of two oars and a pair of shirts. It took him ten days to reach Curac¸ao, but he was so weakened by lack of food and water that he could not work into port, having to sail past to Aruba. Rescued and returned to Curac¸ao, Reyning helped brace for D’Estr
ees’ inevitable appearance. On this occasion, though, fortune smiled on the Dutch, for when the French expedition

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Reyning, Jan Erasmus (fl. 1667
1697) confidently headed toward Curac¸ao five months later, it was shipwrecked on the Aves Islands group. Hostilities with France ended shortly thereafter (August 10, 1678), and Reyning sailed for Zeeland. He made a return trade voyage into the West Indies, and was allegedly even offered a position on devastated Tobago, as well as in the Royal Spanish Navy, neither of which he accepted. Instead, he served on commercial cruises between Holland and Spain, on one occasion delivering a man-of-war built in a Dutch yard to the Spaniards.

Slaving Voyage (1687
1688) After a number of years, Reyning obtained command of the Coymans Company’s Koning Balthasar, a large new ship which was to convey a cargo of slaves from Curac¸ao to the Spanish Main, under terms of the asiento or ‘‘Crown monopoly’’ granted in Madrid to that Dutch firm. Reyning sailed with his son, picking up a Spanish priest named Fr. Francisco de Rivas as supercargo at Cadiz, of whom he remained darkly suspicious. The Koning Balthasar seized a Portuguese slaver off Cuman
a for violating the trade-monopoly, yet this prize was released by the corrupt local authorities, thereby depriving Reyning and the Coymans Company of one-third of its value in prize money. At Curac¸ao, the Koning Balthasar took on its consignment of slaves, depositing a portion of them at Cartagena, the rest at Portobelo. By now convinced that Rivas and the Spaniards were plotting to seize his vessel, Reyning slipped out of the roads one dark night without permission, being fired on by its harbor defenses. (A few

months later, the Koning Balthasar’s sister ship Santiago de la Victoria was impounded and sold by the Spaniards for smuggling, which persuaded Reyning that he had narrowly escaped sharing this same fate.) On his return passage toward Holland, he paused at Jamaica to refresh his provisions, and that island’s Governor, the Duke of Albemarle, related to London on April 5, 1688 (O.S.), how he: . . . had news of Erasmus, a pirate, at Bluefield’s Bay, and sent [Royal Navy] Captains Wright and Monk to take him, but he had escaped before they came. Reyning sailed home with 180,000 pesos in profits aboard, and en route learned that war had again broken out with France, so that he also brought in three French prizes. Presumably while still lying at Curac¸ao, he had also come into contact with David van der Sterre, the doctor for the slave depot on that island. The latter recorded Reyning’s reminiscences in a rambling, heroic vein, producing an almost unreadable book which was published in Amsterdam in 1691. Meanwhile, Reyning had been appointed as a naval Commander by the Dutch Admiralty two years earlier, and fought against the French during the War of the League of Augsburg or King William’s War. As part of that conflict, he captained the Drakesteyn of 44 guns and 170 men in a fruitless Anglo-Dutch bombardment of Brest in 1694, losing 49 of his crew, yet being promoted Extraordinaris-Kapitein for his bravery. More small actions ensued, but his name only crops up again in 1697, when he was wintering at Portsmouth with his ship Nijmegen of 50 guns and 210 men.

Risby, James (fl. 1660
1683)

Death (February 1697) From this English port, Reyning departed on his last voyage, joining Commodore Rudolph Swaan of the Vrede to escort a convoy of Dutch merchantmen to Bilbao, Spain. On their arrival there on February 2, 1697, the harbor-pilot informed them that their two warships drew too much water to pass over its bar, and would have to wait for high tide. Reyning also refused to have his ship inspected, for which he was supposed to face charges. Yet two days later, a sudden storm blew up out of the Bay of Biscay, parting the Vrede’s and Nijmegen’s cables, driving them onto the rocks. More than 400 seamen perished in this maelstrom, among them Reyning. His name was soon forgotten in Holland, but not so on Curac¸ao, where local legend maintains that he had left various treasures buried in caves along its coastline.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 7, 12 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1899). Vrijman, L. C., Dr. David van der Sterre: Zeer aenmerkelijke reysen door Jan Erasmus Reyning (Amsterdam: P. N. van Kampen & Zoon, 1937).

RISBY, JAMES (fl. 1660
1683) Long-serving English privateer and Bayman, who operated out of Jamaica. Virtually nothing is known about his birth or early life. Risby apparently arrived on the island as a junior officer

in its military contingent, and was first mentioned in official records when issued a wartime privateering commission on October 27, 1660 (O.S.), by Governor Edward D’Oyley, in his capacity as ‘‘Commander-in-Chief of all His Majesty’s forces employed, both by land and sea, in America.’’ This tersely-worded document read as follows: By virtue of a power and authority to me derived, I do hereby constitute and appoint you Captain of the frigate called the Betty, authorizing you in the said frigate, and the soldiers under your command, to fight, kill, and take both by sea and land, any of the King of Spain’s subjects, and take their ships and goods, and to appropriate the same to your own and the ship’s company’s use; being answerable to me in this place for the tenth part of such prize and prizes which shall be by you so taken, for the use of His Majesty. Given under my hand and seal at Point Cagway in the island of Jamaica, this 27th of October 1660. Not only Spanish vessels were subject to seizure. In December 1661, Risby and his Betty, accompanied by George Freebourne’s Pearl, contrived to rob the Dutch merchantman Sint Pieter of Amsterdam, whose Captain Henry Hambrouck had obtained permission from the Cuban authorities to take on wood and water along their shoreline, so was working his way down that coast, illegally selling goods to local inhabitants. Meeting up with the two privateers, the Englishmen recommended a spot for the neutral Dutch vessel to careen, and watched as

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Ruyter, Jan Barendszoon (fl. 1664) Hambrouck unloaded to begin this cumbersome task. As Christmas was also approaching, the three crews sat down together sometime later, eating and drinking on the beach all day, until the Dutch had become so drunk by evening, that Risby and Freebourne seized their goods without opposition. From October 29 to November 3, 1672 (O.S.), Risby was one of six English Captains—the others being William and John Coxen, Philip Osborne, John Mitchell, and James Smith—who gave sworn depositions before Governor Sir Thomas Lynch of Jamaica, complaining about the hostilities being perpetrated off the north coast of Yucat
an by the turncoat privateer Jelles de Lecat under his new Spanish commission. Risby and his fellow Captains explained how: They have used the trade of logwood-cutting for about two-and-ahalf or three years on the coast of Yucatan, from Boca [de] Conil to Cape Catoche, and thence to Cozumel, and during that time the English have had and now have huts and people to the number of 100 or 200 there resident; have never seen any Spaniards or Indians, nor heard of any Indians nearer than twelve or fourteen leagues, or Spaniards nearer than Rio Lagartos, eighteen leagues off, where there are guards or lookouts, and have never met with any interruption until the pirate Yallahs [sic; Jelles de Lecat] came about eight months since and took diverse vessels. One has also cut wood at Beef Island [Xicalango] and Sumasanta, 35 leagues to the westward of Campeachy; the proprietor of Beef Island, who comes there at certain

seasons to make hides, has always given leave to the English to cut wood; and the Indians there resident are not subject to the Spaniards. Four years later, Risby endured another ordeal at Spanish hands, for on January 12, 1677 (O.S.), Jamaica’s Royal Governor Lord Vaughan received ‘‘James Risbee’s deposition of his being taken by the Spaniards and carried to Trinidad [Cuba], with loss of his vessel and goods.’’

See also Beef Island; Careen; Coxon, John; D’Oyley, Edward; Lecat, Jelles de; Logwood; Lynch, Sir Thomas.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 7, 10 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1889
1896). Marsden, Reginald G., editor, Documents Relating to Law and Custom of the Sea (London: Navy Records Society, 1916), Volume 2. Sheridan, Richard B. and McDonald, Roderick A., editors, West Indies Accounts: Essays on the History of the British Caribbean and the Atlantic Economy (University of the West Indies Press, 1996).

RUYTER, JAN BARENDSZOON (fl. 1664) Dutch privateer who cruised the Antilles, just prior to the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Dutch War. Around seven o’clock on the evening of Tuesday, December 23, 1664, Ruyter gingerly picked his way into

Ruyter, Jan Barendszoon (fl. 1664)

UNDER THE BLOOD-RED FLAG During the latter half of the 17th century, many privateer commanders seem to have devised their own personal standards, which were flown to supplement the different national flags under which each served. Thus for example, witnesses who saw the Sieur de Grammont’s flibustiers celebrating their capture of Veracruz at dawn of May 18, 1683, noted that they were cheering ‘‘the King of France with white flags and fleurs-de-lis, and a red one.’’ And the veteran Spanish officers who saw this same mixed pirate-force march out their devastated prize a few days later, observed that it was led by ‘‘five French flags, four English, a green and a flowered one’’—the latter two presumably being individual ensigns. Red was the preferred background-color for freebooter flags displayed throughout much of this period, as it added the appropriate touch of menace. Traditionally, blood-red banners were flown in any battle where no quarter was to be expected or given, so they suited the buccaneers’ predilection for instilling fear into their foes. Captain Edmond Cooke, for instance, supposedly flew a red flag striped with yellow and emblazoned with a white hand and a sword, when he penetrated into the Pacific Ocean with John Coxon in 1680. The Spaniards also exhibited similar insignia. When Captain Edward Stanley’s tiny 4-gun Royal Navy warship Bonito was attacked off the southern coast of Cuba by a guardacosta in November 1684, this enemy galley bore down on him ‘‘flying the Spanish flag with a red ensign.’’ And when a pirate landing-force under Captains Franc¸ois Grogniet, Jean Rose, and Francis Townsley began fighting their way back toward their anchored ships on the Pacific coast in May 1686, having sacked the inland Nicaraguan city of Granada, they found 500 Spanish militiamen barring their path at the town of Masaya, of whom the chronicler Ravenau de Lussan noted: They were flying the red flag, thus giving us to understand there would be no quarter. Upon seeing this, we hauled down our white [French] colors, and exposed a red flag like theirs.

Inexplicably, pirate flags with black backgrounds became much more prevalent as of the early 18th century, although red flags never entirely faded from use.

the neutral but forbidden anchorage of Matanzas Bay on the northern coast of Cuba, hoping to peacefully bring in his States’ frigate Sint Suzanna and take on wood, water, and provisions. He fired off three guns in the falling darkness as a signal to a companion-vessel which already lay at anchor inside this ample harbor, a pink under the Flemish-born ‘‘Enrique de Rivera’’ [Hendrik

van Bank?]. Next morning, both commanders stepped onto the southern shoreline of the bay sometime after 10:00 A.M., to meet with a local Spanish mill-owner, Juan P
erez Barroto. Ruyter informed him that he had been dispatched into the West Indies by the States-General and East India Company with this pair of vessels, bearing a privateering commission to counter

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Ruyter, Jan Barendszoon (fl. 1664) increasing English hostilities. He had already captured an English vessel and carried it into Curac¸ao for adjudication, despite the fact that no war had yet been officially declared between both nations back in Europe. The pair of Dutch commanders offered to buy 30 or 40 hundredweight of biscuits from the neutral Spaniards, but P
erez Barroto demurred until permission could be secured from Governor Francisco D
avila Orej
on Gast
on at Havana. While both Dutch Captains relaxed ashore overnight, and even attended Christmas Mass next morning in Matanzas’ tiny chapel, a message was being forwarded to the Cuban capital and arrived there shortly before 8:00 P.M. on December 26, 1664. However, the Governor ordered the royal treasurer Diego de Arana Isla next day to immediately embark for Matanzas aboard a large

launch with a score of soldiers under Ensign Diego P
erez Bullones, to inquire into this unauthorized entry. After reaching Matanzas overland and conducting interrogations of several local residents on December 29th, the Treasurer arrested P
erez Barroto next day and seized all his properties. The two anchored Dutch vessels were then informed late on the evening of December 31st that they must depart, so that Ruyter grudgingly obeyed on New Year’s Day, 1665.

See also State’s. Ships.

Reference Archive of Indies (Seville), Audiencia de Santo Domingo 104, Ramo 4, Number 21.

S . . . the enemy advanced on all sides, but not in closed ranks, rather without order, which has always been their way of waging war, separated from each other by two or three paces, jumping and crouching and shooting, rushing into our trench at different points simultaneously.
—Governor Juan Alvarez de Avil
es of Guayaquil, describing the buccaneer assault on his defenses, April 1687

Reference

SALTER, THOMAS (fl. 1667)

Chapin, Howard M., Privateer Ships and Sailors: The First Century of American Colonial Privateering, 1625
1725 (Toulon: G. Mouton, 1926).

English privateer who operated out of Port Royal, Jamaica. In 1667, during the closing stages of the Second Anglo-Dutch War, Salter captured the Spanish ship Cedar [sic?] in the Laguna de T
erminos, laden with a cargo of logwood. He put a sevenman crew aboard with orders for his prize-master William Smith, to sail into Port Royal for adjudication. Smith and his men, however, absconded with the vessel to New York, where they sold it under the name William. When Salter learned of this, he retained his friend Samuel Moseley of Massachusetts to sue for its recovery.

SALT TORTUGA English nickname for sun-bleached Isla Tortuga, an island which lies off the northern shores of Venezuela. According to the buccaneer chronicler William Dampier, turtling was such a frequent activity among Caribbean seafarers that this particular island had come to be ‘‘so called to distinguish it from the shoals of Dry Tortuga, near Cape Florida, and from the isle of Tortuga by Hispaniola.’’ When during the

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S
anchez Xim
enez, Jos
e (?
1666) early 17th century, Dutch salters had first discovered and then flocked to exploit the vast natural salt-pans of the Araya Peninsula on the nearby South American mainland, they were eventually denied access by the erection of a Spanish fort near its entrance in 1623. However, these Dutch interlopers had merely shifted their salting operations to other nearby sources: Isla Tortuga, the Unare River mouth, Curac¸ao, and the Antillean isle of Saint Martin. The Spaniards were unable to prevent visits to all of these disperse sites by the persistent salters over the ensuing decades. The name ‘‘Salt Tortuga’’ therefore remained current long after the Dutch had been superseded by other foreigners in the quest for this valuable natural preservative (although French flibustiers would more commonly refer to this Venezuelan island as ‘‘Tortille,’’ as opposed to Tortue for their famous base off of Haiti). Ships from as far away as French Canada and Boston were soon coming every year to tap this open Venezuelan resource. A description on the economic life of Massachusetts, compiled in April 1675, mentioned: Salt they get from Tortudas, not far from Barbados; it is sold at 10 shillings the hogshead, and is clear and white as alum, very sharp and much stronger than ordinary Bay salt.

See also Dampier, William; Salt Tortuga (Volume 2).

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 9 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1893).

Dampier, William, A New Voyage Round the World (New York: Dover, 1968).


NCHEZ XIME
NEZ, SA
(?
1666) JOSE Spanish soldier who reconquered Providencia Island from the English, and then was treacherously murdered by his own men. S
anchez was a veteran of ‘‘experience and courage,’’ who had served 24 years in Flanders before emigrating to the West Indies. He attached himself to the train of Juan P
erez de Guzm
an, following his patron from Puerto Rico to Panama in 1665, where he was appointed sargento mayor or garrison commander at Portobelo. Next year, he was entrusted with command of the expedition sent to recapture Providencia, which had been taken by a group of English raiders under Edward Mansfield.

Reference Earle, Peter, The Sack of Panama: Captain Morgan and the Battle for the Caribbean (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2007).

SAWKINS, RICHARD (fl. 1677?
1680) English privateer who died bravely during John Coxon’s incursion into the South Sea. Sawkins may have also participated in Coxon’s previous raid into the Bay of Honduras in September 1679, or in the 1677 sack of Santa Marta on the Spanish Main. However, the clearest reference to his activities occurs early

Sawkins, Richard (fl. 1677?
1680) in December 1679, when the 32-gun frigate HMS Success was dispatched by Governor Lord Carlisle of Jamaica to detain the renegade privateer Peter Harris, off the south Cuba cays. Shortly after departing Port Royal, Captain Thomas Johnson of the Success encountered Sawkins’ brigantine, which he captured and sent in for adjudication, as suspected of belligerence against the Spaniards, despite the peace then prevailing in Europe. Sawkins was remanded into the custody of the Provost Marshal, and his brigantine impounded for the Crown. Within a few days, word arrived that the Success had run aground off the Cuban coast, and Sawkins’ former vessel cleared with water and supplies for the survivors. That night Sawkins ‘‘made his escape in a wherry’’ and sailed after his brigantine, which lay becalmed to leeward of the island. He boarded and was able to resume command, standing out to sea with 36 men. Shortly thereafter, they sighted a large Spanish ship which they attacked, but were bloodily repulsed. Sawkins returned to bury 10 of his men on the Jamaican coast, and then began a refit. While doing so, he was spotted by the 28-gun HMS Hunter, which sent its pinnace inshore to investigate. Sawkins roared a warning, then ‘‘powder’d upon ‘em a volley of small shot.’’ The Hunter retaliated by sending in its accompanying sloop, which engaged the renegade, but could not subdue him. The rover was next heard from in early March 1680, when he appeared at the maze of islands known as Bocas del Toro (literally ‘‘Bull’s Mouths’’ or ‘‘Entrances of the Bull,’’ at the northwestern extremity of present-day Panama) with a 25-ton barco luengo of two guns and 40 men. There he encountered

Harris, who had also eluded the Jamaican authorities, and was further joined by Coxon’s flotilla, fresh from its sack of Portobelo. The raiders refitted their vessels, then suggested returning to Golden Island to avail themselves of their newfound friendship with the local Indians ‘‘to travel overland to Panama,’’ and attack the Spaniards on their vulnerable Pacific flank. Sawkins agreed to join the expedition, and on April 2, 1680, the freebooters weighed.

Pacific Incursion (1680) Coxon, Sawkins, Harris, Robert Allison, Edmond Cooke, Thomas Magott, and Bartholomew Sharpe all anchored their ships close inshore at Golden Island, out of sight in a small cove. An anchor watch was left aboard each, with orders to rally to Coxon’s and Harris’ ships—the two largest—if any attack should occur. At six o’clock on Monday morning, April 15, 1680, 332 buccaneers went ashore and obtained guides to cross the Isthmus. Ten days later, they came on the Spanish stockade of Santa Marı´a at the confluence of the Chucunaque and Tuira rivers. This fort had no artillery, so at dawn Sawkins: . . . runs up to the palisades with two or three men more, and hauls up two or three palisades by main strength, and enters in. A brisk firefight ensued, Sawkins being wounded in the head with an arrow, and a companion shot in the hand, before the Spaniards surrendered. Seventy of the 200 Spanish defenders were killed outright, the rest being massacred later by Indians. Flush with their victory, the buccaneers determined to press on into the Pacific, although ‘‘Coxon, seemed unwilling, but

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Sawkins, Richard (fl. 1677?
1680) with much persuasion went.’’ Henceforth, other captains began to assume the lead, most particularly Sawkins, Harris, and Sharpe. Reaching the Pacific, the pirates traveled westward along the coast in their river-boats, until one night they captured an anchored Spanish bark, which Sharpe took command of with 135 men. The next night, Harris came on a second, and seized it as well. Soon, the buccaneers had assembled a small flotilla, with which they bore down on Panama. The Spaniards sent out a hastily-mustered force to do battle, and the raiders overwhelmed it in a threehour fight. During this action, Harris was mortally wounded, and afterward Coxon decided to retrace his steps to Golden Island with 70 loyal hands. The remaining buccaneers elected Sawkins as admiral, and installed him aboard the 400-ton Santı´sima Trinidad as their flagship. On May 6, 1680, a large ship was intercepted arriving from Lima, Peru, which became Sharpe’s new command, while Cooke commanded a bark of about 80 tons. Sawkins suggested that the flotilla sail southward to Guayaquil ‘‘before they should have any knowledge of our coming, but our people being headstrong, would have meat to eat first.’’ The squadron accordingly roamed westward past Coiba Island, until two days later Sawkins went aboard Cooke’s bark with 60 men, to attempt to forage near the coastal town of Remedios. They sailed as far as they could up the Santa Lucı´a River before anchoring, after which Sawkins led a boatparty of approximately 45 men farther upstream. Coming on some stockades, the pirate chieftain: . . . landed himself first and went into the savanna [plain] and saw

abundance of people there. One mulatto met him, whom Captain Sawkins shot down. Retreating to the boats, he asked if the party were all landed and ready. On being told that they were, he said: ‘‘Follow me and do not lie behind, for if I do amiss, you will all fare the worse for it.’’ He then advanced with the briskest men, but was met by a host of mulattos and hunters bearing lances. One of his followers recorded Sawkins’s final moments: He fired his pistol and shot down one mestizo, the rest [of the vanguard] firing and loading as fast as they could, but the Spaniards coming in upon them so fast that killed Captain Sawkins and three men more. They took one alive. We heard him make a dreadful noise but could not rescue him, but was forced to retreat to our canoes and go off as fast as we could, they coming down so fast. . . .

References Bradley, Peter T., The Lure of Peru: Maritime Intrusion into the South Sea, 1598
1701 (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1989). Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 10 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1896). Jameson, John F., comp. and ed., Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period: Illustrative Documents (New York: Macmillan, 1923). Pawson, Michael, and Buisseret, David J., ‘‘A Pirate at Port Royal in 1679,’’ The Mariner’s Mirror, Vol. LVII (1971), pp. 303
305.

Searle, Robert (fl. 1662
1671)

SCOTT, LEWIS (fl. 1661?) English buccaneer who made an early attack on Campeche. According to De Americaensche ZeeRoovers of Alexandre-Olivier Exquemelin (first published in Amsterdam in 1678), Scott was the freebooter who pioneered large-scale land assaults against the Spaniards in the Americas, once their vessels began to become scarce at sea. Specifically, this book declared that Scott: . . . took the town of Campeche, plundered the place and forced the citizens to pay ransom before abandoning it. After him came [Edward] Mansfield . . . As it is known that Mansfield assaulted that particular Mexican port early in 1663 (as second-in-command to Christopher Myngs), Scott’s action must have preceded this event—perhaps being the raid of January 27, 1661, during which two valuable Spanish merchantmen were burnt in the Campeche roads, or one of other earlier assaults. Some Spanish historians have erroneously attributed the attack of July 10, 1678, to Scott, although this was clearly the handiwork of George Spurre and Edward Neville, as well as being too late to be included in Exquemelin’s book.

References Exquemelin, Alexandre-Olivier, The Buccaneers of America (London: Penguin, 1969). Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924).

Ju
arez Moreno, Juan, Piratas y corsarios en Veracruz y Campeche (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1972).

SEARLE, ROBERT (fl. 1662
1671) One of the earliest and most active of English privateers operating out of Jamaica. Nothing is known about his birth or early life. From what little has been recorded about Daniel Searle, the Cromwellian naval officer and commissioner who was appointed to act as Governor of Barbados after that island’s submission to Commonwealth rule in January 1652, it does not appear as if Robert Searle was part of his immediate family—although it is always possible that he may have been more distantly related to this Puritan seafarer. The surname ‘‘Searle’’ was not altogether uncommon during that era, and was set down in various spellings, such as ‘‘Serle’’ and other variants in the English records.

Initial Cruises (1662
1663) The first direct mention of Robert Searle occurred during preparations for the dispatch of Commodore Christopher Myngs’s quick-strike expedition against Santiago de Cuba, when he was one of six Captains issued a privateering commission at Port Royal on September 18, 1662 (O.S.), by the recently-arrived Governor Thomas, Lord Windsor. Like his colleagues John Bull, Jacob Fackman, Abraham Mitchell, and John Purdue, Searle received a six-month license to rove with his vessel Biam; only

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Searle, Robert (fl. 1662
1671) George Brimacam received a 10-month permit. Three days later, Searle weighed as part of Myngs’s force of 1,300 men aboard a dozen vessels, who stormed ashore two-and-a-half weeks afterward just southeast of their intended target, and overran Santiago the next day. A considerable haul of booty was carried back to Jamaica. It is not known whether Searle then sortied again immediately for more plunder, but it seems quite likely that he also served in Myngs’s next big raid, against the Mexican port of Campeche in February 1663.

Detention and Vindication (1664
1665) Searle’s activities for that ensuing year are unknown, although he evidently continued roving. When Sir Thomas Modyford arrived as Jamaica’s new Royal Governor early in June 1664, and announced a Crown recall of all privateers so as to curtail their depredations against the Spaniards, Searle may have been one of only three Captains to actually obey this summons. He soon had cause to regret bringing in his last pair of prizes, for a follow-up missive from King Charles II to Modyford added: ‘‘His Majesty cannot sufficiently express his dissatisfaction at the daily complaints of violence and depredations done by ships, said to belong to Jamaica, upon the King of Spain’s subjects.’’ In light of this latest communiqu
e, the island Council decided to make an example, so that on August 19, 1664 (O.S.), it instructed the three Vice-Admiralty Court judges at Port Royal that: On reading the King’s letter of June 15 last, commanding restitution of

captured ships and goods to the Spaniards: ordered that the ship and bark brought in by Captain Searles [sic] of the Port Royal be seized and restored to that nation, and also all specie that can be found; that notice thereof be sent to the Governor of Havana; that persons making any further attempts of violence and depredation upon the Spaniards be looked upon as pirates and rebels; and that Captain Searles’s commission be taken from him, and his rudder and sails taken ashore for security. The outbreak of the Second AngloDutch War next year offered better prospects, as Searle sailed with the Pearl in Colonel Edward Morgan’s expedition against Dutch Sint Eustatius and Saba. This force departed Jamaica in two divisions, five sail putting out of Port Royal on April 5, 1665, and Colonel Morgan himself following with another four on April 28th. They mustered 650 men in all, and were described in a letter by Modyford as: . . . chiefly reformed privateers, scarce a planter amongst them, being resolute fellows and well armed with fusils [the Spanish word for muskets] and pistols. They served ‘‘at the old rate of no purchase, no pay,’’ but although landing successfully, the Colonel, ‘‘being ancient and corpulent,’’ dropped dead from heat exhaustion. Although this island and its neighbor Saba were quickly subdued, the English force then disintegrated because of lack of booty and differences over the succession. Most of the privateers chose to split up and follow their own devices, it being recorded

Searle, Robert (fl. 1662
1671) that Searle, accompanied only by Captain Steadman and a party of 80 men, took the Dutch island of Tobago and destroyed everything that they could not carry away.

St. Augustine Raid (May 1668) On Monday morning, May 28, 1668, the Spanish lookouts manning the watchtower on Anastasia Island at the mouth of Saint Augustine’s harbor, sighted an approaching vessel and sounded the alarm. Drums beat the town’s 120-man garrison to arms, while the ship dropped anchor a few miles off its entrance. Expecting the annual supply-ship from Veracruz, St. Augustine’s harbor-pilot went out in his launch to guide it safely into the bay, yet on clambering aboard, he was instead quietly subdued by Searle and his rovers. In the town, Governor

Francisco de la Guerra y de la Vega later claimed that he was reassured when the vessel fired the prearranged two shots as an identifying signal, so that Saint Augustine’s garrison relaxed. Onlookers ashore were not even concerned when the pilot’s launch was seen sounding the inlet, as this was standard practice prior to bringing any large vessel through its silty channel, although some wondered why no entry was made that afternoon, when the tide and wind turned favorable. About 9:00 P.M., a second sighting was reported from watchtower at Matanzas Inlet, 14 miles farther south. This second vessel was assumed to be St. Augustine’s own small frigate, which had departed for Havana 50 days earlier, and was now expected back. But as darkness fell, Searle and more than 100 freebooters slipped into the pilot’s launch, the Veracruz ship’s boat, plus two large piraguas which they had

Fictional Dutch engraving of Saint Augustine in 1673; the ships are accurately rendered, but the scenery is imagined. (Dapper, Oliver. Amerika, 1673)

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Searle, Robert (fl. 1662
1671) brought, towing along behind them. They forced the pilot to guide them over the bar; they then rowed along the western shoreline of Anastasia Island, intending to ascend the San Sebastian River and surprise St. Augustine from its uninhabited side. Corporal Miguel de Monz
on happened to be fishing in a boat that warm night, though, and heard the muffled sound of oars at about 1:00 A.M. on May 29, 1668, and so immediately struck out for the wharf. The pirates raced after him and even shot him twice as he reached shore, but the alarm was raised and Monz
on managed to reach the safety of the fort. The pirates nonetheless stormed ashore unchallenged, firing indiscriminately as they moved through the darkened streets, seizing terrified captives roused from their beds, and looting homes. Governor de la Guerra descended an exterior stairway in his residence, only to be greeted by a fusillade of musket fire out of the gloom which cut down his secretary, Miguel Alonso de Ojeda, so that he bolted back out a hidden door and ran through the night toward the stockade, with freebooters at his heels. The Governor managed to rally the 33 men on duty inside this citadel that night, who exchanged heavy gunfire with Searle’s attackers for an hour-and-a-half, until they drew away from its wooden walls. The defenders had suffered five killed and a like number wounded, compared to 11 dead buccaneers and 19 injured. Still, daybreak of May 29, 1668, revealed the town in cutthroat hands, and two other vessels joining the Veracruz ship—the captive St. Augustine frigate and Searle’s own pirate flagship Cagway. All three sailed directly into the bay, past the ineffectual cannonade

from the fort, to anchor just out of range and begin receiving booty. St. Augustine’s treasury and royal warehouses were systematically looted, its parish church and Franciscan convent stripped, the hospital and private homes pillaged. As goods and prisoners were being ferried out to Searle’s Cagway and Veracruz prize, Governor de la Guerra ordered artillery Captain Nicol
as Est
eves de Carmenatis to mount a sally that afternoon from the citadel, as more militiamen had since rallied to its defense. Two companies of 25 men apiece reluctantly emerged between 3:00 and 4:00 P.M., being greeted by such accurate counter-fire that their leaders, Adjutant Francisco Ruiz Canizares y Osorio and Ensign Diego Dı´az Mejı´a, were promptly wounded and De La Guerra recalled the unhappy soldiery ‘‘so that the enemy would not kill them as if they were sheep.’’ By about 9:00 P.M., the last 30 pirates rowed back out to their waiting ships, leaving the bodies of some 60 dead residents amid the smoldering ruins. Next morning, May 30, 1668, Searle sent a message ashore to the Governor, offering to exchange his captives—some 70 men, women, and children—for water, meat, and wood. De la Guerra accepted, and in return asked for at least some of flour from the Veracruz ship, which was desperately needed at St. Augustine. In a gesture of good faith, Searle also released all his women captives. Over the next six days, the ransom was gradually provided until finally, on June 5th, all remaining Spanish prisoners were put ashore. At the last minute, though, Searle refused to part with any native, black, or mestizo resident, explaining to the captive Father Francisco de Sotolongo that

Searle, Robert (fl. 1662
1671) his letter-of-marque from the Governor of Jamaica permitted him to sell as a slave anyone who was not a full-blooded Spaniard. The priest remonstrated that most of these men were free and that many had Spanish fathers, but in vain. The pirates were unmoved, sailing back out of the bay that same day. It is not known exactly where Searle sailed afterward with his booty, although a couple of years later, it was being recorded how the rescued Dr. Woodward ‘‘was carried to the Leeward Isles, where he shipped surgeon of a privateer, but was cast away 17th August 1669 [O.S.] in a hurricane at Nevis,’’ yet another ordeal which the doctor luckily survived. When Searle next traveled to Jamaica two years later, he realized that his Florida foray would meet with the Governor’s disapproval, and indeed Modyford recorded on March 18, 1670 (O.S.): There arrived also at Port Morant the Cagway, Captain Searle, with 70 stout men, who hearing that I was much incensed against him for that action of St. Augustine, went to Macarry Bay and there rides out of [my] command. I will use the best ways to apprehend him, without driving his men to despair. Next month, Searle ventured ashore and was arrested, being imprisoned in Port Royal for a second time. However, the veteran’s luck continued to hold, for this was the same summer that Manoel Rivero Pardal and other Spanish corsairs began harassing Jamaica, leading to Henry Morgan’s retaliatory strike against Jamaica. Searle was released to participate in this campaign, and after the advance

through the jungle and burning of Panama City, was given command of the tiny flotilla of commandeered vessels sent to ransack its offshore islands. At Taboga, he and his men found a large store of wine, which by evening they were well on their way to consuming. In their drunkenness, they failed to post lookouts, so did not notice that the 400-ton Santı´sima Trinidad (Most Holy Trinity) of Captain Francisco de Peralta had appeared off that island from farther out in the Gulf. This galleon had departed Panama earlier, along with San Felipe Neri, to carry away the Spaniards’ valuables and noncombatants before the buccaneer assault. Unaware that the triumphant raiders had quickly spread this far out from the mainland, De Peralta now sent a seven-man watering-party ashore for his suffering passengers. They were captured and brought before Searle, who questioned them and thus belatedly discovered the presence of such a wealthy prize nearby. But by the time he and his befuddled men were able to react, De Peralta had become suspicious at the disappearance of his watering-party, so that the galleon vanished back into the night. When the main body of buccaneers eventually learned of this missed opportunity a few days later, they were outraged. The chronicler Alexandre-Olivier Exquemelin, even writing several years after the event, scornfully related how when the watering-party had been brought before Searle, the old rover: . . . had been more inclined to sit drinking and sporting with a group of Spanish women he had taken prisoner, than to go at once in pursuit of the treasure ship.

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Searle, Robert (fl. 1662
1671) Morgan’s Panama Campaign, 1670
1671.

N

After seizing Chagres (1), Morgan’s army rowed and marched across the Isthmus through Venta de Cruces, before defeating the Spanish forces outside Panama City (2). Detachments were then sent throughout its district, Searle’s narrowly missing the capture of Santı´sima Trinidad off Taboga Island (3).

See also Brimacain, George; Bull, John; Fackman, Jacob; Mitchell, Abraham; Modyford, Sir Thomas; Myngs, Sir Christopher; Purdue, John; Spanish Main; Windsor, Thomas, Lord.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 5, 7

(London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1880
1889). Cruikshank, E. A., The Life of Sir Henry Morgan (Toronto: Macmillan, 1935). Earle, Peter, The Sack of Panama: Captain Morgan and the Battle for the Caribbean (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2007). Exquemelin, Alexandre-Olivier, The Buccaneers of America (London: Penguin, 1969). Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924).

Sharpe, Bartholomew (fl. 1679
1685) Interesting Tracts Relating to the Island of Jamaica (St. Jago de la Vega: Lewis, Lunan and Jones, 1800). National Archives [UK], PRO HCA 49/59, folios 83
92. Pope, Dudley, Harry Morgan’s Way: The Biography of Sir Henry Morgan, 1635
1684 (London: Secker & Warburg, 1977).

Jamaica on October 28, 1668 (O.S.), to take any Spanish ship which he ‘‘might encounter below the Tropic of Cancer in the region of Mexico only, and no other place.’’ Most likely this document was a letter of reprisal, granted in retaliation for some specific depredation in those waters.

See also ‘‘SENOLVE, CAPTAIN’’ (fl. 1663) Dutch privateer described in an anonymous English document entitled Account of the Private Ships of War Belonging to Jamaica and Tortugas, presumably drawn up by its authorities as hostilities against the local Spaniards revived early in 1663, as being in command of three small ships bearing 100 men of Jamaica and 12 guns, ‘‘which have left the island.’’ The Dutchman’s name appears to be somewhat confused, and may have actually been a garbled rendering of den Olde, meaning ‘‘the Elder.’’

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 5 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1880). Pawson, Michael and Buisseret, David J., Port Royal, Jamaica (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1975).

SERGEANT, BENJAMIN (fl. 1668) English privateer issued a commission by Governor Sir Thomas Modyford of

Letter of Reprisal; Modyford, Sir Thomas.

Reference  SaintTribout de Morembert, Henri, ‘‘A Domingue, le Major Bernanos, capitaine de flibustiers,’’ Connaissance du Monde 78 (1965), pp. 10
19.

SHARPE, BARTHOLOMEW (fl. 1679
1685) English buccaneer who raided Portobelo and the South Sea. Sharpe was believed to have been born in the parish of Stepney, London, England, about 1650. He became a privateer during the Second Anglo-Dutch War (1665
1667), and the chronicler William Dampier later suggested that he was one of the buccaneers who plundered the Central American town of Segovia in 1675. The first definite mention of Sharpe’s activities occurred in summer of 1679, when he was one of a mixed band of English, French, and other privateers who forayed into the Bay of Honduras. On September 26th, they captured a Spanish merchantman laden with a valuable cargo of wine and indigo, which they hoped to dispose of at Jamaica. A month later, it was being reported from Port Royal:

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Sharpe, Bartholomew (fl. 1679
1685) There has been lately taken from the Spaniards by [John] Coxon, Bartholomew Sharpe, Bothing, and Hawkins [sic; Richard Sawkins?] with their crew, 500 chests of indigo, a great quantity of cacao, cochineal, tortoiseshell, money and plate. Much is brought into this country already, and the rest expected. Later that same December 1679, Sharpe attended a gathering of privateers at Port Morant, off the southeastern tip of Jamaica, and agreed to sail with Coxon, Robert Allison, Cornelius Essex, and Thomas Magott for an assault on Spanish Portobelo, despite having only the sketchiest authorization for such a venture. These freebooters quit Port Morant on January 17, 1680, and less than 20 miles out at sea met the brigantine of Jean Rose, who also joined the enterprise. After surprising and sacking the Spanish port, a general distribution of booty was made, after which the flotilla retired to careen at Bocas del Toro (literally ‘‘Bull’s Mouths’’ or ‘‘Entrances of the Bull,’’ at the northwestern extremity of present-day Panama).

Pacific Incursion (1680
1681) Once refitted, Sharpe and the rest of the buccaneers decided to return to Golden Island and have the Darien Indians guide them over the Isthmus of Panama, to attack the Spaniards on their Pacific flank. Coxon, Allison, Edmond Cooke, Peter Harris, Magott, Richard Sawkins, and Sharpe all anchored close inshore and at six o’clock on a Monday morning, April 15, 1680, went ashore with 332 buccaneers to penetrate the jungle. (Among their number were Dampier, Basil Ringrose, and Lionel Wafer, all of whom

would later write accounts of these adventures.) The buccaneers overran the Spanish outpost of Santa Marı´a 10 days later, at the confluence of the Chucunaque and Tuira rivers, and from there pushed on into the Pacific, although Coxon showed himself increasingly reluctant. They traveled westward along the coastline in river boats, until one night they captured an anchored Spanish bark, which Sharpe took command of with 135 men. The next night, Harris came on a second, and seized it as well. Soon, the buccaneers had assembled a small flotilla, with which they bore down on Panama. The Spaniards sent out a hastily-mustered force to do battle, which the raiders overwhelmed in a three-hour fight. During this action, Harris was mortally wounded, and afterward Coxon decided to retrace his steps to Golden Island with 70 loyal hands. The remaining buccaneers elected Sawkins as their admiral, and installed him aboard the 400-ton prize Santı´sima Trinidad (Most Blessed Trinity) as their flagship. On May 6, 1680, a large ship was intercepted arriving from Lima, Peru, which became Sharpe’s new command, while Cooke commanded a bark of about 80 tons. Sawkins suggested that the flotilla sail southward to Guayaquil, but the crews instead wanted to prowl northeastward for meat first. The squadron accordingly roamed past Coiba Island, until two days later Sawkins went ashore to attempt to forage near the coastal town of Remedios, but was killed. Sharpe now assumed overall command, although he was not as popular as his predecessor and saw numerous desertions, eventually ending up—after wearisome cruising up and down the South American coast—by being deposed as admiral in favor of John Watling. But when the latter was killed in an

Sharpe, Bartholomew (fl. 1679
1685)

Contemporary frontispiece showing Bartholomew Sharpe’s epic route, while exiting the Pacific around the tip of South America during the winter of 1681
1682. (Exquemelin, Alexandre-Olivier. The buccaneers of America: a true account of the most remarkable assaults . . . ., 1893)

ill-conceived assault on Arica in February 1681, the other buccaneers reluctantly restored Sharpe as senior commander. Another contingent of about 50 buccaneers parted company that same April 1681 to re-cross the Isthmus under John Cooke, and Sharpe’s luck finally improved, taking a few richer prizes. One was the merchantman Rosario, bound from Chile toward Panama with two-dozen people aboard, when according to a surviving witness, they: . . . encountered the ship La Trinidad, took her for a Spaniard, but found her

to be a pirate. In the first three shots, the pirates killed the Captain Juan Lopez of the Rosario, boarded her, took the wine, silver, and everything of value, and put the Spaniards to torture to discover if there were more silver. Then they turned the vessel adrift with sails cut, and taking five or six of the crew, deponent among them, sailed for the island of La Plata, refreshed there for three days, killed one of the Spaniards, flogged another, and then sailed to Payta, where they sent two boats ashore with thirty-two men. Meeting with resistance, they returned.

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Sibata, Kempo (fl. 1643
1658) Eventually, he sailed Trinidad around Cape Horn that November 1681, and concluded his voyage at Saint Thomas in the Danish Virgin Islands by February 1682. From there, he and his men dispersed, Sharpe sailing to England from Nevis aboard the White Fox of Captain Charles Howard, reaching Plymouth by March 25, 1682 (O.S.). He lodged at the Anchor Inn on Salpeter Bank, it being noticed that he and his 10 followers had ‘‘several thousands of pounds and several portmanteaux of jewels and of gold and silver, coined and uncoined.’’

Jamaica which he renamed Josiah and in July 1685 was suspected of taking part in Laurens de Graaf’s and the Sieur de Grammont’s sack of Campeche, although this could never be proven. Sharpe was tried again for piracy at Nevis at the end of 1686 and yet again on February 12, 1687 (O.S.), being acquitted both times for lack of evidence. In 1688, he was reportedly the ‘‘commander’’ of the northernmost of the Leeward Islands, Anguilla, and by the summer of 1699 was being confined by the Danish authorities on Saint Thomas for unspecified ‘‘misdemeanors.’’

References Subsequent Career (1682
1699) Less than two months later, Sharpe was arrested on charges of piracy, and on June 10, 1682 (O.S.), was brought before the High Court of Admiralty at Southwark to stand trial. Among the judges were Sir Robert Holmes and Sir John Narborough. The charges were quickly thrown out for lack of material witnesses, although Sharpe’s extensive knowledge of Spanish America was also deemed useful to the Crown, and so weighed heavily in his favor. That November 1682, he was even commissioned to command the 4-gun Royal Navy vessel Bonito, which was to sail on a semi-official treasure-hunting expedition to the West Indies, although he was replaced at the last moment by Captain Edward Stanley. Nonetheless, Sharpe returned to the Caribbean in his own vessel, receiving a commission from the Governor of Nevis in January 1684 ‘‘to take and apprehend savage Indians and pirates.’’ On October 31, 1684 (O.S.), he seized a ship off

Bradley, Peter T., The Lure of Peru: Maritime Intrusion into the South Sea, 1598
1701 (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1989). Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 10, 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898). Dampier, William, A New Voyage Round the World (New York: Dover, 1968). Howse, Derek, and Thrower, A Buccaneer’s Atlas: Basil Ringrose’s South Sea Waggoner (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992). Jameson, John F., comp. and ed., Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period: Illustrative Documents (New York: Macmillan, 1923). Prebble, John, The Darien Disaster (London: Secker & Warburg, 1968). Wafer, Lionel, A New Voyage and Description of the Isthmus of America (London: Hakluyt Society, 1933).

SIBATA, KEMPO (fl. 1643
1658) Alternate spellings are Sibada, Sebada, or Sabada. Dutch privateer who settled

Sibata, Kempo (fl. 1643
1658) in Connecticut, and was present at the English conquest of Jamaica. Sibata was probably Frisian by birth, judging by the garbled attempts to Anglicize his name, and may have actually been baptized ‘‘Remco Siebstra’’ or another such variant. In 1649, he had been serving on the Dutch privateering vessel Garse [sic; possibly Gans is meant, ‘‘Goose’’], when he came to settle in ‘‘Pequott,’’ today New London, Connecticut. Late in April 1653, Sibata was fined for selling ammunition to the Indians, and a few days later suffered further misfortune when his fully-laden bark was seized at the mouth of the Connecticut River by Captain Edward Hull of the Rhode Island privateer Swallow [formerly Admiral]. Hull had sortied on receiving news of the outbreak of the First Anglo-Dutch War back in Europe, and claimed the bark and its cargo as legitimate prizes because of Sibata’s Dutch origins. The latter, of course, brought suit and succeeded in recuperating his vessel a few months later, although not the merchandise, which had been sold and dispersed by then. On the strength of Sibata’s complaint, two of Swallow’s officers were briefly incarcerated when they arrived at Boston on October 25, 1653 (O.S.). Less than a year-and-a-half later, Sibata was lying at the West Indian isle of Antigua when the expedition of William Penn and Robert Venables anchored nearby at Barbados, in anticipation of attacking the Spaniards. Commissioner Gregory Butler was detached from the fleet with Marston Moor and Selby to recruit additional men at the outlying islands, inviting Sibata ‘‘into the service of the State’’ along with his ship and crew. Sibata duly presented himself at the marshalling area off Saint Christophers,

and ‘‘was entertained by General Penn’’ when the main body rejoined on April 17, 1655, being engaged as pilot aboard the flagship Swiftsure. When Santo Domingo was sighted a week later, Sibata transferred aboard Vice Admiral William Goodson’s Paragon along with Venables, to land the army. This operation was botched when the fleet sailed almost 30 miles to westward before depositing its troops, thus dooming the enterprise. Having failed to secure Santo Domingo, the expedition then proceeded to smaller Jamaica. (Sibata is believed to have participated in an even earlier English raid on this same island, under Captain William Jackson in 1643.) This time, the landing was successful, and Jamaica occupied. Sibata then settled among the English forces, fighting a protracted guerrilla war against the surviving Spaniards. On February 14, 1656, he led 100 soldiers ashore at Great Pedro Bay from his ship Hunter, hoping to surprise a nearby Spanish encampment. However, a herdsman spotted them and raised the alarm, so that only a few captives could be found in several days’ march to Parottee and back. They nevertheless provided valuable intelligence as to a projected Spanish relief-force expected from Cartagena, so that Goodson sailed on a preemptive strike. Sibata survived the terrible outbreaks of disease which decimated Jamaica’s early colonists, and fought in Colonel Edward d’Oyley’s final victory over the Spaniards at Rio Nuevo in summer of 1658. Returning to Port Royal from this engagement, Sibata requested his official retirement from service that same July 26th, his certificate reading in part: And now finding old age creeping apace upon him, and urgent

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Situados occasions to go for his own country, has the General’s leave to depart for England, where he desires to receive his pay. To this, d’Oyley added ‘‘Sibada has been a very diligent and faithful man [who has] done good service, and hopes he will find respect suitable.’’

References Calendar of State Papers: Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 9 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1893
1899). Chapin, Howard M., Privateer Ships and Sailors: The First Century of American Colonial Privateering, 1625
1725 (Toulon: G. Mouton, 1926). Taylor, S. A. G., The Western Design: An Account of Cromwell’s Expedition to the Caribbean (London: Solstice Productions, 1969).

SITUADOS Payrolls and subsidies dispatched annually from Mexico and Peru to other, less wealthy Spanish-American colonies. The name was derived from the Spanish verb situar, which in commercial parlance meant to transfer funds. In addition to the silver bullion sent every year to Spain aboard the plate fleets, the Exchequer in Madrid had standing orders for lesser sums to be diverted directly to coastal garrisons throughout the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean. Usually, a warship from the Armada de Barlovento called at Veracruz to convey the Mexican contribution across to Havana, where it was met by the Peruvian shipment being brought from Portobelo by the galeones.

The appropriate portion was then discounted and distributed among Cuba’s officers and men, after which other predetermined amounts were redirected in smaller vessels to the frontline outposts of Saint Augustine and Pensacola, Florida, while another man o’ war conveyed those of Puerto Rico and Santo Domingo. The Armada del Mar del Sur performed a similar function on the Pacific coast of South America, conducting payments from the mint at Lima, Peru, as far south as Chile and as far north as Panama. And the Manila galleon which visited Acapulco every year did the same, carrying money from the Mexico City mint as the Philippine situado back on its homeward passage. Oftentimes, these payments became delayed, particularly during the 17th century when the Spanish Crown was beset by bankruptcies, so that unpaid troops would either desert or riot. For this reason, hired vessels were sometimes employed, to hasten shipments when Spanish men o’ war were not available. Such was the case with the private frigate Buen Jes
us de las Almas, Bernardo Ferrer Espejo master, who was chartered to convey 46,471 pieces of eight from Havana to Santo Domingo as that island’s situado for 1675. His vessel was intercepted by the English rover John Bennett as it approached Hispaniola, who captured it and—holding a French commission—carried his prize into SaintDomingue that same April 1675. The Spanish authorities remained highly suspicious of this seizure, noting that Bennett only had a small brigantine with 20 men, while Ferrer Espejo’s 50-ton frigate held three times that number; which led them to believe the Spanish captain had colluded in the capture.

Somers Island An even more notorious incident occurred in July 1682, when the 28-gun royal frigate Princesa (formerly the French Dauphine or ‘‘Princess,’’ commonly called Francesa by the Spaniards) was captured in the Mona Passage by the pirate Laurens de Graaf. The Spanish vessel was bound from Havana under Captain Manuel Delgado to deliver 120,000 pesos in Peruvian silver as the situados for Puerto Rico and Santo Domingo, when it was surprised by De Graaf’s Tigre off Aguada, Puerto Rico, and 50 of its 250man crew killed or wounded in the resultant battle. The triumphant corsair and his crew, most of them French boucaniers, repaired to Saman
a Bay on the northern shores of Hispaniola with their prize, where they allegedly ‘‘made 140 shares and shared 700 pieces of eight a man.’’ The Spaniards of Santo Domingo became so incensed when they learned of the loss of their situado, that they retaliated by expropriating a consignment of slaves brought into their port that same November 1682 by Nikolaas van Hoorn, another Dutch adventurer with French ties. He in turn escaped and in February 1683 obtained a letter of reprisal from the French Governor of Petit-Go^ave, leading to a retaliatory raid on Veracruz. Madrid shortly thereafter altered the situado distribution-system, so that henceforth only Mexican silver was to be sent to the Caribbean outposts of Cuba, Florida, Santo Domingo, Puerto Rico, Santa Marta, and Cuman
a, rather than Peruvian bullion.


L
opez Cantos, Angel, Historia de Puerto Rico, 1650
1700 (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1975). Marley, David F., Pirates and Engineers: Dutch and Flemish Adventurers in New Spain (1607
1697) (Windsor, Ontario, Canada: Netherlandic Press, 1992) and Sack of Veracruz: The Great Pirate Raid of 1683 (Windsor, Ontario, Canada: Netherlandic Press, 1993). Robles, Antonio de, Diario de sucesos notables 1665
1703 (Mexico City: Editorial Porr
ua, 1972). S
aiz Cidoncha, Carlos, Historia de la piraterı´a en Am
erica Espa~ nola (Madrid: Editorial San Martı´n, 1985). Torres Ramı´rez, Bibiano, La Armada de Barlovento (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1981).

SMITH, SAMUEL One-time buccaneer who had served with the famous Edward Mansfield. On June 30, 1666, Major Smith was commissioned by Governor Modyford of Jamaica to reinforce the troops which had recaptured Providencia or Santa Catalina Island from the Spaniards. The Spanish in turn swiftly reconquered the island from the English, and Major Smith was carried off in chains to Panama, where he was kept in a dungeon for 17 months.

Reference Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924).

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898).

SOMERS ISLAND Early English name for Bermuda, sometimes misspelled as ‘‘Summers Island.’’

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Spanish Main On February 25, 1675 (O.S.), for example, Charles II of England replied to a petition from ‘‘the Governor and Company of the City of London for the Plantations of the Somers Islands, alias Bermuda.’’ The origin of this curious name dates from the shipwreck of Sir George Somers’ expedition, while bound for Virginia.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 9 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1893
1899). Crump, Dr. Helen J., Colonial Admiralty Jurisdiction in the Seventeenth Century (London: Longmans Green, 1931).

SPANISH MAIN The northern coasts of present-day Panama, Colombia, and western Venezuela. This curious name dates from the earliest 16th century, when the first explorers ventured beyond the Caribbean isles in search of what they believed to be the nearby Asian continent. By coincidence, the first large land-mass that they charted contiguously proved to be that of northern South America, which these early pathfinders dubbed Tierra Firme or the Mainland. Even after further explorations had revealed it to be but a portion of a vast new continent, it remained customary to refer to this particular stretch of coastline by its original name. From Spanish, the expression then passed into English, soon being shortened into the ‘‘Spanish Main’’ and occasionally misapplied to the waters lying off that coast, rather than to the territory itself.

See also Spanish Main (Volume 2).

SPEIRDYKE, BERNARD CLAESEN (fl. 1663
1670) Dutch-born privateer who operated out of Jamaica. Speirdyke was very popular among his English colleagues, being known affectionately as ‘‘Captain Barnard’’ or ‘‘Captain Bart.’’ The earliest known reference to his activities occurred on June 19, 1663, when William Beeston noted in his journal how ‘‘Captain Barnard Sperdick’’ had set sail from Port Royal for the Orinoco River on the Wild Coast, ‘‘with an intent to take St. Thomas’s.’’ Evidently he was successful, returning with his ships to Jamaica the following March 16, 1664, to report that he had plundered the Spanish town of Santo Tom
as. However, Speirdyke is most remembered for the circumstances surrounding his death. In January 1670, he was delegated by Governor Sir Thomas Modyford to carry letters to the Spanish authorities on Cuba, ‘‘signifying peace between the two nations’’ and restoring some Spanish captives to their countrymen. This conciliatory mission was part of Modyford’s efforts to restrain the depredations of Jamaican privateers, and establish better relations with the local Spaniards. For Speirdyke, it represented an opportunity to profit from the clandestine trade which usually accompanied such a voyage. He quit Port Royal with his Mary and Jane, of six guns and 18 men, crossing over to Manzanillo, the southeastern Cuban port for the province of Bayamo, where he was at first greeted

Spurre, George (fl. 1678
1683) with some suspicion. The Spaniards searched his vessel three times ‘‘fearing she was a privateer,’’ but once convinced of his sincerity, allowed him to sell his goods undisturbed. The very day that he was quitting the bay, Speirdyke saw a ship approaching, which ran up English colors. He brought the Mary and Jane to, and sent two men across in a boat to hear the latest news. As they were going up its side, they were asked whence their vessel hailed, and on replying ‘‘Jamaica,’’ were taken captive. The stranger was the 14-gun Spanish corsair San Pedro, alias the Fama, commanded by Manoel Rivero Pardal. He held a commission to attack English vessels, and instantly hoisted a Spanish flag and bore down on Speirdyke. ‘‘Defend yourself, dog!’’ Rivero roared as he closed. ‘‘I come as a punishment for heretics!’’ Fama then loosed a broadside, and the battle was joined. A brisk cannonade ensued until dark, with Speirdyke defending himself well, despite being outgunned and outnumbered. The night was clear, so that he could not hope to escape, and the following day the Spaniards pressed in to board, having 70 men. Still, a staunch resistance was made, in which many of Rivero’s men were killed or wounded before the Mary and Jane was carried. Five of its crew lay dead, including Speirdyke himself—that ‘‘obstinate, mad heretic,’’ as Rivero called him. The victorious corsair then sent nine prisoners back to Port Royal in their boat, while he sailed the prize to Cartagena, arriving on March 23, 1670. A grand fiesta was held to celebrate his triumph, while outrage gripped Jamaica. The privateers wished to take revenge for Speirdyke, which Modyford with difficulty defused. But he too resented the nature of his emissary’s death, and when

later that summer Rivero raided Jamaica and posted a notice saying, among other things, ‘‘I am he that took Captain Barns [sic] and did carry the prize to Cartagena,’’ the mood was already set for Henry Morgan’s retaliatory strike against Panama.

References Earle, Peter, The Sack of Panama: Captain Morgan and the Battle for the Caribbean (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2007). Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924). Interesting Tracts Relating to the Island of Jamaica (St. Jago de la Vega: Lewis, Lunan and Jones, 1800). Pope, Dudley, Harry Morgan’s Way: The Biography of Sir Henry Morgan, 1635
1684 (London: Secker & Warburg, 1977).

SPURRE, GEORGE (fl. 1678
1683) English freebooter who sacked Campeche in 1678, then Veracruz five years later. Spurre began his West Indian career sometime during the 1670s, obtaining a French privateering commission against the Dutch and Spaniards after England withdrew from the general European hostilities. He must have ignored the many recalls emanating from Jamaica, so that by the spring of 1678 he was in command of a corsair frigate with a crew of 105 men off the Cuban coast, accompanied by the sloop of Edward Neville. On April 10, 1678, they sighted the Spanish aviso or dispatch vessel Toro (‘‘Bull’’), Juan de la Requista master, which had departed Havana that same

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Spurre, George (fl. 1678
1683) day for Veracruz. They intercepted and carried their prize to the Santa Isabel Cays, where Spurre burnt his frigate and transferred into the Toro. All the Spaniards were released at Bahı´a Honda, except for a coastal pilot whom the buccaneers retained. Spurre and Neville then crossed the Gulf of Mexico to the Laguna de T
erminos, capturing the ketch of Alvaro S
anchez en route. The raiders spent the next three weeks in the Laguna, recruiting additional men for an attempt against Campeche. A Spanish captive reported that they reached 180 men in total: . . . the majority of them French and English and some Spaniards, among the latter a friar, a mestizo and one who had been a slave at Campeche. Captain ‘‘‘Jorge’’’ [‘‘‘de Eslurra,’’’as Spurre’s name was confusingly rendered into Spanish] said if he had wished, he could have collected up to 400 men for the sack. The buccaneers ventured northeastward in their two vessels, towing eight piraguas. They circled past Campeche and anchored near Jaina, from where Neville departed on the night of July 6
7, 1678, to reconnoiter the port from his sloop. He rejoined the main body at daybreak, reporting all was calm.

Sack of Campeche (July 1678) That evening, 160 pirates slipped ashore, with instructions to the anchor-watches left aboard the Toro and sloop to bear down on Campeche at dawn two days later. If two smoke-columns were seen, this would be the signal that the town had been won and they could enter the roads.

The landing party meanwhile approached Campeche stealthily from the landward side, capturing every person that they met. Some were tortured to reveal the best access to the town, and an Indian called Juan ‘‘was tied up and threatened to have his head cut off by a cutlass which the pirate captain showed him,’’ agreeing to lead a nocturnal march which brought the column to a small city-gate an hour before daybreak on Sunday, July 10, 1678. The captive also answered the sentinel’s challenge, allowing the buccaneers to enter unrecognized in the gloom. The attackers then advanced swiftly toward the central plaza, ignoring the few early churchgoers attending matins. Once in front of the Governor’s residence, the column was again challenged by a sentry, but this time ‘‘the pirates with a great shout fired a heavy volley.’’ The garrison was taken utterly by surprise, only nine soldiers being on duty instead of the required 60. (Moreover, the best troops—mulatto militia—were absent patrolling the countryside.) The sargento mayor or garrison commander Gonzalo Borrallo leapt over his back wall in a nightshirt with his sword, but after being fired at repeatedly ‘‘from point-blank range’’ out of the darkness, retreated into his house, where he was seized. Virtually every prominent citizen shared this same fate, the only Spaniards who escaped being the four-man watch aboard Juan Ramı´rez’s frigate. They got their vessel under way and quickly cleared the harbor, which so infuriated the buccaneers that they turned on Ramı´rez, whom they held captive, and savagely hacked him to death, ‘‘giving him many sword thrusts and cutting off his nose.’’ Other Spaniards were terrified into raising ransoms, and every building in Campeche was ransacked. Toro and

Spurre, George (fl. 1678
1683) Neville’s sloop appeared on schedule, two huts being fired down by the waterfront to signal them to enter. The freebooters remained in possession of the town until the evening of Tuesday, July 12, 1678, when they began to withdraw their loot. The ship San Antonio, a barco luengo, and a boat were among their spoils, as well as considerable money and foodstuffs. The raiders also carried off 250 black, mulatto, and Indian townspeople to sell as slaves at the Laguna de T
erminos. That same autumn, William Beeston wrote in his journal at Port Royal, Jamaica: 18 October 1678 [O.S.]. Arrived Captain Splure [sic] who with one Neville about three months since, and 150 men, had taken Campeche, and with him a prize; for all of which he had his pardon, and leave to come in and spend their plunder. It is possible Spurre then briefly settled down to a peaceable existence, as in early 1681 a pink headed northwestward from Jamaica encountered ‘‘a lugger commanded by one Captain Spargh[?] with a nine-man crew, who said he had been trading on the Cuban coast.’’ However, if true, Spurre must have soon resumed roving, for in early October 1682, Governor Sir Thomas Lynch reported that an emissary from the Spanish Governor of Portobelo ‘‘left his barco luengo at Tuana, a leeward port 25 leagues from Port Royal and came here in a sloop,’’ because he had been ‘‘told that one Spurre, an English pirate with 60 men, was on the coast.’’ The following year, Spurre took part in one of the greatest pirate coups of his era.

Sack of Veracruz (May 1683) Dutch-born Nikolaas van Hoorn obtained a letter of reprisal from the French Governor of Saint-Domingue, Jacques Nepveu, sieur de Pouanc¸ay, in retaliation for the Spaniards having seized a consignment of his slaves at Santo Domingo. Reinforced with boucaniers commanded by the ‘‘Chevalier’’ de Grammont and Jan Willems, he then set sail into the Bay of Honduras to recruit further help from Laurens de Graaf and Michiel Andrieszoon. Spurre and his men were among this freebooter throng, which paused off Yucatan to gather greater strength before descending on the unwary city of Veracruz the night of May 17
18, 1683. As during his previous assault on Campeche, the Spanish inhabitants were caught sleeping in their beds, resistance crumbling after a few heavy volleys. The city Governor Luis Bartolom
e de C
ordoba disappeared in the melee, but was found a few days later hiding in the stables, reputedly by Spurre himself, who ‘‘with great difficulty saved him from some of the French who had been prisoners there, and ill used.’’ Veracruz was occupied for four days, being utterly ransacked before the raiders retreated to a cay off the coast to divide their spoils. The pirates then sailed back around the Yucatan Peninsula to their rendezvous off Isla Mujeres, before dispersing. When word of this assault reached Port Royal in early August 1683, Lynch learned that among the pirate commanders were ‘‘no English, except one Spurre, and Jacob Hall in a small brig from Carolina.’’ Six weeks later, the Governor gained further information when he interviewed an ‘‘Englishman

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Stanley, George (fl. 1683) that was in the action,’’ to whom he promised a pardon ‘‘if he brings in Spurre’s sloop, but I have heard no more of him or the sloop.’’ Apparently, the renegade had repaired to French Saint-Domingue with the rest of the raiders, so that when Lynch dispatched Royal Navy Captain James Risby to Petit-Go^ave at the end of September with a list of demands, these included the return of ‘‘Spurre’s shalloup [sic] as belonging to this island, and the goods aboard Laurens [de Graaf’s flagship] that belong to Spurre, as the King claims them.’’ The sloop at least seems to have been returned, for there exists an ‘‘Account of the goods on Spurre’s sloop’’ dated at Jamaica in mid-November 1683, totaling more than a £1,000.

while returning from delivering dispatches to Danish Saint Thomas on behalf of Sir William Stapleton, English Governor of the Leeward Islands. According to the report that Stapleton submitted to London some months later, dated November 30, 1683 (O.S.), Africa had been scurrying back to Nevis ‘‘at the close of the hurricane season,’’ when it encountered the Spaniard between Tortola and Saint John in the Virgin Islands chain. Eye witnesses later claimed the Spaniard fired first, although he denied doing so; but even if Stanley had let fly the first round, the Governor judged this ‘‘no crime, for there are so many rogues upon the sea.’’ Nevertheless, the sloop was taken and carried into San Juan de Puerto Rico, from whence Stanley was eventually deported to Spain.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 9, 11 ( London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office; 1893
1899.
Eugenio Martı´nez, Marı´a Angeles, La defensa de Tabasco, 1600
1717 (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispanoamericanos, 1971). Interesting Tracts Relating to the Island of Jamaica (St. Jago de la Vega: Lewis, Lunan and Jones, 1800). Ju
arez Moreno, Juan, Piratas y corsarios en Veracruz y Campeche (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1972). Pope, Dudley, Harry Morgan’s Way: The Biography of Sir Henry Morgan, 1635
1684 (London: Secker & Warburg, 1977).

STANLEY, GEORGE (fl. 1683) Master of the Royal African Company sloop Africa, taken by a Spanish privateer

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898).

STARR, JOHN (fl. 1680) English procurer, who ‘‘appears to have operated the largest whorehouse’’ in Port Royal, Jamaica. According to the official census of 1680, Starr maintained an establishment containing 21 ‘‘white women’’ and two ‘‘black women.’’

Reference Pawson, Michael, and Buisseret, David J., Port Royal, Jamaica (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1975).

Stepney, Robert (fl. 1683
1684)

STATE’S OR STATES’ SHIPS Mid-17th century expressions for Cromwellian and Dutch vessels, respectively. Following the execution of King Charles I of England and the introduction of Sir Oliver Cromwell’s Protectorate, the honorific term ‘‘His Majesty’s Ship’’ was naturally dispensed with, being substituted by ‘‘State’s Ship.’’ For example, Captain John Wentworth issued a receipt at Port Cagaway, Jamaica, on April 9, 1658 (O.S.), ‘‘for seven puncheons of cocoa laden on board the State’s Ship Paul,’’ which he was to deliver at London. This term also applied to other governmental properties as well, such as the ‘‘State’s Storehouse at Jamaica,’’ it being the commonly accepted name for the new administration. When Captain William Powell wrote to complain of the deplorable straits the Protectorate’s soldiers had been reduced to on Jamaica by October 1656, he declared: . . . they have had a very sad dispensation, and have wanted that comfort that the State allowed them. Most of the provisions sent were laid on shore and rotted and spoiled, while many poor souls perished for want. Dutch warships, on the other hand—but not their private vessels—were referred to by the English as ‘‘States’ Ships’’ throughout the 17th century, because they sailed under the orders of the United Provinces’ mutual government, the Staten-Generaal or ‘‘StatesGeneral.’’

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 9 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1893
1899).

STEADMAN, CAPTAIN (fl. 1666) English buccaneer who with Captain Robert Searle and a party of only 80 men, took and plundered the Dutch West Indian island of Tobago in 1666, during the Second Anglo-Dutch War. Later that same year, when France entered the conflict on the side of The Netherlands, Steadman’s vessel became becalmed off the island of Guadeloupe and was attacked by a large French frigate. He and his 100-man crew fought bravely for two hours, even attempting to board their larger opponent, but were eventually overcome.

Reference Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924).

STEPNEY, ROBERT (fl. 1683
1684) English privateer who operated out of Barbados. Early in February 1684 (January 23, 1684 O.S.), Stepney was arrested ‘‘on the complaint of Monsieur de Saint Laurens, for attacking a French sloop at sea.’’ Presumably, this was the incident referred to by the Chevalier in his

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Swart, Adriaen van Diemen (fl. 1655
1664)

Martinique’s fortified headland of Fort Royal, later renamed Fort-de-France, as sketched by the French slaver Jean Barbot during a visit in 1679. (The British Library)

letter dated at Fort Royal, Martinique, on November 13th of that previous year, when France and England were officially at peace. In it, he had charged: . . . that one of your armed barks fired several musket shots at the crew of one of our ships at Dominica. She fired first under French and then under English colors, and the master of your bark forced the French crew to give them some men, and a canoe to go and take three Caribs who had come to the shore under the French flag. I demand satisfaction for this misuse and insult to the French flag.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898).

SWART, ADRIAEN VAN DIEMEN (fl. 1655
1664) Dutch rover who served the exiled English Royalists as a privateer, until

Charles II regained the throne, when Swart’s loyalty was rewarded with a posting to Jamaica. Little is known about this freebooter’s birth or early life, except that he was apparently based out of the seaport of Ostend in West Flanders (modern Belgium). He seems to have used his full name throughout his career, probably to distinguish himself from an earlier ‘‘Adriaen Swart,’’ who was listed as Captain of a warship out of Vlissingen or Flushing in the 1644 Chronijk van Zeelandt by Jan van Reigersbergh. The unusual surname shared by both men would today be more commonly spelled as Zwart, meaning ‘‘Black’’ in Dutch.

Royalist Privateer (1655
1659) Adriaen van Diemen Swart first figured in the English records as of September 1655, when it was reported that he was cruising ‘‘in his new frigate of 18 guns’’ with a privateering commission issued by the exiled Stuart monarch, hunting vessels of Oliver Cromwell’s Commonwealth. Although the land campaigns of the English Civil War had ceased more than six years previously with the execution of

Swart, Adriaen van Diemen (fl. 1655
1664) King Charles I, some of the dispossessed and dispersed Royalists still maintained seaborne operations out of a few neutral harbors on the European Continent. Swart was one of 33 such naval officers, mostly unsalaried English or foreign-born privateers, who while ‘‘at sea aboard His Majesty’s fleet’’ on December 30, 1655 (O.S.), signed an open Declaration by the Royalists against the Rebels of England, Concerning Prisoners Taken at Sea, in which they complained: . . . that those who usurp the present power in England, have and do keep and detain prisoners all such officers, seamen, and soldiers as they happen to take of our party, and especially now lately are not content to keep them as prisoners of war (taken in a war most just and lawful on our parts), as to allow them hope of exchange, but do use them in like manner (or worse) as they deal with felons and other public malefactors amongst themselves; laying them, or some of them, bound and in irons in stinking dungeons, there to poison or starve them without any competent allowance to keep them alive; and most barbarously have sold and sent away many of those our friends (free-born subjects to the Crown of England) for slaves into some of the foreign plantations under the present power, and have not spared to give out and threaten to take away the lives of some of our friends now in their hands, in the interim abusing them with all the most un-Christian and inhumane cruelties imaginable, most of them when taken having conditioned and been promised

liberty and all fair quarter, which is treacherously broken. As a result, these Royalist commanders vowed to mete out like punishments by way of retaliation, and in February 1656 it was recorded that ‘‘Swart and two others have lately taken three vessels off Plymouth, Bristol, and Barnstaple.’’ On March 12, 1656, the Dutch Consul P. V. Oorschot at the Spanish port of San Sebasti
an informed his superiors of the States-General in The Hague, that: ‘‘One Captain Adriaen Swart of Ostend brought in here this week an English vessel, coming from the Levant laden with oil and wines.’’ And next month, the energetic rover was again spotted on the high seas in company ‘‘with a Brest man-of-war,’’ bound to scour the Irish coast. Swart continued to act as a persistent, albeit oftentimes lonely campaigner over the next several years, until Cromwell finally died, the Commonwealth disintegrated, and Charles II was welcomed joyously home to England by May 1660. A new constitutional arrangement was approved by Parliament that same August, after which the restored monarch was in a position to reward his most loyal retainers. A money warrant for £100 was duly issued on April 26, 1661 (O.S.), ‘‘to Captain Adrian Van Diamon Swart, as royal bounty for his service.’’ It is possible that the rover was at that moment absent from England, his frigate Griffoen (Griffin in English) forming part of a squadron which Commodore Robert Holmes had led out of Portsmouth that same January 1661 to stake a claim amid Dutch-controlled West Africa. After returning into London and being decommissioned on December 2, 1661 (O.S.), Swart and Griffin were apparently contracted early next spring

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Swart, Adriaen van Diemen (fl. 1655
1664) to serve as an auxiliary for Jamaica’s new Governor-designate.

Jamaican Service (1662
1663) An expedition was being prepared to introduce Crown rule for the first time to Jamaica, by conveying out Charles’s new Royal Governor, Thomas, Lord Windsor, aboard the 46-gun flagship HMS Centurion under Commodore Christopher Myngs, a veteran West Indian officer (who was also being restored to his previous posting, so as to act as its new station commander). Windsor appears to have privately financed or purchased Swart’s Griffin, so as to have it operate under his direction. As the Crown officials in London were uncertain whether any lingering pro-Commonwealth sentiments might hinder the imposition of monarchical rule over that remote colony, Windsor was to be furnished with the back-pay and a gratuity for Jamaica’s 1,000 neglected Cromwellian occupiers, as well as secret permission to inaugurate a vigorous privateering offensive against the local Spaniards, so as to employ any wilder spirits in this diverting pursuit. Such a policy-shift was known to Myngs, Swart, and the former Commonwealth naval officer Sir Thomas Whetstone, all of whom hoped to play a role as leaders in these upcoming privateering ventures. Their convoy set sail in early May 1662, escorted by Centurion and Griffin, and sighted Barbados by July 10, 1662 (O.S.). Windsor disembarked next day in Carlisle Bay, to spend the next three weeks recruiting settlers to help populate Jamaica with civilians, while Swart was sent on ahead to deliver letters to the Spanish Governors of Puerto Rico and Santo Domingo, asking them to admit English ships to trade. Their

anticipated refusals would provide the excuse for the forthcoming hostilities. Swart’s Griffin was mentioned in the journal of William Beeston as entering Port Royal by July 30, 1662 (O.S.), bringing news ‘‘that they left the Lord Windsor at Barbados, who might be expected to arrive every day.’’ Indeed, the Governor set sail from Carlisle Bay with his main convoy on August 1, 1662 (O.S.), reaching Port Royal 10 days later. By the time he disembarked and assumed office, privateers were already being recruited, and some had even put out to sea under the nominal leadership of Whetstone. Windsor dispatched Swart to make a second quick visit to Puerto Rico, returning shortly thereafter with the Spanish Governors’ written rebuffs. At a legislative meeting held at Jamaica’s new royal capital of Santiago de la Vega or Spanish Town on August 20, 1662 (O.S.), the Governor and his Council deemed these replies an ‘‘absolute denial of trade,’’ so that ‘‘according to His Majesty’s instructions to Lord Windsor, a trade by force or otherwise [shall] be endeavored.’’ As a result, it was resolved on September 12th (O.S.) ‘‘that men be enlisted for a design by sea with the Centurion and other vessels,’’ and eight days afterward Myngs stood out of Port Royal harbor with his Centurion, Swart’s Griffin, and ten freebooter vessels, bearing a total of 1,300 men. They slowly rounded Point Negril at the west end of Jamaica, before raising eastern Cuba and meeting up with Whetstone, then being overtaken by a further seven straggling Jamaican vessels. This combined force bore down on the entrance of Santiago Bay at daybreak

Swart, Adriaen van Diemen (fl. 1655
1664) of October 6, 1662 (O.S.), setting 1,000 men ashore nearby to fight their way into that inland town by next day, and seizing all vessels anchored in its roads. Five days later, Santiago’s fortifications and main edifices were blown, after which the raiders made a triumphal return into Port Royal by October 21st (O.S.). Doubtless Swart participated in this strike, and cleared to sail again when Myngs called that same December for a second expedition against the Spaniards of Mexico. The anonymous ‘‘Account of the Private Ships of War Belonging to Jamaica,’’ drawn up sometime early in 1663, listed 11 frigates and brigantines ‘‘under Sir Thos. Whetstone and Captains Swart, Gaye,’’ etc. When the Commodore led this second flotilla over the hazy blue horizon from Jamaica in mid-January 1663, Swart’s Griffin figured as his vice-flagship, with 100 fighting-men crammed aboard. But just as Fortune was beckoning to the Dutch-born Captain, luck deserted him. This formation forged a thousand miles northwestward around the Yucat
an Peninsula, before groping south down its low, shoal-lined coast so as to surprise the unwary port of Campeche. Sometime during this two-and-a-half week traverse, though, Swart and several other privateersmen lost contact with the main body. They were therefore not present when Myngs stealthily landed a body of men on the night of February 8
9, 1663, and fell badly wounded as he led the charge into Campeche next morning. Given the absence of Swart, the Jamaican privateer Edward Mansfield assumed command of this attack, and successfully withdrew by February 23, 1663, with great booty and fourteen prizes. Perhaps Swart met elements of

this heavily-engorged formation as it slowly beat its way back out of the Gulf of Mexico, and realized his missed opportunity. Griffin subsequently prowled along the south coast of Cuba instead, where an even worst calamity befell its luckless commander. Months later, an Englishman named John Haines would give the following deposition before the Admiralty Court at Port Royal: About March last [1663], being an inhabitant amongst the Spaniards, he heard that a party of English belonging to Captain Swart being landed near the River Caut [sic; Rı´o Cauto], a party of men under Andr
es de Ceseneras [sic; Captain Andr
es Cisneros Estrada] and Don Alonso de Fonseca were sent to take them, who having met with and slain 11 of them, found 17 more in a small wood in a savannah, prepared to defend themselves. Whereupon the Spaniards, by showing their dead comrades, displaying their own force, and promising that they should have fair quarter and be sent to Santiago on Cuba, and from thence be shipped to Jamaica, induced them to lay down their arms; but in the night killed them all. Has heard all this from Andr
es Hidalgo, one of the Spanish party. Has also seen the bones of the 17 men lying as they were slain, within a compass of 5 yards square, and has heard that the magistrates of Baiam [sic; Bayamo] sent to the Spaniards, not to bring in one Englishman alive. After sustaining such heavy losses, Swart must have felt especially loath to return to the rejoicing at Port Royal, in abject defeat. His patron Windsor had

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Swart, Adriaen van Diemen (fl. 1655
1664) already departed abruptly for England, soon to be followed by the convalescent Myngs, while Mansfield had emerged as the undisputed champion of the privateers. Swart consequently seems to have spent a miserable year scrounging for food, equipment, and prizes in Cuban waters, although no precise details of his activities are known. To add to his woes, it was possible that during this same difficult interlude a common seaman named Gerrit Gerritszoon—known as ‘‘Rok Brasiliano’’ among the English, and ‘‘very popular with the crew’’—rallied a majority of the disgruntled seamen ‘‘to his side and parted company with their captain, taking a bark’’ and sailing off on their own separate, successful cruise.

Shipwreck and Death (1664) It was not until Sir Thomas Modyford arrived from Barbados in early June 1664 to assume office as Jamaica’s next Royal Governor that Swart at last crept back into Port Royal. A recall of all privateers having been proclaimed, the new Deputy-Governor Colonel Edward Morgan acidly commented about the meager response: ‘‘In the Westergate they took a privateer; another under Captain Swart has come in voluntarily; and a third with a Spanish prize; but the rest he warrants will keep aloof, unless it be to do us a mischief.’’ Swart wrote an apologetic letter to his former patron Windsor on June 26, 1664 (O.S.), acknowledging receipt of his long-ago order for a return to England, explaining that since then he had been ‘‘17 months at sea with very bad success, cables and anchors lost, sails worn, and was not able to put to sea; now Sir Thos. Modyford has taken the frigate for His Majesty’s service.’’

Indeed, the new Jamaican Governor informed London four days later, how shortly after his arrival, he had: Found Captain Swart with the Griffin, without men and money, and his vessel impossible to go to sea. Has presumed to fit her up on His Majesty’s account, and will, if he can get men, send her to Barbados to carry the inviting news, and bring down his wife with the rest of his family. This decision would have the most tragic consequences. Griffin set sail on this Barbadian mission by the end of July 1664, bearing the Governor’s eldest son, MajorGeneral John ‘‘Jack’’ Modyford, and in company with the larger Westergate and ketch Swallow. On August 18, 1664 (O.S.), all three were engulfed and driven deep into the Gulf of Mexico by a heavy storm, only Swallow emerging intact. The battered Griffin eventually drifted helplessly onto the coast of Florida, Swart and most of his men dying during this ordeal. Only five survivors were left to be rescued by the local Spaniards, who also refloated and repaired the beached frigate. Early next year, a worried Governor Modyford wrote from Jamaica: ‘‘The Swallow was beaten down into Campeachy Bay by a storm on August 18 last, in which it is feared that the Griffin and Westergate have suffered, for they have not been heard of since.’’ In another letter, Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Lynch commented how he had heard a rumor: . . . by letters of January 8th [O.S.] that Sir Thomas Modyford sent his son Major-General John Modiford in a small frigate called the Griffin, of 14 or 16 guns, to fetch his lady from

Swayne, Peter (fl. 1660) Barbados, and any planters that would embark for Jamaica. About the Leeward Islands, the Griffin was attacked by a Dutch man-of-war, and was so disabled as to be obliged to put into the French island of Martinico [sic; Martinique] for repairs. The fight is conjectured to have been in November last, and the Griffin was daily expected at Barbados. Lynch concluded that he himself would ‘‘start tomorrow [13 February 1665 O.S.] towards New England, and on his way will inquire at Havana after the Griffin, whose loss is one of their great misfortunes and disappointments.’’ Yet neither its hard-luck Dutch Captain nor his young passenger, the Governor’s son, would ever be seen again. Eerily enough, only the refitted Griffin would be sighted once more on the high seas, for at Port Royal on January 11, 1666 (O.S.): ‘‘Sam Sherdlaw and Garrett Garretson, alias Rocky, depose[d] to having been chased by Spanish men-ofwar, one of which was the Griffin, which formerly belonged to His Majesty, and was commanded by Captain Swart.’’

See also Beeston, Sir William; Brasiliano, Rok; Gerritszoon, Gerrit; Lynch, Sir Thomas; Mansfield, Edward; Modyford, Sir Thomas; Myngs, Sir Christopher; Whetstone, Sir Thomas; Windsor, Thomas, Lord.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 5 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office; 1893
1899).

Calendar of State Papers, Domestic: Interregnum, 1653
1660, as well as Charles II, 1663
1664. Calendar of Treasury Books, Vol.1: 1660
1667 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office; 1879
1886). Crump, Dr. Helen J., Colonial Admiralty Jurisdiction in the Seventeenth Century (London: Longmans Green, 1931). Pawson, Michael, and Buisseret, David J., Port Royal, Jamaica (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1975). Thurloe, John, A Collection of the State Papers of John Thurloe, Volume 4 (London, 1742).

SWAYNE, PETER (fl. 1660) Petty rover who in late January 1660 was confined in Fort Cromwell prison at Port Royal, Jamaica, charged with piracy because on: . . . meeting with a shaloupe [sic] at sea belonging to Hines of the island of Barbados, [Swayne] did feloniously rob and plunder the same, and has disposed and converted the goods thereout taken to his own use. Weblinge, the garrison Provost Marshal, had been ordered ‘‘to take the body of the said Peter Swayne into your custody and him safely keep in the tower, until he shall be released or condemned by law,’’ although it is not known what the eventual verdict might have been.

Reference Pawson, Michael, and Buisseret, David J., Port Royal, Jamaica (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1975).

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T This is a very considerable and seasonable piece of service, and will give a great stop to the villainous intentions of these revolting pirates. —Jamaica’s Governor Sir Thomas Modyford, approving of the capture of Jean Moreau, 1665

left careening at ‘‘Jaqueene’’ (perhaps present-day Jacmel, Haiti?). That same day, Tennant returned to Port Royal from Santiago de Cuba with HMS Guernsey, and was immediately ordered to sail against Hamlin. He cleared a few days later and beat to windward, so that on the morning of January 25, 1683, Guernsey stemmed the entrance and spotted the pirate frigate at anchor inside. But the weather then grew so calm the man o’ war could not close with Hamlin ‘‘for want of oars;’’ and when a wind finally did spring up, it quickly blew into such a gale that the freshly-cleaned Trompeuse easily outdistanced Tennant, for ‘‘the pirate sailed three feet to his one.’’ Guernsey returned to Jamaica in early February 1683 to report on this failure, and was angrily ordered back into the area by Lynch, as the rovers were still making captures.

TENNANT, MATTHEW (fl. 1682
1684) Royal Navy officer who hunted pirates out of Jamaica. Tennant was first heard from in late 1682, when the French pirate Jean Hamlin and a band of 120 ‘‘desperate rogues’’ seized the frigate Trompeuse (Trickster) in the Bay of Honduras, cruising eastward to intercept merchantmen bound for Port Royal. They ensconced themselves at ^Ile a Vache, on the southwestern arm of French Hispaniola, and the Jamaican Governor Sir Thomas Lynch began issuing privateering commissions to bring in Trompeuse. None was able to find the renegade until the last day of 1682 (21 December O.S.), when a merchant named Spencer reported having been looted by the pirates, whom he had 377

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Tenths Tennant instead requested permission to have his ship careened, for without greater speed he could not hope to overtake Trompeuse. Lynch testily agreed, sending: . . . about twenty carpenters on board him and plenty of seamen, and so got her careened in twenty days, which was more than ever was done before in this harbor. I gave him twenty more men and a month’s provision, hired a satee to wait on him, and on [February 15, 1683 (O.S.)] he sailed with my positive orders not to stir from the coast till the pirate was gone or destroyed. By the time Guernsey beat back to Saint-Domingue, Hamlin had long since disappeared toward Danish Saint Thomas. Frustrated, Tennant continued eastward and took on fresh provisions at Puerto Rico, before patrolling past the Virgin Islands toward the Spanish Main, without catching sight of Hamlin. Although he prowled the West Indies for three months, he never had the good fortune to meet any pirates, but on September 3, 1683, ‘‘redeemed eight English captives at Santa Marta, who were condemned to die that day,’’ carrying them back to Port Royal. At the end of that same year (1683), Tennant was promoted to command the 540-ton HMS Ruby of 48 guns, and sailed to Cartagena as escort for the slave asiento ships. Off that Spanish American port, he met the triumphant pirate flotilla of Laurens de Graaf, who along with Michiel Andrieszoon and Jan Willems had recently captured a trio of ships sent out to fight them. Tennant paused to visit with the victors, and later reported to Lynch ‘‘that Yankey [Willems] showed him a commission from the [French] Governor of Petit Go^ave,’’

which was apparently their authorization for these hostilities. Tennant himself soon became embroiled in a dispute of his own between the two rival Spanish slaving companies at Cartagena, when he received delivery of 2,000 doubloons from one of them aboard Ruby outside the port. This money had been illegally extracted, but Tennant refused to hand it back over when the local authorities discovered the truth and complained. Instead, he still carried it with him when Ruby returned to Port Royal on February 13, 1684, escorting the Spanish slaver Santo Tom
as with 300 blacks on board. Lynch said that he had ‘‘been cruelly enraged with Captain Tennant for his behavior’’ (which the Governor felt might jeopardize the growing trade relations with the Spaniards), and ordered him to deliver the money ‘‘which he had received from one Santiago de Castillo, forthwith to Captain Hender Molesworth.’’ Tennant grudgingly complied, and Lynch was sufficiently mollified to take no further action against the Captain, ‘‘for he promises amendment and I was unwilling to ruin a young man who is sailor enough.’’

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898).

TENTHS In the 17th century, the percentage due to the King of England from any privateer captures, after being deemed legitimate prizes before a court of law. When the exiled Stuart monarch was restored to the throne as Charles II in

Thurston, Humphrey (fl. 1670
1672) May 1660, he also appointed his younger brother James, Duke of York, to the honorary office of Lord High Admiral, entitling the latter to a further fifteen percent from these same seizures. Therefore, during the Council of Jamaica’s session on April 26, 1663 (O.S.), at ‘‘Point Cagua’’—i.e., the former Point Cagaway or recently-renamed Port Royal—it ordered that ‘‘Mr. Pugh and Captain Mann bring in an abstract of the tenths and fifteenths due to His Majesty [Charles] and His Royal Highness [James], from the records of the Admiralty Court.’’ Two-and-a-half years later, the new Jamaican Governor Sir Thomas Modyford would write to London on November 16, 1665 (O.S.), complaining of a diplomatic arrangement which Sir Thomas Lynch had recently struck with Madrid: The Spanish prizes have been inventoried and sold, but the privateers plunder them and hide the goods in holes and creeks, so that the present orders little avail the Spaniard, but much prejudice His Majesty and His Royal Highness in the tenths and fifteenths of prizes. Yet despite such instances of fraud, it was also reported in England next May 1666 that a ship had appeared off Falmouth from Jamaica ‘‘laden upon the King’s and Duke’s account, having £50,000 worth of gold and plate for the tenths and fifteenths of prizes taken about those islands.’’

See also Tenths (Volume 2).

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 5

(London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1893
1899).

THURSTON, HUMPHREY (fl. 1670
1672) English privateer who participated in the sack of Panama, then afterward turned rogue. Thurston was apparently a Jamaican privateer, who during the brief cessation of hostilities against the Spaniards in the summer of 1669 was reduced to finding a more peaceable employment. A year later, he was about to sail as master of the 50-ton merchant sloop Port Royal, bound into the Laguna de T
erminos for a cargo of logwood. His owner, Dr. George Holmes, had no interest in privateering, but Thurston was caught up in the warlike preparations being made at Jamaica that summer to retaliate against the nuisance raids of the Spanish corsair Manoel Rivero Pardal. Consequently, Thurston brought Port Royal’s strength up to an impressive 12 guns and 55 men before departing, much more than would be required on a logging expedition, and then captured the 8-gun, 50-ton Spanish vessel Santo Tom
as shortly after putting out to sea. He transferred aboard this vessel and renamed it the Thomas, installing his mate James Delliatt as commander of Port Royal, for which he raised an additional 55 men. Without returning to Port Royal, both sloops proceeded directly to Tortuga Island, and so were among the first to incorporate themselves into the freebooter fleet which Morgan was assembling for his campaign against the Spaniards. Thomas and Port Royal sailed as part of this force against Providencia

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Toccard, Jean (fl. 1680
1685) Island and Chagres, the latter vessel being one of four which crashed on the reefs astern of Morgan’s Satisfaction while entering the roads. Perhaps because of this loss, Thurston refused to return to Jamaica following the sack of Panama in early 1671, preferring to continue roving with the French flibustiers of Saint-Domingue. His owner, Dr. Holmes, demanded £300 compensation for his ship from the booty brought in by Morgan, pointing out that such payments were authorized by the raiders’ own charter-party, and the Admiral himself had received £1,000 for the wreck of Satisfaction. This sum was apparently paid after the doctor appealed his case to the Jamaica Council. Meanwhile, Thurston continued to prey on Spanish shipping and carry his prizes into Tortuga, so that by 1672 he was one of the few remaining privateers—along with the mulatto corsair Diego Grillo and Dutch-born Jelles de Lecat—who were still regarded as renegades by the new Jamaican Governor, Sir Thomas Lynch.

References Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924). Pope, Dudley, Harry Morgan’s Way: The Biography of Sir Henry Morgan, 1635
1684 (London: Secker & Warburg, 1977).

TOCCARD, JEAN (fl. 1680
1685) French flibustier, originally from the Channel Island of Guernsey, who repeatedly raided the Mexican coast.

English records identify him as ‘‘Tucker.’’ Details are sketchy regarding Toccard’s early life, but he apparently came out from France with the Marquis de Maintenon toward the end of 1680, when the latter had been granted exclusive privilege for four years to deal with Spanish America. Toccard carried this information into Petit-Go^ave, from where Governor Jacques Nepveu, Sieur de Pouanc¸ay, in turn dispatched him to warn Captains John Coxon, Jean Rose, Jan Willems, and others who were already operating with French commissions off the Spanish Main. Toccard set sail with a vessel of six guns and 70 men, and came up with these rovers off the northeastern shores of Panama. In the first days of June 1681, bands of English and French buccaneers held a series of conferences at Springer’s Key in the San Blas island-chain, during which William Dampier noted: The French seemed very forward to go [attack] any [Spanish] town that the English could or would propose, because the Governor of Petit-Go^ave (from whom the privateers take commissions) had recommended a gentleman lately come from France to be general of the expedition, and sent word by Captain Tucker, with whom this gentleman came, that they should if possible make an attempt on some town before he returned again. The English when they were in company with the French seemed to approve of what the French said, but never looked on that general to be fit for the service in hand. Eventually, the corsair leaders decided to make a joint descent on the Central

Toccard, Jean (fl. 1680
1685) American coast, for which they weighed and made toward San Andr
es Island, hoping to steal boats which they could use as landing craft. But a gale scattered the formation, and as they were struggling to regroup, a large Spanish armadilla appeared from Cartagena to further disperse this flotilla. Only Captains Archaimbaud, Toccard, and George Wright reached San Andr
es Island, and after waiting there vainly for 10 days, proceeded to Bluefields Bay on the Mosquito Coast to search for their consorts. Still not finding them, Archaimbaud and Toccard left Wright, making instead for Bocas del Toro (literally ‘‘Bull’s Mouths’’ or ‘‘Entrances of the Bull,’’) on the northwestern coast of Panama. Two years later, Toccard evidently served in Laurens de Graaf and the Sieur de Grammont’s sack of Veracruz. When its surviving Spanish authorities submitted a report to Madrid on June 18, 1683, describing the assault which had devastated their city, they listed the four principal perpetrators as follows—misspelling each man’s name, which they had never seen written down, merely spoken by the foreign invaders during their four days of brutal occupation: Nicol
as Bonor [i.e.; Nikolaas Van Hoorn], of Dutch nationality, Admiral of the twelve vessels; Captain Lorenzo [Laurens de Graaf], Flushinger; Monsiuir de Agrammont [sic; Grammont], of French nationality, Rear Admiral; and Captain Juan Foxor [Jean Toccard?], of the same nationality, who is the one who took Tampico. Apparently, Toccard had also been responsible for the landing at the Gulf

port of Tampico in August 1682, when some 30 Spanish captives were seized, and a large quantity of cattle slaughtered. He had subsequently participated in the Veracruz attack, which began when Van Hoorn obtained a letter-of-reprisal from the French Governor of SaintDomingue, Jacques Nepveu, Sieur de Pouanc¸ay, in retaliation for the Spaniards having seized a consignment of slaves at Santo Domingo in peacetime. Reinforced with boucaniers commanded by Grammont and Jan Willems, Van Hoorn set sail into the Bay of Honduras to recruit further help from De Graaf and Michiel Andrieszoon. This freebooter throng, including Toccard, paused off Yucatan to gather greater strength, before descending on the unwary city on the night of May 17
18, 1683. The inhabitants were caught sleeping in their beds, resistance crumbling after a few heavy volleys. Veracruz was ruthlessly ransacked before the raiders sailed back around the Yucatan Peninsula to rendezvous off Isla Mujeres, then disperse. Next year, Toccard was listed— again misspelled under the version ‘‘Joccard’’—as commanding the Irondelle of 18 guns and 120 men at SaintDomingue. He is known to have played a leading role in the assault against the Mexican port of Campeche, once more serving under De Graaf and Grammont. Late in June 1685, a pirate fleet of six large and four small ships, six sloops, and 17 piraguas rounded Yucatan again into the Gulf of Mexico. Among its captains were Andrieszoon, Joseph Bannister, Willems, and Toccard. This host materialized a half-dozen miles off Campeche on the afternoon of July 6th, and a landing force of 700 buccaneers took to their boats to row in toward shore. A company of Spanish troops

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Tortille exited the city and stationed themselves opposite the intended disembarkation point before they could land, forcing the raiders to hover offshore that night. Next morning, their boats stood out to sea as if withdrawing, before suddenly bearing down on the outskirts of Campeche itself. Before the startled Spaniards could react, the buccaneers were ashore, forming up into four distinct columns: according to eye-witnesses, Capitaine Rettechard commanded the vanguard of 100 men, while Grammont led 200 buccaneers in an encircling maneuver around the city. De Graaf marched up Campeche’s principal avenue toward the central plaza at the head of another 200, while Toccard brought a like number along a parallel street. The pirates swiftly overran the city, although its citadel held out for another week. The invaders then remained in possession over the next two months, but as most of the Spaniards’ wealth had been withdrawn prior to the assault, relatively little plunder was found. Captives were threatened with death if ransoms were not forthcoming, but Yucatan’s Gov. Juan Bruno T
ellez de Guzm
an prohibited any such payments. Finally, Toccard and the rest of the pirates abandoned the city late in August 1685, after putting it to the torch.

References Dampier, William, A New Voyage Round the World (New York: Dover, 1968). Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924). Ju
arez Moreno, Juan, Piratas y corsarios en Veracruz y Campeche (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1972). Robles, Antonio de, Diario de sucesos notables 1665
1703 (Mexico City: Editorial Porr
ua, 1972).

TORTILLE French nickname for sun-bleached Isla Tortuga, an island which lies off the northern shores of Venezuela. According to the buccaneer chronicler William Dampier, turtling was such a frequent activity among Caribbean seafarers, that this particular island had come to be called Salt Tortuga among the English ‘‘to distinguish it from the shoals of Dry Tortuga, near Cape Florida, and from the isle of Tortuga by Hispaniola.’’

See also Salt Tortuga; Tortille (Volume 2).

TOWERS, CAPTAIN (fl. 1684) Dutch corsair mentioned in a letter of Governor Sir Thomas Lynch of Jamaica, dated June 20, 1684 (O.S.): ‘‘Two or three pirate [ships] have lately been taken, one Towers, a Dutchman, of 30 or 40 guns’’ (perhaps ‘‘Touwers’’ or ‘‘Turen’’ was meant).

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898).

TREPAN Slang English expression, used as either a noun or verb, to denote any deception intended to ensnare, ambush, or take by surprise.

Turtle Many examples abound. In one early instance of its usage, an English minister wrote to a Puritan colleague at Boston on March 2, 1663 (O.S.), complaining about the measures being taken to impose the Act of Uniformity on New England, in the wake of the recent restoration of royal rule: ‘‘John Baker, sometime a planter in New England, had his part in trepanning men into treason and then informing against them; he lieth now in Newgate [Prison].’’ Almost a decade later, Hender Molesworth would write from Jamaica to his friend Thomas Duck in London on July 8, 1672 (O.S.): Yesterday had advice of a ketch trading at Cartagena with 70 Negroes, of which four were his own, being seized by the General of the galleons, the goods burnt in the market place, and the Negroes sold for the King [of Spain]’s account. This makes them have apprehensions for Captain Ayler, who two months since was almost laden and ready to come away from Campeachy [sic; Campeche], lest some of the Spanish fleet may have trepanned him. Hears of a Dutchman of 32 guns taken trading near Campeachy by a surprise, wherein Yellows [Jelles de Lecat] lately of this port was chief contriver, and has gained himself no small reputation among the Spaniards.

See also Galeones; Lecat, Jelles de; Trepan (Volume 2).

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 5, 7

(London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1880
1889).

TURTLE Along with wild cattle, which were hunted by the boucaniers, turtle was the other great source of meat-protein for those living or traveling through the West Indies during the 17th and 18th centuries. In a letter written at Jamaica on November 15, 1684 (O.S.), Acting Governor Hender Molesworth declared that turtle meat ‘‘is what masters of ships chiefly feed their men in port, and I believe that nearly 2,000 people, black and white, feed on it daily at [Palisadoes] Point, to say nothing of what is sent inland.’’ Aside from the fact that these creatures were plentiful and easily caught throughout the Caribbean, they could also be kept alive in a ship’s hold, thus ensuring freshness in an era when smoking, salting, or pickling were the sole means of preservation. In one of many examples underscoring the importance of this resource, Captain John Francis of the 40-gun frigate HMS Diamond reported to the Navy Commissioners on his return home on July 24, 1662 (O.S.) how: According to orders from Colonel D’Oyley, Governor of Jamaica, set sail thence on April 24th to the Caiman Isles for turtle to victual home, but coming too soon for it [i.e., the appearance of large numbers of turtles], stayed till May 29th, and then set sail for England, being forced to take turtle of a Frenchman at last: arrived this day in the Downs.

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Turtle Because of the widespread extent of such turtle-hunting throughout the Antilles, numerous places still bear its name today, usually in Spanish or French variants: the Dry Tortugas off the Florida Keys, ^Ile de la Tortue north of Haiti, Green Turtle Cay in the Bahamas, Isla La Tortuga off Venezuela, and Tortuguero in Costa Rica, etc.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 5, 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1893
1899).

V I must, however, acquaint you that I continue with all my might to repress the insolencies of the privateers and pirates, who grow numerous and desperate. —Sir Henry Morgan to Sir Leoline Jenkins from Jamaica, July 1681 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898).

VAN DE VELD, ANDRIES (fl. 1683)

VAN HOORN, NIKOLAAS (fl. 1681
1683)

One of a trio of privateers, along with Dennis Dey and Laurens Westerband, who were commissioned in late 1683 by Sir William Stapleton, Governor of the English Leeward Islands, ‘‘to look after pirates.’’ They were sent out specifically to hunt the English renegade George Bond, and learning that he had recently bought a Dutch ship at Saint Thomas in the Virgin Islands, went there and seized it, over the objections of the Danish Governor Adolf Esmit. The privateers then sailed this ship into Nevis.

Dutch-born slaver and smuggler, who became the prime mover behind the sack of Veracruz. Little is known about Van Hoorn’s early career, there being a somewhat garbled account in both French- and Spanish-language editions of Exquemelin that he had served aboard French privateers against his compatriots in the North Sea, during the Franco-Dutch War of 1672 to 1680. Whatever the case, Van Hoorn certainly moved easily among the French once he reached the West Indies, a Spanish eyewitness describing him as ‘‘Dutch, although he

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11

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Van Hoorn, Nikolaas (fl. 1681
1683) passes himself off as French.’’ Van Hoorn was allegedly short and dark, and there is a legend that he had once narrowly escaped detention by the Admiral comte d’Estr
ees, presumably because of illegal activities. In October 1681, Van Hoorn left London, England, in command of the merchantman Mary and Martha of 400 tons, 40 guns, and a crew of 150 men, ‘‘fifty of them English.’’ He was supposedly bound on a trading run to Cadiz, Spain, accompanied by a smaller vessel of 160 tons, 12 guns, and 23 men owned by the Governor of Dover Castle, Colonel Stroude, and captained by one John Mayne. During this brief crossing, Van Hoorn was forced into a French port in the Bay of Biscay by heavy weather, where 25 of his men—‘‘seeing what a rogue he was’’—deserted. He then touched at La Coru~na, before reaching Cadiz, where further complications arose: apparently the two vessels had hoped to surreptitiously obtain licenses to trade in Spanish America, but these were not forthcoming. Van Hoorn therefore put 36 seamen ashore without pay, flogged another to death, and then resorted to even more drastic expedients. He abandoned two of his merchant representatives ashore, stole four brass pedreros or swivel-guns from the Spanish defenses one night, and next morning sailed away with the Mary and Martha. He landed at the Canary Islands to rustle goats, before continuing to Cape Verde, where another five of his crew deserted. Van Hoorn reached the Guinea coast about March 1682, and began trading his powder and guns for gold, ‘‘having no other cargo.’’ He chanced on a Dutch ship near El Mina, and through plundering it and scavenging from others, succeeded in acquiring about 100 slaves. He then led

an armed party ashore ‘‘with great guns’’ to join a tribal war and obtain blacks by force, returning 28 days later with 600 slaves. Such a foray, as well as his earlier trading with powder and guns and robbing fellow slavers, were measures normally shunned by other captains. Van Hoorn then visited the Portuguese station of S~ao Tom
e, stealing a cannon and two more blacks, before running across the Atlantic to the French colony of Cayenne. Here he renamed his ship St. Nicholas, disposed of some of his slaves as well as six more disgruntled English crewmembers, before proceeding to Trinidad. He only had about 300 slaves left, many others having died, when he was contracted to deliver the remainder to the Spanish island of Santo Domingo. Van Hoorn arrived there in late November 1682, but instead of being allowed to sell his captives, found his ship and most of its contents impounded on orders of the local Governor, Francisco de Segura Sandoval y Castilla. Spurious charges were laid against Van Hoorn, but the real reason for his detention appears to have been revenge for Laurens de Graaf’s recent capture of that island’s situados or payrolls. Although entirely innocent in that affair, Van Hoorn made a convenient scapegoat. When the Spanish Governor discovered that Van Hoorn had also stolen four swivels from Cadiz, he made him hand these over, and kept him confined aboard ship beneath the guns of the harbor fort. The English privateer Captain George Johnson saw the St. Nicholas lying there when he visited Santo Domingo in pursuit of the pirate Jean Hamlin, but was prevented from speaking to Van Hoorn by Governor de Segura. When Van Hoorn complained

Van Hoorn, Nikolaas (fl. 1681
1683) to the Spaniards of being cheated, he was contemptuously advised to go collect from De Graaf. Finally, with only 20 crewmembers and 50 or 60 slaves left, Van Hoorn escaped one night in early 1683, outsailing the customs-boat which was sent out in his pursuit. He then laid in a course for Petit-Go^ave, the flibustier capital on the French half of that same island. Immediately on his arrival there, he lodged a complaint with Governor Jacques Nepveu, Sieur de Pouanc¸ay, demanding his assistance to exact restitution from the Spaniards. This French official issued a letter of reprisal authorizing Van Hoorn to win compensation in the time-honored fashion, and put him in touch with the self-styled ‘‘Chevalier’’ de Grammont, greatest of flibustier commanders, who became Van Hoorn’s lieutenant and helped man the depleted St. Nicholas. Coming at a time when France and Spain were nominally at peace, Van Hoorn’s license proved a godsend to idled freebooters such as Grammont. Hard-pressed for money as always, the ‘‘Chevalier’’ seized on the offer with alacrity, even asking Van Hoorn to set out in the corvette Colbert to recall his flotilla from the Cuban coast. Just as this vessel was exiting Petit-Go^ave, Grammont’s cohorts reappeared, bringing in a Spanish prize. They then all cleared together, more than 300 strong, for Roat
an on the Central American coast to seek further reinforcements. Van Hoorn and Grammont paused outside Port Royal on February 27, 1683, to deliver letters from Governor de Pouanc¸ay, assuring the Jamaican authorities that no hostilities were contemplated against the English. Governor Sir Thomas Lynch sent out his French secretary, Charles de la Barr
e, to visit

the St. Nicholas. He found Van Hoorn ‘‘so vain that he showed him a number of bags which he judged to hold six or eight thousand pieces of eight.’’ Highstrung and unsure of himself, Van Hoorn tried to impress the visitor with his importance; instead Barr
e came away with the impression that the French were beginning to ‘‘abhor him for his insolence and passion,’’ and might well replace him with the much more popular and experienced Grammont, ‘‘who is an honest old privateer.’’ Van Hoorn claimed to be on a pirate-hunting expedition, but the secretary was not deceived: he noted that the St. Nicholas was provisioned for six months and traveling to leeward, neither of which would have been consonant with such a venture. From deckhands, Barr
e also learned of the vessel’s English origins and illegal seizure, which he studiously ignored. The St. Nicholas bore away to westward, and a few days later met the privateer Captain John Coxon, who was beating back to Jamaica after a fruitless search for the pirate Hamlin. Van Hoorn and Grammont were much more candid with their fellow corsair, telling him they were ‘‘trying to unite all the privateers for an attack on Veracruz.’’ Parting company, they then proceeded into the Bay of Honduras, where both De Graaf and his Dutch lieutenant Michiel Andrieszoon were reputed to be, along with a group of freebooters. While Van Hoorn and Grammont prowled the Bay, they spotted two Spanish merchantmen lying at anchor, the Nuestra Se~ nora de Consolaci
on and Nuestra Se~ nora de Regla, which they promptly seized. Little did they realize that De Graaf had been patiently careening his flagship Dauphine (Princess, also known by its previous Spanish nickname of Francesa) at

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Van Hoorn, Nikolaas (fl. 1681
1683) nearby Bonaco Island, waiting for the Spaniards to bring their profits back aboard these empty ships from the great commercial fair in Guatemala. Annoyed at this clumsy intrusion into his plans, De Graaf made away for Roat
an, where he was soon overtaken by the St. Nicholas with its two prizes. On April 7, 1683, a huge gathering met on the beach to hear Van Hoorn describe his ill-treatment at the hands of the Spaniards, read out the letter of reprisal granted him by Governor de Pouanc¸ay, and ask for their help in exacting vengeance. The buccaneers were all eagerness, and despite some initial misgivings (and lingering personal animosity from De Graaf), the plan to assault Veracruz was quickly endorsed. But with the inclusion of De Graaf, Van Hoorn’s position became even more awkward: for he was a rank amateur with a small following, supposedly commanding two hard-bitten campaigners with their large, loyal contingents. At first things went splendidly, with De Graaf leading the pirate fleet to Guanaja Island for more men, then swiftly around the Yucatan peninsula into the Gulf of Mexico. Thirteen vessels comprised the expedition, with perhaps 1,300 to 1,400 freebooters. De Graaf cunningly reconnoitered the port, then slipped a landing-party of 800 men into Veracruz during the night of May 17
18, 1683. At dawn they attacked with Grammont commanding the critical column which snuffed out Spanish resistance in the city center. Van Hoorn, a baton as ‘‘pirate General’’ in his hand, received the initial sweep of booty in the Plaza Mayor, then installed himself in Governor Luis Bartolom
e de C
ordoba y Z
u~ niga’s vacated quarters in the palace. Much treasure still remained hidden, though, and it fell to Van Hoorn to extort

it from the Spanish captives, while De Graaf and Grammont saw to the city defenses. Late on the afternoon of May 18, 1683, Van Hoorn sent four pirates to bring the royal accountant Jos
e de Murueta Otalora into his presence, and demanded of him in passable Spanish: ‘‘Where were the many millions there had to be in such a large city, because all that he had been able to find thus far did not come to fifty thousand pesos?’’ The prisoner insisted there had been no time to hide much of anything, and stuck by this story even when beaten. The next morning, however, De Graaf and Grammont orchestrated an ugly mob-scene which terrified the captives into revealing many hidden riches, netting 80,000 pesos and establishing ransoms for all the city’s leading personages. Once this ordeal was ended, Van Hoorn invited two captive Spanish merchants to lunch with him in the palace, bragging of his role in the expedition; but by then it was becoming increasingly obvious who the real leaders were. Three days later, De Graaf ordered a withdrawal to nearby Sacrificios Island, and an immense column of 4,000 ladened captives was marched out of the devastated city under the direction of Grammont. Once offshore with their hostages, the pirates were beyond reach of any Spanish rescue attempts. They settled down to divide their booty, and await the arrival of ransoms out of Mexico’s interior. These were being deliberately delayed by the Crown authorities, so that after waiting almost a week, Van Hoorn decided to act unilaterally. He informed his Spanish contacts on the mainland that he was about to send them a dozen captives’ heads, and seemed ready to put this barbarous scheme into effect when a hastily summoned De Graaf

Van Klijn, Mozes (fl. 1668) arrived from his flagship. According to Spanish eye-witnesses, the pirate admiral confronted Van Hoorn on the beach and reproved him that ‘‘it was not right to behead any surrendered men who had been granted quarter.’’ Furious at being balked, Van Hoorn drew his blade and advanced on his countryman, which proved a grievous mistake; the enormous De Graaf promptly drove his own sword deep into Van Hoorn’s wrist, then kicked his disabled opponent into the sand. His wrath now fully aroused, De Graaf bellowed at his men to haul his bloodied opponent aboard his flagship and clap him in irons, thus ending any talk of beheading Spanish captives. Van Hoorn’s jealous resentment would seem to lie behind his intemperate outburst, which then took a fatal twist when the wound became infected a few days later. As the engorged pirate fleet slowly beat back around the Yucatan peninsula, Van Hoorn’s life ebbed away. He died off Isla Mujeres on June 24, 1683, his body being rowed ashore and buried in an unmarked grave near Mexico’s Cape Logrete, where it presumably lies to this day. Grammont assumed command of the St. Nicholas, which he sailed back to Saint-Domingue. In a final footnote, Governor Lynch of Jamaica noted a year later: ‘‘Van Hoorn’s son is dead at Petit-Go^ave, so the French have divided what he leaves.’’

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898). Exquemelin, Alexandre-Olivier, The Buccaneers of America (London: Penguin, 1969).

Ju
arez Moreno, Juan, Piratas y corsarios en Veracruz y Campeche (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1972). Marley, David F., Sack of Veracruz: The Great Pirate Raid of 1683 (Windsor, Ontario, Canada: Netherlandic Press, 1993).

VAN KLIJN, MOZES (fl. 1668) Dutch freebooter who served under French colors. Van Klijn appeared as a confederate to the flibustier chieftain Jean-David Nau, alias ‘‘l’Olonnais,’’ materializing off the north coast of Honduras in 1668 among a force of half a dozen vessels and 700 buccaneers. This expedition had originally been raised at Tortuga and Bayah
a (Santo Domingo) for an attempt to ascend the San Juan River into the Lago de Nicaragua and assault Granada, but after cruising southern Cuba as far west as the Gulf of Bataban
o, had been unable to clear Cape Gracias a Dios on its southerly leg. Instead, Nau and his consorts were obliged to veer westward along Honduras, sending foragers up the Agu
an River and eventually reaching Puerto Cabellos. Here they captured a Spanish merchantman armed with 24 cannons and 16 pedreros or swivel-guns, of which Van Klijn received command. The town was also occupied, and Nau decided to use it as a base to march inland to San Pedro Sula, the nearest city, with 300 flibustiers. Van Klijn was left to garrison the tiny port with the remaining buccaneers, and during Nau’s absence cruised the coast and captured some Indian fishermen, from whom it was learned a wealthy galleon was due

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Vaughan, John, Third Earl of Carberry (fl. 1675
1678) to arrive soon from Spain ‘‘at the Guatemala river’’ (Bay of Amatique). When Nau’s contingent returned from the interior, the whole flotilla proceeded farther into the Gulf of Honduras, where a pair of lookout boats was posted on the southern shore, while the rest crossed to the western side to conceal themselves and careen. Three months elapsed, until word was finally received that the galleon had arrived. Reuniting his scattered forces, Nau quickly attacked, although the Spaniard had 42 cannon and 130 men. His own 28-gun flagship and Van Klijn’s smaller vessel were beaten off, but four boatloads of flibustiers carried the galleon by boarding. Its booty proved disappointing, however, as most of the cargo had already been offloaded and there only remained some iron, paper, and wine. Discouraged, Van Klijn decided to quit this company, ‘‘setting his course for Tortuga, where he intended to cruise [perhaps the ‘‘Dry Tortuga’’ off Florida].’’

References Exquemelin, Alexandre-Olivier, The Buccaneers of America (London: Penguin, 1969). Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924).

VAUGHAN, JOHN, THIRD EARL OF CARBERRY (fl. 1675
1678) Fifth Governor of Jamaica, who sought to restrain its privateers. Vaughan was born in 1640 in Wales, and was most probably educated at

home during the closing stages of the English Civil War. His father had been a prominent Cavalier general, but made his peace with Oliver Cromwell’s new Protectorate once Charles I was executed. Vaughan studied at Oxford, matriculating from Christ Church on July 23, 1656 (O.S.), and being admitted to the Inner Temple as an 18-yearold barrister two years later. Following the restoration of Charles II, Vaughan was knighted and elected Member of Parliament for the borough of Carmarthen in 1661, succeeding to the honorary title of Lord Vaughan when his older brother Francis died six years later. Vaughan was a particularly servile courtier to the King and also interested in literature, having become a patron to John Dryden as early as 1664, and contributing some prefatory verse to that poet’s ‘‘Conquest of Granada’’ in 1670 to 1672. In a wholly different vein, the young nobleman became a notorious libertine as well, being described by the diarist Samuel Pepys as ‘‘one of the lewdest fellows of the age’’—no mean feat, in Restoration London. In April 1674, at the conclusion of the Third Anglo-Dutch War, Vaughn was appointed to become the new Governor of Jamaica, when the Earl of Carlisle turned that post down. Henry Morgan was to serve as his Lieutenant Governor (having been restored to favor after a brief detention for the sack of Panama), although Vaughan objected to this appointment, but was eventually overruled. By December of that same year of 1674, both men were preparing to depart the Downs, Vaughan (whose wife had recently died) aboard HMS Foresight of 40 guns and 522 tons,

Vaughan, John, Third Earl of Carberry (fl. 1675
1678) while Morgan would be traveling on the smaller hired ship Jamaica Merchant. Distrustful of what his deputy might do if he arrived first, Vaughan ordered Morgan ‘‘to keep me in company and in no case be separated from me but by stress of weather.’’ Foresight weighed and departed before Jamaica Merchant, yet nonetheless when Vaughan entered Port Royal on March 15, 1675 (O.S.), he found that Morgan had beaten him by 10 days, despite being shipwrecked.

Governor of Jamaica (1675
1678) Vaughan immediately relieved Sir Thomas Lynch and on April 3, 1675 (O.S.), issued a proclamation offering amnesty to all of Jamaica’s privateers if they returned and renounced roving. This effort proved ineffectual, running directly counter to the fact that although England remained at peace, France was at war with both Holland and Spain, and all three belligerents were willing to grant commissions to any corsair. Vaughan therefore was annoyed to see Jamaican privateers such as William Barnes, John Bennett, John Coxon, William Crane, John Deane, Edward Neville, George Spurre, and George Wright continue their depredations under foreign flags, resulting in doubts as to England’s true neutrality. Aware that virtually all his predecessors had also suffered in some degree from their inability to control the privateers, Vaughan was particularly disillusioned at Morgan’s lack of influence, which he had assumed would overawe the rovers. When this did not occur, he became convinced that his deputy was conniving behind

his back with these renegades, and wrote to London that ‘‘Sir Henry, contrary to his duty and trust, endeavors to set up privateering, and has obstructed all my designs and purposes as to those who do use that curse of life.’’ This false accusation caused a bitter rift with Morgan, yet did nothing to alleviate the Governor’s problem. Moreover, Vaughan was soon feuding with Jamaica’s Assembly and Council as well, whom he convened as seldom as possible so as to avoid being importuned by their demands. Finally he was compelled to do so in the spring of 1677, needing to pass a money bill, but which they refused to do until other business had been discussed, leaving a frustrated Vaughan without funds to run his administration. Relations worsened when he condemned the rover James Browne for plundering a Dutch slaver under French commission, despite that individual’s plea that he was exempt under the Assembly’s ‘‘Act of Privateers.’’ When this was brought to that body’s attention, the Speaker William Beeston requested a stay; Vaughan refused, at which the Assembly drew up a writ of habeas corpus, directing the execution be delayed and the island’s Provost Marshal produce Browne ‘‘notwithstanding any warrant issued.’’ Angry, Vaughan ordered Browne’s immediate hanging as soon as he learned that the Assembly’s writ was on its way, then dissolved that body after a bitter reproof on July 26, 1677 (O.S.). That same day, a ship arrived from London with the rumor that ‘‘the Earl of Carlisle was coming Governor to Jamaica.’’ This was confirmed later that autumn, and after passing the minimum amount of legislation required with a reconvened Assembly—one of his last acts was to cut Morgan’s salary

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Veale, Captain from £600 to £300 a year—Vaughan concentrated exclusively on his personal affairs. He had used his position to acquire 7,737 acres of land during his tenure, all in the parish of Saint Mary, which made him the island’s largest landholder. On March 11, 1678 (O.S.), he assembled the surprised Council and informed them that rather than wait for his successor, he intended to depart forthwith, leaving the administration to his Lieutenant Governor. Three days later, Vaughan went aboard Captain Nurse’s ship and sailed for England.

Later Career (1678
1713) Vaughan returned to London a wealthy man, and never again entered public service. Instead, he built a fine new home called Gough House at Chelsea, and distinguished himself as a member of the Kit-Cat Club. Dryden marked his patron’s reappearance in the English capital that August by dedicating to him the play The Kind Keeper, or Mr. Limberham, even though this was prohibited after only three representations as being too indecent for the stage. In 1686, Vaughan succeeded as third Earl of Carberry when his father Richard died, and became President of the Royal Society. His title of Earl became extinct at Vaughan’s death in 1713, as he only left a 15-year-old daughter, Anne, despite having married three times.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 9, 10 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office; 1893
1899).

Interesting Tracts Relating to the Island of Jamaica (St. Jago de la Vega: Lewis, Lunan and Jones, 1800). Pope, Dudley, Harry Morgan’s Way: The Biography of Sir Henry Morgan, 1635
1684 (London: Secker & Warburg, 1977).

VEALE, CAPTAIN A shipmaster suspected of piracy. On the evening of July 6, 1685 (O.S.), a small ketch hastened into Boston harbor from New London (Connecticut). Next morning, its master John Prentice appeared before the General Court, and declared that he had been chased by a suspected pirate ‘‘until he had come in sight of the Brewster’s, at the mouth of the harbor.’’ Prentice deposed that this hostile sloop had put into his home port on July 1, 1685 (O.S.), commanded ‘‘by one Captain Veale, and with him was one Harvey, who was the merchant on board.’’ A little later, a Pennsylvania vessel had also entered New London under Captain Daniel Staunton, who immediately ‘‘accused Veale and Harvey of piracy committed in Virginia.’’ Yet because the New London magistrate was a bit uncertain of his authority, both suspects had quickly set sail before they could be detained. When Prentice himself cleared the harbor mouth shortly thereafter, his ketch was chased until nightfall by this rogue sloop and a 14-man shallop under ‘‘one Graham.’’ Although Prentice managed to elude these pirate craft, he encountered the sloop again three days later. Long-range gunfire was exchanged ‘‘for about an hour,’’ until a severe thunderstorm had allowed the ketch to win

Villebon, Jean (fl. 1663
1669) past into Boston. Veale’s and Harvey’s sloop was last seen bearing away toward Cape Ann.

References Dow, George Francis, and Edmonds, John Henry, The Pirates of the New England Coast, 1630
1730 (Salem, MA: Marine Research Society, 1923 edition re-issued in 1996 by Dover): Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924).

VENTURA SARRA, JUAN (fl. 1670) Minor Catalan privateer who arrived in Mexico via Tierra Firme and Guatemala. In late August 1670 he petitioned the Viceroy of New Spain for a privateering commission against the enemies of the Crown ‘‘in service of God our Lord, the King, and common utility of the commerce of Indies.’’ Despite asking to retain the entire value of any prizes taken (including the King’s fifth), Ventura Sarra’s request was initially approved, although voided in February 1672 when Madrid signed a new American peace accord with England.


OR VESPRE, VERTPRE CAPITAINE French flibustier who in 1684 was listed as commanding the tiny vessel Postillion, of two guns and 25 men, at Saint-Domingue. He may well have been descended from the longtime Martinican settler Jean Jaham, Sieur de Vertpr
e, who had married twice and

sired eight children, before dying in 1685 at the age of 75.

Reference Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924).

VIGOT OR BIGOT, GUILLAUME (fl. 1684) French rover captured off the Cuban coast by Spanish guardacostas. Vigot departed France in January 1684, bound for the West Indian island of Martinique. His 130-ton ship Concorde, of 12 guns and 43 men, was taken off the south coast of Cuba a few months later, apparently preparing to embark on a privateering campaign because of renewed hostilities back in Europe between France and Spain. Its captors later related how Vigot’s ship was armed with ‘‘39 blunderbusses, four carbines, 12 cutlasses,’’ and a tonand-a-half of gunpowder.

Reference Ju
arez Moreno, Juan, Piratas y corsarios en Veracruz y Campeche. (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1972).

VILLEBON, JEAN (fl. 1663
1669) Rank-and-file boucanier who deserted to the Spaniards in Costa Rica. Although not a significant figure, Villebon’s career nonetheless offers insights into life among ordinary members of the

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Vonck, Maerten Jansse (fl. 1673
1674) Brethren of the Coast. Born around 1644 in the Breton city of Langon, near the great seaport of Nantes, he had departed France in July 1663 as an engag
e or indentured servant in the colonizing expedition of Bertrand d’Ogeron. Its 5-gun, 140-man flagship had dropped anchor several weeks later off the northwestern shores of Hispaniola, where everyone disembarked to found a new outpost at Port-a-Margot. Villebon had then spent the next two years planting and harvesting tobacco for his master, until his indenture was served. In May 1667, he had shipped out as a hand aboard the privateer fleet of JeanDavid Nau, better known as Nau l’Olonnais or le Capitaine Franc¸ois—the ‘‘French Captain.’’ This 500-man expedition intended to gain the Mosquito Coast and raid into Nicaragua, so that after snapping up three Spanish prizes and anchoring at Abraham’s Cay (modern Bluefields), an advance-party of 80 boucaniers headed for the San Juan River mouth aboard eight piraguas, to await the main force aboard another two-dozen craft. Yet Nau’s contingent never appeared, so that the fleet dispersed and Villebon sailed aboard five buccaneer vessels for Bocas del Toro and the Escudo de Veragua (northwestern Panama), to hunt and cure turtles and manatees. After six months of heavy labor in intense tropical heat, his vessel was wrecked. When Henry Morgan’s squadron reached Bocas del Toro early in July 1668, a proclamation was read to the boucaniers clustered ashore to seek additional recruits for the impending surprise-attack against Portobelo. However, Villebon and his 25 companions preferred to limp northwestward along the coast, crammed aboard two piraguas. Searching for a

larger ship to join or capture, they reached Portete—an open anchorage two miles west of what is today Puerto Lim
on (Costa Rica)—and rested ashore, while 16 men raided nearby Matina for food. By the time this pair of piraguas resumed their northerly progression toward the San Juan River, Villebon had had enough of pirate life. When his boat was wrecked, two boucaniers being drowned and the rest recovering their goods strewn along the beach, the young Breton quietly proposed to a Honduran native who had been held as a slave for two years that they escape together. When the party continued walking north along the coast, the pair lagged behind, then hid in the jungle

See also Abraham’s Cay; Engag
e; Morgan, Sir Henry; Nau, Jean-David; Ogeron, Bertrand d’; Piragua.

Reference Marley, David F., ‘‘La d
esertion du boucanier breton Jean Villebon au Costa Rica, 1669,’’ G
en
ealogie et Histoire de la Cara€be [France], 215 (June 2008), pp. 5585
5587.

VONCK, MAERTEN JANSSE (fl. 1673
1674) Dutch privateer captain originally from Middelburg in Zeeland, who operated out of Suriname during the Third AngloDutch War; in a bizarre twist of events, he came to be abandoned aboard Commodore Cornelis Evertsen’s flagship by his own crew, so was carried

Vonck, Maerten Jansse (fl. 1673
1674) off to take part in the reconquest of New York. On April 20, 1673, Vonck returned to Suriname’s capital of Paramaribo for resupply, having been blockading the English island of Barbados with his ship Goude Poort (Golden Gate). As he worked his way up the treacherous channel, he passed the recently arrived Zeeland squadron of Commodore Evertsen, gingerly picking its way back out to sea. Eleven days later when Vonck exited, he again encountered the men o’ war anchored outside, taking on the last of their water. He paused briefly to visit with his fellow countrymen, before proceeding toward his station. Two-and-a-half weeks later, on May 18, 1673, Vonck sighted Evertsen’s force approaching Barbados, and once more went aboard the flagship Swaenenburgh. This time, however, the Commodore questioned him closely as to two soldiers who had deserted from the naval force, and reputedly found service with the privateer. Vonck at first denied this, then under pressure admitted it might be true. A search party was sent over to the Goude Poort, but could not find the missing men ‘‘as they had hidden themselves among the kaper’s crew.’’ Now angry, Evertsen threatened Vonck, who sent a note across to his mate ordering that the deserters be surrendered. With tensions at a breaking point, the Goude Poort’s crew suddenly rushed Evertsen’s emissary, who jumped back into

his boat, leaving four oarsmen on board. The privateersmen then ‘‘made as much sail as possible,’’ swiftly outdistancing the heavier men o’ war. Thus, Vonck came to be left aboard Evertsen’s flagship, and took part in the remainder of the Zeelander’s campaign. By the time ‘‘New Netherland’’ was reconquered that autumn (present-day New York, New Jersey, and Delaware), the privateer captain had so vindicated himself that Evertsen put him in command of the second ship bearing messages home. Vonck set sail from New York on September 2, 1673, with the prize Expectation, a very poor sailer which was dismasted in a storm and ran aground near Nantucket. There it was found on November 3rd by the Boston privateer Thomas Dotson, who boarded, captured, and refloated it, sailing it away as his prize. Vonck was exchanged, and on New Year’s Day 1674 again quit New Netherland, this time commanding the ketch Hope. He succeeded in reaching Holland by the beginning of March 1675 and forwarded his messages to The Hague, where they were received the day before the peace treaty with England was ratified.

Reference Shomette, Donald G. and Haslach, Robert D., Raid on America: The Dutch Naval Campaign of 1672
1674 (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1988).

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W Question: John Houghling, hold up thy hand. How sayest thou? Answer: Not guilty. Question: How will you be tried? Answer: By this honorable court. Question: You must say ‘‘by God and my country.’’ Answer: By God and my country. Question: God send thee a good deliverance. —Swearing-in at the piracy trial of John Houghling, Virginia, May 13, 1700 (O.S.)

WADE, CAPTAIN (fl. 1660)

WAGGONER

English privateer mentioned in the journal of Colonel Edward D’Oyley, Governor of Jamaica, as having been issued a ‘‘let-pass’’ for his ship Sea Horse on April 4, 1660 (O.S.).

Seventeenth-century English term for any sea atlas, or a book combining seacharts and written sailing instructions. This expression was a corruption of the name Lucas Janszoon Waghenaer, a famous Dutch cartographer who in 1584 published the first such printed atlas systematically assembled in one volume. Generally known as the Spiegel der Zeevaerdt, it was translated into English four years later as The Mariner’s Mirror. Such works soon became known in

Reference Pawson, Michael, and Buisseret, David J., Port Royal, Jamaica (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1975).

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Waters, Samson (fl. 1680s) England as ‘‘waggoners,’’ one noteworthy example being the South Sea Waggoner compiled by the buccaneer Basil Ringrose in 1682, based on captured Spanish charts from the South Sea.

Reference Howse, Derek, and Thrower, Norman W., eds. A Buccaneer’s Atlas: Basil Ringrose’s South Sea Waggoner, A Sea Atlas and Sailing Directions of the Pacific Coast of the Americas 1682 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992).

WATERS, SAMSON (fl. 1680s) Minor Massachusetts privateer, who was sent out in ‘‘Richard Pattershall’s brigantine’’ in 1685 in a vain attempt to find the pirates Veale and Graham.

Reference Chapin, Howard M., Privateer Ships and Sailors: The First Century of American Colonial Privateering, 1625
1725 (Toulon: G. Mouton, 1926).

WEATHERBOURNE, FRANCIS (fl. 1671
1672) English privateer who turned renegade after Henry Morgan’s sack of Panama, and refused to give up roving, even though the arrival of a new Jamaican Governor, Sir Thomas Lynch, clearly heralded a reversal in Crown policy regarding Spain. When William Beeston was given command of HMS Assistance in December 1671 and sent out to bring in rogue privateers, Weatherbourne became one

of his captures. He was seized near Campeche for committing ‘‘great violence against the Spaniards,’’ along with his ship Charity, which was described as having ‘‘been formerly Captain David Martyn’s [sic; Martien’s] man o’ war.’’ Carried back into Port Royal, Weatherbourne was tried for piracy and condemned to death, but then deported to England aboard the 36-gun HMS Welcome, the same vessel which was to transport Morgan as a prisoner to the Tower of London. This frigate set sail from Jamaica on April 6, 1672 (O.S.), reaching Spithead three months later.

References Interesting Tracts Relating to the Island of Jamaica (St. Jago de la Vega: Lewis, Lunan and Jones, 1800). Pawson, Michael, and Buisseret, David J., Port Royal, Jamaica. (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1975). Pope, Dudley, Harry Morgan’s Way: The Biography of Sir Henry Morgan, 1635
1684 (London: Secker & Warburg, 1977).

WENTWORTH, JOHN (fl. 1653
1665) English privateer who operated out of Bermuda, and captured Tortola at the beginning of the Second Anglo-Dutch War. Wentworth was mentioned as a member of the Governor’s Council of Bermuda for 1653 and 1655, representing the Parish of Paget. Early in 1657, he commanded the frigate-galley Martin, and in October of that same year captained the man-ofwar Paul which carried many new settlers to Jamaica. In late January 1665, he was in command of the small frigate Charles,

Whetstone, Sir Thomas (fl. 1662
1667) which sailed from Montserrat with a Portuguese commission originally issued to Captain Robert Downeman. Wentworth used this permit to hunt Spanish vessels off Caracas until late June 1665, when he proceeded to the island of ‘‘salt Tortuga’’ to careen. While doing so, he learned that war had broken out between England and Holland back in Europe, so laid in a course for the Windward Isles, hoping to secure an English commission against the Dutch. The winds proving contrary, he was forced to round the west end of Saint Croix on July 13, 1665, and two days later anchored at St. Annes in the Virgin Islands. Although not yet legally licensed, Wentworth decided to attack the nearby Dutch settlement of Tortola, which one of his crewmen knew well. He later wrote that he hoped ‘‘the national war might bear out my doing so,’’ and on the morning of July 18th landed 36 men and surprised the Dutch garrison of 130 men and seven guns, securing the island unopposed. Next day, Wentworth raised the English flag, and roughly half the inhabitants swore fealty to Charles II. Later that same day, the brigantine Hazewind or ‘‘Greyhound’’ belonging to the Dutch Gov. Willem Houten came in, and was seized. On July 24th the Dutch official and his retinue were sent away in a bark, Wentworth appointing Lieutenant Thomas Bicknell (or Bignoll) as commandant in his place. Four days afterward the Charles sailed for Bermuda, carrying 67 black slaves and the Hazewind as prizes. It took Wentworth eight days to reach his destination, where he justified his actions by arguing that he had news there was ‘‘an open and national war betwixt His Majesty and the United States of Holland.’’ After a lengthy inquiry his capture was adjudged illegal, and the slaves forfeit to England’s

Royal African Company. Wentworth was not actually issued a Bermudan commission until October 21, 1665.

Reference Chapin, Howard M., Privateer Ships and Sailors: The First Century of American Colonial Privateering, 1625
1725 (Toulon: G. Mouton, 1926).

WESTERBAND, LAURENS (fl. 1683) One of a trio of privateers, along with Dennis Dey and Andries van de Veld, commissioned in late 1683 by Sir William Stapleton, Governor of the English Leeward Islands, ‘‘to look after pirates.’’ They were sent out specifically to hunt the English renegade George Bond, and learning that he had recently bought a Dutch ship at Saint Thomas in the Virgin Islands, went there and seized it, over the objections of the Danish Gov. Adolf Esmit. The privateers then sailed this ship back to Nevis.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898).

WHETSTONE, SIR THOMAS (fl. 1662
1667) Nephew of Oliver Cromwell, who was reduced from a Commonwealth naval Commodore into an impoverished

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Whetstone, Sir Thomas (fl. 1662
1667) West Indian rover, before dying in Spanish hands. His famous uncle had been born into a very large family, being the only surviving son among 10 children, who had grown up surrounded by his seven sisters. Catherine Cromwell, the next oldest sibling to Oliver by two years and ‘‘his best loved sister,’’ later married Roger Whetstone (also recorded as Whitstone or Whitestone), who was ‘‘of Whittlesea in the Isle of Ely’’ in Cambridgeshire. This couple was to spend much of their early married life in Holland, where her husband had gone to serve as a mercenary officer, fighting for the Protestant cause in the Low Countries. Their first son Henry was believed to have been born in England, but the two remaining sons and two daughters were all born abroad: Thomas (apparently born around 1631), Richard, Catherine, and Levina. Little is known about young Thomas’ formative years, although at some point he must have taken to the sea, after his father had returned with the family to campaign for Parliament during England’s Civil War.

Commonwealth Naval Career (1654
1659) On November 27, 1654 (O.S.), the victorious Oliver Cromwell, now England’s all-powerful Lord Protector, wrote a letter from his headquarters at Whitehall to Admiral William Penn, who was busy making the final preparations to set sail from Portsmouth for Barbados at the head of a huge fleet to launch the Antillean offensive, known as the ‘‘Western Design,’’ which would eventually conquer Jamaica. Among other things, Cromwell said to his Admiral: ‘‘I have

committed my nephew Whitestone to you, and I desire you to mind him of good things and to do him good, as you find he deserves.’’ Historians believe that this personal note must have referred to the 23-year-old Thomas Whetstone; although some have confused him with the Sailing Master for Penn’s 60-gun flagship Swiftsure, named John Whetstone—possibly a relation of Thomas’ father, but who would unfortunately die off the Cuban coast and be buried at sea in July 1655. Penn and his fleet had already departed by Christmas Day 1654 (O.S.), when on January 15, 1655 (O.S.), the Protector wrote a second letter to his Admiral, which read: I did apprehend and took it as granted that you would make my nephew Whitestone your lieutenant in this expedition, and I acquainted him and his friends therewith, who did depend thereupon. But I understand lately that my nephew is disappointed or at least delayed of that employment. Truly I have entertained such good hopes of the young man from these characters I have received of him, and that from yourself, that I should be loath he should be discouraged or neglected. And therefore I desire you to put your kinsman into some other command in the fleet, and let Whitestone be lieutenant to yourself, according to your promise to me, it being my desire that he should continue under your eye and care. Not doubting of your readiness herein, I commend you to the grace and protection of God. It is therefore not clear in what capacity Thomas Whetstone served in the ensuing New World adventure. Penn,

Whetstone, Sir Thomas (fl. 1662
1667) after a failed assault against Santo Domingo and his successful landing on Jamaica, quickly sailed his flagship and the bulk of his fleet home without orders, reaching Spithead by the evening of August 31, 1655 (O.S.), only to be thrown into the Tower of London three weeks later, to face the Protector’s wrath for the expedition’s several failures and his own unauthorized return. Whetstone most likely returned to England at that same time aboard Swiftsure, but as a mere subaltern, naturally bore no share of this blame. We next hear of him in November 1655, when his uncle passed a bill through Parliament to naturalize him, along with his brother Richard and two sisters as English subjects, among a group of other foreign-born applicants. Thomas’ widowed mother Catherine was moreover married early next year to Colonel John Jones, a Welsh widower and a staunch Roundhead Member of Parliament, cementing a political alliance for Cromwell. Her new husband settled a handsome annual income of £300 on her, to which her delighted brother Oliver added another £150. Then on February 7, 1655 (O.S.), the Lord Protector personally presided over the civil ceremony at Whitehall which married Levina, Catherine’s daughter and Thomas’ sister, into yet another such match. And Thomas himself, despite his lack of any significant seniority in the Commonwealth Navy, was promoted to command of the 38gun, 420-ton State frigate Phoenix. When Phillip Meadows, the Protector’s special envoy being sent to ratify a treaty with Portugal, reached Plymouth next month to take his passage for Lisbon, he chose ‘‘Captain Whitstone’s’’ warship and went aboard Phoenix on Saturday morning, March 8, 1656 (O.S.).

This diplomat even wrote to the Sec. of State, John Thurloe, describing how its youthful commander had ‘‘immediately loosed his topsail to give notice to his men to come aboard, and be in readiness for their voyage.’’ Having deposited his passenger at the Portuguese capital by early April 1656, Whetstone proceeded with Phoenix to deliver dispatches to the English blockading-fleet operating off the Spanish coast under Adms. Robert Blake and Edward Montagu. His frigate subsequently made a somewhat slow return-run into Lisbon, before sailing for London in company with the frigate Sapphire, bearing a Portuguese indemnity of more than 219,000 pieces-ofeight into England’s Royal Mint by July 24th (O.S.). Whetstone then rejoined Admiral Blake’s blockading-fleet later that same autumn, and spent most of the winter of 1656 to 1657 on patrol, although Phoenix did not see any major action. Despite being a good seaman, the young Captain was resented by many career naval officers for his rapid elevation through the ranks, while superiors soon came to dislike his insolent attitude, due to his uncle’s backing. Through ill luck, Whetstone’s frigate was detached into Lisbon and then ordered home in early April 1657, so that he missed the climactic battle of Santa Cruz in the Canary Islands, where the anticipated Mexican plate fleet was finally intercepted and destroyed. Back in London, though, Whetstone was nonetheless promoted again to command of the 52-gun, 770-ton Fairfax, and that same November (1657) rejoined the fleet off Portugal, which was now operating under Blake’s successor, Commodore John Stoakes. A tight blockade of Spain’s Atlantic approaches no longer being necessary, the

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Whetstone, Sir Thomas (fl. 1662
1667) whole formation moved through the Strait of Gibraltar to scour the western Mediterranean. Immediately on entering those waters, Stoakes detached his irksome subordinate Whetstone to cruise between Malta and Crete, with Fairfax and three other warships. On January 16, 1658 (O.S.), the State frigate Guinea overtook the Commodore during his first official visit at the neutral port of Livorno, to report that Whetstone had intercepted a Dutch vessel carrying a cargo of corn from Cagliari to Valencia (which he would later sell at Zante for a third of its true value). No other prizes were taken over the next three months, and Fairfax was the only warship to arrive late at Stoakes’ rendezvous off the Spanish coast that same April (1658). After another uneventful two-month sweep, the reunited State fleet put into the port of Marseilles, where Stoakes received an order from Secretary Thurloe to detach some of his warships for a joint operation with a French force being assembled at Toulon under Commodore Jean-Paul de Saumeur. (Originally born with the surname Samuel, he was much more commonly known as the ‘‘Chevalier Paul,’’ having been a Knight of the Order of Malta for more than two decades.) Seizing this opportunity to rid himself again of his problematical subordinate, Stoakes ‘‘did immediately dispatch Captain Whetston to Admiral Pol at Toulon,’’ Fairfax soon being followed there by four more English warships. Yet the young Captain utterly ruined this arrangement through his spitefulness, taking offense over trifles, and even having Fairfax careened rather than putting out to sea under the Chevalier. Whetstone also wrote to complain to London, and Secretary Thurloe returned an uncharacteristically restrained reply,

given the needless collapse of this joint venture: I received yours of the 4/14 July from Toulon; it came to my hands this morning, and am very sorry to understand by yours, that you meet with any disrespect from any of the Captains of the fleet. I am certain they do not consult their own interest therein, nor give any great sign of their affection and duty to His Highness [i.e., Oliver Cromwell], by putting any dishonor upon one so nearly related to him. For my own part, I am a very ill judge of what is fit to the wearing of the flag, but truly do conceive that upon such an expedition as that, wherein the English squadron of ships was to join with the fleet of another nation, the flag was so to be carried that it might appear that the English were not under their command, but their equals. However, that question is now at an end; for the French having laid aside their design, there will be no need of any ships of ours to assist them. And therefore you are, notwithstanding any orders received from Captain Stoakes or any other, no further to attend upon that service, but so to follow such other orders as you have already received or shall receive for any other service, without looking after the French. And this I have written to you immediately, believing mine to Captain Stoakes will not reach him so soon, he being, as I understand, at Tripoli. I cannot further enlarge now; but if you please to let me know your condition, I shall not be wanting to serve you in whatsoever I am able, and rest

Whetstone, Sir Thomas (fl. 1662
1667) Your very affectionate friend and servant. 22d July/1st August, 1658. Whetstone put out to sea once more, sending a single prize taken by one of his consorts into Marseilles, before gaining Livorno by September 1658. When he tried to seize a merchantman there, though, Fairfax was repelled by a smaller Dutch warship, so that Whetstone reentered Toulon that same October under a cloud. His uncle Oliver having unexpectedly died of pneumonia back in England on September 3, 1658 (O.S.), his patronage and support had abruptly vanished, so that Stoakes ordered the arrest of Whetstone for insubordination and a variety of other charges, sending him home as a prisoner to face a court-martial before an Admiralty Court convened that same December.

Royalist Convert (1659
1662) The 27-year-old’s prospects as a naval officer having ended in disgrace, and amid growing signs that the Puritan Commonwealth was about to disintegrate through internal rivalries and popular discontent, Whetstone took the bold step of traveling to Brussels early in 1659, so as to place himself in the service of the exiled Stuart prince, Charles. Despite his family’s close connection to the deceased Cromwell, he was able to ingratiate himself as an early supporter of this new patron. The worldly Charles, a good judge of men, evidently welcomed Whetstone’s overture, which was cemented when he attempted to contact his old naval commander Montagu in the Baltic that same spring of 1659, with a royalist

proposal. Although Whetstone’s mission ended in failure, it nonetheless confirmed his loyalty to Charles. Opposition to the Commonwealth finally climaxed in England when General George Monck marched an army from Scotland into London early in 1660, restoring the old monarchist Parliament. The exiled sovereign was then welcomed home as King Charles II that same May, and even Whetstone received a knighthood in the resultant euphoria. A blanket pardon was granted to almost all Cromwellian functionaries, and was passed by Parliament that same August. Yet unfortunately for Whetstone, one of the 11 men excepted from this pardon—known as the ‘‘regicides’’ for their direct role in Charles I’s execution—was his own stepfather, Colonel Jones. The latter was arrested and promptly sentenced to be hanged, drawn, and quartered at Charing Cross on October 17, 1660 (O.S.), ‘‘for having had a hand in the murder of his Prince.’’ And although the fanatical Jones welcomed this martyrdom, the confiscation of all his properties which accompanied this sentence, left his 63-year-old wife Catherine homeless and destitute. By next spring, Whetstone was reduced to petitioning the King on March 14, 1661 (O.S.), on behalf of his penniless mother, hoping to win back part of her former Welsh estates, or at the very least her late husband’s ‘‘household stuff and her own wearing apparel, valued at £40.’’ The Royal Treasurer noted sympathetically with regard to her personal goods that ‘‘the parcels petitioned for are not of a greater value than £40, which to the wife who hath been a loyal person, and her son Sir Tho. Whitstone, a deserving gent, may be fit to be granted.’’ The question of restoring any confiscated lands, though, would have to be referred to

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Whetstone, Sir Thomas (fl. 1662
1667) the King’s younger brother James, Duke of York, with much dimmer prospects of success. Whetstone was awkwardly placed. His livelihood depended on being a very recent convert to a King now surrounded by throngs of long-term loyalists, noblemen, and many other place-seekers. His association with the dead Cromwell was unfavorably recalled by ex-Cavaliers and Roundheads alike, both of whom despised him as an opportunistic turncoat. Inevitably, Thomas fell so heavily into debt that he endured the shame of being incarcerated in Marshalsea Prison. To his credit, Charles ordered the release of the friendless Whetstone, and even gave him £100 in April 1662 ‘‘as royal bounty for his encouragement in settling a plantation in the Isle of Jamaica.’’ Other unfortunates were also to be deported to the New World at that same time, to make a new start, yet on April 28th (O.S.), Charles further wrote a note to his brother James, directing him in his capacity as Lord High Admiral of England to ‘‘make provision for Sir Thomas Whitstone to transport twelve planters to Jamaica.’’ A Royal Navy convoy was being assembled to convey Thomas, Lord Windsor, out to that Antillean colony as its first Royal Governor, aboard HMS Centurion. Whetstone’s dozen extra men, presumably indentured servants, who would be transported free of charge, would potentially prove invaluable in clearing and initiating operations on a new Jamaican plantation.

Privateer and Planter (1662
1667) Yet once in the West Indies, Whetstone first turned privateer, whom Sir

Christopher Myngs met off the Cuban coast in October 1662 while on his way to raid Santiago de Cuba. Whetstone’s ship was sighted anchored in the lee of a cay, where Myngs’s force joined him, learning that Whetstone had been operating off that coast for some time (although without a commission), with a largely Indian crew. At a conference held aboard the flagship HMS Centurion, Whetstone was able to furnish Myngs with recent intelligence, then took part in the successful English attack against that Cuban port a few days later. In 1663, Whetstone’s name was listed under ‘‘private ships of war belonging to Jamaica’’ as being in command of a 7-gun Spanish prize with a crew of 60 men. Early in November 1664 (O.S.), Whetstone played a leading role in the deposal and arrest of the Speaker of the Assembly of Jamaica, Samuel Long. Whetstone exhibited ‘‘Articles of high and treasonable crimes and misdemeanors’’ before a joint session of the Governor, Council, and Assembly, arguing that Long had illegally caused himself to be elected into that post on May 17
18, 1664 (O.S.), even after Gov. Sir Charles Littleton’s departure from that meeting and ignoring Deputy Gov. Edward Morgan’s calls for a dissolution. Long had then passed an act setting up a treasury, with himself in its charge, thus controlling the King’s revenues. A warrant for Long’s arrest was consequently issued to the Provost Marshal on November 3, 1664 (O.S.).

Capture and Death (1666
1667) He afterward became Speaker of the Jamaican House of Assembly, but in summer 1666 had the misfortune to be

Wild Coast on Providencia Island when Jos
e S
anchez Xim
enez’s force arrived to reconquer that place. Surrendering against superior numbers, the English were carried as prisoners to Portobelo by the end of August 1666, where the men were put to work on its fortifications, while Whetstone, the ex-Providence Island commander Major Samuel Smith, and an ‘‘honest old soldier’’ named Captain Stanley Stevens were marched overland to Panama. Their progression seems to have been a painful one, becoming the objects of public wrath, then flung into a dungeon on reaching Panama City. In late June 1667, Gov. Juan P
erez de Guzm
an wrote to the Queen Regent in Madrid: ‘‘I have the intention that they [the senior English captives] should never leave prison, because of the damage that one or other of them might do to us.’’ Whetstone was specifically singled out, being described by the Governor as ‘‘a man of much importance,’’ responsible for planning ‘‘all the damage done on these coasts.’’ Stanley furthermore declared under interrogation that it had been Whetstone’s ambition to arrange with ‘‘his friends and wealthy merchants’’ in London to fit out four frigates to attack the Armada del Mar del Sur of Peru. It appears Whetstone died during his incarceration, the only survivor of this captivity being Major Smith.

See also Careen; Modyford, Sir Thomas; Myngs, Sir Christopher; State’s or States’ Ships.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 5 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office; 1893
1899).

Calendar of Treasury Books, Vol. 1. Earle, Peter, The Sack of Panama: Captain Morgan and the Battle for the Caribbean (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2007). Pawson, Michael, and Buisseret, David J., Port Royal, Jamaica (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1975). Pope, Dudley, Harry Morgan’s Way: The Biography of Sir Henry Morgan, 1635
1684 (London: Secker & Warburg, 1977). Thurloe, John, A Collection of the State Papers of John Thurloe, Vols. 4
7 (London, 1742).

WILD COAST Stretch of Atlantic shoreline along the northeastern edge of South America, running from the Gulf of Paria to the Amazon River, and home to the legendary El Dorado. Its name apparently derived from the fact that this region remained unsettled long after the rest of the Americas had begun to become colonized by Europeans, partly because it fell along the boundary-line between the Spanish and Portuguese spheres of influence as drawn up by the 1493 Treaty of Tordesillas, but mostly because migrants from both Iberian nations preferred their wealthier Viceroyalties of Mexico, Peru, and Brazil. Starting during the early 17th century, Dutch seamen began establishing trade settlements along the Wild Coast— particularly in the Guianas—which they then used as springboards for ventures deeper into the Caribbean, driving Spain almost entirely out of that archipelago. During the latter decades of the 17th century, Cuman
a was considered a frontline garrison by Madrid, holding foreign

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Williams, Maurice (fl. 1659
1665) interlopers at bay from spreading into the Spanish Main, just as Saint Augustine in Florida did for the English settlers radiating out of the Carolinas. Both regions were to be frequently visited or used as havens by privateers and pirates.

Reference Goslinga, Cornelis CH., The Dutch in the Caribbean and on the Wild Coast, 1580
1680 (Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 1971).

WILLIAMS, MAURICE (fl. 1659
1665) English privateer who operated out of Jamaica. The earliest known mention of Williams’ activities occurred in May 1659, when he bought the Spanish prize Abispa (erroneously rendered as ‘‘Rabba Bispa’’ in English sources, being a misreading of its Spanish nickname of La Abispa or ‘‘the Wasp’’), which had been brought into Port Royal by the State frigate Diamond, and was sold by the authorities at auction. Williams bid £120, renamed it the Jamaica, and acquired a privateering commission. To help him fit out his new vessel, Gov. Edward D’Oyley sold Williams five cannon from the State storehouse, and issued a proclamation that allowed him to recruit seamen from the government frigate Marston Moor. Five years later, Williams was still plying the same trade, for on November 23, 1664 (O.S.), William Beeston noted in his journal at Port Royal that the rover had that day ‘‘brought in a great prize with logwood, indigo, and silver.’’ This was unusual in that the new Gov. Sir

Thomas Modyford has some months previously announced that ‘‘for the future all acts of hostility against the Spaniards should cease,’’ yet Williams was still allowed to keep this prize. On February 20, 1665 (O.S.), Modyford himself wrote to London: ‘‘The Spanish prizes have been inventoried and sold, but it is suspected that those of Morrice [sic; Maurice Williams] and Bernard Nichols have been miserably plundered, and the interested parties will find but a slender account in the Admiralty.’’ That same spring, Williams participated in a more legitimate venture, when his 18-gun Speaker served as flagship for Colonel Edward Morgan’s expedition against Dutch Sint Eustatius and Saba, on the English receiving news of the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Dutch War back in Europe. This force departed Jamaica in two divisions, five sail putting out of Port Royal on April 5, 1665, and Morgan himself following aboard Williams’ Speaker with another three on April 28th. They mustered 650 men in all, and were described in a letter by Modyford as: . . . chiefly reformed privateers, scarce a planter amongst them, being resolute fellows and well armed with fusils [Spanish word for muskets] and pistols. The Crown official was particularly pleased that they would be serving ‘‘at the old rate of no purchase, no pay, and it will cost the King nothing considerable, some powder and mortar pieces.’’ Their landing was made successfully, but the Colonel, ‘‘being a corpulent man,’’ died from heat exertion during the chase inland, so that his expedition disbanded shortly thereafter.

Windsor, Thomas, 7th Baron Windsor and 1st Earl of Plymouth (fl. 1662)

References Cruikshank, E. A., The Life of Sir Henry Morgan (Toronto: Macmillan, 1935). Interesting Tracts Relating to the Island of Jamaica (St. Jago de la Vega: Lewis, Lunan and Jones, 1800). Pawson, Michael, and Buisseret, David J., Port Royal, Jamaica (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1975). Pope, Dudley, Harry Morgan’s Way: The Biography of Sir Henry Morgan, 1635
1684 (London: Secker & Warburg, 1977).

WINDSOR, THOMAS, 7TH BARON WINDSOR AND 1ST EARL OF PLYMOUTH (fl. 1662) First Royal Governor of Jamaica, who unleashed a peacetime privateering offensive against its Spanish-American neighbors, before abruptly quitting his post. Born at Kew in Surrey in England as Thomas Hickman, CA. 1627, he was to be the only child of Dixie Hickman and Elizabeth Windsor. In 1641, his maternal uncle—the retired Rear Admiral Thomas, Baron Windsor de Stanwell—died childless, so that the 15-year-old inherited his estates the next year, assuming the joint surname of Hickman-Windsor. He served as a youthful Cavalier during the Civil War, although apparently without much distinction, despite being present at the Battle of Naseby. On the final defeat of the Royalist forces, he fled to Flanders, but a few years later returned to England and posted a surety ‘‘not to do anything prejudicial’’ against Oliver Cromwell’s

Protectorate. Thereafter, HickmanWindsor lived quietly in the countryside, ‘‘absorbed in a fruitless scheme to render the River Salwarpe navigable by means of locks, for the benefit of the salt trade at Droitwich.’’ He married Anne Saville on May 12, 1656 (O.S.), by whom he would have a son and two daughters, eccentrically christening his heir with the very odd first name of Other, so that eventually this child would go down in history as Other Windsor, 2nd Earl of Plymouth. In June 1660, after the Restoration of Charles II to the throne, Thomas Hickman-Windsor was reinstated to his family titles, once again becoming 7th Baron Windsor, in addition to Lord Lieutenant of Worcestershire. In July 1661, on the recommendation of the Committee for Foreign Plantations, Lord Windsor was appointed to supplant the Cromwellian-era commander, Colonel Edward D’Oyley, as Governor of Jamaica, with a salary of £2,000 a year. Windsor’s task of imposing Crown rule over that recently-conquered frontier outpost was considered a challenging one, so that to negate any lingering pro-Commonwealth sentiments among its disgruntled garrison, he was furnished with the back-pay and a gratuity for the island’s 1,000 neglected Cromwellian soldiers, as well as covert permission to inaugurate a privateering offensive against the local Spaniards. Madrid had only grudgingly accepted the general European peace signed three years previously, Spain’s ministers steadfastly refusing to acknowledge any English claims in the New World, in hopes of eventually reasserting their monopoly over the entire continent. As even innocent English commercialtraffic was thereby rendered illegal in Spanish courts, according to this policy,

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Windsor, Thomas, 7th Baron Windsor and 1st Earl of Plymouth (fl. 1662) Windsor’s instructions included a specific charge that if: ‘‘the King of Spain shall refuse to admit our subjects to trade with them, you shall in such case endeavor to procure and settle a trade with his subjects in those parts by force.’’ It was felt that such a license would additionally provide gainful employment for Jamaica’s wilder spirits.

Governor of Jamaica (1662) Windsor did not actually set sail with his West Indian convoy until early May 1662, yet despite such a delay—not all his fault—he was well prepared to carry out the Privy Council’s instructions, and quite enlightened regarding the colonists’ needs. He traveled aboard the 46-gun flagship HMS Centurion of Commodore Christopher Myngs, a veteran officer from Commonwealth days, who was now being restored to his former Jamaica station as its new naval commander-inchief. Windsor also appears to have been allowed to privately charter or purchase the 14-gun frigate Griffin of the Dutchborn rover, Captain Adriaen van Diemen Swart, to operate separately as a naval auxiliary under his supervision. The disgraced former Cromwellian naval Commodore, Sir Thomas Whetstone, was a member of this expedition as well, accompanied by a small group of laborers to help clear his new Jamaican plantation. All three of these seafarers—Myngs, Swart, and Whetstone—were most eager to secure leadership roles in the forthcoming privateer offensive against Spanish America. The convoy sighted Barbados by July 10, 1662 (O.S.), and Windsor disembarked next day in Carlisle Bay, to spend the next three weeks recruiting

local settlers to help bolster Jamaica’s meager civilian population. Swart was meanwhile sent on ahead with his frigate Griffin to deliver messages to the Spanish Governors of Puerto Rico and Santo Domingo, asking for permission for English ships to trade; the anticipated refusals would provide the excuse for hostilities. Griffin then proceeded to Jamaica, being mentioned in the journal of William Beeston as entering Port Royal by July 30, 1662 (O.S.), bringing in the news ‘‘that they left the Lord Windsor at Barbados, who might be expected to arrive every day.’’ The Royal Governor-designate resumed his voyage from Carlisle Bay with his convoy by August 1, 1662 (O.S.), reaching Port Royal with several hundred more settlers 10 days later. His administration started most vigorously, over one thousand unhappy Cromwellian soldiers being released from duty with full wages and a gratuity, their presence to be gradually supplanted by five volunteer militia regiments. Work also accelerated on the harbor fort (renamed Fort Charles in honor of the King), while 30 acres of land was promised to ‘‘every person, male or female, being twelve years old or upwards,’’ who was willing to become a planter. Windsor selected the old inland Spanish capital of Santiago de la Vega as his official seat (modern Spanish Town), meeting there with the already-existing Council as early as August 20, 1662 (O.S.), to announce that Griffin had returned from a second quick visit to Puerto Rico with the Spanish Governors’ written rebuffs. As these replies were deemed an ‘‘absolute denial of trade,’’ offensive measures were prepared: privateering commissions once more became available ‘‘for the

Windsor, Thomas, 7th Baron Windsor and 1st Earl of Plymouth (fl. 1662) subduing of all our enemies by sea and by land, within and upon the coast of America.’’ Two weeks later, Windsor furthermore proposed that the lawless French lair of Tortuga Island (Haiti) ‘‘be reduced under the English government, and that two or more of the Council report what is requisite for settling the possession of it.’’ On September 5 1662 (O.S.), Colonel William Mitchell was appointed Chief Judge of a new Admiralty Court to be established at Port Royal, with two other Justices seconding him on its bench. One week afterward, it was resolved ‘‘that men be enlisted for a design by sea with the Centurion and other vessels’’ against Santiago de Cuba, the advance Spanish base in their repeated attempts to reconquer Jamaica. It was also resolved to buy 20 horses to organize a ceremonial cavalry-troop for the Governor. Final instructions for Myngs’s expedition were approved by September 20, 1662 (O.S.), so that shortly after he stood out of Port Royal harbor with Centurion, Griffin, and 10 freebooter vessels bearing a total of 1,300 men—many of them former soldiers, who did not wish to take up farming or any other trade. Slowly, this formation faded from view around Point Negril at the west end of Jamaica. They made a triumphal return a month later, streaming back into harbor past Windsor’s gaze on October 21, 1662 (O.S.), with a half-dozen prizes and considerable booty. At a Council meeting celebrated only three days later, though, the Governor swore in Myngs and Captain Thomas Fuller as new members, ordered that all captives be sent to Spain by way of England as soon as possible, and then amazed the assemblage

by reading out his ‘‘permission from the King to depart to England.’’ By October 28, 1662 (O.S.), Sir Charles Lyttelton was sworn in to rule as Deputy-Governor in Windsor’s place, who went aboard the ship Bear and set sail for England that same day. ‘‘Being very sick and uneasy,’’ he had apparently decided to go home after scarcely three months in office, although the real reason for Windsor’s abrupt departure may have been financial rather than medical. He later complained that ‘‘he came back £2,000 worse off than when he went out.’’ His apparent abandonment of royal duties was disapproved on his arrival in London, where Samuel Pepys noted in his diary: ‘‘Lord Windsor being come home from Jamaica unlooked for, makes us think these young Lords are not fit to do any service abroad.’’ Windsor’s appointment was officially revoked in February 1663, and the Barbadian planter Sir Thomas Modyford was eventually ordered to transfer over to Jamaica to act as his replacement.

Later Career (1663
1687) Windsor was never to be employed again by the Crown. His wife Anne died three years after his return, on March 22, 1666 (O.S.), so that he married Ursula Widdington two years afterward, by whom he would have another seven children. In 1676, he was made Master of the Horse to the King’s brother James, Duke of York, and obtained the ceremonial title of Governor of Portsmouth five years later. Finally, he was elevated to the peerage as Earl of Plymouth in December 1682, and died on November 3, 1687 (O.S.), being buried at Tardebigg in Worcestershire, England.

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Windsor, Thomas, 7th Baron Windsor and 1st Earl of Plymouth (fl. 1662) Myngs’s Assault Santiago de Cuba, October 1662.

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At dawn, Myngs’s fleet attempted to rush Santiago de Cuba’s harbor entrance—dotted line—only to become becalmed (1). They therefore veered inshore toward the village of Aguadores by evening, landing 1,000 men at the mouth of the San Juan River (2). Advancing inland overnight, Myngs defeated a small Spanish army outside Santiago next morning (3), occupying the city and sending columns after its fleeing citizenry (4). A detachment was also sent to attack the harbor-castle from its rear (5), which the Spaniards abandoned without a fight.

Wright, George (fl. 1675
1682)

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 5 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1880). Interesting Tracts Relating to the Island of Jamaica (St. Jago de la Vega: Lewis, Lunan and Jones, 1800). Pope, Dudley, Harry Morgan’s Way: The Biography of Sir Henry Morgan, 1635
1684 (London: Secker & Warburg, 1977).

WOODRUFFE, THOMAS (fl. 1670
1689?) Named in December 1670 as one of the English Captains for Henry Morgan’s forthcoming expedition against Panama and given command of the tiny 12-ton sloop William, bearing 30 men. Whether or not it is the same man, a Master named ‘‘Thomas Woodroffe’’ also filed a deposition at Port Royal on February 8, 1689 (O.S.), complaining of ‘‘the plunder of his sloop’’ among the South Cays of Cuba by the corsair Juan Nicol
as.

See also Document 8: Morgan’s Fleet at the end of this volume.

In March 1683, Woolley was lying at New Providence along with Captains Markham, Jan Corneliszoon (commanding a brigantine out of New York), and the French flibustier Br
eha, preparing to go ‘‘fish silver from a Spanish wreck.’’ There then arrived Captain Thomas Paine of the bark Pearl, with eight guns, 60 men, and a license from Gov. Sir Thomas Lynch of Jamaica to hunt pirates. The five decided to avail themselves of Paine’s commission, and raid the nearby Spanish outpost of Saint Augustine, Florida. They therefore landed under French colors, but found the Spaniards alerted, so merely looted the countryside and withdrew after releasing some captives whom they had brought with them. Returning to the Bahamas, Woolley and Corneliszoon apparently proceeded to the Spanish wreck site, while the other three reentered New Providence. When Gov. Robert Lilburne visited the wreck site a few weeks later, he found all the rovers gone.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898).

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 13 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1901).

WOOLLEY, CONWAY (fl. 1683) English privateer who operated out of the Bahamas.

WRIGHT, GEORGE (fl. 1675
1682) English privateer who served under French colors. When England withdrew from the war against The Netherlands early in 1674, many of its West Indian corsairs shifted allegiance to continue privateering. Wright was one such commander, obtaining a commission from the French

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Wright, George (fl. 1675
1682) authorities on Saint-Domingue to serve against the Dutch and Spaniards. On March 26, 1675 (O.S.), the new Deputy Governor of Jamaica, Sir Henry Morgan, drafted a letter promising Wright and his fellow rovers a friendly reception at Port Royal if they were to come in and cease their attacks on behalf of France, which although legitimate, were embarrassing the English Crown. Morgan furthermore added that he hoped ‘‘their experience of him will give him the reputation that he intends not to betray them,’’ suggesting Wright may have known Morgan from his Panama days. This proposal was never sent, however, as the Jamaican authorities preferred other measures to recall English subjects from foreign service. Wright continued under French colors, and in early June 1681 was at Springer’s Key in the San Blas Islands north of Panama along with John Coxon, Jan Willems, Jean Rose, and four other captains. Wright was sent with his barco luengo of four guns and 40 men to gather intelligence at Chagres, for a possible overland attack against Panama. He duly captured a piragua laden with flour, and returned with this prize and prisoners to report. An hour after his arrival, the ship of Capitaine Jean Tristan joined Coxon’s formation, having rescued John Cooke’s band of buccaneers at nearby La Sound’s Key after their adventures in the South Sea. Among this group was William Dampier, who noted: ‘‘All the commanders were aboard of Captain Wright when we came into the fleet.’’ The buccaneers decided to make a descent against the Central American coast, for which they first sailed to San Andr
es Island to procure boats. A gale scattered the formation, and Wright

chanced on a Spanish tartan armed with four pedreros or ‘‘swivel-guns’’ and 30 men, capturing it after an hourlong fight and learning that it was part of a larger armadilla sent from Cartagena to drive the pirates away. Cooke, Dampier, and the other English rovers who had arrived from the South Sea, and were now serving with Capitaine Archaimbaud: . . . desired Captain Wright to fit up his prize the tartan and make a man o’ war of her for us, which he at first seemed to decline, because he was settled among the French in Hispaniola, and was very well beloved both by the Governor of Petit-Go^ave and all the gentry; and they would resent it ill that Captain Wright, who had no occasion of men, should be so unkind to Capitaine Archembo [sic] as to seduce his men from him. Nevertheless, when the English insisted, Wright relented on condition that they ‘‘should be under his command, as one ship’s company.’’ Ten days later, Wright quit San Andr
es, as no one other than Archaimbaud and Capitaine Toccard had reached the rendezvous. Returning to Bocas del Toro (on the northwest coast of presentday Panama), Wright discovered from Willems that the rest had been scattered by the Spanish armadilla. The two captains therefore sailed together to Cartagena, seized some boats, then returned to the San Blas Islands for forage. Capturing some coastal traders laden with ‘‘corn, hog, and fowls,’’ as well as rescuing Lionel Wafer, they repaired near Darien to careen. They then prowled past Cartagena, Santa Marta, and Rı´ohacha, before reversing course and

Wroth, Peter (fl. 1660s
1670s) intercepting a 12-gun Spanish merchantman from Santiago de Cuba, as it approached the Spanish Main. Wright burnt his bark and assumed command of Willems’ ship, in exchange for the Cuban prize. The buccaneers deposited their captives at Rı´ohacha, and in midNovember 1681 made toward Curac¸ao to dispose of their cargo of Cuban sugar, tobacco, ‘‘and 8 or 10 tons of marmalade.’’ Arriving off that Dutch island: Captain Wright went ashore to the Governor [Nikolaas van Liebergen] and offered him the sale of the sugar, but the Governor told him he had a great trade with the Spaniards, therefore he could not admit us in there; but if we could go to Saint Thomas, which is an island and free port belonging to the Danes and a sanctuary for privateers, he would send a sloop with such goods as we wanted, and money to buy the sugar, which he would take at a certain rate; but it was not agreed to. Instead, Wright and Willems sailed to Bonaire, where they met a Dutch sloop recently arrived from Europe with Irish beef, which they bought in exchange for some of their cargo. They then visited the Aves Islands, where Wright careened his bark, while Willems’ was scrubbed, and two guns fished from the wreck of the Duc d’Estr
ees’s fleet. In mid-February 1682, the buccaneers crossed to Los Roques, where Willems’ vessel was careened, and 10 tons of sugar sold to a passing French warship of 36 guns. In April 1682, they reached the ‘‘Salt Tortugas’’ Island off Venezuela, then attempted to tack upwind to Trinidad, but were driven back to Blanquilla. Ten days

later, they returned to the Salt Tortugas, where Willems left Wright’s company. In a quarrelsome mood because of this inactivity, Wright and his remaining men raided the coast of Caracas, capturing three barks with assorted goods. They then repaired to Los Roques, dividing the booty and separating.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 9 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1893
1899). Dampier, William, A New Voyage Round the World (New York: Dover, 1968). Pope, Dudley, Harry Morgan’s Way: The Biography of Sir Henry Morgan, 1635
1684 (London: Secker & Warburg, 1977).

WROTH, PETER (fl. 1660s
1670s) English privateer who operated out of Barbados during the Second and Third Anglo-Dutch Wars. Wroth was the younger brother of Sir John Wroth of Kent, England, and emigrated to seek his fortune in the Lesser Antilles. When news of the Third Anglo-Dutch War reached Barbados during the latter half of 1672, Gov. Sir William Stapleton of the Leeward Islands issued him a privateering commission to go seek ‘‘purchase in the Dutch plantations of Guiana.’’ Wroth was already familiar with campaigning on the Wild Coast, having fought in the conquest of Suriname during the previous conflict. Therefore, he approached the mouth of the Suriname River late in March

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Wroth, Peter (fl. 1660s
1670s) 1673 with his s6-gun, 20-ton sloop Little Kitt, manned by 30 men. Wroth’s intention was to obtain supplies by raiding the turtling camp at Three Creeks, but he found the waterway blocked up by the Dutch. However, from conversations with several colonists, he also learned that a small Dutch naval squadron had just arrived with reinforcements, ‘‘which next spring tide intended to go to Virginia to do what mischief they could.’’ Realizing that this constituted important military intelligence, he immediately departed with a 15-year-old captive called Jan Madder, pausing at Isakebe on the Demerara coast to take on

provisions. Having obtained some from the Carib Indians of the Amecouza River, he proceeded to Barbados with his report, which was eventually forwarded to London, and brought to the attention of Charles II and the Lords of the Admiralty.

Reference Shomette, Donald G. and Haslach, Robert D., Raid on America: The Dutch Naval Campaign of 1672
1674 (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1988).

Y
Z This part of the world is full of privateers. —A letter from Antigua, July 1695

remaining there for many months. His suit did not prosper despite the support of the Ambassador; the most galling incident occurred when his former ship arrived at the port of San Sebasti
an from South America, flying Spanish colors. Zoby again petitioned for its release, but was denied, leading him to conclude that ‘‘no justice is to be looked for from Spain.’’ He therefore sought letters-of-reprisal from the English government to extract his own compensation, which were apparently granted.

YELLOWS, CAPTAIN See Lescat, Jelles de

ZOBY, JOSEPH (fl. 1678
1683) English merchant-adventurer victimized by the Spaniards in South America, for which he sought letters-of-reprisal. In 1678, Zoby departed on a trading voyage, allegedly for the West Indies —although he actually traveled much farther south, and eventually put into Rı´o de la Plata ‘‘to victual.’’ There, his ship was seized for violating Spain’s trade monopoly and sold off as a legitimate prize. Zoby returned to England to complain, and even traveled to the English Embassy in Madrid to seek restitution from the Spanish Crown,

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898).

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Documents

DOCUMENT 1.
LETTER-OF-REPRISAL GRANTED TO THE NEW ENGLANDER, EDWARD GIBBONS, JANUARY 1651 A bitter rivalry had raged for years between French Acadia’s resident trader and pri
vate Governor Charles de Saint-Etienne, Seigneur de La Tour, and the royallyappointed Deputy-Governor Charles de Menou, Seigneur d’Aulnay. Consequently, when one of La Tour’s ships entered the Bay of Fundy in April 1643 to replenish his fortified trading-outpost at the mouth of the Saint John River—the richest source of pelts in that entire region—it found its passage blocked by three of d’Aulnay’s vessels. La Tour therefore slipped out of his besieged outpost, turned his supply ship around, and sailed to Boston to secure help. On arriving there, La Tour recruited the assistance of militia Major-General Edward Gibbons, with four ships and a body of soldiers, against a promise of future payment. This force easily broke d’Aulnay’s blockade, chased the Deputy-Governor back into Port-Royal, and burned his property, so that he shortly thereafter fled for Paris to complain before King Louis. Meanwhile, La Tour resumed his trading business, with Gibbons now a full-fledged partner, until d’Aulnay returned from France in September 1644 with a purchased warship and some hired troops. Next April 1645, while La Tour was absent visiting Gibbons in Boston, the trading-outpost was overrun and destroyed. A despondent La Tour retired to Quebec City, still in Gibbons’ debt. Failing to obtain any satisfaction for his claim, the Major-General finally resorted to an appeal to London, requesting permission for a

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Documents private recourse to arms. The Commonwealth ministers duly sent the following warrant to the Judges of the Admiralty in January 1651: Whereas Edward Gibbons, residing in New England, hath been much damnified and suffered great loss by means of one Monsieur De Aulney [sic], a Frenchman, who hath by force taken and still keepeth in possession a fort or place of trade with the natives of that country, which was made over to the said Gibbons by Monsieur Latore [sic] for the satisfying of a debt of about three thousand pounds sterling: We have granted to the said Edward Gibbons letters-of-marque against the French, for the obtaining of satisfaction for his said losses so sustained, together with interest, costs and charges, and other damages as he shall expend for the recovery thereof; And do hereby authorize you to issue the same by way of commission under the great seal of the High Court of Admiralty, according to the articles agreed on by this Council, and remaining with you. Given at the Council of State at Whitehall, this 30th of January 1650 [1651 O.S.]. This document, one of the earliest letters-of-reprisal authorized for North America, was published in Volume 2 of Reginald G. Marsden’s Documents Relating to Law and Custom of the Sea, published by the Navy Records Society in 1916. Source: Letter-of-Reprisal Granted to the New Englander, Edward Gibbons, January 1651. R. G. Marsden (ed.), Documents Relating to the Law and Custom of the Sea, 2 vols., Navy Records Society Publications vols 49
50 (London: Navy Records Society, 1915
16), vol. 2.

DOCUMENT 2.
SUSPENSION OF SPANISH PRIVATEERING COMMISSIONS, MARCH 1655 Bankrupt and enfeebled by decades of economic decline, Madrid’s ministers recognized by the middle of the 17th century their inability to strictly enforce dictates over their far-flung American empire. Even royal Admirals and plate-fleet commanders were being suspected of routinely flouting and defrauding the Royal Exchequer during their annual trans-Atlantic voyages, so that unsupervised forays by lone Spanish privateers came to be viewed more dimly still, as evinced by the following royal order—emitted in the name of King Philip IV by his Secretary for the Council of Indies on March 2, 1655. Given that Portugal had already thrown off joint rule from Spain 15 years previously, resulting in a state of perpetual yet inactive warfare between both Crowns, this royal command began by observing: Experience has shown the great inconveniences and damage which result from the permits granted to different persons to sally as privateers with their own ships and other vessels, as under said entitlement and that the rebels of Portugal are comprehended within it, they venture as far as Brazil—without this being their intent, rather merely to trade, and so they go straight to the port of Buenos Aires and others of the Indies, from where they extract silver in unminted bars, cones,

Documents and rods that have not yet been charged the royal fifth, in this manner draining that which is covertly being removed without paying my royal fifths at Potos
ı and other mining centers of those provinces, which are large sums; and they do so by selling blacks and other goods, which is also prohibited, so that in addition to the considerable prejudice which results to my Exchequer, the Merchant Guilds of Seville and Lima also contemplate their own ruin and collapse from decreased revenues out of those provinces. And my Council of Indies having conferred on this, and consulted with me over what seems most convenient, taking into account the damage which results by granting such wide-ranging licenses, as under pretext of going to conduct hostilities against the Portuguese and other enemies of my Crown, they aver that they may also reach the coasts of Brazil, at which time they will find an excuse to make an unauthorized arrival at the port of Buenos Aires and others of the Indies: I have resolved that to remedy this, all such privateering licenses be completely banned, so that my War Council and all others with faculties to issue them, shall refuse to do so and the door will be entirely closed to this type of permits, as I have commanded. And in the event that they be not totally prohibited, it is to be specifically stated in those commissions which are granted, that recipients are not to sail under any pretext to the coasts of Brazil or the Indies, and if they should do so, they will be subject to impoundment and other penalties established under the ordinances of the Trade of Indies; which I have chosen to apprise you of; and I order and command you (as I do) that you forthwith publish it in all ports of those coasts, ordering [local] ministers to impose the inserted resolution on all privateer ships which should arrive, under whatever pretext, impounding them and whatever goods they might carry, and condemning them to the other penalties called for in the ordinances of the Trade of Indies; and by another c
edula of this same date, I have commanded that this order be published in all the ports of Spain and other convenient spots. This particular copy was sent, among dozens of other official dispatches, to the Mexican Viceroy Francisco Fern
andez de la Cueva y Enr
ıquez, Duque de Alburquerque, and is today preserved in Mexico’s Archivo General de la Naci
on, Series Reales C
edulas (Originales), Volume 5, Expediente 61, Folios 144
145. Source: Suspension of Spanish Privateering Commissions, March 1655. Archivo General de la Naci
on de M
exico, Series Reales C
edulas (Originales), Volume 5, Expediente 61, Folios 144
145.

DOCUMENT 3.
PRIVATEERING COMMISSION AND INSTRUCTIONS ISSUED BY THE JAMAICAN GOVERNOR TO GEORGE BRIMACAIN, SEPTEMBER 1662 When the young nobleman Thomas, Lord Windsor, reached Port Cagway as this island’s first Royal Governor on August 11, 1662 (O.S.), he almost immediately signaled the commencement of a vigorous new privateering offensive against Spanish

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Documents America, despite the peace prevailing between both governments back in Europe. A month of inaugural activities culminated when the Jamaican Council agreed to his proposal ‘‘that men be enlisted for a design by sea’’ against Santiago de Cuba, and ships began to fit out in earnest for such an expedition. Amid feverish preparations in that harbor a few days later, the Governor issued the following commission and set of instructions to George Brimacain on September 18, 1662 (O.S.), authorizing him to sortie with his 6-gun, 70-man frigate Fortune; as well as giving similar sets to five other Captains. Both of Brimacain’s documents are reproduced here below, in their entirety: Thomas, Lord Windsor, Peer of the Realm of England, Lord Lieutenant of the County of Worcester, and of the city and county of the same, Governor of Jamaica and islands thereto adjacent, Commander-in-Chief there of all the forces by sea and land, and Vice-Admiral to His Royal Highness the Duke of York in the American Seas. To George Brimacam [sic], greetings: WHEREAS His Most Sacred Majesty having taken into his serious consideration, and apprehending that diverse well-affected people of his Kingdom of England and other his Dominions and Territories have sustained great wrongs, losses, and damages as well at sea in their ships, goods, wares, and merchandises, being pillaged, spoiled, surprised, and taken by the ships and subjects of the King of Spain, as by diverse unlawful seizures, wrongs, and violences used against both their persons and goods in several ports and on shore in his Dominions in America; and the Spanish Governor refusing and utterly revoking all commerce and trade, contrary to justice and all manner of civil correspondence betwixt prince and prince and to the lawful nations, to the manifest prejudice and destruction to the trade, commerce, and navigation of the King, my Master’s, subjects; THEREFORE know ye that by virtue of authority derived from His Most Excellent Majesty and His Royal Highness the Duke of York, that I do thereby give and grant unto you, the said George Brimacam, the command of the good ship or frigate called the Fortune, a private man-of-war, which he (the said George Brimacam) has armed in a warlike manner, and armed, equipped, and furnished to all intents and purposes whatsoever; AND FURTHER know ye that by authority thereof, I do license and authorize the said Captain George Brimacam to set forth to sea the said ship the Fortune and therewith to apprehend, take, seize, or surprise, or by force of arms to set upon, take, and apprehend any of the ships, goods, wares, and merchandises of the said King of Spain, or any of his subjects whatsoever, upon the high land, open seas, or any of ports or harbors within the dominions and territories of the said King of Spain in America, or any other person without license first obtained carrying to them men, ammunitions, or provisions; and the same ships, goods, wares, and merchandises so taken, do without delay, or any prisoner whatsoever, bring into the harbor of Point Cagway within this Island of Jamaica, without breach of bulk or embezzlement of any pays, bills of lading, charter-parties, dockets, or other documents and writings whatsoever which may concern the said prize, and shall

Documents not dispose or alter the property thereof until the same be legally adjudged in the Court of Admiralty here established in Jamaica, the tenths and fifteenths of all such prizes, or the full value thereof, first duly taken out and paid to such persons as shall be by me nominated and appointed to the use of the King, my Master, or His Royal Highness the Duke of York; And that it shall and may be lawful for any subject of the King, my Master, whatsoever either in his own person to serve or otherwise to bear charge and adventure or in any sort further, or to set forward the said enterprise by virtue of these presents; and that it shall and may be lawful for all persons whatsoever, being subjects of the King, my Master, or any others, to contract, bargain for, or buy the said ship or ship’s goods, wares, and merchandises whatsoever perishable or other lawful cause seeming fit to the judge of the said Court of Admiralty without any danger, hindrance, loss, trouble, or molestation whatsoever provided always; and it is the true intent and meaning of these presents that you neither do, permit, or suffer to be done any violence or injury to the ships, goods, wares, and merchandises presently belonging to the subjects of any prince or state in league or amity with the King, my Master, to whose aid and assistance I recommend you. My execution of this commission, whereof you shall enjoy the benefit and the same continue in full force and virtue for the space of ten months next ensuing the date hereof, unless I shall for just reasons in the meantime think fit to revoke the same, whereof you shall have timely notice. Passed and registered in the said Court of Admiralty, and given under my hand at Point Cagway, the eighteenth day of September in the fourteenth year of the reign of Our Sovereign Lord, Charles the Second, by the Grace of God King of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, etc., and Lord of Jamaica, and in the year of Our Lord 1662. Windsor Instructions which are to be observed, performed, fulfilled, and kept by George Brimacam, commander of the frigate called the Fortune. 1. You shall give all due respect and obedience to such petitions as His Royal Highness or myself shall give to any vessel at sea, and shall not presume in any degree to violate or infringe the same. 2. Upon taking any ship or vessel, you shall forthwith cause an inventory to be taken of all bills of lading and other goods omitted out of such bills, without breaking of bulk; and you shall deliver a copy of the inventory signed by yourself and the chief officers of your ship to the judge of Admiralty at Jamaica; and you shall, as soon as you are possessed of any such ship, seal up decks and not suffer any bulk to be broken, until adjudication be first obtained. 3. Upon taking any vessel, you shall immediately cause the master and other officers of the said ship so taken to be examined, touching the design of their voyage, from whence they came and whether they are bound, with such other questions as you shall think fit to demand, which examination shall be reduced into writing

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Documents and delivered to the judge of the Court of Admiralty here established; and if the said prize seem doubtful, then you shall keep the said master and other officers so taken till they be personally all examined by the said judge, if he sees cause. 4. Upon your going on shore in any place whatsoever after the taking of a prize, or upon your arrival and coming to anchor in the harbor of Point Cagway in Jamaica, you shall neither suffer seaman or soldier, or any other person whatsoever, either of your own ship or belonging to the prize, to come on shore before they be searched and examined what they carry with them. 5. Upon bringing in a prize into the harbor of Point Cagway in Jamaica, and adjudication thereupon obtained, the fifteenths due unto His Majesty’s and the tenths due unto His Royal Highness the Duke of York, and the just fees of the Court, shall be first deducted and paid before any particular division be made between owners, victuallers, and seamen. 6. You shall not suffer any officer, seaman, or soldier whatsoever embezzle, cancel, or throw overboard any writing whatsoever found in any ship, and to break open any packets before they be brought to you; and you shall cause all the said writings so taken to be delivered to the said judge. 7. You shall not presume to take any commission from any other prince, and if you shall take any such commission, I do hereby declare that from that time the commission you have received from me, stands revoked and is determined. Given under my hand at Point Cagway, the eighteenth day of September, in the year of Our Lord 1662. Windsor The originals of these two documents are today held together by the National Archives of the UK, under the reference call-number: PRO HCA 49/59, f. 92. Source: Privateering Commission and Instructions Issued by the Jamaican Governor to George Brimacain, September 1662. Original documents held by The National Archives, UK. PRO HCA 49/59, f. 92.

DOCUMENT 4.
LORD WINDSOR’S INSTRUCTIONS TO COMMODORE MYNGS ‘‘TO SETTLE A TRADE BY FORCE’’ UPON THE SPANIARDS, SEPTEMBER 1662 Two days after the preceding commissions had begun to be issued to Jamaica’s privateers, the island’s new Royal Governor also compiled the following justification for the strike which he was launching against Santiago de Cuba, as well as rules to govern the conduct of that campaign. The illogic behind this new approach, of attempting ‘‘to settle free commerce and trade with the subjects of the King of Spain in his dominions in America’’ by a resort to arms, would be echoed by future generations of rovers:

Documents His Majesty, out of his royal tenderness and care of his subjects, hath directed me by his instructions, which I have received, to use all ways and means to settle free commerce and trade with the subjects of the King of Spain in his dominions in America, and in obedience to his princely commands I have communicated the same by a special messenger to the Governors of Porto Rico and St. Domingo, whose answer expresseth their adherency to their former practices in denying us traffic, thereby engrossing to themselves the riches of the Indies, contrary to use and custom of all governments and the laws of nations; all which hath been freely debated by the Council here upon the 7, 14 [September 1662 O.S.], and additional instructions given me by His Majesty. Whereupon it was resolved, in pursuance of the same, that endeavor should be used to settle a trade by force or otherwise; for which end and purpose, according to the order you have received, you shall make sail with your frigate [HMS Centurion], the Griffith, and other private frigates of war taken into your assistance, according to the instructions following: 1. You shall receive into the frigate under your command [HMS Centurion], the Griffith, and other the private men of war taken for your assistance, all such volunteers, inhabitants of this island of Jamaica, being well armed, who shall willingly victual themselves for such time as the service and design on which you are commanded may necessarily require. 2. You shall (wind and weather serving) set sail with the frigate under your command, the Griffith, and other private frigates of war to the neighboring coast of the King of Spain’s dominions; and there you shall take, seize, and surprise or otherwise by force destroy all or any of the King of Spain or his subjects’ ships and vessels, or any others trading with him or carrying men, women, or ammunition to him without license from His Royal Highness the Duke of York, Lord High Admiral, or myself. 3. When you are upon the coast of the King of Spain’s dominions, and shall then find a probable and fit occasion of taking any of his castles, forts, or towns, you shall call to your assistance and counsel such persons in command with you in this design as you shall find able and discreet, to advise with in so weighty a matter; and if upon mature deliberation, it be resolved by you that any the towns and forts may be easily attempted without eminent hazard to the fleet, you have hereby power, by virtue of the aforesaid instructions given me by His Majesty, to subdue, take, and destroy the same by force or otherwise, by which means possibly other places in the King of Spain’s dominions may be better inclined to receive the settlement of a trade for His Majesty’s subjects. 4. When you shall have taken any ships or vessels, you are in all things to observe such customs and rules limited to the King’s men of war in His Majesty’s High Court of Admiralty, that the said ships and vessels may be the safer brought into this port to receive sentence and judgment from the Court of Admiralty in Jamaica. And you are likewise to make it your care to give full directions to the private men of war, that they and either of them, shall punctually observe their

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Documents commands and instructions they have received upon the taking of any ship or ships by them or any of them. 5. For the better regulating of the soldiers and mariners under your charge, you shall call court-martials, and to proceed in all things during this expedition according to the laws of war, life, and limb excepted. 6. You shall make choice of qualified persons of the late army as are now willing to adventure with you, to be commanders over the volunteer landsmen, and your order shall be sufficient for them, or either of them, to act or officiate in any of their respective places you shall see cause to entrust them in. 7. You shall in this affair committed to your charge, have a very circumspect and wary eye over the Spanish forces by sea or land, that you may the better prevent their assaults or ambuscadoes, and you are to have due regard lest any treacherous person or persons be in the fleet, that by this conveniency may have opportunity to betray you; and you shall not with these ships under your command continue longer forth in this expedition than the space of a calendar month, unless wind and weather hinder, and the occasion of service (being fair and encouraging), absolutely require your stay fully to effect and dispatch the same, for the honor and reputation of the King, our Master, and the advantage of his subjects in this island. Forasmuch as all men are mortal and you may die, as well in the time of the voyage as the time of action, and that these forces be not left without a due and orderly conduct, these are in case of your death to authorize and appoint Captain Thomas Morgan [of HMS Centurion] to command in chief the volunteer landsmen, and if on shore to command all the forces then landed, and Captain Adrian Van Diemen Swart [of the privateer Griffith] to command by sea, and from the frigate Griffith under his command to issue out his orders to the Lieutenant and Master of His Majesty’s ship Centurion and the commanders of other vessels; and if it so happen that the said Captain Myngs should die before the time of action, then that the said Captain Swart return, bringing back in the Centurion, Griffith, and some other vessels all the volunteer landsmen, and to direct the private men of war to pursue their commissions and instructions which I have given them. But if the said Captain Myngs in the time of action shall be disabled by wounds or otherwise, then the said Captain Morgan shall prosecute the enterprise, yet with this caution and care, that he pursue the same no farther then the necessity of the present engagement compels and obligeth him so to do. But that in all things this diligence be had, both by the said Captain Swart and Captain Morgan, that all their forces be drawn off and retired to their ships with safety and good order for their return to this, His Majesty’s island of Jamaica and harbor of Point Cagway. Dated the 20th of September 1662. These raiders made a triumphal return into Port Cagway almost precisely one month later, streaming into its harbor past Windsor’s gaze on October 21, 1662 (O.S.), bringing in a half-dozen prizes and considerable booty. One week afterward, the Governor resigned and took ship for England.

Documents Source: Lord Windsor’s Instructions to Commodore Myngs ‘‘To Settle a Trade by Force’’ Upon the Spaniards, September 1662. Privateering Commission Issued by the Exiled English King James II, June 1691. Reginald G. Marsden, compiler and editor. Documents Relating to the Law and Custom of the Sea. London: Navy Records Society, 1916, Volume 2, pp. 41
45.

DOCUMENT 5.
RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF JAMAICA, IN FAVOR OF CONTINUING TO ISSUE PRIVATEERING COMMISSIONS AGAINST SPANISH AMERICA, FEBRUARY 1666 The early foreign outposts in the West Indies relied on buccaneers for more than mere defense. Being thoroughly familiar with local waters and conditions, they also provided a significant proportion of all economic life, as a result of their wide-ranging forays. Whatever vexation might be caused for Crown ministers in distant Europe by their actions, even during peacetime, regional officials still prized their repeated visits. For example, when Jamaica’s Governor Sir Thomas Modyford and his younger brother, MajorGeneral James Modyford, presided over a meeting of its Council at the inland capital of Santiago de la Vega on February 22, 1666 (O.S.), this was read into the official minutes: Resolved: that it is to the interest of the island to have letters-of-marque granted against the Spaniard. 1. Because it furnishes the island with many necessary commodities at easy rates. 2. It replenishes the island with coin, bullion, cocoa, logwood, hides, tallow, indigo, cochineal, and many other commodities, whereby the men of New England are invited to bring their provisions, and many merchants to reside at Port Royal. 3. It helps the poorer planters, by selling provisions to the men-of-war. 4. It hath and will enable many to buy slaves and settle plantations, as Harmenson, Guy, Brimacain, and many others who have considerable plantations. 5. It draws down yearly from the Windward Islands many a hundred of English, French, and Dutch, many of whom turn planters. 6. It is the only means to keep the buccaneers on Hispaniola, Tortugas, and the South and North Cays of Cuba from being their enemies, and infesting their sea-side plantations. 7. It is a great security to the island that the men-of-war often intercept Spanish advices, and give intelligence to the Governor; which they often did in Col. D’Oyley’s time and since. 8. The said men-of-war bring no small benefit to His Majesty and Royal Highness, by the 15ths and 10ths.

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Documents 9. They keep many able artificers at work in Port Royal and elsewhere, at extraordinary wages. 10. Whatsoever they get, the soberer part bestow in strengthening their old ships, which in time will grow formidable. 11. They are of great reputation to this island and of terror to the Spaniard, and keep up a high and military spirit in all the inhabitants. 12. It seems to be the only means to force the Spaniards, in time, to a free trade, all ways of kindness producing nothing of good neighborhood; for though all old commissions have been called in and no new ones granted, and many of their ships restored, yet they continue all acts of hostility, taking our ships and murdering our people, making them work at their fortifications and then sending them into Spain, and very lately they denied an English fleet bound for the Dutch colonies wood, water, or provisions. For which reasons it was unanimously concluded, that the granting of said commissions did extraordinarily conduce to the strengthening, preservation, enriching, and advancing the settlement of this island. The fleet referred to under this resolution’s twelfth and final heading was the expedition that the late Lieutenant-Governor Colonel Edward Morgan had led against the Dutch in April 1665 and that was refused refreshment during its stopover at Santo Domingo while beating upwind to attack Sint Eustatius. The document is reproduced from the Calendar of State Papers, Colonial America and West Indies, Volume 5 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1880), p. 358. Source: Resolution of the Council of Jamaica, In Favor of Continuing to Issue Privateering Commissions Against Spanish America, February 1666. Calendar of State Papers, Colonial America and West Indies, Volume 5: 1661
1668 (London, 1880), pp. 358.

DOCUMENT 6.
DISASTER ABOARD THE OXFORD, JANUARY 1669 Two months after returning into Port Royal from his cruel sack of Portobelo, Henry Morgan sortied again in early October 1668, calling on freebooters everywhere to rendezvous with him at Ile- a-Vache (off southwestern Haiti), for yet another semiofficial strike against Spanish America. A small fleet slowly mustered there under his orders by year’s end, the Captains debating possible options, given their strength. A decision had finally been reached on the morning of January 2, 1669 (O.S.), to attempt Cartagena, before calamity struck. The surgeon Richard Browne, one of the few survivors aboard Morgan’s flagship—besides the Admiral himself—wrote the following account two-and-a-half weeks later: Upon the 29th of December 1668/9 [O.S.], His Majesty’s ship Oxford, Captain Edward Collier commander, came to anchor at the Isle of Vaccous [sic] upon the

Documents coast of Hispaniola, there being several English frigates (privateers belonging to Jamaica) and two French men-of-war, one a small one of 4 guns belonging to Tortudos, the other of 18 guns mounted and 6 brass peteraroes (called the Cour Volant) of Rochelle, Captain La Viven commander. Captain Collier having notice that La Viven was he that robbed one Mr. Isaac Rush of Virginia, master of the good ship called the Commonwealth, of twelve barrels of pork, one barrel of butter, and a barrel of flour, sent his lieutenant to command him aboard, who returned this answer: ‘‘that it was not usual for any Captain of a man-of-war of France to be commanded out of his ship.’’ But the next morning early, Captain Collier weighed and came close to him, intending to board him, but Monsieur Le Vivon perceiving his intention, cried out a-main, that he would come aboard, and immediately came aboard. And Captain Collier came to anchor close by his side. Being aboard, Captain Collier demanded to see his commission. Vivon made several evasions, that he could not know by it, being stowed out of the way, but at last produced one from Monsieur La Beaufort to Captain Viven, commander of the ship Cour Volant. But on his taking of Rush’s provisions, he went under the name of Captain La Roche, belonging to Toulon. The very next day, Mr. Rush came into the Isle of Vaccus, and came aboard the Oxford, and then and there did maintain it that he, the said La Rocher alias La Viven, did rob and take away from him in October last, near the Isle of Vacas in Hispaniola, twelve barrels of pork, one barrel of butter, one barrel of flour, without giving him any money, goods, or bill, things being much desired by the said Rush, but Mr. La Viven refused all and said that if it had been a ship of the King of England of 24 guns, he would have done the same. Captain Collier being no way satisfied, but that the said Captain Viven was a pirate and in order to his trial, brought him with his ship into Jamaica. Captain Collier commanded all the French aboard the Oxford, which were in number 45; the rest were ashore upon Hispaniola a-hunting. Upon the 2nd of January [1669 O.S.], about 10 o’clock in the morning, there was a council of war held aboard the Oxford by Admiral Morgan, Captain Collyer, Captain Pennant, Captain Aylett, Captain Bigford, Captain Morris senior, Captain Morris junior, Captain Brewer, Captain Thornbery. And about 12 o’clock it ended, and the Captain ordered to fire 15 guns upon their design to go to attack Cartagena with these ships they had then, and two or three more they expected, with Monsieur La Viven’s ship, which they had in possession, and all the men they could make, when we were then with our ship and all, which had 180 odd men, could not exceed nine hundred. But about 12 o’clock the scene was altered, for all the Captains being at dinner upon the quarter-deck and the French Captain also, the Oxford blew up and above 200 men lost, whereof Captain Aylett, commander of the Lilly, late commander of the Foresight in England, Captain Bigford, Captain Morris, Captain Thornbery, Captain Whiting were all the commanders lost. There were but six men and four boys that belonged to the Oxford saved: Captain Collier; Mr. Thomas Vinner, master; Mr. Richard Norman, master’s mate; Mr. Richard Browne, surgeon; the cook, and eight more that were aboard the French prize, some few a-hunting, and others washing their clothes ashore.

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Documents It cannot be imagined how this sad accident happened, but suppose the negligence of the gunner in filling powder to load the guns, who little before were discharged. At the time of the blowing up the ship, Captain Whiting, the purser, and myself were at dinner at the binnacle, taking our dinners. The mainmast jumped up out of the ship and fell upon the starboard quarter, where Captain Aylett, Captain Bigford, and some other Captains were walking and were all knocked on the head by the mainmast, and Captain Whiting, who was on my right hand and the purser on my left, and was out-angled in the awning and so drowned. And thank be to God, I am escaped. I only heard a great rushing noise, with fire and smoke, and the battlements of the awning being on fire fell upon me, and immediately I felt the deck give way and was in the water over head and dived, and presently bore up again and saved myself by getting astride upon the mizzenmast. There were not above 20 persons of all sorts of people from other ships and our own company that were saved, and most of them much hurt. All them that were upon deck or any part of the ship, were all lost, except those upon the quarter-deck. Boats coming to save those were upon the wreck, they carried us upon Captain Viven’s ship, which before we had taken. And upon the 6th of January [1669 O.S.], Captain Collier set sail in her for Jamaica, and the 9th we arrived at Jamaica, and upon the 18th of January 1668/9 [O.S.], Captain Vivon was tried at an Admiralty Court in Port Royal before the Honorable Sir James Modyford, Judge of the Admiralty. Mr. Le Viven was condemned as a pirate, and the ship, pirate’s goods. After sentence, Mr. Le Viven appealed for his life to His Excellency Sir Thomas Modyford, which was granted him. This day we have news from the fleet that they are driven to the windward of the Isle of Vacas, alias Ash, upon Hispaniola, but upon what design not yet known. Sir, I have no news but that I am, Your most humble servant, Rich. Browne. Port Royal in Jamaica, January 20th, 1668/9 [O.S.] This original letter is still preserved today by Britain’s National Archives, under its former call-number of Public Record Office, Colonial Office 1/33, no. 103A. Source: Browne, Richard. Disaster Aboard the Oxford, Port Royal in Jamaica, January 20th, 1668/9 [O.S.]. National Archives, UK, Public Office, Colonial Office, 1/33, no. 103A.

DOCUMENT 7.
COMMISSION AND INSTRUCTIONS GIVEN TO HENRY MORGAN, TO COMMIT HOSTILITIES AGAINST THE SPANIARDS IN THE AMERICAS, JULY 1670 Incensed by the repeated depredations committed by the corsair Manuel Rivero Pardal, who had been commissioned out of Cartagena to attack English interests,

Documents the Council on Jamaica passed a resolution in late June 1670 (O.S.) authorizing Henry Morgan, as ‘‘Admiral and Commander-in-Chief of all the ships of war’’ belonging to Port Royal, to gather together a host of freebooters and ‘‘attack, seize, and destroy all the enemy’s vessels that shall come within reach.’’ Three weeks later, Sir Thomas Modyford would draft an even more detailed set of instructions, to govern the conduct of Morgan’s forthcoming campaign: Sir Thomas Modyford, Baronet, Governor of His Majesty’s Island of Jamaica, Commander-in-Chief of all His Majesty’s forces within the said island and in the islands adjacent, Vice-Admiral to His Royal Highness the Duke of York in the American Seas To Admiral Henry Morgan, Esquire, greeting: Whereas the Queen Regent of Spain hath by her Royal C
edula dated at Madrid the 20th of April 1669, commanded her respective Governors in the Indies to publish and make war against our Sovereign Lord, the King, in these parts. And whereas Don Pedro Bayona de Villanueva, Captain-General of the province of Paraguay and Governor of the city of Santiago de Cuba and its provinces, hath executed the same and lately in the most hostile and barbarous manner, landed his men on the north side of this island and entered a small way into the country, firing all the houses they came at, killing or taking prisoners all the inhabitants they could meet with; and whereas the rest of the Governors in these parts have granted commissions for executing the like hostility against us, and are diligently gathering forces together to be sent to Santiago de Cuba, their general rendezvous and place of magazine, and from thence as the most opportune place to be transported for a thorough invasion and final conquest (as they hope) of this island. For the prevention of which their mischievous intentions, in discharge of the great trust which His Gracious Majesty hath placed in me, I do by virtue of full power and authority in such cases from His Royal Highness James, Duke of York, His Majesty’s Lord High Admiral, derived unto me, and out of the great confidence I have in the good conduct, courage, and fidelity of you, the said Henry Morgan, to be Admiral and Commander-in-Chief of all the ships, barks, and other vessels now fitted or which hereafter shall be fitted for the public service and defense of this island, and also of the officers, soldiers, and seamen which are or shall be put upon the same, requiring you to use your best endeavors to get the vessels into one body or fleet and to cause them to be well manned, fitted, armed, and victualled; and by the first opportunity, wind and weather permitting, to put to sea for the guard and defense of this island, and of all vessels trading to or about the same; and in order thereunto to use your best endeavors to surprise, take, sink, disperse, and destroy all the enemy’s ships or vessels which shall come within your view, and also for preventing the intended invasion against this place. You are hereby further authorized and required, in the case that you and your officers in your judgment find it possible or feasible to land and attain the said town of Santiago de Cuba, or any other place belonging to the enemies where you shall be informed that magazines and stores for this war are laid up, or where any

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Documents rendezvous for their forces to embody are appointed, and there to use your best endeavors for seizing the said stores and to take, kill, and disperse the said forces. And all officers, soldiers, and seamen who are or shall be belonging to or embarked upon the said vessels, are hereby strictly enjoined both by sea and land to obey you as their Admiral and Commander-in-Chief in all things as becometh them; and you yourself are to observe and follow all such orders as you shall from time to time receive from His Most Excellent Majesty, His Royal Highness, or myself Instructions for Admiral Henry Morgan, Esquire, delivered him the 22nd of July 1670 [O.S.], together with his commission You will with these instructions receive my commission, which you are enjoined with all expedition to publish and put in due execution according to the full extent and import of the same, for the accomplishing whereof you shall have all the assistance this island can give you. You are to make known to me what strength you can possibly make, what your wants may be, that on due calculation of both we may supply you with all possible speed. You are to take notice and advise your fleet and soldiers that you are on the old pleasing account of no purchase, no pay, and therefore that all which is got, shall be divided amongst them according to accustomed rules. In case you shall find it prudential, as by your commission you are directed to attain Santiago de Cuba and God blessing you with victory, you are hereby directed in case you do it without any considerable hazards, to keep and make good the place and country thereabout, until you have advised me of your success and received my further orders touching the same, lest your suddenly quitting and their suddenly returning beget us new work, and put on new charges and hazards for the second defeating In order to this, you are to proclaim mercy and enjoyment of estates and liberty of customs to all the Spaniards that will submit and give assurance of their loyalty to His Majesty, and liberty to all the slaves that will come in, and to such as by any good service may deserve the same, you are to give notice that their fugitive masters’ plantations are to be divided amongst them as rewards for the same, and make them sufficient grants in writing, both for their liberties and estates, reserving to the Crown of England the fourth part of the produce to be yearly paid, for the yearly maintenance of such forces as shall defend those parts. In case you find that course to take approvable effect, you are as much as will stand with the same, to preserve the sugar-works and canes; but if it otherwise appear to you that in reason you cannot make good the place for any long time, and that the Spaniards and slaves are deaf to your proposals, you are then with all it as a wilderness, putting the men-slaves to the sword, and making the womenslaves prisoners to be brought hither, and sold for the account of your fleet and army. Such of the men also that cannot speak Spanish, or any new Negro, you may preserve for the same account; or if any ships to be present to carry them for New England or Virginia, you may send them all on the same account. You are to enquire what usage our prisoners have had, and what quarter hath been given by the enemy to such of ours as have fallen under their power, and being well informed, you are to give the same—or rather, as our custom is to exceed in civility and humanity, endeavoring by all means to make all sorts of

Documents people sensible of your moderation and good nature, and your inaptitude and loathing to spill the blood of men: You have hereby power to execute martial law, according to such military laws as have been made by me and the laws made by Act of Parliament for the government of the fleet which I approve of as fitting for the service, and hereby authorize you to put them in execution against such as shall offend you, having first published the laws unto them, that none may pretend ignorance. If any ship or ships shall be present which have not any commissions, you are hereby empowered to grant commissions to them according to the form I have used, taking security of »1,000 for the performance of the same. What ships in this expedition you shall keep with you under your command, and then order and dispose for the best improvement of this service, not suffering the takers or pretenders to sell them until they come into their commission port. In regard many things may happen in this action which cannot be by me foreseen and provided for in these instructions, therefore all such matters are left to your wellknown prudence and conduct, referring to you that are in the place to do therein what shall be needful. Thus wishing you success, and this island made happy thereby. I remain your faithful friend and servant, Thomas Modyford Morgan weighed on August 1, 1670 (O.S.), leading 600 men out of harbor aboard 11 vessels, his flag flying from Satisfaction. Early next year, his greatly-augmented force would traverse the Isthmus and sack Panama City, precipitating a crisis with the Spanish government. These documents were included in the book Sir Henry Morgan’s Voyage to Panama, 1670, published in London by Thomas Malthus in 1683. Source: Commission and Instructions Given to Henry Morgan, to Commit Hostilities against the Spaniards in the Americas, July 1670. Malthus, Thomas, ed. Sir Henry Morgan’s Voyage to Panama, 1670. London: Thomas Malthus, 1683.

DOCUMENT 8.
MORGAN’S FLEET, GATHERED FOR THE ASSAULT AGAINST PANAMA, DECEMBER 1670 ^ aFor his brazen venture against Panama, Morgan managed to muster at his Ile- Vache rendezvous a multinational force comprised of 28 English vessels bearing 1,326 men, plus another eight flibustier ships from Tortuga Island and SaintDomingue with another 520, for a total strength of 1,846 fighting men, as follows: The original document is today preserved in Britain’s National Archives, under the call-sign: PRO CO 138/1, f. 105. It is only known to have ever been published once before, on pages 103
104 of No€ el B. Livingstone’s Sketch Pedigrees of Some of the Early Settlers in Jamaica (Kingston: Educational Supply Company, 1909). Source: Morgan’s Fleet, Gathered for the Assault Against Panama, December 1670. Livingston, No€el B. Sketch Pedigrees of Some of the Early Settlers in Jamaica. Kingston, Jamaica: Educational Supply, 1909.

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Documents

Ship

English Vessels Satisfaction, frigate Mary, frigate Mayflower Pearl Sevilliaen Dolphin, frigate Lilly, frigate Port Royal Gift John of Youghall (Ireland) Thomas Fortune Constant Thomas Fortune Prosperous Abraham’s Sacrifice, pink Virgin Queen Recovery William, sloop Betty, sloop Fortune, ketch Endeavour Bonadventure Prosperous Endeavour Lamb, sloop Fortune Free Gift French Vessels Sainte-Catherine Gallardina, prize Saint-Jean Saint-Pierre Diable Volant Cerf, sloop Lion, sloop Sainte-Marie

Commander

Tons

Guns

Men

Admiral Henry Morgan Thomas Harris Joseph Bradley Lawrence Prince Jan Erasmus Reyning John Morris Richard Norman Jelles de Lecat Thomas Rogers John Pyne Humphrey Thurston Richard Ludbury Koen de Brauns Richard Dobson Henry Wells Richard Taylor John Bennett John Shepherd Thomas Woodriffe William Curson Clement Symons George Harmenson Roger Taylor Patrick Dunbar Charles Swan Richard Powell Jonas Reekes Roger Kelly

120 50 70 50 80 60 50 50 40 70 50 40 60 25 16 60 15 18 12 12 40 25 20 10 16 30 16 15

22 12 14 12 12 10 10 12 12 6 8 6 6 6 4 4 — 3 — — 4 4 — — 2 4 3 4

140 70 100 70 75 60 50 55 60 60 45 40 40 35 35 30 30 30 30 25 40 45 25 16 30 30 30 40

Francois Tr
ebutor Jean Le Gascon Diego el Mulato Pierre Hantot ‘‘Le Picard’’ Dumangle Joseph Charles Jean Linaux

100 80 80 80 40 25 30 30

14 10 10 10 6 2 3 4

100 80 80 90 50 40 40 30

DOCUMENT 9.
COMPLAINT BY THE SPANISH GOVERNOR OF THE VENEZUELAN ISLAND OF MARGARITA, DENOUNCING THE PAYMENT OF RANSOMS TO PIRATES, NOVEMBER 1677 In addition to the major threat posed by privateer formations uniting to descend on hapless Spanish-American cities and commerce, depredations by lone vessels could

Documents also heighten fears throughout vulnerable coastal regions. On November 22, 1677, just as official hostilities between Spain and France were entering their fifth year, the recently-installed Governor Juan Mu~ noz Gadea of the Venezuelan island of Margarita directed the following dispatch to King Charles II in Madrid: I cannot put off writing to Your Majesty about an abuse which is spreading along these coasts, of ransoming Spaniards taken by enemy pirates, and I shall relate two cases to Your Majesty: In the first, it happened that said enemy took prisoner a citizen of the island of Trinidad named Don Juan Ferm
ın, who arrived with them at a place called Punta de Piedras and set a man ashore with letters from him, addressed to his brother-in-law Vicente del Castillo, letting him know where he was and that his ransom had been set at a certain amount of money, meat, and fats, which he asked be brought forthwith; which was done, they going promptly in search of said enemy and handing over to them the said ransom, who released said Don Juan Ferm
ın. In the other case, it happened that French enemies took prisoner a citizen of Cuman
a named Don Sancho Zapata, who asked them to take him to the mainland and a valley called Puerto Santo, where the French set a man ashore with a letter from the said Don Sancho, asking [his people] to come to said place and ransom him; and they instantly left Cuman
a and took 500 pesos for his ransom, plus another 300 for what he had eaten, and handed the 800 pesos in silver over to the said Frenchmen, at which point they released the said Don Sancho Zapata. And with [the payment of] these two ransoms, said enemies are today more eager to seize captives, rather than goods. I can only assure Your Majesty that under my government, I shall not consent to [paying ransoms], in case it should happen— may God not permit it—as my intention is only to serve Your Majesty and give you an account of everything, so that you may command whatever seems most convenient in this regard. Ironically, both Juan Ferm
ın de Huidobro and Sancho Zapata de Mendoza would later take turns serving as interim Governors of Margarita. Mu~ noz Gadea’s 1677 dispatch is preserved in the Archive of Indies at Seville, Audiencia de Santo Domingo 181, Ramo 8, N
umero 31. Source: Gadea, Mu~noz. Complaint by the Spanish Governor of the Venezuelan Island of Margarita, Denouncing the Payment of Ransoms to Pirates, November 1677. Archivo General de Indias, Sevilla, Audiencia de Santo Domingo 181, Ramo 8, N
umero 31.

DOCUMENT 10.
ENGLISH NEWSPAPER ACCOUNT OF THE SACK OF VERACRUZ, NOVEMBER 1683 The sheer brazenness of the pirate assault on the principal Mexican seaport of Veracruz in the spring of 1683, where Spanish plate-fleets had traditionally berthed for more than a century to receive the huge silver consignments sent down from the Royal Mint and rich trading-houses of the inland capital, created a sensation when

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Documents reported in Europe. The audacity and skill displayed by Laurens de Graaf and the Sieur de Grammont, the buccaneer chieftains who engineered this coup, marked a breathtaking new high in the power and reach of the West Indian marauders, as well as a newfound low for Spain. Ensconced deep within the Gulf of Mexico, on a reef-lined lee shore and further protected by its offshore island-fortress of San Juan de Ul
ua, Veracruz had never even been attempted by any European navy, much less captured and pillaged at leisure, as these pirates had done. Therefore, the report reproduced here below—originally compiled at Jamaica on August 12, 1683 (O.S.), and published in the Thursday, November 1, 1683 (O.S.), edition of The London Gazette—must have been read with keen interest: The 24th of the last month [i.e., 24 July 1683 O.S.], the master of a sloop brought hither the news of the privateers having taken La Vera Cruz, whereof we have since these particulars: They rendezvoused at Cape Catoche (the south cape of the Bay of Mexico) the 7th of April last. They were Van Horne, a Hollander in an English ship of 50 guns, who was Admiral; Laurence, a Hollander in a prize of 26 guns, Vice-Admiral; Christian, a Hollander in Van Horne’s patach of 40 guns; Mitchel, a Frenchman in a prize Laurence’s of 26 guns; Yanchy, a Hollander in a prize of 16 guns; Bloat, a Hollander in a prize of 8 guns; Jacob Hall, a Bermudian, of 8 guns; Spurre, an Englishman in a sloop of Jamaica; and a barco longo of Laurence’s. These vessels had betwixt 900 and 1,000 men, most French and Dutch, and some few English. On the 8th of May, they came on the coast of La Vera Cruz and lay by, and they put the men that were to land on board Yanchy and Christian, then stood off; the 9th these two ships stood in, and in the night the Spaniards in the castle and on shore, made fires to pilot them in, taking them to be two of the flota, so they came to an anchor and landed before one o’clock in the morning, two miles from the town, 774 men. Van Horne had the body as General, and was to attack the Plaza, where they expected the Court of Guard [sic: ‘‘guardcorps,’’ from the Spanish term cuerpo de guardia], but found only four men. Laurence commanded the Forlorn, and with it attempted the two forts, the one of 12, the other of 8 guns, both closed forts, but they found them open and the sentinels asleep; so with loss of one man killed by the Spaniards, and three by the mistake of the French, by break of day they were masters of the forts and town; and had they, as Laurence advised, sent at the same time two cannons and 50 men, they had without doubt surprised the castle, which stands in the sea three-quarters of a mile and has 70 guns mounted. But the Pyrates thinking it more safe and profitable to plunder the town, set guards at the streets’ ends, and sent parties to break open the houses, where they found everybody as quiet as their graves, and for three days they did nothing but break houses, plunder them, and drag the miserable inhabitants to the Cathedral; and though in this time they got abundance of plate, jewels, etc., and about 350 bags of cochinelle, each containing 150 or 200 pounds as they say; yet were they not satisfied, but put considerable people to ransom, and threatened to burn the Cathedral and prisoners, which were about 5,700, if they did not immediately discover all they had; so that the fourth day they got more than the other three, and had 70,000 pieces-of-eight for the Governor Don Luis de

Documents Cordova’s ransom, which Spurre found hid among grass in a stable. The Pyrates feared the flota, which had been two days in sight, consisting of twelve great ships, and likewise apprehended succors might come to the Spaniards from [Puebla de] Los Angeles (a city thirty leagues for La Vera Cruz), so they left the town and carried their prisoners and plunder to a cay where their ships rode, called Los Sacrificios from a famous Indian temple that was there. Here they stayed eight days to receive ransoms, and to divide what they got, which they generally say was about 800 pieces-of-eight a share in plate and money, and they made about 1,200 shares for men and ships; and Van Horne had about 80 shares for himself and two ships; and here Laurence and he quarreled and fought, and Van Horne was wounded in the wrist, nobody thinking it mortal. They all embarked, and Van Horne proposed to attack the flota and engaged to board the Admiral [i.e., Spanish flagship], but Laurence would not, and so away they went with about 1,000 Negroes and Mulattos. About 15 days after, Van Horne died, his wound having gangrened, and was thrown into the sea off Cape Yucatan, leaving his son, a youth of ten or twelve years old, they say, to the value of »20,000 on board, and his lieutenant Grammont took upon him the command of the ship and intended for Petit Guave. Laurence and the rest have been off of this island [Jamaica], and are gone to Guantanamo, a port on the south side of Cuba. Spurre is dead, and 3 or 400 more, and our Governor [Sir Thomas Lynch] is endeavoring to seize his sloop. This fulsome account includes a few factual errors, such as the misstatement regarding the Spanish signal-fires supposedly lit to help pilot in these attackers after darkness, the impression that the annual plate-fleet hovered within plain sight of these events for two days, or the elevated number of pirate casualties; otherwise, it provided an accurate description of events, most likely cobbled together from various second-hand reports received from the participants themselves. Source: The London Gazette, ‘‘Account of the Sack of Veracruz,’’ Thursday, 1 November 1683 (O.S.).

435

Chronology

Late July 1650

Four Spanish warships deposit 450 militiamen on Roat
an, who fight through its English trenches, yet cannot catch any defenders before the English melt into the jungle, so that the Spaniards return emptyhanded toward Cuba.

August 1650

A Spanish expedition from Puerto Rico overwhelms the tiny English settlement on Saint Croix, installing a 60-man garrison. It in turn is besieged a few weeks later by 160 fighters sent from Saint Kitts by French Gov.-Gen. Philippe de Lonvilliers de Poincy, surrendering so that Saint Croix is converted into a French colony. ^ d’Am
In Paris, the Compagnie des Iles erique, frustrated by its inability to control St. Kitts, Saint Martin, Saint Croix, and Saint-Barth
el
emy, sells its private interest to the Order of Malta for 120,000 francs.

May 24, 1651

May 26, 1651

Two-dozen Franco-Dutch raiders under Mathurin Gabaret shoot their way into the Mexican town of Alvarado, killing 10 residents and carrying away booty.

Early August 1651

A squadron of French privateers, piloted by the Spanish turncoat Adm. Pedro V
elez de Medrano, surprises the Venezuelan port of La Guaira, torching its buildings and making off with some coastal vessels.

October 25, 1651

A Commonwealth squadron under Commodore Sir George Ayscue arrives off Barbados, having been sent from England to impose Sir Oliver Cromwell’s new republican government. After a two-month blockade, a landing-force is permitted ashore by plantation owner,

437

438

Chronology Colonel Sir Thomas Modyford. Without any more fighting, Ayscue’s aide Daniel Searle becomes the new Governor on January 21, 1652, after which Montserrat, Nevis, and Saint Kitts also submit to Parliamentary rule. January 1652

French buccaneers from Hispaniola’s Tortuga Island seize the Cuban town of Baracoa, burning its buildings and citadel when they withdraw the following month.

May 28, 1652

Some 30 French and English raiders pillage the Mexican Gulf coast town of Minzapa.

Early Summer 1652

The exiled English royalist commander, Prince Rupert of the Rhine, reaches the West Indies from the Azores, hoping to shore up monarchist resolve. But his squadron is so small, he can only cruise without attempting any assault, until engulfed by a storm near the Virgin Islands on the evening of September 13th (O.S.). Having lost four vessels, Rupert eventually steers for France with only his flagship and two prizes.

Summer 1652

Governor-General de Poincy, worried by the growing autonomy of the Huguenot colony under Francois Le Vasseur on Tortuga Island [Haiti], dispatches the recently-arrived French naval officer Timol
eon Hotman, Chevalier de Fontenay, with two vessels to reassert Company rule. On gaining northern Hispaniola, De Fontenay learns that Le Vasseur has been murdered, so quickly assumes office as new Governor. Shortly thereafter, he also begins issuing privateering licenses against the Spaniards.

Late August 1652.

Buccaneer raiders from Tortuga Island ravage the Cuban town of San Juan de los Remedios.

December 4, 1653

Four Spanish ships emerge from Santo Domingo with 200 soldiers and 500 volunteers to eliminate the French buccaneer enclave on Tortuga Island. They capture a trio of craft off Monte Cristi, before sighting their objective on February 9, 1654. Gliding past Tortuga’s main anchorage, the Spaniards land a couple of miles to its west at Cayonne, marching back to besiege the French fortress. Its defenders under Governor de Fontenay request terms by February 18th, and more than 500 inhabitants, including 330 boucaniers, two days later are allowed to sail away for France aboard a pair of ships, while the Spaniards install a 100-man garrison.

December 20, 1653

A Portuguese fleet appears off Recife, determined to reclaim Brazil after two-dozen years of Dutch occupation. The city’s besieged defenders capitulate by January 27, 1654, surrendering not only Recife, but all remaining Dutch outposts in Brazil. Given three months to depart, several thousand veteran colonists will choose to resettle in other New World territories such as Guadeloupe, Martinique, Curacao, and Jamaica, proving invaluable assets.

Chronology August 24, 1654

De Fontenay returns to Tortuga Island with five vessels from Saint Kitts, hoping to regain his buccaneer stronghold. But after eight days’ fruitless attacks against its Spanish occupiers, he retires to Port-a-Margot on Hispaniola’s mainland. Three Spanish ships thereupon appear from Santo Domingo, so that De Fontenay sails for France.

January 31, 1655 (O.S.)

A fleet straggles into Barbados under Admiral William Penn, having been sent by Cromwell—without any declaration of war—to conquer a major new English stronghold in the West Indies. An additional 5,000 men are raised locally, to supplement the 2,500 troops brought out from England under General Robert Venables. This expedition clears for Santo Domingo by March 31st (O.S.).

April 23, 1655

Penn and Venables materialize off the city of Santo Domingo, catching its Spanish garrison completely by surprise. But these invaders do not disembark until next day, and then 30 miles away, slowly forging back through the jungle. They are soon so debilitated by tropical heat and diseases, that after being bloodied around Fort San Jer
onimo on May 5th, they re-embark and sail away a week later.

May 19, 1655

Having instead decided to attack the smaller Spanish island of Jamaica, Penn and Venables round Point Morant. Next dawn, the Admiral penetrates its main anchorage of Caguaya (later renamed Port Royal), advancing six miles inland to overrun its capital of Santiago de la Vega by May 21st. Some Spaniards agree to abandon the island altogether, while others fight on as guerrillas, with help from the cimarrones or ‘‘runaway black slaves’’ of the mountainous interior. Disease and lack of provisions will also reduce the initial 7,000 English occupiers to 2,500 within the first year.

July 5, 1655

Penn departs for England with his main fleet, appointing Vice Adm. William Goodson as naval commander on Jamaica, leaving him six State frigates and six lesser warships.

August 8, 1655

The Spanish garrison is withdrawn from the ex-buccaneer base on Tortuga Island (Haiti). It will be reoccupied the next year by English and French interlopers under Elias Watts, who secures a commission from Col. William Brayne, acting military Governor on Jamaica, to serve as ‘‘Governor’’ of Tortuga.

August 10, 1655

Goodson sorties from Cagaway with most of his squadron to attack the Spanish Main, surprising Santa Marta by October 3rd. After sacking it and its surrounding farms for 15 days, he prowls past Cartagena, then regains Jamaica by mid-November. Santa Marta’s residents will be so traumatized, they will not even try to reconstitute their city until seven years later.

October 15, 1655 (O.S.)

In Europe, England officially declares war against Spain.

439

440

Chronology April 25, 1656

Goodson once again sallies from Jamaica, with 10 warships. He surprises R
ıohacha in early May, then waters off the gutted remnants of Santa Marta, capturing a small Spanish ship and leaving three vessels to keep watch outside Cartagena, before arriving back at Jamaica by June 2nd.

July 21, 1656

Goodson weighs for a third time from Jamaica with a pair of warships, joining eight vessels already hovering off western Cuba, in hopes of intercepting the Spanish treasure-fleet from Veracruz. After vainly waiting for almost a month, he sails past Havana to water in Matanzas Bay, then detaches five warships toward England, while shifting his flag aboard Capt. Christopher Myngs’ Marston Moor.

January 1657

Complaining of ill health, Goodson sails for England, followed a month later by Myngs.

January 6, 1658

De Fontenay, former French Governor of Tortuga Island (Haiti), arrives outside Buenos Aires with his frigate Gaspard and Renomm
ee under Dutch-born Job Forant, plus the fl^ ute or ‘‘transport’’ Meautrice and two prizes, intending to round the Strait of Magellan into the South Pacific. However, the sight of 22 Dutch and English traders anchored off that lightly-defended Argentine port tempts him into an attack, which fails. Meautrice and Renomm
ee then desert his expedition, so that De Fontenay proceeds alone toward the Strait, only to be driven back by bad weather. He later rejoins Forant’s Renomm
ee at Rio de Janeiro.

February 20, 1658 (O.S.)

Myngs returns from England, as new commander-in-chief for the Jamaica station. He also brings in six Dutch merchantmen, captured during his layover at Barbados, for illegal trading. Only one is eventually deemed a legitimate prize by Jamaica’s Admiralty Court.

April 1658

Rather than return to France empty-handed, De Fontenay reappears off Buenos Aires with Gaspard and Forant’s Renomm
ee, blockading its entrance for three weeks. A trio of large Dutch vessels finally emerge to fight their way past, killing De Fontenay and capturing Gaspard, while Renomm
e carries off a single prize.

May 20, 1658

Four Spanish transports anchor off north-central Jamaica, depositing 550 sickly Mexican soldiers to wrest this island back from the English. Two days later, English coast-guard vessels sight these Spaniards, reporting to Gov. Edward d’Oyley, who himself appears off R
ıo Nuevo by June 25th with more than 700 soldiers aboard 10 ships under Myngs, easily defeating this counter-invasion.

September 3, 1658 (O.S.)

Cromwell dies, leaving his Commonwealth leaderless, so that a succession struggle ensues until the exiled Stuart monarch is restored to the throne as Charles II 20 months later.

October 1658

Having prowled past Cartagena with five warships, Myngs burns Tol
u, and carries out two prizes. He then circles northeast to

Chronology disembark at abandoned Santa Marta, foraging inland, before returning into Jamaica after a 10-week cruise, bringing in an additional three Spanish captures. Early January 1659

Myngs’ four State frigates, plus numerous freebooters, tack hundreds of miles east from Jamaica for another surprise descent on the Spanish Main. They ransack Cuman
a, before hurrying west to fall on Puerto Cabello, then repeat this tactic a third time by racing to make a rich haul at Coro. At this latter port, Myngs seizes two Dutch merchantmen flying Spanish colors and loaded with 22 chests—each containing 400 pounds in silver ingots—yet when they are inspected after he regains Jamaica on April 23rd-24th (O.S.), the chests are found broken open, so that Commonwealth officials suspect much bullion has been extracted. Myngs is therefore suspended and Marston Moor ordered home, for him to stand trial.

April 21, 1660

Some 400 French buccaneers under Capitaine Delisle and three other commanders depart Tortuga Island (Haiti) under a letter-of-reprisal issued by Governor Watts, to attack the Spanish border-town of Santiago de los Caballeros six days later. Shortly thereafter, Watts packs up his family and sails away for New England, to make way for a French adventurer named J
er
emie Deschamps, Chevalier de Moussac et du Rausset, who has reached Jamaica with letters from both the French and English governments to act as Governor of Tortuga. Du Rausset soon transfers off Tortuga to the healthier mainland clearance of Petit Go^ave, leaving his nephew Fr
ed
eric Deschamps de La Place to govern the offshore buccaneer base.

August 11, 1660 (O.S.)

Thomas, Lord Windsor, reaches Jamaica as its first Royal Governor. Within days, he will announce a vigorous new privateering offensive against the Spaniards.

Early 1662

A 30-man Jamaican expedition under Colonel James Arundell lands on Tortuga Island (Haiti), failing in his bid to displace its French Governor Deschamps.

September 22, 1662 (O.S.)

Myngs stands out of Port Royal with 1,300 men aboard his flagship Centurion, Griffin and 10 freebooter vessels to raid Santiago de Cuba.

October 18, 1662

Myngs’s fleet appears outside the entrance into Santiago Bay, veering toward Aguadores late that afternoon, to disembark his landing force at the San Juan River mouth. More than 1,000 men advance through the darkened woods overnight by torchlight; the next morning they scatter the city’s 370 defenders. Over the next six days, Santiago will be razed and San Pedro de la Roca harbor-castle leveled by demolition charges, before Myngs weighs with six prizes.

441

442

Chronology October 21, 1662 (O.S.)

Myngs’s expedition returns triumphantly into Port Royal, only to have Lord Windsor abruptly resign as Governor and depart Jamaica a week later.

Early January 1663

The Jamaican privateer Robert Blunden and retired naval Captain Abraham Langford depart Port Royal in an unsuccessful attempt to wean the French boucaniers of Tortuga Island (Haiti) over to English rule and in compliance with instructions from Whitehall.

January 21, 1663

Myngs weighs from Port Royal with two warships and 10 privateer vessels to attack Campeche.

February 9, 1663

Having stealthily landed almost 1,000 men the night before, Myngs storms Campeche, being gravely wounded in overrunning the city. The privateer commander Edward Mansfield assumes command, until the invaders depart on February 23rd, carrying away 14 vessels and much booty.

June 14, 1664

Sir Thomas Modyford reaches Port Royal from Barbados as Jamaica’s new Royal Governor, 12 days later proclaiming ‘‘that for the future all acts of hostility against the Spaniards should cease.’’

September 1664

The privateer Robert Searle returns into Port Royal with two rich Spanish prizes, but in order for Governor Modyford to underscore his new policy of peaceful co-existence with the Spaniards, these are restored to Santiago de Cuba, while Searle’s ship is impounded.

November 15, 1664

In Paris, Governor du Rausset—imprisoned in the Bastille for offering to sell Tortuga Island (Haiti) to England that previous year—instead agrees to make it over to the new Compagnie des Indes Occidentales. The planter Bertrand d’Ogeron, Sieur de la Bouere, is appointed in June 1665 as Governor of the 700 to 800 Frenchmen living on Saint-Domingue and Tortuga.

February 2, 1665 (O.S.)

In London, Charles II authorizes English officials overseas to grant privateering commissions against Dutch ships and goods.

February 11, 1665

The Dutch-born Jamaican subject Laurens Prins, having sortied from Port Royal in command of Robert Searle’s frigate Cagway with 61 freebooters aboard, falls on the unsuspecting Dutch island of Bonaire.

February 19, 1665

A renegade expedition of 200 Jamaicans under John Morris and Dutch-born David Martien drops anchor at the Grijalva River mouth, pushing 50 miles upriver to sack the provincial capital of Villahermosa de Tabasco five days later. Their anchored ships have meanwhile been captured by three Spanish frigates and 270 men sent from Campeche, so that the raiders have to fight their way back out to sea.

April 28, 1665

Acting on the expectation of an imminent rupture with Holland, Jamaica’s Governor Modyford dispatches his Lieutenant-Governor, Colonel Edward Morgan, aboard Capt. Maurice Williams’ 18-gun

Chronology privateer Speaker, to lead a flotilla of nine vessels bearing 650 buccaneers in a preemptive strike against the Dutch in the Lesser Antilles. April 30, 1665

A Dutch battle-fleet under Admiral Michiel de Ruyter sails into Carlisle Bay on Barbados, bombarding its defenses and destroying an assembled merchant-convoy.

June 29, 1665

After stealthily ascending Nicaragua’s San Juan River, Morris and Martien sack the inland capital of Granada,

July 17, 1665

Colonel Edward Morgan’s Jamaican expedition storms ashore on Dutch Sint Eustatius, overrunning this island, despite the commander’s death from a heart-attack. Early next year, his subordinate Captains Searle and Steadman will also raid the Dutch settlements on Tobago, before they surrender to Barbados.

November 1665

Because of continual victimization of neutral Spanish-Americans instead of Dutch enemies by English privateers, Jamaica’s Governor Modyford convenes a meeting of 600 rovers at Bluefields Bay, in the vain hope of recalling them to their duty.

January 26, 1666

In Europe, Louis XIV declares war against England, joining the ongoing Second Anglo-Dutch War as an ally of The Netherlands.

Early March 1666

On Jamaica, Modyford bows to popular demand and unilaterally authorizes ‘‘letters of marque against the Spaniard,’’ despite London’s peaceful relations with that nation.

March 19, 1666

News of the outbreak of Franco-English hostilities reaches Martinique.

April 8, 1666

Mansfield leads several hundred men from seven English buccaneer ships, five lesser vessels, and two prizes in an unsuccessful invasion of Costa Rica.

April 22, 1666

At news of France’s declaration of war, which has dissolved the nonaggression pact between Saint Kitts’ English and French residents, as well as the arrival of 260 Jamaican buccaneers under Lt.-Col. Thomas Morgan from their occupation of Sint Eustatius, a climactic battle is fought at Pointe de Sable. The 350 French defenders, outnumbered four-to-one, decimate Morgan’s force with terrific losses, leading to a collapse of all other English resistance on Saint Kitts.

May 25, 1666

Mansfield appears with his two frigates and three sloops off Spanishheld Santa Catarina or Providence Island, disembarking more than 100 English and 80 French followers to reconquer it the next day.

June 1666

Like the English, French buccaneers also prefer mounting attacks against the neutral Spaniards, rather than their national foes. Jean-David Nau and Michel d’Artigue lead 400 men in a destructive penetration into the Laguna de Maracaibo, emerging two months later with great booty.

443

444

Chronology August 4, 1666

A major expedition gathered by Francis, Lord Willoughby—Governor-General of the English Windward Islands—is struck this evening by a hurricane off Guadeloupe, losing almost all its 20 ships and more than 1,000 men.

Late August 1666

A counter-expedition of 500 Spaniards under Jos
e S
anchez Xim
enez, garrison commander at the Panamanian port of Portobelo, recuperates Providencia Island from Mansfield’s occupiers.

Early September 1666

A single French bark under Gilles Gaspart of Grenada deposits a tiny landing-force on English-held Tobago, tricking its garrison in the darkness into surrendering.

Late October 1666

The Dutch privateer Gerart Bogaert arrives at French-held Saint Kitts from Curacao and recruits 100 refugee compatriots driven out of Sint Maarten and Sint Eustatius by the English, plus 50 French soldiers, setting sail for Sint Eustatius to besiege the remnants of Thomas Morgan’s Jamaican garrison.

November 4, 1666

A French fleet flying false English colors materializes off Antigua, capturing that island a couple of days later, before also taking Sint Eustatius. Montserrat furthermore falls by February 1667.

February 26, 1667

Zeeland’s Commodore Abraham Crijnssen (known to the English as ‘‘Captain Crimson’’) appears out of the Atlantic and reclaims Surinam from its English authorities.

May 24, 1667

In Europe, peace negotiations are progressing between England, France, and Holland, when Louis XIV suddenly declares war against Spain as well. His objective is to uphold his wife Maria Teresa’s claim to Brabant and other parts of the Spanish Netherlands.

June 11, 1667

Homeward bound, Commodore Crijnssen appears off Chesapeake Bay, launching a devastating strike against the tobacco convoy assembling up the James River to convey the annual crop to London, meeting only a feeble Virginian resistance.

July 31, 1667

The Treaty of Breda is signed in Europe, signaling peace between England, France, and Holland. However, it does not mark an end to Franco-Spanish hostilities.

August 1667

While at anchor after pillaging the Cuban town of San Juan de los Remedios, Nau l’Olonnais learns that a 10-gun Spanish galliot is approaching with 90 men, sent from Havana by Cap.-Gen Francisco D
avila Orej
on y Gast
on to capture him. Instead, the flibustier sneaks up on it with two boats that same night, surprising the galliot while its crew is resting off the coast, and allegedly slaughtering everyone aboard—save one black slave, who is spared to carry word of this massacre back to Havana.

Chronology February 1668

Buccaneers once again pillage the helpless Cuban town of San Juan de los Remedios, whose weary citizens petition the Crown for permission to relocate.

March 1, 1668

Henry Morgan, commissioned by Jamaica’s Governor Modyford ‘‘to draw together the English privateers and take prisoners of the Spanish nation,’’ blockades the entrance into Santiago de Cuba with a dozen ships and 700 men, before proceeding into the Gulf of Santa Mar
ıa. His commanders include John Morris and Edward Collier, as well as numerous French flibustiers.

March 27, 1668

Morgan sets a large party ashore at Florida Beach in the Ensenada de Santa Mar
ıa (today called Santa Cruz del Sur) to raid the inland town of Puerto del Pr
ıncipe (modern Camag€uey, Cuba).

May 2, 1668

Hostilities between Spain and France officially end, with the signing of the Treaty of Aachen or Aix-la-Chapelle.

May 28, 1668

The Jamaican privateer Robert Searle arrives outside Anastasia Island, and the next dawn assaults Saint Augustine, Florida.

July 10, 1668

Morgan’s flotilla of boats arrives in the vicinity of the Panamanian harbor of Portobelo and storms it next daybreak. While lying off ^Ile a Vache in anticipation of leading 900 to 1,000 freebooters against Cartagena, Morgan’s flagship Oxford explodes and sinks with almost all hands.

January 2, 1669 (O.S.) March 9, 1669

Morgan arrives outside the Laguna of Maracaibo with his depleted force, launching a sweep throughout the interior. Barred from exiting on April 25th by the Armada de Barlovento, he defeats and outwits that force before sailing away.

Spring 1669

The Jamaican privateer Joseph Bradley raids in the Gulf of Mexico, along with Dutch-born Rok Brasiliano and Jelles de Lecat.

June 24, 1669

Jamaica’s Governor Modyford proclaims the English Crown’s latest prohibition against anti-Spanish hostilities.

January 3, 1670

Governor Pedro de Ulloa of Cartagena issues a privateering commission to the Portuguese-born rover Manuel Rivero Pardal, who will repeatedly attack English interests throughout the West Indies.

Early May 1670

The lawless boucaniers on Tortuga Island (Haiti), run riot against restrictions imposed by the French West India Company.

Late Spring 1670

The Jamaican privateer Laurens Prins, along with his English colleagues Harris and Ludbury, attempt to sail up Colombia’s Magdalena River to sack the inland port of Santa Cruz de Momp
os, only to be checked.

July 9, 1670

Incensed by the Spanish corsair Rivero’s nuisance raids, Governor Modyford and the Jamaican Council pass a resolution

445

446

Chronology commissioning Morgan as ‘‘Admiral and Commander-in-Chief,’’ with orders to retaliate against Spanish interests. August 17, 1670

After ascending the San Juan River, the English privateers Prins, Harris, and Ludbury seize its new Fort San Carlos de Austria, then steal across Nicaragua’s lake with 170 men to surprise Granada.

August 1670

Three Spanish ships under Juan Men
endez M
arquez, accompanied from Saint Augustine by 14 piraguas, arrive outside the new English settlement of Charleston (South Carolina), in a vain attempt to expel its colonists.

October 24, 1670

Collier’s half-dozen English privateer vessels appear off R
ıohacha, disembarking a force which captures its tiny fort and anchored Spanish corsair Gallardina.

October 1670

Off southeastern Cuba, Morris’ 10-gun privateer Dolphin captures Rivero’s 14-gun Fama.

October 29, 1670

The English privateers Prins, Harris, and Ludbury return to Jamaica from their Central American rampage, being mildly reproved by Governor Modyford for attacking Spanish America without permission, and then ordered to join Morgan’s expedition. Morgan’s assembled fleet quits ^Ile a Vache to attack Panama, having swelled to 38 vessels and more than 2,000 English, French, and Dutch freebooters. En route, they will reconquer Providence or Santa Catarina Island, a week later.

December 18, 1670

January 6, 1671

Morgan’s vanguard, three ships bearing 400 freebooters under Joseph Bradley, attacks Fort San Lorenzo guarding the Panamanian port of Chagres, capturing it despite stout resistance from the 360 defenders.

January 12, 1671

Morgan’s main fleet approaches Chagres, his flagship Satisfaction and another four vessels sinking after striking a reef. Only 10 men are drowned, though, so that the invasion proceeds.

January 28, 1671

After trudging across the Isthmus, Morgan’s buccaneers capture Panama City.

March 16, 1671

With little booty obtained, Morgan hastily departs Chagres aboard the dead Bradley’s Mayflower, accompanied by three loyal followers. He regains Jamaica a couple of weeks later, to find English policy reversed, a new treaty having recently been concluded with Madrid, so that attacks against Spanish America are now out of favor. Three months afterward, a new Royal Governor arrives, Sir Thomas Lynch, who will arrest both his predecessor Modyford and Morgan to face trial in London.

July 1671

Commodore Ren
e de Gousabats, Sieur de Villepars, arrives off Saint-Domingue with two French warships and three frigates, to restore government rule following its buccaneer revolt.

Chronology March 28, 1672

England inaugurates the Third Anglo-Dutch War, being joined a week later by France.

March 31, 1672

Marauders slip in the Mexican seaport of Campeche, sparking a huge conflagration at its adjacent San Rom
an shipyard.

Late June 1672

Various small islands in the Dutch Antilles are captured by English and French forces.

December 18, 1672

An English force seizes Dutch Tobago.

February 1673

San Juan de los Remedios (Cuba) is surprised by buccaneer raiders, 14 women being carried off as hostages.

February 25, 1673

Governor d’Ogeron’s 50-gun Ecueil runs aground near Arecibo in northwestern Puerto Rico, more than 500 men struggling ashore to be imprisoned by the Spaniards.

March 13, 1673

The French Governor-General de Baas mounts an unsuccessful assault against Dutch Curacao.

March 1673

Zeeland’s Commodore Cornelis Evertsen de Jongste arrives off Surinam, to raid in the New World.

June 1673

The Cuban-born mulatto buccaneer Diego Grillo, intercepts a Spanish merchant frigate bound from Havana toward Campeche. A few days later, 150 Spaniards exit Havana aboard a ship and two frigates to engage him, but are instead defeated off Nuevitas; Grillo executing all 20 Peninsular-born Spaniards before releasing the rest.

August 7, 1673

Evertsen reoccupies New York City.

Mid-October 1673

Governor d’Ogeron, having returned to Saint-Domingue after a harrowing escape from Puerto Rico, leads 500 flibustiers from Tortuga Island to Aguada, in hopes of rescuing his captive men.

October 15, 1673

In Europe, France declares war against Spain.

March 6, 1674

After winter-long negotiations, the second Treaty of Westminster is proclaimed, reestablishing peace between Britain and The Netherlands.

Early July 1674

The Dutch corsair Jurriaen Aernouts arrives at New York.

July 20, 1674

The Dutch Admiral de Ruyter is defeated in his attack against the French stronghold of Fort-Royale, Martinique.

December 15, 1675 (O.S.)

Jamaica’s latest Governor—John, Lord Vaughan—issues another proclamation reiterating that all English privateers must refrain from serving under foreign flags, as Britain is at peace. But with France still at war against both Spain and Holland, thus freely issuing

447

448

Chronology commissions, many freebooters will ignore this injunction and continue roving. June 30, 1676

Some 800 buccaneers attempt to penetrate Costa Rica’s Matina Valley, only to suffer a couple of hundred casualties in a clash at Moin Beach against 500 Spanish militiamen and 200 native archers under Gov. Juan Francisco S
aenz V
azquez.

January 23, 1677

Eleven privateer vessels under Charles Francois d’Angennes, Marquis de Maintenon, raid the Venezuelan island of Margarita.

March 7, 1677

An Anglo-French buccaneering expedition out of the Laguna de T
erminos, sacks the Mexican town of Jalpa.

Late June 1677

The French privateer Pierre La Garde sacks Santa Marta (Colombia), backed by English mercenaries under Capts. John Coxon and William Barnes.

November 9, 1677

The French buccaneer Pierre de Frasquenay leads 400 flibustiers in a failed attack against Santiago de Cuba.

April 1678

The victorious French Admiral Jean, Comte d’Estr
ees, summons flibustiers from as far away as Saint-Domingue (Haiti) to rally at Saint Kitts for a descent on the last remaining Dutch outpost in the West Indies: Curacao. Supremely confident, this formation quits its rendezvous by May 7th, comprised of 18 royal warships and more than a dozen flibustier craft. However, four days later they run aground on the Aves Island grouping, losing six warships and a like number of privateer vessels.

June 10, 1678

Rather than retreat with D’Estr
ees following this disaster, the flibustiers prefer an alternate project of their own, attacking the neutral Spaniards in the Laguna de Maracaibo under the veteran Sieur de Grammont. Some 2,000 freebooters take part in this enterprise, aboard six large ships and 13 smaller craft.

July 6, 1678

The English buccaneer Capts. George Spurre and Edward Neville, bearing French commissions, anchor near Jaina with eight piraguas in tow, attacking the nearby Mexican port of Campeche with 160 freebooters, three days later.

August 10, 1678

In Europe, Louis XIV signs the Treaty of Nijmegen, marking an end to France’s hostilities with The Netherlands.

September 17, 1678

France and Spain sign a separate treaty, bringing an end to their European conflict; yet as this document contains no reference to the Americas, fighting will continue in the New World.

Glossary

Abraham’s Cay—name for what is today Bluefields, Nicaragua Account—an English slang expression for piracy, more commonly used with a verb, such as going or sailing ‘‘on the account’’ Advice-Boat—another term for a dispatch-vessel, derived from the Spanish word aviso Almiranta—a Spanish term for vice-flagship Apostles—military slang for the 12 charges usually carried in a bandolier or cartridge-belt Armada de Barlovento—Spanish naval squadron assigned to patrol the Caribbean Armadilla—a small flotilla of Spanish warships Arribada—Spanish legal term for any unauthorized entry into port Ash, Isle of—English mispronunciation of ^Ile a Vache, the French island off southwestern Haiti Asiento—in English, the name for the monopoly of supplying African slaves to Spanish America Aviso—Spanish word for a dispatch vessel or mail boat Azogue—Spanish word for quicksilver or mercury, a vital ingredient in refining silver ores Bab-el-Mandeb—Arabic name for the narrow strait leading into the Red Sea, the ‘‘Gate of Tears’’ Banda del Norte—Spanish name for the north coast of Hispaniola, inhabited by French intruders Barco Luengo or Longo—from the Spanish, a type of galliot or oared sailing-vessel

449

450

Glossary Bay of Campeche—English name for the Mexican bay, whose real name is the Laguna de T
erminos Bilboes—a long iron bar with shackles, used to secure prisoners Biscayan Privateers—squadron of corsairs raised in northeastern Spain, to combat pirates and smugglers in the West Indies Blue Officers—French nickname for non-aristocratic officers of privateer or merchant vessels, temporarily admitted into the Navy during wartime Caper—English spelling of the Dutch word kaper, meaning ‘‘privateer’’ Capitana—Spanish term for ‘‘flagship’’ Careen—nautical expression, meaning to tilt a vessel so as to expose its underside for cleaning or repairs Cassava—tropical West Indian shrub, whose roots provided sustenance for slaves and indentured servants Charter Party—freebooter covenant, drawn up prior to a cruise to determine the division of spoils Cincuentena—Spanish militia cavalrymen on Santo Domingo Clipped Money—coins illegally reduced by filing, shaving, or clipping metal from around their edges Cocket—a written certificate issued by a custom-house to a departing ship Commission Port—the seaport from which a privateer had received his commission, and where all prizes should be sent Corsair—synonym for privateer, especially among the Spanish Crab Island—English name for what is now Vieques Island, east of Puerto Rico Cross of Burgundy—name for the Spanish flag, a red cross on a white background Darien Colony—short-lived Scottish settlement in northeastern Panama Daudorus—Scottish euphemism for a thrashing or beating Dead Man’s Island—see ‘‘Isla del Muerto’’ Dogger—nautical expression for an auxiliary vessel or ‘‘tender’’ Doubloon—name of the largest Spanish gold coin Dry Gripes—English nickname for a West Indian malady Dry Tortugas—English name for the shoals at the west end of the Florida Keys Ducat—English name for a small Spanish gold coin, worth eleven reales Ducking—a type of nautical punishment Enfants Perdus—French military slang for any vanguard unit, or frontline assaultforce Engag
e—French indentured servant Flibustier—a synonym for West Indian privateer or corsair, especially among the French

Glossary Flag of Truce—in addition to its obvious meaning, also the name applied to any vessel authorized to visit a hostile port during wartime Flip—English nickname for a mixed alcoholic drink, similar to punch Flota—Spanish expression for the annual plate-fleets sailing to and from Veracruz Flute—a type of cargo-ship or transport Flying Gang—nickname for the toughs who controlled the waterfront at lawless Nassau, prior to the restoration of Crown rule Forban—French synonym for ‘‘pirate’’ Forlorn—English military slang for any advance unit or vanguard Freebooter—individual performing military or naval service without salary, but for shares of plunder Galeones—Spanish expression for the annual plate-fleets sailing to and from Cartagena Gardens of the Queen—Spanish name for the maze of islands off southern Cuba Gobernador de Tercio—Spanish officer in command of the Marine Regiment aboard the Armada de Barlovento Golden Island—uninhabited pirate base off northeastern Panama, used to stage forays across the Isthmus into the Pacific Guardacostas—Spanish term for coast-guards Half-Way Tree—a crossroads in Jamaica, northwest of Kingston Hispaniola—English name for the island today shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti Hogshead—a large wooden cask Inch of Candle—method of setting a time-limit, by marking a line upon a lit candle Indigo—a valuable blue dye produced by certain tropical plants Interloper—term applied to any unauthorized merchant visitor, regarded as a trespasser or smuggler Isla del Muerto—Spanish name for ‘‘Dead Man’s Island,’’ at least six spots still bearing this grim name today Jolly Roger—later-day English euphemism for a pirate flag, dating from the Victorian era Kaper—Dutch word for ‘‘privateer’’ Keelhauling—savage form of nautical punishment Kilduijvel or Kill-Devil—Dutch euphemism for rum Laars—Dutch name for a ‘‘cat o’ nine tails’’ League—measurement of distance, roughly equivalent to three miles Let-Pass—simplest form of ship’s papers, merely identifying a bearer and requesting that he be allowed to pass

451

452

Glossary Letter of Marque—another name for a privateering commission, sometimes misspelled as ‘‘letter of mart’’ Letter of Reprisal—special type of privateering commission, issued during peacetime to redress a specific wrong Light Money—English euphemism for clipped or poor-grade coinage Logwood or Dyewood—dark-red tropical tree, harvested to produce an indelible black or brown dye Madagascar—huge island off southeast Africa, which for a few years became a notorious pirate lair Main—abbreviated form of the Spanish Main, the stretch of mainland coast from Venezuela to Panama Mal de Siam—French nickname for yellow fever Mar del Sur—Spanish name for the ‘‘South Sea,’’ or Pacific Ocean Maroon—expression meaning to abandon someone on a desolate island Matross—English expression for a gunner’s mate Moidore—term originally derived from the Portuguese moeda d’ouro, meaning a fine ‘‘coin of gold’’ Morro—Spanish word for any large harbor-castle or coastal fortification Mum—strong German ale, made from wheat and oat malts Para—Dutch nickname for Paramaribo, capital of Suriname Partridge—English nickname for clusters of small rounds, or grapeshot Patache—Spanish term for any small consort to a larger ship, or fleet auxiliary Pedrero—Spanish name for a swivel-gun, misspelled many different ways in English Pichelingue—Spanish nickname for a Dutchman, believed derived from a garbling of the name Vlissingen or Flushing Pieces of Eight—English name for the silver coin known in Spanish as a peso de ocho reales Pipe—a large and long wooden barrel Piragua—Spanish-American term for a crude type of coastal craft or riverboat Pistole—English nickname for any full-weight Spanish coin, worth more than a pound Plate Fleet—convoy sent annually for the King of Spain’s American plata or ‘‘silver’’ Puerto Real—generic Spanish expression meaning ‘‘Port Royal,’’ used to designate a major anchorage Punch House—English nickname for a low drinking-establishment Purchase—English euphemism for booty or loot, much used among privateers and pirates Rack—a synonym for wreckage in nautical terminology, as in ‘‘rack and ruin’’

Glossary Round-Robin—pirate practice of signing names in a circle, so that no one would be more prominent Sainte-Barbe or Santa Ba
rbara—French and Spanish expression, respectively, for a powder-room or magazine Salmigondis—a stew or ragout dish Salt Tortuga—English nickname for Tortuga Island, off northern Venezuela Santo y Se~ na—Spanish system of passwords Sargento Mayor—senior Spanish military rank, such as second-in-command of a military garrison Sir Cloudesley—nickname for a punch-drink made of small beer and brandy Situados—payrolls and subsidies sent annually from Mexico and Peru to SpanishAmerican garrisons Skull and Crossbones—not an expression current during the 17th or early 18th centuries Somers Island—early English name for Bermuda South Sea—original Spanish name for the Pacific Ocean Spanish Main—the stretch of coastline along northern Panama, Colombia, and Venezuela State Ship—designation for vessels of the Cromwellian Navy States’ Ship—designation for vessels of the Dutch States-General Sunday Keeping—Puritan religious observance, meaning to refrain from work on the Sabbath Tenths—percentage due to the English Crown from any privateer captures Tortille—French nickname for Tortuga Island, which lies off northern Venezuela Trepan—slang English expression for a snare or deceptive trap Waggoner—English term for a sea-atlas, a book combining charts and written directions Wild Coast—name of the South American shoreline from the Gulf of Paria to the Amazon River

453

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1700. Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1985. ———. ‘‘El proceso del pirata Bartholomew Sharp, 1682.’’ Temas americanistas [Spain], No. 4 (1984), pp. 14
18. Sheridan, Richard B., and McDonald, Roderick A., editors. West Indies Accounts: Essays on the History of the British Caribbean and the Atlantic Economy. University of the West Indies Press, 1996. Shomette, Donald G. Pirates on the Chesapeake: Being a True History of Pirates, Picaroons, and Raiders on Chesapeake Bay, 1610
1807. Centreville, MD: 1985. Shomette, Donald G. and Haslach, Robert D. Raid on America: The Dutch Naval Campaign of 1672
1674. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1988. Sir Henry Morgan’s Voyage to Panama, 1670. London: Thomas Malthus, 1683. Sucre, Luis Alberto. Gobernadores y capitanes generales de Venezuela. Caracas: Litografı´a Tecnocolor, 1964.
Taillemite, Etienne. Dictionnaire des Marins Franc¸ais. Paris: Editions Maritimes et d’Outremer, 1982. Taylor, S. A. G. The Western Design: An Account of Cromwell’s Expedition to the Caribbean. London: Solstice Productions, 1969. Tejera, Emiliano. ‘‘Gobernadores de la isla de Santo Domingo, siglos XVI-XVII.’’ Boletı´n del Archivo General de la Naci
on [Dominican Republic] 18, Number 4 (1941), pp. 359
375. Thilmans, Guy. ‘‘La relation de Franc¸ois de Paris, 1682
1683.’’ Bulletin de l’Institut fondamental de l’Afrique Noir [S
en
egal] 38, No. 1 (Jan. 1976), pp. 1
51. Thornton, A. P. West-India Policy under the Restoration. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1956. ———. ‘‘Spanish Slave-Ships in the English West Indies, 1660
85.’’ Hispanic American Historical Review 35, No. 3 (August 1955), pp. 374
385. ———. ‘‘The Modyfords and Morgan.’’ Jamaican Historical Review, Vol. 2 (1952), pp. 36
60. Thornton, Diana Vida. ‘‘The Probate Inventories of Port Royal, Jamaica.’’ College Station: M.A. thesis, Anthropology Department, Texas A&M University, August 1992. Thurloe, John. A Collection of the State Papers of John Thurloe (seven volumes). London, 1742. Torres Ramı´rez, Bibiano. La Armada de Barlovento. Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispanoamericanos, 1981.  Saint-Domingue, le Major Bernanos, capitaine de Tribout de Morembert, Henri. ‘‘A flibustiers.’’ Paris: Connaissance du Monde 78 (1965), pp. 10
19.

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Bibliography Tuttle, Charles W. Capt. Francis Champernowne: The Dutch Conquest of Acadie, and Other Historical Papers. Boston: Wilson & Son, 1889; Republished: Heritage Books, 2000; Kessinger, 2007. Valery Salvatierra, Rafael. La familia tachirense Moreno Pacheco: anotaciones sobre sus ascendientes y descendientes. Caracas: privately published, 2000. Vrijman, L. C. Dr. David van der Sterre: Zeer aenmerkelijke reysen door Jan Erasmus Reyning. Amsterdam: P. N. van Kampen & Zoon, 1937. Walsh, Micheline. Spanish Knights of Irish Origin: Documents from Continental Archives. Dublin: Irish Manuscripts Commission, 1960
1970. Ward, Eliot D. C. ‘‘Imperial Panama: Commerce and Conflict in Isthmian America, 1550
1750.’’ Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Florida, 1988. Webster, John Clarence. Cornelis Steenwyck: Dutch Governor of Acadie. Ottawa: Canadian Historical Association, 1929. Weddle, Robert S. Wilderness Manhunt: The Spanish Search for La Salle. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1973. ———. Spanish Sea: The Gulf of Mexico in North America Discovery, 1500
1685. College Station, TX: Texas A & M University Press, 1985. Wright, Irene Aloha. Spanish Narratives of the English Attack on Santo Domingo, 1655. London: Royal Historical Society, 1926. Zahedieh, Nuala. ‘‘ ‘A Frugal, Prudential and Hopeful Trade’: Privateering in Jamaica, 1655
89.’’ Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History 18, No. 2 (1990), pp. 145
168. ———. ‘‘The Merchants of Port Royal, Jamaica, and the Spanish Contraband Trade, 1655
1692.’’ William and Mary Quarterly 43, No. 4 (October 1986), pp. 570
593.

Pirates of the Americas

VOLUME 2: 1686
1725

David F. Marley

Preface

FALL FROM GRACE AND THE LAST HURRAH Privateering, which had at long last begun to be brought under some official restraint in the West Indies, was openly revived during the War of the League of Augsburg, yet with disappointing results for most of its practitioners. Known in the Americas as ‘‘King William’s War,’’ this conflict would last from 1689 to 1697 and pit a coalition of England, Holland, and Spain against France. Great numbers of rovers would be employed on both sides, yet private English and Dutch men-of-war were prevented from attacking their traditional Spanish targets, and legitimate prizes soon grew scarce. As for their French counterparts, major enterprises such as the flibustier invasion of Jamaica in 1694, or Pointis’ and Ducasse’ supporting role in the sack of Cartagena three years later, netted only meager rewards when they divided up among the hundreds of freebooters who served in these royal expeditions as unsalaried auxiliaries. Instead, the richest hauls were made by small independent ventures, such as Thomas Tew’s and Henry Every’s lone forays around the world into the Red Sea, which had nothing to do with the actual course of sanctioned hostilities, yet proved so profitable that they would spawn dozens of imitators. The high-water mark of Caribbean roving was clearly past, despite yet another upsurge in activities during the War of the Spanish Succession or ‘‘Queen Anne’s War,’’ which erupted in 1702 and lasted for a dozen more years. During this struggle, the union between the French and Spanish Crowns meant that it would have to be the flibustiers in turn who refrained from attacking Spanish targets, while their interminable quarrel for domination on Hispaniola finally began to heal. British and Dutch privateers meanwhile were reduced to supplementing their limited prize-earnings with smuggling, blockade-running, or even salvage operations.

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Preface By the time that peace was finally restored in the spring of 1713, the West Indies had become increasingly dominated by large plantation-based economies. Merchant vessels began arriving with ever-more slaves, and departing with everricher cargoes of sugar or tobacco. Unemployed privateers found little room under this economic system, no longer even being needed as wartime auxiliaries, given that royal squadrons and garrisons were becoming permanent fixtures and a more reliable defense throughout this theater. Several hundred of the wilder, idled freebooters therefore drifted temporarily into the Bahamas, operating out of lawless Nassau under such renegade leaders as Charles Vane and Benjamin Hornigold, until they were tamely displaced by the arrival of Woodes Rogers as its new Royal Governor. The last great generation of pirates scattered still farther a-field, some disappearing into various bolt-holes such as the Carolinas or Rhode Island, to discreetly melt back into civilian life. Only a few defiant commanders remained roaming brazenly at sea, prowling to Africa and Madagascar, then back to Brazil and the Antilles and up to North America, before all inevitably were hunted down as outlaws. ‘‘I am a free prince,’’ one such leader—Charles Bellamy—roared at the master of a Boston merchant ship that he had captured off South Carolina in 1717, ‘‘and I have as much authority to make war on the whole world as he who has a hundred sail of ships at sea, and an army of one hundred thousand men in the field!’’ Yet such a boast masked a hidden fear, due to the rovers’ declining strength and menace.

A . . . for revenge you may assure yourselves, here and hereafter, not to expect anything from our hands, but what belongs to a pirate. —Bartholomew Roberts’s threat to the Governor of Saint Kitts, 27 September 1720 (O.S.)

Council in London on August 12, 1716 (O.S.), pointing out how the Honorable Company Governor in India:

ACCOUNT By the early 18th century, an English slang expression for piracy, more commonly used in conjunction with a verb, such as in going or sailing ‘‘on the account.’’ For example, when four merchant seamen of the galley Eagle complained to the British Governor of the lonely South Atlantic island of St. Helena about their lack of rations during a stopover in June 1715, he considered them such troublemakers that he temporarily remanded them ‘‘to prison as dangerous men.’’ Such harsh treatment, against men who were merely voicing a legitimate grievance during peacetime, was disapproved of back in England, so that the East India Company authorities on St. Helena tried to justify his action, by writing defensively to their directorial

. . . the voyage before, did cause one of these very men (Hannay) to be whipped at the sea-gate and out of Madras, for only proposing to go upon the account—the word ‘‘account’’ being understood among sailors, to go a-pirating.

See also Account (Volume 1).

Reference Janisch, Hudson R., Extracts from the St. Helena Records (St. Helena: The ‘‘Guardian’’ Office, 1885).

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Acosta, Gaspar Mateo De (fl. 1683
1686)

ACOSTA, GASPAR MATEO DE (fl. 1683
1686) Spanish officer who fought buccaneers on Hispaniola, the Bahamas, and Cuba, before finally being promoted to the governorship of Cuman
a and later of Maracaibo. Acosta was born on September 22, 1645, in Santa Cruz de La Palma, capital of Spain’s Canary Islands. He was baptized eight days later in its El Salvador church, and his childhood home still stands today at 26 Calle Real. His father was a tradesman named Francisco de Acosta, and his mother was born in Flanders as Melchora van de Walle, but who went by the Hispanicized name of Melchora de los Reyes. When Gaspar was only nine years old, his father was pressed into military service and sent to Flanders, not to return home until many years later.

EARLY CAREER (ca. 1660
1682) Young Gaspar, on reaching his teenage years, left Santa Cruz aboard the brigantine Ratonero of Manuel Fern
andez de Lima to seek his fortune in the New World. Shortly after disembarking at Havana, Acosta learned that soldiers were needed on the neighboring island of Hispaniola, to battle against its French buccaneer residents. He therefore enlisted there as a junior ensign, distinguishing himself so much over the ensuing decade that he rose to the rank of maestre de campo. Acosta’s prestige also grew so notably that he could marry the Spanish-born Catalina Martı´nez de Lerma in Santo Domingo’s

Cathedral on May 18, 1669, and furthermore made a triumphal return to the Canaries to visit his mother. Promoted to Captain in the Spanish royal infantry during the protracted war against France of the 1670s, as well as being given command of Fort San Salvador de la Punta guarding the entrance into Havana’s harbor, Acosta by 1680 personally came to own a large ship—Jes
us Nazareno, Nuestra Se~ nora del Carmen y el Rey San Fernando—plus various lesser trading craft, which plied throughout the Caribbean.

Anti-Piratical Forays (1683
1686) Yet even after peace was nominally restored with France following the signing of the Treaty of Nijmegen on September 17, 1678, in Europe, the cut-and-thrust of local hostilities persisted in the West Indies. After the piratical rovers Pierre Br
eha, John Markham, Thomas Paine, Conway Wooley, and Jan Corneliszoon sallied from New Providence Island in the Bahamas to raid the Spanish frontline outpost of Saint Augustine in March 1683, Acosta led a retaliatory counterstrike out of Havana that same May. Raising a force of 200 volunteers with the help of the Cuban privateer Tom
as Uraburru, this force sortied aboard a single piragua and the galliot Nuestra Se~ nora del Rosario to make a surprise descent on the ramshackle Bahamian capital of ‘‘Charles Town’’ (modern Nassau). Acosta then apparently rounded eastern Cuba on his return passage, to take up a new station and patrol its

Acosta, Gaspar Mateo De (fl. 1683
1686) southern coastline, for that following month of June 1683, an English turtling sloop called the Providence of Master Joseph Crockeyes was pursued off the south cays of Cuba ‘‘by two Spanish piraguas under Jean Costeau [sic; Acosta].’’ Crockeyes was forced to abandon his sloop, which was carried into Santiago de Cuba as a prize. Acosta allegedly bragged that ‘‘he would have killed every man in her or any other vessel that he found turtling.’’ He apparently continued to operate out of Santiago that summer, for in August 1683, the merchant sloop Hereford of Captain ‘‘Boucher Clauson’’ [i.e., Van den Clausen] was approaching Jamaica when it: . . . was driven by stress of weather to the Cuban coast, anchored four leagues to windward of Santiago, and sent a boat ashore for water, but made no attempt to trade [i.e., smuggle goods ashore to sell]. While I was at anchor there, came one Juan de Costa [sic] in a piragua of 50 men, who at once opened fire of small arms and dangerously wounded one man. I made no resistance, but they boarded and in spite of my protests that I had done no trade, forced me into Santiago, where the Governor and Juan Costa detained both sloop and goods, to the value of £4,000. Both English vessels had unwittingly blundered into a full-fledged war zone, as the local French and Spanish privateers were bitterly contesting control of these waters. In the very forefront of this fighting was Acosta, oftentimes confused in contemporary English reports with Juan Corso, who was also based in

Santiago de Cuba around that same time. However, next year Acosta evidently transferred his operations almost 300 miles farther west, to the smaller Cuban port of Trinidad, where in the late summer of 1684, the sloop of Derick Cornelison ‘‘was attacked without any warning by Don Juan Balosa [sic]’’ and carried into Trinidad for adjudication. The Acting-Governor of Jamaica, Hender Molesworth, dispatched Captain Edward Stanley with the tiny 4-gun Royal Navy warship Bonito, to lodge a protest with his Spanish counterpart. But Stanley ‘‘was forced by foul weather into a bay 25 leagues short’’ of Trinidad, sending a boat inshore under the King’s flag on November 16, 1684, to ask permission to water. It failed to return, and at six o’clock next morning, Stanley: . . . saw a galley rowing close under the shore and put into a creek about two miles to eastward of me. I at once got up sail, but had no sooner done so than I saw the galley and a piragua coming under sail and oars, the galley flying the Spanish flag with a red ensign, and the piragua the King’s jack which he had taken [from] my boat. I fired at the galley when she came within range, and she at me, and we were engaged from 9 to 11, when they got into the creek where there was not water for me to follow them. Acosta subsequently learned that he had attacked a Royal Navy vessel, and apologized to Stanley. It was well that he did, for early in 1686 the pink Swallow of Captain

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Acosta, Gaspar Mateo De (fl. 1683
1686) Edward Goffe and sloop Ann of Captain William Peartree appeared off Trinidad. Both had been trading in the Bay of Honduras, and while returning toward Jamaica, had been carried so far off to leeward that Goffe sent in a boat: . . . asking leave to wood and water, which was refused. I was therefore forced to go to the cays ten leagues from Trinidad for water, whither the Governor of Trinidad sent two galleys out, one of 40 and one of 85 men, the latter of which, as the master confesses, was present at the sack of New Providence. Both galleys came up to my ship’s side and without hailing, poured in a volley which killed two men and wounded five or six, and then making fast to my ship’s side, tried to board her. Having the sloop’s crew on board we defended ourselves, and after about half an hour’s engagement, there were about 16 Spanish pirates killed and 38 wounded. The smaller galley managed to clear herself, but the larger we captured and brought into Jamaica. Acosta was consequently carried into Port Royal on February 22, 1686, and within a month was ‘‘found guilty of piracy for robbing a sloop from Nevis, and stealing Captain Stanley’s boat.’’ However, given his rank and reputation for treating captives humanely, as well as having apologized to Captain Stanley ‘‘soon after committing the fact,’’ Acosta was pardoned. ‘‘I am since glad that I did so,’’ Molesworth added, because numerous Spanish Governors had written to request his

release. Acosta’s galley, though, was incorporated into the Royal Navy, ‘‘being very well fitted to clear the south cays and that part of Cuba from such enemies as destroy our trade and fishery.’’

Later Career (1686
1705) Acosta arrived at Cuman
a by August 15, 1686, to succeed Francisco de Vivero Galindo as Governor of that Venezuelan province, as well as garrison commander for its nearby coastal keep of Araya. Two weeks later, four large piraguas crammed with as many as 200 French flibustiers were sighted approaching from less than five miles away off Punta Arenas at dawn by native fishermen, to cruise menacingly off Cuman
a that same afternoon, then prowling westward over the next three weeks. In hopes of reviving the economy of his impoverished, neglected province, Acosta himself set sail in August 1688 aboard his newlylaunched coast-guard galliot, accompanied by three boats with divers aboard, to coast as far eastward as Pampatar on Margarita Island over the next 20 days and see if the exhausted oysterbeds had recuperated sufficiently to revive pearl fishing. On December 5, 1693, Gaspar del Hoyo Sol
orzano Aizola y Fonte succeeded Acosta in office following Acosta’s promotion to the joint Governorship of Maracaibo and M
erida de la Grita in western Venezuela. Acosta assumed these latter offices on October 8, 1694, being now 49 years of age and suffering from gout. He died in Havana on November 15, 1705, at 60 years of age.

Allison, Robert (fl. 1679
1699)

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 11, 12 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1893
1899). Craton, Michael, A History of the Bahamas (London: Collins, 1968). S
aiz Cidoncha, Carlos, Historia de la piraterı´a en Am
erica Espa~ nola (Madrid: Editorial San Martı´n, 1985). Weddle, Robert S., Wilderness Manhunt: The Spanish Search for La Salle (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1973).

ADVICE BOAT See Aviso

ALLISON, ROBERT (fl. 1679
1699) English privateer who led John Coxon’s vanguard into Portobelo, and almost two decades later piloted a group of Scottish migrants to settle Darien on the Isthmus of Panama. In late December 1679—after England had been at peace for several years, and France and Spain were winding down their mutual hostilities in the New World—Allison attended a gathering of privateers at Port Morant off the southeastern tip of Jamaica with his 18-ton sloop of no guns and 24 men, meeting the barks of Coxon, Cornelius Essex, and Bartholomew Sharpe, as well as the sloop of Thomas Magott. All five commanders agreed to unite under Coxon’s leadership for an assault against Spanish Portobelo, despite having only the sketchiest authorization for such a venture.

They quit Port Morant on January 17, 1680, and less than 20 miles out at sea met the brigantine of French flibustier Jean Rose, who also joined their enterprise. The weather turning foul, Coxon hailed his vessels to make for Isla Fuerte, 90 miles south-southwest of Cartagena on the Spanish Main. Whosoever got there first was ‘‘to leave a note on the Sandy Point, to satisfy the rest.’’ Only Essex and Sharpe failed to keep the rendezvous, while ‘‘four piraguas and six very good large canoes’’ were captured at the nearby San Bernardo or ‘‘Friends’’ Islands, to provide landing craft for the forthcoming disembarkation. Essex had meanwhile rejoined, so that the formation then steered toward Isla de Pinos, 130 miles east of Portobelo amid the Archipi
elago de las Mulatas. Only Coxon’s bark, though, was able to shoulder through the contrary winds and gain this place, the remainder being constrained to put into Isla de Oro or ‘‘Golden Island,’’ some miles away. There, the pirates befriended the local Indians, until Coxon ordered 250 buccaneers into the boats to row westward along the coast, to fall on Portobelo before the Spaniards could learn of their presence. Nearing their destination, they came on ‘‘a great ship riding at anchor,’’ which proved to be that of flibustier Capitaine Lessone, who added 80 Frenchmen to the force. Shortly thereafter, the buccaneers slipped ashore at Puerto del Escribano in the Gulf of San Blas, proceeding afoot to avoid Spanish coastal watchers. They marched for three days ‘‘without any food, and their feet cut with the rocks for want of shoes,’’ until they at last came on an Indian village

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Allison, Robert (fl. 1679
1699) three miles from Portobelo on the morning of February 7, 1680. A native boy spotted them and shouted ‘‘¡Ladrones!’’ or ‘Thieves!,’’ setting off at a run toward the distant city. Coxon immediately ordered Allison and his advance unit—commonly known among buccaneers as the ‘‘forlorn’’—to hurry in pursuit. Allison’s men trotted gamely, but the boy arrived half-an-hour before them, and raised the alarm. The approaching pirates could hear a signalgun being fired, and ‘‘then certainly knew that we were decried.’’ Nevertheless, their vanguard swept in while suffering only five or six wounded, the startled Spaniards scurrying inside their citadel, and leaving the raiders to ransack Portobelo unopposed over the next two days. The freebooters thereupon retired 10 miles northeastward, entrenching themselves with their booty and a few prisoners on a cay half-a-mile offshore from Bastimentos. Allison was again called on to perform a singular service, being sent in a boat to recall the anchored privateer vessels from farther up the coast. By the time he returned three days later, several hundred Spanish troops had appeared and were firing on the pirates from the beach, yet who retreated at the sight of these reinforcements. The pirates subsequently blockaded Portobelo, and by ‘‘keeping very good watch at topmast head,’’ saw a ship arriving from Cartagena. Our ships and sloops weighed and went out and met her, as she was standing into Portobelo. Captain Allison coming up with her first in his sloop engages her, and Coxon seconding him claps her aboard and takes her without loss of any men.

Some Spaniards fell, for they fought about one hour. The vessel proved to be a new 90-ton ship mounting eight guns, furthermore bearing valuable cargo. A general distribution of booty was consequently made, resulting in shares of 100 pieces-of-eight per man. Afterward, the flotilla retired to careen at Bocas del Toro (at the northwestern extremity of present-day Panama), where the privateers also found Capts. Richard Sawkins and Peter Harris. Once refitted, all the buccaneers except the French decided to return to Golden Island, to have the Darien Indians guide them across the Isthmus to attack the Spaniards on their Pacific flank. Coxon, Allison, Cooke, Harris, Magott, Sawkins, and Sharpe all anchored out of sight, close inshore in a small cove on Golden Island. A watch was left aboard each vessel, with orders to rally to Coxon’s and Harris’—the two largest—if their ships should be discovered. At 6:00 A.M. on Monday, April 15, 1680, 332 buccaneers went ashore to traverse the Isthmus; among their number were William Dampier, Basil Ringrose, and Lionel Wafer, all of whom would later write accounts of these adventures. However, Allison and Magott ‘‘being sickly were unable to march,’’ remained behind. The rest of the buccaneers disappeared into the jungle, and 10 days later overran the inland town of Santa Marı´a at the confluence of the Chucunaque and Tuira Rivers. From there, they pushed on into the Pacific, although Coxon grew increasingly reluctant. As a result, by the time the pirates captured some Spanish coastal

Almiranta craft and bore down on Panama City, command had devolved on Harris, Sawkins, and Sharpe. Coxon returned to Golden Island with 70 loyal followers, and it is possible Allison sailed away with him, as Coxon was seen passing Point Negril (Jamaica) in late May 1680 with two smaller vessels, which he abandoned on being chased.

Darien Expedition (1698
1699) Nothing more is known about Allison’s movements over the next two decades, until the Scottish ship Unicorn and its tender Dolphin anchored at Saint Thomas in the Danish Virgin Islands on October 11, 1698. They were part of a larger flotilla conveying 1,200 colonists to establish a new commercial settlement at Darien for the Company of Scotland, and as its leaders were unfamiliar with the Spanish Main, they required a pilot. On being directed to a tavern, they found Allison ‘‘now sadly old, white haired, and garrulous.’’ Nonetheless, he promised to guide them to their destination, and four days later they weighed. Off Crab Island (modern Vieques Island, due east of Puerto Rico) they overtook the other three vessels of their group, and Allison went aboard the flagship Saint Andrew to direct the helmsmen. Their ensuing passage proved slow and arduous, through torrential downpours and muddy seas, until Allison sensed land was near on the night of October 26th-27th. ‘‘About two o’clock this morning,’’ a passenger observed, ‘‘we saw with the lightning black, high stones like land.’’ Dawn revealed the Nuestra Se~nora de la Popa heights behind Cartagena.

Two weeks later, the ships reached Golden Island, and on November 15th the Scots stood into a mainland harbor which they renamed ‘‘Caledonia Bay.’’ Allison remained at the new settlement, which soon succumbed to disease, isolation, and strife. In late February 1699, he put to sea again as supercargo of the tender Endeavour, with orders to guide Captain John Anderson to Jamaica for provisions. A few days later, they were driven back by gale winds. It is not known whether the old privateer survived the next four months, before the Darien colony was abandoned.

See also Allison, Robert (Volume 1).

References Bradley, Peter T., The Lure of Peru: Maritime Intrusion into the South Sea, 1598
1701 (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1990). Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924). Jameson, John F., comp. and ed., Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period: Illustrative Documents (New York: Macmillan, 1923). Prebble, John, The Darien Disaster (London: Secker & Warburg, 1968).

ALMIRANTA Spanish term for a ‘‘vice-flagship.’’ Capitana is the equivalent word for a flagship, the two often being confused by foreigners, as they seemingly reversed the usual order whereby captains are subordinate to admirals. However, when these expressions first

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Alvarez, Augustı´n (fl. 1683
1684) gained currency in Medieval Spain, it was customary for Spanish fleets to be commanded by a capit
an general, while the designation almirante was adapted from the Arabic term al-amir or ‘‘the emir.’’ To Northern Europeans, though, ‘‘Admiral’’ only ever meant a senior naval officer. Thus when the buccaneers under John Coxon, Richard Sawkins, and Bartholomew Sharpe captured a Spanish flotilla before Panama City in early May 1680, they asked their prisoner Francisco de Peralta: . . . which was the best sailors. He told us on his word the [400-ton Santı´sima] Trinidad was the best in the South Sea, so we pitched on her for Admiral [i.e., flagship].

See also Almiranta (Volume 1).

Reference Jameson, John F., comp. and ed., Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period: Illustrative Documents (New York: Macmillan, 1923).


LVAREZ, AUGUSTI´N A (fl. 1683
1684) Spanish corsair from Havana, who made his most notorious depredations off Hispaniola and the Spanish Main. On June 30, 1683 (O.S.), the English bark of Captain Robert Glover departed Jamaica on a peacetime voyage to Curac¸ao. Aboard was traveling the wealthy Jewish merchant Benjamin

Baruch Carvallo, a naturalized Englishman who was fetching his family from that Dutch island. On passing Santo Domingo, though, they were inter
cepted by the barco luengo of Alvarez, who ‘‘cruelly treated, tortured, and robbed’’ Baruch until he agreed to pay a ransom of 22,000 pieces of eight at
Curac¸ao. Alvarez and his 25 men—16 of whom were Dutch—proceeded southeastward until they, in turn, were attacked off Curac¸ao by another barco luengo of 50 men. The second Span
iard tried to board Alvarez’s craft by grappling, but lost 10 men and its cap
tain in this attempt; however, Alvarez’s barco luengo was driven onto the rocks outside Caracas Baai on Curac¸ao, where he and his men continued to fight until the attackers withdrew. The Dutch Gov. Joan van Erpecum
learned of these events and Alvarez’s extortionate demands late that same August 1683, professing to be ‘‘much troubled’’ and sending officers to examine the matter. Eventually, Baruch’s ransom was reduced to 3,500 pieces of eight and paid by his friends, while Glover’s bark was released. Baruch then complained bitterly to the Governor, demanding compensation
from Alvarez for his lost merchandise, at least; ‘‘but the agreement having been settled,’’ Van Erpecum opined, ‘‘he spoke too late.’’ The Spanish corsair was allowed to retain his ill-gotten gains, while the Dutch official was later criticized both in Holland and England for having struck such a deal,
despite holding Alvarez in his power. The 4-gun HMS Bonito afterward
retrieved Alvarez’s boat and two Spaniards from Curac¸ao, bringing them into Port Royal on February 27, 1684. There, the corsair was convicted of

Andrade, Alonso Felipe de (fl. 1704
1717) piracy in an English court, for he had also taken ‘‘a New England ketch in the high seas.’’ Nevertheless, Gov. Sir
Thomas Lynch reprieved Alvarez because his original commission had been legitimate, and he also wanted ‘‘to see if his security in Havana will pay damages.’’

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898). Goslinga, Cornelis Ch., The Dutch in the Caribbean and in the Guianas, 1680
1791 (Dover, NH: Van Gorcum, 1985).

ANDRADE, ALONSO FELIPE DE (fl. 1704
1717) Spanish military officer who successfully reclaimed Mexico’s Laguna de T
erminos from foreign logwood cutters. Andrade was born into a military family. His father, Ensign Antonio Miguel de Andrade—a Royal Spanish Marine officer who had been stationed at Gibraltar, and had also served aboard trans-Atlantic plate fleets—was killed while his son was still only a teenager. The elder Andrade had been second-in-command of a Marine company serving aboard the frigate Nuestra Se~ nora de la Concepci
on de Ibiza, when it sailed to participate in the fighting in Italy in July 1683. Homeward-bound from that campaign, escorting the crippled Guipuzcoan flagship San Carlos toward Alicante, Concepci
on had become separated by a

storm and was then engaged by two French frigates within sight of that port on December 2, 1683. Its magazine exploded, and the ship went down with all hands. Young Alonso had already been enrolled on the books of the Army of Catalonia for a year, and in May 1684 he distinguished himself for bravery during a French assault against the besieged Italian city of Gerona. He served three years in Milan, before his regiment returned to Catalonia in September 1692. He was promoted to Captain and ayudante de sargento general de batalla, as well as being wounded and briefly captured during further fighting, before again winning a special commendation for his part in the defense of Barcelona against a French invasion in June 1697. When Spain’s newly-crowned Bourbon monarch, the French-born teenager Felipe V, visited Barcelona in 1701, he appointed Catalonia’s Captain-General Francisco Fern
andez de la Cueva Enrı´quez, Duque de Alburquerque, as his new Viceroy for New Spain. Andrade also petitioned the King for a New World posting, as a reward for his 19 years of loyal service to the Crown. He was granted the title of alcalde mayor of the small Mexican mining-town of San Gregorio Mazapil, so prepared to sail with his family, as part of the Viceroy-designate’s retinue. But given the growing tensions between the newly-allied Spain and France against a coalition formed by England and Holland, Andrade was furthermore promoted to the rank of sargento mayor in April 1702, and given command of half the 2,000 Galician troops being sent as reinforcements to Havana and Veracruz.

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Andrade, Alonso Felipe de (fl. 1704
1717)

Early Mexican Service (1702
1715) Andrade departed La Coru~na on June 26, 1702, the entire expedition of soldiers being aboard eight Spanish transports, escorted by a half-dozen French warships under Commodore Jean-Baptiste Ducasse. This convoy evaded Royal Navy blockaders and reached San Juan de Puerto Rico safely by August 8th, pausing to refresh their water and provisions. Two detached French warships then escorted the transports farther westward to leave one Spanish regiment on Santo Domingo, deposit half of Andrade’s troops on Cuba to bolster Havana’s garrison, before gaining Veracruz on October 7th with Mexico’s new Viceroy and Andrade’s own five remaining companies, a total of 500 soldiers.

Reconquest and Defense of the Laguna de T
erminos (1716
1717) Andrade presided over a war-council at Campeche on November 28, 1716, his original instructions having suggested that he lead his force to the Grijalva River mouth, to be joined there by an additional contingent from Tabasco, then proceed together to eliminate the English logwood establishments from the Laguna de T
erminos. However, he and his commanders agreed to instead send a sloop to tell the Tabascans to rendezvous with his waiting flotilla at Campeche, while a local pilot named Agustı´n de Toledo made a stealthy reconnaissance of the Laguna with his piragua. Toledo returned to report that its loggers were apparently aware of an

impending attack, and had been requesting assistance from other English outposts as far away as Jamaica. Their strength seemingly consisted of a 20-gun frigate, one of 16 guns, another of 10, plus numerous lesser vessels. Andrade consequently decided to hasten his departure, meeting the Tabascans en route. On December 7, 1716, Andrade exited Campeche with 100 soldiers and 280 volunteers under privateer Captain Sebasti
an Garcı´a, sailing aboard the hired frigate Nuestra Se~ nora de la Soledad, two other frigates, a sloop, two coast-guard galliots under Captain Jos
e de Le
on, plus a pair of piraguas, toward the English logwood establishments in the Laguna de T
erminos. En route, his flotilla was joined by another sloop and two piraguas from Tabasco, bearing an additional 220 men. A few days later, the Spaniards captured a Dutch pink outside the Laguna entrance, then crossed its bar between 3:00 and 4:00 P.M. on December 11th, forcing the surrender next day of another 18 foreign frigates, sloops, brigantines, and minor boats plying inside. Only an English Captain named Thomas Porter continued to resist, melting into the jungle with 150 followers, while the rest of the poachers submitted and were allowed to leave, for unlike previous raids by the Spaniards, this time they intended to stay. On December 15th, De Andrade began bringing ashore materiel to erect a redoubt to cover the Laguna entrance, thereby preventing future access. Soon, a small fort began taking shape.

See also Ducasse, Jean-Baptiste.

Andrieszoon, Michiel (fl. 1683
1686)

ANDREIS, BERNART (fl. 1692) Captain, perhaps of German, Dutch, or Flemish origin, who served on English Jamaica. On September 19, 1692 (O.S.), Andreis was appointed by the Jamaican Council ‘‘to command any sloop or sloops employed against Nathaniel Grubing,’’ an English renegade who had gone over to the French of SaintDomingue on the outbreak of the War of the League of Augsburg (known in America as King William’s War, or to history as the Nine Years War), and led them on harassing raids against northern Jamaica. There is no evidence Andreis succeeded in catching this turncoat, and the Captain was involved a couple of months later in court-martial proceedings against some of his officers.

off the Bay of Honduras with De Graaf. Six months previously, the Spanish man-of-war Princesa, nicknamed Francesa (former French Dauphine or ‘‘Princess’’) had been captured off Santo Domingo, and was now being careened at Bonaco Island. The buccaneers were joined there in early April by another band of flibustiers commanded by Nikolaas Van Hoorn, the ‘‘Chevalier’’ de Grammont, and Jan Willems, who had come in quest of reinforcements for a major campaign against the Spaniards. As Van Hoorn had been cheated out of a large consignment of slaves at Santo Domingo, the Governor of Saint-Domingue—Jacques Nepveu, Sieur de Pouanc¸ay—had granted him a letter-of-reprisal to seek restitution, despite the official peace prevailing with Spain. De Graaf and Andrieszoon incorporated their men and ships into this expedition, rounding the Yucatan Peninsula en masse five weeks later.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 13 (London; Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1901).

ANDRIESZOON, MICHIEL (fl. 1683
1686) Dutch rover who operated out of French Saint-Domingue, often as a confederate to Laurens de Graaf. He was commonly referred to as ‘‘Capitaine Michel’’ or ‘‘l’Andresson’’ by his flibustier followers, and ‘‘Michel’’ or ‘‘Mitchell’’ by the English. His first recorded activity occurred early in 1683, when Andrieszoon was lying

Sack of Veracruz (May 1683) The night of May 17th-18th, 800 buccaneers slipped into the sleeping city of Veracruz and attacked at dawn. The Spanish garrison and citizenry were surprised in their beds, every house being ransacked over the next four days. The pirates then withdrew offshore to Sacrificios Island with 4,000 captives, dividing their booty and awaiting ransoms out of Mexico’s interior. Two weeks later, these were paid, and after herding 1,500 blacks and mulattos aboard as slaves, the 13 pirate vessels weighed. Just as they were standing out from the coast, they encountered the annual plate fleet, whose commander Admiral Don Diego

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Andrieszoon, Michiel (fl. 1683
1686) Fern
andez de Zaldı´var deferred combat, allowing the raiders to escape. The buccaneers paused at Coatzacoalcos to take on water before shouldering their way back around Yucatan to Isla Mujeres, where they finished distributing the spoils by late June 1683. Each then went his separate way, Andrieszoon, Willems, and others following De Graaf into the maze of islands off Cuba’s southern coast. From there, they sold their goods, smuggling the profits onto Jamaica. After a few months, the pirate contingent stood away toward the Spanish Main, arriving near Cartagena by late November 1683.

Victory at Cartagena (Christmas 1683) When the local Spanish Gov. Don Juan de Pando Estrada learned that these buccaneers were before his harbor, he commandeered the 40-gun private merchant ship San Francisco, the 34-gun Nuestra Se~ nora de la Paz, and a 28-gun galliot to chase them away. This trio exited on December 23, 1683, manned by 800 soldiers and sailors under the command of Don Andr
es de Pez. The resultant battle was scarcely as the Spaniards had envisioned, for the seven smaller pirate ships swarmed all around the more cumbersome trio, and in the confusion San Francisco ran aground. Paz struck after four hours, and Willems captured the galliot; 90 Spaniards were killed in the affray, as opposed to only 20 pirates. The triumphant buccaneers refloated San Francisco, which De Graaf appropriated as his new flagship, renaming it Fortune; Andrieszoon received

command of Paz, calling it Mutine or ‘‘Rascal’’ in French; while Willems was given De Graaf’s old Francesa or Dauphine. On December 25th, the victors deposited their captives ashore, then settled down to blockade the port. In mid-January 1684, a small convoy of English merchantmen arrived to deliver a consignment of slaves, and the pirates let them pass. De Graaf, Andrieszoon, and Willems also entered a joint arrangement on January 18th with a Dutch Jew called Diego Maget [or Marquet] who was traveling with the English, in which they agreed to buy a large quantity of wine and meat. Significantly, this was to be delivered from Port Royal, Jamaica, to Roat
an. Shortly thereafter, the pirates quit their blockade and headed northwestward, De Graaf capturing a 14-gun Spanish vessel en route, then touching at Roat
an with his flotilla, before continuing to the south coast of Cuba. There they intercepted a Spanish aviso or ‘‘dispatch vessel,’’ bearing news that Spain and France were once again at war. Realizing that he could now renew his French privateering commissions, De Graaf left Andrieszoon and Willems to continue prowling the Cuban coast, while he sailed his 14-gun Spanish prize into Petit-Go^ave to obtain new patents.

Violation of the Dutch West Indiamen (May 1684) After parting company with their leader, Andrieszoon and Willems rounded western Cuba and took up station near Havana. On May 18, 1684, while opposite the tiny hamlet of Santa Lucı´a, they saw two large vessels

Andrieszoon, Michiel (fl. 1683
1686) approaching, which they intercepted. The strangers identified themselves as the Dutch West Indiamen Stad Rotterdam and Elisabeth. Despite Holland’s neutrality in the conflict, Andrieszoon led an 80-man boarding party across in two boats to inspect the West Indiamen’s cargos. He discovered that they had sailed from Cartagena three weeks earlier, and because of the protection afforded by Dutch colors, the Spaniards had shipped a great deal of money and passengers on board, including a Bishop. Andrieszoon laid claim to half the 200,000 pesos and all Spanish nationals being carried, removing them over the masters’ objections. In a heated argument, the West India commanders allegedly declared that if they had realized Andrieszoon’s intent, they would never have allowed him aboard. The latter supposedly retorted he was willing to rejoin his ships and fight it out, winner take all, but the Dutch masters demurred. Instead, they reputedly took their revenge by concealing the money he had left behind, later claiming that Andrieszoon had stolen it all.

New England Visit (August 1684) From Cuba, the pair of buccaneer vessels worked their way up the Atlantic Seaboard, and by the end of August 1684, Gov. Edward Cranfield of New Hampshire reported to London: Since my last, a French privateer of 35 guns has arrived at Boston. I am credibly informed that they share £700 a man. The Bostoners no

sooner heard of her off the coast, than they dispatched a messenger and pilot to convoy her into port, in defiance of the King’s proclamation [of March 1684, prohibiting aid and abetment to such rovers]. The pirates are likely to leave the greatest part of their plate [i.e., silver] behind them, having bought up most of the choice goods in Boston. The ship is now fitting for another expedition. This was Andrieszoon’s Mutine. Two days later, the Governor wrote again, giving further details of it and a second French privateer, Willems’ Dauphine, which had appeared off the coast as well. Spanish escapees from the former had sought sanctuary in New Hampshire, ‘‘which they shall have and all friendship besides,’’ Cranfield piously declared. They told him they had been taken off Cartagena ‘‘by the men who plundered Veracruz,’’ and identified the ship refurbishing in Boston’s yards by its former Spanish name of La Paz, while the second they identified as the Francesa (which the Governor misheard as ‘‘Francis’’). ‘‘They are both extraordinarily rich ships,’’ Cranfield concluded, ‘‘chiefly through spoil of the Spaniards, though they have spared none that they have met at sea.’’ Once Andrieszoon’s ship had completed refitting, Willems’ was to be repaired. However, a couple of weeks later the King’s latest proclamation against piracy was promulgated in Boston, leading Gov. William Dyre to attempt to seize: . . . a privateer of the first magnitude, famous in bloodshed and robberies, called La Trompeuse

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Andrieszoon, Michiel (fl. 1683
1686) (commanded by one Michel Andreson, Bhra, or Lavanza, a reputed Frenchman). I have moved for justice against him but have been delayed, and much discouraged and severely threatened by many, and more especially by one Mr. Samuel Shrimpton, a merchant of this place, to have my brains beat out or a stab for seizing the said ship. He has supplied, succored, countenanced and encouraged her, and taken her into his custody and keeping at Nodles Island, the place and receptacle of all piratical and uncustomed goods, also the guns, ammunition and all, though under seizure by myself for the King’s use, resolving and boasting to defend the same and fit the ship out again. He has also received clandestinely great quantities of their gold, silver, jewels, and cacao within the compass of my seizure and claim. Dyre was in fact confusing Andrieszoon with at least two other pirate leaders, firstly by referring to his ship Mutine or ‘‘Rascal’’ as the Trompeuse or ‘‘Trickster,’’ when this had actually been Jean Hamlin’s vessel, sunk the previous year at Saint Thomas in the Danish Virgin Islands; secondly, by appending the pseudonym ‘‘Bhra’’ to the Dutchman’s name, implying he might be Thomas Paine’s confederate Br
eha, guilty of helping assault Saint Augustine in 1683. Dyre went on to list the 198 French, Scotch, Dutch, English, Spanish, Portuguese, black, Indian, mulatto, Swedish, Irish, Jersey, and New England men who comprised the Mutine’s crew, and ended by saying that he was sending ‘‘great quantities of the piratical plundered gold’’ to London.

Return to the Spanish Main (January 1685) As the Governor anticipated, Andrieszoon emerged unscathed from this brief impoundment at Boston, and by the end of that year was back in the Antilles. He parted company with Willems to patrol the Cuban coast with Mutine and De Graaf’s flagship Neptune (ex-San Francisco, which had only briefly borne the name Fortune), while the chief remained busy in PetitGo^ave. During the first days of the new year, Andrieszoon shifted southeastward, leading a small flotilla of flibustiers to the Spanish Main, where De Graaf was to overtake them. Capts. Jean Rose, Vigneron, La Garde, and an English trader joined the Mutine and Neptune in blockading those shores. The night of January 17th, they espied a ship, which they challenged next morning. The response was in French, but the stranger’s lines were Spanish, so Rose opened fire. In the growing dawn, Andrieszoon recognized their opponent as the 14-gun Spanish prize captured by De Graaf the previous year, so realized they were engaging their commander. The mistake corrected, De Graaf ordered his formation toward Curac¸ao next day. At two o’clock that afternoon, while within sight of Bonaire, they sighted a Flemish ship out of La Guaira, which they chased and captured that evening. On January 20, 1685, De Graaf detached La Garde to request permission from Gov. Joan van Erpecum of Curac¸ao to buy masts for his ship, replacing those lost in a storm off Saint Thomas. ‘‘This was flatly refused and the gates of the city closed,’’ Ravenau de Lussan later

Andrieszoon, Michiel (fl. 1683
1686) wrote, because of the sacking of the two Dutch West Indiamen off Havana the year before. Nevertheless, a couple hundred buccaneers managed to slip ashore in small groups to enjoy liberty, until they were discovered and driven out ‘‘by beating drums’’ four days later. On January 27th, De Graaf set sail for Cape de la Vela (in present-day Venezuela), arriving three days later and posting a lookout on the headland, while his ships began careening below. Rose meanwhile sailed down the coast to Rı´ohacha and attempted to deceive the Spaniards that he was a peaceful English trader, but met with no success. Returning empty-handed on February 8th, the pirates decided to split up: De Graaf wanted to organize another major venture such as his Veracruz raid, yet not everyone was in accord. They therefore redistributed themselves around the vessels and separated, De Graaf laying in a course for the Gulf of Honduras with Neptune, while Andrieszoon remained off the Spanish Main with Rose, being spotted on February 23, 1685 near Palmas Islands, then putting into Golden Island four days later. He and Rose had unsuccessfully chased a trading vessel from Santiago de Cuba as it neared Cartagena, and now required water; but on Golden Island they found an excited band of flibustiers preparing to march across the Isthmus of Panama to attack the Spaniards in the South Sea. Rose and his 64 men therefore decided to scuttle their ship and join this enterprise, while 118 of Andrieszoon’s crew also enrolled. With his complement thus drastically reduced, Andrieszoon had little choice but to make for Saint-Domingue.

Cuban Operations (Spring 1685) On April 24, 1685 (O.S.), Lieutenant-Gov. Hender Molesworth of Jamaica noted: Captain Michel, a French privateer, was recently beaten off by the Spaniards from Darien with loss of his prizes. The French continue to issue commissions against the Spaniard, on pretence of damage done them by piraguas set out from Havana before the making of the recent truce in Europe. Andrieszoon quickly resumed his roving; three weeks after this first letter, Molesworth wrote in a second: ‘‘Michel, the privateer, is gone to the south cays of Cuba to take three Dutch ships that are trading there.’’ The corsair unwittingly aided the Jamaicans when his patrol boats chased a suspicious sloop into a creek, which proved to be the captive Speedwell of Master Francis Powell, seized by a Spanish guardacosta flying false English colors, and fitted out for a counter-raid against the coastal plantations of Jamaica—a scheme which was frustrated when he drove it ashore. It is quite probable that Andrieszoon then took part in De Graaf’s and Grammont’s great enterprise against Campeche, as the pirates were already gathering on nearby Pinos Island for such a purpose. They eventually shifted to Isla Mujeres to fully marshal their strength.

Assault on Campeche (July 1685) Hovering off Cape Catoche for more than a month, the buccaneers advised passing freebooters of their plan, but

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Anstis, Thomas (fl. 1721
1723) also unwittingly alerted the Spaniards. Late in June, they moved, the pirate fleet of six large and four small ships, six sloops, and 17 piraguas materializing half-a-dozen miles off Campeche on the afternoon of July 6th. A landing force of 700 buccaneers rowed in toward shore, and overran the city that following day. Its citadel held out for a week, after which the invaders remained in undisputed possession of the port for the next two months; yet as most of the Spaniards’ wealth had been withdrawn prior to the assault, little plunder was found. Captives were threatened with death if ransoms were not forthcoming, but Yucatan’s Gov. Juan Bruno T
ellez de Guzm
an prohibited any such payments. Finally, the pirates evacuated the city late in August, after putting it to the torch. Protests were duly lodged with the French Crown, and Gov. Pierre-Paul Tarin de Cussy of Saint-Domingue felt compelled to act against some of the returning flibustiers. In a letter to his Spanish counterpart at Santo Domingo dated January 8, 1686, he explained that the commissions he had previously issued were to expire as of March 18, 1685, after which the holders might be regarded as pirates. In proof of which, having learned that the one named Michel was anchored seven leagues from PetitGo^ave with a ship of 36 guns and 150 men, I went there myself with a King’s frigate to disarm them, which they did; after which, having learned they wished to carry off said frigate to become pirates, I had them arrested and confiscated the said frigate, prohibiting any flibustier or settler [habitant] from exiting to go

privateering, under penalty of corporeal punishment and confiscation of their goods. The Spaniard, Captain-General Andr
es de Robles, dismissed this as a hollow gesture, pointing out that ‘‘those with whom you should make this demonstration are Captain Grammont and Lorenzo [de Graaf], who are the ones who most infest these seas and lands of the King my Lord.’’ Indeed, it seems more than likely that Andrieszoon simply decided to retire from the sea and settle down on Saint-Domingue at this time, which allowed the Governor to record this to his advantage.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Vols. 9
12 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1893
1899). Ju
arez Moreno, Juan, Piratas y corsarios en Veracruz y Campeche (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1972). Lugo, Am
erico, Recopilaci
on diplom
atica relativa a las colonias espa~ nola y francesa de la isla de Santo Domingo, 1640
1701 (Ciudad Trujillo, Dominican Republic: Editorial ‘‘La Naci
on,’’ 1944). Lussan, Ravenau de, Journal of a Voyage into the South Sea (Cleveland, OH: Arthur H. Clark, 1930). Marley, David F., Sack of Veracruz: The Great Pirate Raid of 1683 (Windsor, Ontario, Canada: Netherlandic Press, 1993).

ANSTIS, THOMAS (fl. 1721
1723) A subordinate of Howell Davis and Bartholomew Roberts, who operated

Anstis, Thomas (fl. 1721
1723) independently for a couple of years in the company of John Fenn, before finally being murdered by his own crew. According to the chronicler Charles Johnson, Anstis had been a veteran seafarer who shipped out of Nassau on New Providence Island in the Bahamas in 1718 aboard the merchant sloop Buck, and who shortly thereafter helped take over that vessel ‘‘with five other rascals’’ to go ‘‘a-pyrating.’’ The leader of this mutineer band was Howell Davis, who would eventually be killed off the West African coast and succeeded in command by Bartholomew Roberts, who then led this pirate flotilla on an extensive run of pillage.

Independent Command (1721) Anstis was the leader of a faction which chose to split off from Roberts in April 1721, rather than return across the Atlantic with his flagship toward Sierra Leone. Anstis preferred to slip away one night and instead remain behind to prowl in the West Indies with his brigantine Good Fortune, and he and his men may have perpetrated the brutal sack off the coast of Martinique of the ship Irwin of Captain Ross, which was bringing 600 barrels of beef from Cork in Ireland. In a violent frenzy, 21 of these pirates raped and tossed a woman passenger into the sea while she was still alive, and cruelly beat a male passenger in front of his family when he attempted to intervene. Then in mid-June 1721, Anstis’ brigantine apparently ‘‘met with one Captain Maiston [sic; Marston? Maidstone?] between Hispaniola and Jamaica, bound to New York, from

which he took all the wearing apparel, liquors and provisions, and six men.’’A week later, Anstis also robbed the merchantman Hamilton of Bristol, as described for the Council of Trade and Plantations in London toward the end of that same year by the newlyinstalled Bahamian Governor, George Phenney: Samuel Pitt (late mate of the Hamilton, a Bristol ship, Joseph Smith commander) with six of the crew came in their longboat from the Havana, having the [Spanish] Governor’s pass. They were taken the 22nd June last [1721 O.S.] by the Good Fortune brigantine, Thomas Anstead [sic] commander and pirate, having 18 guns, 60 white men and nineteen Negroes, fourteen leagues west of Jamaica. The said pirates forced the second mate and twelve of Smith’s men to proceed with them. Circling around Cuba, Anstis then careened Good Fortune on an island in the Bahamas, before resuming his heading northeast toward Bermuda. During this passage, toward the end of 1721, he intercepted a fine 24-gun Bristol slaver named the Morning Star, bound from Guinea toward Carolina under Captain James Cochett. A second ship was taken shortly thereafter and its eight guns were removed, so as to outfit this large slaver with a powerful array of 32 cannons and a crew of 100 men, into which Anstis’ gunner John Fenn was promoted as Captain. As senior commander, Anstis might well have assumed command over this newer and larger ship himself, but the chronicler Johnson recorded that he

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Anstis, Thomas (fl. 1721
1723) ‘‘was so in love with his own vessel, she being an excellent sailer,’’ that he preferred to remain aboard Good Fortune. The pirates now had two good ships with which to roam on the account, yet since a large proportion of their crews had been pressed or forced into service, a majority voted some time later to request a royal pardon, so as to be able to abandon this nomadic existence and return into civilian life. Johnson later recorded their petition as follows: To His Most Sacred Majesty George, by the Grace of God of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, etc. The humble petition of the Company now belonging to the Ship Morning Star and Brigantine Good Fortune, lying under the ignominious Name and Denomination of Pyrates. Humbly sheweth: That we, Your Majesty’s most loyal subjects, have at sundry times been taken by Bartholomew Roberts, the then Captain of the above vessels and company, together with another ship in which we left him; and have been forced by him and his wicked accomplices, to enter into and serve in the said company as pirates, much contrary to our wills and inclinations. And we your loyal subjects, utterly abhorring and detesting that impious way of living, did with a unanimous consent and contrary to the knowledge of the said Roberts and his accomplices, on or about the 18th day of April 1721 [O.S.] leave and ran away with the aforesaid ship Morning Star and brigantine Good Fortune, with no other intent or meaning than the hopes of obtaining

Your Majesty’s most gracious pardon. And that we, Your Majesty’s most loyal subjects, may with more safety return to our native country and serve the nation unto which we belong in our respective capacities, without fear of being prosecuted by the injured, whose estates have suffered the said Roberts and his accomplices during our forcible detainment by the said company: We most humbly implore Your Majesty’s most royal assent, to this our humble petition. This document was signed in ‘‘roundrobin’’ fashion, all names being affixed in a circle so that no one would be more prominent than any other. Johnson also indicated in his General History that this petition was sent directly to England about December 1721 aboard a merchant vessel sailing out of Jamaica, while the pirates hid with their ships among the mangrove swamps of a small uninhabited island at the western end of Cuba, to await nine months for an answer. However, official records indicate that this missive was actually addressed in June 1722 to the Governor of Jamaica, it being noted as a: Petition from the ship’s companies of the Morning Star ship and Good Fortune brigantine, 14th June 1722 [O.S.], to Governor Sir Nicholas Lawes: Taken at sundry times by Bartholomew Roberts, the then Captain of the above-said vessels with another ship, petitioners were forced by him to serve as pirates, until on 18th April 1721 [O.S.] they ran away from him with above ships, in hopes of obtaining His Majesty’s

Anstis, Thomas (fl. 1721
1723) pardon, etc. Signed in the form of two round-robins. It was duly forwarded on to the Council of Trade and Plantations in London, who in turn passed it over on December 4, 1722 (O.S.) to the attention of several prominent West Indian merchants, to inquire what they ‘‘may have to offer upon the pirates’ petition.’’ Somewhat surprisingly, these traders replied on January 10, 1723 (O.S.): We have no reason why His Majesty may not be graciously pleas’d to issue his Royal Proclamation for their pardon. Upon this occasion, however, we think it proper to represent, that in former proclamations of this nature, it has been usual to fix a certain day beyond which no act of piracy shall be pardon’d by the said proclamation, which is generally proportion’d to the time by which the persons concern’d may reasonably be supposed to have notice of the said proclamation, after which there is likewise a further day fix’d, before which all such persons who mean to take the benefit of His Majesty’s most gracious pardon, are to surrender themselves. Some proclamations of this kind have been issued by His Majesty with very little effect; the main reason whereof, as we have been inform’d, hath been that the pirates are all of them apprehensive that immediately upon their surrendering themselves to any of the Governors of His Majesty’s plantations in America, all their effects would be seiz’d; wherefore although His Majesty cannot by law give up the property of any persons’ goods piratically taken from him, yet there is no doubt but that His Majesty, if he is so graciously

dispos’d, may depart from his own right to any goods found in the possession of pirates, and may likewise, if the same shall be thought reasonable, give orders in the body of the same proclamation by which he shall publish his most gracious pardon to the said pirates, that none of the Governors of His Majesty’s plantations do presume to seize or take possession of any goods in custody of such pirates as shall come in upon the said proclamation, which clause in all probability would be a great inducement to the pirates to surrender themselves, and neither His Majesty’s subjects nor any other person whatsoever would be thereby debarr’d from recovering their effects in the hands of the said pirates by due course of law. The Council then transferred the petition once more, to the Attorney-General’s and Solicitor-General’s offices on March 8, 1723 (O.S.), so as to request their legal clarification and opinions. Yet long before this bureaucratic procedure could arrive at any decision, Anstis and his pirates had reemerged from their hiding-place in August 1722 to resume their old practices. While still steering southeast away from Cuba, though, Morning Star ran aground one evening on a reef in the Caymans, Fenn and most of his crewmen escaping onto a nearby island. Anstis spotted them there next morning, but no sooner had he taken aboard Fenn, his carpenter Phillips, and a few other hands, than the 44-gun HMS Hector of Captain Ellis Brand and his hired privateer consort Adventure hove into view. Anstis barely had time to cut his cables and run out to sea, hotly chased by Adventure. This pursuer

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Anstis, Thomas (fl. 1721
1723) slowly gained on him, keeping within gun-shot for several hours, until the wind died away. The pirates thereupon manned their sweeps and frantically rowed Good Fortune out of range, managing to disappear into the night. Meanwhile, Brand had landed an armed party from Hector on the island, which took up 40 of Morning Star’s crew without resistance—this group being glad of the opportunity to surrender, eventually being pardoned as they had been pressed into service, while the hard-core pirates remained hidden in the woods. After this close call, Anstis steered his brigantine southwestward, to seek refuge on an island near the Bay of Honduras. En route, he intercepted and destroyed the sloop of Captain Duffey, obliging this Master and his men to accompany the pirates aboard Good Fortune. While lying off the Honduran island, though, Duffey rose with four or five other prisoners, and got ashore with some arms and ammunition. When the pirates’ boat came inshore to gather fresh water, the watchful Duffey seized this party, and when Anstis then sent a second boat with 30 armed pirates, Duffey ‘‘gave them such a warm reception, that they were glad to return back again.’’ Anstis consequently left the Honduran coast in December 1722, making a few more captures while cruising toward the Bahamas, before eventually circling southeast and dropping anchor off Tobago next spring. While most of this dispirited piratical band was ashore, the 24-gun HMS Winchelsea of Captain Humphrey Orme surprised them, prompting many to flee into the woods. Anstis once again cut Good Fortune’s cables, and managed to escape out to sea with only a dozen hands. Orme seized and carried Fenn, plus eight other pirates into Antigua as his prisoners

by May 11, 1723 (O.S.), while Brand remained off Tobago with his Hector to scour that island for those still hidden. On June 8, 1723 (O.S.), a satisfied Governor John Hart was able to report from Saint Kitts to London how Fenn had been executed and ‘‘is hung up in chains on Rat Island,’’ while: I do not hear of any more pirates in these seas, except the brigantine Good Fortune, who has but twelve men on board her, who run away with that vessel whilst the rest of her crew were on the island of Tobago, where His Majesty’s ship found the pirates. And not all hands aboard the fugitive brigantine were willing rovers, either, so that shortly thereafter a group shot Anstis while he was lying in his hammock, and clapped his few loyal pirates into irons. These rebels then sailed Good Fortune to the neutral Dutch island of Curac¸ao, where they delivered up the former pirate flagship to its authorities and received pardons, while Anstis’s last forlorn handful of followers were hanged.

See also Account; Fenn, John; Roberts, Bartholomew.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 32, 33 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1933
1934). Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924). Journals of the Board of Trade and Plantations, Volume 4: November

Armadilla 1718—December 1722 (London, 1925), Journal Book Y. The Lives and Adventures of Sundry Notorious Pirates (New York: McBride, 1922). Seitz, Don Carlos, Gospel, Howard F., and Wood, Stephen, Under the Black Flag: Exploits of the Most Notorious Pirates (Mineola, NY: Courier Dover, 2002).

APOSTLES Seventeenth-century military slang for the charges carried in a bandolier or cartridge belt, perhaps because they usually numbered a dozen.

See also Apostles (Volume 1).

Reference Pope, Dudley, Harry Morgan’s Way: The Biography of Sir Henry Morgan, 1635
1684 (London: Secker & Warburg, 1977).

ARMADA DE BARLOVENTO See Barlovento, Armada de

ARMADA DEL MAR DEL SUR See Mar del Sur, Armada del

ARMADILLA Diminutive of the Spanish word armada, which signifies a fleet of

warships; armadilla consequently refers to a flotilla of lesser vessels. For example, two English prisoners being held at Havana’s Morro Castle during the War of the Quadruple Alliance against Spain wrote to Governor Woodes Rogers of the Bahamas on April 4, 1720 (O.S.), reporting that a second Cuban strike against his welldefended capital of Nassau had been scaled back, in the following manner: . . . your enemy, which sailed with an Armadilla from this place 21st Feb. [1720 O.S.], but did not continue their resolution of bringing their large ships because of the many hands they would require to guard them, so that must very much lessen their intended compliment to land, which their small number would not admit of. More than three years later, after peace had been restored between both nations, Master John Owen of the sloop Susannah out of Philadelphia, described how while homeward-bound with a cargo from Curac¸ao, he had sighted on July 21, 1723 (O.S.): . . . a fleet of vessels which he took for pirates, [so] made sail to escape. But a sloop coming up with him and firing great guns, forced him to strike, etc. The Commodore of this Spanish squadron, called by them the Armadilla, ordered him aboard. His sloop was then plundered and his register, clearances, and papers taken from him, and himself carried into Puerto Rico, where he was not allowed to go ashore to make his defense until his sloop was condemned and sold.

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Arribada

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 32, 37 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1933
1937).

ARRIBADA Spanish legal term for any unauthorized entry into a port, or arrival off a coastline. Most often it was Spanish masters who were charged with making arribadas, pretending to have been driven offcourse by bad weather or pursuit by enemies, merely so as to make an unscheduled layover in a port where their goods might be sold more profitably. Foreign seamen were doubly suspect of such duplicitous designs: for example, even after Spain and France had fought together as allies for eight years against the English and Dutch during Queen Anne’s War, the French Captain Franc¸ois Renusson of Martinique was charged by the Cuban authorities with making an illegal arribada into Havana with his slaver Saint-Charles in 1710, resulting in the confiscation of both his ship and cargo.

See also

French name for the island lying off the southwestern tip of SaintDomingue (modern Haiti), which had long been a favorite pirate rendezvous and lookout-point. In one of many such instances, Lieutenant-Governor Hender Molesworth of Jamaica wrote on October 4, 1687 (O.S.), how his counterpart at Saint-Domingue, Governor Pierre-Paul Tarin de Cussy, had informed him that ‘‘he has orders to settle the Isle of Ash, otherwise Isla de Vacas, just opposite their settlement at Hispaniola.’’ Almost three decades later, Governor Peter Heywood of Jamaica would also describe in a letter to the Council of Trade and Plantations in London, the swarm of rovers infesting the waters adjacent to his jurisdiction in late December 1716, with the words: There is of these, pirates of all nations: those to windward are generally Spaniards, and some few French, but most mulattos, quarteroons and Negroes, they lie from the leeward part of the island of St. John de Porto Rico down along the south side of Hispaniola; then on the other side, Hispaniola, from Cape Nicolas down the northwest and west of Hispaniola, and upon the south side to the Isle of Ash.

Arribada (Volume 1).

Reference

See also Ash, Isle of (Volume 1).

Archive of Indies (Seville), Escribanı´a de C
amara de Justicia 55A, single document.

ASH, ISLE OF English mispronunciation of ^Ile a Vache [literally, ‘‘Cow Island’’], the

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes. 12, 29 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1893
1899).

Ashworth, Leigh (fl. 1715
1719)

ASHWORTH, LEIGH (fl. 1715
1719) Part-time Jamaican privateer, who was accused of outright piracy. Ashworth and his brother Jasper were apparently minor island-traders operating out of Port Royal, when a growing number of reports began to be received of peacetime piratical attacks late in 1715. Governor Lord Archibald Hamilton responded to this threat with a broad issuance of privateering commissions, so as to hunt down such renegade commanders. Yet honest merchants would later complain, that while 14 sloops were duly ‘‘mann’d with about 3,000 men to clear those seas . . . the remedy was worse than the disease.’’ One of the privateers who posted a surety and purchased such a commission on November 21, 1715 (O.S.), was Leigh Ashworth, although he did not actually depart Port Royal aboard his sloop Mary until March 1716, pausing at nearby Bluefields Bay to rendezvous with his fellow privateers Captains Henry Jennings, James Carnegie, and Samuel Liddell. Under the veteran Jennings’ overall command, all four proceeded together around the western tip of Cuba, supposedly ‘‘designing for the wrecks’’ which had been left strewn temptingly along the east coast of Florida by the Spanish plate fleet disaster of that previous summer. But while coasting around northwestern Cuba, less than 20 miles short of Bahı´a Honda, this quartet of English privateers spotted a sloop with a pair of piraguas pulling suspiciously away from shore, and whose Master Young ‘‘told Captain Ashworth they were two maroon piraguas, and had obliged him

to tow them over from the Bay of Honduras.’’ Unconvinced, Jennings’ flotilla seized Young’s sloop on suspicion of illegal commerce, then proceeded into the notorious smuggling haven of Bahı´a Honda itself, where they also took the large French merchantman Aimable Marie out of La Rochelle under Captain Escoubes, on a similar charge. A captured Spanish piragua then informed them that another French ship lay trading less than 30 miles still farther to the east, nearer to the Cuban capital, in the port of Mariel. Carnegie immediately weighed ‘‘to seek her, but next morning the piragua, which had followed him, reported’’ that this second French ship had already been captured by a pair of pirate sloops out of the Bahamas under Captains Benjamin Hornigold and the Frenchman La Buze. Jennings and Ashworth sailed in pursuit of these renegades, hoping to catch then off Mariel still in possession of their prize, The Marianne of Captain Le Gardeur was apparently taken by Hornigold and La Buze at Mariel, where it had paused while en route toward Louisiana to deliver some correspondence from the Governor of Saint-Domingue, the Comte de Bl
enac. The Aimable Marie of La Rochelle of Captain Escoubes had been taken earlier in Bahı´a Honda by Jennings’ flotilla, who then furthermore took the ransacked and abandoned Marianne. About 22nd April last [1716 O.S.], Captain Jennings arrived at Providence and brought in as prize a French ship mounted with 32 guns, which he had taken at the Bay of Hounds [sic; Bahı´a Honda], and there shared the cargo (which was very rich, consisting of European

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Asiento goods for the Spanish trade) amongst his men, and then went in the said ship to the wrecks, where he served as Commodore and guardship. With only her bulk cargo still left aboard, Marie was to be sailed to Port Royal for official adjudication. Ashworth transferred his share of its pillaged valuables aboard the sloop Dolphin, ‘‘and then wrote to Mr. Daniel Axtell and to his brother Jasper’’ to prepare them to receive both this prize, as well as to covertly smuggle ashore its plundered goods. James Spatcher, chosen to command this accompanying sloop, duly slipped ashore and delivered the letter to Axtell, ‘‘who ordered the sloop to go from Cowboy to Pigeon Island, and thence to Manatee Bay’’—a small, quiet inlet some 14 miles southwest of Kingston—from where its crew began ferrying ‘‘dry goods in a canoe from the Dolphin to Port Royal, Mr. Axtell receiving them himself into his storehouse at night.’’

See also Fernando, Francis; Jennings, Henry; Piragua.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 29 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1930).

ASIENTO Generic Spanish name for any exclusive contract to supply goods or

services to the Crown, although foreigners during the 17th century came to misinterpret this term narrowly, as meaning only the supplying of African slaves to Spain’s American empire. In reality, Spanish officials entered into a myriad of asientos every year, contracting for items as diverse as gunpowder or ships’ biscuits, granting each individual lease to the highest bidder, always provided that they were Spanish subjects. One of the few exceptions to this nationality rule was the cruel business of furnishing slaves, because Spain maintained no slavingstations in West Africa, so that foreign interests would of necessity have to be involved. Therefore, while the titular holder of a slave asiento might be a Spanish national, the captives themselves would have to be provided by an international cartel. Such traffic was doubly attractive to foreign merchants, for beyond its obvious profitability, their vessels also gained access into Spanish-American ports which would otherwise be closed to them. Thus, transporting slaves offered a lucrative sideline in largescale contraband trade, payable directly in silver or gold specie. The Dutch profited handsomely from such contacts over many years, and eventually had competition from the English, for whom the term asiento (usually written as assiento) was only ever synonymous with slaving. For example, after England’s Royal African Company had secured a sub-contract to supply Dutch representatives (known as ‘‘factors’’) out of Port Royal, the planterdominated Council and Assembly of Jamaica elevated the following complaint on July 26, 1689 (O.S.), to King James II:

Astorga, Juan De (fl. 1689
1723) Before the Assiento was settled here, the royal frigates were employed in convoying shiploads of the choicest Negroes to the Spaniards. After it was settled, the Negroes were picked to suit the Spaniards, the factors and their particular friends still reaping all the benefit, the Dutch factors for the Assiento allowing these gentlemen 35 per cent; and now it is feared that the Dutch have quite taken the whole trade from us. Despite such sentiments, more than two decades later Governor Lord Archibald Hamilton would express the following opinion to the Council of Trade and Plantations in London, during the final year of Queen Anne’s War: As to improvements by trade, I am told the flourishing time of this colony was when the Assiento was settled here; which the French have now the advantage of. If a favorable opportunity offers (which probably may at the conclusion of peace), I cannot doubt but Your Lordships will contribute as much as you can to the re-establishment of it here upon a like bottom; the advantage whereof will center in Great Britain.

See also Asiento (Volume 1).

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 13, 26 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1901
1925).

ASTORGA, JUAN DE (fl. 1689
1723) Mexican privateer who fought to reclaim the Laguna de T
erminos from foreign logwood cutters. As a young militia volunteer growing up in the vulnerable coastal province of Tabasco, Astorga had been deputized as early as December 3, 1689, to subdue rebellious natives roaming around the Usumacinta River’s headwaters. A yearand-a-half later, he had also been appointed as royal tax-collector and assistant alcalde mayor for Chontalpa. Yet it was not until he ventured by sea into neighboring Yucat
an a dozen years afterward that Astorga, as the head of a group of Tabascan volunteer reinforcements early during Queen Anne’s War, that Astorga came to the attention of the Spanish provincial Governor Martı´n de Urs
ua Arizmendi, Conde de Liz
arraga. Issued a privateering commission to patrol the Gulf Coast as of September 20, 1707, Astorga had served in various naval capacities; until almost a decade later (December 1716) he sailed as second-in-command of 150 Tabascan volunteers aboard 11 piraguas, raised to help Campeche’s sargento mayor Alonso Felipe de Andrade reclaim the Laguna de T
erminos from its longtime foreign occupation by logwood cutters. After successfully seizing its main entry-channel, the sargento mayor then placed Astorga in command of El Carmen’s small coastguard galliot as of February 15, 1717; Governor Juan Jos
e de V
ertiz of Yucat
an then promoted him to command an even larger provincial coastguard galliot Nuestra Se~ nora de

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Auger, John (fl. 1718) Guadalupe on October 11, 1718. Astorga remained as Captain of this vessel, patrolling out of Campeche until January 10, 1723, when he traveled to Madrid in hopes of further advancement.

See also Andrade, Alonso Felipe de; Laguna de T
erminos; Logwood; Piragua.

Reference Archive of Indies (Seville), Indiferente General 141, Number 108.

AUGER, JOHN (fl. 1718) Reformed Bahamian privateer, who quickly reverted to piracy. During the late summer of 1718, the newly-arrived Governor Woodes Rogers of the Bahamas entrusted Auger—an ex-pirate who had embraced the royal ‘‘act of grace’’ or amnesty for such criminal acts—with a cargo for a trading voyage on behalf of that colony. However, once at sea, Auger and his men had reverted to their old ways aboard their sloop Mary. On October 6, 1718 (O.S.), they sighted the Bahamian sloops Lancaster and Batchelor’s Adventure off Green Cay, capturing and pillaging them of ‘‘money and goods, to the value of 500 pounds.’’ Auger furthermore persuaded many of the captive crewmen to join them on a piratical cruise, marooning Captain James Kerr and several loyal hands as they sailed away southward from Green Cay. But while steering toward Hispaniola, they were struck by a hurricane, and so the dismasted Mary was

driven back to desolate Exuma Island. Governor Rogers had in the meantime commissioned Captain Benjamin Hornigold to sail with three sloops in pursuit of these renegades, and bring in Auger to stand trial. Having learned where the pirates were sheltered, Hornigold circled past and approached Exuma out of the south at dusk, giving the impression that his sloops were a convoy of Spanish island-traders. Auger and his pirates consequently sallied aboard one of their captive sloops, blundering into Hornigold’s trap. A dozen were killed outright by his opening broadside, the rest rounded and brought into Nassau before the end of November 1718. Lacking any civilian judicial authority, Rogers tried them on December 8
10, 1718 (O.S.), under Admiralty law in the guard-room at Fort Nassau, in his capacity as Governor.

AUGERS OR AUGIERS, CHEVALIER DE (fl. 1696) French naval officer, who was piloted by the rogue privateer John Phillip Beare in a strike against La Guaira, late during King William’s War. Information about Des Augers’ ancestry, birth, and early life are unknown. We first hear of him when he was appointed as an Ensign in France’s Royal Navy in 1675, and two years later the young officer was shot in the jaw during the initial, bloody attack against the Dutch defenses on Tobago Island led by Vice Admiral Jean, Comte d’Estr
ees, in March 1677. Once recuperated from his injury, and hostilities having ceased, Des Augers became an aide-major as of January 3, 1680; and a junior Captain (capitaine

Augers or Augiers, Chevalier De (fl. 1696) de fr
egate) in France’s Royal Navy as of July 21, 1684. When the revocation of the Edict of Nantes was announced in October 1685—the ‘‘Sun King’’ Louis XIV having decided to ban all Protestant rites and banish their ministers from French soil forever—the ‘‘Sieur Desaugers’’ was employed in the subsequent government clamp-down, apparently serving as a loyal Catholic officer. Being aide-mayor de la Marine for the seaport of Rochefort, he was promoted that same month from command of the corvette Marguerite to the 12-gun, 100-ton frigate Gaillarde, and directed to patrol the waters off that harbor with both warships so as to ensure that no mass exodus of Huguenots could occur from France for foreign parts. Des Augers then became a senior Captain (capitaine de vaisseau) in the Navy as of January 10, 1687, and when fighting flared against The Netherlands, England, and Spain a couple of years later, he fought in several major actions. The defeats suffered by the main French battle-fleet during the spring of 1692, prompted the Crown to alter its naval strategy—away from setpiece battles, in which it was clearly overmatched by the English and Dutch, to instead opt for swift squadronsorties and commerce raids. Des Augers commanded one of the very earliest of such sallies, when he exited from Saint-Malo that same summer of 1692 to prowl off Cape Finisterre with two surviving ships from the recent disasters at Barfleur and La Hogue with his own 52-gun, 700-ton flagship Maure, the 50-gun, 800-ton Mod
er
e of Captain d’Evry, plus another 48-gun ship under the veteran commander Claude, Chevalier de Forbin. This trio

spotted an 80-ship convoy off The Lizard and engaged on August 31, 1692, only to be repelled. Des Augers nonetheless remained on patrol off Cape Finisterre for more than another month, while D’Evry’s and Forbin’s ships were replaced by three 28-gun frigates under Captains de Serpaut, De Vignau, and the Chevalier d’Amont. This quartet intercepted another convoy of 22 Dutch wheatships bound from Bilbao into Cadiz, sinking its 50-gun escort after a fierce four-hour battle, and carrying four prizes back into Rochefort. Because of this triumph, Des Augers was invested with a knighthood in the newly-created Order of Saint-Louis on May 8, 1693, so that he would henceforth become more commonly known as the ‘‘Chevalier des Augers.’’

West Indian Forays (1695
1697) As the sixth year of King William’s War was just winding down, the Chevalier made the first of two significant voyages into the Antilles. Late in the autumn of 1695, as the European campaigning season was drawing to a close with the approach of winter, he was given command of the 44-gun, 750-ton Cheval Marin, as well as the 36-gun, 300-ton, Bayonne-built frigates Aigle and Favori, with orders to depart that same November and transport Franc¸ois-Roger Robert across the Atlantic to serve as Intendant at Martinique, as well as troop reinforcements aboard his small squadron. Once in the Windward Islands, Des Augers would also, over the course of that ensuing winter, evacuate the French colonists from Sainte-Croix, and escort a convoy

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Augers or Augiers, Chevalier De (fl. 1696) of merchantmen to Sainte-Domingue, earning high praise from both Robert and Governor Jean-Baptiste Ducasse. In particular, the Intendant singled out Des Augers’ ability to keep his crews healthy in the warm Antillean theatre, while favorably contrasting his professional conduct against other French naval officers, who found excuses to remain in port so as to conduct their own private business or pursue pleasures. On regaining France in the spring of 1696, Des Augers’s reputation was so enhanced that he was given command of an even more powerful squadron that same July: the 68-gun, 1,100-ton flagship Bourbon; the 52-gun, 800-ton Bon; the 36-gun frigates Aigle and Favori, as well as the 32-gun, 300-ton Badine; and the 30-gun, 500-ton fl^ ute Loire. Des Augers’ operational instructions were apparently drawn up personally by the French Minister of Marine, Louis de Ph
elypeaux, Comte de Pontchartrain. On reaching the Lesser Antilles, he was to immediately detach a frigate for L
eog^ane with dispatches for Ducasse, then patrol with the remainder of his squadron off Puerto Rico, in hopes of intercepting the Spaniards’ West Indian naval detachment, the Armada de Barlovento. After that, Des Augers was to tack back upwind and scour the Venezuelan coast, before proceeding downwind again to Sainte-Domingue, where he might participate in a joint operation in conjunction with Ducasse, if they could agree on a strategy. Lastly, Des Augers was to escort home the annual French merchant-convoy departing SainteDomingue, cruising briefly for prizes in the Gulf of Honduras and Bahama Channel during this passage, to see if any opportunities might arise.

Clearing from La Rochelle, the Chevalier reached French-held Grenada by October 3, 1696, weighing again two days later with the frigate Aigle reconnoitering ahead of his main force. It soon returned to report that the Armada de Barlovento had already visited Puerto Rico that previous month, while the Spanish treasure-fleet remained idle in Havana, unlikely to depart any time soon. The Commodore consequently detached Badine and Loire toward L
eog^ane, while steering with his four large warships for the Spanish Main. Piloted by the renegade English rover John Philip Beare, who had also served as a Spanish-American corsair, the Chevalier des Augers’ four warships dropped anchor on October 26, 1696, off the Venezuelan roadstead of La Guaira, masquerading as the Armada de Barlovento. Next day, they captured the unwary 40-gun ship Santo Cristo de Maracaibo of Captain Francisco de C
ordova, which was serving as the annual Spanish vessel used to resupply and carry home the produce of Margarita Island, hence known as the patache de Margarita. This very rich prize was cut out before La Guaira’s startled batteries could react, and sailed to France when Des Augers returned early next year. On Tuesday, February 26, 1697, a delighted Louis informed some of his courtiers at Versailles that he had previously heard that: . . . the Chevalier des Augers, who commanded a small squadron of his [i.e., the King’s] ships, had taken a very rich prize, whose value totaled eight to ten million; but that today he has learned the truth of this affair, which was that the Chevalier des Augers has taken a Spanish ship,

Aviso aboard which were 600,000 pesos and more than 200,000 e
cus worth of merchandise. The Chevalier des Augers had transferred the money aboard the King’s ships, and left the merchandise aboard the Spanish ship, which was being brought along, yet did not sail as well as ours.

Beare, John Philip.

descent early in May 1686 on Matanzas, 15 miles south of Saint Augustine, the Spaniards became convinced that the hand of Avesilla lay behind it. The raiders ran aground on the bar at the mouth of the bay, forcing them to abandon ship and retreat along the coast, in hopes of being rescued by their consorts. The Governor of Saint Augustine sent a column of troops in pursuit, who overtook the French in the vicinity of present-day Daytona Beach, and massacred them almost to the last man. One of three survivors was Brigaut, who was carried before the Governor for interrogation. When asked if he knew of Avesilla, he ‘‘replied that he had known him well, before his death two and a half years ago in Petit-Go^ave.’’

References

Reference

Archives Nationales (France), Colonel, B 18 and C8A 9, ff. 330
331, as well as Marine B2 113, ff. 12
22 and Marine B4 17, ff. 362
367v. Journal du Philippe de Courcillon, marquis de Dageneau,Volume 6 (Paris: Firmin Didot Freres, 1856). Pritchard, James S., In Search of Empire: The French in the Americas, 1670
1730 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004).

Weddle, Robert S., Wilderness Manhunt: The Spanish Search for La Salle (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1973).

Pleased with his sea-officer’s exploit, the King added next day that ‘‘by right, M. l’Amiral was not to have any share in this capture, but even so, he would give him the same portion as if to a ship fitted out by private interests.’’

See also

AVESILLA, ALONSO DE (fl. 1683) Spanish renegade who served the French of Saint-Domingue against his compatriots. Avesilla was originally from Saint Augustine, Florida, but changed sides for unknown reasons. When the pirate galliot of Nicolas Brigaut made a

AVISO Spanish word for a dispatch-vessel or mail-boat, derived from the verb avisar, meaning ‘‘to advise or forewarn.’’ Whenever a fleet was scheduled to depart, or some other major event was about to occur, it had long ago become customary to send out an aviso to give advance notice. These were usually small private vessels hired specifically for this voyage, yet departures became so regular out of such busy ports as Cadiz, Cartagena, or Veracruz, as to constitute a semi-official mail service. Once at sea, avisos carried their dispatches in small wooden chests, weighted so as to be thrown overboard

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Azogue at any threat of capture. Because attacks happened with such frequency during the late 17th and early 18th centuries, both Spanish Crown officials and private citizens routinely wrote their letters in triplicate or even quadruplicate, sending copies on successive avisos so as to ensure safe delivery. As many others, this expression had passed directly into the English language. For example, Edward Randolph concluded a lengthy letter from Charleston in South Carolina to the Earl of Bridgewater on March 22, 1699 (O.S.), with a request: . . . that he may have another vessel drawing less water than the Swift avice-boat, lost by the carelessness of the commander in Virginia last winter, with liberty to have another coaster well acquainted with the dangerous flats and sands from this place to New England. The spelling more usually was rendered as ‘‘advice,’’ of which many instances abound. In June 1693, as King William’s War was entering into its fourth year, Benjamin Skutt petitioned the Crown in London that: . . . in consequence of the losses of West Indian merchants, he may have a license for his advice boat of 150 tons and 16 guns to sail to and from Barbados, also a commission for her as a private man o’ war, and immunity from embargo or press gang.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 14 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1903). Collections of the South Carolina Historical Society, Volume I (Charleston: Historical Society, 1857).

AZOGUE Spanish word for mercury or quicksilver, but which also came to be applied to the ships that conveyed this product across the Atlantic for the Crown. Mercury was a vital ingredient for refining American ores during the 17th century, being used to separate silver from other unwanted materials. Peru had its own source of azogue at Huancavelica, but Mexico’s had to be imported across the ocean from the royal mines of Almad
en in southwestern Spain. A pair of merchantmen was usually hired to perform this duty, being selected for their strength, speed, and soundness, and sailing independently of the annual plate fleets. Such azogue or ‘‘quicksilver’’ ships proved valuable prizes, as their cargos were in great demand in Spanish America, and they were also occasionally used to convey portions of the King’s bullion on their return-passages toward Spain. The Marı´a was one such vessel, outward bound from Seville with a cargo of 1,000 quintals of mercury and other merchandise, when it was intercepted by the privateer Captain Cooper and carried into Port Royal, Jamaica, in October 1663.

See also

See also

Aviso (Volume 1).

Azogue (Volume 1).

B You sail in merchantmen for 25 shillings a month, and here you may have seven or eight pounds a month, if you can take it. —Pirate appeal to captive crewmen of the merchant pink Baltimore off Carolina, April 1700

BAB-EL-MANDEB

However, the name Bab-el-Mandeb long preceded this 17th-century plague of piracy, referring instead to its strong currents and counter-currents, which so often frustrated seafarers. The strait itself is subdivided into two channels by the island of Perim: the shallow, two-mile-wide eastern channel is characterized by a surface current flowing into the Red Sea, while the deep, 16-mile-wide western channel has a strong undercurrent outward.

Arabic name for the narrow strait leading into the Red Sea, meaning the ‘‘Gate of Tears’’ because of its difficult navigation. During the late 17th century such rich and vulnerable maritime traffic funneled between Arabia and India through this 20mile-wide waterway, it became a favorite hunting-ground for pirates. For example, a wealthy English merchant named Henry Watson—bound toward Bombay with his trade-goods aboard the ships Ruparrel and Calicut—later reported how: ‘‘On 15 August [1696 O.S.], both ships were taken by a pirate which came out of the Babs.’’ They were in fact two small freebooter vessels operating under Captain John Hoar, who conveyed these prizes into Aden in expectation of receiving a ransom, and burnt them when it was not forthcoming.

See also Hoar, John.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 16 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1905).

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Baldridge, Adam (fl. 1690
1697)

BALDRIDGE, ADAM (fl. 1690
1697) Rover who settled on Saint Mary’s Island off Madagascar off southeastern Africa, which he transformed into a haven for passing Red Sea pirates. According to a deposition which he gave before Governor Richard, Lord Bellomont, almost nine years later in New York City, Baldridge had first arrived at Saint Mary’s Island on July 17, 1690 (O.S.), aboard the ship Fortune, commanded by Richard Conyers. Being ‘‘minded to settle among the Negroes at St. Marie’s with two men more, they had left Conyers’ ship on January 7, 1691 (O.S.), after which Fortune sailed away for Port Dauphin and was wrecked three-and-a-half months later, about half its crew being drowned. I continued with the Negros at St. Maries and went to War with them.’’

Revenge through the Strait of Magellan in 1684, he noted how this Englishman had then employed his force: . . . to make several prizes and so put together a fleet of eleven vessels, which he armed and manned with people from Jamaica and flibustiers from the Banda del Norte, who had passed over and were taken aboard via the well-known narrows and easy landing-spot of Dari
en.

See also Darien Colony; Davis, Edward; Flibustier.

Reference Alsedo y Herrera, Dionisio de, Compendio hist
orico de la provincia, partidos, ciudades, astilleros, rı´os y puerto de Guayaquil en las costas de la Mar del Sur (Madrid: Manuel Fern
andez, 1741).

Reference Jameson, John F., comp. and ed., Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period: Illustrative Documents (New York: Macmillan, 1923).

BANDA DEL NORTE Spanish expression meaning ‘‘Northern Shoreline,’’ which is how they referred to the intruder French settlements ensconced along the north coast of Hispaniola, home to so many fierce rovers. For example, when the Ecuadorian Governor Dionisio de Alsedo y Herrera described to the Council of Indies in Madrid the penetration of Edward Davis’ 36-gun Batchelor’s Delight and 16-gun

BANNISTER, JOSEPH (fl. 1680
1687) English sea-captain turned pirate. Bannister was first mentioned while lying in Port Royal roads on March 23, 1680 (O.S.), when the log of the 28-gun HMS Hunter recorded: At six this morning the Golden Fleece of 30 guns, Captain Bannister commander, overset at an anchor in the harbor, no current nor wind, but her men going over her side to scrape her, made a sally that the guns and other weight aloft gave way at once. The captain saved himself out of the mizzen shrouds; the purser, gunner,

Bannister, Joseph (fl. 1680
1687) and doctor, with five others and a Negro, were drowned. Helped by Hunter, Bannister refloated his ship, and next spring was again bringing passengers into port. However, his notoriety dates from June 11, 1684, when out of financial hardship he ‘‘ran away’’ with Golden Fleece, supposedly bound for New England, but instead assembling a crew out of sloops about Jamaica—115 of ‘‘the veriest rogues in these Indies,’’ according to the outraged Gov. Sir Thomas Lynch, who furthermore believed that Bannister had procured a French privateering commission, despite such an act being prohibited to English subjects. Lynch wrote to his counterpart Pierre-Paul Tarrin de Cussy, Governor of Saint-Domingue, beseeching him ‘‘to give none to Bannister, Coxon, or any other Englishman.’’ Within less than two months, Bannister was caught when the 48-gun HMS Ruby and 4-gun Bonito visited the Cayman Islands, accompanied by a barco luengo. They found the Golden Fleece close inshore with its crew turtling, easily securing all hands. The night of August 25, 1684, the prize was brought back into Port Royal, and an Admiralty Court soon convened. ‘‘We conclude they’ll be found guilty of piracy,’’ Lynch wrote to his superiors. Bannister was charged with securing a commission at SaintDomingue, it being then a felony under Jamaican law ‘‘for any person to serve under any foreign prince or state,’’ as a means of restricting privateer activities; yet although he had approached the French Governor for just such a patent, this had been denied to him. Bannister was therefore accused of unlawfully attacking Spaniards irregardless, as two

from a captured canoe had been found aboard his Golden Fleece; yet Bannister contrived to borrow money and pay off these two prisoners, who swore ‘‘backward and forward’’ in court that they had not been held against their will, so that the trial ended with all charges being dropped. Lynch was a sick man, and his vexation at this verdict created ‘‘such disturbance of mind’’ that a week later, he died. His successor, Lieutenant-Gov. Hender Molesworth, attempted to persuade the jury to reconsider its decision, but making no headway, bound Bannister ‘‘over in good security’’ until another court could be convened. He was especially galled to hear that Bannister had ‘‘threatened Captain David Mitchell [of HMS Ruby] with an action for damages, as though he were the honestest man in the world.’’ Meanwhile, Bannister fitted out Golden Fleece with ‘‘another master and sent the ship to London, but without profit; then he was in treaty with the Spaniards, but without success.’’ These failures compounded Bannister’s financial woes, leading him to rush the harbor mouth ‘‘in a desperate, resolute manner’’ one dark night in early February 1685. The land batteries reacted slowly because of ‘‘carelessness of the sentries and darkness of the night,’’ only managing to strike Golden Fleece three times. Bannister had allegedly placed about 50 men in his hold, with ‘‘plugs of all sizes wherewith to stop any breach.’’ Furious, Molesworth sent the tiny Bonito in pursuit, which found itself ‘‘unable to do more against a ship of her size and strength’’ than fire a few warning rounds, then send Bannister a note saying that he would be treated as a pirate unless he returned. Bannister

495

496

Bannister, Joseph (fl. 1680
1687) replied that he had ‘‘done no piratical act as yet and intended to do none, but his design was for the Bay of Honduras for logwood.’’ This assertion was disproved three months later, when Mitchell saw Bannister’s ship lying among a huge throng of freebooters off ^Ile a Vache. The corsair gathering included the ‘‘Chevalier’’ de Grammont, Laurens de Graaf, and Jan Willems, whose collective strength intimidated even Ruby’s commander. Mitchell visited Grammont and asked that Bannister be arrested for serving under a foreign commission, but the flibustier commander insisted that the English renegade had not entered French service, and Mitchell ‘‘thought it best not to insist further.’’ The freebooters were actually assembling for a raid against the Mexican port of Campeche, and by early June had transferred to the Yucatan coast to finalize their arrangements. It is almost certain that Bannister was among the pirates who appeared before Campeche on the afternoon of July 6, 1685, overrunning the city next day. Such was the raiders’ strength that they remained in undisputed possession until early September, by which time Campeche had been stripped bare. Booty was disappointing among so many, and the ships worked their way back around Yucatan to Isla Mujeres before dispersing. Bannister continued upwind, being sighted to leeward of Jamaica in late November 1685. As Ruby was being careened, Mitchell hired two sloops and manned them from his own crew, but Golden Fleece had disappeared northeastward by the time they sortied. On January 20, 1686, Governor de Cussy wrote to his Spanish opposite

number at Santo Domingo: ‘‘I have been advised one named Bannister has arrived at Petit-Go^ave, with a ship of 36 guns.’’ The French official promised to disarm this vessel, or at least prevent it from sailing under French colors, although the Spaniard remained skeptical. Soon, Bannister was operating out of Saman
a Bay, snapping up prizes in the Mona Passage. When news of his activity reached Jamaica in May 1686, Molesworth sent out Captain Charles Talbot’s HMS Falcon and Captain Thomas Spragge’s HMS Drake, who had supplanted Ruby on that station. The two caught Bannister on July 4, 1686, as he was preparing to careen in a deep bay along with a small prize. The corsair had mounted two batteries ashore and gave the English frigates a hostile reception, but they fought in as close as the water would allow, sinking and beating ‘‘almost to pieces the buccaneer’s ships.’’ Drake suffered 13 killed and wounded, Falcon 10, in an exchange which only ended when the attackers ran out of ammunition. Returning to Port Royal in early July, Talbot and Spragge were censured for not having utterly destroyed Bannister. They therefore rearmed and went back to Saman
a Bay, where they discovered the renegade had torched his shattered Golden Fleece and then sailed away in his prize. (Five months later, the treasure hunter Sir William Phips came upon the remains, describing it as ‘‘a wreck in four fathom water, and burnt down to her gun-deck, judging her to be a ship about 400 tons. Likewise found two or three iron shot which had ye broad arrow upon them’’—the distinctive device of the Royal Navy.) Bannister apparently fled under an assumed name to the Mosquito Coast

Barlovento, Armada De with some followers, but a few months later was captured by Spragge. Bearing specific instructions from Molesworth, the Royal Navy Captain sailed back into Port Royal on January 28, 1687 (O.S.), with the corpses of Bannister and his lieutenants dangling from Drake’s yardarms. The delighted Governor declared this to be ‘‘a spectacle of great satisfaction to all good people, and of terror to the favorers of pirates.’’

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898). Earle, Peter, The Treasure of the Concepci
on: The Wreck of the Almiranta (New York: Viking, 1980). Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924). Lugo, Am
erico, Recopilaci
on diplom
atica relativa a las colonias espa~ nola y francesa de la isla de Santo Domingo, 1640
1701 (Ciudad Trujillo, Dominican Republic: Editorial ‘‘La Naci
on,’’ 1944). Pawson, Michael, and Buisseret, David J., Port Royal, Jamaica (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1975).

BARCA, ESTEBAN DE LA See La Barca, Esteban de

Because of their shallow draft and their combined means of propulsion, they were ideally suited for service among the shallow West Indian shorelines. The Santiago was one such vessel, having been launched at Anoeta outside San Sebasti
an in Spain in May 1686, specifically to accompany the Biscayan privateers to the New World. It measured roughly 51 feet [28 codos] along its keel, and 16-and-a-half feet in breadth; it was pierced for 32 sweeps, rated at 30 tons, and bore a crew of 53 men. Significantly, it was most often described as a galera or ‘‘galley’’ in the subsequent records of that expedition. The proliferation of barcos luengos in the Americas led to this expression entering the English language, with many different spellings.

References Garmendia Arruabarrena, Jos
e, ‘‘Armadores y armadas de Guip
uzcoa, 1689
1692,’’ Boletı´n de Estudios Hist
oricos de San Sebasti
an (San Sebasti
an: Biblioteca de la Sociedad Bascongada de los Amigos del Paı´s, 1985), pp. 259
277. Laburu Mateo, Miguel, Breve vocabulario que contiene t
erminos empleados en documentos marı´timos antiguos (San Sebasti
an: Departamento de Cultura y Turismo, Diputaci
on Foral de Gipuzkoa, 1990).

BARCO LUENGO OR LONGO

BARLOVENTO, ARMADA DE

Spanish expression, which when translated literally means ‘‘long boat,’’ yet in fact referred to a specific type of galliot or oared sailing vessel.

Spanish naval squadron—its name literally meant ‘‘Windward Fleet’’—which defended the Caribbean against pirates and smugglers.

497

498

Barlovento, Armada De

Search for La Salle and Other Cruises (1685
1687) From Pierre Bot and other prisoners, the Spanish authorities learned that a French colonizing expedition under Ren
e Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, had settled the previous year on the northern shores of the Gulf of Mexico. Alarmed at this impingement on their territory, they detached the chief pilot of Soledad, Juan Enrı´quez Barroto, and Antonio Romero of Concepci
on to make a reconnaissance from Havana. They therefore sailed from Veracruz on November 21, 1685, aboard Gaspar de Acosta’s Nuestra Se~ nora del Carmen, reaching the Cuban capital on December 3rd, where they hired a small frigate and explored the Gulf Coast, returning to Veracruz on March 13, 1686, without having sighted any settlement. Meanwhile, the Armada courts-martial had been held, and although Astina had been condemned to a two-year suspension of duties, he nonetheless remained in command of the Armada for lack of a substitute. The Soledad and Honh
on had been sold off, while Sevillano sank at anchor during a norther. Captain Benito Alonso Barroso made a sally with the prize-ship Regla, now incorporated into the Armada, to capture a smuggler with an English and Dutch crew off Coatzacoalcos in April 1686. Then, Astina sortied on May 6th with his flagship, vice-flag, and Regla to escort the quicksilver-ship Santa Teresa across to Havana. Having completed this mission, he searched the Laguna de T
erminos, Isla Mujeres, Guanaja, Utila, and Roat
an, returning to Veracruz more than four months later ‘‘mortified at not having found enemies with which to have

encounters.’’ A lengthy refit ensued, further delayed when Captain Francisco L
opez de G
omara’s pink sent to Havana for spars, sank in a storm. A second exploratory expedition was also organized with two speciallyconstructed piraguas, Nuestra Se~ nora del Rosario commanded by Captain Martı´n de Rivas, and Nuestra Se~ nora de la Esperanza under Pedro de Iriarte. In addition to these two officers, the Armada furnished 130 crewmen for the craft, which departed Veracruz in search of La Salle on Christmas Day 1686. The remaining men rioted in May 1687, angered by their lack of pay, enforced idleness, and the arrival at Veracruz of rival Biscayan privateers. Some 200 Armada sailors and Marines consequently deserted en masse, and the remaining mutineers were put down with three fatalities. To keep the men occupied, the flagship, Regla, and tender Santo Cristo de Leso put out on June 14, 1687, carrying situados for Havana, Puerto Rico, and Santo Domingo under Captain Andr
es de Arriola, as Astina’s suspension from duties now took effect. (He spent it commanding one of the Pacific galleons which plied between Acapulco and Manila, making the fastest crossing in history.) The Santo Cristo de San Rom
an and a patache also departed under Captains L
opez de G
omara and Andr
es de Pez, as a third exploratory expedition toward the Mississippi.

Fourth Fleet (1687
1689) In mid-September 1687, there arrived at Veracruz the new Armada commanderin-chief Jacinto Lope Gij
on, escorting the annual plate fleet from Spain with

Barlovento, Armada De his 300-ton frigates San Jos
e (alias Marabuto) and San Nicol
as. After a few local forays, he sailed again on June 29, 1688, convoying the plate fleet across to Havana with his flagship Santo Cristo de Burgos, vice-flag Marabuto, San Nicol
as as gobierno under his son Sebasti
an Gij
on, Regla commanded by Arriola, the auxiliary Santo Cristo de San Rom
an, and two piraguas. They reached the Cuban port 40 days later, where they paused briefly, before continuing to Aguada at Puerto Rico with the situados. Here, Gij
on fell into a dispute with Gov. Gaspar Martı´nez de Andino, refusing to help drive some foreign interlopers from Vieques Island. Instead, he set sail for Santo Domingo on September 29, 1688, anchoring in Ocoa Bay while Regla and Santo Cristo de San Rom
an entered to deliver the situados. The Armada then cleared for the Main, arriving off Santa Marta, and then learned of a Dutch intruder near that coast. Arriola captured this vessel of 250 tons and 24 guns, and incorporated it into the squadron with the name San Francisco Xavier. After touching at Cartagena, Gij
on joined the annual galeones at Portobelo. In the latter days of 1688, his warships patrolled off Golden and Santa Catalina Islands, finding them uninhabited except for a small ketch, which was captured, at the latter place. The Armada then returned to Veracruz in early January 1689, where it underwent a lengthy overhaul. Santo Cristo de Burgos, Regla, and Santo Cristo de Leso were all retired, leaving Marabuto as flagship, with San Nicol
as, San Francisco Xavier, and Santo Cristo de San Rom
an.

Gij
on did not sortie again until July 30, 1689, by which time news of the outbreak of the War of the League of Augsburg had reached New Spain. He convoyed two quicksilver ships across to Havana, afterward proceeding to San Juan de Puerto Rico to deliver situados. Arriving on November 9th, he was again enjoined to clear Vieques Island, for which he detached the menof-war of Sebasti
an and Pedro de Astina to make a reconnaissance. They found only abandoned huts, which they torched before the Armada called at Santo Domingo with the remaining situados, then prowled the southern Cuban coast from Cape Cruz past the Cayman Islands to Cape Catoche. After passing Campeche, they returned into Veracruz in early February 1690.

First Saint-Domingue Campaign (1690
1691) The new 140-ton Nuestra Se~ nora de la Concepci
on, built at Campeche, was incorporated into the Armada, and Gij
on put to sea once more on July 19, 1690. His flagship Marabuto was followed by the vice-flag San Francisco Xavier under L
opez de G
omara, San Nicol
as of Bartolom
e Villar, Concepci
on commanded by Sebasti
an Gij
on, and Santo Cristo de San Rom
an, with a total complement of 827 men. The squadron accompanied the outward-bound Spanish plate fleet across to Havana, and then proceeded to Puerto Rico with situados. On November 9, 1690, Gij
on reached Santo Domingo with a French prize of 16 guns, to find the inhabitants in an uproar. An army under Pierre-Paul

499

500

Barlovento, Armada De Tarrin de Cussy, Governor of the French half of the island, had recently occupied the inland town of Santiago de los Caballeros. Faced with this crisis, the Spaniards were galvanized into action. A host of volunteers had been already mustered, and 2,600 trooped aboard the Armada vessels. They departed on December 21st, circling eastward round the island while another Spanish army advanced overland. Both contingents met near Manzanillo Bay, and were confronted after landing by De Cussy with inferior numbers. At the Battle of La Limonade on January 21, 1691, the invaders won a resounding victory, killing the French Governor and more than 400 followers, against only 47 Spanish dead. The attackers then rampaged throughout the island, making off with 130 slaves and two vessels from Saint-Malo of 28 and 24 guns, while burning several more. Flushed with this victory, the Armada returned to Veracruz on March 10, 1691.

Cruises (1691
1693) Gij
on retired at this juncture, being then 70 years of age, and was temporarily replaced by Antonio de Astina, who had completed his two-year suspension from duty. After a refit, Astina sortied on August 16, 1691, escorting a plate fleet across to Havana. Arriving on September 6th, he continued to Puerto Rico with situados and then departed San Juan on October 16th for Santo Domingo. Another expedition was being contemplated against French Saint-Domingue, yet failed to materialize. Astina remained at anchor there until April 1692, when he sailed down the Cuban coast, and reached Veracruz on the last day of May. The Armada

was now in desperate need of an overhaul, so one of the Saint-Malo prizes (renamed Nuestra Se~ nora de Atocha y Santo Tom
as) was sent to the Campeche yards, while other vessels were repaired at Veracruz. On October 19, 1692, Astina sailed with San Nicol
as, Concepci
on, and Santo Cristo de San Rom
an for Havana, bearing the annual situados. He arrived a month later, and on November 24th, while in port, his ships were damaged by a hurricane. He departed for Puerto Rico in December, remaining at San Juan all of January 1693, then continued to Santo Domingo, anchoring in Ocoa Bay while Santo Cristo de San Rom
an stood into the capital with the payrolls. While waiting, Astina learned of a Dutch smuggler in the Macorı´s River, so sent Concepci
on under Captain Tom
as de Torres with a sloop and two launches to intercept. The interloper put up a stout resistance, and was consumed in flames along with Concepci
on, 49 Zeeland sailors perishing during this action. The Spaniards were only able to raise eight guns from the wreckage of both vessels. Astina sailed to Santa Marta on the Main, then entered Cartagena on March 14, 1693. He made a sweep toward Portobelo, seizing a French piragua with seven crewmen before returning to Cartagena. He quit the Main for Cape Catoche and Campeche, reentering Veracruz on May 8th. During his absence, he had been superseded, and the Armada reconstituted.

Fifth Fleet (1693
1694) On October 23, 1692, four days after Astina’s departure, Francisco de Vivero

Barlovento, Armada De Galindo had arrived in New Spain with the plate fleet, to assume the post of new Armada commander-in-chief. The local authorities assembled a force by purchasing the 450-ton, South American-built Santo Cristo de Maracaibo and Mexican-built Nuestra Se~ nora de Guadalupe (alias Tocoluta), both part of that year’s plate fleet, to serve with the Armada. Vivero sailed on July 14, 1693, with his flag aboard Maracaibo and San Nicol
as as vice-flag, accompanied by Guadalupe, Atocha, and Santo Cristo de San Rom
an. His mission was to convoy the homeward-bound plate fleet, as well as deliver situados to Puerto Rico and Santo Domingo, then join a combined Anglo-Spanish assault against French Saint-Domingue. Reaching Havana on August 11, 1693, he continued toward Puerto Rico, but was struck by a hurricane in early September while traversing the Old Bahama Channel. Atocha and Santo Cristo de San Rom
an were lost, the remaining three limping into San Juan badly damaged. After repairs, Vivero hastened to Santo Domingo, only to learn that the anticipated union with an English expedition had been cancelled, because the latter had returned to Europe after failing to overrun Martinique. Vivero therefore proceeded to the Main, making several small captures between Cartagena and Portobelo, before returning to Veracruz on April 14, 1694.

Second Saint-Domingue Campaign (1695) Over the next several months, both Vivero and Astina fell sick, dying early the next year. Therefore, when the three

Armada ships next put to sea in January 1695, they were commanded by Francisco Cort
es. He deposited a situado at Havana and then reconnoitered at Danish Saint Thomas in the Virgin Islands before putting into Puerto Rico. Crossing to Santo Domingo, he joined up with twodozen vessels and almost 1,000 troops brought out from England by Colonel Luke Lillingston and Commodore Robert Wilmot. A large Spanish contingent from Santo Domingo had also assembled, so that on May 15, 1695, this huge force descended on Cap Franc¸ois (modern Cap-Ha€tien), pushing aside the heavily-outnumbered French defenders. One month later, the invaders had fought their way to Port de Paix, besieging its garrison until July 15th, when they were annihilated. After leveling the town, the English and Spanish withdrew on July 27th. Cort
es’s trio of Armada warships carried the Spanish wounded back along the northern shore as far as Guanaxibez, before depositing them ashore, and running downwind to Cuba. After patrolling its southern coast, the Armada touched at Cape Catoche and Tabasco, before reentering Veracruz on September 2, 1695. There, they found three new men-of-war awaiting: Santı´sima Trinidad y Nuestra Se~ nora de Atocha, of 56 guns and 500 tons, built at Campeche; Nuestra Se~ nora del Rosario y Santiago, of 42 guns and 450 tons, launched at Alvarado; and Natividad de Nuestro Se~ nor Jesucristo (literally, ‘‘Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ’’), a Dutch prize so named because it had been captured off Cartagena on Christmas Day 1692, and was now converted into the Armada’s urca or ‘‘store-ship.’’

501

502

Barlovento, Armada De

Defeat before Santo Domingo (1697) The Armada soon received new senior officers as well, when Andr
es de Pez and Guillermo Murphy arrived on September 28, 1695, aboard the plate fleet, the former to serve as commander-in-chief and the second as almirante. After a lengthy delay, the Armada finally sailed on August 4, 1696, consisting of Trinidad (flag) of 56 guns and 350 men; Maracaibo of 46 guns and 250 men; Rosario of 42 guns and 240 men; Guadalupe of 26 guns and 130 men; and the recently-launched Jes
us, Marı´a y Jos
e of 22 guns and 100 men. These vessels escorted the 26 sail of two plate fleets across to Havana, arriving on August 25th. Traditionally, the Armada was to remain in company with any plate fleet until it entered the Strait of Florida on its homeward leg, yet after a long layover, Pez decided to exit alone. Consequently, he quit Havana on November 11, 1696, standing toward Puerto Rico and arriving by December 15th. On December 29th, the Armada departed for Santo Domingo, en route intercepting the French merchantmen Saint Louis and Am
ericaine. Then, four large sail were sighted off Caucedo Point on the morning of January 6, 1697, so that the Armada bore down on the wind. The strangers hoisted English and Dutch colors, and after sending an officer aboard to make an inspection, Pez proceeded on his voyage. However, he had been duped, these ships actually being the French royal warships Bourbon of 58 guns, Bon of 52, Favorite of 36, and Badine or ‘‘Playful’’ of 24. They stole down on his formation that night with the weather gauge, so that the Armada scattered in panic. Pez made directly for Cuba, while

Murphy’s Maracaibo was captured, Guadalupe and Jes
us Marı´a fled inshore, and Francisco Buitr
on’s Rosario headed for Santa Marta. Pez returned to Veracruz on April 5, 1697, having failed to deliver all his situados or reach the Main. Almost a year later, he sailed again, peace having meanwhile been reestablished in Europe. Therefore, he left Veracruz on May 28, 1698, with Trinidad, Rosario, Guadalupe, and the 6-gun sloop San Jos
e y las Animas, with a total of 670 men, to escort another plate fleet across to Havana. He remained in the Cuban capital most of July, before conducting the plate fleet out into the Strait, and intercepting a small English brigantine which he carried into Santiago. From there, his Armada reconnoitered Saint Thomas, before making a lengthy layover in San Juan de Puerto Rico. The Armada then visited Santo Domingo before heading for the Main, calling at Margarita, Araya, Cuman
a, La Guaira, Rı´ohacha, and Santa Marta (where a small sloop was seized), before reaching Cartagena.

Dari
en Campaign (1699) After his arrival, Pez received intelligence of a new Scottish settlement at Dari
en. After attempting to reinforce the Armada at Cartagena, he sailed for Portobelo, which he reached on January 16, 1699. Convinced that his four warships were inadequate for a seaborne assault, he instead proposed leading 500 men over the Isthmus to Panama, to form the nucleus of a land attack. This plan was agreed to by the President of Panama, Pedro Luis Enrı´quez, Conde de Canillas de Torneros, who added two companies of regulars to the expedition. Pez and his men left Panama

Barre’s Tavern on March 9th, gathering volunteers as they advanced; yet the jungle trails grew increasingly difficult, particularly when rains set in, so that progress halted two leagues short of their objective. Pez was hurried in his retreat by rumors of an English squadron approaching Portobelo, where he had left the Armada careening its vessels. This threat never materialized, but he had lost 90 men through desertion, and another 80 to illness. Despite being ordered by Canillas to remain at anchor, Pez instead chose to sail to Cartagena that summer, arriving late in July. News was then received that the Scots had abandoned Dari
en because of disease, so he was free to return to Veracruz. On reaching New Spain on August 24, 1699, however, Pez found that he was to be tried along with Murphy for the loss of Rosario. Both were duly incarcerated on San Juan de Ul
ua to await transportation to Spain, while Buitr
on assumed temporary command over the Armada’s remnants.

Fray Cipriano de Utrera (Ciudad Trujillo: Montalvo, 1957). S
aiz Cidoncha, Carlos, Historia de la piraterı´a en Am
erica Espa~ nola (Madrid: Editorial San Martı´n, 1985). Torres Ramı´rez, Bibiano, La Armada de Barlovento (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1981). Weddle, Robert S., Wilderness Manhunt: The Spanish Search for La Salle (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1973).

BARRE’S TAVERN

Barlovento, Armada de (Volume 1).

One of the more genteel establishments at rollicking Port Royal, Jamaica, noted for its light refreshments: ‘‘silabubus [sic], cream tarts and other quelque choses,’’ according to one satisfied patron. (‘‘Sillabubs’’ or ‘‘syllabubs’’ were drinks or dishes made by curdling cream or milk with an admixture of wine, cider, or some other acid, producing a soft curd which was then whipped or solidified with gelatin, to be sweetened or flavored.) The name of this establishment may actually have been ‘‘Barr
e’s Tavern,’’ perhaps owned or operated by the family of Charles de la Barr
e, Gov. Sir Thomas Lynch’s French secretary.

References

See also

Exquemelin, Alexandre-Olivier, The Buccaneers of America. Translated from the Dutch by Alexis Brown, with an introduction by Jack Beeching (London: Penguin, 1969). Prebble, John, The Darien Disaster (London: Secker & Warburg, 1968). Robles, Antonio de, Diario de sucesos notables, 1665
1703 (Mexico City: Editorial Porr
ua, 1972). Rodrı´guez Demorizi, Emilio, Invasi
on inglesa de 1655: notas adicionales de

Barre’s Tavern (Volume 1).

See also

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898). Pawson, Michael, and Buisseret, David J., Port Royal, Jamaica (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1975).

503

504

Beare, John Philip (fl. 1684
1697)

BEARE, JOHN PHILIP (fl. 1684
1697) English mercenary who served under three different flags in the West Indies.

English Service (1684
1687) Beare was first heard from in early October 1684, when he obtained a privateering commission from Gov. Sir William Stapleton of the Leeward Islands, and shortly thereafter put into neutral Willemstad at Curac¸ao with his sloop Betty, where he found the Spanish privateer Manuel Rodrı´guez riding at anchor. Knowing this corsair to be wanted for having seized the Royal African Company sloop Africa between Tortola and Saint John in the Virgin Islands, Beare applied to the Dutch Gov. Joan van Erpecum for permission to detain Rodrı´guez and his ship, which was refused. Beare therefore stood out of the harbor, but so slowly as to allow the Spaniard to overhaul him and be overpowered. All the Spanish crew was set ashore, except one man who ‘‘was kept to condemn the prize’’ (i.e., testify at its adjudication before an English court). However, Beare then made the mistake of going ashore at the town of Sint Kruis at the western tip of that same island, where he was detained on orders of the outraged Van Erpecum. Betty’s first mate, Henry Cock, went ashore to exhibit Beare’s commission, yet was also held for two days. On the mate’s release, Beare ‘‘sent orders secretly to the ship to sail to Nevis’’ and acquaint Stapleton of his predicament, which Cock eventually succeeded in doing by late December

1684. Stapleton dispatched the frigate HMS Guernsey of Captain Matthew Tennant in mid-January of next year to demand Beare’s release, arguing that he bore ‘‘my commission to pursue pirates and Indians.’’ Beare was not heard of again until a year-and-a-half later, when he returned to Nevis after having traveled to England. On his westward passage, Betty, which was bearing stores, sprung a leak near Scilly, obliging Beare to complete the Atlantic crossing with the small frigate James. On entering Charlestown ‘‘with the King’s colors flying,’’ he was challenged to his right to wear such insignia by Captain George St. Loe of HMS Dartmouth. Beare presented his old patent before the Council, and explained the circumstances of his transfer to another vessel. A new commission was promptly granted him on July 17, 1686, over St. Loe’s objections, and Beare sortied in pursuit of a Spanish corsair of about 20 to 30 guns and 150 mulattos, which had raided the English settlements on Tortola that April. The ringleader was apparently an English doctor who had formerly been Beare’s surgeon. Although he failed to come up with this renegade, Beare was attacked while cruising the Virgin Islands by the Spanish vessel Nuestra Se~ nora de la Soledad. Turning the tables on his assailant, Beare captured the Spanish ship and carried it into Nevis at the end of October, where it was condemned as a legitimate prize late in January 1687. Beare thereupon fitted out his new vessel and departed toward Saint Thomas, followed shortly thereafter by a vengeful St. Loe, who had returned from arresting Bartholomew Sharpe and traveling to New England, and who still

Beare, John Philip (fl. 1684
1697) considered Beare guilty of piracy. The Council of Nevis disagreed, yet reluctantly authorized the Royal Navy officer to take away Beare’s commission if they should meet, which he did. Perhaps as a result of this incident, Beare transferred his allegiance to the Spaniards at Havana. One of his crewmembers later reported how: ‘‘The Englishmen then refused to sail with him, but Beare embarked about 70 Spaniards, put it to the choice of the English to go with him, or go to prison.’’

Spanish Service (1687
1695) On August 18, 1687, Lieutenant-Gov. Hender Molesworth of Jamaica informed his superiors in London: We hear that one Captain Bear, who formerly held a commission from Sir William Stapleton, is turned pirate and has robbed several of our fleet that sailed from hence. He took £1,000 from a New England man, besides what he took from the Londoners and other ships bound for Ireland, and has chosen his station so that no ships from hence can pass without discovery by him. In addition to regarding Beare as a turncoat, Molesworth was prejudiced against his Catholicism, for this was an era when religious tensions were once again growing in England. He added spitefully that he had heard from Campeche: . . . that Bear was married at Havana and gave himself out as a faithful subject of the King of Spain. I have therefore sent Captain [Thomas] Spragge [of HMS Drake] to Havana to demand him as a pirate and an

English subject. He gave out that his wife was a noblewoman who ran away with him, and they actually fired the guns of the castle as a salute to her, while the Governor and most of the chief men of the town were present at the wedding. The nobleman’s daughter is a strumpet that he used to carry with him in man’s apparel, and is the daughter of a rum-punch-woman of Port Royal. I have hopes that he may be surrendered to me, or at any rate not allowed to take his ship to sea again. Such expectations were quickly dashed, as the Spaniards were well pleased with their new guardacosta, whom they knew by the Hispanicized name of ‘‘Juan Felipe de Vera.’’ In addition to this initial round of captures, Beare also sailed to the salvage of a Spanish galleon that summer (allegedly one lost off Key Largo, Florida, although possibly Sir William Phips’ rich find north of Hispaniola). For this voyage, he recruited some English captives from the Havana jail, including the carpenter of the frigate Dark Wanderer, named Ralph Wilkinson. During the voyage, Wilkinson informed Beare of a mysterious French settlement on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, recently established by La Salle. Beare gave a formal statement of this discovery to the Acting Governor of Havana, Andr
es de Mu~nibe, immediately on his return to that port on August 29, 1687. Two years later, Beare was still being consulted from Madrid as to this intelligence report. In the spring of 1688, he was reportedly at Veracruz, and in the last days of that year evidently participated in a major Spanish effort to sweep foreign

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Beare, John Philip (fl. 1684
1697) settlers from the islands of Anguilla and Vieques. More than one eyewitness reported that Beare was among the English, Irish, French, Turk, mulatto, and black rovers who comprised this force. After the outbreak of the War of the League of Augsburg next year, Beare’s frigate departed Havana in 1690 on an 11-month cruise. Putting into San Juan de Puerto Rico for five weeks, he was delegated by Gov. Gaspar de Arredondo to locate the Armada de Barlovento, which was expected on that island with the annual situados or payrolls. Beare reached San Juan again in early November 1691 with this force, and a few days later was once more ordered to sea by De Arredondo, to convey dispatches to Spain. The rover set sail at ten o’clock on the night of November 26th, a circumstance which unwittingly contributed to the mutiny of the Puerto Rican garrison, for the impoverished soldiery, not having been paid in many months, suspected that this nocturnal departure signaled the expropriation of a large part of their pay, and which the Governor was covertly removing from the island. These fears were seemingly confirmed when a portion of their pay was issued on December 5th, amounting to a paltry 40 pesos per man. The troops rebelled, and when De Arredondo called out the militia reserve, the latter refused to act against the mutineers. Eventually, Franciscan friars persuaded the soldiers to return to duty on Christmas Day 1691. Meanwhile, Beare continued to Spain, unaware of the chaos left in his wake. Reaching Sanl
ucar de Barrameda outside Seville early next year, he remained in Spain for several months. On June 5, 1692, he was granted a royal privateering

commission for all of Spanish America, then sailed with his frigate San Jos
e y San Diego as part of that year’s Mexican plate fleet, reentering San Juan de Puerto Rico by early 1693. Over the next two years, he made several cruises throughout the Caribbean as an aviso or ‘‘dispatchvessel,’’ until two boxes were confiscated from his ship following a voyage to Cartagena. They were labeled as containing books, yet actually held expensive bolts of contraband cloth. Although neither belonged to Beare, he felt that he would nonetheless be held accountable. Therefore, when his ship was suddenly ordered to sortie from San Juan in March 1695 to chase away an enemy privateer, he sailed a mere dozen leagues out to sea before informing his Spanish passengers that he was quitting Spain’s service to join the French. On setting them ashore on the Puerto Rican coast, he furthermore added ‘‘that before falling into the power of the Spanish Exchequer, he preferred deserting.’’

French Service (1695
1697) On May 1, 1695, Gov. Jean-Baptiste Ducasse of Saint-Domingue wrote: I have learned one named Jean de Wer [sic], English by nationality, captain of a coastguard vessel for Santo Domingo, coming from New Spain has put into the port of Saint Croix, where he has requested asylum saying he wishes to serve the King his master [presumably James II of England, exiled in Paris], of which he has apprised Monsieur le Comte de Bl
enac. Knowing that a large Anglo-Spanish force was assembling on Santo Domingo

Beef Island to attack his colony, Ducasse urgently requested that Beare be sent to him, so as to use his knowledge of the enemy camp. Yet before Beare could be dispatched, Saint-Domingue was overrun by this invading host, so that Bl
enac retained his services. It was not until the end of 1695 that Beare reached the devastated French island, and gave Ducasse a detailed report of Spanish strengths. The Governor was so impressed that he dispatched Beare to France in late March 1696, with a letter of recommendation to the Minister Pontchartrain which read: . . . he has a complete knowledge of the town [of Santo Domingo] and the way of taking it; he has given me a map and underscored there are more men on that island than I believed; his belief is the Spaniards can muster 3,000 men. He is traveling aboard the ship of Monsieur Dessangiers, and will have the honor of presenting [the map] and giving you a memorial for an attack, and the best season for making it; he has a very extensive knowledge of all the ports of Indies and enterprises one can mount here. Apparently Beare also found favor with the royal minister, for late in 1697 he returned to the West Indies and led an assault against Caracas’ port of La Guaira with four French vessels, surprising its Spanish garrison, who believed that this approaching formation was the Armada de Barlovento arriving from Cuman
a. Beare’s raid wreaked a good deal of havoc, destroying the patache which the Spaniards used to communicate with their offshore outpost of Margarita. This was one of the very last actions of the war, and of Beare’s career.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes. 11
13 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1893
1899).
L
opez Cantos, Angel, Historia de Puerto Rico (1650
1700) (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1975). Lugo, Am
erico, Recopilaci
on diplom
atica relativa a las colonias espa~ nola y francesa de la isla de Santo Domingo, 1640
1701 (Ciudad Trujillo, Dominican Republic: Editorial ‘‘La Naci
on,’’ 1944). Marley, David F., Pirates and Engineers: Dutch and Flemish Adventurers in New Spain (1607
1697) (Windsor, Ontario, Canada: Netherlandic Press, 1992). Torres Ramı´rez, Bibiano, La Armada de Barlovento (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1981). Weddle, Robert S., Wilderness Manhunt: The Spanish Search for La Salle (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1973).

BEEF ISLAND A not uncommon name in the 17th-century Caribbean, as the procuring of meat was a constant quest for many rovers.

Mexico One such ‘‘Beef Island’’ was in fact not an island at all, but rather a long narrow strip of land named Xicalango Point, connected to the Mexican mainland due west of Isla del Carmen. It encloses the western portion of the Laguna de T
erminos, which was then a popular destination for adventurers from Jamaica, who referred to it as the ‘‘Bay of Campeche.’’ Some visitors were cruel raiders come to plunder the Spanish coastal towns, others relatively

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Beeston, Sir William (1636
post 1702?) honest merchantmen come to buy logwood from the resident poachers or ‘‘Baymen.’’ To all of them, Beef Island was a particular stretch of low coastline where over the years, cattle had been rustled or slaughtered. In November 1681, for example, an Englishman named Jonas Clough described how a year-and-a-half earlier he had been aboard one of three New England sloops, when a Spanish expedition under Felipe de la Barreda had suddenly appeared and ‘‘took two of the sloops and forced the third ashore on Beef Island, called by the Spaniards Jica Lanoga [sic; Xicalango].’’ More than 80 interlopers remained marooned there, he added, until they agreed to surrender more than a month later. The Englishmen thought that they had been promised safe-conduct to the Cayman Islands or Jamaica, but were carried off as prisoners to Mexico City, where they were harshly treated.

Virgin Islands Another ‘‘Beef Island’’ was at the eastern extreme of Tortola in the Virgin Islands, which still bears this name today. While on an inspection tour from his headquarters in the Leeward Islands through these sparsely-populated and pirate-infested waters in mid-November 1717 (O.S.), Governor Walter Hamilton described the resources available on Tortola, then laconically added: ‘‘another little island called Beef Island lies just joining to it, the channel not above a mile broad, only fit for boats to go through; has but two families upon it.’’

See also Beef Island (Volume 1).

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 30 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1908). Gerhard, Peter, The Southeast Frontier of New Spain (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1979).

BEESTON, SIR WILLIAM (1636
post 1702?) English pirate-hunter who became Governor of Jamaica. Beeston was born at Tichfield, Hampshire, England, and apparently was baptized on December 2, 1636 (O.S.). He was the second son of William and Elizabeth Beeston. His elder brother Henry grew up to become a Doctor of Law, Master of Winchester School, and Warden of New College at Oxford University from 1679 to 1701. William emigrated to Jamaica in May 1660, and little more than three years later was elected to its first Council, as a member for Port Royal. He was made Judge of the Court of Common Pleas by December 1664, and that following November 1665 was sent by the new Gov. Sir Thomas Modyford with three ships to recall a group of privateers, who were reportedly gathered off Cuba for an attack against the town of Sancti Spı´ritus. Beeston was to read them ‘‘a proclamation from the King to keep peace with the Spaniards’’ and recall them for the defense of Jamaica against the Dutch, the Second Anglo-Dutch War having recently erupted back in Europe; yet after six weeks without being able to find them,

Beeston, Sir William (1636
post 1702?) he returned into Port Royal emptyhanded, learning that the rovers had indeed carried out their design. Modyford’s successor Sir Thomas Lynch delegated Beeston on a similar commission six years later: Having brought out the peace treaty with Spain, Lynch and Modyford chose ‘‘Major Beeston and Captain Reid to carry the articles of peace, &c,’’ to the Spanish Governor of Cartagena, and bring back any English prisoners who were incarcerated there. The frigates HMS Assistance of 40 guns and Welcome of 36 were placed at Beeston’s disposal, sailing on July 16, 1671 (O.S.), yet they were hardly out of sight of Port Royal when Captain John Hubbart of Assistance fell ill. He died three days later, being succeeded in command by Lieutenant John Wilgress. Cartagena was reached on July 23rd (O.S.), where arrangements were made for the publication of the treaty and release of English captives. By August 7th (O.S.) Beeston was back in Jamaica, and five days later witnessed the arrest of Modyford for his deportation to England.

Pirate Hunting (1671
1672) On December 8, 1671 (O.S.), Wilgress was dismissed from command of HMS Assistance for ‘‘wicked, drunken behavior,’’ being replaced two days later by Beeston. On December 16th (O.S.) he set sail for Trinidad (Cuba), returning into Port Royal by January of next year. Then, as noted in Beeston’s journal: January 31, 1672 [O.S.]. The Assistance sailed again to the south cays of Cuba after privateers and pirates, by the desire of the Governor of Santiago [de Cuba]; yet when she came

there, he would not suffer them to have provision for their money, nor would he let them come into Santiago, though the captain [Beeston] brought and delivered him a ship he took from the privateers (which belonged formerly to the Spaniards) without any charge; therefore the 18th of March [O.S.] the Assistance again returned to Port Royal. During this cruise, Beeston had vainly pursued the renegade privateer ship Seviliaen of Jelles de Lecat and Jan Erasmus Reyning near Campeche, where he had also seized the rogue ship Charity of Francis Weatherbourne and the French vessel of Capitaine du Mangles, both for committing ‘‘great violence against the Spaniards.’’ The latter two captains were tried for piracy and condemned to be shot to death aboard Assistance a couple of days after reentering Port Royal, yet eventually were ordered deported to England aboard Welcome, when that frigate departed Jamaica on April 6, 1672 (O.S.), with Henry Morgan as a prisoner. Five days afterward, Beeston again sailed with Assistance, this time ‘‘to Hispaniola to look for privateers, and thence to the Havana to fetch away the [English] prisoners, from whence she returned [to Jamaica] the 15th of June [O.S.].’’ Beeston then commanded the warship on its return passage to England, quitting Port Royal on July 10, 1672 (O.S.), with a convoy comprised of the merchantmen Friesland, Thomas and Charles, Huntsman, and Endeavour. They reached the mouth of the Thames that October, and shortly thereafter Beeston relinquished his command, returning to Jamaica next summer, perhaps aboard Captain Canning’s 40-gun frigate HMS Portland,

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Beeston, Sir William (1636
post 1702?) or Captain Gollop’s smaller Thomas and Francis, both of which entered Port Royal on July 21, 1673 (O.S.).

Subsequent Career (1673
1702) Two years later, when Lord Vaughan reached Jamaica as that island’s new Governor, Beeston was appointed one of its Commissioners of the Admiralty (along with the recently-returned Lieutenant-Gov. Sir Henry Morgan, and the latter’s brother-in-law, Colonel Robert Byndloss). In April 1677, ‘‘LieutenantColonel’’ Beeston was chosen Speaker of the Jamaican Assembly, and led the opposition to proposed changes in its government from London. Differences with the new Governor, the Earl of Carlisle, eventually reached such a pass that the Assembly was dissolved and Beeston, along with the island’s Chief Justice, Colonel Samuel Long, were ordered to travel to England and ‘‘answer for their contumacy.’’ Beeston set sail on July 6, 1680 (O.S.), reaching London two months afterward—before either Carlisle or Long, both of whom had departed 14 weeks previously. Together with the Chief Justice, Beeston then filed counter-charges against the Earl, and after lengthy proceedings was cleared of any wrongdoing. In June of 1692, Beeston was named Lieutenant-Governor for Jamaica and also became a factor for the Royal African Company, was knighted at Kensington on October 30th (O.S.), and set sail from Portsmouth aboard HMS Ruby on December 19th (O.S.) to return to Port Royal by mid-March 1693. Although he had missed the dreadful earthquake which devastated that harbor shortly

before noon on June 7, 1692 (O.S.), he nonetheless found the island still suffering from its terrible aftereffects, and wrote to a friend: ‘‘By the mortality which yet continues, I have lost all my family but my wife [Anne] and one child [their daughter Jane], and have not one servant left to attend me but my cook, so it is very uneasy being here.’’ His discomfiture was further increased by the War of the League of Augsburg or King William’s War, which left Jamaica vulnerable to an attack from the French on Saint-Domingue. The next summer, JeanBaptiste Ducasse in fact led a massive descent on Jamaica, which Beeston managed to resist, although the French rampaged unchecked throughout the southern plantations for the better part of a month, before retiring. Beeston was superseded as Governor at the end of January 1702, sailing for England by April 25th (O.S.) and arriving two months later, where he died shortly thereafter.

See also Beeston, Sir William (Volume 1).

References Dictionary of National Biography (London, 1885
1900, 63 volumes; reissued by Oxford University Press, 2004). Interesting Tracts Relating to the Island of Jamaica (St. Jago de la Vega, Jamaica: Lewis, Lunan and Jones, 1800). Pawson, Michael, and Buisseret, David J., Port Royal, Jamaica (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1975). Pope, Dudley, Harry Morgan’s Way: The Biography of Sir Henry Morgan, 1635
1684 (London: Secker & Warburg, 1977).

Bellamy, Samuel (fl. 1716
1717)

BELLAMY, SAMUEL (fl. 1716
1717) Short-lived pirate Captain, who enjoyed a spectacular string of captures, before sinking off Cape Cod with his famed galley Whydah. It is believed by some that he may have been born in the parish of Hittisleigh near the great English seaport of Plymouth in Devonshire, the youngest of three boys and three girls of Stephen Bellamy and Elizabeth Pain. If true, his mother died in childbirth and was buried on February 23, 1689 (O.S.), while the infant Samuel was baptized that same March 18th. Other reports, however, suggest that he was born in London. He most likely went to sea at an early age, and perhaps served in the West Indies during Queen Anne’s War. Long-held New England legend has it that after these hostilities ceased in the spring of 1713, young Sam traveled to the town of Eastham on Cape Cod, where he fell in love with Maria Hallett. Her parents refused permission for her to marry this penniless seafarer, though, so that when word arrived that an entire Spanish plate fleet had been wrecked on the Florida coast in July 1715, Bellamy and his friend Paul Williams sailed down the Atlantic Seaboard, in hopes of raising a fortune from amid its scattered debris. Yet salvage work proved difficult and other dangers lurked in those treacherous sparkling waters as well, where the strong preyed on the weak, and pirates openly prowled. By late that same year of 1715, both young friends had ended up at the lawless, open port of Nassau, having apparently had some contact with the privateer Captain Henry

Jennings, before joining the crew of his rival Benjamin Hornigold. Bellamy and Williams probably set sail from Nassau in March 1716, aboard Hornigold’s 10-gun Mary Anne (or Marianne). It sailed in company with the French Postillon of Captain Louis La Buze, roughly 140 men being distributed aboard both sloops. Early next month, they seized a large foreign merchantman at anchor in the Cuban port of Mariel, robbing it of everything of value over the span of a week, before abandoning their ransacked prize at the approach of Jennings’ privateering flotilla. Both pirate sloops then continued around the western tip of Cuba, intercepting a pair of Spanish brigantines off Cape Corrientes, loaded with cacao from Maracaibo. Their crews were set ashore, and these prizes burnt. The pirates next coasted along Cuba’s southwestern shoreline to Isla de Pinos (modern Isla de la Juventud), where they careened and cleaned their hulls of barnacles. Finally, the rover pair weighed again by late May 1716, to call at Saint-Domingue (modern Haiti).

Cruise (1716
1717) While lying at anchor off this French colony, though, Mary Anne’s commander was voted out of office in favor of Bellamy, ‘‘upon a difference arising amongst the English pirates because Hornygold refused to take and plunder English vessels.’’ Later writers such as Charles Johnson and Philip Gosse would extol Bellamy’s gifts as an orator and leader of men, which would seem to be corroborated by this incident. Pirate captains were known to

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Bellamy, Samuel (fl. 1716
1717) be voted out of their ships, yet it nonetheless took a charismatic figure to supplant any commander who was not openly incompetent or unlucky. Bellamy remained aboard Mary Anne with 90 men and his loyal friend Williams as quartermaster, while Hornigold slipped away with only 26 hands, aboard a smaller prize sloop. The next notice of Bellamy’s activities did not occur until well into the autumn of 1716, when he and La Buze fell on a merchant convoy in the Virgin Islands. Abijah Savage, commander of one of these victims—the sloop Bonetta out of Antigua—later testified that: On 9th November [1716, O.S.], between St. Thomas and St. Croix, he was overhauled and plundered by two pirate sloops, who also took a French ship and six sail of small vessels, keeping the French ship [which was carrying fish and flour from Canada], etc. One, called the Mary Anne, was commanded by Samuel Bellamy, who declared himself to be an Englishman born in London; and the other, the Postillion, by Louis de Boure [sic; La Buze], a Frenchman, who had his sloop chiefly navigated with men of that nation. Each sloop was mounted with 8 guns, and had betwixt 80 or 90 men. The Mary Anne was chiefly navigated with Englishmen. Deponent was detained at St. Croix. The pirates only wanted provisions, and a ship to make a voyage. John Kenney, commander of another vessel which managed to escape, declared that one of the pirate pursuers got so close that he and his crew ‘‘gave them three cheers in English, in hopes

to discover by their voice what country they were of, to which they made no answer, but continued to give them chase,’’ before a breeze sprang up and they got clear. A worried Governor Walter Hamilton wrote from Antigua to inform the Council of Trade and Plantations in London that his unpatrolled seas were ‘‘pester’d with that vermin of pirates, and still no man of war arrived, by which I am not only confined, but the trading vessels to and from these islands much endanger’d.’’ On December 14, 1716 (O.S.), the Governor added that he had just learned how Bellamy and La Buze ‘‘are come up to Windward, and have taken two French sloops under our neighboring island of Guadeloupe.’’ The two rogue commanders also ran down a pair of merchantmen in the vicinity of the Dutch island of Sab
a, a large black flag being brazenly displayed aboard Bellamy’s sloop, emblazoned with ‘‘a Death’s Head and Bones a-cross’’ (see sidebar). After being seized, the larger of these two merchantmen, the Sultana of Captain James Richards, was cut down into the swifter configuration of a galley and more heavily armed, so as to become Bellamy’s new flagship, while his friend Williams assumed command over Mary Anne. The pirates apparently then shifted south out of these exhausted huntinggrounds, and on December 19, 1716 (O.S.), about nine leagues east of Blanquilla Island off the Venezuelan coast, took the Bristol ship St. Michael of Master James Williams, which was bearing provisions from Ireland for Jamaica. The trio of pirate vessels—Bellamy’s Sultana, La Buze’s Postillon, and Paul Williams’s Mary Anne—next visited the Testigos, to repair and refit on this

Bellamy, Samuel (fl. 1716
1717)

UNDER THE BLACK FLAG While on an inspection tour westward from Antigua and Nevis in the Leeward Islands, Governor Walter Hamilton had reached as far as Saint Thomas in the Virgin Islands when he learned in mid-November 1717 (O.S.) that a little British sloop had escaped through its shoal waters from a pirate ship, which had chased and fired three guns at its intended victim—‘‘the first under British colors, which he [the marauder Captain] lowered, and then hoisted a white ensign with the figure of a dead man spread in it.’’ Hamilton consequently went in search of this renegade ship, allegedly armed with ‘‘about 18 or 20 guns,’’ but could not catch sight of it, having apparently veered up under the north side of Saint Thomas.

One of Bartholomew Roberts’s alleged black pirate-flags, displaying him standing astride ‘‘A Barbadian’s Head’’ and ‘‘A Martinican’s Head.’’ (Author’s Collection)

lonely, sun-bleached Venezuelan island grouping. A muster held there on January 9, 1717 (O.S.), indicated that there were now 210 men serving aboard all three vessels, more seamen having been pressed or volunteered from captured prizes. Shortly thereafter, the pirate flotilla steered northwestward to scour the Windward Passage between Cuba and

Haiti. However, a heavy gale caused La Buze to become separated, while driving Bellamy and Williams back into their former anchorage at St. Croix. Although the English pair resumed their original heading for the Windward Passage by February 1717, their brief reappearance in the Leeward Islands nonetheless stirred a renewed

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Bellamy, Samuel (fl. 1716
1717) ripple of fear. Governor Hamilton of Antigua would later confide to the Council of Trade and Plantations in London that: On 24th March [1717 O.S.], here arrived a small man of war to attend this station, in which I embarked the 2nd April and have visited the islands of Nevis, St. Christophers, and Montserrat. I would have gone to the Virgin Islands, but had an account that the pirate ship and sloop commanded by Bellamy, of which I gave your Lordships an account in my former, were still amongst these islands and the aforesaid man of war (the 24gun frigate Seaford) being such a small bauble, and the Captain acquainting me that if it blew anything hard, he could hardly carry any of his guns out so as to make use of them, for these reasons and these only, I durst not venture down, so that I am not able to give your Lordships any further account of those islands. It was not until the more courageous Captain Benjamin Candler of HMS Winchelsea made a sweep through the Virgin Islands in May 1717, that the authorities learned the fearsome pirates had long since departed. This Royal Navy Captain reported how he found only a few skulking residents who: ‘‘When we came, they hid themselves in the rocks, one Ham a notorious villain living on Beef Island was on board of Bellame the Pirate when he was here, and as soon as they fired a gun at Virgin Gorda, he betook himself to a Bermuda boat he has and his negroes, and lurked about the creeks and islands until we were gone.’’ For indeed, Bellamy and Williams had entered the Windward Passage by

late February 1717, where one dawn they sighted a large ship under easy sail, to which they gave chase. It was the 18-gun, 50-man, 300-ton slaver Whydah of Captain Lawrence Prince, homeward bound out of Jamaica. Having just delivered its second consignment of slaves from the Guinea coast, the two-year-old Whydah was sailing for London with a rich haul of money, African elephant tusks, gold dust, West Indian sugar, indigo, and ‘‘Jesuits’ bark’’ (cinchona, from which quinine is made). It took the pirates three days to overhaul the slaver, and when they finally did, Prince surrendered almost without firing a shot. Bellamy and Williams sailed their fine big prize to Long Island in the nearby Bahamian archipelago, to drop anchor and ransack it at leisure. Because of Whydah’s size and fine sailing qualities, the pirate chieftain decided to make it his new flagship, increasing its armament to 28 guns. Prince was given Sultana by way of compensation, and allowed to load whatever merchandise the pirates did not want. Bellamy picked ten or twelve men from among the slaver’s crew, and even gave Prince £20 in gold and silver ‘‘to bear his charges,’’ before setting the unfortunate Master free. It was little enough, considering that Whydah’s cargo was estimated at £20,000 in value, £9,000 being in ready currency. With 180 pirates now manning both vessels, they exultantly counted up this booty—in true Brethren fashion—in Bellamy’s main cabin, 50 pounds apiece being put into bags as each man’s share. This money was stowed ‘‘in chests between decks, without any guard,’’ when Whydah and Mary Anne weighed next day for the Virginia Capes.

Bellamy, Samuel (fl. 1716
1717) En route up the Atlantic Seaboard, the pirates intercepted an English vessel carrying a cargo of French sugar and indigo, which they let go. Off the Virginia coast, they took three ships and a snow, one Scottish ship out of Barbados proving so leaky that its crew was transferred aboard the snow, before sinking. This snow was then retained with a prize-crew aboard, to serve as part of Bellamy’s pirate flotilla, while the other two merchantmen were plundered and released. A huge storm then boiled up out of the northwest, engulfing the formation as night fell. Amid the howling darkness, with thunderclaps crashing overhead, Bellamy swore to raise his men’s spirits that: ‘‘he was sorry he could not run out his guns to return the salute, meaning the thunder, that he fancied the gods had got drunk over their tipple, and were gone together by the ears.’’ After four days of pounding, the weather finally eased and the pirate vessels emerged damaged, yet still afloat. They limped toward Carolina to repair Whydah, which had lost two of its three masts and was leaking, yet as the wind continued to shift around farther out of the south, Bellamy laid in a new course for Rhode Island. While sailing, they intercepted a Boston-owned sloop under Captain Beer, who was ordered aboard Whydah while his vessel was being plundered. Bellamy and Williams intended to then restore his vessel, but the pirate company voted instead to sink it. ‘‘Damn my blood,’’ Bellamy swore, as he informed the unfortunate Master, ‘‘I’m sorry they won’t let you have your sloop again, for I scorn to do anyone a mischief, when it is not for my advantage.’’ The pirate chieftain then gave vent to a harangue, which the chronicler Charles Johnson later made famous as

an explanation for many pirates’ motivations, by recording it in his History. Supposedly, Bellamy shouted at Beer: Though, damn ye, you are a sneaking puppy, and so are all those who will submit to be governed by laws which rich men have made for their own security, for the cowardly whelps have not the courage otherwise to defend what they get by their knavery; but damn ye altogether! Damn them for a pack of crafty rascals, and you, who serve them, for a parcel of henhearted numbskulls. They vilify us, the scoundrels do, when there is only this difference: they rob the poor under the cover of law, forsooth, and we plunder the rich under the protection of our own courage. Had you not better make [i.e., become] one of us, then sneak after the asses of these villains for employment? When the Master replied that he dared not break the laws of God and man, the pirate snorted: You are a devilish conscience rascal, damn ye! I am a free prince, and I have as much authority to make war on the whole world, as he who has a hundred sail of ships at sea, and an army of 100,000 men in the field, and this my conscience tells me. But there is no arguing with such sniveling puppies, who allow superiors to kick them about deck at pleasure, and pin their faith upon a pimp of a parson—a squab, who neither practices nor believes what he puts upon the chuckle-headed fools he preaches to! Beer consequently watched as his sloop slid beneath the waves, and some time

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Bellamy, Samuel (fl. 1716
1717) afterward was set ashore on Block Island, not regaining his home at Newport until May 1, 1717 (O.S.)—four days after Bellamy and most of his pirate crew had already died.

Shipwreck and Death (April 1717) The pirate formation continued to press northward, and on April 17, 1717 (O.S.), Master Andrew Turbett of the merchantman Agnes of Glasgow, declared that his vessel: . . . was taken and sunk by a pirate, Samuel Bellamy, five leagues off Cape Charles, 7th April. On the same day, they took the Ann galley of Glasgow and the Endeavor pink of Brighthelmstone, and on the 12th a ship belonging to Leith, all bound for Virginia. The greatest part of the pirate’s crew, natives of Great Britain and Ireland, and 25 Negroes taken out of a Guinea ship. They declared they intended to cruise for 10 days off Delaware Bay, and 10 days more off Long Island, in order to intercept some vessels from Philadelphia and New York, bound with provisions to the West Indies. They then designed to careen their ship at Green Island, to the eastward of Cape Sable. They expect several others to follow them to the coast of Virginia, and said there were 10 sail of them in all about the West Indies and the coast of America. Yet Bellamy veered course again to appear off Cape Cod by the morning of April 26, 1717 (O.S.), where he intercepted a small pink bound from Nantasket toward New York City—the 53rd

and final victim of his career. Seven pirates clambered aboard ‘‘armed with their musquets, pistols, and cutlashes’’ to serve as the pink’s prize-crew, while its Master and five hands were transferred aboard the jury-rigged Whydah. Learning that some Madeira wine was among its cargo, Bellamy sent across four pirates, but they could not extract any crates from the pink’s cramped hold. Bellamy’s formation continued on its north-northwesterly heading, until running into dense fog that same evening. After darkness fell, a heavy rain also began, and the seas rose. The crippled pirate flagship had blundered into a dangerous position, the rising winds and waves driving it remorselessly to its doom on Cape Cod. Whydah struck a sandbar stern first, a quarter-mile offshore from the modern town of Wellfleet, and was beaten to pieces. Of the 146 men aboard, only two survived that horrific night: a pressed Welsh carpenter named Thomas Davis, and a Moskito Indian taken from the Central American coast by the name of John Julian. Presumably, Bellamy may have lain among the 102 battered, unidentifiable corpses retrieved from the debris strewn over four miles of beach next morning. And as one final epithet, a delighted Gov. Peter Heywood of Jamaica wrote to London on July 3, 1717 (O.S.), to say that since his last letter: ‘‘. . . no account of pyrates from any part, only the agreeable news we have had from New England, of Bellamy with his ship and company’s perishing on ye shoals off of Cape Cod.’’

See also Careen; Hornigold, Benjamin; La Buze, Louis.

Bernanos, Jean, Sieur De (fl. 1684
1695)

Reference Jameson, John F., comp. and ed., Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period: Illustrative Documents (New York: Macmillan, 1923).

BERNANOS, JEAN, SIEUR DE (fl. 1684
1695) French flibustier who took part in the assault against Jamaica, and died defending Saint-Domingue. Bernanos was born in Metz, Lorraine, France, on March 6, 1648, the son of a butcher. His last name was apparently derived from that of his great-grandfather, a Spanish soldier who had settled in that region a century earlier, after serving in the armies of the Emperor Charles V. It is not known precisely when Jean Bernanos arrived in the New World, but he was apparently already a cavalry Captain by the time he emigrated, sometime during the 1670s.

Flibustier Commander (1679
1684) He was first mentioned as a minor buccaneer leader in 1679, Basil Ringrose later declaring that he attempted a joint descent that year—his French freebooters allied with some Kuna warriors—against the small Panamanian town of Chepo. Bernanos also played a subordinate part in John Coxon’s sack of Portobelo in February 1680, before prowling off the Panamanian coast, meeting up with his compatriot Jean Rose, and refusing to join the first English penetration across the Isthmus into the South Sea.

Bernanos’ first independent command occurred in March 1684, when he departed Petit-Go^ave aboard his 6-gun, 60-man vessel at the head of a five-ship flotilla including Capitaines Blot, Rose, Franc¸ois Grogniet, and Vigneron. They secured a privateering commission from the French Governor of Saint Croix, and with a party of Carib auxiliaries advanced up Venezuela’s Orinoco River, to seize the newly-completed Spanish fort of San Francisco de Asis by May 30, 1684, which guarded the approaches to the frontier outpost of Santo Tom
e de Guayana farther upstream. Bernanos’s flibustiers also sacked that town and held onto Fort San Francisco until August 1684, before retiring to patrol off the islands of Margarita and Trinidad.

Planter and Militia Officer (1685
1694) On regaining Saint-Domingue late in 1684, Bernanos apparently married Marguerite Bastard shortly thereafter at the town of Port-de-Paix opposite Tortuga Island; he had at least three children with her. He also settled down as an estate-owner, yet nonetheless maintained an active role in the island militia, such as when—at the head of 15 armed men—he accompanied the Crown official Jacques de Pardieu, Sieur de Franquesnay, aboard the royal warship Marin in October 1687, to arrest a pirate vessel recently returned from Guinea in West Africa, being rewarded with it as his prize. Two years later, after the War of the League of Augsburg or King William’s War erupted against England, Spain, and The Netherlands, Bernanos secured a privateering commission in September

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Bernanos, Jean, Sieur De (fl. 1684
1695) 1689 to sortie on a cruise. He returned early next year and was lying at anchor at Cap-Franc¸ois on July 16, 1690, when the island Governor Pierre-Paul Tarin de Cussy passed through on his way to attack the advance Spanish frontiertown of Santiago de los Caballeros; this Governor reported later how he had found: . . . the flibustiers awaiting him to obtain a commission; they were headed by Capitaine Bernanos, and their intention was to go take Santiago de Cuba. Bernanos’s patent was duly renewed and he sortied that same September 1690, yet there is no record of any attack attempted against that Cuban port, only a few English vessels taken at sea. Following the death of De Cussy and the devastating Spanish invasion of 1691, his successor Jean-Baptiste Ducasse sent Bernanos on a reconnaissance of Jamaica, taking 100 flibustiers aboard Capitaine Damon’s Emport
e (Intemperate) in July 1692, who set sail with orders to: . . . reconnoiter the enemy, and in case they have attacked any quarter, or were anchored off any roads, to land about 100 flibustiers under the command of Bernanos and make every effort to take them. In the event nothing is found, they are enjoined to cruise past the coasts of Jamaica and push on [around Cuba] into the Bahama Channel, trying to capture ships. However, Damon and Bernanos returned the next month empty-handed.

On July 11, 1693, Bernanos was appointed brevet major of Port-de-Paix, and the next summer took part in the large-scale operation led against Jamaica by Ducasse and Laurens de Graaf. For this expedition, Bernanos and his men sailed aboard the 54-gun royal flagship T
em
eraire (Fearless), commanded by the Chevalier de Rollon, which dropped anchor along with the main invasionfleet on June 27, 1694, in Cow Bay, 15 miles east of Port Royal. Four days later with ‘‘the wind blowing very hard,’’ T
em
eraire dragged its anchors and with another vessel was driven downwind into Bluefields Bay, where Bernanos led 60 flibustiers ashore to seize a plantation. A unit of Jamaican militia appeared and a skirmish ensued, so that De Rollon—hearing the small-arms’ fire from on board—ordered a round shot over the flibustiers’ heads as a signal. At this: . . . they ran aboard in such haste that they left their meat they had killed, and some cattle they had tied up to carry aboard, and their bread and salt, and sailed away as soon as they could get up their anchors. T
em
eraire could not find the French fleet again, so stood away for PetitGo^ave. Learning that Ducasse was still at Port Morant, De Rollon made a gallant attempt to rejoin his commander, yet the outbreak of an epidemic forced him back into L
eog^ane, where almost half of his crew expired.

Death (1695) The next spring, a huge Anglo-Spanish fleet appeared off northern SaintDomingue in late May 1695, and deposited

Bernard, Antoine (fl. 1683) a considerable army ashore. Ducasse had already hurried Bernanos back north with 100 followers to defend his home-base of Port-de-Paix, with orders to assist De Graaf, who was serving as lieutenant du roi or ‘‘King’s Lieutenant’’ at nearby CapFranc¸ois. When the latter called for help, Bernanos marched on May 18, 1695, with 130 men and reached him three days later, although his assistance proved too little to check the advancing enemy host. The outnumbered French were compelled to abandon Cap-Franc¸ois, falling back toward Port-de-Paix, which the English warships reached by June 13, 1695. Wishing to beset its defenders before they could mount an organized resistance, the Royal Navy set 400 to 500 men ashore at nearby Saint-Louis, driving Bernanos’ men back inside the walls, until the combined Anglo-Spanish army arrived overland on June 25, 1695. Faced with overwhelming odds, the besieged garrison finally decided to evacuate, although not without considerable dissent. Their attempt to break out two hours before dawn on July 15, 1695, was betrayed to the English, who ambushed Bernanos’ heavily-burdened column—hampered by 150 terrified women and children—in the darkness. They disintegrated into chaos, some calling for an about-face back into Port-de-Paix, others to cut their way through. Bernanos allegedly attempted to rally the men in van by roaring: ‘‘They are but dogs, we shall easily run them through!’’ But it was he who fell, pierced through the body three times. It is said that he expired while stretching out his hand toward another dying officer, the Chevalier de Paty, and was later eulogized as ‘‘the bravest man there ever was in the colony.’’

References Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924).  SaintTribout de Morembert, Henri, ‘‘A Domingue, le Major Bernanos, capitaine de flibustiers,’’ Connaissance du Monde 78 (1965), pp. 10
19.

BERNARD, ANTOINE (fl. 1683) French flibustier who took part in the sack of Veracruz. On March 5, 1683, Bernard sailed from Martinique aboard his tiny 2-gun Proph ete Daniel, accompanied by the equally small Dauphin of Pierre d’Orange. They intended to go turtling on the Cayman Islands, but a month later heard of a great pirate gathering off the Central American coast. Crossing to Guanaja Island, they learned of a Dutch rover named Nikolaas van Hoorn being defrauded of a consignment of slaves at Santo Domingo, and—as a French subject—obtaining a letter of reprisal from Jacques Nepveu, Sieur de Pouanc¸ay and Governor of Saint-Domingue, to exact restitution. Van Hoorn had sortied with the Sieur de Grammont and other flibustier commanders to recruit at Roat
an, for a descent against the Mexican port of Veracruz. Bernard and D’Orange joined this expedition, which eventually swelled to 13 vessels and roughly 1,400 men. Rounding Yucatan, a landing party of 800 freebooters slipped ashore near Veracruz on the night of May 17
18, 1683, infiltrating the city and attacking at dawn. The garrison was quickly overwhelmed, and after four days of sack and pillage, the raiders withdrew two miles offshore

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Bilbo or Bilboes to Sacrificios Island with several thousand hostages and vast quantities of booty. A fortnight later they weighed, and staggered back around Yucatan to divide their spoils at Isla Mujeres. The flotilla then broke up; Bernard and D’Orange were among the first to attempt to beat across toward PetitGo^ave on Saint-Domingue, although Proph ete Daniel only got as far as the Cayman Islands before Bernard fell ill. He recuperated, but on August 4, 1683, was still lying with D’Orange’s Dauphin at Little Cayman, when the Armada de Barlovento suddenly appeared and captured both. The Spanish report described Proph ete Daniel as a 35-ton sloop ‘‘with a crew of 17 men, two guns, two swivel guns, a blunderbuss, two carbines, three cutlasses, 80 pounds of gunpowder, and 30 tons of cheese;’’ however, it is quite probable that more had already been pilfered by the light-fingered Armada sailors. The prisoners were carried into Veracruz three weeks later with other prizes, and a hearing convened aboard Andr
es de Ochoa y Z
arate’s flagship Santo Cristo de Burgos. Spanish law decreed that pirate leaders were to be tried at the scene of their crimes, while minions were to be deported to Spain. It is therefore likely that Bernard remained in Veracruz when the plate fleet sailed for Cadiz a few days later, to face judgment in the still-devastated Mexican port. Most probably he was executed on November 22, 1683, when his associate D’Orange is known to have died.

References Ju
arez Moreno, Juan, Piratas y corsarios en Veracruz y Campeche (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1972).

Marley, David F., Sack of Veracruz: The Great Pirate Raid of 1683 (Windsor, Ontario, Canada: Netherlandic Press, 1993). S
aiz Cidoncha, Carlos, Historia de la piraterı´a en Am
erica Espa~ nola (Madrid: Editorial San Martı´n, 1985). Torres Ramı´rez, Bibiano, La Armada de Barlovento (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1981).

BILBO OR BILBOES In the 17th century, ‘‘bilbo’’ was a nickname for any rapier or fine sword, apparently derived from the name of the Spanish port of Bilbao, where many such blades were bought. ‘‘Bilboes,’’ on the other hand, referred to a long iron bar with shackles used to confine the feet of prisoners. In the summer of 1686, for example, a coastal trader named Samuel Woodward complained of the harsh treatment which he had received off Maryland from Captain John Crofts of the Royal Navy ketch Deptford. This officer, he said: . . . had insulted him, called him into his cabin, boxed him severely, and ordered him to be put into bilboes. He remained in irons for an hour and a half, during which time his [Woodward’s] ketch was searched, but nothing irregular found.

See also Bilbo (Volume 1).

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 12 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1899).

Billop, Christopher (fl. 1682
1684)

BILLIARDS Popular 17th-century diversion, particularly in English drinking establishments. Several taverns at Port Royal, Jamaica, sported billiards rooms, which seem to have been situated in the yard or otherwise removed from the main bar, so as to minimize frictions. According to a contemporary report, the ‘‘George’’ tavern, which ‘‘fronted to the old market place’’ in town, had a special room built for the game; the same was true at the ‘‘Feathers,’’ whose billiard room was situated over another room in its yard.

See also Billiards (Volume 1).

Reference Pawson, Michael, and Buisseret, David J., Port Royal, Jamaica (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1975).

BILLOP, CHRISTOPHER (fl. 1682
1684) Royal Navy captain who commanded the ketch Quaker at Nevis, and was accused of fraud. Governor Sir William Stapleton said of Billop that since coming out from England, he had ‘‘acted more like a merchant, and sometimes more like a piratical one,’’ than as a King’s officer. When a merchant ship bound from La Rochelle to Antigua was intercepted in peacetime off Nevis, it was rumored that Billop did not release the Frenchman until he was allowed ‘‘to keep the things he took from her.’’ But more blatant still was his very last coup in the Indies, when on June 15,

1682, a vessel ‘‘was seen tacking off and on’’ toward Nevis, before finally steering away toward Dutch Sint Eustatius. Billop set off in pursuit, and ‘‘upon firing a shot across her forefoot, to his great surprise found his fire returned.’’ He therefore blasted the stranger with a broadside and boarded, discovering it to be the Providence of London, with one dead and six wounded among its crew. The master George Nanton confessed that he had no license to trade in the New World, but was coming out from Africa as an interloper with 215 slaves aboard, plus roughly a ton each of ivory (‘‘elephants’ teeth’’), copper, and redwood. This engagement took place within plain view of everybody in Nevis’ capital of Charlestown, who then saw the ketch stand away toward the French half of St. Kitts with its prize. When Billop returned five days later, the only merchandise left aboard Providence were 96 slaves, a dozen of them suffering from smallpox. He was therefore charged with embezzling Charles II’s bounty by profiting from this contraband, and when the verdict appeared to go against him, refused to set foot ashore. The island Council described him to the Lords of Trade and Plantations in London as ‘‘one of the worse men we ever saw in the King’s service, and the most unfit to continue in it.’’ On July 16, 1682, Governor Stapleton sent the Provost Marshal aboard Billop’s ship, who promised to present himself next day; yet that following morn he was already hull down, sailing away to England. Charges followed him across the Atlantic, yet he was able to prolong the dispute by launching a countersuit of his own, alleging that the Providence had been adjudged a legal prize, after which the ‘‘Negroes and other goods he [had been] sending

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Biscayan Privateers to New York were illegally seized.’’ His naval career ended, Billop moved to New York, where late in 1686 he was allowed to establish ‘‘a ferry upon the southwest side of Staten Island,’’ and became that island’s Surveyor.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 11, 12 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898
1899).

BISCAYAN PRIVATEERS A squadron of corsairs raised in northeastern Spain to combat pirates and smugglers in the New World. With the Armada de Barlovento unable to cope with peacetime hostilities in the Caribbean, Madrid accepted a proposal from some Guipuzcoan merchants on November 6, 1685, to raise a private force of five frigates in return for certain trade concessions. Ships and Basque crewmembers were assembled at the port of San Sebasti
an, and their Commodore Francisco Garcı´a Gal
an vowed in a letter to King Charles II that on reaching the West Indies, he would ‘‘first of all seek out the pirate Lorencillo [de Graaf].’’ On August 23, 1686, the following vessels set sail:

Garcı´a Gal
an’s second-in-command was Francisco de Aguirre, his gobernador or third-in-command Miguel de Vergara, with Jos
e de Leoz y Echalar, Martı´n P
erez de Landeche, Sebasti
an Pis
on, Silvestre Soler, and Fermı´n de Salaberrı´a as individual ship-captains. This formation, known collectively as the Vizcaı´no [Biscayan] or Guip
uzcoa squadron, was poorly equipped, its two capital ships being old and useless, ‘‘more intended for carrying French cloths and trading with these in the Indies than doing harm to the enemy,’’ according to an observer. The vessels touched at the Canary Islands before departing Lanzarote on October 30th, with an additional 70 men. At dawn on November 10, 1686, they sighted a large ship towing a prize near Cape Verde off West Africa, and closed with their standard—‘‘the cross of Borgo~na’’—prominently displayed. The stranger proved to be the English East Indiaman Caesar, which refused to salute the Biscayan flag, even when a signal-gun was fired to draw attention to it. San Nicol
as therefore crashed a broadside at the Indiaman, who responded with such a withering counter-fire that twelve Biscayans were killed and many others wounded in the exchange, including Garcı´a Gal
an. He died two days afterward, and the chastened formation straggled on across the Atlantic.

Ship Nuestra Se~ nora del Rosario y las Animas (flag) San Nicol
as de Bari (vice-flag) Nuestra Se~ nora de la Concepci
on (gobierno) San Antonio (patache) Santiago (32-oar galliot)

Guns

Tons

Men

34 24 ? ? ?

250 200 140 60 30

180 142 66 36 53

Biscayan Privateers Once in Caribbean waters, the small frigate of Fermı´n de Salaberrı´a parted company to convey dispatches to Cuba and New Spain, while the rest of the formation cruised past the islands of Trinidad and Margarita. Off the Salt Tortugas (present-day Tortuga Island, Venezuela) they plundered the 100-ton sloop Relief of London, then seized the Bermuda sloop Speedwell. The latter and its 18 crewmembers were carried early in March 1687 into La Guaira, the port of Caracas, to be sold. Shortly thereafter, the Biscayans also found the Jamaican sloop Phoenix of Captain John Jennings stranded on a beach, and took it into Cartagena. The English authorities were outraged at this ‘‘most inhuman treatment’’ of their island traders. Meanwhile, De Salaberrı´a’s vessel reached Havana in early March 1687 and Veracruz by mid-April, unwittingly contributing to a mutiny by the crews of the Armada de Barlovento six weeks later, on account of the arrival in the West Indies of this competitive flotilla. By then, De Salaberrı´a had sailed again, only to face an even more hostile reception off J
ucaro, on the southern coast of Cuba. While attempting to rejoin his squadron on the Spanish Main, he encountered the pirate flagship of De Graaf, which chased him into the shallows. Soon, De Salaberrı´a found himself aground in unfamiliar waters, in danger of being captured. A force of small Cuban coast-guard vessels hurried out to his rescue, which De Graaf turned on as well, seizing a schooner and sinking a piragua. (During this fighting, the brother of the Cuban corsair Blas Miguel died, which would lead the latter to seek revenge against the pirate.)

Having survived this ordeal, De Salaberrı´a completed his passage, and the reunited Biscayan squadron then traveled northeastward through the Caribbean in two contingents. One group reached Veracruz early in July 1687, followed by Captain Jos
e Leoz’s flagship Rosario and a consort, which arrived at midday on July 24th. An inspection revealed all to be in poor condition, with little possibility of repair. Mexican officials were authorized to return any unfit vessels to Spain, or incorporate them into the Armada de Barlovento, or assign them to coast-guard duty off Santo Domingo. No one was very happy to see them: Spanish-American officials resented the Biscayans’ autonomy and divisive presence, while foreign authorities suspected that their commission would be used to justify attacks against peaceable merchants or fishermen. Already by the end of August 1687, Lieutenant-Gov. Hender Molesworth of Jamaica was writing his superiors: ‘‘I have heard a great deal more than I can yet prove of these Biscayers, so that they deserve to be called to account for it.’’ At virtually the same time, Spanish officials in Madrid were growing uneasy at the lack of any news from the squadron since it had quit the Canaries. Early in 1688, the Biscayan flotilla departed Veracruz to roam westward, intercepting the bark Dragon of Roger Whitfield as it was bound from Jamaica toward New York, sending it into Santiago de Cuba for adjudication. Richard Whiffin’s pink was also taken and carried into Santo Domingo, where its crew was soon released, but the Biscayans then apparently left a contingent behind to establish themselves on the island as local guardacostas. On May 1, 1688,

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Blackbeard Gov. Pierre-Paul Tarin de Cussy of Saint-Domingue learned that they had taken two French barks, one loaded with foodstuffs and the other bearing ‘‘twelve or thirteen flibustiers of the crew of the [Chevalier de] Saint Laurens, who were going to trade among the islands.’’ Five of these men managed to escape to Puerto Rico, which the Guipuzcoans also visited that summer, after raiding the French establishments at Saman
a Bay. In September 1688, the Biscayans heard rumors that 300 French, English, and Danish buccaneers were occupying Vieques Island, yet found that place uninhabited when they made a reconnaissance in January 1689. A second raid in December led by Captain John Philip Beare produced a number of prisoners, mostly harmless settlers. English wrath over real or imagined depredations by the squadron had led to a royal warrant being drawn up in London at the end of 1688, authorizing the Governor of Jamaica to employ Royal Navy warships ‘‘to suppress the Biscayans who prey upon British trade.’’ This was never signed, as the Glorious Revolution intervened and sent James II into exile, followed next year by the outbreak of the War of the League of Augsburg or King William’s War in which England, Spain, and Holland fought together against France. Allegations of Biscayan assaults against foreign vessels continued to be received, although it is unlikely many were actually perpetrated by the now-enfeebled force. Its commander Francisco de Aguirre was in Havana by November 1690, homeward bound with the remnants of his staff. Most crewmembers had chosen to remain in the Americas, and by 1692 the Biscayan squadron was officially disbanded.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 12, 13 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1908). Garmendia Arruabarrena, Jos
e, ‘‘Armadores y armadas de Guip
uzcoa (1689
1692),’’ Boletı´n de Estudios Hist
oricos de San Sebasti
an (San Sebasti
an: Biblioteca de la Sociedad Bascongada de los Amigos del Paı´s, 1985), pp. 259
277. Ju
arez Moreno, Juan, Piratas y corsarios en Veracruz y Campeche (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1972).
L
opez Cantos, Angel, Historia de Puerto Rico (1650
1700) (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1975). Lugo, Am
erico, Recopilaci
on diplom
atica relativa a las colonias espa~ nola y francesa de la isla de Santo Domingo, 1640
1701 (Ciudad Trujillo, Dominican Republic: Editorial ‘‘La Naci
on,’’ 1944). Robles, Antonio de, Diario de sucesos notables, 1665
1703 (Mexico City: Editorial Porr
ua, 1972).

BLACKBEARD See Thatch, Edward

BLANCO, AUGUSTI´N (fl. 1718
1725) Spanish corsair who operated for many years out of the Cuban port of Baracoa. On September 14, 1722 (O.S.), the newly-installed Bahamian Governor George Phenney wrote from Nassau on New Providence Island to inform the Council of Trade and Plantations in London on how he had found the local situation on his arrival, including the news that: . . . Augustino Blanco of Baracoa, a Spanish pirate, having landed and

Blanco, Augustı´n (fl. 1718
1725)

YOUNG BEN FRANKLIN’S ODE ON PIRACY When news of Blackbeard’s death at the hands of Lieutenant Robert Maynard of the Royal Navy was published in Boston newspapers in late February 1719 (O.S.), it apparently inspired 13-year-old Benjamin Franklin to pen a broadside ballad about this event. Drawn to the sea from his very earliest days, the young lad had been apprenticed only that previous year to his uncle James Franklin, who was a printer. Although unattributed, the ballad which appeared next month under the title of A Sailor Song on the Taking of Teach or Blackbeard the Pirate, is believed to have been Ben Franklin’s very first piece of writing. Indeed, its 57 lines brim over with youthful exuberance: Have you heard of Teach the rover, And his knavery on the Main, How of gold he was a lover, How he lov’d all ill-got gain? When the Act of Grace appeared, Captain Teach with all his men, Unto Carolina steered, Where they kindly us’d him, then, There he marry’d to a Lady, And gave her five hundred Pound, But to her he proved unsteady, For he soon marched off the ground, And returned, as I tell you, To his robbery as before, Burning, sinking ships of value, Filling them with purple gore. Printed on a single side of large sheets known as ‘‘broadsides,’’ this ballad was intended to be sold as sheet-music and sung as entertainment, most likely to the melody of the thenpopular tune What is Greater Joy and Pleasure. No original copy has survived to our day, only various later versions of this, the illustrious Ben Franklin’s earliest work.

plunder’d the inhabitants of Cat Island, I sent a sloop well manned and armed to get an account of them; but they missing him, he had the impudence to return again with two sloops, and last week he was met with by two of our sloops, and forc’d one of his ashore with sixteen persons in her, nine of whom they took, one an English and another a Scotch renegado. The rest got ashore at Little Island, and I have sent up a sloop with a detachment to fetch

them down, and am in great hopes of securing the old pirate himself, he being in an heavy piragua built out of his other sloop which was wrecked, with about 20 hands with them, one of his Lieutenants with the rest of his crew being return’d to Baracao in a prize sloop, but I hope by the next opportunity I shall be able to give Your Lordships an account of this barbarous fellow, who has been a terror to these Islands these twenty or thirty years.

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Bl
enac, Charles De Courbon, Seigneur De Romegoux, Comte De (1622
1696) In all, 11 of Blanco’s captured crewmen would be brought into New Providence to stand trial for piracy on October 11, 1722 (O.S.), five being condemned to the gallows, and the rest reprieved—including the renegade Englishman. Three years later, complaints were still being filed against Blanco. Don Dionisio Martı´nez de la Vega, the new Spanish Governor at Havana, responded on June 5, 1725, to a protest lodged by Governor Phenney by forwarding it on to his subordinate at Santiago de Cuba, Governor Carlos de Suere. The Bahamian complainant Richard Thomson traveled in person to: Santiago de Cuba to demand satisfaction for a late robbery done by Augustino Branco [sic], who had the Governor Don Carlos de Suere’s commission. The said Governor promised him justice, and he commenced a suit. But after tarrying for four months, deponent found that by their continual adjournments he would get no reparation or justice and departed, Gibson Dalziel [the Royal African Company’s agent] conveying to him seven of his Negroes which were in his possession as factor. The Governor and his secretary kept each of them one Negro. Deponent also brought away Thomas Balthasar, native of Puerto del Principe, who had been enticed to sail with Branco, but refused to join in his villainies.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 33, 35 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1934
1936).


NAC, CHARLES DE BLE COURBON, SEIGNEUR DE ROMEGOUX, COMTE DE (1622
1696) Governor-General of the French Antilles, who on several occasions raised flibustiers for West Indian campaigns. Bl
enac was born in Saintonge, France in 1622, of a noble family. He married his cousin’s widow Ang
elique de la Rochefoucauld in 1649, by whom he had 11 children. He served the infant Louis XIV throughout the Fronde rebellions, rising in military rank. In 1669, Bl
enac transferred to the nascent French Navy, and commanded the Infante or ‘‘Infanta’’ in the Comte d’Estr
ees’ expedition against the Barbary pirates, as well as Fort or ‘‘Strong’’ at the 1672 Battle of Sole Bay. Hot-tempered and quarrelsome, he was briefly incarcerated next year for insulting a superior officer, yet again saw action against the Dutch that August, when he captained Fortun
e at the Battle of the Texel. Late in 1676, Bl
enac sailed in D’Estr
ees’ first Caribbean expedition, commanding Fendant or ‘‘Sword-stroke’’ in the unsuccessful assault against Dutch Tobago. Retreating to Grenada, the French furthermore learned of the death of Jean-Charles de Baas-Castelmore, Governor-General of the Antilles, so that Bl
enac was temporarily appointed to succeed him. He returned to France with D’Estr
ees to have this nomination confirmed, then sailed back to Martinique with the Admiral’s second fleet in autumn 1677, assuming office that November. Bl
enac was instrumental in raising a large force of flibustiers for D’Estr
ees’ subsequent venture against Curac¸ao, which

Bonnet, Stede (fl. 1717
1718) ended in disaster when this force was wrecked amid the Aves Islands grouping on the evening of May 11, 1678. Bl
enac also employed buccaneer contingents during the War of the League of Augsburg, especially at its inception in 1689, when he launched offensive operations against English St. Kitts and Dutch Sint Eustatius. His early successes were soon reversed, and he was so severely criticized by subordinates such as JeanBaptiste Ducasse that he offered to resign. Bl
enac returned to France ‘‘on leave’’ aboard Pont d’Or (‘‘Golden Bridge’’) in 1690, and did not resume his duties at Martinique until February 16, 1692. He died at Fort-Royal of lingering dysentery on the night of June 8
9, 1696, being succeeded by Thomas Claude Renart, Marquis d’Amblimont.

See also

the Grand Corps, though—the so-called rouges or ‘‘reds’’—resented such intrusions into their traditional preserve. Legend has it that this nickname derived from the all-blue uniforms required of the commoner officers, so as to distinguish them from garde officers, yet this myth has now been debunked. An example of this vernacular term in use, among many, would occur on September 15, 1694, when, after a reverse in an attack against Ferryland (Newfoundland), Captain Du Vignau filed official complaints against his Basque subordinates ‘‘d’Etchevery of Bidart, blue Ensign, and Pepito d’Aspicouette, blue Lieutenant.’’ The practice of wartime admissions of such commoner officers had largely died out by 1715, although it was to be revived by the Premier Duc de Choiseul in 1764, on a better-regulated and paid basis—yet still resented by the haughty rouges.

Bl
enac, Charles de Courbon (Volume 1).

Reference

References

Baudrit, Andr
e, Charles de Courbon, Comte de Bl
enac, 1622
1696 (Fort de France: Soci
et
e d’Histoire de la Martinique, 1967).

Aman, Jacques, Les officiers bleus dans la marine franc¸aise au XVIII eme si ecle (Geneva, Switzerland: Du Centre, 1976). Hayet, Armand, ‘‘Officiers rouges, officiers bleus,’’ Revue maritime [France] (April 1960).

BLUE OFFICERS In French, officiers bleus, a nickname given to non-aristocratic privateer or merchant captains admitted temporarily during wartime. Such appointments into the officer ranks of France’s Royal Navy were usually unpaid and transitory, although in some cases they did lead to permanent placements. Many high-born officers of

BONNET, STEDE (fl. 1717
1718) A most peculiar pirate, having been raised a gentleman, yet who eventually swung from a rope like his confederates. He was born into a wealthy and longestablished English family on Barbados

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Bonnet, Stede (fl. 1717
1718) in 1688, probably a few days prior to his christening at Christ Church Parish that same July 29th (O.S.). His parents, Edward and Sarah Bonnet, owned a fine estate of more than 400 acres southeast of Bridgetown, which was bequeathed to the six-year-old Stede on his father’s death in 1694. It is not known where or how the young orphan received his education, but many would later describe him as bookish, and Judge Nicholas Trott even alluded to Bonnet’s literacy on sentencing him. At the age of 21, Bonnet married Mary Allamby in Bridgetown on November 21, 1709 (O.S.), by whom he would have three sons: Allamby, Edward, and Stede, Jr., as well as a daughter Mary; their eldest son died prior to 1715. As a sizeable landowner, Bonnet held the rank of Major in the island militia, although details of his military service during Queen Anne’s War are unknown, and there is no evidence of any active campaigning. Given this background, why the 28-year-old plantation-owner and married father of three toddlers would choose to go a-privateering four years after these hostilities had ceased, remains a mystery. His acquaintances attributed this decision to ‘‘a disorder of his mind,’’ while the chronicler Charles Johnson alleged that it was due to his wife’s nagging and the ‘‘discomforts he found in a married state.’’

Initial Cruise (Spring
Summer 1717) Whatever Bonnet’s motivation, he had a 60-ton sloop built, armed it with six guns, and named it the Revenge. He also hired a crew of perhaps as many as 125 men, agreeing to pay them regular

wages—as aboard a letter-of-marque ship during wartime—rather than shares of plunder. Yet being unfamiliar with navigation or seamanship, he would have to rely on a sailing master and quartermaster to work his vessel, diminishing his prestige among the crew. Despite such disadvantages, Bonnet slipped out of Carlisle Bay under cover of darkness in April 1717, steering toward British North America. Materializing off the Virginia coast, he intercepted four vessels within the first few days near the entrance to Chesapeake Bay— Anne of Glasgow, Endeavour from Bristol, Young of Leith—while burning the fourth, the Barbadian ship Turbet, so as to keep news of his criminal activity from reaching his home-island. Bonnet then sailed Revenge still farther north to New York, where he took two more ships, purchased some supplies, and released his captives on Gardiners Island. Returning southward to the Carolinas by early August 1717, he pillaged a brigantine out of Boston and carried a heavy-ladened Barbadian sloop under Master Joseph Palmer into a lonely inlet near Cape Fear in North Carolina, dismantling it to use its timber in repairing his vessel. Once Revenge was ready to put out to sea again, the remnants of this prize were burnt. By late August 1717, Bonnet laid in a course for Nassau in the Bahamas, which had become an infamous pirate base and home-port to such brazen rovers as Captain Benjamin Hornigold. Yet en route, Bonnet encountered and engaged a Spanish warship, emerging badly wounded and with almost twoscore casualties aboard Revenge, before managing to win free. On limping into that Bahamian refuge, its pirate rulers quickly repaired and increased his

Bonnet, Stede (fl. 1717
1718) sloop’s armament to 12 guns, replenished its crew numbers to well over 100 hands, and temporarily installed Edward Thatch as Captain, while Bonnet recuperated in his cabin.

Blackbeard’s Subordinate (September 1717
June 1718) By September 29, 1717 (O.S.), Revenge was back off Virginia’s Cape Charles, pillaging the 40-ton merchant sloop Betty ‘‘of certain pipes of Madeira wine and other goods,’’ before removing its crew and scuttling it. Two weeks later, a large ship out of Liverpool was taken near the mouth of Delaware Bay, its Captain Codd later relating how Bonnet could be seen walking the pirate sloop’s quarterdeck in his nightshirt, still weak from his wounds. Numerous other captures ensued, before Revenge abruptly vanished south toward the end of October 1717. Reappearing in a fresh huntingground in the Lesser Antilles, Thatch took the 300-ton French slaver Concorde as it was approaching Martinique on November 28, 1717, diverting this big prize to the island of Bequia in the Grenadines so as to convert it into his own flagship. Yet although Bonnet nominally regained command over Revenge at that time, he nonetheless remained under Blackbeard’s control, sailing as his consort as this pirate pair cut a swathe of destruction through the Greater Antilles over the next couple of months, before finally entering Coxen’s Hole on the Honduran island of Roat
an in early February 1718 to rest and careen. Shortly after Thatch’s refreshed flotilla ventured back out to sea in midMarch 1718, Bonnet failed to take the

400-ton merchant ship Protestant Caesar, provoking angry unrest among his frustrated crew. Blackbeard therefore removed him from his sloop, putting a henchman named Richards in command of Revenge. Bonnet was held aboard Queen Anne’s Revenge as a powerless supercargo, confiding to a few loyal hands that he was ready to give up his piratical career altogether for exile in Spain or Portugal. Thatch led the formation in its assault against Belize’s Turneffe Atoll, during which Revenge under Richards seized the sloop Adventure of Captain David Herriot, before the pirates continued past the Cayman Islands and through the Bahamian archipelago, to emerge off Charleston in South Carolina by May 22, 1718 (O.S.). After a week-long blockade of this port, Blackbeard moved farther up the coast, apparently seeking an accommodating place where he and his minions might receive pardons and disperse, with their booty intact. The new, hard-scrabble colony of North Carolina offered just such a venue of escape, so that on or about June 10, 1718 (O.S.), Thatch’s flagship and Adventure followed his three smaller sloops into the tricky entry-channel into Old Topsail Inlet, today known as Beaufort Inlet. Both ran aground, and the pirates began stripping Queen Anne’s Revenge of everything of value, while Thatch and Bonnet sailed on to North Carolina’s capital of Bath to obtain their pardons from its obliging Governor, Charles Eden.

Last Independent Command (June
September 1718) Finally about to be free from Blackbeard’s bullying domination, Bonnet

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Bonnet, Stede (fl. 1717
1718) lingered in Bath to also secure clearance from its Governor to sail Revenge to the Danish West Indian island of Saint Thomas, so as to purchase a commission and resume privateering against the Spaniards. Yet by the time Bonnet returned to Topsail Inlet in late June or early July 1718 with this clearance, he found that Blackbeard had already robbed his vessel and the two other pirate sloops of most of their supplies, beached the majority of their former crewmen, and sailed away for parts unknown with 20 loyal hands and the pick of the booty aboard the refloated Adventure. Bonnet resumed command over Revenge, and fleshed out its crew by rescuing some 17 to 25 men whom Blackbeard had left marooned on the sandbar beside Topsail Inlet. A passing bumboat chanced to inform Bonnet that Blackbeard lay in nearby Ocracoke Inlet, so that he weighed at once to hunt down his treacherous ex-confederate, but then could not find him. As Thatch had left no more than 10 or 11 barrels of provisions aboard Revenge when he absconded, it was now impossible for Bonnet to strike out toward distant Saint Thomas, especially during the summer hurricane season. He therefore decided to resume pirating in nearby waters, hoping to at least preserve his newly-obtained North Carolinian pardon through adopting the alias of ‘‘Captain Thomas,’’ and changing Revenge’s name to Royal James. (This latter choice may have indicated pro-Jacobite sentiments among Bonnet and his men.) In July 1718, he and his freebooters ventured northward and: . . . took off Cape Henry, two ships from Virginia bound to Glasgow; the next day, a small sloop from Virginia bound to Bermuda, from which they

took twenty barrels of pork and gave her in return two barrels of rice, and as much molasses. The next day, they took another Virginia-man bound to Glasgow, out of which they took two men and a few small things, and gave her a barrel of pork and another of bread. From thence they sailed to Philadelphia, where they took a schooner coming from North Carolina to Boston, from which they took two men and two dozen of calves’ skins, to make covers for guns. In the latitude of 32°, off of Delaware River near Philadelphia, they took two snows bound to Bristol, from which they took money and goods to the value of two hundred pounds; as also a sloop of sixty tons from Philadelphia to Barbados, from which they took a few goods and let her go. The 29th of July [1718 O.S.], they took a sloop of fifty tons, bound from Philadelphia to Barbados laden with provisions, which they kept; as also another of sixty tons from Antigua to Philadelphia having on board, rum, molasses, sugar, cotton, and indigo to the value of five hundred pounds, all of which they kept. Bonnet veered around southward on August 1, 1718 (O.S.), with the latter two prizes, sloops named Francis and Fortune, threatening at one point to sink them for lagging behind during this trio’s run toward the Carolinas. He also distributed shares of loot worth £10 or £11 apiece among his crew, suggesting that Bonnet was shedding any last lingering ideals about honest conduct, such as paying regular wages to his men. Twelve days from Delaware Bay, the three vessels entered the Cape Fear River estuary, and dropped anchor near the

Bonnet, Stede (fl. 1717
1718) mouth of a small concealed waterway (today known as Bonnet’s Creek). Royal James had begun to leak badly and was in need of repair, so that when shortly thereafter a small shallop unwittingly entered that stream, Bonnet took it to break up for its timbers. The actual heavy toil of careening and repairing Royal James in the sweltering August heat, was done mostly by Bonnet’s prisoners. Yet his sloops remained in this bolt-hole for the next month-and-a-half, the boatswain Ignatius Pell later testifying that the pirates intended to wait out the hurricane season, before departing for Saint Thomas. This lengthy layover proved Bonnet’s undoing. The authorities in neighboring South Carolina learned of his presence and were also soon being harassed by a renewed pirate blockade by Charles Vane, so that its private Governor Robert Johnson feared ‘‘that we might expect the same usage from another who was careening and refitting in Cape Fear River.’’ South Carolina’s Council therefore accepted an offer from Colonel William Rhett to exit with two sloops and deal with this twin menace, being commissioned to sail aboard the Henry of eight guns and 70 men under Captain John Masters; and the similar-sized Sea Nymph under Captain Farrier Hall. Rhett emerged from Charleston harbor on September 15, 1718 (O.S.), armed with fresh intelligence that Vane had steered south. The Colonel followed in that direction for a few days, ‘‘but not meeting with him, tack’d and stood for Cape Fear, according to his first design.’’

Capture (September 1718) The two 8-gun South Carolinian sloops, heavily manned with 130 hands, arrived

outside the mouth of the Cape Fear River by September, 1718 (O.S.). Bonnet initially mistook Rhett’s vessels for a pair of passing merchantmen, and so sent out three boats to intercept them. Yet unfortunately for the Colonel, his flagship Henry then ran aground in the shifting sandbars of the river entrance, allowing Bonnet’s boat-parties to come quite close and discern his strength, before returning to warn their chieftain. The sun had set by the time the rising tide at last freed Henry from the river bottom. Bonnet therefore spent that ensuing night recalling his men from his pair of prizes, so as to concentrate all 46 aboard Royal James, and fight his way past in a desperate rush out to the open sea next morning. Yet he also took time to pen a letter to Governor Johnson, angrily threatening to burn the shipping in Charleston harbor by way of retaliation. At first light on September 27, 1718 (O.S.), Bonnet started downriver toward Rhett’s waiting force, at which the two South Carolinian sloops divided so as to catch Royal James in between, pouring in fire from both sides. Bonnet veered to avoid this trap by steering close toward the western shore, but ran aground. Rhett’s sloops moved in on the stranded Royal James, yet also grounded, only Henry coming to rest ‘‘within pistol-shot of the pirate, on his bow; the other [Sea Nymph], right ahead of [Bonnet], almost out of gun-shot, which made it of but very little use to the Colonel.’’ Over the next five hours, the immobilized vessels exchanged fire, the pirates having the advantage in that their deck was tilted away from their opponents, while Henry’s deck heeled toward Royal James, exposing Rhett’s men to

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Bonnet, Stede (fl. 1717
1718) punishing volleys of musket-fire. Ten South Carolinians were killed and 14 wounded, compared to only 12 casualties aboard Bonnet’s vessel. Throughout these exchanges, the pirate Captain prowled his deck with a drawn pistol, threatening to shoot any man who faltered, although most of his crew fought enthusiastically, challenging their enemies to board and fight hand-to-hand, and even tying a knot in their flag as a mock signal to ‘‘come aboard and render aid.’’ Yet the battle was ultimately decided when the rising tide lifted Rhett’s sloops free, while leaving Royal James still hard aground. Bonnet and his outnumbered men could only watch helplessly as their foes quickly repaired their rigging, and then closed in on their paralyzed vessel from oblique angles to simultaneously launch devastating assaults by boarding. In one final gesture of despair, Bonnet ordered his gunner George Ross to blow up Royal James’s powder magazine, but the remainder of his crew overruled this act. A white flag-of-truce was hoisted instead, and all the pirates surrendered. Rhett spent until next day securing his prisoners and prizes, before clearing for Charleston and returning there by October 3, 1718 (O.S.), ‘‘to the no small joy of the people of Carolina.’’

Escape, Trial, and Execution (October
December 1718) Bonnet was separated from the bulk of his crew and held for three weeks in the Provost-Marshal’s house, along with his boatswain Pell and sailing master Herriott. On October 24, 1718 (O.S.), Bonnet and Herriott managed to escape, probably with the collusion of

The execution of Stede Bonnet on Charleston’s waterfront in December 1718, as depicted six years later in Johnson’s A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates. (Author’s Collection)

the local merchant Richard Tookerman. Governor Johnson immediately placed an enormous £700 bounty on the pirate Captain’s head, and sent out parties to cut off most avenues of escape. The two fugitives, accompanied by a slave and an Indian, meanwhile stole a boat and made for the north shore of Charleston harbor, but foul winds and lack of supplies forced them onto desolate Sullivan’s Island. Getting wind of this, Johnson sent across a posse under Rhett in pursuit, who discovered all four after a lengthy search and opened fire, killing Herriott and wounding the two slaves. Bonnet surrendered and was brought back into prison in Charleston. While awaiting trial, some sort of civil uprising in his support took place within the city, an event that authorities would later describe as having nearly resulted in the burning of the town and the overthrow of the government. On November

Boone, John (fl. 1684
1687) 10, 1718 (O.S.), Bonnet was brought to trial before Nicholas Trott, sitting in his capacity as Vice-Admiralty Judge, and who had already sentenced most of Bonnet’s crew to hang. Bonnet was formally charged with only two acts of piracy, against the Francis and the Fortune, whose commanders were on hand to testify in person. Pell had turned King’s evidence for the preceding trials, and now somewhat reluctantly testified against Bonnet. Bonnet conducted his own defense without assistance of counsel, crossexamining witnesses to little avail, and even calling a character-witness. Trott nonetheless rendered a damning summation of the evidence, and the jury returned a guilty verdict. Two days later, after treating the convicted man to a stern lecture, Trott sentenced Bonnet to death. While awaiting execution, the repentant rover wrote to Governor Johnson, begging for clemency—even promising to have his own arms and legs cut off, as assurance that he would never again commit piracy. The chronicler Charles Johnson later recorded how Bonnet’s visibly disintegrating mind and ‘‘piteous behavior under sentence’’ moved many Carolinians, particularly the female population, and London papers later reported that the Governor delayed his execution seven times. Finally, though, Bonnet was turned off from the cart’s tail at White Point on the Charleston waterfront on December 10, 1718 (O.S.), only a few days before the fearsome Blackbeard himself also met his own bloody end.

See also Hornigold, Benjamin; Maroon; Thatch, Edward; Vane, Charles.

References Butler, Lindley S., Pirates, Privateers, and Rebel Raiders of the Carolina Coast (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2000). Collections of the South Carolina Historical Society, Volume I (Charleston, SC: Historical Society, 1857). Howell, Thomas Bayly and Cobbett, William, comp. and eds., ‘‘The Trials of Major Stede Bonnet and Thirty-Three Others, at the Court of Vice-Admiralty at Charleston in South Carolina, for Piracy,’’ A Complete Collection of State Trials and Proceedings for High Treason and Other Crimes and Misdemeanors, from the Earliest Period to the Year 1783 (London: Longman, 1816), pp. 1231
1302. Lee, Robert E., Blackbeard the Pirate: A Reappraisal of His Life and Times (Winston-Salem, NC: John F. Blair, 1995). The Lives and Adventures of Sundry Notorious Pirates (New York: McBride, 1922). Sanders, Joanne M., ed., Barbados Records: Baptisms, 1637
1800 (Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publications, 1984) and Barbados Records: Baptisms, 1693
1800 (Houston, TX: Sanders Historical Publications, 1982). The Tryals of Major Stede Bonnet, and Other Pirates (London: Benjamin Cowse, 1719). Woodard, Colin, The Republic of Pirates (New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008) and ‘‘Blackbeard in the Bay Islands,’’ Bay Islands Voice 6, No. 8 (August 2008).

BOONE, JOHN (fl. 1684
1687) One of the first colonists of South Carolina, who was accused of ‘‘holding correspondence with pirates.’’

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Boone, John (fl. 1684
1687) The earliest official notice of his activities occurred on February 20, 1676 (O.S.), within a few years of that colony’s foundation, when Boone was granted 200 acres along the banks of the Ashley River. Four years later, he was one of a halfdozen residents appointed on May 17, 1680 (O.S.), by the Lords Proprietors in London ‘‘to take cognizance of and determine any disputes between [the Westoe] Indians and Englishmen.’’ He additionally secured a town-lot in Charleston as of March 10, 1682 (O.S.), but the Lord Proprietors were less pleased in September 1685 to learn that Boone and another plantation-owner had been appointed as Deputies in the Grand Council, ‘‘though not the eldest men in age of those chosen by the Commons.’’ Because of this infraction of legislative rules and other violations including involvement in the native slave-trade and suspicion of receiving piratical goods, the private Governor Joseph Moreton was instructed to: . . . dismiss Matthews and Boone, and appoint other Deputies in their stead, and you will discharge them from all offices, civil and military, in the gift of the Governor or Palatine’s Court. If they persist in transporting Indians, you will indict them. The Lord Proprietors also enjoined Moreton to ‘‘take all imaginable care that no pirates or privateers be admitted in Carolina,’’ so it is not surprising to find them sending the following directive on March 3, 1687 (O.S.), to his successor, Governor James Colleton: We see by the Minutes of Council that there was evidence that Mr. John

Boone had not only helped the pirates Chapman and Holloway with victuals, but had taken and concealed part of their stolen goods, for which he was rightly expelled the Grand Council. But we hear since that he is again chosen, and is sitting in the Grand Council. This must not be. Men convicted of such misdemeanors must not be chosen again and restored. You will put him out, and see that another is chosen in his place. We are sorry to see the proneness of the Parliament of Carolina to such proceedings, and hope that they will not occur again. This specific complaint apparently stemmed from an incident which had begun on September 1, 1684 (O.S.), when unexpectedly ‘‘an armed vessel came into the Ashley River in Carolina, which pretended to have been trading among the Spaniards.’’ The then-Acting-Governor and Justice Robert Quarry permitted it to stay and refresh its provisions, but prohibited the landing or sale of any of its goods, which was evidently ignored—after which it was determined ‘‘that it was a piratical vessel, containing plundered goods.’’

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 9
12 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1893
1899). Collections of the South Carolina Historical Society, Volume I (Charleston, SC: Historical Society, 1857). Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924).

Bot or Botte, Pierre (fl. 1672
1685)

BOT OR BOTTE, PIERRE (fl. 1672
1685) Breton corsair who took part in the assaults against Veracruz and Campeche. Bot had apparently first gone to sea in 1672, serving aboard fishing boats that visited both La Coru~na and Martinique, as well as on a ship belonging to the Knights of Malta. Late in 1682, he joined the flibustier flotilla of the ‘‘Chevalier’’ de Grammont off Cuba, proceeding to the Bahamas where—‘‘being the bravest,’’ according to him—he captured a Spanish ship commanded by ‘‘Martı´n de Melgar’’ [sic; more likely Martı´n de Echagaray, the senior pilot at St. Augustine, Florida]. Bot’s share of this booty came to ‘‘sixty pounds of silver,’’ and Spanish survivors were returned to Havana aboard a barco luengo. In March 1683, Bot intercepted the 22-gun Spanish merchantman Nuestra Se~ nora de Regla off Cuba’s southern coast, losing nine men in a bloody clash before this ship could be carried. He set its survivors ashore at Guant
anamo Bay, sailing his battered prize toward Petit-Go^ave with the rest of Grammont’s squadron. On approaching, they were met by Nikolaas van Hoorn, who was exiting in Grammont’s corvette Colbert to recall them for an enterprise against the Spaniards. Bot then captained Regla across to Roat
an and afterward to Guanaja, before taking part in the huge assault against Veracruz led by Grammont, Van Hoorn, and Laurens de Graaf in May 1683. He returned to Saint-Domingue, and may perhaps be the ‘‘Capitaine Blot’’ listed next year as commanding the 8-gun Quagone of 90 men. Bot also served in Grammont’s and De Graaf’s sack of Campeche in 1685, withdrawing from

that devastated city at the end of August for Isla Mujeres with the rest of the freebooters, to divide their spoils. From there, he departed for PetitGo^ave in company with De Graaf’s Neptune and three other pirate ships, but on September 11, 1685, was sighted and pursued by the Armada de Barlovento. After four hours, Regla and a pirate sloop had lagged so far astern that they came under Spanish fire. A brisk cannonade ensued, but Antonio de Astina’s vice-flagship Nuestra Se~ nora de la Concepci
on closed inexorably, despite Bot’s desperate attempts to lighten his ship by flinging articles overboard—beginning, according to one eyewitness, with the ‘‘three large canoes they had stolen from the Campeche fishermen.’’ Finally, Bot hailed, offering to strike if granted quarter. This was conceded, so Regla hove to. The Spaniards found 130 French buccaneers aboard, along with numerous captives from Campeche: 20 Spaniards, 13 Indians, and some black slaves. In addition to its 22 guns, it had been armed with 10 swivelguns and more than 200 firearms, in addition to those jettisoned during the chase or appropriated by the Armada’s light-fingered sailors. (The Spanish seamen behaved badly, seizing many weapons and items for themselves, despite their officers’ intervention. The veedor or ‘‘purser’’ Juan Nieto beat one such group of looters with his cutlass, calling them ‘‘scoundrels, drunks, and thieves’’; another band was set on by the prize-master, Ensign Pedro de Iriarte. The situation deteriorated further when boarders arrived from the flagship Santo Cristo de Burgos as well, being bitter rivals to those aboard the vice-flag. By the time all this pilfering

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Bouton, Jacques Cl
ement (fl. 1686) was done, scarcely 30 pounds of Church ornaments were left to be restored to their rightful owners, along with some dry goods in the hold, and a little money.) While Regla was being ransacked, Bot and his men were redistributed around the Spanish warships: 50 aboard the flagship, a like number aboard the vice-flagship, and 30 on the frigate Honh
on. The pursuit of De Graaf thereupon resumed, ending unsuccessfully four days later when his Neptune escaped. The Armada limped back into Veracruz, entering on the night of September 28
29, 1685. Although the French buccaneers had been promised clemency, Bot and his lieutenants were sentenced to death, along with half-a-dozen Spanish subjects who had been serving with them, and were consequently convicted of treason. These executions were carried out in Veracruz a few weeks later.

References Ju
arez Moreno, Juan, Piratas y corsarios en Veracruz y Campeche (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1972). Weddle, Robert S., Wilderness Manhunt: The Spanish Search for La Salle (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1973).

BOUTON, JACQUES
MENT (fl. 1686) CLE French shipowner who was charged in 1686 by the Spanish authorities in the Canary Islands of wanting ‘‘to cross over to Indies and rove as a privateer’’ aboard his ship Saint-Cl
ement.

Reference Archive of Indies (Seville), Escribanı´a de C
amara de Justicia 949B, two documents.

BRADISH, JOSEPH (fl. 1698
1700) New Englander convicted of running away with a ship in the Far East. Bradish was born at Cambridge, Massachusetts, on November 28, 1672 (O.S.). Pursuing a career at sea, he was signed on as boatswain’s mate aboard the 350-ton ship Adventure of London in March 1698, bound on a trading voyage to Borneo. When this ship paused at the Spice Islands for water that same September, its Captain Thomas Gullock and most of the officers and passengers went ashore. Bradish seized this opportunity to lead the crew in a mutiny, setting loyal hands ashore in a boat before sailing away. When their booty was counted, he and his followers found that their shares came to £1,600 apiece, Bradish himself receiving two-and-a-half shares. The Adventure touched at Mauritius and Ascension Island to replenish supplies, before appearing off Long Island at the end of March 1699, to strike a deal with Colonel Henry Pierson to store some of their loot. Bradish then continued northward to Block Island near Rhode Island, where he encountered two sloops. These helped the pirates strip Adventure of everything of value, before scuttling the ship. The men subsequently attempted to disperse throughout New England, but the alarm had been raised. Bradish and 10 others were detained in Boston’s jail, yet he and a companion managed to escape

Breholt, John (fl. 1699
1700) on June 25th with the collusion of his relation, jailer Caleb Ray. A reward of £200 was posted and search-parties were sent out, the two fugitives being quickly recaptured at Saco (Maine), and returned to Boston. Bradish was apparently sent to England in irons aboard HMS Advice in early 1700, along with William Kidd, James Kelley, and other pirates. He was tried and executed along with Kelley, their bodies being exhibited in chains at Hope Dock near Gravesend ‘‘as a greater terror to others.’’

References Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924). Ritchie, Robert C., Captain Kidd and the War against the Pirates (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1986).

BRANLY, CAPTAIN (fl. 1685) English buccaneer who commanded a 36-man bark in the flotilla of Edward Davis, as it was lying off the Pacific coast of Panama during April
May 1685, awaiting the arrival of the Peruvian silver ships. The chronicler Ravenau de Lussan misspells his name as ‘‘Brander.’’

References Bradley, Peter T., The Lure of Peru: Maritime Intrusion into the South Sea, 1598
1701 (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1990). Lussan, Ravenau de, Journal of a Voyage into the South Sea (Cleveland, OH: Arthur H. Clark, 1930).

BREHOLT, JOHN (fl. 1699
1700) English privateer suspected of piracy, and of plotting a Red Sea foray. The first official notice of his activities occurred in peacetime, while commanding a hired privateer in August 1699, as part of the global manhunt for the renegade Captain William Kidd. Governor Ralph Grey of Barbados had sent out the 26-gun, 115-man frigate HMS Speedwell of Captain Jedidiah Barker on an anti-piracy patrol, who departed Carlisle Bay on August 6, 1699 (O.S.). After touching at Martinique, Barker reached Montserrat three days later: . . . where I met with Captain Billingsly in the Queenborough and Captain John Breholt in the Carlisle, and that night we sailed for Nevis, where we arrived the next morning. On the 13th [August 1699 O.S.] we sailed in company with the forementioned ships for the Virgin Islands. We arrived the 15th at Beef Island in the evening. Captain Billingsly sent his boat ashore to take one Ham off for his pilot, who had traded with Kidd, but received information that he was gone for Saint Croix the 16th. We sailed for Saint Croix, but could not meet with the said Ham. The 17th, we came off Saint Thomas, there coming out a ship which we took for a pirate; we gave him chase all that day and till twelve o’clock at night, but could not come up with him. After chase, Captain Breholt lost us, but Captain Billingsly and myself made the best of our way up for St. Thomas.

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Breholt, John (fl. 1699
1700) Evidently, after losing contact with his two consorts, Breholt had chosen to venture farther westward and scour the Cuban coastline, intercepting and examining various passing vessels. He then proceeded up the Atlantic Seaboard, and by November 1699 had put into Charleston harbor. Carlisle and its Captain would be detained there for five months on suspicion of piracy, although the colonial inspector Edward Randolph out of England would later allege that Acting-Governor Joseph Blake’s real ‘‘design was to get her into his and his confederates’ hands, by putting the sailors upon seizing her for their wages, and then get her to be sold to them for little or nothing.’’ The matter eventually went to court. A report compiled next spring by South Carolina’s private colonial administrators on May 17, 1700 (O.S.), informed their Lords Proprietors in

London in detail about several recent matters, including how Breholt: . . . commander of ye Carlisle frigate, a ship of very great force, both of guns and men, from ye coast of Cuba came into Ashley River in November last and was informed against by his men for committing of diverse piracies and hostilities upon ye subjects of His Most Catholic Majesty, ye King of Spain, for which in a special court of oyez and terminer and jail delivery for ye Admiralty jurisdiction, he was brought upon his trial. It was clearly proved to ye grand jury that he had boarded several vessels, chased some on shore, had taken and made use of several things from on board them, and as often he espied a sail, he told his men that there was a prize he hoped loaden [sic] with money, &c. Notwithstanding which,

Captured pirates being exhibited by their jailer, as depicted by Howard Pyle. (Johnson, Merle (compiled by). Howard Pyle’s Book of Pirates: Fiction, Fact & Fancy concerning the Buccaneers & Marooners of the Spanish Main, 1921)

Brigaut, Nicolas (1679
1686) ye grand jury found ye bill against him ignoramus; as soon as he was cleared, he hastened ye fitting his ship for sea, which as soon as he had done, he fell down ye river below our fort and guns, and then made it his business to make it known everywhere that he was bound to ye Red Seas, encouraging all sorts of men to come on board him. Several persons in debt more than they were able or willing to pay, went on board him. News of his brazen intention was carried to York River by William Clay, Master of the outward-bound vessel Endeavor, who told Virginia’s Governor Francis Nicholson: . . . that Captain Breholt, commander of the Carlisle, 36 guns and 120 men, who had been tried for piracy in South Carolina some time before and acquitted, sailed out of Ashley River about March 26 [1700 O.S.], came to an anchor without the bar, landed on Sullivan’s Island and there killed a great many cows, hogs, and goats, the best of which they carried on board. He told Captain Clay he designed either to sail for Smith’s Island in Virginia to get more provisions, or else to Cape de Verd [sic; Cape Verde at Africa’s westernmost tip]. Meanwhile, several prisoners had escaped from Charleston’s jail to Breholt’s anchored ship, allegedly with his connivance or assistance. Governor Blake consequently demanded their return, as well as ‘‘all other persons on board him for which he had not his permit to take them on board,’’ but the embittered Breholt refused. Unwilling to risk bloodshed by resorting to force, an appeal was made

to the lower house of South Carolina’s legislature, but that body’s Speaker— ‘‘Breholt’s particular friend,’’ according to one observer—blandly asserted that the defiant privateer Captain: . . . was ready to send on shore as many of ye aforesaid persons as ye Governor would require. Notwithstanding which, Breholt would not set one man ashore, and we verily believe he is upon a piratical design, gone to ye Red Seas.

See also Beef Island; Kidd, William.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 17, 18 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1908
1910). Collections of the South Carolina Historical Society, Volume I (Charleston, SC: Historical Society, 1857). Salley, A. S., Jr., comp. and ed., Commissions and Instructions from the Lords Proprietors of Carolina to the Public Officials of South Carolina, 1685
1715 (Charleston, SC: Historical Commission, 1916).

BRIGAUT, NICOLAS (1679
1686) French flibustier who served in the assaults against Maracaibo, Campeche, and Saint Augustine, Florida. Brigaut was born a Huguenot or ‘‘French Protestant’’ on the ^Ile de R
e near La Rochelle, France, sometime around 1653. He went to sea at a young

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Brigaut, Nicolas (1679
1686) age, and in 1679 embarked for Martinique. Although his ship was lost ‘‘50 leagues from Puerto Rico,’’ he was rescued by another vessel and carried into Saint-Domingue (modern Haiti), where the next year he signed on with the Sieur de Grammont’s freebooter flotilla bound for Cuman
a. After that campaign, Brigaut traveled to New England (perhaps with Capitaine Br
eha in 1683, or with Michiel Andrieszoon and Jan Willems in 1684), where he purchased a 40-ton sloop. Returning into the Caribbean, Brigaut rejoined his comrades off Isla Orchila near Caracas, before heading northward and joining the formations of Grammont and Laurens de Graaf for their descent on the Mexican port of Campeche. This assault took place in July 1685, after which Brigaut received command of a 40-man Spanish galliot found lying in its roads, and followed Grammont when the raiders withdrew two months later. The galliot, Grammont’s Hardi, and a sloop went to Roat
an off the Central American coast to careen, after which Grammont decided to attack the Spanish outpost of Saint Augustine in Florida, perhaps in alliance with the English settlers of Carolina. The flibustier trio worked its way into the Atlantic, and on April 30, 1686, Brigaut’s galliot stood alone in toward Matanzas, Florida, flying Spanish colors. Grammont’s flagship and sloop remained concealed at anchor farther south. The pirates wished to gather intelligence on the main garrison at Saint Augustine, 15 miles to the north, and at first everything seemed to go well: Four Spanish soldiers rowed out in a boat, and were invited aboard Brigaut’s galliot by a friendly hail. Once in the pirates’ power, though, two soldiers were tortured for information, while the rovers

set a landing-party ashore to also secure an Indian interpreter and pillage supplies. They returned some hours later with another Spanish prisoner, several Indian captives, and provisions; but more Spanish soldiers soon appeared on the beach, and the raiders realized that they had been discovered from Saint Augustine. Next morning, May 1st, two boatloads of buccaneers rowed ashore and fought a four-hour battle with the Spanish soldiers, killing one and wounding four. During that night, the weather worsened until the galliot grounded on the bar in a heavy groundswell. Next morning, Brigaut’s men, ‘‘carrying their arms in their mouths, waded ashore and dug holes in the beach, from which they poured a heavy fire into the Spanish troops.’’ Although outnumbered, they were able to drive off the Spaniards thanks to their superior firepower, killing four and wounding seven; yet their galliot remained stuck fast. That night, Brigaut decided on a desperate expedient: He sent a launch with five men to advise Grammont that he and his crew would march almost 40 miles south to ‘‘Mosquitos Bar’’ (near modern Daytona Beach), asking that the sloop pick them up there within five days. In the darkness and a heavy downpour, Brigaut and his remaining 40 men then abandoned their galliot, stealing ashore undetected with their captives to begin the trek. Dawn of May 3rd found them clean away, the rain having erased their footsteps from the sand; however, that same night Grammont had anchored close to Matanzas in search of his lost consort, so consequently never received Brigaut’s plea for help. Within 15 miles of their destination, the buccaneers were approached by a band of 50 or 60 Indians, who beckoned them to board canoes

Brooks, John (fl. 1692) and join them for a meal. Brigaut was suspicious, and warned his men to be careful. Suddenly the natives shot arrows, and six buccaneers fell wounded; when the remainder returned fire with their muskets, the Indians vanished. Shaken, Brigaut and his men gained the offshore bank to await rescue. One of their captives, a Spanish-speaking native of Tallahassee named Juan L
opez, bolted and gained the mainland, despite being fired on as he swam away. Three days later, he was reporting to Gov. Juan M
arquez Cabrera at Saint Augustine, saying that the raiders were led by the turncoat Alonso de Avesilla. A column of 50 soldiers sallied in pursuit, chancing on the flibustiers at a weak moment, when 19 had ‘‘left the bar to swim ashore, carrying their muskets and powder in waterproof bags.’’ The Spaniards ambushed and massacred them all, before proceeding to the bank and visiting a like treatment on the rest. Even the Spanish captives were mistakenly slain, only Brigaut, a black pirate named Diego, and a nine-year-old boy were carried off as prisoners. At Saint Augustine, the flibustier captain and his lone companion were interrogated on May 30
31, 1686, then hanged shortly thereafter.

Reference Weddle, Robert S., Wilderness Manhunt: The Spanish Search for La Salle (Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1973).

BROOKS, JOHN (fl. 1692) English merchant master, whose ship was impressed to help defend Jamaica.

Early in the spring of 1692, as King William’s War was about to enter its fourth year, news arrived that a large French fleet had obliged an approaching trans-Atlantic convoy under Commodore Ralph Wrenn to retreat back into Barbados. Emboldened by this display of French naval strength in the region, flibustiers had then sallied out of Saint-Domingue to descend on the plantations of northern Jamaica, carrying off several vessels, slaves, and goods, while threatening to return in greater numbers. The Council of Jamaica had consequently moved to preempt such an onslaught, by launching its own counter-raid against SaintDomingue. To bolster the Royal Navy warships Guernsey, Swan, and four privateer sloops preparing to sortie from Port Royal, the Council also on March 13, 1692 (O.S.), forcibly hired Brooks’ 330-ton anchored merchantman Joseph, a powerfully-armed ship of 34 guns and 157 men. This arrangement was abruptly cancelled two days after Port Royal was swallowed up by the sea during the cataclysmic earthquake and tidal wave of June 7, 1692 (O.S.), so that Brooks was free once more to sail for England. The Jamaican government being so heavily indebted at that time, the £1,147 of Joseph’s hire was not paid on that island, prompting its merchant owners to bill the Royal Treasury in London—in vain, as it turned out.

Reference Calendar of Treasury Books, Volumes 10, 19 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1935 and 1938).

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Broome, John (fl. 1691
1694)

BROOME, JOHN (fl. 1691
1694) English slaver and privateer, who thanks to a rich capture, became a prosperous planter on Barbados. Details about his early life are sketchy, beyond the fact that he was a nephew of Colonel Samuel Tidcombe, a long-established and wealthy planter himself on that island, in Saint Lucy’s Parish. It is uncertain whether Broome was the Captain mentioned in English records as commanding the Lusitania in September 1689, during the very first months of King William’s War, as well as holding a letter-of-marque for the ship Mary Rose. It is possible that this referred to another individual, the confusion compounded by the fact that their surname would be variously spelled over the ensuing years as ‘‘Brome,’’ ‘‘Broom,’’ etc. The first clear reference to his activities occurred on September 3, 1691 (O.S.), when Broome’s 300-ton America was cleared—along with two other merchant ships ‘‘of good force’’—to sail from England and resupply the Royal African Company’s slaving stations in West Africa, as the conflict with France was now entering its third year. Broome apparently succeeded and also crossed the Atlantic to deliver a consignment of slaves, before regaining England with West Indian goods. On July 28, 1692 (O.S.), the Royal African Company again petitioned the Crown to allow Broome’s America and three other large ships, manned by a total of 200 sailors, to once more sail ‘‘with English manufactures, provisions, and stores’’ so as to replenish their slave-stations. Presumably this

quartet weighed soon after the Privy Council had ordered London’s Customs Commissioners to clear them on August 8th (O.S.). It was during Broome’s subsequent crossing to the Antilles that he captured the 300-ton French slaver Bonaventure in the Berbice River of Guyana, and carried it into his next port-of-call at Jamaica. An examination confirmed Bonaventure to be a very wealthy prize, deemed: . . . to be worth 30 thousand pounds by the attestations in the Court of Admiralty. I find her of great value, having then on board two chests about three foot in length, 16 inches in breadth, and 16 inches depth, with gold and silver; about three tons of elephants’ teeth [i.e., ivory]; four tons of bees’ wax; 40 pieces of Holland duck [hardy linen-cloth or canvas, from the Dutch word doek]; 165 Negroes, and 40 they took from the shore. The local Royal African Company agent vigorously demanded its full value from the Jamaican Vice-Admiralty Court, delighted by this unexpected windfall from Broome’s slaving voyage. Yet the problem was that America had not been furnished with a privateering commission, so that the matter of full compensation had to be appealed to the Lords of the Admiralty in London. Legal inquiries were proceeding more slowly than usual, as Port Royal had only recently been destroyed by an earthquake, and the new Lieutenant-Governor Sir William Beeston and Governor James Kendall would not arrive to assume office until next year. And to further complicate

Burke, Thomas (fl. 1699) matters, the highly influential Henry Sydney, the newly-created Earl of Romney and a favorite of King William, expressed an interest in also filing a claim, because he had recently received a royal grant for prizes taken in the West Indies. It was even suggested that: ‘‘. . . my Lord Rumney hath great pretensions against Sir William Phips’s government of New England for prizes, by virtue of said grant.’’ Broome could only post bail against a future verdict, before hastening home to Barbados to claim his inheritance. His uncle had died in August 1692, leaving Broome and his married sister Priscilla as main beneficiaries. With the Bonaventure judgment still under review, he took title over his lands and in September 1694 was elected one of two members from Saint Lucy’s Parish to the Council of Barbados, and then re-elected in December 1695. The last reference to ‘‘Major John Broome’’ occurred in the summer of 1701, when he was sued along with Colonel Boteler and the widow Jane Hunt, because some slaves which they jointly owned had burned down a house belonging to Captain James Graham, in which four people were killed.

See also Beeston, Sir William; Phips, Sir William.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 14, 19 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1893
1910). Calendar of State Papers, Domestic: William and Mary, 1689
1690 (London, 1895).

Calendar of Treasury Books, 1689
1692, Volume 9 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1931). Marsden, Reginald G., ed., Documents Relating to Law and Custom of the Sea, Volume 2 (London: Navy Records Society, 1916).

BURKE, THOMAS (fl. 1699) Irish-born pirate who committed numerous robberies among the fishingfleets of Newfoundland, before dying in the Lesser Antilles. Precise information about this rover’s activities remains sketchy. Apparently he rose to prominence off the Newfoundland coast during the uneasy interlude following the end of King William’s War, steering far south in the summer of 1699 with his Prophet Daniel. According to a deposition given a few months afterward on November 17, 1699 (O.S.,) by one of his West Indian victims, boatswain Francis Tippett of the merchant pink Flowerpot of Master Anthony Tailor, this vessel was seized fifty leagues from Barbados: . . . by a pirate, the Prophet Daniel, commanded by Thomas Bourck [sic], an Irishman. Burke presently died and the Irishmen of the crew, which was of several nations, after a bloody fight overpowered the rest. But fourteen of the Irish were left alive and about sixteen French, which were wounded and turned on shore at Tobago, with deponent and 25 other prisoners taken by the pirates out of several ships in Newfoundland. Late that same year, Governor Richard, Lord Bellomont, received a somewhat different and less accurate report

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Burke, Thomas (fl. 1699) at Boston about Burke’s fate, which he included toward the end of a lengthy report on piracy which he then submitted to the Council of Trade and Plantations in London on November 29, 1699 (O.S.), noting: We have advice that Burk, an Irishman and pyrate that committed several robberies on the coast of Newfoundland, is drowned with all his ship’s company, except 7 or 8 persons, somewhere to the southward, in the hurricane about the end of July or the beginning of August last. ‘Tis good news, he was very

strong, and said to have had a good ship with 140 men and 24 guns.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 17 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1908). Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924). Jameson, John F., comp. and ed., Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period: Illustrative Documents (New York: Macmillan, 1923).

C . . . the unfortunate could never be assured of safety from them, for danger lurked in their very smiles. —Deposition given by the captive sailor Philip Ashton, describing the cruelty of Ned Low’s pirate crew, 1723

miles, and 1,050 feet in height, plus a few lesser islets. Callao’s climate would prove to be temperate and equable, although it was often overcast from April through November, because of clouds generated by the Pacific’s cold Humboldt Current. Callao was incorporated as a town by 1537, and maritime traffic boomed after the fabulous silver finds made eight years later at Potosı´ (Bolivia). It soon evolved into the port of call for vessels circulating as far south as Chile, and as far north as Mexico. A uniform grid of 16 blocks was surveyed in October 1555, so that a proper church, homes, and private warehouses might appear. The legendary wealth of its silver traffic also attracted foreign enemies such as Francis Drake and Thomas Cavendish during the late 16th century, as well as Dutch rovers in the early

CALLAO Sea-outlet for the silver rich capital of the Viceroyalty of Peru, as well as home port for the Spaniards’ main Pacific battle-fleet, the Armada del Mar del Sur. After Francisco Pizarro had conquered the Inca heartland high up in the Andes, he descended to this arid coastal zone to found his new capital, so as to maintain his small army’s vital seaborne links with Panama. Lima was duly created in January 1535, one of its principal attractions being the natural harbor less than 10 miles farther down the Rı´mac River. This was considered to be the best anchorage along Peru’s otherwise exposed, desert-like coastline, being sheltered by a low tongue of land called La Punta to its south, as well as an offshore island measuring one mile by four-and-a-half 545

546

Careen 17th century. A 10-ship expedition under Jacques l’Hermite of Antwerp took the Spaniards completely by surprise in May 1624, disgorging several hundred fighting-men, who were repelled only with difficulty. This frightening experience galvanized the Peruvian Viceroy into making permanent the four extemporized batteries which had been thrown up during this crisis, as well as to erect a small castle to defend Callao proper (designed by the Scottish Catholic engineer Rodrigo Montero de Stuarte, and completed by May 1625). Rumors of continual enemy designs on the Pacific spurred the Spaniards to build a wall around their town as well, taking almost six years to complete from its inaugural date of November 21, 1641. This circuit also protected Callao’s dwellings from tidal waves which roared in from the sea on May 10, 1647, and in February 1651, but the great storm of December 19, 1651, so weakened the walls that they came tumbling down with the earthquakes of November and December 1655, plus another heavy storm which struck in late January 1656. Yet as the threat of foreign attacks had seemingly receded by this time, Callao’s circuit was only indifferently rebuilt, with stone ferried across from San Lorenzo Island. When rapacious buccaneers began pushing out of the Caribbean two-and-a-half decades later, the Peruvians would be unprepared for this renewed round of enemy incursions. On February 13, 1679, Callao was startled when a foreign ship and two launches cut out a laden vessel from its roads. These rovers had worked their way up from the Strait of Magellan, robbing vessels off Chile and Arica. Recuperating from their

shock, 150 soldiers and 70 harquebusiers were sent out from Callao under Captain Diego de Frias in pursuit, but these interlopers soon released their prize and disappeared.

CAREEN Nautical expression meaning to tilt a stationary vessel, so as to expose its underside for cleaning, caulking, or repairs. The term originally came from the ancient Latin word carina, the name for a ship’s keel. When carefully beached in a sheltered anchorage, a lightened vessel would come to rest with its hull exposed as the tide receded, allowing its crew to scrub off barnacles and other impediments to swift sailing, as well to replace timbers weakened by wood-rot, and insulate against attachments by teredo worms. During such an operation, the ship would be highly vulnerable, lying immobile and tilted, with all its guns removed. Pirate commanders, who seldom enjoyed the sanctuary of a protected harbor or shipyard, had to careen with great caution in isolated bays. It was while thus occupied on the northeastern coast of Hispaniola during the summer of 1686, for example, that Joseph Bannister’s 36-gun Golden Fleece was destroyed by the Royal Navy, virtually ending his career. All vessels were vulnerable while undergoing this procedure. During the third year of Queen Anne’s War, the minutes for the Council of Virginia recorded on July 5, 1692 (O.S.), that: ‘‘On intelligence of pirates [being in that vicinity], letters were ordered to Captain Townsend to be on his guard, and to Captain Finch to get HMS Henry off the careen as soon as possible.’’

Careen

JEAN CHARPIN’S CHARTER-PARTY A month after the legendary Dutch-born flibustier Laurens de Graaf had been officially  Vache, the island off the relocated in January 1688 with his followers to hold ^Ile a southwestern tip of Saint-Domingue (modern Haiti), he allowed a subordinate named Jean Charpin (or Fantin) to set sail on a cruise aboard his 14-gun Spanish prize Santa Rosa with 70 men. Despite the peace prevailing with the Spaniards, this expedition drew up the usual profit-sharing arrangement before weighing, which is reproduced here below in the original French:

Copie de la charte-partie faite entre
quipage qui sont convenus entre M. Charpin, commandant la Sainte-Rose, et son e eux de lui donner dix lots pour lui, que pour son commandement et pour son navire.  l’ancre portant huniers qui ne se donneront point Tous les b^ atiments pris en mer ou a voyage; les b^ atiments seront br^ul
es et les agr es seront pour le b^ atiment de guerre. Item. Tous les b^atiments pris, le capitaine aura le choix; et le non-choix demeurera a l’
equipage sans que le capitaine y puisse rien pr
etendre. Item. Le capitaine se r
eserve ses chaudieres et son canot de guerre; et les chaudieres qui seront prises seront pour l’
equipage. Item. Tous b^atiments pris hors de la port
ee du canon avec les canots de guerre seront pillage. Tous ballots entam
es entre deux ponts ou au fond de cale, pillage. Item. Or, argent, perle, diamant, musc, ambre, civette et toutes sortes de pierreries, pillage. Item. Celui qui aura la vue des b^atiments, aura 100 pieces de 8 si la prise est de valeur ou double pillage. Item. Tout homme estropi
e au service du b^atiment, aura 600 pieces de 8 ou 6 negres a choix s’il s’en prend. Item. Tout homme convaincu de l^achet
e, perdra son voyage. Item. Tout homme faisant faux serment et convaincu de vol, perdra son voyage et sera d
egrad
e sur la premiere caye. Item. Tout canot de guerre qui sortira en course qui prendra au-dessus de 500 pieces, sera pour l’
equipage dudit canot. Item. Tous negres et autres esclaves qui seront pris par le canot, reviendront au pied du m^at. Item. Pour les Espagnols qui ne seront point gu
eris,
etant arriv
e en lieu, l’
equipage s’oblige de donner une piece de 8 pour lesdits malades pour le chirurgien par jour l’espace de 3 mois
etant arriv
e a terre. Item. M. de La Borderie et M. Jocom se sont oblig
es de servir l’
equipage de tout ce qui leur sera n
ecessaire pendant le voyage; et l’
equipage s’oblige de leur donner 180 pieces de 8 pour leur coffre; et ceux des chirurgiens qui seront pris avec les instruments qui ne seront point garnis d’argent seront pour le chirurgien. Ladite charte ne pourra se casser ni annuler que nous n’ayons fait voyage tous ensemble. Fait a l’^ile a Vache, ancr
e et affourch
e le 18 de f
evrier 1688. This document is today preserved in the French National Archives, under the call-number CAOM COL-C9A/2, f. 357.

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Charte-Partie or ‘‘Charter Party’’

See also Bannister, Joseph; Careen (Volume 1).

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 13 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1901).

CHARTE-PARTIE OR ‘‘CHARTER PARTY’’ Freebooter covenant drawn up prior to a cruise, to pre-determine the division of any spoils (see sidebar). This term was originally a French commercial one, used whenever two or more merchants agreed to share a hired vessel. If only a single individual were involved, the question of cargo-space would not be a pressing concern; yet in the case of a charte-partie—literally, a ‘‘split charter’’—each consignor’s portion had to be carefully allotted. The flibustiers, many of whom were former merchant sailors, adopted this expression to their own needs—agreeing on a proportional distribution of ‘‘purchase’’ before any piratical foray, with special provisos for compensating the wounded, senior commanders, etc.

See also Charte-Partie (Volume 1).

CHIVERS, DIRCK (fl. 1694
1699) New York rover of Dutch ancestry, who enjoyed his greatest success as a Red Sea raider.

A large ship flying English colors entered the Calcutta anchorage on the morning of November 23, 1696 (O.S.), only to suddenly substitute Danish colors and loose off a few broadsides and volleys of small-arms’ fire into its clustered shipping. Three merchantmen were boarded by boatloads of pirates before Captain Mason was sent out from shore and then determined that these attackers referred to themselves as ‘‘soldiers of fortune’’ and insisted ‘‘that if the ships were not ransomed for £10,000, they and the rest of the shipping should be burned.’’ After two days of tense bartering, during which one prize was torched, 10 Indian praus finally arrived from the Malabar Coast to chase this intruder back out to sea on the morning of November 26, 1696 (O.S.). Mason, who was released by these retreating pirates in a small boat, returned into Calcutta and reported their ship: . . . to be of about 300 tons, 20 guns, and 100 men, her captain a Dutchman of New York, and that she daily expected a consort of about the same strength under one Hore. They offered him command of the ship, if he would join them. He gathered that most of the pirates were fitted out from New York, and returned thither to share the plunder, with the Governor’s connivance. Mason added that the Captain’s name was ‘‘Dirck Clevers of New York, that he has been two years out from thence,’’ but this may have been a pseudonym.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 16 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1908)

Cocket

Silver Spanish peso, dating from 1723 and pierced for use on Dominica. British colonies often lacked currency, so mutilated foreign coins were allowed to circulate, either cut into segments or with a hole stamped through them. Dominica’s stamp was heart-shaped, so as to discourage any export from that island. The cut-out metal centers, known as dumps, were also used locally as money. (British Museum/Art Resource, NY)

CLAVERIE, CHARLES DE LA See La Claverie, Charles de

CLIPPED MONEY OR CLIPPINGS Coins illegally reduced in weight by filing, shaving, or clipping metal from around their edges, thereby deceitfully reducing their value, the resultant shards being melted down for resale. On May 22, 1699 (O.S.), a goldsmith named Walter Turner gave the following deposition before the Crown officials on Bermuda: About six weeks since, one William Pargiter came to the house of Major Michael Burrowes, where deponent

lodged, and desired to borrow a pair of shears, a file, and a pair of scales, saying he had some heavy money and had a mind to clip it. Afterwards he asked leave to melt some silver at deponent’s forge. The silver proved to be silver clippings. Turner also gave a second deposition ‘‘about Mrs. Elinor Hall selling clippings to him at 5 shillings, 4 pence per ounce.’’

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 17 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1908).

COCKET A written certificate issued by a customhouse, confirming that merchandise being

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Commission Port transported by a vessel had been duly registered, and paid the appropriate duties. Lack of such papers, or incorrect or otherwise irregular documentation, could have serious consequences for a merchant Master, at the mercy of any ill-disposed local official. For example, the Lords Proprietors wrote reprovingly from London on May 12, 1691 (O.S.), to inform their colleague Seth Sothell that he had exceeded his authority by his actions during his visit to South Carolina, and must answer a number of charges immediately on his return to England, the first being: That you seized upon two persons that came into Albemarle from Barbados, pretending they were pyrates, although they produced cockets and clearments of their goods from the government of Barbados and Bermudas. One of these captives, Richard Humphrey, had subsequently died in jail ‘‘of grief and ill usage.’’

See also Cocket (Volume 1).

Reference Salley, A. S., Jr., ed., Commissions and Instructions from the Lords Proprietors of Carolina to the Public Officials of South Carolina, 1685
1715 (Charleston, SC: Historical Commission, 1916).

Such a system was necessary to hold rovers accountable, however tenuously, for the actions that they perpetrated during their forays. Although weak and fraught with many flaws, such enforcement was at least better than no responsibility whatsoever. In January 1686, for example, the English government would lodge a protest with the French Ambassador in London, raising questions about the peacetime practices being observed in the Antilles: The Governor of Jamaica complains that the French continually seize the ships of English subjects, whether they come into French ports in the West Indies to wood and water, or whether driven thither by stress of weather. The fact is confirmed by a letter from the Chevalier St. Laurens [Governor Claude de Roux, Chevalier de Saint-Laurent], who shows an order from the French King to confiscate all vessels anchoring in French ports. Several privateers also, pretending French commissions, even in time of peace continue to harass English traders, being encouraged by their not being obliged to give security in their commission port, as the European treaties direct.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 12 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1899).

COMMISSION PORT Legally, the seaport at which a privateer received his commission, posting a bond for his good conduct during the forthcoming cruise, and into which all prizes were to be sent for adjudication.

COWARD, WILLIAM (fl. 1689
1690) In November of 1689, with three men and a boy, he rowed out to the ketch

Crab Island

Modern view of Vieques Island, once known as ‘‘Crab Island,’’ near Puerto Rico. (Lee Cohen)

Elinor of Master William Shortrigs, which was lying at anchor in Boston harbor, seizing the vessel and taking her to Cape Cod. The crew of the ketch could offer no resistance as they were all prostrate with smallpox. The pirates were soon caught and locked up in the new stone jail in Boston, Coward being hanged on January 27, 1690 (O.S.).

Reference Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924).

CRAB ISLAND English name for what is today known as Vieques Island, lying east of Puerto Rico, still noted for its large and plentiful land-crabs. When Lord Archibald Hamilton, Governor of Jamaica, was queried by

the Board of Trade and Plantations in London about the possibility of settling the Virgin Islands, he gave as his written opinion in August 1715: That Crab Island is much the best of them, but it lies so near to Puerto Rico that it would be almost impossible to keep any Negroes there, the passage between that and Puerto Rico being fordable all but a little space. And as late as December 1735, Richard Coope (this same Council’s agent on St. Kitts) was writing to London to suggest that the island be populated by poor English families being driven out of the Leeward Islands by want, arguing that: ‘‘We have a very fine island called Crab Island, close to Puerto Rico, about the bigness of St. Christopher’s, where these dispersed families would unanimously go, settle, and fortify, if they could

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Cussy, Pierre-Paul Tarin, Sieur De (fl. 1684
1691) obtain protection for one year from the Spanish piracy and murders from Puerto Rico.’’

See also Crab Island (Volume 1).

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 42 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1953). Journals the Board of Trade and Plantations: March 1715
October 1718, Volume 3 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1924).

CUSSY, PIERRE-PAUL TARIN, SIEUR DE (fl. 1684
1691) Sixth French Governor of SaintDomingue and Tortuga Island, who reluctantly repressed its flibustiers, then lived to regret it. Born at Beaufort-en-Vall
ee in Anjou, the son of Jean Tarin—a member of Louis XIII’s retinue—the youthful Pierre-Paul was apparently among the140 men who accompanied Bertrand d’Ogeron’s original colonizing expedition out from France in July 1663. He soon became a trusted subordinate of the new Governor, and during a visit home to Corn
e in Anjou, furthermore received the honorific title of commandant pour le roi or ‘‘King’s commander’’ in September 1670, before returning to Saint Domingue. When the Compagnie des Indes Occidentales was disbanded in 1674 and

Ogeron was preparing early the next year to return to Paris and petition the King, he appointed De Cussy as leader of the region’s flibustiers in April 1675, with the aim of leading them in an offensive against Puerto Rico as part of France’s ongoing war against Spain. (The next month, Sec. Peter Beckford of Jamaica would report to London: ‘‘Advice from Tortuga, that the French are making up a fleet and a great body of men, to attack some considerable place of the Spaniards.’’) That same June 1675, Ogeron also dispatched De Cussy as his personal representative to Jamaica, in hopes of discreetly reaching an unofficial accommodation with its newly-arrived Lieutenant-Gov. Sir Henry Morgan and his brother-in-law, Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Byndloss, to allow English privateers to continue serving under French colors, despite London’s withdrawal from the hostilities. De Cussy arrived at Port Royal aboard Captain George Springer’s vessel, and apparently conducted his negotiations so successfully with these two well-disposed English officials, that after reporting back to Ogeron, the French Governor even wrote to Byndloss from Tortuga Island on August 5, 1675, to grant him power-of-attorney to act on behalf of any French prizes brought into Port Royal for sale. (Morgan and Byndloss were serving as two of the three judges on Jamaica’s Admiralty Court, along with William Beeston; when their superior Gov. John, Lord Vaughan, learned of these and other collusions with privateers, it deepened his distrust of Morgan and his backers.) De Cussy had meanwhile departed Port Royal in July 1675, aboard a small licensed ship under the veteran privateer John Morris. He also served as interim Governor of Tortuga Island

Cussy, Pierre-Paul Tarin, Sieur De (fl. 1684
1691) during Ogeron’s absence, until a ship arrived from France in June 1676 with news that the colony’s founder had died several months previously in Paris, and that his nephew Jacques Nepveu, Sieur de Pouanc¸ay, would succeed him in office, with De Cussy as Saint-Domingue’s new LieutenantGovernor. Seven years later, De Cussy was in France when Pouanc¸ay passed away. De Cussy’s three-year term technically began to run as of September 30, 1683, although he did not actually land at Petit-Go^ave until next April 1684 to assume office. In late June of that same year, Gov. Sir Thomas Lynch of Jamaica would write to the Council of Trade and Plantations in London: ‘‘A new Governor, Mons. Cussy, has arrived at Petit Guavos.’’

Restraint of the Flibustiers (1684
1691) Initially, De Cussy continued the policy of his predecessors regarding the flibustiers, considering them as necessary both for the colony’s defense and prosperity. He promulgated France’s 1684 Treaty of Ratisbonne with Spain, while simultaneously maintaining a suspiciously hostile attitude toward the neighboring SpanishAmericans, who reciprocated in full. Yet as this decade wore on, depredations such as the Sieur de Grammont’s unprovoked sack of Campeche in July 1685 became increasingly embarrassing to the French royal authorities, until finally on March 9, 1687—on direct orders from Paris—De Cussy was forced to publish an amnesty for the island’s flibustiers, ‘‘on conditions that they return into ports and cease their piratical acts and become inhabitants, or give themselves to the business of the sea.’’ The greatest rover,

Laurens de Graaf, had already been settled with the title of mayor of one of Saint-Domingue’s quartiers or ‘‘districts,’’ as well as membership in the Order of Saint Louis, and it was hoped that lesser lights would emulate his example. Privateering therefore gradually receded, amid De Cussy’s deep suspicions of Spanish designs. When the War of the League of Augsburg or King William’s War exploded in April 1689, France was ranged against the combined forces of England, Holland, and Spain, so that De Cussy felt his fears amply vindicated. ‘‘I destroyed privateering here because the court so willed it,’’ he wrote bitterly from Port de Paix on August 24th of that year, adding that if he had not succeeded ‘‘there would be ten or twelve stout ships on this coast, with many brave people aboard to preserve this colony and its commerce.’’ In the summer of 1690, he led a small army across the border into Santo Domingo, capturing the Spanish town of Santiago de los Caballeros, and unwittingly triggering a massive counter-offensive. A host of Spanish volunteers mustered at the capital of Santo Domingo and trooped aboard the ships of the Armada de Barlovento, departing on December 21st to circle eastward around the island, while another Spanish army advanced overland. The two forces met near Manzanillo Bay on the north coast, and were confronted shortly after advancing into French territory by an overconfident De Cussy, with inferior numbers. At the Battle of La Limonade on January 21, 1691, the Spanish invaders won a crushing victory, killing more than 400 Frenchmen against only 47 Spanish dead. When the naval officer Jean-Baptiste Ducasse stepped ashore amid the burnt remnants of Cap

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Cussy, Pierre-Paul Tarin, Sieur De (fl. 1684
1691) Franc¸ois and visited the nearby battlefield two weeks later, he found De Cussy’s corpse lying among the dead, ‘‘their bodies not yet buried, being rotted and half desiccated.’’

See also Beeston, Sir William; Morris, John; Ogeron, Bertrand d’; Vaughan, John.

References Crouse, Nellis M., The French Struggle for the West Indies, 1665
1713 (New York: Octagon, 1966). Lugo, Am
erico, Recopilaci
on diplom
atica relativa a las colonias espa~ nola y francesa de la isla de Santo Domingo, 1640
1701 (Ciudad Trujillo, Dominican Republic: Editorial ‘‘La Naci
on,’’ 1944).

D . . . accepting the hardness of ye seas, and the danger of the enemies. —From Thomas Tew’s privateering articles, 1692

mast’’ aboard the East Indiaman John and Martha. It sailed to Bantam on the island of Java, remaining there for two months, before returning via the Cape Verde Islands to England within a year. The Third Anglo-Dutch War had just erupted in 1672, and by next year Dampier was rated an able seaman aboard the 100-gun HMS Royal Prince, Sir Edward Spragge’s flagship at the Battles of Schooneveldt and the Texel. Dampier missed this latter action, having become sick and sent to Harwich to recuperate, and later to his brother’s residence. His health restored and hostilities against the Dutch at an end, the unemployed 22year-old seafarer accepted an offer early in 1674 from his father’s old landlord, Colonel William Helyar, to go to Jamaica as assistant manager for his Bybrook Plantation. Quickly tiring of this occupation, Dampier started Caribbean trading voyages; then in August

DAMPIER, WILLIAM (fl. 1675
1715) English buccaneer, chronicler, and circumnavigator. He was apparently born in Hynerford House at East Coker, near Yeovil in southwestern England, the son of a tenant farmer. He was baptized on June 8, 1652 (O.S.), his father dying when he was only 10 years old, and his mother by the time he had turned 16. Initially educated at the Latin School, his guardians had later transferred him to another school, where he learned arithmetic and writing. Dampier was then apprenticed to a Weymouth shipmaster, making his first voyage at the age of 18 to France, then on to Newfoundland. Daunted by its chilly clime, he chose to return to England and during a visit to London, signed on as an ordinary seaman ‘‘before the

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Dampier, William (fl. 1675
1715)

The adventurous William Dampier, buccaneer, circumnavigator, and best-selling author. (Russell, W. Clark. William Dampier, 1894)

1675, he shipped on a ketch into the ‘‘Bay of Campeche’’ or Laguna de T
erminos, with a cargo of rum and sugar to exchange for logwood. So taken was he with the Baymen’s life, that after the ketch returned to Jamaica, he made his way back to the Laguna in February 1676 and remained for more than two years. In autumn of 1678, he traveled to England with a goodly amount of money, and married a young woman named Judith, ‘‘out of the family of the Duchess of Grafton.’’ In the spring of 1679, Dampier sailed again for the West Indies aboard the Loyal Merchant, leaving his wife at Arlington House. He remained on Jamaica for some months and by Christmas, on the point of returning home, was persuaded to go on a short voyage to the Mosquito Coast. Putting into Negril Bay at the western end of Jamaica, he instead joined a party of

buccaneers led by Captain Richard Sawkins, who crossed to Bocas del Toro on the northwestern shores of present-day Panama to become incorporated into the pirate fleet of John Coxon, which proceeded to Golden Island. Dampier was one of more than 300 buccaneers who traversed the Isthmus, captured some Spanish coasters, and terrorized the Pacific coast. In February 1681, they were repulsed with heavy losses at Arica in northern Chile, withdrawing in disarray. Dampier consequently went that same April 1681 with a contingent of about 50 buccaneers to recross the Isthmus of Panama, emerging near Point San Blas, where they found the French corsair ship of Capitaine Tristan lying off La Sounds Cay. Dampier remained with this commander, Capitaine Archaimbaud, and George Wright for about a year, then in July 1682 went with 19 companions to Virginia. In August 1683, he and his comrades joined Captain John Cooke’s Revenge, who had served in the previous expedition, and intended to return to the South Sea. Finding their craft too small, the raiders crossed to Sierra Leone on the West African coast, where they seized a Danish ship of 36 guns and renamed it Bachelor’s Delight. They then rounded Cape Horn and touched at Juan Fern
andez Island, rescuing a Mosquito Indian who had been marooned three years previously, before proceeding northward as far as New Spain. There, Cooke died in July 1684 off Cabo Blanco, being succeeded by Edward Davis. The pirates ravaged the Pacific coast of South America for another year, most particularly in the company of Capts. John Eaton and Charles Swan, until Dampier parted from Davis on August

Dari
en Colony (1698
1699) 27, 1685 (O.S.), off Peru, in favor of Swan’s Cygnet. ‘‘It was not from any dislike to my old captain,’’ Dampier later explained, but rather because the latter intended to ‘‘pass over for the East Indies, which was a way very agreeable to my inclination.’’ Cygnet first prowled the Mexican coast for a few months, hoping to intercept the fabulously wealthy Manila galleon, which usually reached Acapulco around year’s end. Santa Rosa having been forewarned of this enemy presence, though, slipped safely into harbor on December 14, 1685, so that the buccaneers gave up in frustration. On March 31, 1686 (O.S.), they set out from Cape Corrientes, and reached Guam almost two months later. Dampier cruised Far Eastern waters for the next five years, finally returning to England aboard the East Indiaman Defence in September 1691. He published his Voyage around the World six years later, which became an immediate success, and in 1699 to 1700 led an exploration of Australia. In 1703, during the War of the Spanish Succession or Queen Anne’s War, he commanded the 26-gun privateer Saint George into the South Pacific, again failing to take the Manila galleon. In 1708 he made a third attempt, acting as pilot aboard Woodes Rogers’ Duke and Duchess, which succeeded in capturing one of the Philippine ships, and returned via the Cape of Good Hope to England in October 1711. Dampier died in London four years later in March 1715.

References Amussen, Susan Dwyer, Caribbean Exchanges: Slavery and the Transformation of English Society,

1640
1700 (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 2007). Bennett, J. Harry, ‘‘Cary Helyar, Merchant and Planter of Seventeenth-Century Jamaica,’’ William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, Volume 21, No. 1 (January 1964), pp. 53
76. Dampier, William, A New Voyage Round the World (New York: Dover, 1968). Dictionary of National Biography (London: 1885
1900, 63 volumes; reissued by Oxford University Press, 2004). Piracy and Privateering, National Maritime Museum Library catalogs, Volume Four (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1972). Robles, Antonio de, Diario de sucesos notables, 1665
1703 (Mexico City: Editorial Porr
ua, 1972). Wafer, Lionel, A New Voyage and Description of the Isthmus of America (London: Hakluyt Society, 1933). Williams, Gary C., ‘‘William Dampier: Pre-Linnean Explorer, Naturalist, Buccaneer,’’ Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 55, Suppl. II, No. 11 (November 2004), pp. 146
166.


N COLONY DARIE (1698
1699) Short-lived Scottish settlement on the northeastern shores of Panama. In the summer of 1698, a flotilla of five ships left Scotland with 1,200 people in an ill-conceived attempt to establish a trading outpost on the Spanish Main. Having hired the retired privateer Robert Allison as pilot, they reached the Gulf of Dari
en by mid-November, and established themselves ashore. Although able to fend off an overland assault from Spain’s Armada de Barlovento, they nonetheless quickly succumbed to

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Daudorus members and a young boy that they were expelling from their ship—yet not without ‘‘first whipping them inhumanely, and burning matches between their fingers, ears, and toes.’’ Heywood noted that the young lad in particular, ‘‘who I take to be about twelve or thirteen years of age,’’ was punished for having dared to say that he wanted to quit their company, at which the enraged pirates had vowed that they would not let him go ‘‘without a daudorus, as they called it—a good whipping.’’

Reference Crude map of the ill-fated Scottish settlement in northeastern Panama named New Caledonia, as sketched thirty years afterward by H. Moll. (Glasgow University Library, Special Collections)

disease, lack of profits, and internal strife, withdrawing next summer.

Reference Prebble, John, The Darien Disaster (London: Secker & Warburg, 1968).

DAUDORUS Euphemism for a thrashing or beating, apparently derived from the ancient Scottish verb ‘‘to daud.’’ An example of its usage in the West Indies occurred in late December 1716, when a poor turtler appeared before Governor Peter Heywood of Jamaica, to complain that he had been robbed of ‘‘what little he had’’ by a pirate sloop, whose ruffianly crew had then furthermore burdened him with three outcast

Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 29 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1930).

DAVIS, EDWARD (fl. 1680
1693) English pirate who twice roamed the South Sea, escaped around Cape Horn, and unwillingly became a founding patron for the College of William and Mary in Virginia. Davis may have originally hailed from the great English seaport of Plymouth, and began his West Indian career as a simple freebooter among the followers of John Coxon and other commanders who penetrated the Isthmus of Panama from Golden Island, starting in April 1680 to raid the Spaniards on the Pacific coast. Eventually, Bartholomew Sharpe assumed overall command of this formation, until a faction of 50 buccaneers—including Davis, William Dampier, and Lionel Wafer—quit his company a year later,

Davis, Edward (fl. 1680
1693) to attempt to regain the Caribbean under John Cooke. They emerged near Point San Blas in early June 1681, where they found the French corsair ship of Capitaine Tristan lying off La Sounds Cay, who rescued them. They were then incorporated into the crew of Capitaine Archaimbaud, and then afterward served both George Wright and Jan Willems in succession, before arriving off ^Ile a Vache in the summer of 1682, where they fell out with the latter commander over a prize and became marooned. Tristan nonetheless took eight or ten of them—including Cooke, Davis, and Wafer—into his ship and carried them to Petit-Go^ave, where they repaid his kindness by running off with this vessel when he and his men went ashore. Returning to ^Ile a Vache to rescue their English companions, this band subsequently seized a ship recently arrived from France with wines and another French ship ‘‘of good force,’’ which they renamed Revenge and decided to use for another foray into the South Sea. They therefore sailed to Virginia to dispose of their goods and reunite with Dampier, Ringrose, and other shipmates, before venturing across the Atlantic to West Africa and seizing a 36-gun Danish ship, renaming it Bachelor’s Delight and rounding the Horn to cruise in the Pacific.

Pacific Command (1684
1688) When Cooke died from illness while they were approaching Costa Rica’s Gulf of Nicoya in the summer of 1684, Davis assumed command of this powerful vessel, which would give him precedence over any rovers he met. On

October 2, 1684, he encountered the vessels of Charles Swan and Peter Harris the Younger off Isla de la Plata (literally ‘‘Silver Island,’’ also referred to as ‘‘Drake’s Island’’), and finding that they mustered close to 200 men between all three ships, they sailed together for the South American mainland on October 20th. Paita was assaulted on the morning of November 3, 1684, yet nothing much of value was found, before the town was put to the torch. The Lobos Islands were visited next, after which a second abortive raid ensued against Guayaquil in early December 1684. A few small prizes were taken off that coast, but Davis realized that the marauders were too weak for greater enterprises, so headed northward for Panama, in hopes of meeting other buccaneers traversing the Isthmus. At the end of December, he captured an aviso off Gallo Island bound for Callao, and although its correspondence had been flung overboard, some letters were retrieved from the water and revealed that the annual Spanish plate-fleet had arrived at Portobelo on November 28th, which the Peruvian silver ships would soon have to meet. On January 8, 1685, Davis’ buccaneers furthermore intercepted the 90ton Santa Rosa, before repairing to the Pearl Islands to careen. On February 14th, a fresh contingent of 200 French flibustiers and 80 English buccaneers reached the islands in canoes, under Capitaines Franc¸ois Grogniet and Lescuyer. The flibustiers were offered Santa Rosa by Davis, while the Englishmen were to be incorporated into his Bachelor’s Delight and Swan’s Cygnet. In appreciation, Grogniet presented Davis with a blank privateering

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Davis, Edward (fl. 1680
1693) commission from the French Governor of Saint-Domingue, and informed him that more buccaneers were apparently on their way, so that a party was detached to await them in the Gulf of San Miguel. On March 3rd, they met Captain Francis Townley with 180 men, mostly English, in two captured barks. A few days later, another bark bearing about a dozen Englishmen entered the Gulf of Panama from the west, having become separated from William Knight off the coast of New Spain. And on April 11th, another band of 264 mainly French flibustiers arrived across the Isthmus under Capitaines Jean Rose, Pierre le Picard, and Desmarais. They remembered Davis as one of the Englishmen who had stolen Tristan’s ship, yet nevertheless joined his flotilla, and settled down to await the arrival of the Peruvian convoy. It unexpectedly slipped past Davis’ lookouts, deposited its treasure in Panama City, then sortied to offer battle. As a result, these six Spanish men-ofwar suddenly emerged from a morning shower on June 7, 1685, and caught the pirates unprepared off Pacheca Island. An indecisive, long-range engagement ensued, with the lightly-armed buccaneer craft unwilling to close against the mightier vessels of the Armada del Mar del Sur, who in turn could not overtake their more nimble opponents. Nevertheless, next day ended in a Spanish victory, as Davis’ buccaneers were driven off and their blockade ended. They then fell out along national lines, Davis, Swan, Townley, and Knight sailing northwestward as a single group to raid Realejo and Le
on (Nicaragua) in early August 1685, for little gain. Davis then proceeded southward from Realejo with three other vessels, visiting Honduras’

Gulf of Fonseca and the Gal
apagos Islands before raiding the Peruvian coast with Knight in July 1686. The latter parted from him after careening at the Juan Fern
andez Islands, ‘‘making the best of his way round Tierra del Fuego to the West Indies,’’ while Davis returned to Mocha Island around Christmas 1686. He remained on that coast for another year, before finally rounding the Horn himself. After touching at the River Plate, Davis rounded Brazil and met a Barbados sloop commanded by Edwin Carter, who informed the rovers of James II’s recent ‘‘proclamation to pardon and call in the buccaneers’’ (most probably that of May 22, 1687 O.S.), so sailed with Carter’s sloop to Philadelphia, where they arrived by May 1688. After a brief layover, Davis, Wafer, and a few others traveled to their former sanctuary of Virginia, yet immediately on arriving in June 1688 were arrested by Captain Simon Rowe of HMS Dumbarton, on suspicion of piracy because of the £1,500 worth of battered silver which they had brought with them. Davis and his men insisted that this booty had been procured in the South Sea merely to help them ‘‘spend the remainder of their days honestly and quietly,’’ yet they were nonetheless thrown into irons. When Rowe questioned a black slave that they had also brought with them from the Pacific, he came to the conclusion that the rovers should have been hanged as multiple murderers. In fact, Davis and the rest of his men were allowed to travel to England aboard the merchantman Effingham in late 1690 to stand trial, their appearance in court guaranteed by dispatching their treasure separately. Although eventually cleared of all charges after a lengthy proceeding,

Davy, Capitaine (fl. 1704
1705) Davis and the others were constrained in March 1693 to cede £300 of their booty toward building a college in Virginia, which became William and Mary.

References Alsedo y Herrera, Dionisio de, Compendio hist
orico de la provincia, partidos, ciudades, astilleros, rı´os y puerto de Guayaquil en las costas de la Mar del Sur (Madrid: Manuel Fern
andez, 1741). Bradley, Peter T., The Lure of Peru: Maritime Intrusion into the South Sea, 1598
1701 (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1990). Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 13 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1901). Dampier, William, A New Voyage Round the World (New York: Dover, 1968). Lussan, Ravenau de, Journal of a Voyage into the South Sea (Cleveland, OH: Arthur H. Clark, 1930).

DAVY, CAPITAINE (fl. 1704
1705) French blockade-runner, who subsequently raided the New England coast as a privateer. Apparently a merchant master out of Bordeaux, Davy had reached Martinique with a cargo from France, then taken on additional men and secured a West Indian commission to continue operating as a privateer, before prowling northward in the spring of 1704, just as Queen Anne’s War was about to enter into its third year. The first official English notice of his activities occurred on July 20, 1704 (O.S.), when his 14-gun, 120-man vessel intercepted

the ship of Simon Pasco off the Delaware Capes, while it was bound from Antigua toward New York. According to this victim, the French: . . . took a barrel of sugar and a hogshead of rum out of the sloop, her guns and arms, & then burnt her with all her loading, notwithstanding Mr. Pasco offered £300 for her ransom; afterward said privateer chased Mr. Sandiford, bound hither from Carolina, who got into Sandy Hook before him. Davy arrived and dropped anchor off Sandy Hook by July 25, 1704 (O.S.), seizing the passing sloop of Eleazer Darby as it was headed from Boston toward Philadelphia, then landed two-dozen flibustiers after nightfall to plunder two houses in the vicinity of Navesink in New Jersey. Next day, Davy snapped up a small wood-boat manned by two slaves, and that same evening released the captive Pasco and his crewmen onto the Jersey shoreline, who by ‘‘about ten o’clock [a.m. on July 27, 1704 O.S.] got up to New York.’’ Meanwhile, a ship under Captain Sinclare had arrived in out of the Atlantic from London before that dawn had even broken, and around 4:00 A.M. on July 27, 1704 (O.S.), spotted Davy’s ship in the darkness flying English colors, so assumed it to be a vessel emerging from New York. Only when the Frenchman fired two cannon-shots and ‘‘a man upon shore pull’d off his shirt & made signs that the privateer was a rogue,’’ did Sinclare realize his danger. He immediately veered toward Sandy Hook in a desperate bid to at least ground his ship, but the wind proved contrary, so that the Captain and several passengers—including Philip

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Davy, Capitaine (fl. 1704
1705) French, former Speaker of the Assembly and ex-Mayor of New York, Captain Humphrey Jenkins of the sloop Frederick, as well as several wealthy merchants—piled into a boat and were rowed ashore to the safety of the garrison at Highlands. Sinclare’s mate and Captain Perkins’ son remained aboard in a futile try to win around the Hook, finally leaping into the dark sea to swim ashore once Davy closed within pistol-shot range. In New York City, the abrupt arrival of the victimized Pasco prompted an emergency meeting of its Royal Council, who summoned Captain Claver, commander of an anchored Dutch privateer, and proposed that he sortie and take Davy, or at least wrest away his most recent prize. Claver cleared the anchorage within two hours, his 150-man vessel accompanied by a 50-man consort sloop, yet despite sighting Davy and racing in pursuit, they returned into New York by July 28, 1704 (O.S.), without having come to grips with the agile French marauder. Claver consequently sortied once again next day, this time accompanied by two well-manned sloops under Captains Evertson and Tom Penniston. Yet Davy was detaching his capture that same July 29, 1704 (O.S.), toward Martinique with a prize-crew, then two days later intercepted a brigantine arriving from Nevis some ‘‘eight leagues off of Sandy Hook . . . and ransomed [it] for £400, Saint Thomas money.’’ The elusive rover then stood away toward Tarpaulin Cove, releasing Captain Darby’s plundered sloop to limp into Salem, New Jersey, and then vanished as stealthily as he had appeared. Despite additional sorties made out of New York by HMS Jersey and assorted other privateers, Davy was not to be sighted again that summer.

However, given the success of his initial sweep, he may well have been the Martinican freebooter who returned into these very same waters a year later. On June 3, 1705 (O.S.), the sloop of Captain Outerbridge set sail ‘‘out of Sandy Hook bound for Jamaica loaded with provisions,’’ only to be ‘‘taken by a privateer from Martinico about 150 leagues off’’ and diverted toward that Antillean isle under a prize-crew. Next day, these flibustiers also took: . . . a small sloop belonging to one Godfrey of this town [New York], loaded with pitch and tar, which they burnt, one Reynolds was Master of her, and ‘tis said sides with the French and is a pilot to them on this coast, and has informed them of our vessels expected and outward bound. The approaching privateer continued to press ever closer and by June 14, 1705 (O.S.), arrived off Sandy Hook, ‘‘and in the night sent her boat to the Narrows with design to take Captain Potter, who was then loaden at the watering place, bound for Nevis; but the boat could not find him.’’ The captives Outerbridge and Godfrey thereupon persuaded its French commander to set them ashore, after which this enemy vessel coasted southward down the Hook and landed a party beyond Navesink, to burn yet another two isolated country-houses. Given its presence, all ship-traffic out of New York was halted while a ship, brigantine, and two sloops were manned with a total of 350 men, and sallied to clear the approaches. After patrolling as far southwest as the Delaware Capes, the ship and one sloop reentered New York by July 2, 1705 (O.S.), while the brigantine and other

Devereux, John (fl. 1692) sloop prowled as far northeast as Block Island; however, the shadowy raider was not seen again.

References Nelson, William, Documents Relating to the Colonial History of the State of New Jersey, Volume I: 1704
1739, Extracts from American Newspapers (Paterson, NJ: Archives of the State of New Jersey, First Series, Vol. XI, 1894). Weeks, Daniel J., Not for Filthy Lucre’s Sake: Richard Saltar and the Antiproprietary Movement in East New Jersey, 1665
1707 (Bethlehem, PA: Lehigh University Press, 2001).

DEAD MAN’S ISLAND See Isla del Muerto

DELBOURG, JEAN (fl. 1696) Listed in a French document dated March 26, 1696, the seventh year of Queen Anne’s War (France was arrayed against the combined might of England, Spain, and The Netherlands) as a flibustier operating out of the West Indian island of Guadeloupe. Little is known about Delbourg’s activities, beyond the fact that he was also married to Madeleine Chaumont, by whom he had three children.

Reference Goddet-Langlois, Jean and Denise, La vie en Guadeloupe au XVIIe si ecle,

suivi du Dictionnaire des familles guadeloup
eennes de 1635
1700 (Fortde-France: Editions Exbrayat, 1991).

DESSAUDRAYS, CAPITAINE (fl. 1692) Saint-Malo shipmaster issued an emergency commission by Gov. Jean-Baptiste Ducasse. Dessaudrays’ name may have been more properly spelled ‘‘De Sauldre.’’ In the early days of 1692, when the French colony of Saint-Domingue was struggling to recover from the trauma of that previous year’s Spanish invasion, its vigorous new Governor Ducasse dispatched the frigates of Captains Dessaudrays and Duhamel: . . . to cruise off Cape Tiburon with orders that when they discover the enemy ships returning, they are to advise me in order to gather everyone who is scattered over 20 or 30 leagues of countryside.

Reference Lugo, Am
erico, Recopilaci
on diplom
atica relativa a las colonias espa~ nola y francesa de la isla de Santo Domingo, 1640
1701 (Ciudad Trujillo, Dominican Republic: Editorial ‘‘La Naci
on,’’ 1944).

DEVEREUX, JOHN (fl. 1692) Scottish smuggler accused of wrongdoing, for accepting a commission from a dishonest Governor of Bermuda. Inexperienced and eager for personal gain, Isaac Richier placed Devereux (or

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Dew, George (fl. 1686
1695) Devereaux) in command of a sloop built and outfitted on that island, with a commission to seize enemy rovers early during the War of the League of Augsburg, known in America as ‘‘King William’s War.’’ However, with Richier’s apparent connivance, he instead sailed this sloop, in which they both held shares, to Maryland to conduct clandestine trade along its Eastern Shore, then across the Atlantic to Ireland, and slipping into Scotland. Giving a false destination on standing out of Greenock again, Devereux apparently steered for blockaded France, where American goods were commanding high prices.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 15 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1904). Chapin, Howard M., Privateer Ships and Sailors: The First Century of American Colonial Privateering, 1625
1725 (Toulon: G. Mouton, 1926). Dobson, David, Scottish Emigration to Colonial America, 1607
1785 (Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 2004).

the son of Colonel Thomas Dewe, a prominent Virginia landholder. Despite being elected (along with his father) as a Burgess from Nanesmond County in Long Norfolk, Captain Dewe had chosen to emigrate back to England and then on to Barbados, where he resettled amid other relations in Saint Peter’s Parish, and served as a militia officer. Young George’s parentage, though, has never been definitively proven, the bewildering array of spellings of his family surname in genealogical records —Deu, Dew, Dewes, Due, Doe, Doo, Do, Du, Dhout, Dhu, d’Hout, etc.— make any precise modern determination difficult. Presumably he took to the sea at an early age, and may possibly have served a turn aboard slavers bound to and from West Africa, before adventuring as a member of the second wave of pirate raiders who began crossing the Isthmus of Panama into the Pacific Ocean in early February 1684. These marauders would roam unchecked throughout the South Sea over the next few years, but whether Dew had been part of the initial bands or joined later, is unclear.

Pacific Raider (1686) DEW, GEORGE (fl. 1686
1695) Barbadian-born freebooter who penetrated the Pacific and helped sack Guayaquil, before relocating to Bermuda, where he operated with mixed results. It is believed that he may have been born sometime between 1666 and 1670, one of the younger sons in the very large family of Captain Thomas Dewe,

By July 1686, it is known that he was serving aboard Francis Townley’s flotilla, when it and a large band of flibustiers under Le Picard made a descent on the outskirts of Panama City. Some 300 captives were seized and an uneasy truce arranged with the local Spaniards, while Townsley tried to negotiate the release of five buccaneers being held in Panama’s jails. On August 22, 1686, the Spaniards broke this agreement by slipping three ships

Dew, George (fl. 1686
1695) and 240 men out of their Perico Island anchorage, to fall on the blockaders while they lay resting off Taboga Island. This thrust was fiercely beaten back, two of the Spanish ships being captured, and only 65 Spaniards escaping injury or death. Townley, furious at finding himself wounded during this sneak attack, sent 20 prisoners’ heads ashore in a brutal protest against this violation of the truce. The Spanish released the five captive buccaneers on the morning of August 28, 1686, and furthermore sent out 10,000 pesos on September 4, 1686, to placate the blockaders, along with a conciliatory note from the Archbishop of Panama, promising that all English prisoners would henceforth be considered as Catholics, and so enjoy protection from the Church. Townley died of his wounds five days later, his body being cast overboard near Otoque Island in accordance with his wishes, after which the youthful Dew succeeded him in command over the 90-man English band. The pirates eased their blockade next day; Picard and Dew eventually wandered west from Panama and sighted a formation in the Gulf of Nicoya on February 23, 1687, of 210 fellow boucaniers under the French commanders Franc¸ois Grogniet and Le Picard—among their ranks being the chronicler Ravenau de Lussan, who recorded the new English Captain’s name phonetically as ‘‘Georges d’Hout.’’ The French being divided into rival factions, they redistributed themselves—Grogniet and some 50 followers going aboard Dew’s ship for a total crew of 142 men, compared to 162 boucaniers who remained aboard the French frigate and longboat under Picard—before steering south

separately from Puerto Caldera. Each group hoped to be the first to reach Ecuador and mount a surprise attack against Guayaquil, but after sighting one another again at sea on March 18, 1687, all agreed to mount a joint strike.

Sack of Guayaquil (April 1687) The South American coastline swam into view by April 6, 1687, and at noon six days later Le Picard’s, Grogniet’s, and Dew’s combined forces reached Point Santa Helena, the northwesternmost entry into the wide, tapering Gulf of Guayaquil. That same night, they espied a Spanish prize manned by eight English pirates from Captain Edward Davis’ crew, who joined their enterprise the next day. Running southward unseen farther out at sea, they circled back and by dawn of April 15, 1687, sighted Cabo Blanco, the south-easternmost entry into the Gulf. By 10:00 A.M., 260 rovers transferred off their ships, which were to remain hidden in a nearby bay; the raiding-party began rowing into the Gulf aboard eight large piraguas. By sundown, they had reached Santa Clara Island, a barren rock in mid-channel also known as Isla del Muerto or ‘‘Dead Man’s Island,’’ anchoring overnight to ride out the powerful ebb-tide flowing out of the Guayas River into the ocean. Next morning, piloted by four native turncoats serving among their ranks, they glided across to Pun
a Island and hid there all day, before circling past its Spanish settlements that same night to conceal themselves once more at dawn of April 17th, up an estuary near Pun
a’s northern tip. Here, the buccaneers agreed to storm specific strongpoints once they

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Dew, George (fl. 1686
1695) reached Guayaquil, in three companies under Grogniet, Picard, and Dew. But on emerging that same dusk aboard their boats to enter the Guayas River, they found its counter-current so strong that they had to return to Pun
a Island by daybreak of Friday, April 18, 1687. Spotted by coastal-watchers before they could hide up another inlet, these lookouts set fire to a hut as a warningsignal to the Spaniards farther upriver, before a buccaneer party pushed through the jungle to extinguish it, killing two of these sentinels and capturing a third. The rovers remained hidden throughout the rest of that day, and even allowed an arriving Spanish ship to pass unchallenged upriver, before reemerging at nightfall to penetrate the eastern mouth of the Guayas River. Their native guides piloted them past a couple more lookout-stations, the flotilla’s movements masked behind several small islands. By the time the pirates hid yet again at dawn of Saturday, April 19th, they had circled far enough upstream to be able to surprise Guayaquil out of its east next daybreak, a Sunday. Meanwhile, the Pun
a signal-blaze had been reported within the city that same Saturday morning, so that Gover
nor Juan Alvarez de Avil
es and militia General Fernando Ponce de Le
on mustered every able-bodied man; yet when nothing more occurred by evening, the entire garrison stood down. As a result, when the pirate formation finally came gliding out of the darkness at 4:00 A.M. on Sunday, April 20, 1687, their surprise was complete. Dew’s two piraguas disgorged more than 60 men at Marı´a Fico’s landing-dock north of the city, half circling around Ataranza Inlet on foot to occupy the city workshops,

while the remainder scrambled up the cliffs to conceal themselves outside the earthen San Carlos redoubts atop Santa Ana Hill. Grogniet and Picard meanwhile disembarked more than a mile farther to the south, the swift downriver current having carried their six piraguas off course, so that they failed to land anywhere near La Planchada fort on the city outskirts. Instead, the flibustiers waded ashore into dense brush around the small anchorage of Casones (near modern Aguirre and Elizalde Streets), where they were challenged by a Spanish sentry and gun-exchanges quickly erupted. Rain started to fall as well, so that the French had to furthermore pause in a large house for their grenadiers to light their tinders, before Grogniet and Picard could advance at daybreak with ‘‘flags flying and drums beating,’’ into the maze of shipyards lining the four intervening inlets lying between them and Guayaquil proper. General Ponce had meanwhile appeared on the far side of these yards, mounted on a horse, to direct the 300 black and Spanish militiamen who were rallying out of the city to the northern shoreline of the fourth inlet, which was owned by Juan de Villamar. In the rainy gloom, Grogniet’s advancing flibustiers mistook its low wooden levee for a fort, so that they lost several men probing forward gingerly along the small bridge spanning Jos
e del Junco’s adjoining inlet, before a pirate detachment finally paddled around westward on planks—between Junco’s house and Carlos’s smithy—to outflank the defenders. Ponce was shot in a thigh and fell, being helped to remount, before ordering his men to retreat back into Guayaquil.

Dew, George (fl. 1686
1695) Grogniet followed them into its streets, only to discover that the Spaniards were making a second stand from behind earthworks around Guayaquil’s main square, as well as sweeping the nearby intersections with grapeshot. This resistance lasted for more than an hour, until another pirate flankingcolumn circled behind the Franciscan church and headed toward the Dominican monastery. Afraid of being cut off from their last avenue of escape into the high ground behind the city, the Spanish abandoned the main square, allowing Grogniet to push up Los Morlacos Street and along the riverfront in twin columns. For a third time, the defenders regrouped in trenches encircling the nearby northern heights, but their seven guns within San Carlos redoubt could not be depressed low enough to fire down the slope, so that Grogniet soon fought his way into this system of trenches, along with Dew’s few-dozen men attacking by surprise from the opposite side. By 11:00 A.M., the last traces of Spanish resolve sputtered out, 34 defenders having been slain during these seven hours of rain-soaked combat, compared to nine pirate dead and a dozen wounded—among the latter, Grogniet. The city was quickly occupied and 700 prisoners herded into Guayaquil’s main church, while Picard assumed command over the flibustier contingent. Leading citizens were singled out to be terrorized—the wounded Ponce, for example, being beaten on his back with swordblades in front of his weeping family— while fearsome pirates roared demands of 300,000 pesos out of Ecuador’s interior to free all their hostages. To further drive home their point, seven or eight rich Spaniards were dragged out of the

church and down to the riverbank, along with all the clerics, where Lorenzo de Sotomayor was randomly selected and murdered by a pistol-shot. Eventually, the victorious pirates reduced their demand to 100,000 pesos, a ransom which was to be raised and paid by families and friends who lived inland. Meanwhile, Guayaquil’s buildings were ransacked, 14 anchored vessels were seized, and pirate piraguas sped upriver in pursuit of fleeing Spanish craft. Eventually, a boat was sent downriver on Wednesday morning, April 23, 1687, to contact the anchored pirate ships waiting at Cabo Blanco, and order them to rendezvous with the raidingparty at Pun
a Island. Next day, Picard and Dew withdrew from gutted Guayaquil, their original eight piraguas now augmented by four large riverboats, plus a new Spanish brigantine, with more than 250 captives crammed aboard. At the very last moment, Picard
ordered the wounded Governor Alvarez to stay behind, so as to arrange the flow of supplies for the pirates and their prisoners, until the ransoms could be paid. The wounded Grogniet was carried back aboard his flagship that same evening when the raiders reunited with their vessels off Pun
a, and expired of his wounds on May 2, 1687. A few days later, the buccaneers were joined by Davis, who brought in word that a squadron of Peruvian privateers was on its way to drive them off. The Peruvians appeared by May 27, 1687, consisting of the purchased vessels San Jos
e and San Nicol
as of 20 guns apiece, commanded by the Biscayans Dionisio L
opez de Artunduaga and Nicol
as de Igarza, plus a small patache. The pirate formation by now included almost 20 medium- to small-size craft, mostly

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Dew, George (fl. 1686
1695) prizes, which the Peruvian privateers rather gingerly engaged at long range over the next five days, eventually scattering the freebooters and recuperating some lost vessels. During these actions, San Nicol
as ran aground hard on a sandbank off Atacames, so it limped back toward Callao taking on water. It was quickly replaced by San Francisco de Paula and another patache, that joined L
opez de Artunduaga off Ecuador and resumed his distant pursuit of the retreating buccaneers, at last compelling them to relinquish their largest prize (San Jacinto) before making a final division of spoils off Cape San Francisco, and dispersing northward 10 days later.

Bermudan Privateer (January 1691) The first official notice of his activities did not occur until January 22
23, 1691 (O.S.), when the minutes of a Council session at St. George’s, Bermuda, recorded: Mr. Henry cited to attend the Council on the next Council-day to answer the complaint of Mr. George Deu, Master; Dr. Johnson; and Mr. L. Briggs, for making waste of the timber on the King’s land. As the European conflict known in America as King William’s War was just then entering its third year, Dew apparently was issued a privateering commission, as well as a permit to impress seamen, from Acting-Governor Isaac Richier. He then sortied as junior consort to Captain Thomas Griffin, and—prizes being scarce in the lonely Bermudan approaches—both sloops

roamed farther north, apparently separating briefly after they had moved up the Atlantic Seaboard to join in on the fighting against the French frontline outposts in Acadia (modern Nova Scotia).

‘‘Hurly-Burly’’ Off New England (Summer 1691) Both visiting freebooter vessels allegedly joined the hunt for a large French privateer which was known to be operating off that coastline, but their aggressiveness would soon bring them into conflict with the local authorities. Dew’s sloop became temporarily attached to the larger brigantine of Captain William Kidd out of New York, who was also patrolling the New England shores that summer in search of enemy raiders. Yet on July 29, 1691 (O.S.), as a New Hampshire sloop crammed with a company of militiamen under Captain John March was gliding down the Piscataqua River to exit into the North Atlantic and take part in a seaborne expedition against the French settlements in Casco Bay (Maine), they ‘‘sailed by a brigantine and a small sloop with the King’s jack flying,’’ which opened fire to prevent their passage. Unable to depart on their expedition, a frustrated March and other witnesses were instead obliged to go ashore and lodge a complaint, adding that when Fort William and Mary on Great Island (modern New Castle) subsequently fired several rounds at these same two interlopers: . . . and commanded Captain Dew ashore, which the men said was Captain of one of the vessels; and said Dew when he came ashore, he

Dew, George (fl. 1686
1695) utterly denied to give the authority any account of these things which was done; and also I heard the said Dew swear on this 30th day of July 91 in the morning, that he would run his sloop on shore against Their Majesties’ fort upon the Great Island, and land his men there before the sun was set this day. Depositions describing this ‘‘hurley-burley with ye privateers’’ were received from March and various other victims, during which it was furthermore noted that: ‘‘The name of the Captain of the brigantine, which is above mentioned which fired at us, was Kidd; and said Kidd belonged to New York, as we are informed.’’ As the two menacing rovers finally weighed to depart the blockaded roadstead, another eyewitness noticed how ‘‘either Captain Dew or some other man on board his sloop, upon the quarterdeck, brandished his sword’’ in defiance of the King’s colors as they glided past Fort William and Mary. Its garrison commander, Captain Nathaniel Fryer, therefore fired yet more shots across Dew’s bow, causing the departing rovers to reverse course and once more come threateningly ‘‘to an anchor in the River of Piscataqua again, to the great fear of the inhabitants.’’ Dew nonetheless left the bay for good shortly thereafter, and also parted company from Kidd so as to rejoin Griffin, as yet another victim—Captain Thomas Wilkinson of the pink Three Brothers—would reach Boston on August 8, 1691 (O.S.), to complain to Governor Simon Bradstreet that he had been robbed of his vessel ‘‘on the high seas’’ by the two Bermudans, just as he was nearing home after a commercial voyage to Cadiz. This pair had taken and then

sailed his pink, first into the Isles of Shoals and later into the outer reaches of the Piscataqua River, where they allegedly held a mock trial at which this prize and its cargo were supposedly ‘‘condemned.’’ Having heard of the ‘‘hurlyburly’’ incident as well, Massachusetts’ Governor gave orders on August 9, 1691 (O.S.), for the commissioned privateer Swan of Captain Christopher Goffe to sortie from Portsmouth (New Hampshire) and seize these two transgressors, so as to bring them in ‘‘to answer for their misdemeanors.’’ Before this order could even be delivered, though, Griffin had already written a letter to Governor Bradstreet on August 12, 1691 (O.S.), explaining how he and Dew had mistaken Wilkinson’s merchant pink for the French privateer which they were hunting, and then ‘‘discovered’’—after its capture—that it was transporting prohibited goods. They had wished to send their prize home to their commission-port of St. George’s in Bermuda for proper adjudication, Griffin assured the Governor, but were informed by various carpenters that it was not fit to make such a voyage. Consequently, as senior partner, Griffin had ‘‘proceeded by virtue of ye power I have (being satisfied that no larger can be granted out of Boston to condemn her, as by law is prescribed).’’ He then went on to rather insultingly tell Bradstreet that since so many smugglers were allowed to carry goods out of Boston to sell to the French enemy in Acadia, that he suspected ‘‘I should be unkindly dealt with [before a Massachusetts jury], being a subject of ye Crown of England.’’ When the local collector of customs, Jahleel Brenton, learned of this travesty of justice, he attempted to impound the pink, which Dew and Griffin resisted

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Dew, George (fl. 1686
1695) ‘‘with force of arms.’’ Eventually, Brenton succeeded in regaining possession of Three Brothers and a portion of its cargo, while the privateer Swan of Captain Christopher Goffe was sent out of Boston in early August 1691 to pursue the pair of marauders. They easily eluded him, Goffe later reporting while lying at anchor near Portsmouth on August 14, 1691 (O.S.), that ‘‘they could sail two feet to his one,’’ and so he withdrew a few days later into Nantasket to reprovision his Swan. Meanwhile, Dew and Griffin boarded another English vessel off Cape Cod which was bound for Virginia with a valuable cargo of oil, brimstone, gold, and silver. They claimed that its captain did not have the requisite papers, and so sailed this prize back to Bermuda for disposal.

Failed Red Sea Venture (1693) It is possible that on his successful return, Dew married Ann Welsh, daughter of John and Anne Welsh. Less than a year-and-a-half later, Dew ventured to sea on a privateering voyage again, this time as second to Captain Thomas Tew—originally from Rhode Island, but by now a veteran West Indian rover. Both commanders set sail from Bermuda in January 1693, Dew in command of the brigantine Amy, as consort to Tew’s Amity. Ostensibly, they were bound on a joint expedition against the French slaving-factory of Gor
ee in West Africa, but actually intended to round the Cape of Good Hope and make a piratical raid into the Red Sea. A few days out into the Atlantic, though, Dew’s vessel sprang its mast in a storm, leaving Tew’s Amity to continue his journey alone around Africa, while Dew limped across the Atlantic as best he could under a jury-rig.

On May 2, 1693, his Amy crept into Saldanha Bay, a vast and beautiful natural harbor on the southwestern shores of South Africa (northwest of modern Cape Town). Dew landed there to begin to effect repairs on his mainmast, only to be arrested soon after by the suspicious Dutch East India Company ship Tamboer. As his crippled Amy gave all the impressions of having been engaged in battle, plus two conflicting sets of shippapers found aboard, and Dew’s own alleged lies as to the number of his crew, the local Dutch authorities impounded his brigantine as a suspect pirate vessel. Amy was even temporarily condemned as such, and Dew sent prisoner along with his crew to Holland, before it proved impossible to sustain any such charge of piracy before a Dutch court. Consequently, England being an ally in the hostilities still raging against the French, Dew had to be released, at which point he filed a claim for damages against the Dutch East India Company or VOC, causing its Directors considerable trouble and expense.

Last African Attempt and Demise (1695
1703) On December 30, 1695 (O.S.), Dew limped back into St. George’s with his damaged brigantine Marigold, filing a formal complaint for mutiny before its local authorities that while sailing from Barbados for the slaving-stations of West Africa, he had been struck by a storm and his crew thereupon refused to proceed, obliging him to return. Next year, Captain Dew and his wife Ann were listed in the ‘‘1696 Oath Roll of Association Island’’ as residing in the town and parish of St. George’s Island. George, Jr., was born late that

Doubloon same year, soon to be followed by a pair of daughters, Anne and Mary. Once peace was concluded, Dew—now variously described as a ‘‘reformed pirate,’’ as well as a ‘‘failed privateer and slave trader’’—is known to have bought a house on Broad Alley in the island capital of St. George’s in 1700, a cottage constructed only that previous year. (Much later, this structure would come to serve as the rectory for St. Peter’s Church, and still stands today, beautifully preserved as the ‘‘Old Rectory’’ by the Bermuda National Trust.) In June 1701, Dew was listed as one of four members elected to the Assembly of Bermuda from the capital riding, but his health must have taken a turn for the worst shortly thereafter, for on September 29, 1702 (O.S.), while still only in his early to mid-thirties, Dew made his will; it was proved on February 15, 1703 (O.S.), suggesting that he died during this interim. His widow took their daughter Mary with her to Charleston, South Carolina, and in a family arrangement remarried that same year, leaving George, Jr., and other daughter Anne on Bermuda to be raised by their grandparents.

See also Commission Port; Davis, Edward; Goffe, Christopher; Griffin, Thomas; Grogniet, Franc¸ois; Isla del Muerto; Kidd, William; Lussan, Ravenau de; Patache; Piragua; South Sea; Tew, Thomas; Townley, Francis.

References Alsedo y Herrera, Dionisio de, Compendio hist
orico de la provincia, partidos, ciudades, astilleros, rı´os y puerto de Guayaquil en las costas de la Mar del Sur (Madrid: Manuel Fern
andez, 1741).

Archive of Indies-Seville, Audiencia de Quito 159, Number 20, Folios 48
53. Baxter, James P., comp. and ed., Documentary History of the State of Maine, Volume IV (Portland, ME: Maine Historical Society, 1869). Bell, Winslow M., comp.,’’Minutes of Their Majesties’ Council (1690),’’ Bermuda Historical Quarterly XIV, No. 3 (Autumn 1957), pp. 72
79. Bernal Ruiz, Marı´a del Pilar, La toma del puerto de Guayaquil en 1687 (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispanoamericanos, 1979). Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 19 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1910). Chapin, Howard M., Privateer Ships and Sailors: The First Century of American Colonial Privateering, 1625
1725 (Toulon: G. Mouton, 1926). Dow, George F., and Edmonds, John H., The Pirates of the New England Coast, 1630
1730 (Salem, MA: Marine Research Society, 1923). Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924). Lussan, Ravenau de, Journal of a Voyage into the South Sea (Cleveland, OH: Arthur H. Clark, 1930). Theal, George McCall, History of South Africa under the Administration of the Dutch East India Company, 1652 to 1795 (London: Swan, Sonnenscheim & Company, 1897).

DOUBLOON Term for the largest of Spanish gold coins, derived from the word dobl
on, signifying an escudo or piece of gold-currency, worth double its regular face-value. By the late 17th century, although the doubloon remained the most valuable gold coin minted by Spain, its purity and appeal had drastically declined, in part because of repeated clipping. For

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Ducasse, Jean-Baptiste (fl. 1689
1697)

DUCASSE, JEAN-BAPTISTE (fl. 1689
1697)

Spanish gold doubloon, originally struck in 1714 at the Royal Mint in Mexico City, only to be looted later by pirates. (Private Collection/Peter Newark Pictures/The Bridgeman Art Library)

example, when about thirty sailors were discharged in England from the packet Spanish Expedition at the conclusion to King William’s War in October 1697, most ‘‘complained of the payment in Spanish gold.’’ One of these men, the purser Thomas Slade, described the fraudulent practices of the agent at Falmouth: ‘‘That at that time, he received twenty pistoles of Mr. [Daniel] Gwyn for Richard James, all of them wanting weight, among which were doubloons that wanted two shillings and two shillings, sixpence of weight; the whole loss, by exchanging the gold, came to twelve shillings.’’

See also Clipped Money; Doubloon (Volume 1); Pistole.

Reference Journal of the House of Commons, Volume 12: 1697
1699 (London, 1803).

Seventh Governor of French SaintDomingue, who led his flibustiers on major assaults against Jamaica in 1694, and Cartagena three years afterward. Ducasse was born on August 2, 1646, into a Huguenot or ‘‘French Protestant’’ family in the tiny town of Saubuse near Dax in southern France, not far from the Bay of Biscay. He first went to sea as a young boy aboard slavers of the Compagnie du S
en
egal. Starting in 1677, he made several voyages from West Africa to Saint-Domingue, Canada, and the ‘‘coast of Florida,’’ and in September 1678, during the closing stages of the Franco-Dutch War, captured a Dutch slaving-station on the African coast, thereby winning appointment as one of the Directors of his company two years later. In March 1686, Ducasse was admitted into the French Royal Navy as a lieutenant de vaisseau or ‘‘senior lieutenant,’’ and next year conducted a lengthy campaign against pirates and Dutch slavers along the African coast in the 28-gun, 250-ton frigate Temp^ ete or ‘‘Tempest.’’ Promoted to capitaine de fr
egate or ‘‘junior captain’’ at the outbreak of the War of the League of Augsburg (known in America as ‘‘King William’s War’’), Ducasse led an unsuccessful assault against the Dutch colony of Suriname in November 1688, and that following year played a conspicuous part in the conquest of the English portion of St. Kitts.

Capture of Fort Charles (August 1689) In command of a contingent of 120 flibustiers, Ducasse quit Martinique as

Ducasse, Jean-Baptiste (fl. 1689
1697) part of Governor-General the Comte de Bl
enac’s six warships, 14 merchantmen, and 23 sloops, arriving off Basseterre at St. Kitts on July 27, 1689. The French landed ‘‘and laid the southern part of the island in ashes,’’ driving Colonel Thomas Hill and 400 to 500 English defenders inside tiny Fort Charles at Old Road Town. Bl
enac instituted a formal siege, digging an approach-trench while his batteries and warships bombarded the gate, although the fortress itself had no moat and only gently-sloping walls. More importantly, a hill overlooked its interior, so that after two weeks’ fruitless firing, Ducasse convinced Bl
enac that a battery should be installed atop it. The GovernorGeneral finally agreed, and during the night of August 14th-15th Ducasse’s men dragged six heavy pieces to the top. They opened fire next morning, and the besieged surrendered once they discovered that their counter-fire could not reach the summit. Early next year, Ducasse was given command of three warships, a brigantine, and a sloop, to convey 700 reinforcements to the island of Saint Martin, which was being invested by Sir Timothy Thornhill’s expedition. Ducasse arrived just in time to save this French colony from being overrun, and trapped the English contingent on shore. The latter were rescued late in January 1690 by Thomas Hewetson, who fought a running two-day battle with Ducasse before evacuating Thornhill’s men to Nevis. Ducasse sailed to Saint-Domingue in late January 1691, after hearing of a devastating Spanish attack against its French inhabitants. Stepping ashore amid the burnt remains of Cap Franc¸ois, he visited the nearby Limonade battlefield, where he found more than 300 French dead, ‘‘their bodies

not yet buried, being rotted and halfdesiccated.’’ Shortly thereafter, he proceeded to France and reported on this defeat, leaving La Rochelle for the West Indies once more by the end of March.

Guadeloupe Operation (May 1691) On his return to Martinique, it was learned that a large English force under Gov. Sir William Codrington of the Leeward Islands and Royal Navy Captain Lawrence Wright was besieging Guadeloupe. Ducasse therefore conveyed two companies of infantrymen and 600 flibustiers to reinforce its beleaguered garrison aboard his Hasardeux or ‘‘Dar
ing,’’ Mignon or ‘‘Dainty,’’ Emerillon or ‘‘Merlin,’’ Cheval Marin or ‘‘Sea Horse,’’ plus three 20-gun merchantmen. Being heavily outnumbered, he intended to avoid combat, depositing these troops by stealth. During his passage, the French freed Marie-Galante from English occupation, then began landing their reinforcements on May 23, 1691, at Grosier, Guadeloupe. The English withdrew two days later, their morale sapped by torrential rains and enormous sicklists, with Wright refusing to remain offshore or even engage Ducasse, despite his numerical advantage. Returning triumphantly to Martinique, Ducasse transferred his ships to Saint Croix on August 2nd, as they were infected with yellow fever. Five days later, he sailed again for Port de Paix on the north shore of Hispaniola, where his two warships and single corvette lost 250 men before this disease abated. On October 1st, a letter arrived from Paris, appointing him as Governor of SaintDomingue in succession to Pierre-Paul Tarin de Cussy, killed during the Spanish

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Ducasse, Jean-Baptiste (fl. 1689
1697) invasion eight months previously. The colonists were still frightened and confused in the wake of this disaster, but Ducasse was able to restore their spirits. On February 20, 1692, he conveyed a company of infantrymen from PetitGo^ave to Port de Paix aboard two corsair vessels, sending another company under the Sieur Dumesnil on ahead to Cap Franc¸ois, where they disembarked along with the 120 flibustier crewmembers to reinforce Laurens de Graaf and Charles Franc¸ois Le Vasseur de Beauregard, thereby discouraging a second Spanish incursion from Santo Domingo. Gradually, Saint-Domingue recuperated its strength, and in January 1693 Ducasse was promoted to capitaine de vaisseau or ‘‘senior naval captain.’’ In April of the next year, he dispatched Beauregard with six privateer vessels to raid the eastern coast of Jamaica. They took a New England ship, but HMS Falcon sighted the interlopers next day and chased them, recuperating the prize. When Beauregard reentered Petit-Go^ave, he found that the men-of-war T
em
eraire or ‘‘Fearless’’ of 54 guns, Envieux or ‘‘Envious’’ of 50 guns, and Solide or ‘‘Wellfound’’ had just arrived from France with a merchant convoy, so Ducasse employed them to return to Falcon’s patrol-area and seize the Royal Navy vessel, despite a stout resistance. He then marshaled all his forces for a descent on the English island.

Jamaican Campaign (Summer 1694) Early in June, Ducasse sortied from Petit-Go^ave with his flagship T
em
eraire under its Captain the Chevalier du Rollon, accompanied by Hasardeux and Envieux. Off Cape Tiburon, he gathered

a fleet totaling 22 sail and more than 3,000 men, appearing off the eastern tip of Jamaica by the morning of June 27, 1694, ‘‘in a fresh gale.’’ Eight vessels remained off Port Morant, while 14 others anchored in Cow Bay, 15 miles east of Port Royal. The French learned that the island’s English forces had been forewarned by Captain Stephen Elliott, their defenses being fully prepared. Therefore, Ducasse’s plan of directly storming Port Royal had to be altered, as Du Rollon refused to risk any of the King’s ships in such a bold undertaking. Ducasse consequently landed 800 men under Beauregard, who marched eastward plundering and destroying everything in his path. From Port Morant, French boats were sent round to ravage the northern shoreline as well; the English under Gov. William Beeston were reluctant to sally for fear of dividing their smaller forces with their enemy still to windward. On July 1, 1694, a sudden gust made T
em
eraire drag its anchors, carrying it downwind to Bluefields Bay along with another French vessel, where the flibustier commander Jean Bernanos made a secondary disembarkation before eventually standing away toward PetitGo^ave. Ducasse, however, was already encamped ashore, so continued to direct land operations until July 27th, when he mustered the bulk of his fleet in Cow Bay to once again threaten Port Royal. When Beeston sortied to contest this French maneuver, Ducasse quickly reembarked his men under cover of darkness, and sent all but the three largest ships with his deputy De Graaf to assault Carlisle Bay, 35 miles farther west. This contingent dropped anchor on the afternoon of July 28th, landing 1,400 to 1,500 flibustiers that night. Next morning, they assailed the small local garrison,

Ducasse, Jean-Baptiste (fl. 1689
1697) Jamica

N

The French fleet divided, some anchoring off Port Morant (1), others near Yallahs (2). Realizing that Port Royal could not be surprised, both squadrons ravaged coastal plantations, before T
em
eraire dragged its anchors and drove downwind—dotted line—to Bluefields Bay (3), where Bernanos made a secondary landing. Ducasse eventually sent De Graaf in a thrust toward Carlisle Bay (4), where more damage was inflicted, before the French fleet reunited and retraced their course back to Saint-Domingue (5).

Beauregard commanding the van, De Graaf directing the main body. After driving back the few Englishmen, foraging parties were sent out to scour the countryside, and when Ducasse joined a few days later, the booty was transferred aboard his flotilla. The French weighed on August 3rd and 11 days afterward were back in PetitGo^ave, having spent a month-and-a-half rampaging through Jamaica.

Anglo-Spanish Counterattack (1695) Late that following month, Beeston sent a small force of three men-of-war, a fire-ship, and two barks to exact vengeance. They bombarded the village of l’Esterre near L
eog^ane on October 11,

1694, and then bore down on PetitGo^ave, sheering off when they realized Beauregard was prepared to receive them. A few huts were burnt on ^Ile a Vache before the Jamaicans disappeared over the horizon. Next spring, however, an expedition arrived in the Antilles from England, two-dozen vessels and almost a thousand troops under Colonel Luke Lillingston and Commodore Robert Wilmot, which joined forces with the Spaniards of Santo Domingo and Armada de Barlovento. On May 15, 1695, this huge force descended on Cap Franc¸ois (modern Cap Ha€tien), pushing aside the heavily outnumbered French defenders commanded by De Graaf. One month later, the Royal Navy squadron reached Port de Paix, skirmishing with its defenders until the invading

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Ducasse, Jean-Baptiste (fl. 1689
1697) armies arrived overland. The garrison became besieged and attempted to evacuate two hours before dawn on July 15th, but were caught in an ambush. After leveling Port de Paix, the English and Spanish sailed away on July 27th. No major campaigns could be mounted that following year, although Ducasse was advised that a counterexpedition would be sent out from France under Bernard Jean-Louis de Saint-Jean, Baron de Pointis, for which he should prepare by raising a large contingent of flibustiers. This fleet did not actually appear off Cap Franc¸ois until early March 1697, and the 84-gun flagship Sceptre dropped anchor before Petit-Go^ave on March 16th. When Ducasse went aboard, Admiral Pointis was infuriated to learn that only a few hundred buccaneers awaited him, the rest having dispersed on their own pursuits. Relations worsened a day later when a French naval officer arrested an unruly boucanier ashore, touching off a riot in which two or three others died. Only the intervention of Ducasse succeeded in calming the mob. The freebooters were offended by the secondary role that they were being offered in the enterprise, the question of their shares was kept deliberately vague and Ducasse was excluded from any command position. Nonetheless, they enlisted in good numbers once Pointis published a proclamation stating that they would participate ‘‘man for man’’ with the crews of the royal warships, and Ducasse offered to go as an individual ship-captain aboard his 40-gun Pontchartrain, commanding only the island contingent. A force of 170 soldiers, 110 volunteers, 180 free blacks, and 650 buccaneers was promptly raised, sailing aboard the

20-gun Gracieuse or ‘‘Graceful’’; the 18-gun Serpente, Cerf Volant or ‘‘Kite,’’ Saint Louis, the 16-gun Dorade or ‘‘Golden One,’’ Marie-Franc¸oise, and one other vessel. They rendezvoused off Cape Tiburon with the royal fleet, and by April 8, 1697, were in sight of the Spanish Main. Five days later, they dropped anchor before Cartagena.

Cartagena Campaign (April
May 1697) An immediate landing by the buccaneers was proposed near the city, but cancelled once Ducasse and Pointis reconnoitered the shore in a boat, finding it lined with dangerous reefs. (Their own craft became overturned, and they barely escaped drowning.) It was therefore decided to force the harbor entrance known as Bocachica further to the south, so that Ducasse and Pointis disembarked on April 15, 1697, with 1,200 men. While preparing their siege operations, the buccaneers captured a coaster arriving from Portobelo, and drove off Spanish reinforcements which were stealing down for Bocachica from Cartagena in boats. During this latter affray, some freebooters came under fire from the fortress itself, which caused them to immediately scatter. Mistaking this flight for military indiscipline, Pointis fell on them with a cudgel, and treated the rovers with ever-increasing contempt. Bocachica surrendered after the initial assault on April 16th, with six French soldiers and seven buccaneers having been killed and 22 wounded, among the latter Ducasse. The flibustier contingent was now under his second, Joseph d’Honon de Galliffet, a relative newcomer to SaintDomingue and who was not well known

Ducasse, Jean-Baptiste (fl. 1689
1697) among the rovers. When Pointis ordered them into the boats to seize the Nuestra Se~ nora de la Popa high ground while his main army advanced overland, there was considerable hesitation. Galliffet seized a buccaneer by the arm, but was thrown off. Pointis therefore had the offender tied to a tree and blindfolded, in anticipation of being executed by regular musketeers. Galliffet publicly interceded and in a contrived gesture, Pointis released the man so as to ingratiate Galliffet with his followers. The buccaneers then occupied the heights unopposed, and linked up with the main army on April 20th. A formal siege of the city was thereupon instituted, with approachtrenches being dug and heavy artillery landed from the fleet. Pointis was wounded in a leg by a sharpshooter’s round, so supervised the works from a litter. On April 28, 1697, a heavy bombardment began against the Getsemanı´ suburb, and during a lull two days afterward, Ducasse, now recuperated from his injury, visited a Spanish officer at the gate and noticed that a breach had been battered. At his urging, Pointis ordered the final assault for four o’clock that same afternoon and in bloody fighting, French grenadiers and buccaneers fought their way through to the very edge of Cartagena itself. The defenders’ morale collapsed and on the evening of May 2nd, white flags were hoisted on the city walls. While finalizing the capitulation terms, Pointis received word that a Spanish relief-column of more than 1,000 men was approaching, so sent Ducasse and his buccaneers with several hundred soldiers to oppose them. The enemy never appeared, though, and Pointis meanwhile occupied Cartagena on May 4th. By the

time Ducasse and his men returned, they found the gates closed and were billeted in the impoverished, devastated suburb of Getsemanı´. The French commander-inchief feared that they would violate his carefully-arranged capitulation terms, so kept them outside the walls and away from where the booty was being tallied. The few remaining Spanish inhabitants in the city were obligated to surrender most of their wealth as tribute, and the total plunder eventually ascended to eight million French crowns. The buccaneers expected a quarter of this amount, but were outraged at the end of the month to discover that they were only to receive 40,000 crowns. Unknown to them, the crews aboard Pointis’ royal warships had been serving for only a small percentage of the whole, which is what he had meant when he had deceitfully offered them shares ‘‘man for man.’’ Yet by now the plunder was aboard his men-of-war, ready to depart. Furious at being duped, the buccaneers swarmed back into Cartagena on May 30th, brushing aside Ducasse’s attempts to dissuade them, and rounding up every Spaniard they could find. These unhappy victims were herded into the principal church and sprinkled with gunpowder, threatening to be scorched alive unless an additional five million crowns was forthcoming. This was clearly impossible, but through torture and extortion, the buccaneers raised a thousand crowns per man before weighing on June 3rd. Pointis had meanwhile departed, yet four days later encountered the large fleet of Vice Admiral John Neville and his Dutch allies hastening to Cartagena’s rescue. Outnumbered and with most of his crews dead or diseased, Pointis reversed course and evaded his pursuers over the next two

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Ducasse, Jean-Baptiste (fl. 1689
1697) days, until finally shaking them off by sun-up on June 10th. This chase had carried Neville very near to Cartagena, which he visited briefly before roaming eastward and sighting Ducasse on June 25th, at anchor with eight buccaneer vessels off Sambay. The English captured Gracieuse and the 50-gun Christe (perhaps a Spanish prize originally called Santo Cristo?), and drove Saint-Louis of Capitaine Charles aground, where he and his crew escaped ashore—only to be hunted down and eventually put to work rebuilding Cartagena’s defenses. Neville detached four men-of-war to pursue Ducasse’s remaining vessels, which scattered in the direction of Saint-Domingue. Cerf Volant of Capitaine Macary was driven aground on that coast, but the rest arrived safely. On June 29, 1697, Ducasse wrote Pontchartrain from L
eog^ane, complaining bitterly of Pointis’ deceitfulness, and the destruction of his flibustiers. A prolonged litigation ensued, even after hostilities concluded a few months later, that eventually resulted in a slightly larger share being paid to the freebooters. By 1700, Ducasse had resigned his Governorship and returned to France.

Philip V of Spain, Ducasse then quit Cadiz to escort a Spanish convoy with his flagship Heureux and three other French warships, ironically reentering Cartagena as an ally five years after having helped lay it to waste. Then, in a running fight off Santa Marta from August 29 to September 3, 1702, he beat off a superior English force in what has become known as Admiral John Benbow’s ‘‘Last Fight.’’ Returning to Europe, Ducasse participated in the huge Battle of V
elez-M
alaga on August 24, 1704, in which he was wounded. Recuperated from his injuries, he resumed his escort duties for Spanish treasure-fleets, successfully guiding them across the Atlantic in 1705, 1708, and 1711. As a reward for these services, he was promoted to lieutenant g
en
eral or ‘‘rear admiral’’ in the French royal navy in 1707, and invested with Spain’s Tois
on de Oro or ‘‘Golden Fleece’’ in April 1712. Ducasse was placed in command of the Spanish royalist forces besieging Barcelona in March 1714, yet was forced to retire next year because of ill health. He died at Bourbon-l’Archambault in France, on June 25, 1715.

References Subsequent Career (1701
1715) At the outbreak of the War of the Spanish Succession, he was promoted in July 1701 to chef d’escadre or ‘‘commodore’’ in the remobilizing royal navy and dispatched into Spain to secure the slave asiento for French interests, now that the two countries had become united. Additionally appointed as capit
an general or ‘‘admiral’’ by the new Bourbon monarch

Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series America and West Indies, Volume 13 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1901). Crouse, Nellis M., The French Struggle for the West Indies, 1665
1713 (New York: Octagon, 1966). Interesting Tracts Relating to the Island of Jamaica (St. Jago de la Vega, Jamaica: Lewis, Lunan and Jones, 1800). Lugo, Am
erico, Recopilaci
on diplom
atica relativa a las colonias espa~ nola y francesa de la isla de Santo Domingo,

Ducasse, Jean-Baptiste (fl. 1689
1697)

SPAIN’S ‘‘CROSS OF BURGUNDY’’ FLAG Throughout much of its early imperial history, Spain did not have a single national flag. The amalgamation of medieval kingdoms and principalities of the Iberian Peninsula, as well as various other dynastic possessions scattered throughout Europe, had all mostly chosen to retain their own traditional colors as they coalesced under diverse Hapsburg rulers. Yet Spain’s distant colonies in the New World had been conquered at a later date, during the reign of its first great unifying Hapsburg monarch Charles I, whose preferred personal symbols were those of his father, Duke Philip of Burgundy. Once Charles had furthermore been crowned in 1530 as Holy Roman Emperor, in addition to his many other titles, his favorite ‘‘Cross of Burgundy’’ flag became embraced as the standard ensign flown throughout his vast Spanish-American holdings. This flag featured a red raguly saltire, also known as the Cross of Saint Andrew, usually on a white background. In heraldry, such raguly patterns were meant to depict two tree-trunks, with their branches cut off and crossed so as to form the saltire. Further regional symbols might be discreetly included in a flag’s center, as well as decorative borders, and their backgrounds were not always uniformly white; this basic design was to remain the standard ensign displayed throughout the New World until the end of the 17th century, and even well into the succeeding Bourbon reign. It was distinct and easily recognizable, an example of its usage occurring on September 19, 1686, when a small captured frigate and bark steered by pirates approached the Perico Island anchorage off Panama City, to make a reconnaissance. The flibustier chronicler Ravenau de Lussan, who was aboard, later noted how: ‘‘The Spaniards, upon sighting us from the opposite shore, peppered us with three shots, after raising the flag of Bourgogne on their windward bastion.’’

Red raguly saltire upon a white background, the standard flag flown throughout Spain’s American empire during the seventeenth century. (Author’s Collection)

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Duhamel, Capitaine (fl. 1692) 1640
1701 (Ciudad Trujillo, Dominican Republic: Editorial ‘‘La Naci
on,’’ 1944).
Taillemite, Etienne, Dictionnaire des Marins Franc¸ais (Paris: Editions Maritimes et d’Outre-mer, 1982).

DUHAMEL, CAPITAINE (fl. 1692) Saint-Malo shipmaster issued an emergency commission by Gov. Jean-Baptiste Ducasse. In the early days of 1692, when the French colony of Saint-Domingue was struggling to recover from the trauma of that previous year’s Spanish invasion, its vigorous new Governor Ducasse dispatched the frigates of Captains Dessaudrays and Duhamel: . . . to cruise off Cape Tiburon with orders that when they discover the enemy ships returning, they are to advise me in order to gather everyone who is scattered over 20 or 30 leagues of countryside.

Reference Lugo, Am
erico, Recopilaci
on diplom
atica relativa a las colonias espa~ nola y francesa de la isla de Santo Domingo, 1640
1701 (Ciudad Trujillo, Dominican Republic: Editorial ‘‘La Naci
on,’’ 1944).

DUMESNIL, SIEUR (fl. 1684
1692) Flibustier and defender of Saint-Domingue. Dumesnil’s name was first mentioned in 1684, when he was listed in a report to Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Marquis de Seignelay, as one of the senior buccaneer

captains on that island, commanding the ship Trompeuse or ‘‘Trickster’’ of 14 guns and 100 men. Eight years later, following the disastrous losses incurred during the Spanish invasion of 1691, Dumesnil and his men were pressed into a more active role in the colony’s land defenses. On February 16, 1692, he and his company set sail from Petit-Go^ave with the new Gov. JeanBaptiste Ducasse, aboard two small flibustier vessels, to bolster the northeastern frontier against an anticipated Spanish return. Ducasse landed with some militia contingents at Port de Paix on February 20th, forwarding Dumesnil and his freebooters to Cap Franc¸ois to reinforce Laurens de Graaf and Charles Franc¸ois Le Vasseur de Beauregard. The expected Spanish attack never materialized, though, and in the words of Ducasse: ‘‘From the moment the flibustiers knew that the Spaniards’ design had been aborted, they exited with five or six vessels.’’ The frustrated Governor added: They are very bad subjects, who believe they have not been put in the world except to practice brigandage and piracy. Enemies of subordination and authority, their example ruins the colonies, all the young people having no other wish than to embrace this profession for its libertinage and ability to gain booty.

References Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924). Lugo, Am
erico, Recopilaci
on diplom
atica relativa a las colonias espa~ nola y francesa de la isla de Santo Domingo, 1640
1701 (Ciudad Trujillo, Dominican Republic: Editorial ‘‘La Naci
on,’’ 1944).

E Those great rogues and enemies to all mankind are sensible of their condition if they be taken, which naturally makes them very desperate. —Governor Francis Nicholson of Virginia, June 1700

in company with the sloop Greyhound cruise round the island.’’ The two sloops were joined by a third a few days later, yet did not come up with any enemies. In the first days of September 1692, a similar crisis occurred when the order was given ‘‘for payment to the master of the sloop Pembroke, and that he at once go in pursuit of Nathaniel Grubbing.’’ However, it was not until two years later that Elliott truly distinguished himself, when he was sent from Port Royal in April 1694 with a cargo of £8,000 to £10,000 worth of merchandise ‘‘to trade upon the coasts of Cartagena and Portobelo.’’ There, he was taken in a bay by two French privateers, and carried to Petit-Go^ave on Saint-Domingue. While being held captive, he witnessed the arrival of a French convoy escorted by three 50-gun men-of-war under the Chevalier du Rollon. The island Gov.

ELLIOTT, STEPHEN (fl. 1692
1694) English master who saved Jamaica. It is not known whether Elliott was in command of the private sloop Pembroke in 1692, the third year of the War of the League of Augsburg or King William’s War, when this vessel was hired by the Council of Jamaica, but it seems likely. Specifically, 10 or 12 French corsair craft had been reported prowling to windward or eastward of that island in mid-April, and the renegade Nathaniel Grubbing was ‘‘on his way to make a second raid.’’ As a result, Pembroke was hired and Captain Edward Oakley of HMS Guernsey was instructed to put 60 men on board and press 10 more, so that his Lieutenant might ‘‘take command and

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Enfants Perdus Jean-Baptiste Ducasse used this trio to surprise the lone Jamaican coast-guard frigate, HMS Falcon, then decided to mount a full-scale assault against unsuspecting Jamaica, which the French knew to be weakened in the aftermath of the earthquake of two years earlier, plus desertion by many privateers. Consequently, a huge French force began to muster, soon swelling to 20 sail and 3,000 men. Alarmed, Elliott and two companions resorted to the desperate expedient of stealing a canoe, and putting to sea on the night of June 5, 1694. They reached Jamaica five days later, arriving at the house of Gov. William Beeston that evening, as he was sitting with some visitors. Beeston was astonished at the sight of Elliott, ‘‘in a very mean habit and with a meager weather-beaten countenance,’’ but more astounded still at his news. The Council was immediately convened, and at a nine o’clock that same night a state of emergency was declared. Work was rushed on the harbor fortifications, guns were mounted, troops marshaled, ships secured, and reinforcements dispatched to outlying areas. By the time Ducasse appeared off Port Morant with 22 sail on June 27th, the defenders had used the intervening two-and-a-half weeks to great advantage. Although outnumbered by the invading host, they were able to discourage any direct assault against Port Royal, so that the French contented themselves with ravaging the coastal plantations. As a reward for his bravery, the Lords of Trade and Plantations in London voted that November: That the services of Captain Elliott and two men who escaped from PetitGo^ave and gave warning of the coming attack on Jamaica be represented

to the King, and that His Majesty be moved to grant Captain Elliott £500, a medal and chain, and the two men £50 apiece. The King furthermore appointed Elliott on January 14, 1695 (O.S.), as a Captain in the Royal Navy, with a commission back-dated to June 14, 1694, and gave him command of the 24-gun frigate HMS Maidstone.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 13, 14 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1893
1899). Interesting Tracts Relating to the Island of Jamaica (St. Jago de la Vega, Jamaica: Lewis, Lunan and Jones, 1800).

ENFANTS PERDUS French military slang—translated literally, it means ‘‘the lost children’’—used to describe any vanguard, assault-force, or other advance-unit in battle. The English equivalent was the ‘‘forlorn.’’ When the stealthily advancing pirate flotilla of Franc¸ois Grogniet and George Dew concealed themselves up a steamy inlet on Pun
a Island’s northern tip on April 17, 1687, they agreed to divide up and assault specific strongpoints once they reached their intended upriver target of Guayaquil three days later. Fifty enfants perdus under Captain Pierre Le Picard were assigned the task of storming its citadel, ‘‘with the promise of a thousand pieces-of-eight to the first man to hoist the colors over the main fort.’’

England, Edward (fl. 1718
1720)

The Irish-born Edward Seegar, better known as ‘‘Captain Edward England,’’ as depicted in A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates. (Library of Congress)

See also Dew, George; Forlorn; Grogniet, Franc¸ois; Le Picard, Capitaine.

Reference Lussan, Ravenau de, Journal of a Voyage into the South Sea (Cleveland, OH: Arthur H. Clark, 1930).

ENGLAND, EDWARD (fl. 1718
1720) Wide-ranging rover, who prowled from the West Indies to Africa and into the Indian Ocean during his brief, yet spectacular career. His surname ‘‘England’’ was apparently adopted as a pseudonym once he turned pirate, it being generally believed

that he had been born in Ireland as Edward Seegar, and was most likely raised a Catholic. Nothing precise is known about his early life, and he first appeared in the official records as mate of a Jamaican trading-sloop taken late in 1717 by the freebooter Captain Christopher Winter, who carried this prize into lawless New Providence (modern Nassau in the Bahamas). When news of an amnesty for pirates being offered by King George I was announced there that same December 1717, as a prelude to a full-blown expedition next summer intended to re-colonize that archipelago under a new Royal Governor, Woodes Rogers, Winter was one of the renegade commanders who chose to accept the English Crown’s pardon and submit to this new administration.

Initial African and Antillean Sweeps (1718
1719) Seegar, however, had evidently committed fully during his brief captivity to a life of piracy, and emerged as a leader among the more defiant elements of Winter’s crew. He therefore assumed command, adopted the fictitious name of ‘‘Edward England,’’ and cleared New Providence before the arrival of Governor Rogers’ convoy of settlers in late July 1718. England instead steered across the Atlantic for the Azores and Cape Verde Islands, then prowled along the slaving coast of West Africa, snapping up prizes and increasing his flotilla’s strength by recruiting or impressing new hands. Off Sierra Leone, he intercepted the small snow Cadogan out of Bristol, whose Captain Peter Skinner was ordered aboard England’s flagship Pearl.

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England, Edward (fl. 1718
1720) Immediately on stepping on its deck, Skinner was recognized by his former boatswain, whom he had gotten rid of along with a few other troublesome hands during a previous voyage, by deliberately having them pressed into the Royal Navy. Skinner had even refused to pay their overdue wages as they were dragged off his ship, so that the vengeful boatswain and his piratical comrades now vowed to repay ‘‘all in your own coin.’’ Skinner was lashed to the windlass and pelted with broken bottles, then untied to stagger bloodily about the deck while being whipped, until he finally collapsed. Since he had been such a good master, the boatswain sneeringly told him prostrate form, he would be given an easy death, and then shot him through the head. Cadogan was afterward released under Skinner’s mate, the Welsh seaman Howell Davis, who would sail it for Brazil and Barbados, before starting his own piratical career. England had meanwhile returned across the ocean as well on the trade winds, to hunt among the Lesser Antilles. On January 17, 1719 (O.S.), another of his victims—Jonathan Bull, commander of the merchant ship Christiana out of Boston—appeared before Governor Walter Hamilton of Antigua to complain that while: Bound from Surinam to Boston, deponent on Dec. 5th last [1718 O.S.], was taken and plundered off Barbados by a pirate brigantine mounted with 12 guns, about 90 men on board, commanded by Edward England, with a sloop their tender. An hour before, they [i.e., the pirates] took a sloop belonging to Colonel Lesley of Barbados, which they

sank. The night following, they took a vessel bound to Barbados from Guinea with 250 Negroes, and some small time after another ship from Madera bound for Barbados with provisions, etc. On [December] 28th, they took a small sloop belonging to Martinico. Believes they intend to fit out the Guinea-man [i.e., the slaver] for their man of war, somewhere near St. Vincents. When they sent him and his men off in their own vessel, they had on board five commanders with their men, including the commander of a brigantine belonging to Piscataqua taken about 18th December. They were about 125 in number when he left them. Despite what Bull had reported, though, England stood away westward shortly thereafter for the Greater Antilles. John Bois, a carpenter from the English merchant frigate Wade, who was being held captive that same January 1719 aboard Captain Louis La Buze’s French pirate ship Postillon, later declared how his flibustier captors were: . . . engaged by an English pirate off Saman
a Bay, which plundered them and took off deponent. These [English marauders then] plundered another vessel, and sent deponent and one Isaac Walker on board, because they refused to go with the pirates. The pirates had on board about 130 white men, and about 50 Spaniards, Negroes, and Indians, 26 guns and four swivel-guns, commanded by Edward England, an Irishman. They designed to go to the latitude of Barbados to get bread or flour and a better ship, and from thence to the coast of Guinea and Brazil.

England, Edward (fl. 1718
1720) England must have incorporated La Buze’s vessel into his flotilla, and then used the well-known pirate refuge at Saman
a Bay to fit out his Guinea-slaver prize as his new flagship, renaming it the Royal James (most likely in honor of the exiled Stuart Pretender, who was still living in Rome and laying claim to the English throne from afar as James III, against the Hanoverian George I). Yet the latter part of Bois’ deposition certainly proved to be true, for Robert Leonard, commander of the snow Eagle out of New York, would later testify how while sailing along out in the open Atlantic, in a latitude of 23° North on February 15, 1719 (O.S.), he had the misfortune to be: . . . taken and his ship plundered by a pirate ship. The commander beat him with his cutlass for not bringing to at first shot, and the pirates threatened to sink his vessel and throw him overboard with a double-headed shot about his neck, if he concealed where his money was. They said they had taken a French pirate in Scots Bay at the north end of Hispaniola. The Captain’s name was Edward England and the Master, who sailed with deponent about six months ago as boatswain, was Alexander Ure.

Renewed West African Depredations (1719) On regaining his old hunting-grounds off West Africa for a second time, England’s Royal James began a sweep from the mouth of the Gambia River, intercepting a pair of vessels as he slowly circled around to the main English slaving-depot at Cape Corso (modern Cape

Coast, Ghana). On March 25, 1719 (O.S.), the 6-gun pink Eagle out of Cork, bound for Jamaica under Captain Rickets, suffered the loss of seven of its seventeen-man crew—either compelled or volunteering to join the pirates—before his ransacked vessel was released. The second vessel, the 8-gun Charlotte out of London, Captain Olson commander, suffered the burning of his ship and loss of 13 of his 18-man crew into the marauder ranks on May 16, 1719 (O.S.). Little more than a fortnight later, England attacked seven ships lying at anchor off Cape Corso Castle itself, buying and loading slaves on that May 27, 1719 (O.S.). The 12-gun Bensworth out of Bristol under Master Nicholas Gardner was boarded, pillaged, and had 12 of its 30-man crew assimilated into the pirate following, before it was burnt down to its waterline. The 4-gun Sarah out of London, preparing to clear for Virginia under Captain Stunt, was also looted and had three of 18 crewmembers join the rovers, although it was otherwise spared. The same happened to the 2-gun sloop Buck of Captain Silvester, which only had two hands aboard as it was not yet ready to weigh for Maryland, so that these two men were incorporated into the freebooter ranks. The next day, May 28, 1719 (O.S.), England seized the 4-gun Carteret out of London, Captain Snow commander, gaining another five hands from among its 18-man crew, before this gutted vessel was torched. Then, Captain Maggott’s 4-gun Mercury out of London was taken on May 29th (O.S.) and incorporated into the pirate flotilla as a prize, while five of its 18 sailors also transferred aboard. England did not

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England, Edward (fl. 1718
1720) strike again until June 17, 1719 (O.S.), when the 2-gun galley Coward out of London, Captain Creed in command, was pillaged, stripped of four of its 13 hands, and burned. Ten days afterward, the 6-gun Elizabeth and Katherine of Captain Bridge out of Barbados, was seized as yet a second prize and relieved of four of its 14 hands. England then decided to rearrange his motley force, and allow some of his subordinates to cruise independently. The captive Mercury and Katherine were outfitted, armed, and manned as pirate vessels under the new names of Revenge and Flying King, which then separated so as to make their own foray back across the Atlantic. (After taking a few prizes in the West Indies, they would venture south to Brazil that same November 1719, eventually meeting with a disastrous end.) It also seems possible that Captain La Buze may have regained his freedom from England’s command off West Africa in the summer of 1719, receiving the 28-gun, 250-ton prize Indian Queen with his own autonomous following of 90 pirates. Now with a reduced force, England steered for the Cape Corso anchorage once again in August 1719, capturing in its vicinity the galley Peterborough out of Bristol, under Master John Owen. England also wished to cut out two anchored slavers—the Whydah of Captain Prince and John of Captain Rider—but they slipped their cables and moved directly beneath the protection of the Cape Corso Castle guns, which drove off the pirates. England therefore sailed his large prize Peterborough to Ouidah, so as to fit it out as a consort raider renamed the Victory under his subordinate John Taylor, while furthermore careening and cleaning his own flagship Royal James. After the pirates

had worn out their welcome among Ouidah’s native tribesmen, both ships stood back out to sea and their crews voted to sail around South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope, to mount raids into the Red Sea as their predecessors had once done, two decades earlier.

Indian Ocean Foray, Defeat, and Death (1720) After touching at the island of Madagascar for water and provisions early in 1720, England and Taylor pressed on deeper into the Indian Ocean, arriving off the busy Malabar Coast, the south-westernmost tip of the Indian subcontinent. Eventually, they intercepted a pair of local ships and a 300-ton Dutch East Indiaman, which England selected as his new flagship and renamed the Fancy. The pirates returned to Madagascar and set up a base ashore, so as to refurbish and fully arm their two ships. Shortly thereafter, the marauders learned that a trio of East Indiamen had reached nearby Johanna Island on July 25, 1720 (O.S.), to refresh their provisions, so that England’s 34-gun Fancy and Taylor’s 36-gun Victory sortied to fall on them. At 8:00 A.M. on August 17, 1720 (O.S.), Captain James Macrae of the English East Indiaman Cassandra sighted the pirate ships entering the bay, so went aboard his consort Greenwich to confer quickly with its Captain Richard Kirby about a joint defense, before returning aboard his own vessel. However, the faint breezes then failed Cassandra, which could scarcely get under way, while Greenwich and a 22-gun Dutch Indiaman out of Ostend sailing in their company managed to open up a

England, Edward (fl. 1718
1720) three-mile head-start. England’s Fancy therefore bore down slowly on the laggard Macrae, ‘‘flying a black flag at the main-topmast, a red flag at the foretopmast, and the cross of Saint George at the ensign staff.’’ Cassandra finally opened fire shortly before 1:00 P.M., initiating a very brave resistance against the two closing pirate ships—and alone, as Greenwich did not reverse course to help its consort, leaving Macrae to face both marauders on his own. ‘‘He basely deserted us,’’ Cassandra’s Captain would later complain bitterly to his Company directors, ‘‘and left us engaged with barbarous and inhuman enemies with their black and bloody flags hanging over us, and no appearance of escaping being cut to pieces.’’ After three hours of holding off England’s and Taylor’s inexorable advance, by smashing their ships’ oars and riddling their hulls with gunfire, Macrae realized that his badly-battered Cassandra was doomed. He consequently steered in toward shore by 4:00 P.M. on August 17, 1720 (O.S.), hoping to beach it and at least allow his crew to escape onto land. Fancy pursued, and both vessels ran aground in the shallows, exchanging heavy gunfire. But as England’s flagship had become hung up with its bows exposed to Cassandra’s broadside, he received very much the worst of it. At 5:00 P.M., the watching Greenwich at last turned to slip out of the bay, though, a retirement which allowed Taylor to send three additional boatloads of men across to reinforce England, then finally bring an end to the battle by towing his Victory directly beneath the Indiaman’s stern. Seeing this threatening advance, the wounded Macrae ordered his men into the longboat, and by seven o’clock that evening had all his survivors ashore, leaving 13

dead and 24 wounded behind aboard the Cassandra. The pirates took possession of their hard-won prize with its £75,000 worth of trade goods, then offered a bounty of £2,000 for the person of Macrae himself. This brave captain, though, of his own volition ventured aboard the pirate ships 10 days later—once their fighting fury had abated—to negotiate a way off the island for himself and his men. Impressed by his courage, England gave him the badly-damaged Fancy and those trade items which the pirates did not want, permitting the merchant master and his crew to sail away freely. After a terrible 48-day ordeal, Macrae succeeded in reaching the East India Company factory in India, where he was promoted and eventually rose to become Governor of Madras. Meanwhile, his opponent England had suffered a distinctly different fate, despite his triumph. Enraged at the heavy casualties which they had endured in capturing an outward-bound vessel, without any Oriental treasures on board, his minions had vented their disgust by voting England out of office as Captain. Furthermore, they banished him from their company, giving him and his few loyal adherents a small boat with which they reached Saint Augustine’s Bay on Madagascar. England died there shortly afterward, in abject poverty.

See also La Buze, Louis.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series America and West Indies, Volume 30 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1930).

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Evertsen, Jacob (fl. 1685
1688) Ellms, Charles, The Pirates Own Book: Authentic Narratives of the Most Celebrated Sea Robbers (New York: Courier Dover, 1993).

EVERTSEN, JACOB (fl. 1685
1688) Dutch freebooter who acted as Jan Willems’ consort. Evertsen was first mentioned in April 1685, when Laurens de Graaf and the Sieur de Grammont assembled a huge throng of pirates off Isla de Pinos on Cuba’s southern coast, to launch a peacetime raid against Campeche. Evertsen commanded one of the vessels in a buccaneer fleet of six large and four small ships, six sloops, and 17 piraguas that appeared off that Mexican port by the afternoon of July 6th. A landing force of 700 buccaneers rowed in toward shore, and next day overran the city. Its citadel held out for a week, after which the invaders were left in undisputed possession of Campeche over the next two months; but as most of the Spaniards’ wealth had been withdrawn prior to this assault, little plunder was found, and the disappointed pirates evacuated the city by late August, after putting it to the torch.

Jamaican Overture (September 1687) Evertsen was not heard of again until the autumn of 1687, when he reappeared off the northwestern shores of Jamaica with Willems, their force being described as follows: Yankey [Willems] has a large Dutch-built ship with 44 guns and 100 men; Jacob [Evertsen] has a fine

bark with ten guns, 16 patararoes [sic; pedreros or ‘‘swivel-guns’’], and about 50 men. They have also a small sloop. Having recently returned from North America, the rovers hoped to refresh their provisions, for which reason Willems smuggled a letter ashore to a Jamaican with whom he had previously had dealings. This man advised Acting-Gov. Hender Molesworth, who declared that the privateers could not be resupplied, but if they were to come in and renounce roving, they might be made welcome. At that same time, Molesworth secretly instructed Captain Charles Talbot of the frigate HMS Falcon to circle round to the north coast of the island and seize Willems, who was wanted for having captured an English sloop three years earlier. This scheme came to naught when the frigate had to turn back into Port Royal because of its dilapidated sails and rigging. Unaware of this treacherous attempt, Willems and Evertsen entered Montego Bay and drafted a formal petition to the Governor on September 3, 1687 (O.S.), declaring: We have arrived from Carolina and brought several people thence who have been driven from the colony by the trouble with the Spaniards. In all sincerity we present ourselves, our ships and company to the service of the King of England, and hope for your assurance that our ships and men shall not be troubled or molested, as we are ignorant of the laws and customs of this island. We can satisfy you that we have never injured any British subject.

Every, Henry (1659
?) Molesworth replied nine days later, offering a royal pardon and letters of naturalization if the rovers would break up their ships and renounce privateering. Willems and Evertsen responded in late September that to do so would leave them ‘‘destitute of all livelihood in present and future,’’ and that neither had ‘‘money to purchase an estate ashore.’’ The Governor remained unmoved, writing on October 19th: ‘‘If you will accept the condition, make the best of your way to Port Royal; if not, leave the coast at once, for I shall consider the treaty to be at an end.’’ Both captains made off, although a number of their men deserted ashore.

Later that same summer, Captain Peterson appeared off New England with ‘‘the remainder of Yankey’s and Jacobs’ company,’’ and possibly Willems’ ship as well, as his craft was described as ‘‘a barco luengo of ten guns and 70 men.’’

See also Evertsen, Jacob (Volume 1).

References

Honduran Attack (February 1688)

Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 12 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1899). Ju
arez Moreno, Juan, Piratas y corsarios en Veracruz y Campeche (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1972).

Four months afterward, the new Jamaican Governor, the Duke of Albemarle, heard:

EVERY, HENRY (1659
?)

. . . that the pirates Yankey and Jacobs have fallen upon a great Spanish ship in the Bay of Honduras called the Hulk [sic; an urca or ‘‘cargo ship’’], and that they had been in sight of her twelve hours. If Yankey failed in this attempt he is ruined, for it is said that he was very ill provided before. Evidently, the buccaneers succeeded in their aim, for two months later Albemarle received confirmation that they had fought the Spanish ship ‘‘in the port of Cavana [sic; Puerto Cabello?] from seven in the morning till three in the afternoon, and took her.’’ This was to be their last hurrah, however, for shortly thereafter both commanders died.

English mutineer and pirate, last seen at New Providence in the Bahamas. Every—whose name has sometimes been erroneously rendered as ‘‘John Avery,’’ or even ‘‘Long Ben’’—was apparently born to John and Anne ‘‘Evarie’’ in the village of Newton Ferrers, a few miles southeast of Plymouth, England, in August 1659. The details of his early career are unknown, until he enters the books of the 64-gun HMS Rupert as an experienced midshipman under Captain Francis Wheeler in March 1689. In all likelihood, Every must have taken part in the capture of a large French convoy off Brest that summer, the first year of the War of the League of Augsburg or King William’s War, and at the end of

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Every, Henry (1659
?) July was promoted as chief mate to Rupert’s sailing master. In June 1690, Every transferred to HMS Albemarle of 90 guns when Wheeler became its commander, doubtless seeing action in the disastrous Battle of Beachy Head two weeks later. In August of that same year, Every was discharged from the Royal Navy. He next appears in 1693, as the mate aboard the heavily-armed private frigate Charles II, which was lying at Gravesend in anticipation of making a salving expedition to the West Indies. An Irish officer named Arthur O’Byrne, after long service in the Royal Spanish Navy, had secured permission from King Charles II of Spain to work wrecks in the Americas. O’Byrne then sought financial and technical support in London, as England and Spain were temporarily allied against France. The command of this flagship, named in honor of the Spanish monarch and flying his colors, was held by John Strong, who had served with Sir William Phips in a highly lucrative operation on the treasure-ship Concepci
on six years previously. This latest expedition was also intended to attack French possessions and trade with Spanish-American ports, so was to sail well-armed. In addition to the flagship, there were the frigates James and Dove, as well as the pink Seventh Son. After lengthy delays, this flotilla put into the Spanish port of La Coru~ na early in 1694, only to remain at anchor for another three months. Strong died, and was succeeded as Flag-Captain by Charles Gibson, with Every as first mate. The English crews grew restless at being thus long unpaid, so that at nine o’clock on a Monday night, May 7, 1694, with Every acting

as ringleader, they rose with their flagship and slipped past the harbor batteries. Next morning, he set Captain Gibson and some 16 loyal hands adrift in a boat, saying: ‘‘I am a man of fortune, and must seek my fortune.’’ Every then convened a meeting of the 85 mutineers left aboard Charles II, whom he persuaded to embark on a piratical cruise into the Indian Ocean (perhaps in emulation of the well-known exploit of the Rhode Island freebooter Thomas Tew, of that same year). The ship was renamed Fancy, and fell down the West African coast to round the Cape of Good Hope. After a year-and-a-half of adventures in the Far East, Every succeeded in boarding the enormous Mogul trader Ganj-i-sawai off Bombay on September 8, 1695, pillaging it of the immense sum of £200,000. He and his men then sought a means of escaping with their ill-gotten booty, by returning into the Atlantic, and making for the West Indies. In late April 1696, the weather-beaten Fancy dropped anchor at Royal Island off Eleuthera, some 50 miles from New Providence (modern Nassau) in the Bahamas. Every sent a boat with four men to call on the corrupt local Governor, Nicholas Trott, ostensibly giving his name as ‘‘Henry Bridgeman’’ and alleging that his ship was an ‘‘interloper’’ or unlicensed slaver come from the Guinea Coast with ivory and slaves. Privately, this official was offered a bribe of £1,000 to allow the vessel into port and the pirates to disperse. He signaled his acceptance and Every quickly sailed Fancy into harbor, where he and the Governor furthermore struck a deal as to the disposal of the craft itself. Still maintaining the fiction that this was a legal transaction, Every made the ship over into the Governor’s

Exquemelin, Alexandre-Olivier (ca. 1645
post 1707) safe-keeping, ‘‘to take care of her for use of the owners.’’ Once this deal was struck, Fancy was stripped of everything of value—46 guns, 100 barrels of powder, many small arms, 50 tons of ivory, sails, blocks, etc.—and allowed to drift ashore two days later, to be destroyed by the surf. With this tell-tale piece of evidence obliterated, Every and the majority of his followers disappeared from the Bahamas aboard different passing ships, hoping to blend back into civilian life. He was one of the few rovers who ever fully succeeded in eluding justice, which may be why so many myths have attached themselves to his name, both during his lifetime and since. More typical, perhaps, was his crewman Joseph Morris, left behind on the Bahamas when he went mad after ‘‘losing all his jewels upon a wager.’’

Reference Baer, Joel H., ‘‘‘Captain John Avery’ and the Anatomy of a Mutiny,’’ EighteenthCentury Life 18 (February 1994), pp. 1
23.

EXQUEMELIN, ALEXANDRE-OLIVIER (ca. 1645
post 1707) Flibustier surgeon who became famous as a chronicler of buccaneers. He was apparently born around 1645 at the seaport of Honfleur, in France’s Baie de la Seine, and raised as a Huguenot or ‘‘French Protestant.’’ In 1666, war just having been declared against England, Exquemelin departed France as an engag
e or ‘‘indentured servant’’ bound for the Antilles. He set sail from Havre

on May 2nd, aboard the West Indian Company ship Saint-Jean of 28 guns, which joined a convoy of 30 merchantmen assembling at Barfleur, then struck out into the Atlantic one foggy morning escorted by the Commodore Chevalier de Sourdis. A relatively uneventful passage ensued; Barbados, Martinique, Guadeloupe, and Puerto Rico being sighted before Tortuga Island was at last reached on July 7th, on the north coast of SaintDomingue (modern Haiti). Here, Exquemelin was sold into indenture to ‘‘the wickedest rogue in the whole island,’’ the Deputy Governor or ‘‘Lieutenant General.’’ Falling sick, Exquemelin was in turn resold to a surgeon, ‘‘and when I had served him for a year, he offered to set me free for 150 pieces of eight, agreeing to wait for payment until I had earned the money.’’ Exquemelin seems to have joined the flibustiers during the late 1660s, possibly serving under Jean-David Nau l’Olonnais in 1667 to 1668, for he compiled a most detailed account of this leader’s raids against Maracaibo and Central America. In later writings, Exquemelin stated that he remained with the buccaneers ‘‘until the year 1670,’’ although he must have meant only among the flibustiers of SaintDomingue, for he certainly participated in Henry Morgan’s sack of Panama in January 1671. Disappointed at the meager booty from that enterprise, as many other freebooters were, Exquemelin returned to Europe some time later, and by the late 1670s was studying medicine in Amsterdam. While there, he wrote an account of the buccaneers of the West Indies entitled De Americaensche Zee-Roovers (Jan ten Hoorn, publisher, 1678), which became a celebrated best-seller.

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Exquemelin, Alexandre-Olivier (ca. 1645
post 1707) A German edition appeared the next year, a Spanish one in 1681, and two rival English editions in 1684. (Morgan, who figured prominently in Exquemelin’s work, sued the latter two publishers for £10,000 on account of his negative portrayal, and succeeded in winning £200 with damages from each, plus a public apology.) Little else is definitely known about the life of Exquemelin, beyond the fact that he qualified as a doctor with the Dutch Surgeons’ Guild on October 26, 1679, and 17 years later served aboard Admiral Bernard de Pointis’ 84-gun flagship Sceptre, when it set sail from France in January 1697 to participate in the sack of Cartagena. Exquemelin evidently returned from that enterprise, for it is believed that he was still alive in France 10 years later.

See also Exquemelin, Alexandre-Olivier (Volume 1).

References Camus, Michel Christian, ‘‘Une note critique a propos d’Exquemelin,’’ Revue franc¸aise d’histoire d’outre-mer, Vol. 77, No. 286 (1990), pp. 79
90. Exquemelin, Alexandre-Olivier, The Buccaneers of America. Translated from the Dutch by Alexis Brown, with an introduction by Jack Beeching (London: Penguin, 1969). Piracy and Privateering catalog, Vol. Four, National Maritime Museum Library (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1972).
Taillemite, Etienne, Dictionnaire des Marins Franc¸ais (Paris: Editions Maritimes et d’Outre-mer, 1982).

F Here are widows lamenting the loss of their husbands, and parents their children. —Newspaper account of the loss of Otto Van Tuyl’s privateer in a winter gale outside New York, just prior to Christmas 1705

assumed command over this newer and larger ship himself, but was allegedly ‘‘so in love with his own vessel, she being an excellent sailer,’’ that he preferred to remain aboard Good Fortune. Although the pair of pirate commanders had two good ships with which to roam on the account, such a large proportion of their crews had been pressed or forced into service, that a majority voted some months later in favor of requesting a royal pardon, so as to be able to abandon their nomadic existence and return into civilian life. Johnson later recorded their petition as follows:

FENN, JOHN (fl. 1721
1723) A subordinate of Bartholomew Roberts and Thomas Anstis, whose bones would wind up adorning an executioner’s gibbet on Rat Island. According to the chronicler Charles Johnson, Fenn was Anstis’ gunner aboard his 18-gun flagship Good Fortune in the late summer of 1721, when this prowling pirate intercepted a fine 24-gun slaver named the Morning Star, while it was bound from Guinea toward Carolina. A second ship was taken shortly thereafter and its eight guns were also removed, so as to outfit this large slaver prize with a powerful array of 32 cannons and a crew of 100 men. Anstis promoted Fenn to Captain, although he might well have

To His Most Sacred Majesty George, by the Grace of God of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, etc.

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Fenn, John (fl. 1721
1723) The humble petition of the Company now belonging to the Ship Morning Star and Brigantine Good Fortune, lying under the ignominious Name and Denomination of Pyrates. Humbly sheweth: That we, Your Majesty’s most loyal subjects, have at sundry times been taken by Bartholomew Roberts, the then Captain of the above vessels and company, together with another ship in which we left him; and have been forced by him and his wicked accomplices, to enter into and serve in the said company as pirates, much contrary to our wills and inclinations. And we your loyal subjects, utterly abhorring and detesting that impious way of living, did with a unanimous consent and contrary to the knowledge of the said Roberts and his accomplices, on or about the 18th day of April 1721 [O.S.] leave and ran away with the aforesaid ship Morning Star and brigantine Good Fortune, with no other intent or meaning than the hopes of obtaining Your Majesty’s most gracious pardon. And that we, Your Majesty’s most loyal subjects, may with more safety return to our native country and serve the nation unto which we belong in our respective capacities, without fear of being prosecuted by the injured, whose estates have suffered the said Roberts and his accomplices during our forcible detainment by the said company: We most humbly implore Your Majesty’s most royal assent, to this our humble petition. This document was signed in ‘‘roundrobin’’ fashion, all names being affixed

in a circle so that no one would be more prominent than any other. Johnson suggested in his General History that this petition was sent directly to England about December 1721 aboard a merchant vessel sailing out of Jamaica, while the pirates hid with their two ships among the mangrove swamps of a small uninhabited island at the western end of Cuba, to await nine months for an answer. However, official records indicate that this missive was actually addressed in June 1722 to the Governor of Jamaica, it being noted as a: Petition from the ship’s companies of the Morning Star ship and Good Fortune brigantine, 14th June 1722 [O.S.], to Governor Sir Nicholas Lawes: Taken at sundry times by Bartholomew Roberts, the then Captain of the above-said vessels with another ship, petitioners were forced by him to serve as pirates, until on 18th April 1721 [O.S.] they ran away from him with above ships, in hopes of obtaining His Majesty’s pardon, etc. Signed in the form of two round-robins. It was duly forwarded on to the Council of Trade and Plantations in London, who in turn passed it over on December 4, 1722 (O.S.), to the attention of several prominent West Indian merchants, to inquire what they ‘‘may have to offer upon the pirates’ petition.’’ Somewhat surprisingly, these traders replied on January 10, 1723 (O.S.): We have no reason why His Majesty may not be graciously pleas’d to issue his Royal Proclamation for their pardon. Upon this occasion, however, we think it proper to represent, that in former proclamations of this nature, it has been usual to fix a

Fenn, John (fl. 1721
1723) certain day beyond which no act of piracy shall be pardon’d by the said proclamation, which is generally proportion’d to the time by which the persons concern’d may reasonably be supposed to have notice of the said proclamation, after which there is likewise a further day fix’d, before which all such persons who mean to take the benefit of His Majesty’s most gracious pardon, are to surrender themselves. Some proclamations of this kind have been issued by His Majesty with very little effect; the main reason whereof, as we have been inform’d, hath been that the pirates are all of them apprehensive that immediately upon their surrendering themselves to any of the Governors of His Majesty’s plantations in America, all their effects would be seiz’d; wherefore although His Majesty cannot by law give up the property of any persons’ goods piratically taken from him, yet there is no doubt but that His Majesty, if he is so graciously dispos’d, may depart from his own right to any goods found in the possession of pirates, and may likewise, if the same shall be thought reasonable, give orders in the body of the same proclamation by which he shall publish his most gracious pardon to the said pirates, that none of the Governors of His Majesty’s plantations do presume to seize or take possession of any goods in custody of such pirates as shall come in upon the said proclamation, which clause in all probability would be a great inducement to the pirates to surrender themselves, and neither His Majesty’s subjects nor any other person whatsoever would be thereby debarr’d from recovering their

effects in the hands of the said pirates by due course of law. The Council then transferred the petition yet again, this time to the AttorneyGeneral’s and Solicitor-General’s offices on March 8, 1723 (O.S.), so as to receive legal clearance. Yet long before this bureaucratic process had run its course, Fenn and Anstis reemerged from their hidingplace in August 1722 to resume their old practices. However, while steering southeastward, Morning Star ran aground one evening on a reef in the Caymans, Fenn and most of his crew escaping onto a nearby island. Anstis spotted them there next morning, but no sooner had he taken aboard Fenn, his carpenter Phillips, and a few other hands, than the 44-gun HMS Hector of Captain Ellis Brand and his hired consort Adventure hove into view. Anstis barely had time to cut his cables and run out to sea, closely chased by Adventure. This pursuer slowly gained on him and Fenn, keeping within gunshot for several hours, until the wind finally died away. The pirates thereupon manned their sweeps and frantically rowed Good Fortune out of range, managing to disappear into the night. Meanwhile, Brand had landed an armed party from Hector on the island, to take up 40 of Morning Star’s crew without resistance—this group being glad of the opportunity to surrender to the authorities, while the more hardbitten pirates remained hidden in the woods. Anstis steered his brigantine southwestward, to recuperate on an island near the Bay of Honduras. They did not put out to sea again until December 1722, making a few more captures

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Fenn, John (fl. 1721
1723) while cruising toward the Bahamas, before eventually circling southeast and dropping anchor off Tobago by next spring. While most of this dispirited piratical band was ashore, the 24-gun HMS Winchelsea of Captain Humphrey Orme appeared by surprise, causing many to flee into the woods. Anstis once again cut Good Fortune’s cables and managed to escape out to sea with a dozen hands, but Fenn was not so lucky. On June 8, 1723 (O.S.), a satisfied Governor John Hart was able to report from Saint Kitts to London how: On the 11th of May [1723 O.S.], HMS Winchelsea, Captain Orme commander, arrived at Antigua having on board nine pyrates which he took on the island of Tobago, where Captain Finn [sic] and the greatest part of his crew had landed with an intention to separate, the nine mentioned being surpriz’d by a party sent by Captain Orme in quest of them into the woods. Immediately on Captain Orme’s arrival at Antigua, I went on board to take their examinations, and finding no proof against them of piracy, I was obliged to take two persons out of the nine, who upon examination I found were fore’d into the service of the pirates, to be evidence against the rest; the remaining seven were brought to their trial on the 17th May [1723 O.S.] at the town of St. John’s, where fourteen persons named by His Majesty’s commission for the trial of pirates sat as Judges. Captain Finn, who was an associate of the infamous Roberts the Pyrate and the principal of these, came first upon his trial, and the evidence was strong and plain against him: that he had been three years in the brigantine Good Fortune, which he commanded, and had exercis’d several

notorious acts of piracy, he was accordingly convicted with six more of his associates, five of which were executed at high-water mark in the town of St. John’s in Antigua. One of the condemned persons being very penitent, and asserting upon his trial, that he was forc’d from the coast of Brazil into their service where he was a pilot, he was repriev’d at the gallows; and I being thoroughly convinced of his innocence, have since pardoned him. There was also a Portuguese, one of the number taken by the pirates at sea and prov’d to be forced on board by the evidence of two masters of ships, on which the Court of Admiralty acquitted him. Finn is hung up in chains on Rat Island in St. John’s harbor. The fugitive Anstis was murdered around that same while lying in his hammock, shot by a faction aboard Good Fortune who also clapped his few loyal pirates into irons, before sailing to the neutral Dutch island of Curac¸ao to receive pardons.

See also Account; Anstis, Thomas; Roberts, Bartholomew.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 32, 33 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1933
1934). Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924). Journals of the Board of Trade and Plantations, Volume 4: November 1718
December 1722, Journal Book Y (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1925).

Fernando, Francis (fl. 1715
1716) The Lives and Adventures of Sundry Notorious Pirates (New York: McBride, 1922). Seitz, Don Carlos, Gospel, Howard F., and Stephen Wood, Under the Black Flag: Exploits of the Most Notorious Pirates (Mineola, NY: Courier Dover, 2002).

FERNANDO, FRANCIS (fl. 1715
1716) Mulatto privateer who sortied from Jamaica on a freebooter cruise, ending with charges of piracy. Because of the swelling volume of piratical attacks being reported in peacetime to Kingston in late 1715, the Jamaican Governor Lord Archibald Hamilton—so at odds with the island’s Assembly that he could not get any funds authorized—responded to such complaints by beginning to issue commissions to unemployed privateers, so as to hunt down these rogues. Jamaica’s merchants would later complain, however, that while 14 sloops were duly ‘‘mann’d with about 3,000 men to clear those seas . . . the remedy was worse than the disease.’’ One of the commanders who received such a commission on December 12, 1715 (O.S.), was Francis Fernando, ‘‘a mulatto commander of the sloop Bennett.’’ Nothing is known about his birth and early life, nor how he came to be residing in that colony, although one report later stated that: ‘‘This tawny Moor has an estate at Jamaica, and has given good security for his navigation.’’ It was also later proven that Fernando had sold a one-third share in his sloop Bennett to Governor Hamilton, who therefore stood to profit personally from any captures which he made. Fernando had evidently sortied by early next year, yet rather than immediately

proceed to pursue renegade rovers off their hunting-grounds of Florida or the Bahamas, he instead intercepted the Spanish sloop Nuestra Se~ nora de Bel
en of Captain Manuel de Aramburu, as it came staggering toward Havana from Veracruz, having been dismasted and thrown its guns overboard during a storm. Tempted by its rich cargo, the mulatto commander seized on the excuse that this particular sloop had once been the English Kensington of Master Henry Thornton, which—while conveying goods valued at £12,000 for a Jamaican owner—had been captured off Cartagena as a smuggler and carried into Portobelo for condemnation. In hopes of now retaining this recaptured vessel as his prize, Fernando sailed Bel
en into Carlisle Bay on the south coast of Jamaica on February 6, 1716 (O.S.), removing all its valuables and writing a letter to warn Hamilton of its special status, before sending Bel
en on into Port Royal next day for adjudication. It was duly condemned along with all its cargo one month later, yet a witness noted how: The commander of the Spanish sloop affirmed that the said Spanish sloop had on board her at the time of her capture to the value of 250,000 pieces of eight, and Fernando—after he had taken all the money, jewels, and fine goods out of her—sent her with the bulky part of her cargo to Port Royal to be condemned, with a letter to the Governor purporting that she was formerly taken by the Spaniards from the English, and that he would remain at sea with the money until she was condemned. When Aramburu finally did manage to speak with the Jamaican Governor directly, Hamilton ‘‘affirmed that what Fernandez [sic] had done was piracy

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Fernando, Luis (fl. 1699) and without any order from him,’’ yet no other remedy was offered to the aggrieved Spaniard. Fernando had in the meantime resumed his cruise toward the Bahamas, for at the beginning of July 1716, a man named John Vickers reported at Virginia: Sometime about the beginning of March [1716], one Captain Fernandez [sic], an inhabitant of Jamaica, in the sloop Bennet mounted with 10 guns and with about 110 men, took a Spanish sloop with about three millions of money, as it was reported, and silks and cochinilla to the like value, and brought the sloop into Providence and there divided the money and goods among the men, and is returned to the north side of Jamaica to try whether he may go home in safety; and if he found he could not, he gave out that he would return to Providence and settle amongst the rovers. By late September 1716, Captain William Howard of HMS Shoreham was reporting from his station off Charleston in South Carolina, that the pirate-hunters unleashed by Lord Hamilton were abusing their commissions by searching any and all vessels, adding specifically that: . . . there are three of the said sloops turned pirates since: one Horngold, Jennings, and Fernando, who have got 200 men and are joined by a Frenchman [La Buze]; there is in this harbor now three vessels that have been plundered by them, and one master whose sloop and cargo they have taken; they have harbor at Providence [i.e., Nassau on New Providence Island], where they re-victual and clean.

See also Hamilton, Lord Archibald; Hornigold, Benjamin; Jennings, Henry; Pieces of Eight.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, West Indies, Volumes 29, 30, 33 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1957). Journal of the Board of Trade and Plantations, Volume 3: March 1715
October 1718 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1924).

FERNANDO, LUIS (fl. 1699) Spanish corsair mentioned as having captured a sloop in 1699 belonging to Samuel Salters, the Registrar of the Vice-Admiralty Court of Bermuda.

Reference Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924).

FLAG OF TRUCE In addition to its obvious meaning—a white standard displayed to request a military parley—this term was also applied to any vessel delegated to visit a hostile coast or port during wartime, most often to transact a prisoner exchange. For example, during the sixth year of Queen Anne’s War, Governor Thomas Handasyd of Jamaica reported in December 1708 to the Lord High Treasurer in London how: ‘‘A Spanish flag of truce from Santiago upon Cuba came into Port

Flip Royal harbor on the 28th of October [1708 O.S.] with twelve English prisoners, and she carried away 28 Spanish prisoners.’’ Not surprisingly, authorities on the far side of the Atlantic remained suspicious of any and all such contacts with the enemy during wartime, as when the Board of Trade and Plantations in London commended the newly-appointed Governor Sir Bevill Granville of Barbados in October 1703: We do not doubt but you have well considered Her Majesty’s interest in refusing to ratify the cartel with the French, and we cannot but approve of your discouraging the frequent flags of truce sent between the French islands and Barbados, which serves only to carry on a prohibited trade injurious to Her Majesty’s service.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 21, 24 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1913
1922). Calendar of Treasury Papers, Volume 4: 1708
1714 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1974).

FLIP English nickname for a punch-drink made chiefly with ‘‘hot small beer and brandy, sweetened and spiced upon occasion’’ (‘‘small’’ beer being a light or watered beer). This curious name is believed to have derived, obscurely, from the name ‘‘Philip,’’ and the drink itself was very popular among all West Indian seamen, pirates included. For example, when the Jamaican privateer Jonathan Barnet slipped out of

Port Royal in early November 1720 (O.S.) to surprise the pirate ‘‘Calico Jack’’ Rackham, the latter was relaxing unwarily at the western tip of that island, having just: . . . met near the Negril Point a small pettiauger [sic; piragua], which upon sight of him, ran ashore and landed her men; but Rackham hailing them, desired the pettiauger’s men to come aboard him and drink a bowl of punch; swearing they were all friends and would do no harm. Hereupon they agreed to his request, and went aboard him, though it proved fatal to every one of them, they being nine in all. For they were no sooner got aboard, and had laid down their muskets and cutlasses in order to take up their pipes, and make themselves merry with their new acquaintance over a can of flip, but Captain Barnet’s sloop was in sight, which soon put a damp to all their merriment. And the pirate Henry Every was also once described as ‘‘lolling at Madagascar with some drunken sunburnt whore, over a can of flip.’’

See also Every, Henry; Rackham, John.

References Baer, Joel H., ‘‘‘Captain John Avery’ and the Anatomy of a Mutiny,’’ Eighteenth-Century Life 18 (February 1994), pp. 1
23. The Lives and Adventures of Sundry Notorious Pirates (New York: McBride, 1922). Penguin Dictionary of Historical Slang, 1972.

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Flute

FLUTE By the early 18th century, the general designation for any cargo-ship or transport, especially in the French Navy. Originally, a century earlier, Dutch shipwrights—seeking to maximize the volume of bulk-cargos which could be carried by a single merchant vessel, using only a minimal crew—had begun launching broad-bottomed, round-sterned vessels with radically tapered upper works, known as fluyts. This term had passed into the English language as ‘‘flutes,’’ and into French as fl^ utes. The narrowness of these vessels’ upper decks—perched atop a bulging, ample hold—plus the simplicity of their rigging, had meant that they could be handled by relatively small complements, making them a highly-efficient means of conveying commercial freight. But being so lightly manned and armed, they required escorts during times of war. Many Dutch commercial and naval expeditions during the 17th century were accompanied by fluyts, to provide ready resupply in any corner of the globe. Yet by the early 1700s, these original small, old-fashioned vessels were being supplanted by better-designed merchant ships. The term fl^ ute was nonetheless retained in France’s Royal Navy, to describe their auxiliary transport—a distinct branch of that service. These vessels did not constitute a single type of craft, though, but rather a motley collection of wartime prizes and foreign purchases, varying in size from the 700-ton Chariot down to 70-ton brigantines. They were almost exclusively commanded by non-prestigious ‘‘blue officers,’’ capitaine de fl^ ute being the lowest rank recognized on the French Navy’s hierarchical charts.

When the cleric Jean-Baptiste Labat was ordered to the Antilles as a missionary in the late summer of 1693, he arranged passage from La Rochelle aboard the naval fl^ ute Loire, a large ship of 500 tons—yet manned by only 80 sailors under Capitaine de la H
eronniere. Although pierced with 30 gunports, only 20 cannon were installed for this particular voyage, so as to make room for the 30 additional soldiers and 25 civilian passengers, plus extra cargo. Along with the smaller royal fl^ ute Tranquille, they sailed on November 29, 1693, as part of a 38vessel convoy escorted by the brandnew, 44-gun, 500-ton King’s warship Opini^ atre (Obstinate) under Capitaine de Sainte-Marie. The War of the League of Augsburg against England, Holland, and Spain was just then entering its fifth year, so as the Loire was approaching Martinique alone on the afternoon of January 28, 1694—having become separated from its convoy—it was engaged by the 675-ton HMS Chester of 50 guns. Despite their few heavy guns, the French crew was able to beat off this initial attack, because the English mistakenly believed that their large opponent must be the more powerfully-armed Opini^ atre. Darkness fell with Loire still bravely defending itself, and it managed to slip away from this one-sided engagement into the night, despite suffering 37 killed and 80 wounded, including its brave Captain de la H
eronniere. Still, such vessels played a significant role in maintaining France’s empire. When tensions escalated with England again in the spring of 1701, the authorities in London paid close attention to

Flying Gang

A Dutch fluitschip or flute, showing its characteristic rounded hold and narrow upperworks, as depicted by the painter Jan Theunisz Blanckerhoff. (Nederlands Scheepvaart Museum, Amsterdam)

the number of fl^ utes departing Brest with supplies for overseas garrisons.

See also Blue Officers, Flute (Volume 1); Labat, Jean-Baptiste.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Domestic: William III, 1700
1702 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1937).

FLYING GANG Nickname for the band of toughs who prowled the lawless waterfront at Nassau, before Crown rule was restored to the Bahamas.

During Queen Anne’s War, the Bahamian archipelago had become so depopulated by Cuban raids and interruptions to its commercial traffic that only 27 families were left on its main island of New Providence by the time hostilities ceased in April 1713. Another 400 to 500 English residents were scattered throughout the other islands, and there was no private Governor in residence amid the burnt remnants of Nassau, or any assistance forthcoming from the Lord Proprietors in England. Unemployed West Indian rovers therefore drifted into these unpatrolled waters, especially after a Spanish plate fleet was wrecked on the nearby Florida coast in late July 1715, sparking a rush of fortune-seekers and other desperadoes.

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Forban Although visits into Nassau resurged as a result, the only authorities controlling its waterfront were self-appointed hoodlums such as Thomas Barrow. When a disgusted former citizen of New Providence Island, John Vickers, relocated to Virginia in July 1716, he informed Lieutenant-Gov. Alexander Spotswood how: It is common for the sailors now at Providence (who call themselves the flying gang) to extort money from the inhabitants, and one Captain Stockdale . . . was threatened to be whipp’d for not giving them what they demanded, and just upon his coming from thence, he paid them 20 shillings, for which the aforementioned Barrow and one Peter Parr gave him a receipt on the public account. Many of the inhabitants of that island had deserted their habitations, for fear of being murdered. Such receipts, of course, were worthless. Law and order would not be restored at Nassau until Woodes Rogers arrived as the islands’ new Royal Governor in July 1718, accompanied by 250 new settlers and with four naval warships to back up his authority, marking an end to the Flying Gang’s extortions.

While the latter two groups might prove destructive and difficult to control, a necessary evil tolerated during wartime, they at least eventually had to respond for their actions before some government authority on land. Forbans answered to no one, and were likely to attack any targets, including neutrals or even French interests—during war or peacetime—which lowered them from a legal into an illegal status in the eyes of the Crown, everybody’s foe. For example, when Saint-Domingue’s Governor Pierre-Paul Tarin de Cussy sent a report from Cap-Franc¸ois to Paris on May 3, 1688, addressing a complaint forwarded by the Minister of Marine Marquis de Seignelay about the sacking of a bark by Captain Jan ‘‘Janquay’’ Willems’ followers, he concluded by saying: ‘‘It would be very difficult to find [even] five or six men from that crew, having dispersed, some to the South Sea, and others having become pirates among the English.’’

See also Forban (Volume 1); Willems, Jan.

Reference Archives Nationales [France], CAOM Colonies, C9 A rec. 1.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 29 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1957).

FORBAN French synonym for ‘‘pirate’’ or lawless sea-rover, as opposed to a licensed corsaire or West Indian flibustier.

FORD, ANTHONY (fl. 1697) English privateer whose ship John’s Bonadventure, in consort with the Dutch privateer Dolfijn out of Middelburg, captured the French Concorde or Conqu^ ete in 1697, during the closing

Franco, Capitaine (fl. 1686
1694) stages of King William’s War, carrying this prize into Barbados.

Reference Chapin, Howard M., Privateer Ships and Sailors: The First Century of American Colonial Privateering, 1625
1725 (Toulon: G. Mouton, 1926).

FRANCO, CAPITAINE (fl. 1686
1694) French or Dutch corsair who roamed the South Sea. Franco’s tiny expedition originally sailed from the coast of New England for the Guinea Coast in West Africa, from whence it departed again on December, 1686, presumably to join the French privateering forces already known to be operating in the Pacific under Capitaines Franc¸ois Grogniet, Pierre le Picard, Jean Rose, and others. Franco himself was later described in Spanish records as French, or possibly Dutch (Frank? Frankel?), yet operating with a French commission. His small ship entered the Strait of Magellan in early March 1687, emerging into the South Pacific one month later. By June 27th he was off Tumbes, at the mouth of the Gulf of Guayaquil, after which he touched at Coiba Island on July 20th, before entering the Gulf of Panama on August 4th. The flibustiers he had hoped to meet were already being driven out of those waters by the Armada del Mar del Sur, so Franco— with only 41 crew-members—elected to proceed even further northwest and prowl the coast of New Spain. He may have been the rover who landed at

Acaponeta (Mexico) more than a year later, on November 14, 1688, ‘‘and carried off 40 women, much silver and people,’’ including a Jesuit and Mercedarian friar. This same intruder was chased early next year by ships from Acapulco, who described the enemy vessel as ‘‘old and with few people on it.’’ By June 1689, Franco had returned to Isla de la Plata (Ecuador), and shortly thereafter visited the remote Gal
apagos Islands, which he was to use as a base for sweeps along the mainland between the Gulf of Guayaquil and Trujillo. The raiders’ numbers were insufficient for any significant descents, however, as was revealed when Franco captured the ship San Francisco Xavier out of Pun
a on October 15, 1689. The Spanish captives discovered that he only had 89 men on board, 34 of them French, four Dutch, an English pilot, and the rest SpanishAmerican blacks or Indians. By April 1690, Franco was back at the Gal
apagos, where he burnt his old vessel and transferred into the prize. He then sailed northwestward to New Spain, remaining off that coast from July 1690 through August 1691. Returning to the Gal
apagos, he seized Santa Marı´a y Hospital de los Pobres off Isla de la Plata on August 25, 1691, with a cargo of cloth, sails, ropes, and 70 black slaves. Next, he intercepted the Jesuit-owned Santo Tom
as off Punta Pari~nas (Peru) on September 2nd, with only timber aboard. Franco then ran southward, touching at the Juan Fern
andez Islands on October 31st, before capturing the Valdiviabound Nuestra Se~ nora de Begonia three days later, with a welcome cargo of flour, biscuit, cheese, and wine. The

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Franco, Capitaine (fl. 1686
1694) rovers thereupon retired to the Juan Fern
andez grouping, making occasional forays to the Chilean coast until March 1, 1692, when they struck northward again toward Peru. This cruise took them as far as the Gal
apagos and back to Juan Fern
andez, yet proved unsuccessful, with few prizes or plunder won. Franco therefore decided to exit by the Strait, and parted company with his quartermaster and 22 other companions in late December 1692, who had chosen to remain cruising in the South Sea with one of their prizes. By early March 1693, Franco’s ship was as far south as the island of Chilo
e (Chile), when he inexplicably veered around and headed up the South American coastline again, this time employing different tactics. He took the Santiago de Mendı´a off Iquique at the end of that same month, which he sailed to Arica and offered to restore to the Spaniards, if they would pay a ransom of 7,000 pesos. This was refused, so he burnt Santiago within sight of that port; but when he returned in June with Magdalena and Nuestra Se~ nora del Rosario, which he had intercepted carrying a cargo of Chilean

wheat for Lima, he received payments of 4,000 and 9,000 pesos respectively. In a final act of duplicity, Franco cheated the merchants of Arica by sailing away with this latter prize to the Gal
apagos, where he prepared it for returning into the Atlantic, and abandoned San Francisco. Three more Spanish vessels were plundered off Pisco, mostly of wine, before Franco at last disappeared into the Strait of Magellan in early December 1693. Once through, he set course for Brazil, then sought refreshment and provisions at the French colony of Cayenne. From there, he ran across the Atlantic through the Anglo-Dutch blockades, ironically running aground as he approached La Rochelle on September 4, 1694.

References Bradley, Peter T., The Lure of Peru: Maritime Intrusion into the South Sea, 1598
1701 (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1990). Robles, Antonio de, Diario de sucesos notables, 1665
1703 (Mexico City: Editorial Porr
ua, 1972).

G He says he will tell all that he knows, as if he was to die, he will tell the truth. —From the trial transcript of the French pirate Captain Louis Guittard, Virginia, May 1700

the recent, untimely death by disease of Governor William O’Brien, Earl of Inchiquin, on January 10, 1692 (O.S.). Jamaica’s fortifications were duly strengthened, artillery installed, militia regiments mobilized, martial law declared, and privateering commissions freely offered. The worried Council even complained to the Lords of Trade and Plantations in London on January 28, 1692 (O.S.), that:

GAINES, HUGH (fl. 1691
1692) English salvor, granted a temporary wartime privateering commission by the Council of Jamaica. On August 27, 1691 (O.S.), Gaines had appeared before this body along with Captain Joseph Cuttance, and they jointly ‘‘produced the King’s grant of a wreck within seventy leagues’’ of that island, which they intended to work for its treasure. King William’s War was just then entering into its third year, though, with England, Holland, and Spain arrayed in an alliance against France. Early in the new year, fears of a French offensive out of Martinique gripped the British West Indies, so that the Jamaican Councilors initiated a series of defensive measures—assuming leadership in such matters because of

. . . our seafaring men leave us and seek [commissions] elsewhere. To increase our numbers, we beg that a free pardon may be granted to privateers abroad, to encourage them to return hither. During this wave of military preparations, Gaines was issued a privateering license on February 12, 1692 (O.S.), although no direct enemy threat

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Goffe, Christopher (fl. 1685
1691) subsequently materialized, as France’s Navy had actually suffered crushing reversals in European waters that same spring.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 13 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1901).

GOFFE, CHRISTOPHER (fl. 1685
1691) Rhode Island privateer who in the summer of 1685 appeared before Bermuda with Captain Thomas Henley, in a Dutch prize which they had jointly taken. The new Royal Gov. Richard Cony attempted to detain this ship and cargo, but was prevented by his recalcitrant colonists. On May 28th (O.S.), while this incident was transpiring, one Christopher Smith attested before the Governor: ‘‘That it was commonly reported at the Bahama Islands in April that Thomas Henley and Christopher Goffe had been proclaimed pirates at Jamaica.’’ Confirmation soon followed, specifying that Henley had been so proclaimed at Jamaica, but Goffe at New England. Nevertheless, Cony was unable to prevent either one from departing. Two years later, a large ship appeared off New Providence in the Bahamas early in June 1687, setting a boat ashore to say that she had come from the South Sea under Captain Thomas Woollerly. The local Bahamian magistrate, Thomas Bridge, instructed one man to remain ashore while the boat returned to the ship, then learned that Goffe and some of his cohorts were aboard. Bridge therefore advised the strangers:

. . . it was the King’s order that they [pirates] should not be entertained, and as she continued standing in, I fired a shot across her forefoot. She then anchored, and next day Woolerly told me that he was come to wood and water, that he had Colonel Lilburne’s commission and had done nothing contrary to it, and that he had taken in Goffe and his companions in extremity of distress. I refused him leave to come in, and he sailed away next day. I am told that they burnt the ship at Andrew’s Island and dispersed, leaving only six or seven men in the Bahamas. Despite Bridge’s apparent compliance with the King’s instructions, it was suspected that he had merely allowed Woollerly’s prize a convenient place to be scuttled, and the captors opportunity to scatter back into civilian life, most likely in exchange for a hefty bribe. This impression was reinforced when Bridge delayed three months before writing to his immediate superiors at Jamaica, by which time Woollerly and Goffe had long since left the Islands. In fact, Lieutenant-Gov. Hender Molesworth of Jamaica was to learn of their presence in the Bahamas by chance through secondhand sources, and on August 17, 1687 (O.S.), was informing London that he had heard the buccaneers: . . . quarrelled and burnt the ship, but some of them had bought a vessel and intended to sail for New England, but were detained by want of provisions. It is said that some of these pirates have [so much money] at times [that they pay] half a crown a pound for flour.

Golden Island Molesworth therefore dispatched Captain Thomas Spragge of HMS Drake to the Bahamas with specific orders ‘‘to take the pirate Woollerly,’’ but arrived only to find the rovers already gone. It is presumed that they had sailed to Boston, where Goffe is known to have surrendered himself in November of that year, and obtained a royal pardon. In August 1691, during the War of the League of Augsburg or King William’s War, Goffe was commissioned by the Governor of Massachusetts to cruise with his ship Swan between Cape Cod and Cape Ann, to protect that coastline from the depredations of the rogue Bermuda privateers George Dew and Thomas Griffin, who were illegally seizing New England traders on trumped-up charges.

Goffe sighted the pair and attempted to overhaul, but the Swan was easily outdistanced, Goffe reporting later that ‘‘they could sail two feet to his one.’’

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 12 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1899). Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924).

GOLDEN ISLAND Located in the Golfo de San Blas, due east of the Panamanian port of Nombre de Dios, and used as a springboard for

Golden Island.

A nineteenth-century map of the Scottish settlement at Darien in 1698
1699, featuring Golden Island at top. (Author’s Collection)

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Grenade buccaneers traversing the Isthmus to attack Spaniards in the Pacific. As early as December 19, 1684 (O.S.), Governor Hender Molesworth of Jamaica had given special instructions to Captain David Mitchell of HMS Ruby, that after escorting a Spanish slaver home to Portobelo, this Royal Navy officer was to: On your return from Portobelo you will visit Golden Island off the coast of the Main, through which a passage has lately been found to the South Sea. Four hundred Englishmen are said to have been conveyed that way in small parties by Darien Indians, and it would be well to spread report that they have been cut off, in order to discourage others.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898).

GRENADE One of the favorite weapons used by late 17th and early 18th century pirates. Oftentimes buccaneers found themselves few in numbers, so had to rely on surprise, mobility, and superior firepower to gain their objectives. Not wishing to be encumbered with artillery, they substituted hand-grenades—especially whenever engaging larger enemy concentrations. For example, the chronicler Ravenau de Lussan recorded how the boat-flotilla of Captains Franc¸ois Grogniet and Le Picard were forced by heavy river currents to land below their intended target of Guayaquil at 4:00

A.M. on Sunday, April 20, 1687, and were furthermore spotted by an alert Spanish sentinel. The ensuing exchange of gunfire roused the city garrison, so that in addition to having lost the element of surprise, Lussan noted that:

Simultaneously showers suddenly descended, forcing us to run to cover in a large house nearby, there to light the grenadiers’ tinders and to await daylight. All this time, the enemies poured out a steady fire from the city to intimidate us, and by way of warning us that they had a warm reception waiting. Grogniet’s and Picard’s men nonetheless advanced successfully at daybreak, their ‘‘flags flying and drums beating,’’ to carry Guayaquil by storm. Grenades could be made of either iron or glass. The French priest Jean-Baptiste Labat recorded an instance of the latter usage, when the flibustiers of Capitaine Pinel swarmed over the bows of an 18gun English ship off Barbados early in 1694, during the fifth year of the War of the League of Augsburg or King William’s War. Labat described how the English crew had barricaded themselves inside their forecastle, at which Pinel’s boarders found a small hatch: . . . through which they flung a glass jar filled with gunpowder and surrounded by four or five lit fuses, which ignited the powder when the jar burst, and burnt seven or eight Englishmen so horribly, they called for quarter.

See also Grenade (Volume 1).

Griffin, Thomas (fl. 1687
1691)

References Labat, Jean-Baptiste, Memoirs, 1693
1705 (London: Routledge, 1970, translation by John Eaden). Lussan, Ravenau de, Journal of a Voyage into the South Sea (Cleveland, OH: Arthur H. Clark Company, 1930).

GRIFFIN, JOHN (fl. 1692) English master issued a temporary privateering commission by the Council of Jamaica. As King William’s War was entering its third year—with England, Holland, and Spain arrayed in an alliance against France—fears of an offensive out of Martinique gripped the British West Indies. The Jamaican Council therefore initiated a series of defensive measures, assuming leadership in such military affairs due to the untimely death by disease of Gov. William O’Brien, Earl of Inchiquin, on January 10, 1692 (O.S.). The island’s fortifications were duly strengthened, artillery installed, militia regiments mobilized, martial law imposed, and privateering commissions freely offered. The Councilors were so concerned, that they even complained to the Lords of Trade and Plantations in London on January 28th (O.S.) that: . . . our seafaring men leave us and seek [commissions] elsewhere. To increase our numbers, we beg that a free pardon may be granted to privateers abroad, to encourage them to return hither. During this wave of military preparations, Griffin was issued a privateering license on February 4, 1692 (O.S.),

although no direct enemy threat then materialized, as France’s Navy had actually suffered crushing reversals in European waters that same spring.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 13 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1901).

GRIFFIN, THOMAS (fl. 1687
1691) Freebooter out of Bermuda, who ventured as far north as New England during King William’s War. Virtually nothing is known about this seafarer’s birth or early life. He may possibly have been the master who, during peacetime, presented a petition before the Council of Jamaica on February 9, 1687 (O.S.), ‘‘complaining of the capture of his sloop by a Spaniard.’’ The next official notice of his activities did not occur until spring of 1691, as the third year of King William’s War was commencing, when Griffin was issued a privateering commission and a permit to impress seamen by Lieutenant-Governor Isaac Richier of Bermuda. He sortied from the island capital of St. George’s shortly thereafter, accompanied by another sloop under his junior, the young and impulsive Captain George Dew, and—prizes being scarce in those immediate waters—both roamed farther north, apparently separating briefly as they moved up the Atlantic Seaboard to join in on the fighting against the French outposts in Acadia (modern Nova Scotia).

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Griffin, Thomas (fl. 1687
1691)

Depredations off New England (1691) On gaining the vicinity of Boston, both marauders were informed of an on-going hunt for a large French privateer raiding along the New England coastline, but their aggressiveness soon brought them into conflict with local authorities as well. In late July 1691 (O.S.), Dew—temporarily detached and serving as a consort to Captain William Kidd out of New York—became embroiled in a fracas with the garrison guarding the Piscataqua River mouth, on the outskirts of Portsmouth (New Hampshire). Dew rejoined Griffin shortly thereafter, and a week later another victim—Captain Thomas Wilkinson of the pink Three Brothers—appeared at Boston on August 8, 1691 (O.S.), before the Massachusetts Governor Simon Bradstreet, to complain that he had been robbed of his vessel ‘‘on the high seas’’ by the two Bermuda rovers, just as he was nearing home from a commercial voyage to Cadiz. Griffin and Dew had indeed taken this pink, sailing it first to the offshore Isles of Shoals, and then to the outer reaches of the Piscataqua River itself, where they allegedly held their own ‘‘trial’’ at which this prize and its cargo were duly ‘‘condemned,’’ and began selling off some of its goods. The Massachusetts Governor therefore issued an order on August 9, 1691 (O.S.), directing the commissioned privateer Swan of Captain Christopher Goffe to sortie from Portsmouth and seize these two transgressors, so as to bring them in ‘‘to answer for their misdemeanors.’’ Yet before this order could even be delivered, Griffin had already addressed

a letter to Governor Bradstreet from Piscataqua on August 12, 1691 (O.S.), attempting to explain his actions by arguing that Wilkinson’s pink was so similar to the French privateer bark which they were seeking, that on coming up with Three Brothers, he had: . . . fired several shot at her to lower her topsails, but would not before we had fired three great shot and a volley of small arms, which gave me cause to command him [Wilkinson] to come on board my sloop and to examine what he was; and finding that he was come from Cadiz loaded with several prohibited goods, made seizure of her for Their Majesties, and did design to send her to my commission port [i.e., to St. George’s in Bermuda], but found her not capable to be carried there, as by ye deposition of three carpenters I requested to survey her may appear; therefore proceeded by virtue of ye power I have (being satisfied that no larger can be granted out of Boston to condemn her, as by law is prescribed), designing to be answerable for ye same at my commission port, where I will answer anything that can be alleged against me. Griffin then rather insultingly concluded his letter by adding: I have been informed, and complaint is made to me, that vessels are suffered to go out of Boston to furnish ye French that live at Port Royal [modern Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia] with arms, ammunition, clothes, and other things in truck for

Griffin, Thomas (fl. 1687
1691) beaver and other goods, which gives me great cause to suspect I should be unkindly dealt with [i.e., before a Boston jury], being a subject of ye Crown of England; and likewise your neglect in forwarding my design against ye French, and suffering ye provisions I sent for to be stopped. That same evening of August 12, 1691 (O.S.), New England’s collector of customs, Jahleel Brenton, reached Portsmouth from Boston and presented the Governor’s arrest order to Captain Goffe, who forthwith went aboard his ship Swan. But Griffin and Dew had seen the Collector sail past them up the Piscataqua River’s eastern channel beside Great Island (modern New Castle Island), and correctly surmised his intent, so that their two sloops stood out toward sea that same night, knowing full well that their vessels were much too swift to be caught on its open waters. Two days later, Goffe himself admitted as much when he wrote to Bradstreet, acknowledging receipt of the Governor’s command for: . . . making seizure of Captain Griffin and Captain Dew, if it lies in my power to meet with them; but being at the bank myself when the Collector came to this place, the said Captain Griffin and Dew, supposing that I had an order to stop them, came to sail and one of them is now in sight, standing off and on between this place and Isles of Shoals. I could desire that if it were possible for us to come up with them

in our ship, but they sail two feet to our one. Rather than engage in a pointless and futile pursuit, Goffe instead requested permission to return into his home-port to reprovision Swan. Eventually, the collector Brenton succeeded in reclaiming the pink and part of its cargo, despite Griffin’s and Dew’s threat to resist ‘‘with force of arms.’’ The two rovers subsequently boarded another English vessel off Cape Cod, which was bound to Virginia with a cargo of oil, brimstone, gold, and silver. Griffin and Dew again trumped up charges, alleging that its Captain did not have proper clearance papers, and so sailed this prize home to Bermuda. Nothing more is known about Griffin’s career, beyond being mentioned as the Constable of Smiths.

See also Commission Port; Dew, George; Goffe, Christopher; Kidd, William.

References Baxter, James P., comp. and ed., Documentary History of the State of Maine, Volume 4 (Portland, ME: Maine Historical Society, 1869). Calendar of State Papers, Colonial: America and West Indies, Volume 12 (London: Her Majestys Stationery Office, 1899). Chapin, Howard M., Privateer Ships and Sailors: The First Century of American Colonial Privateering, 1625
1725 (Toulon: G. Mouton, 1926). Mercer, Julia A., Bermuda Settlers of the 17th Century: Genealogical Notes from Bermuda (Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1982).

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Grogniet, François, Alias ‘‘Cachemar
ee’’ (fl. 1681
1687)

GROGNIET, FRANÇOIS,
E’’ ALIAS ‘‘CACHEMARE (fl. 1681
1687) Wide-ranging French freebooter, who roamed the South Sea for two years, before finally meeting his end at Guayaquil. Virtually nothing is known about his origins or early life, as well as his curious pseudonym. In modern French, ketch marin is the term for a type of small two-masted vessel, while in northern Spain, such a craft would be called a quechemarı´n or cachemarı´n. Just how such a vessel may have figured in Grogniet’s past, or why this nickname came to be applied to him, is today unclear. He seems to have arrived in the West Indies as a ship’s master, who after being victimized by some Spaniards in 1681 (two years after the official cessation of hostilities between France and Spain) obtained a letter-of-reprisal from the Governor of Saint-Domingue, Jacques Nepveu, Sieur de Pouanc¸ay, and sailed for the Venezuelan coast to begin making retaliatory captures among its coastal traffic. However, while prowling off the island of Trinidad in January 1682, Grogniet was intercepted by the flibustier commander Charles, Marquis de Maintenon, who was under orders from the French Crown to curb piratical activity and restore stolen property, and who took away Grogniet’s letter-ofreprisal and ordered his ship back into its commission-port of Petit-Go^ave. Grogniet’s next privateering cruise proved equally unprofitable, for when Saint-Domingue’s Acting-Governor Jacques de Pardieu, Sieur de Franquesnay, attempted to placate its angry flibustiers by authorizing a strike against

Santiago de Cuba in November 1683, Grogniet’s 6-gun, 70-man SaintFranc¸ois was one of eight vessels which weighed from Petit-Go^ave under the command of Laurens de Graaf. Yet military command for this 1,000-man expedition was held by the planter and militia Major Jean Le Goff, Sieur de Beauregard, who shortly after departure attempted to discipline a flibustier, provoking an angry mutiny and caused this venture to disintegrate. A disappointed Grogniet regained Petit-Go^ave a few weeks later, but in March 1684 he departed yet again—this time in the company of Capitaines Blot, Jean Rose, and Vigneron—as part of a five-ship flotilla led by Jean, Sieur de Bernanos. They secured a privateering commission from the French Governor of Saint Croix, and with a party of Carib auxiliaries advanced up Venezuela’s Orinoco River to seize the newly-completed Spanish fort of San Francisco de Asis by May 30, 1684, guarding the approaches to the frontier outpost of Santo Tom
e de Guayana farther upstream. The flibustiers also sacked that town and held onto Fort San Francisco until late August 1684, when they withdrew to patrol off the islands of Margarita and Trinidad. That same November 1684, the great flibustier leader Grammont called for a general assemblage at the island known as Tortille or Salt Tortuga near Venezuela, to which Grogniet sailed along with three other commanders. After waiting a month, Grammont failed to materialize, so Grogniet and his fellow-Captain Lescuyer decided to sail for Panama to traverse its Isthmus and join other buccaneers already operating in the South Sea; they weighed toward the end of December 1684 for Golden Island.

Grogniet, François, alias ‘‘Cachemar
ee’’ (fl. 1681
1687)

Penetration into the Pacific (1685
1686) By early January 1685, Grogniet and Lescuyer had reached that Panamanian anchorage, leaving their ships at Golden Island to lead a contingent of roughly 200 French flibustiers and 80 English buccaneers upriver aboard boats and afoot across the Isthmus toward the Pacific Ocean, hoping to catch up with another band of rovers who had already penetrated into the jungle that previous month under Captain Francis Townley. Grogniet’s and Lescuyer’s men emerged into the Gulf of San Miguel without meeting these colleagues, so they began seizing coastal craft as transports, until they reached Taboga Island south of Panama City. There, they sighted a burning vessel to their north on the night of February 13, 1685, and next morning a flotilla of English buccaneers appeared under Captains Edward Davis and Charles Swan (among their ranks was the chronicler William Dampier). These two commanders offered the newly-arrived flibustiers their unarmed, 90-ton Spanish prize Santa Rosa, which they had recently captured, while Grogniet’s 80 English companions were to be incorporated aboard their own ships Bachelor’s Delight and Cygnet. In appreciation for this gift of Santa Rosa, Grogniet—Lescuyer having died— presented the two English Captains with blank privateering-commissions issued by the French Governor of SaintDomingue. More flibustiers were also known to be on their way across the Isthmus, so that Grogniet sent a boat back eastward to await them along the shores of the Gulf of San Miguel. On March 3, 1685, this craft also chanced to meet up with Townley, his 180

mostly-English followers crammed aboard two captured barks; a few days later a third bark bearing about a dozen more Englishmen that had become separated from William Knight off the coast of New Spain entered the Gulf of Panama out of the west. Then on April 11, 1685, the band which Grogniet was expecting finally arrived from across the Isthmus, consisting of 264 mainly French flibustiers under Capitaines Rose, Le Picard, and Mathurin Desmaretz (including the chronicler Ravenau de Lussan). Once assembled, this pirate force of six vessels and almost 1,000 men decided to blockade Panama City, in hopes of intercepting the annual Peruvian treasure-shipment. As Captain of the only French vessel within this formation, Grogniet assumed command over the entire flibustier contingent, despite some reluctance among his subordinates. The Peruvian vessels then managed to slip past undetected in mid-May 1685, delivering their cargo, before sallying to directly challenge the buccaneers. Toward noon on June 7, 1685, the rovers were lying off Pacheca Island when Grogniet: . . . who was anchored further away from the island, gave us the signal that he had sighted the Spanish fleet, composed of seven sails. He indicated how many were coming by hoisting his flag seven times. A squadron of six Spanish men-ofwar and a tender indeed bore down on the pirates, who were caught ill prepared. Grogniet, in particular, had to delay weighing with Sainte-Rose because a large percentage of his men were still ashore sacking two small

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Grogniet, François, Alias ‘‘Cachemar
ee’’ (fl. 1681
1687) chapels, so that his ship fell behind its consorts. An indecisive, long-range battle ensued between Davis and Swan versus the Spaniards, the buccaneer pair unwilling to close against the more heavily-armed vessels of the Armada del Mar del Sur, who in turn feared being boarded by their more nimble adversaries. Nevertheless, the next day ended with a Spanish victory, as the pirates were driven off. The disperse formation of freebooters wandered westward, Grogniet reuniting with Davis and Swan to attack the Panamanian town of Remedios by early July 1685, after which both contingents continued northwest once more as separate groups. A month later, Grogniet refused to join his English colleagues in a raid against the Nicaraguan city of Le
on, instead leading 120 of his flibustiers in five boats for a repeat attempt against Remedios—only to be repulsed and rejoining his 200 other men aboard Sainte-Rose by September 3, 1685. Grogniet next entered the vast Nicaraguan harbor of Realejo on November 1, 1685, finding its surrounding countryside already looted by English pillagers, so obtained little booty. Reversing course, the French rovers paused off the Costa Rican coast on December 9, 1685; they hesitated to attack the small inland city of Esparta and instead worked their way around Burica Point into the Gulf of Chiriquı´ by the end of that year. Grogniet’s flibustiers overran the impoverished Panamanian hamlet of Chiriquita on January 9, 1686, resting ashore for a week, before withdrawing. When they approached the anchorage off Remedios again on the night of March 5, 1686, to forage for food, they were ambushed by a small Spanish

frigate, a barco luengo, and a piragua, suffering more than 30 casualties. Bloodied and half-starved, Grogniet’s dispirited followers wandered westward once more, anchoring off Esparta by March 19, 1686. Sighting Townley’s flotilla four days later, both groups agreed—despite some residual ill will— to combine for an attempt against the Nicaraguan city of Granada. Landing 345 men at Escalante on April 7, 1686, Grogniet and Townley fought their way into that regional capital three days later, only to find little plunder. The Spaniards had been forewarned and had transferred their valuables to Zapatera Island in the lake, so that the pirates withdrew empty-handed five days later. They endured numerous ambushes before finally passing through Masaya on April 16, 1685, and regaining their ships, after which they traveled back to Realejo. Grogniet having enjoyed such meager success as a commander, half of his men voted on June 9, 1685, to sail under Le Picard and join with Townley in that English Captain’s return east toward Panama. The remaining 148 flibustiers ventured westward with Grogniet to operate for a time in the Gulf of Fonseca. However, still failing to find any rich prey, a majority of these loyal hands also voted to quit his command; 85 of them steered Sainte-Rose still farther northwest toward New Spain and California, in hopes of waylaying the annual Manila galleon. Grogniet retraced his course down the Central American coastline with only 60 followers left aboard his three piraguas. After returning to mount various minor raids in the vicinity of El Salvador’s Point Amapala, Grogniet eventually decided to abandon the Pacific near

Grogniet, François, alias ‘‘Cachemar
ee’’ (fl. 1681
1687) Esparta, intending to lead his weary band overland across Costa Rica ‘‘relying on a compass.’’ Just as he was approaching Esparta’s shoreline, Grogniet rediscovered Picard’s large group and Townley’s smaller contingent—now commanded by George Dew—on January 26, 1687, who warned him that the regional Spanish militias were now fully aroused. After ravaging that area together for a month, all three bands decided to shift into another theater, by steering south to mount a surprise attack against Guayaquil. However, the French still remained divided into factions, so redistributed themselves accordingly: Grogniet and his 50 remaining followers going aboard Dew’s ship for a total crew of 142 men, compared to 162 boucaniers who remained aboard Picard’s French frigate and longboat. Each group then stood away separately from Puerto Caldera on February 24, 1687, hoping to be the first to reach Ecuador and launch an assault on Guayaquil; but after sighting one another at sea again on March 18, 1687, all agreed to mount a joint strike.

Death at Guayaquil (1687) The South American coastline swam into view by April 6, 1687, and at noon six days later the combined force reached Point Santa Helena, the northwesternmost entry-point into the wide, tapering Gulf of Guayaquil. That same night, they espied a Spanish prize manned by eight English pirates from Davis’ crew, who next day volunteered to join their enterprise. Running south unseen farther out at sea, they circled back and by dawn of April 15, 1687, sighted Cabo Blanco, the southeasternmost entry into the Gulf. By 10:00 A.M., 260 rovers had transferred

off their ships—which were to remain hidden in a nearby bay—while the raiding-party began rowing northwest aboard eight large piraguas. By sundown, they reached Santa Clara Island, a barren rock in mid-channel also known as Isla del Muerto or ‘‘Dead Man’s Island,’’ anchoring overnight to ride out the powerful ebb-tide flowing out of the Guayas River into the ocean. Next morning, piloted by four native turncoats serving among their ranks, they glided across to the much larger Pun
a Island and hid there all day, before circling past its Spanish settlements that same night to conceal themselves once more at dawn of April 17th, up an estuary near Pun
a’s northern tip. Here, the buccaneers agreed to storm specific strongpoints once they reached Guayaquil, in three separate columns led by Grogniet, Dew, and Picard. But on emerging to enter the Guayas River that same dusk, they found its counter-current so strong that they had to return to Pun
a Island by daybreak of Friday, April 18, 1687, being spotted by coastal-watchers before they could hide up another inlet. These lookouts set fire to a hut as a warning-signal to the Spaniards farther upriver, before a buccaneer party could push through the woods to extinguish it, killing two sentinels and capturing a third. The rovers remained hidden throughout the rest of that day, even allowing a Spanish ship to proceed upriver unchallenged, before reemerging at nightfall to penetrate the eastern mouth of the Guayas River. As the flotilla stole upriver, their native guides piloted them past a couple of lookoutstations, with the pirates’ movements concealed behind several small islands.

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Grogniet, François, Alias ‘‘Cachemar
ee’’ (fl. 1681
1687) By dawn of Saturday, April 19, 1687, when they hid yet again, they had circled far enough upstream to be able to surprise Guayaquil out of its east next daybreak, a Sunday. Meanwhile, the Pun
a signal-blaze had been reported in that city on Saturday morning, so that Governor Juan
Alvarez de Avil
es and militia General Fernando Ponce de Le
on mustered every able-bodied man; however, when nothing more occurred by evening, its entire garrison stood down. As a result, when the pirate formation came gliding out of the darkness at 4:00 A.M. on Sunday, April 20, 1687, surprise was total. Dew’s two piraguas disgorged more than 60 men at Marı´a Fico’s landing-dock north of the city, half circling around Ataranza Inlet on foot to occupy the city workshops, while the remainder scrambled up the cliffs to conceal themselves outside the earthen San Carlos redoubts atop Santa Ana Hill. Grogniet and Picard meanwhile brought their six piraguas in more than a mile farther south, the swift downriver current having carried them off course, so that they failed to land near La Planchada fort on the city outskirts. Instead, the flibustiers waded ashore into the dense brush around the small anchorage of Casones (near modern Aguirre and Elizalde Streets), where they were challenged by a Spanish sentry, soon followed by gunfire. Rain started to fall as well, so that the French had to furthermore pause in a large house for their grenadiers to light their tinders, before Grogniet and Picard advanced at daybreak with ‘‘flags flying and drums beating,’’ into the maze of shipyards lining the four intervening inlets before reaching the edge of Guayaquil proper. General Ponce had meanwhile appeared on the far side of these yards,

mounted on a horse and directing the 300 black and Spanish militiamen who were rallying out of Guayaquil to the northern shoreline of its last inlet, owned by Juan de Villamar. In the rainy gloom, the advancing flibustiers mistook its low wooden levee for a fort, so that they lost several men probing forward gingerly along the small bridge spanning Jos
e del Junco’s adjoining inlet, before a pirate detachment finally paddled around westward on planks—between Junco’s house and Carlos’s smithy—to outflank the defenders. Ponce was shot in a thigh and fell, being helped to remount, before ordering his men to retreat back into Guayaquil. Grogniet and Picard pressed into the streets behind them, only to discover that the Spaniards would make a second stand from behind earthworks around Guayaquil’s main square, as well as sweeping the nearby intersections with grapeshot. This resistance lasted for more than an hour, until another pirate flanking-movement circled behind the Franciscan church and headed toward the Dominican monastery. Afraid of being cut off from their last avenue of escape into the high ground behind the city, the Spanish thereupon abandoned the main square, allowing Grogniet and Picard to push up Los Morlacos Street and along the riverfront in twin columns. For a third time, the defenders regrouped in trenches encircling the nearby northern heights, but their seven guns in San Carlos redoubt could not be depressed low enough to fire down the slope, so that the flibustiers soon fought their way into this system of trenches, seconded by Dew’s few-dozen men from the opposite side. By 11:00 A.M., the last traces of Spanish resolve sputtered out, the city being occupied and 700 prisoners

Grubing, Nathaniel (fl. 1692
1697) herded into Guayaquil’s main church. However, Grogniet had been badly wounded during this hand-to-hand combat in the rain, so that Picard assumed command over the entire flibustier contingent. He ordered buildings plundered, vessels seized, and the pirate ships anchored at Cabo Blanco to prepare to rendezvous with the raiders off Pun
a Island. On Thursday, April 24, 1687, Picard and Dew withdrew from gutted Guayaquil, their flotilla groaning with booty and more than 250 captives. Grogniet was carried back aboard ship that same evening, when the rovers reunited with their vessels off Pun
a, and expired there of his wounds by May 2, 1687, never enjoying the silver and jewels won during his one great strike.

See also Barco luengo; Blot, Capitaine; Commission Port; Dampier, William; Davis, Edward; Dew, George; Golden Island; Lussan, Ravenau de; Maintenon, Charles, Marquis de; Mar del Sur, Armada del; Piragua; Pouanc¸ay, Jacques Nepveu, Sieur de; South Sea; Townley, Francis; Vigneron, Capitaine.

References Archive of Indies (Seville), Audiencia de Quito 159, Number 20, Folios 48
53. Bernal Ruiz, Marı´a del Pilar, La toma del puerto de Guayaquil en 1687 (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispanoamericanos, 1979). Bradley, Peter T., The Lure of Peru: Maritime Intrusion into the South Sea, 1598
1701 (New York: St Martin’s Press, 1990). Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 12 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1899).

Dampier, William, A New Voyage Round the World (New York: Dover, 1968). Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924). Laburu Mateo, Miguel, Breve vocabulario que contiene t
erminos empleados en documentos marı´timos antiguos (San Sebasti
an: Departamento de Cultura y Turismo, Diputaci
on Foral de Gipuzkoa, 1990). Lugo, Am
erico, Recopilaci
on diplom
atica relativa a las colonias espa~ nola y francesa de la isla de Santo Domingo, 1640
1701 (Ciudad Trujillo, Dominican Republic: Editorial ‘‘La Naci
on,’’ 1944). Lussan, Ravenau de, Journal of a Voyage into the South Sea (Cleveland, OH: Arthur H. Clark Company, 1930).

GRUBING, NATHANIEL (fl. 1692
1697) English turncoat who led French flibustier raids against Jamaica. He was apparently born on that island to English parents, yet—perhaps because he had been raised as a Roman Catholic or otherwise chose to remain loyal to King James II after that monarch had been exiled into France by the Glorious Revolution—Grubing took up service with the French of SaintDomingue during King William’s War. His detailed knowledge of Jamaica stood him in very good stead, as he was able to steal onto its familiar coastline and land: . . . in the night upon lone settlements near the sea, and robbing them of all they had, and away again before any notice could be given for any strength to come against him. Grubing was first noted in the official English records during the third

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Grubing, Nathaniel (fl. 1692
1697) year of that conflict, when the Council of Jamaica received a report on March 2, 1692 (O.S.), that a small French sloop under his command ‘‘had lately landed men and plundered Spanish River.’’ Angry at his treachery and opportunism, the Councilors offered a special bounty of £100 to two sloopcommanders who volunteered to sail in his pursuit, in addition to Grubing’s vessel, if they should capture him. However, that very next month the Council minutes also noted on April 6, 1692 (O.S.): Reported by prisoners that ten or twelve privateers were cruising to windward, and that Nathaniel Grubing was on his way to make a second raid on Jamaica. Order that the sloop Pembroke be hired, that Captain Edward Oakely of H.M.S. Guernsey put sixty men on board her and press ten more, that the Lieutenant of the Guernsey take command, and in company with the sloop Greyhound cruise round the Island. Two months later, Port Royal was destroyed by a cataclysmic earthquake and tidal wave, so that Jamaican interests were diverted into major reconstruction and relocation efforts. Grubing’s depredations nonetheless returned to the forefront a couple of years later, after his French wife had been captured off Hispaniola by an English sloop. The Jamaican Council minutes for June 24, 1694 (O.S.), read: A letter from a French man-of-war as to exchange of prisoners was considered, on which letter was a notice that unless William Grubbin’s [sic]

wife were sent back, none of the English nation should be returned. Agreed to take no notice of it. The English authorities later maliciously alleged that they were willing to release her, but she supposedly preferred to ‘‘be quit of her husband who, she said, used her very ill,’’ so chose to remain on Jamaica. In revenge for her capture, Grubing vowed to make off with every Jamaican woman ‘‘he met with till he had his wife again.’’ One such victim proved to be Rachel, the 14-year-old daughter of a minister’s widow called Mrs. Barrow, whom Grubing carried off to PetitGo^ave after ransacking her mother’s plantation. Another was Major Terry’s wife, whom Grubing ‘‘stripped to her shift and beat’’ on board his ship after another nocturnal descent. Governor William Beeston wrote to his French counterpart Jean-Baptiste Ducasse to complain about these and other ‘‘inhumanities beyond the customs of Christian warfare,’’ but the matter was interrupted by a massive French invasion of Jamaica in the summer of 1694. Finally, a delighted Beeston wrote on January 27, 1697 (O.S.), to inform the Council of Trade and Plantations in London that: Captain Moses of the Reserve has done like a brave man in gaining intelligence and taking Grubbin, a renegade of this island, who has robbed and plundered most of our out-coasts. I have thanked Captain Moses in Council and given him a present of £100. Mons. Ducasse has sent to demand Grubbin of me as a naturalized subject of France and

Guardacostas married there, and has kept as a hostage one Price, who, he tells me, if I use any violence on Grubbin, shall fare accordingly; but that shall not hinder me from causing Grubbin to suffer whatever the law may condemn him in, nor do I think that Mons. Ducasse will venture to do anything to an innocent man for the punishment of a criminal.

See also Beeston, Sir William; Ducasse, JeanBaptiste; Elliott, Stephen.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 13
15 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1901
1904). Interesting Tracts Relating to the Island of Jamaica (St. Jago de la Vega, Jamaica: Lewis, Lunan and Jones, 1800).

GUARDACOSTAS Spanish term literally meaning ‘‘coastguard,’’ but which was applied equally to both privateersmen or to their vessels commissioned by Spanish-American officials to operate in their regional waters. Generations of pitiless warfare against cruel pirates had hardened their conduct, to which was also added a singleminded pursuit of profit—for like their rover foes, most guardacostas only received shares from any captures, not regular wages. Such motivation worsened their behavior against even innocent traders or passing merchant vessels.

One particularly violent encounter with these lawless marauders befell James Wilkins, Master of the sloop Sarah and Mary out of Philadelphia, while he was homeward-bound during peacetime, simply bearing a cargo of cocoa and salt from Curac¸ao and Bonaire: On 17th March [1725 O.S.], ten leagues from Hispaniola, he was chased by a sloop, which by the discharge of great guns and some arrows compelled him to strike his colors, which were English. He was ordered aboard the sloop. As he was getting on board her, he received a great blow on his head with a cutlass, and then was stripped of his coat, hat, and silver shoe-buckles. He was examined by the officers of the sloop, who were Spaniards commanded by a Spanish mulatto whose name he could not learn, nor the name of their vessel, but that she was Spanish having on board Spaniards, Indians, and Negroes. Upon affirmant’s demanding by what authority they took him, the Spanish Captain directed the point of his sword to affirmant’s breast and answered that was commission enough for him, adding: ‘‘Goddamn you, hold your tongue or I’ll run you through.’’ Some of the Spanish officers confessed the sloop belonged to the Havana, and that they were a guarda de la costa [sic]. They anchored at a small island, Saona, one league from Hispaniola, and demanded what money affirmant had. Two of them beat him, and throwing a rope about his neck, threatened to hang him if he would not discover what he had on board.

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Guardacostas Among many other violences, the Spaniards inflicted a very deep wound, quite to his thigh-bone, and thereupon he shew’d 700 pieces-ofeight silver and four pistoles gold, all which they took. Then they cut and much bruised this affirmant with cutlasses by the Spanish Captain’s order, because he had not discovered the money sooner. They seized the sloop with all her stores and cargo, etc., at a moderate estimate of the full value of 4,583 pieces-of-eight. After affirmant and three of his men had been detained by the Spaniards on board their sloop about 29 days, being in the meantime stripped of their clothes, almost famished, and very inhumanly treated, they set the three men upon Saint Thomas [in the Virgin Islands]. Two Spaniards took affirmant in a canoe near the shore and obliged him to leap into the sea, where he was much bruised and in great danger to be dashed to pieces against the rocks. They discharged a swivel gun loaded with many small bullets at affirmant and his three men, that were standing together near some of the inhabitants of the island. The shot missed them but fell among some sugar canes that grew near, in which it cut down a wide lane. A little more than a year later, the ‘‘Merchants of London and others trading to and interested in the British Colonies in America’’ submitted the following petition to the Crown in London on May 20, 1726 (O.S.): It has been a general practice with the subjects of His Catholic Majesty in the West Indies, for several years past to

fit out vessels in a warlike manner, on pretence of guarding their coasts from unlawful traders: but in reality, under color of such commissions, have committed many depredations and other acts of hostility on Your Majesty’s subjects on the high seas, and even on the coasts of Jamaica; where they have landed in the remote parts, plundered the inhabitants, and at times carried away above 300 Negroes. It is notorious those guarda de la costa’s, [sic] as they are called, never met with an English vessel an’t could overcome, which they did not take, destroy, or plunder, and to intimidate them, have frequently hoisted and fought under pirate’s colors. Many of Your Majesty’s subjects have been killed and wounded in defense of their vessels and goods, and several in cool blood: and that the damages sustained in this unlawful manner since the Peace of Utrecht have amounted to above £300,000. Notwithstanding applications have been made from time to time to the Spanish Governors and other officers in America, not only by the unhappy sufferers, but also by the Governors of Your Majesty’s colonies; yet they have not been attended with any manner of satisfaction or redress.

See also Guardacostas (Volume 1); Pieces of Eight; Pistole.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial: America and West Indies, Volumes 35, 37 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1936
1937).

Guittard, Louis (fl. 1699
1700)

GUITTARD, LOUIS (fl. 1699
1700) French pirate captured while making a peacetime strike into Lynnhaven Bay, Virginia. He was apparently born in Brittany around 1667, but details about Guittard’s early life remain sketchy. Even the exact spelling of his surname is indeterminate, as he could neither read or write. It is believed that he must have emigrated as a young adult to Saint-Domingue (modern Haiti), as he later declared during his trial that he had lived on that island for almost 20 years. He had most likely served as a privateer during King William’s War, and in the uneasy peace following the cessation of those hostilities, was residing at Pointe-a-Gravois on SaintDomingue’s remote southern coastline when he took a canoe with a servant in December 1699, to visit a friend some 20 miles distant. While descending a little river, though, Guittard’s canoe was spotted by a pirate sloop anchored offshore, which sent a boat in pursuit. Taken aboard, its crew had then allegedly cajoled him into serving as their Captain. They increased their numbers by rescuing castaways from two lost French ships on a nearby island, then prowled east-southeastward into the Lesser Antilles, where they relieved a small Dutch trading ship of its cargo of linens and its surgeon. This latter individual informed his captors of an excellent ship recently departed from Suriname to gather salt at Salt Tortuga (Isla Tortuga, off northeastern Venezuela). Guittard testified that the captive surgeon had told them this ‘‘in

spite, to be revenged upon the master of the ship, who had wronged him of 6 or 700 crowns.’’ The pirates did indeed surprise a fine 140-ton Dutch ship most probably named the Vrede (Peace), 84 feet long and 25 feet wide, which these marauders converted into their flagship and retained under its name of La Paix. Its Captain, Cornelis Issaak, was set adrift in his longboat. Guittard had thereupon steered toward Martinique with his prize, but when its main yard broke, reversed course back toward the Spanish Main to effect repairs. He resupplied by ransacking a Dutch brigantine, then engaged a 12-gun Dutch ship, killing two of its 32 crewmen before relieving this latest victim of its best guns, as well as pressing seven skilled hands. Steering back toward Saint-Domingue, they took another two crewmen from a small sloop, and were apparently joined by a 6-gun, 80-man pirate sloop. With the onset of spring and La Paix’s main armament now augmented to 28 guns, the 140 or so marauders ventured north, ransacking a Bostonian sloop off the Florida Keys before materializing off the Atlantic Seaboard, accompanied by their consort sloop and another prize. On April 17, 1700 (O.S.), this trio sighted the 100-ton pink Baltimore out of Bristol, sailing along 300 miles short of Cape Henry under its Master John Loveday, bound from Barbados toward Virginia. Hoisting a Dutch flag, Guittard closed within hailing-distance of this unsuspecting prey, before firing a single gun into the pink, which killed a merchant passenger named James Waters and caused Baltimore to immediately surrender. The pirates removed Loveday and his crew, while Guittard sent across his quartermaster and 20

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Guittard, Louis (fl. 1699
1700) hands to man it as a second consort for his flagship. Five days later, the pirate quartet intercepted the sloop George of Master Joseph Forest, sailing in the opposite direction from Pennsylvania toward Jamaica. Its crew was imprisoned within La Paix’s hold, while a fire was lit in George’s cabin, a hole drilled in its side, and the sloop left to sink. On the morning of April 23, 1700 (O.S.), about 30 leagues from the Virginia Capes, Baltimore sighted the brigantine Barbados Merchant of Liverpool, whose Master William Fletcher later testified how ‘‘between 50 or 60 men, most French and Dutch and some Irishmen . . . seized his ship, rifled her, and barbarously used him.’’ Their captors had flown into a fury after the brigantine’s merchant sailors refused an offer of joining their pirate ranks. Fletcher was stripped and almost beaten to death, while Barbados Merchant’s masts, bowsprit, sails, and rigging were all cut away to fall into the sea, its helm disabled, compasses smashed, even every candle stolen. Guittard’s four vessels paraded past the crippled ship to continue heading northeast as evening fell, the pirates calling tauntingly to the brutalized crew left stranded aboard: ‘‘Why have you cut away your masts?’’ La Paix left a light displayed for Baltimore to follow it into the night, but the consort pink had disappeared by next morning, April 24, 1700 (O.S.). Nevertheless, La Paix and the 6-gun pirate sloop sighted a vessel about 8:00 A.M., lolling some 20 leagues short of Cape Henry, almost becalmed in the light winds. By afternoon, a slight breeze sprang up and Guittard’s flagship slowly began to

close, once more flying Dutch colors. As the pirate vessel edged to gain the windward gauge, though, Master Samuel Harrison of the brigantine Pennsylvania Merchant—bound from England toward Philadelphia—at last realized his danger, and steered north in hopes of outrunning his pursuer. Yet by evening, the pirates had closed enough to call on Harrison to surrender, which he refused until next dawn, when they loosed off a few volleys of small-arms fire. Heaving to, a party came aboard and began to ruthlessly plunder the brigantine, and its Master later declared: ‘‘Understanding they designed to burn my ship, I begged hard for her, but it was put to the vote and carried for ye burning of her, and burnt she was.’’ Its crew and 31 passengers, all stripped and robbed, were interned within La Paix’s hold along with the other captives. Three days later, the Virginia merchantman Indian King of Master Edward Whitaker was spotted by Guittard on the morning of Sunday, April 28, 1700 (O.S.), only three or four leagues off Cape Henry, having just exited Chesapeake Bay for London. As usual, La Paix slowly drew close under Dutch colors, until these were suddenly hauled down and replaced by a red pirate-flag. While Indian King was being taken over by a prizecrew, the French Captain asked what English men-of-war were patrolling inside Chesapeake Bay, and Whitaker replied only the 16-gun Essex Prize. Reassured, Guittard then fired on and seized the outward-bound Friendship of Belfast, killing its Master, before steering Paix into Lynnhaven Bay along with his two prizes and consort sloop. Unbeknownst to him, though,

Guittard, Louis (fl. 1699
1700)

HEYMAN’S FORGOTTEN GRAVE One of the fatalities suffered during the protracted ship-duel fought out in Lynnhaven Bay that windy Monday, April 29, 1700 (O.S.), between HMS Shoreham and Guittard’s pirate flagship La Paix, was a volunteer: the local Collector of Customs and Deputy Postmaster for Virginia, Peter Heyman. A seaman serving aboard the Royal Navy frigate, Joseph Mann, later testified how he had stood ‘‘within a foot’’ of Heyman during this fighting, and witnessed him fire ‘‘several shots into the pirates’ ship.’’ However, sometime between 1:00 and 2:00 P.M., Heyman toppled back, dead from a pirate round. Governor Francis Nicholson, who stood on the far side of Heyman during this battle, later commissioned a large stone slab to cover his grave in the Third Elizabeth City Parish yard. Its inscription read: This Stone was Given by His Excellency Francis Nicholson, Esq., Lieutenant and Governor General of Virginia, in Memory of Peter Heyman, Esq., Grandson to Sir Peter Heyman of Summerfield in ye County of Kent—he was Collector of ye customes in ye lower district of James River and went voluntarily on board the King’s Ship Shoreham, in Pursuit of a pyrate who greatly infested this coast—after he had behaved himself 7 hours with undaunted courage, was killed with a small shot, ye 29 day of April 1700. In the engagement he stood next the Governor upon the Quarterdeck, and was here honorably interred by his order. The church no longer remains and the faded, shattered slab—now more than three centuries old—lies neglected in a field along West Pembroke Avenue in downtown Hampton.

the 28-gun, 115-man frigate HMS Shoreham of Captain William Passenger had just arrived off Hampton 15 days previously, to take up station as the new guardship within Chesapeake Bay (see sidebar). Early that same Sunday afternoon, Guittard bore down on the vessels anchored inside Lynnhaven Bay, steering straight for the Nicholson of Master Robert Lurting, who hailed this approaching stranger with: ‘‘Whence come ye?’’ ‘‘Out of the sea, you dogs!’’ was the reply, followed by a volley of small shot. Lurting slipped his cable and got under way, managing to avoid La Paix for a couple of hours in the

faint breezes, until Nicholson’s mainyard and top-sail were finally toppled by pirate salvoes. As evening fell, Guittard’s flotilla dropped anchor to pillage all its prizes at leisure, while at the same time enjoying a drunken spree. Lurting’s fully-loaded merchantman had ‘‘about 100 hogsheads of tobacco, besides bulk tobacco, clothing, and several materials of the ship’’ wantonly thrown overboard during this rampage. Unnoticed amid that Sunday afternoon’s confusion, though, a tiny vessel had sped away toward Hampton to warn the authorities. As a result, shortly after 3:00 P.M. on that same day,

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Guittard, Louis (fl. 1699
1700) Governor Francis Nicholson and Captain Passenger were informed while visiting at Kecoughtan; the naval officer immediately hastened aboard his Shoreham, leaving a small boat for the Governor to follow. Nicholson meanwhile dashed off a general circular ordering a muster of every militia company, adding as a further incentive for the Virginian volunteers, the following clause: And I do hereby promise to any person or persons who shall take or kill any Pyrate that shall belong to either of these three or four ships or vessels now in Lynnhaven Bay, a reward of twenty pound sterling for each pyrate that they shall either take or kill. Hampered by contrary winds, Captain Passenger slowly worked his frigate through the dark waters of the James River, to circle around the sandy shoal known as The Horseshoe, north of Old Point Comfort. The Governor overtook Shoreham around 10:00 P.M., coming aboard along with Captain John Aldred of Essex Prize and Peter Heyman, collector of customs for the district. After anchoring overnight, Passenger weighed at 3:00 A.M. on April 29, 1700 (O.S.), to resume his advance as the land-breeze gradually grew. One hour later, the Royal Navy Captain: . . . came within half a mile of the pirate. He got under sail, with a design to get to windward and board us, and said: ‘‘This is but a small fellow, we shall have him presently.’’ I guessed his intention and kept to windward, fires one shot at him; he immediately hoists a Jack ensign, with a broad pendent all red, and returned me thanks [i.e., hoisted his red pirate-flag

and replied with his own guns]. So then the dispute began and continued till three in the afternoon, the major part of which time within pistol-shot of one another. It was a fine top-gallant gale of wind, and I sailing something better than the pirate, so that he could not get the wind of me to lay me on board, which was his design. After we had shot all his masts and rigging to shatters, unmounted several guns, and hull almost beaten to pieces, and being very near the shore, he put his helm alee, so the ship came about; but he having no braces, bowlines, nor sheets to haul his sails about, and we playing small shot and partridge so fast that all his men run into the hold, so the ship drove on shore with all her shattered sails aback. I let go my anchor in three fathoms of water, so he struck his ensign. I left off firing. Guittard had been surprised by Shoreham’s unexpected charge, initially mistaking the onrushing ship for another merchantman, rather than a man-of-war. Only 20 of La Paix’s guns were mounted, the other eight lying stowed in its hold, while his drink-sodden crew reacted sluggishly to this abrupt challenge. Passenger had then battered his opponent into submission over several hours, killing approximately two-dozen pirates. But the desperate survivors retreated below decks and threatened to ignite thirty barrels of powder in La Paix’s magazine, dying along with their fifty or so English captives. The latter pleaded for an offer of surrender to be made, so that a prisoner named John Limpany was selected to swim over to Shoreham, the French Captain instructing him to: ‘‘Tell the commanderin-chief, if he will not give me and my

Guittard, Louis (fl. 1699
1700) men quarter and pardon, I will blow the ship up and we will all die together.’’ Upon receiving this message, Governor Nicholson quickly wrote back: Whereas Captain Lewis, commander of the Lay Paste [sic], has proffered to surrender himself, men and ship, together with what effects thereunto belong, provided he may have quarter, which I grant him on performance of same, and refer him and his men to the mercy of my royal master King William III, whom God preserve. Guittard and some 118 pirates consequently gave up, two others being found sleeping off their drunkenness aboard one of the prizes, while a third had swum ashore and was seized by onlookers. Eight later died of their wounds in jail, before the remaining 111 were sent to England that June 1700 aboard the annual tobacco-convoy, to stand trial. Guittard and 23 of his men were hanged

on the outskirts of London that same November.

See also Partridge; Salt Tortuga.

References Bruce, Philip A., Institutional History of Virginia in the Seventeenth Century: An Inquiry in (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1910). Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 18 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1910). Jameson, John F., comp. and ed., Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period: Illustrative Documents (New York: Macmillan, 1923). Middleton, Arthur P., Tobacco Coast: A Maritime History of Chesapeake Bay in the Colonial Era (Newport News, VA: Mariners’ Museum, 1953).

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H . . . everyone doeth what is right in his own eyes, and the greatest vice walks barefaced with impunity. —From a letter by Colonel William Rhett, South Carolina, July 1718

HALF-WAY TREE

HAMILTON, LORD ARCHIBALD (fl. 1715
1716)

A crossroads in Jamaica, located well to the northwest of Kingston in Saint Andrew’s Parish during the early 18th century, yet today engulfed by the modern urban sprawl of the capital. According to legend, its unusual name derived from an ancient cottonwood tree, which for many years stood at the junction of four roads. It became customary for British troops during their regular rotations between Port Royal and the inland capital of Spanish Town to be allowed to rest at this shady spot, during their marches back and forth across that warm expanse. Written historical references to ‘‘Half-Way Tree’’ exist from as early as 1696.

Governor of Jamaica who was recalled for issuing anti-piracy commissions with too free a hand, thus unwittingly fueling an upsurge in that very activity. His father, the Scottish nobleman William Douglas, had received the title of Earl of Selkirk at the age of 11 in August 1646 and a decade later—amid the chaos left by the recently concluded English Civil War—had married the destitute Anne, Duchess of Hamilton, whose family estates had been declared forfeit by Oliver Cromwell as he emerged triumphant from that revolutionary upheaval. Selkirk himself had 627

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Hamilton, Lord Archibald (fl. 1715
1716)

Eighteenth-century map of Port Royal and Kingston, by Richard Jones; Port Royal was located at the westernmost tip of this land-spit, well-situated against any attack. (Browne, Patrick. The Civil and Natural History of Jamaica, 1756)

also been fined £1,000 when those hostilities had ceased, yet after negotiating with the new Protectorate in London, had succeeded in getting the Hamilton lands restored by 1657. Selkirk had then legally changed his name to William Douglas-Hamilton and taken the title of Duke of Hamilton as of September 1660, so that all his children would bear the Hamilton surname. The eleventh and final child—and seventh son—born into this marriage, would be baptized as Archibald on February 17, 1673 (O.S.), presumably within a few days of his birth. He grew up amid great privilege, being tutored at Glasgow University until the age of 11, then enrolled into the peacetime Royal Navy four years afterward. Because other officers bore this same name, though, he would become most commonly known as ‘‘Lord Archibald Hamilton,’’ an

unusual form of address. And his father, despite having been favored by James II, would forsake the Stuart King during the winter of 1688
1689 in favor of the Protestant challengers William and Mary, so that he was rewarded with numerous new offices once their ‘‘Glorious Revolution’’ succeeded in driving James from the throne and into exile.

Naval Career (1690
1705) To see active duty once war erupted officially against France that same spring, the 17-year-old Archibald volunteered as a staff member to Colonel James Kendall, who was being sent out to Barbados to help conduct regional operations as its new island Governor. They sailed from Plymouth aboard Commodore Lawrence Wright’s 54-gun flagship HMS Mary, along with

Hamilton, Lord Archibald (fl. 1715
1716) another dozen warships, escorting a 56-ship convoy. Within a month of limping into Carlisle Bay on May 11, 1690 (O.S.), young Hamilton was being read into Mary’s books as its most junior Lieutenant, because of losses sustained during its storm-tossed passage and outbreaks of disease on gaining the Antilles. When Lieutenant-General Sir Christopher Codrington, Governor-General of the Leeward Islands at Antigua, subsequently decided to mount a large expedition to recuperate St. Kitts from French occupation that same July 1690, Hamilton served ashore as his aide-decamp during this successful reconquest. At its conclusion, he retired aboard Wright’s Mary and the rest of the Royal Navy fleet to Barbados that August to ride out the hurricane season, and prepare for their return homeward. Traders and planters openly complained about this inactivity, which allowed French reinforcements to reach Martinique uncontested early next year, so that a second English offensive had to be organized. Still only 18 years old, Hamilton was by now such a seasoned West Indian officer that he was appointed as secondin-command under Captain Richard Kirkby of a landing-force of 400 Marines and seamen, with the temporary rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. After weighing and probing down the western shores of Guadeloupe, Codrington threw this vanguard ashore on the morning of April 21, 1691 (O.S.), in a small undefended bay near Anse a la Barque. The vigorous and dashing Hamilton came ashore with its very first wave, and was conspicuous for his bravery during the ensuing English advance across the island. Although Guadeloupe’s defenders reeled back through their capital without a fight and into their main

stronghold of Fort Saint-Charles, Codrington and Wright could then not subdue it, and soon the English sick-lists began to grow amid heavy tropical downpours. When the French Commodore JeanBaptiste Ducasse appeared offshore with a relief-force on May 13, 1691 (O.S.), the demoralized invaders lifted their siege and quit Guadeloupe two days later. Wright reappeared off Barbados with only five warships and five transports by May 30, 1691 (O.S.), being too ill to step ashore, so that he delegated the teenaged Hamilton to deliver the news of this failure to Governor Kendall. Yet all the senior English commanders in this theater singled out the young Scottish officer for praise, Kendall writing to the Lords of Trade and Plantations in London a month afterward: I should not do justice to Lord Archibald Hamilton, youngest son to the Duke of that same name, if I did not assure you that he has shown more prudence and conduct than perhaps was ever seen in so young a gentleman, and as much bravery as any man living. Codrington echoed these sentiments, when he too wrote from Antigua: Let me mention that Lord Archibald Hamilton has shown great zeal, and gained honor and esteem, both in fleet and army. He served as my aide-de-camp at St. Christopher’s and as Lieutenant-Colonel of the Marines at Guadeloupe, in which services he was as much exposed as any private sentinel, and showed a resolution becoming to his quality, and a discretion far beyond his years. Wright having already sailed for England, Hamilton followed that same July 1691

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Hamilton, Lord Archibald (fl. 1715
1716) as senior Lieutenant aboard the 42-gun, 210-man HMS Tiger Prize, escorting a homeward-bound merchant convoy. He returned to a proud reception from his family, even sitting to have his portrait painted next year by the famed Sir Godfrey Kneller, and being promoted to First Lieutenant of Scottish Rear Admiral David Mitchell’s Duke early in 1693—aided by the fact that Hamilton’s very influential father had also been elevated in 1692 to the offices of High Admiral and High Commissioner of Scotland, in addition to his many other titles, and became Extraordinary Lord of Session that following year. But the 59-year-old Duke was suddenly felled by a stroke and died in Edinburgh on April 18, 1694 (O.S.), leaving his eldest surviving son James to inherit the title as 4th Duke of Hamilton.

Portrait of the nineteen-year-old Lord Archibald Hamilton, as painted in 1692 by Sir Godfrey Kneller. (Lennoxlove House)

Resuming his Royal Navy duties, the 21-year-old Archibald was promoted to Captain of the 32-gun HMS Sheerness on September 17, 1694 (O.S.), before being entrusted that following summer with the brand-new HMS Litchfield of 48 guns, which had just been launched in February 1695 from the Portsmouth yards. He used it to pursue enemy privateers off the coast of France that autumn, seizing the 24-gun Tigre of Saint-Malo in January 1696, then took five prizes from a 60-ship convoy near Cherbourg that same April. When King William’s War finally ended in the autumn of 1697, Hamilton was in command of the 70-gun, 450-man HMS Berwick, and had managed to thwart a malicious prosecution that same May over prize-goods filed by some disgruntled former crew-members. Two years later, the young nobleman would be granted an annual pension of £200 by the English Crown, yet because of financial irregularities at the Treasury, this stipend was never paid. When hostilities with France threatened to resume in the spring of 1701, Hamilton prepared to return to active duty as Captain of the 80-gun HMS Boyne, only to be disappointed at the last minute. His brother George, Earl of Orkney, reported that May how Archibald ‘‘was in spleen to a great degree’’ because just as he was about to sail as part of Admiral Sir George Rooke’s fleet, he had been ordered to relinquish command of Boyne in favor of John Cranby, having already spent some £400 equipping that vessel. Although Lord Archibald would remain with Rooke’s fleet throughout that summer of 1701, he missed the start of hostilities and its famous victory at Vigo Bay in October 1702, and was

Hamilton, Lord Archibald (fl. 1715
1716) not given the 70-gun, 1,100-ton HMS Eagle until March 1703, after it had returned home and its Captain Sir James Wishart had been promoted into the Channel fleet. Hamilton sailed with his new command that same spring of 1703, as part of Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell’s squadron, bound into the Mediterranean. A year later, Eagle returned into those waters as part of Admiral Rooke’s fleet, so as to transport the Habsburg claimant to the Spanish throne, Archduke Charles of Austria, with his army into Lisbon. On arriving there safely on March 6, 1704, the Archduke personally rewarded Lord Archibald with a portrait clustered with diamonds, and a purse holding 100 guineas. After a couple more patrols, Rooke’s fleet weighed on April 27, 1704 (O.S.), to vainly attack Barcelona three weeks later, then sailed on to relieve Nice. Having shadowed the movements of a large French fleet operating out of Toulon for several weeks, Rooke decided in mid-July to secure the strategic Spanish town of Gibraltar as a base. Needing to find a harbor first to water his fleet, Hamilton’s Eagle and HMS Hampton Court fought their way past the guard-tower into Altea Bay, then helped batter the besieged town of Gibraltar into surrender by August 4, 1704. When Rooke learned 18 days afterward that the 50-ship Toulon fleet of Admiral Louis Alexandre de Bourbon, Comte de Toulouse, was approaching, he gathered his own 51 warships and met this challenger off M
alaga on August 24, 1704. Hamilton’s Eagle was in the thick of this fight, suffering 65 casualties among its 440 crewmen; however, because his ammunition stocks

were already so low, he endured the shame of having his broadsides fall silent, and so was towed out of the battle-line two hours before nightfall. The entire engagement having ended inconclusively, much to England’s vexation, he was one of five Captains courtmartialed in January 1705. Although exonerated, their acquittals were so grudgingly written that Hamilton’s Royal Navy career seemed effectively over.

Political Beginnings (1707
1710) Lord Archibald would spend the next three years trying to clear his name, and obtain a new command. Recognizing that prospects were dim, the 34-year-old unemployed Captain began spending considerable sums during the summer of 1707 in the English borough of Great Marlow, hoping to be elected as its Member of Parliament in the forthcoming elections. Although beaten, he was promised promotion in January 1708 to Rear Admiral in the Royal Navy. However, realizing that the junior Captain James Berkeley, Lord Dursley, would pass over him in seniority if he should accept, Hamilton proudly refused. He also complained to Queen Anne at this same time that his annual pension, which had been increased to £300, had never once been paid. Consequently, Lord Archibald accepted the opening to run for the Scottish seat of Lanatkshire in 1708. Despite his Whig leanings attributable to a staunch Presbyterianism imbued by his formidable mother, the Duchess Anne, his family name overcame the Episcopalian Tory sentiments of most voters,

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Hamilton, Lord Archibald (fl. 1715
1716) so that he won election to the House of Commons. Hamilton supported most policies of the emerging Whig government party throughout that tumultuous session, at least partly in hopes of regaining favor at court, for privately he lamented that he was in: . . . greater straits than ever I was in my life. I have now been a considerable time without any employment, and the best I ever had was but barely bread for that present, so that nothing being possible to be saved out of it. I am altogether at a loss how to support myself here, without reparation from the government. He was further saddened by the death of his wife Anne in 1709. Eventually, his loyalty was rewarded when—with powerful political backing from John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough—Lord Archibald was proposed in May 1710 as the new Governor for Jamaica. This plum posting, ‘‘with a salary of £2,500 Jamaica money,’’ plus numerous other possibilities for enrichment through fees and privileges, made it ‘‘the best the Queen has, excepting that of Ireland.’’

Governor of Jamaica (1711
1716) However, when Hamilton reached that island aboard HMS Defiance on July 11, 1711 (O.S.), he was concerned by its debilitated economic condition. Although funds were available for his departing predecessor, Major-General Thomas Handasyde, Lord Archibald privately expressed the fear that ‘‘there is not any money to pay me.’’ He soon experienced frictions with the local

Assembly as well, whose membership of planters and traders held very different priorities, especially with regard to raising taxes for the war-effort. Relations quickly turned cantankerous, as the imperious Scot tried to secure financing for his administration from this land-owning elite. Hostilities ceased in Europe as of April 1713, and when the Stuart Queen Anne died childless 16 months later and was succeeded by the new Hanoverian monarch George I, Hamilton retained his office. Both he and his older brother, the Earl of Orkney—the absentee Governor for Virginia—had their commissions renewed that same December 1714, with Lord Archibald’s even being increased in strength by the Council of Trade and Plantations in London, so as to better deal with the difficult Jamaican Assembly. He even delayed convening the newly-elected membership of that body for 10 months, until his expanded powers had arrived. Early the next year, reports also began reaching Jamaica of piracies being committed by lawless privateers who had drifted into the sparsely-populated, ungoverned Bahamas Islands, inciting retaliatory sorties by Cuban corsairs. A few complaints soon began to reach Madrid and London, threatening the slow revival of maritime traffic throughout the West Indies, which was greatly desired by both Crowns and merchant interests, after a dozen years of naval blockades. Hamilton was incensed when he finally convened the long-deferred Assembly in early November 1715, only to have its members present him with a long list of pent-up demands. Rather than agree to any so as to get his budget approved, the Governor rebuffed all such proposals out of hand.

Hamilton, Lord Archibald (fl. 1715
1716) Yet his position became further complicated when reports were received that a Jacobite rebellion had erupted in Scotland two months previously, with the aim of supplanting George on the throne with the exiled Stuart pretender. Despite publicly proclaiming his loyalty as a Whig to the Hanoverian monarch, a wave of anti-Scottish sentiment emboldened the Jamaican Assembly, as kinsmen within his own extended Hamilton family were known to be among the rebellion’s leadership. The session of November 14, 1715 (O.S.), ended with the members voting to send a petition of their grievances directly to King George, bypassing the Governor. Jamaica’s finances meanwhile remained stalled, though, so that in order to secure some funds, Lord Hamilton turned to his prerogative of issuing privateering commissions. In addition to the need for battling pirates, news had also been received of the wreck of an entire Spanish plate fleet on the eastern shores of Florida that summer, leaving a dozen immenselyrich galleons strewn temptingly as a lure for scavengers and lawless elements. Both Henry Jennings and John Wills therefore received permits a week later, on November 21, 1715 (O.S.), and exited Port Royal for those troubled waters, soon to be followed by a half-dozen other hard-bitten commanders. Realizing that such sorties represented the potential for considerable personal profit as well, Hamilton purchased private shares in several of these vessels. Unfortunately, once over the horizon, these licensed rovers acted arbitrarily, seizing any and all vessels which crossed their path under a variety of pretexts. The Governor and Assembly meanwhile remained bitterly at odds, he reproving them in January 1716 for

their ‘‘peevish and fruitless inquiries,’’ to which they defiantly retorted that ‘‘the island has been ill-treated by His Excellency,’’ so that loyalty to the Crown had induced them not to vote ‘‘any further sum of money, while His Lordship continued in the government.’’ Their grievances were instead forwarded to London for resolution next month, and while the Crown ministers were initially inclined to support Hamilton—because of their concern over a growing volume of demands being received from all overseas colonies —this was offset by the many additional complaints being submitted by neutral Spaniards about the depredations perpetrated by heavy-handed Jamaican privateers. (The royal ministers’ decision may also have been swayed by the fact that Lord Archibald’s 18-year-old nephew, Basil Hamilton, son of the Governor’s next older, predeceased brother of that same name, was among the rebel officers taken prisoner at the Battle of Preston in mid-November 1715, and condemned to death for treason.) As a result, Britain’s Secretary of State James Stanhope instructed the Board of Trade and Plantations on May 19, 1716 (O.S.), to remove Hamilton from office, and temporarily replace him with the Jamaican planter, Colonel Peter Heywood. This order went on to add that: . . . there having been several abuses committed of late under the covert of [privateering] commissions granted by the said Lord Archibald Hamilton, to the prejudice of the treaties between this Crown and that of Spain, the said Peter Heywood and the Council [of Jamaica] are to be

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Hamilton, Lord Archibald (fl. 1715
1716) instructed to make strict inquiry into such commissions, and into all abuses, piracies, and robberies committed of late upon the Spaniards in the Gulf of Florida or elsewhere, and to seize all persons they shall find guilty, and send them over hither with their effects and such evidence as may be proper to convict them according to law; and they are to be instructed to inquire into the conduct of the said Governor in this matter, and if they find that he has been concerned in these unjustifiable practices, they are to take care that he be put under arrest, and his effects seized and sent over with him by the first ship that shall come from that island. A vigorous prosecution was begun once this order reached Port Royal.

Later Career (1717
1754) To revive the family fortunes, Lord Archibald successfully ran in a Lanarkshire by-election in December 1718, thereby reestablishing the Hamiltons’ political influence in southwestern Scotland. He also married the elderly widow Anne Hamilton on December 17, 1718 (O.S.), whose endowment rather curiously insisted that she not remarry to anyone ‘‘except one of the name of Hamilton.’’ This lucrative match, described by the writer Jonathan Swift as the best in Ireland, left Lord Archibald well off when she died three months afterward. He then quickly married Lady Jane Hamilton on September 29, 1719 (O.S.), by whom he would have six children—the last being Sir William Hamilton, later to become a great friend and patron of Horatio Nelson.

Lord Archibald retained his Lanarkshire seat in 1722, despite local resentment against his recent failures to support Scottish linen interests before Parliament. His reelection was due to his 19-year-old nephew James, the 5th Duke of Hamilton, who supported the candidacy of his Hanoverian Whig uncle, despite himself being a proJacobite Tory. Lord Archibald was then further rewarded for his loyalty to the British government with an appointment as a Lord of the Admiralty in 1729, and six years later his wife Lady Jane became the mistress of George, Prince of Wales. Hamilton would remain in various sinecure positions until his death in April 1754.

See also Ducasse, Jean-Baptiste; Fernando, Francis; Jennings, Henry.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 13, 25, 28
30 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1901
1930). Calendar of State Papers, Domestic: William and Mary, 1694
96, and William III, 1697 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1906
1913). Calendar of Treasury Books, Volumes 20
21: 1705
1707 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1952). Cruickshanks, E., et al. The House of Commons, 1690
1715, Vol. 1 (Cambridge University Press, 2002). Marshall, Rosalind K., The Days of Duchess Anne: Life in the Household of the Duchess of Hamilton, 1656
1716 (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1973).

Harismendy, Louis De (fl. 1690
1694)

HARISMENDY, LOUIS DE (fl. 1690
1694) French privateer who campaigned in Canada during King William’s War. Harismendy was born in 1645, in the seaside town of Bidart, southwest of Biarritz on the Bay of Biscay, very near to the border with Spain. Little is known about his early career, except that he evidently took to the sea at a young age. His difficult Basque surname would be often misspelled throughout his lifetime by French scribes. By the time hostilities between France and The Netherlands erupted in late November 1688, Harismendy was already a seasoned 33-year-old merchant captain. He secured a privateering commission on December 26th of that same year, from the Admiralty of Guyenne offices at Versailles, to cruise against the Dutch with the 76-man, 180-ton ship Dissimul
ee. Evidently, he was to be seconded in these efforts by his fellow Basque, Johannis de Mons
egur, aboard the 67-man Entreprenant. Fifteen months later, after Spain and England had also joined into the ‘‘Grand Alliance’’ fighting against France, Harismendy obtained a second privateering commission on March 27, 1690—this time to brave the Royal Navy’s Atlantic blockade by running out of Bordeaux and La Rochelle that same July with his 20-gun, 43-man Glorieux, to carry supplies across the ocean to beleaguered Quebec City. Harismendy’s ship and two other consort-vessels managed to gain the Saint Lawrence Seaway by late October 1690, shouldering their way through snowy gales and hiding up the Saguenay River, until the New England siege-force of Gov. Sir William Phips

had retreated back past them, out into the Atlantic. After spending the winter of 1690
1691 in Canada, Harismendy seems to have sailed Glorieux home to France next spring, and operated in European waters as a privateer during 1691 to 1692. He is known to have brought in the Dutch ship Hoop as a prize in May 1692, followed the next month by the Two Brothers of Riga. Major defeats suffered by France’s regular Navy during these same months, though, prompted the Crown to alter its naval strategy—away from set-piece battles, in which its main battle-fleets were clearly overmatched by the English and Dutch, to instead opt for swift squadron-sorties and commerce raids. And to better conduct such independent forays, skilled private captains were moreover to be admitted into the French Navy’s command ranks, traditionally the preserve of its nobility. (Such low-born, unpaid, temporary wartime appointees were to become known as officiers bleus or ‘‘blue officers,’’ as opposed to the ‘‘red’’ regular officers.) Harismendy was therefore approved for such a ‘‘blue’’ appointment that same November 1692, and on December 10th was given his first task: commissioning the brand-new, 36-gun, 300-ton royal frigate Aigle, recently launched at the Bayonne yards by the master shipwright F
elicien Arnaud. Along with its sister-ship Favori, plus the equally new 50-gun, 500-ton flagship P
elican of Commodore Antoine d’Arcy de La Varenne, the Crown decided to send this trio on a surprise strike the next spring against the lucrative Dutch whaling-station of Spitsbergen at the Arctic Circle. The exuberant

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Harismendy, Louis De (fl. 1690
1694) young Basque privateer Joannes de Subigaray Chipi—more commonly known as ‘‘Coursic’’—was appointed to command Aigle, while Harismendy took over Favori. The 44-gun, 500-ton privateer Prudent of Captain Jacques Gouin de Beauchesne of Saint-Malo completed this four-vessel squadron.

Spitsbergen Foray (1693) La Varenne’s quartet of warships departed Saint-Jean-de-Luz on the morning of June 30, 1693, and after a month of steadily sailing due northward, sighted Svalbard Island. The French flagship dropped anchor in its South Bay, while La Varenne’s three consorts chased after scattering Dutch whalers. Harismendy returned with three prizes, and Coursic two, before both were allowed to circle around to the northern tip of the island, in search of the main Dutch anchorage. At dawn of August 6, 1693, Aigle and Favori pushed through the ice-floes outside Treurenburg Bay, to find 40 Dutch ships anchored inside, in a defensive crescent. The French sent in a launch calling on the tough whalers to surrender, and when this was refused, fighting erupted shortly after 8:00 A.M. After five hours of furious broadsides, during which each French frigate expended almost 1,600 rounds, the Dutch began to use their longboats to escape, warping their ships out of the bay. The triumphant Coursic and Harismendy were left with 13 prizes, of which two were so badly damaged that they had to be burnt. After repairing their own warships, the two French commanders set sail with their 11 remaining prizes on the evening of August 7, 1693, rejoining the flagship

P
elican and Prudent two days later in South Bay. A total of 26 prizes were assembled there, of which 15 were scuttled. Coursic was assigned six of the remainder and Harismendy five, weighing anchor by August 14th to escort them home into Bayonne. P
elican and Prudent meanwhile split off to cruise down the British coastline, snapping up a West Indian convoy that they chanced to meet off Cape Clear. Harismendy regained Bayonne with his five prizes by September 9, 1693, to a hero’s welcome. Sixteen days later, Louis XIV personally wrote to the regional Gov. Charles-Antoine, Duc de Gramont, to say that he ‘‘was very pleased’’ with what had been accomplished during this foray, and assuring his officers ‘‘that he will remember this on a future occasion.’’ On September 27th, the 48-year-old Harismendy—now rich and famous—was able to marry 26-year-old Marie de Lafourcade in Bayonne’s Notre Dame Church. As the campaigning season was winding down with the onset of winter, a sudden privateering sally also had to be made from Bayonne under Subigaray, who weighed on November 21, 1693, with Aigle, Favori, Entreprenant, and Jolie to chase away some enemy raiders prowling off the coast of Gascony.

Disappointment at Newfoundland (1694) After celebrating over that winter of 1693
1694, a new expedition was prepared next April to visit a similar treatment on the English fisheries of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. Once again, Harismendy was reaffirmed in command of the Favori by April 26, 1694, to sail together with Coursic’s

Harismendy, Louis De (fl. 1690
1694) Aigle and Gouin de Beauchesne’s Prudent, this time across the North Atlantic toward Canada under the leadership of Commodore Pierre Vidard, Seigneur de Saint-Clair, aboard his new 54-gun, 850-ton flagship Gaillard. Funding for the flagship’s operation was to be furnished by the Crown, yet the rest of this enterprise was underwritten by private investors—the Commodore himself contributing 1,000 e
cus. All four warships departed Bayonne on May 26, 1694, pausing at La Rochelle, before striking out into the open Atlantic. Despite successfully reaching Plaisance (modern Placentia) Bay in Newfoundland, this expedition ended badly. Temporarily detached from Saint-Clair’s main force, under the command of the ‘‘red’’ naval Captain Duvignau, Coursic’s Aigle and Harismendy’s Favori, as well as Beauchesne’s Prudent, circled around southern Newfoundland and attempted to penetrate the harbor at Forillon or Ferryland on September 10, 1694, against stout opposition from Captain William Holman with his 16-gun letter-of-marque ship William and Mary; plus four shore-batteries mounting 30 guns; all the local English inhabitants that could be mustered, as well as crews from eight or nine other anchored vessels. Duvignau aboard Aigle ordered Coursic to fight his way inside, irregardless of the odds, but the frigate ran aground at the channel’s narrowest point and Subigaray fell mortally wounded, at which some of his Basque officers and crewmen apparently panicked and launched a boat to row across to Harismendy’s Favori, which had veered around as it could not find a way around the blocked entry. Aigle was refloated with difficulty under enemy fire, and managed to stagger

back out of Ferryland Bay after being riddled for eight hours, at which point Harismendy took it under tow and all three French vessels limped back to rejoin Saint-Clair at the Placentia anchorage by September 15, 1694. Heated recriminations ensued, Duvignau—guilty because his commands had resulted in this bloody fiasco—immediately ordering one of Aigle’s surviving ‘‘blue’’ Basque ensigns arrested for desertion, while lodging formal charges against several others now aboard Favori, and even threatening to do the same against Harismendy himself, for harboring these men. The accused in turn angrily denied these charges, alleging that they had merely launched the boat so as to obtain the necessary equipment from Favori to help refloat the grounded Aigle. It was a disappointed and quarrelsome quartet of warships which quit Placentia Bay on October 15, 1694, to escort a 34-ship merchant convoy homeward to France. Bad weather struck two days later out in the Atlantic, and Harismendy’s Favori became separated by October 24th. Evidently convinced that the Basques accused of desertion who were still aboard his frigate stood no chance of being cleared at a trial presided over by senior ‘‘red’’ officers, Harismendy drifted toward North America and set them free. Their boat reached Falmouth in Buzzard’s Bay, south of Cape Cod, where they were safely interned for the remainder of this conflict as prisoners-of-war. Meanwhile, Saint-Clair’s initial dispatches had reached France, trying to explain his expedition’s failure and his own lack of active participation in the Ferryland attack by blaming the Governor of Placentia, Jacques-Franc¸ois de Montebon de Brouillan. Duvignau

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Hawkins, Thomas (fl. 1689
1690) regained Bayonne with Aigle by November 16, 1694, publicly filing charges against various Basque ‘‘blue’’ officers. Prudent arrived four days later, followed lastly by Harismendy’s Favori on December 7th. Eight days afterward, France’s displeased Minister of Marine, Louis de Ph
elypeaux, Comte de Pontchartrain, wrote to request all the paperwork regarding these numerous charges and counter-charges. Needless to say, the naval careers of Harismendy and many others were at an end.

engagement began. The crew of the Mary at last boarded the pirates, but Captain Pease was so severely wounded, that he died. Hawkins was subsequently tried for piracy at Boston in 1690, but reprieved. Sent to England, he was killed during the voyage in a fight with a French privateer.

Reference Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924).

See also Blue Officers; Holman, William; Phips, Sir William; Subigaray ‘‘Chipi,’’ Joannes de.

References Henrat, Philippe. ‘‘French Naval Operations in Spitsbergen during Louis XIV’s Reign.’’ Artic 37, No. 4 (December 1984), pp. 544
551. Thwaites, Reuben Gold, ed. The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents, Volume 64 (Cleveland, OH: Burrows Bros, 1900).

HAWKINS, THOMAS (fl. 1689
1690) Born in Boston, he turned pirate and cruised with Captain Thomas Pound off the coast of New England in 1689, burning and plundering its shipping. The Bay Colony that October sent out the armed sloop Mary under commander Samuel Pease, to attempt to capture Hawkins. Pease found the pirate in Buzzard’s Bay, where his opponent ran up the red flag and a furious

HEWETSON, THOMAS (fl. 1688
1690) English commander who failed to establish a colony in Chile, but fought well as a privateer in the West Indies. Hewetson departed England with a small flotilla in 1688, intending to found a settlement on the Pacific coast of South America, yet was unable to beat his way through the Strait of Magellan. Instead, he retreated to Tobago with his 50-gun flagship Lion and two other vessels, where he learned that England’s James II had been deposed in favor of William and Mary; he then reached Barbados where one of his ships exploded at anchor toward the end of July 1689. Discouraged and with most of his men having deserted, Hewetson sailed for home as escort to a merchant convoy, touching at Bermuda, where he learned that the War of the League of Augsburg or King William’s War had broken out back in Europe. In cooperation with that island’s Gov. Sir Robert Robinson, Hewetson was furnished with a commission dated October 19, 1689, and sufficient men

Hicks, Gaspar (fl. 1690
1692) to bring Lion’s strength up to ‘‘350 lusty men,’’ so he decided to return to Antigua by the middle of the next month and offer his services against the French. Gov. Christopher Codrington promptly appointed Hewetson as ‘‘commanderin-chief of all vessels fitted out in the Leeward Islands,’’ and when word arrived that the French under the Comte de Bl
enac had initiated attacks against the island of St. Kitts, Codrington retaliated by sending Hewetson with his three ships and two sloops to Marie Galante to ‘‘reduce it, securing the plunder for himself and his fellow adventurers.’’ (Among the latter was Captain William Kidd, commanding the 20-gun Blessed William of 80 to 90 men.) Hewetson made a successful descent against that French island on December 30, 1689 (O.S.), ransacking it over the next five days. On returning to Nevis, his squadron was hurried out again to rescue the expedition of Sir Thomas Thornhill, which had become cut off after attacking the French colony on Saint Martin. Hewetson arrived off that island in late January 1690 to find the English troops besieged ashore by five French warships under JeanBaptiste Ducasse. The two squadrons exchanged broadsides throughout much of that day, until Ducasse withdrew at nightfall. Thornhill’s men were rescued and restored to Nevis, after which Hewetson transferred to Barbados, where he was issued yet another privateering commission on April 11th (O.S.) to protect that island. After reinforcements arrived from England, Hewetson chartered Lion to the factor of the Spanish slave asiento, and sailed away.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 13 (London, 1901).

Chapin, Howard M., Privateer Ships and Sailors: The First Century of American Colonial Privateering, 1625
1725 (Toulon: G. Mouton, 1926). Ritchie, Robert C., Captain Kidd and the War against the Pirates (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1986).

HICKS, GASPAR (fl. 1690
1692) Difficult English merchant-master, hired by the Crown to perform auxiliary naval service in North America. As King William’s War was entering into its second year, Hicks’ 48-gun, 200-man Archangel was one of several large private ships commissioned by the Admiralty, to supplement the efforts of its thinly-stretched warships on distant stations. Specifically, Hicks was to carry Colonel Henry Sloughter and a body of troops across the Atlantic to New York City, so as to supplant Jacob Leisler’s usurper administration with William’s royal rule. During that autumn, Archangel took on two companies of soldiers, and was cleared to weigh from Cowes on the Isle of Wight by late September 1690 (O.S.). But to the considerable annoyance of the King’s ministers in London, Hicks did not actually set sail until December 1st (O.S.), ineffectually shepherding 25 vessels toward their stopover-point at Bermuda. This convoy became dispersed during the Atlantic crossing, though, and an exasperated Sloughter had to endure ‘‘extravagant ill-usage’’ from Hicks. The Governor later explained to London: . . . the difficulty of finding Bermuda in winter, contrary winds, and the striking of the [Archangel] on

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Hoar or Hore, John (fl. 1694
1697) the rocks at Bermuda, delayed our arrival at New York till [19 March 1691 (O.S.)]. The other ships arrived two months before us . . .

relieved. Another frigate is wanted in the bay of Boston, where the French did what they pleased last year.

See also Archangel having lost 50 feet of its false-keel on the night of January 10
11, 1691 (O.S.), Hicks was delayed in putting out to sea again for New York. Short of men, he had also pressed several Bermudan sailors and became embroiled in a dispute with its government, which refused to lower the chain barring St. George’s harbor-mouth for Archangel to depart. The Council minutes for February 2, 1691 (O.S.), recorded how its members were considering the matter of ‘‘Captain Hicks, his pressing several men and delaying the pilot on board his ship, and threatening to batter down the town and forts.’’ Eventually, this boom was lowered and Archangel was allowed to proceed on the morning of February 4th (O.S.), although a letter sent aboard that previous evening requiring Hicks to appear before the angry Council had been rebuffed. On reaching New York, Sloughter quickly ended Leisler’s resistance, and set about installing his royal administration. Five days later, on March 24, 1691 (O.S.), Hicks was one of eight Judges appointed to try the rebel prisoners, and at the same time was ordered ‘‘to return the men pressed from Captain William Kidd.’’ Evidently, the shortage of hands continued aboard Archangel, so that he had laid a hold of some of the privateer crew. Governor Sloughter nonetheless begged London: . . . that Captain Hicks may be instructed to stay here and guard the coast against French privateers, until

Kidd, William.

References Bell, Winslow M., comp., ‘‘Minutes of Their Majesties’ Council (1690)’’ Bermuda Historical Quarterly XIV, No. 3 (Autumn 1957), pp. 72
79. Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 13 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1901). Calendar of State Papers, Domestic: William and Mary, 1690
91 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898). Calendar of Treasury Books, 1689
1692 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1931), Volume 9.

HOAR OR HORE, JOHN (fl. 1694
1697) Irish-born rover who operated as a privateer out of Jamaica, before turning to piracy in the Red Sea. He first appeared before Newport, Rhode Island, in early 1694 with his frigate Dublin, bearing a commission from Governor Sir William Beeston of Jamaica, and a French prize called the Saint-Paul. England then being engaged in the War of the League of Augsburg or King William’s War against France, Hoar asked to have this prize lawfully condemned so that he might change ships. As there was still no Admiralty court in that colony, its General Assembly agreed on January 7,

Hoar or Hore, John (fl. 1694
1697) 1694 (O.S.), to approve such a measure, allowing their general council to act in such a capacity ‘‘until His Majesty’s pleasure be further known.’’ Saint-Paul was duly condemned, and renamed John and Rebecca by Hoar. Some months later, he sailed it south to New York, where he obtained yet another privateering commission from the pliant Gov. Benjamin Fletcher, then departed Narragansett Bay in early 1695, apparently without clearance papers. On June 22, 1697 (O.S.), Fletcher would defend himself against numerous complaints received by the Council of Trade and Plantations in London, arguing among other things that: An Irishman, one Hoare, holding a commission from Sir William Beeston, took a considerable prize, loaded with sugar and indigo, from the French, which he took into Rhode Island and there disposed of the cargo. Finding the prize to be fitter for his purpose, he shifted on board of her and applied to me for a commission to go against the French at the mouth of Canada River and on the banks of Newfoundland, which I gave him, taking security for his obedience to my instructions. I have heard no more of him since. It may be my misfortune, but not my crime, if they turn pirates: I have heard of none yet that have done so. Hoar openly turned pirate by subsequently working his 100-man ship around the Cape of Good Hope and attacking neutral shipping in the Arabian Sea and Persian Gulf. On August 15, 1696 (O.S.), he intercepted the ships Ruparrel and Calicut, while they were bound toward Bombay. A wealthy English merchant

named Henry Watson, who was traveling aboard the Ruparrel, later described how ‘‘the mate, gunner, and myself were carried on board the pirate-ship, which was a prize taken from the French, formerly called the St. Paul, but now the John and Rebecca.’’ This captive added: I have often heard the commander and many of his men say that he took the ship from the French near the river of Canada, and that they had a commission from the Governor of New York to take the French. They fitted their ship from Rhode Island, and the then Governor of New York knew their designs, as also the Governor of Rhode Island. Another pirate-ship of equal burden was fitted out there at the same time with this, which Hore commands. The Captain of the other ship is Richard Glover, brother-in-law to Hore. Finally, they made a major capture near Surat early in 1697, and retired with it toward Saint Mary’s Island, off the east coast of Madagascar. According to a deposition given more than two years later in New York City before Governor Richard, Lord Bellomont, the man who controlled that pirate anchorage—Adam Baldridge— would recall: February the 13th 1697 [O.S.]: Arrived Captain John Hor’s prize from the Gulf of Persia, and three or four days after arrived Captain Hore in the John and Rebecca, burden about 180 tons, 20 guns, 100 men in ship and prize. The prize about 300 ton, laden with calicoes. Five months later, the local natives fell on them, killing 30 and driving the

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Holman, William (fl. 1694) survivors to seek shelter at Fort Dauphin, the abandoned French settlement at the southeastern tip of that island, where their ship foundered; Hoar’s quartermaster Abraham Samuel, a former slave on the French West Indian island of Martinique, was proclaimed king by the local tribal queen, ruling under the title of ‘‘Tolinor Rex’’ with a bodyguard of 20 of his old shipmates.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 15 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1904). Chapin, Howard M., Privateer Ships and Sailors: The First Century of American Colonial Privateering, 1625
1725 (Toulon: G. Mouton, 1926). Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924). Jameson, John F., comp. and ed., Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period: Illustrative Documents (New York: Macmillan, 1923). Ritchie, Robert C., Captain Kidd and the War against the Pirates (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1986).

HOLMAN, WILLIAM (fl. 1694) English merchant captain holding a letter-of-marque, who defended a fishingport in Newfoundland during King William’s War. While at anchor inside Ferryland harbor in the summer of 1694—the fifth year of the struggle against France—with his 16-gun William and Mary, Holman learned of an impending attack against that place from Placentia

by the recently-arrived squadron of Commodore Pierre Vidard, Seigneur de Saint-Clair. Holman therefore used the authority of his privateering commission to order the eight or nine other English vessels lying inside Ferryland bay into a defensive formation; to marshal all English inhabitants ashore ‘‘by threatening to take their fish and burn their houses;’’ and to erect four batteries, mounting a total of 30 guns. The British Admiralty rewarded Holman for his successful defense with a medal and chain, while the King in Council was persuaded to compensate him for his expenses during this operation. Holman’s claim included ‘‘one hogshead of sherry wine, twenty gallons of brandy, and a barrel of strong beer which I gave the men to encourage them in time of fight.’’

See also Harismendy, Louis de; Letter of Marque; Subigaray ‘‘Chipi,’’ Joannes de.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 14 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1903).

HOLMES, SIR ROBERT (fl. 1687
1691) English Admiral who used his influence to secure the right to expropriate ‘‘all wares, merchandises, etc., piratically taken on board in any part of America.’’ Holmes was born in 1622 in Mallow, in County Cork, Ireland, and served the

Holmes, Sir Robert (fl. 1687
1691) Crown as a loyal Cavalier throughout the English Civil War. After Charles I’s execution, he went abroad with Prince Rupert’s squadron, and attached himself to James, Duke of York. On the Restoration of Charles II in 1660, he entered the Royal Navy, his patron James having become Lord High Admiral. Holmes sailed to the Guinea Coast that same October 1660 to protect English trade, and returned to England next year with ‘‘a great baboon’’ aboard. In autumn of 1663, he was appointed to the 40-gun HMS Jersey, to lead another peacetime expedition to the coast of Africa in support of the English slave-factories competing with the Dutch. Although instructed to avoid hostilities, Holmes was forced to take possession of several Dutch settlements. He then led his squadron across the Atlantic, ransacking the Dutch island of Sint Eustatius in passing, although not bothering to occupy it. On his return to England in 1664, he was detained in the Tower of London to answer Dutch protests regarding his conduct. In the meantime, Admiral Michiel de Ruyter sailed to Africa and reconquered the Dutch forts, as well as crossing over into the West Indies and taking many prizes. The Second Anglo-Dutch War resulted, much of the blame for its outbreak being leveled at Holmes, although at his inquest he showed that he had merely obeyed instructions. Holmes fought with rare distinction at Lowestoft, the Four Days Fight, and St. James’s Day, and in August 1666 burned 150 to 160 Dutch East Indiamen at the Texel in what became known as ‘‘Holmes’ Bonfire.’’ He ended the war in 1667 with a knighthood and a seat in Parliament, as well as appointment as Admiral of

Portsmouth and Governor of the Isle of Wight. He became very wealthy as a result, entertaining the King lavishly at his new mansion at Yarmouth. Early in 1672, Holmes again commanded the English squadron which launched hostilities by being sent out to attack the homeward-bound Dutch Smyrna convoy off the Isle of Wight, thereby inaugurating the Third Anglo-Dutch War. After the cessation of hostilities two years later, Holmes seldom went to sea again. In late August 1687, he was supposedly given ‘‘command of a squadron of ships sent to America for suppressing pirates,’’ but it does not appear as if any such force ever actually sailed. Instead, Holmes delegated a man called Stephen Lynch to visit the West Indies in his place, with plenary powers to have pirates arrested and their goods impounded by local authorities. This individual reached Jamaica in April 1688, where his powers were much resented, the Governor Duke of Albemarle observing: ‘‘Had he not been deputed by the King, I should have given him deserved correction.’’ When James II was deposed at the end of that same year in favor of William and Mary, Lynch found himself no longer welcome in the Caribbean and returned home. Holmes’ last venture occurred when Edward Davis and his colleagues were brought to England from Virginia in 1690, to stand trial for piracy. Holmes impounded their money and petitioned to keep it, writing in August 1691: ‘‘The robberies of Davies [sic] and his crew were unparalleled, and I am sorry to hear that he is countenanced in England, when the gallows is too good a reward for him.’’ Holmes promised to visit London ‘‘as soon as my health enables me to leave Bath,’’ but evidently

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Hornigold, Benjamin (fl. 1713
1719) was never able to do so, dying there on November 18, 1692 (O.S.), and was buried in Yarmouth Church.

References Calendar of State Papers: Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 12, 13 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1899
1901). Dictionary of National Biography (London, 1885
1900, 63 volumes; reissued by Oxford University Press, 2004). Ollard, Richard, Man of War: Sir Robert Holmes and the Restoration Navy (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1969). Piracy and Privateering catalog, Volume Four, National Maritime Museum Library (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1972). Shomette, Donald G. and Haslach, Robert D., Raid on America: The Dutch Naval Campaign of 1672
1674 (Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1988).

HORNIGOLD, BENJAMIN (fl. 1713
1719) Freebooter who plied his trade out of the Bahamas, and then later—ironically— became a licensed pirate-hunter. Nothing much is known about Hornigold’s early life or career. He had undoubtedly fought aboard English privateers operating out of Jamaica against the French and Spanish during Queen Anne’s War, and once these hostilities ceased as of April 1713, was left unemployed. It is believed that he and a fewscore companions, most likely including Edward Thatch, drifted that same summer from Port Royal into the beauteous yet sparsely-populated Bahamian

archipelago. Cuban raids and lack of any significant commercial traffic had left only 27 families still living in makeshift huts on its main island of New Providence, with no more than 400 to 500 English residents scattered through out all its island chain. No private Governor was in residence amid the burned remnants of Nassau, or any assistance forthcoming from the Lords Proprietors in England.

Piratical Acts (1713
1718) Hornigold and his followers acquired and fitted out three large piraguas, with 25 freebooters aboard each making forays against Spaniards living and circulating along the nearby Cuban and Florida coastlines; John West and John Cockram served as his fellow-commanders. Much of their booty was sold to visiting ships at the English settlement on Harbour Island, 50 miles north of ruined Nassau, where in March 1714 Cockram married a daughter of its wealthiest resident, Richard Thompson, and settled on neighboring Eleuthera Island. When rumors began to circulate of a retaliatory strike being prepared at Havana against Nassau, Hornigold and his raiders temporarily disbanded. They regrouped later that same summer of 1714, though, when Hornigold departed Harbour Island aboard Jonathan Darvell’s borrowed sloop Happy Return, accompanied by his son Zacheus and son-in-law, Daniel Stillwell. The profits from this cruise allowed Hornigold to buy his own large boat from an Eleutheran settler, and make an independent sortie, during which he intercepted a pair of boats off the Cuban coast early that December 1714 bearing 46,000 pieces-of-eight—a rich haul.

Hornigold, Benjamin (fl. 1713
1719) Such nuisance raids prompted a resident at Nassau named Captain Thomas Walker, holder of an old commission as Judge of its now-defunct Vice-Admiralty Court, to step into the administrative vacuum and act as self-appointed ‘‘Deputy Governor,’’ sailing for Havana in January 1715 to try to patch up relations with the neighboring Spaniards before a counter-offensive was launched. The Governor of Cuba, Laureano de Torres Ayala, Marqu
es de Casa Torres, complained vigorously of the descents made on his shores since the peace treaty had been signed back in Europe, by Hornigold with his sloop Happy Return out of an anchorage on Eleuthera Island. Walker therefore returned to Nassau and made at least eight arrests, including Hornigold’s cohort Daniel Stillwell (formerly of Jamaica), who had used a small shalloup to steal a Cuban launch bearing more than 11,000 pieces of eight. Yet despite holding Stillwell captive for deportation to Jamaica, Walker could not find any ship to carry him to Port Royal to face trial before its Crown authorities. Then the annual plate fleet bound from Havana for Spain was driven by a sudden storm onto the barrier reefs of nearby Florida on the night of July 30
31, 1715, leaving the wreckage of a dozen rich galleons strewn temptingly over 40 miles of coastline around Cape Canaveral. A boat with some survivors limped back into the Cuban capital by mid-August to report on this disaster, at which point the Spaniards immediately launched a large-scale rescue operation. Their salvage flotilla arrived and divers quickly raised 5 million out of an estimated 7 million pieces-of-eight in royal bullion which had been lost aboard these wrecks, before fair weather ended and

operations were temporarily halted by the changing seasons in late October. Yet such an immense and vulnerable expanse of loot also attracted hundreds of idled West Indian rovers into the region, hoping to scavenge among this debris, as well as to prey on its Spanish salvors. The open roadstead at Nassau consequently became busier, and a witness reported how Hornigold sought shelter there in November 1715 with the sloop Mary of Jamaica (which had been sailing under Master Augustine Golding, until he had intercepted it at sea and taken over command). Hornigold also brought in a captured Spanish sloop loaded with dry goods and sugar, which he disposed of, as well as setting free his imprisoned colleague Stillwell and angrily menacing Captain Walker ‘‘to have his house burned for offering to concern himself’’ in such affairs. Hornigold even allegedly added ‘‘that all pirates were under his protection,’’ and that he would shoot the meddlesome Walker. Although Hornigold’s Spanish prize was then taken away from him by Captain Henry Jennings (who was apparently operating the 40-ton sloop Bathsheba under a anti-pirating commission issued by the Governor of Jamaica, Lord Archibald Hamilton), Hornigold nonetheless ventured out to sea once more in January 1716 with Mary, ‘‘having on board 140 men, six guns, and eight patararas [sic; pedreros or swivel-guns].’’ Shortly thereafter, he reentered Nassau with yet another Spanish sloop, which he had seized off the Florida coast. While fitting out this second vessel to serve as his new 10-gun flagship Mary Anne (or Marianne), Hornigold sent Golding’s sloop back to Jamaica, to be returned to its owners.

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Hornigold, Benjamin (fl. 1713
1719) He sallied out of Nassau yet again in late March 1716, in company with the 8-gun French privateer Postillon of Captain Louis La Buze, 140 men being distributed between both their sloops. Around April 8, 1716 (O.S.), they reached the Cuban port of Mariel, where they sighted the large French merchantman Marianne of Ensign Le Gardew at anchor, which was apparently smuggling goods ashore. Hornigold and La Buze robbed it of everything of value over the span of a week, before abandoning their ransacked prize at the approach of a rival privateering flotilla under Jennings. Hornigold and La Buze then prowled farther along the northwestern Cuban coastline, rounding its tip to intercept a pair of Spanish brigantines off Cape Corrientes, loaded with cacao from Maracaibo. When these Spaniards could not raise the demanded ransom to have their vessels spared, they were set ashore, and their brigantines burned. Hornigold and La Buze next proceeded along Cuba’s southwestern shoreline to Isla de Pinos (modern Isla de la Juventud), where they met three or four empty English sloops and ‘‘made use of them in cleaning their own,’’ before restoring them to their crews. The rover pair subsequently weighed again by late May 1716 to call at French Saint-Domingue, but here Hornigold was voted out of office in favor of his crewman Samuel Bellamy, ‘‘upon a difference arising amongst the English pirates because Hornygold refused to take and plunder English vessels.’’ He therefore departed with only 26 loyal hands aboard a smaller prize sloop, Bellamy retaining 90 men aboard Mary Anne, most of them being English.

Ill-fortune continued to dog Hornigold when he ventured north to South Carolina, as some local privateers commissioned by Gov. Francis Nicholson even took and destroyed his small sloop in late June 1716, though he himself escaped. Somehow, Hornigold managed to regain the Bahamas, and acquired another ship. By March 1717, Captain Walker, who in the face of repeated pirate threats had left Nassau for South Carolina with his family that previous summer, then resettled on Abaco Island and reported: . . . that five pirates made ye harbor of Providence [i.e., Nassau] their place of rendezvous, viz. Horngold, a sloop with 10 guns and about 80 men; Jennings, a sloop with 10 guns and 100 men; Burgess, a sloop with 8 guns and about 80 men; White, in a small vessel with 30 men and small arms; Thatch [i.e., Blackbeard], a sloop 6 guns and about 70 men. All took and destroy’d ships of all nations, except Jennings, who took no English. However, the Crown authorities in London had at last decided to intervene. As early as November 30, 1716 (O.S.), the Council of Trade and Plantations had been informed that it was ‘‘His Royal Highness’s pleasure, that you consider what may be the most proper course for the government to take, in order to dislodge those profligate fellows or pirates that may have possessed themselves of the island of Providence, and may, if not driven from thence in time, commit depredations on His Majesty’s subjects or those of his allies trading in those parts of the world.’’ The answer would be a

Hornigold, Benjamin (fl. 1713
1719) threefold recommendation: a proclamation granting a general pardon to all pirates who would surrender before a given date, followed by the dispatch of a colonizing expedition to reclaim Nassau as a lawful port, as well as sufficient Royal Navy forces to not only patrol the Bahamas, but the entire Caribbean region and hunt down any rovers who refused to comply. In fact, Hornigold and some of his pirate colleagues were giving signs of digging in at Nassau. The castaway privateer Captain Matthew Musson reported to the Council of Trade and Plantations in London on July 5, 1717 (O.S.) that: . . . they had taken a Spanish ship of 32 guns, which they kept in the harbor for a guardship. Ye greatest part of the inhabitants of Providence are already gone into other adjacent islands to secure themselves from ye pirates, who frequently plunder them. Most of the ships and vessels taken by them, they burn and destroy when brought into the harbor, and oblige the men to take on with them. Even a few guns were being emplaced in old Fort Nassau’s crumbly embrasures, so that Musson feared unless the town was reclaimed and properly fortified under Crown rule, ‘‘the pirates will, to protect themselves.’’ Three weeks later, the idea of a royal pardon was approved by the Crown, and proclamations were sent across the Atlantic by September 5, 1717 (O.S.), to various provincial Governors, for regional distribution. Consequently, the son of LieutenantGov. Benjamin Bennett of Bermuda materialized off New Providence Island

in December 1717, bringing a copy of the royal amnesty for its denizens. At first, his vessel was fired on, the 400 to 500 pirates in port ‘‘having the day before resolved among themselves to sacrifice the first person that should pretend to offer them a pardon.’’ Even after Bennett’s son came ashore and submitted to them for a parley, ‘‘they held a consult whether they should not destroy him,’’ before cooler heads prevailed. Hornigold was absent on a cruise, yet Jennings along with seven or eight companions were willing to return to Bermuda with Bennett’s son in January 1718, while their confederates awaited to hear how these first representatives would be treated. Shortly thereafter, this proclamation was also delivered at sea, when two dispatch-vessels sent out with copies by Gov. Peter Heywood of Jamaica, specifically to cruise for rovers, ‘‘came up with Hornigold and one or two more his consorts.’’ The surprised rogue wrote a brief response to the Governor, couched in pleasantries—‘‘We embrace His Majesty’s act of grace, and return His Majesty our hearty thanks for the same, etc.’’—and six of his crew even submitted on the spot, yet skepticism remained as to whether the rest of the pirates would follow suit. Hornigold’s own personal decision was complicated when he intercepted the Dutch merchantman Jonge Abraham of Flushing soon afterward, and ‘‘carried her to the Island of Providence, where the cargo was delivered to a French ship.’’ Not all such captures made by pirates would be recognized as legitimate under the terms of the amnesty, so that some of the wilder spirits such as Vane and Blackbeard (Edward Thatch) refused to accept.

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Hornigold, Benjamin (fl. 1713
1719)

Loyal Privateer (1718
1719) Hornigold, however, did prove willing to submit. Almost four weeks after the amnesty deadline had elapsed, he was still at Nassau when the colonizing expedition arrived outside its bar on the afternoon of July 26, 1718 (O.S.). This force was led by the new Governordesignate Woodes Rogers, a battlescarred ex-privateer who had circled the globe and captured a Manila galleon, and who had been specially selected for his toughness to make this difficult transition. He was accompanied by 250 colonists aboard the 460-ton ex-Indiaman Delicia, and backed by the Royal Navy frigates Milford of 32 guns and Rose of 20 guns, plus the naval sloops Buck and Shark. News of the Crown intentions had preceded them, so that the more recalcitrant pirates had already left the Bahamas for other hunting-grounds. Yet Vane’s flagship still rode defiantly at anchor inside the harbor, and when Rose began to take soundings around its entrance at nightfall, Vane responded by setting a recently-captured French prize ablaze, and loosing it as a fireship. Nevertheless, he grudgingly got under way next morning as Rogers’ expedition penetrated amid the growing daylight, exiting via Nassau’s other channel with his 90-man sloop ‘‘wearing the black flag’’ and firing ‘‘guns of defiance,’’ before steering away for Abaco Island. Rogers came ashore that same July 27, 1718 (O.S.), to be greeted by an honor guard of 300 boozy pirates under Hornigold and several lesser captains, who all swore fealty to the Crown. Yet none of these leaders was appointed to the new administration, nor employed in organizing militia companies, repairing

the fortress, erecting a new barracks and eastern battery, or any other civic improvement. The disappointed rovers soon began to drift away, and Rogers informed his superiors in London later that same summer: ‘‘We have scarce half of those who have been pirates left, for they soon became weary of living under restraint, and are either gone to several parts of North America, or engaged themselves on services at sea, which I was willing to promote, for they are not the people I ought to think will make any land improvements, and I wish they may be faithful at sea.’’ Somewhat surprisingly, one who did remain constant at Nassau was Hornigold. As the new Governor maintained a wary eye on the movements of the outlaw Vane, he received an urgent message on September 15, 1718 (O.S.): . . . that three vessels supposed to be Vane and his prizes were at Green Turtle Key near Abaco, and since I had no strength to do better, I got a sloop fitted under the command of Captain Hornygold to send and view them, and bring me an account what they were; in the meantime I keep a very strict watch for fear of any surprise, and not hearing from Captain Hornigold, I was afraid he was either taken by Vane or begun his old practice of pirating again, which was the general opinion here in his absence; but to my great satisfaction, he return’d in about three weeks, having lain most of that time concealed and viewing of Vane the pirate in order to surprise him, or some of his men that they expected would be near them in their boats; but though they failed in this, Captain Hornygold brought with him a sloop of

Hornigold, Benjamin (fl. 1713
1719) this place, that got leave from me to go out a-turtling, but had [instead] been trading with Vane. Reassured by this obedience of his orders, Rogers did not hesitate to assign a second such mission to Hornigold in November 1718, nor in writing a glowing report on its successful conclusion:

Having lately had intelligence of certain pirates who had run away with some vessels fitted out of this port, and where they might be found, I equipped a sloop with sufficient men and arms under ye command of Captain Hornigold and Cockram, who had themselves been pirates, but accepted of His Majesty’s Act of

RELOCATION OF GUAYAQUIL Like many other Spanish-American cities—for example, Santa Marta in Colombia, Remedios on Cuba, or Panama City—the wide-open Ecuadorian port-city of Guayaquil was relocated after its devastating piratical ordeal of April 1687. Many of its citizens were at first too traumatized to even return into their homes, or to begin rebuilding any of the many burned structures, until well after Le Picard and Dew had vanished over the horizon. The original layout of Guayaquil had been spontaneous, and unplanned. Its first settlers had simply chosen to build permanent homes on the high ground, the southern slopes of Santa Ana Hill, so as to avoid the springtime overflows from the muddy Guayas River. They had added a Dominican convent and La Concepci
on as their parish church (in today’s Plaza Col
on), yet its streets, lined with a motley collection of wooden, thatched-roof houses, had curved down without any discernible pattern toward the flat marshy terrain below, where a maze of shipyards mushroomed along the shoreline. Here were launched the vast majority of vessels for the rich Peruvian traffic. Large visiting ships usually dropped anchor many miles downriver, in the lee of Pun
a Island, to lighter goods to and from Guayaquil’s customs-house, rather than risk the shifting sandbanks and powerful currents of the Guayas. This, then, was the city which had been sacked by Grogniet, Le Picard, and Dew. Eleven months afterward, Guayaquil’s Council debated—in an open session held on March 24, 1688—the vulnerability of their situation, and by July 11th it was resolved that: ‘‘Recognizing the poor and sprawling layout of this city, whose principal parts have been burnt, the necessity of moving it to the port of Casones is confirmed.’’ Don Antonio de Mestanza was therefore commissioned to travel high up into the Andes to the regional capital of Quito, and began the legal process of winning approval from the Royal Audiencia. Permission was granted four years later, and the actual transfer to a new cleared site a mile farther to the south, directly opposite the Casones anchorage, commenced that same September 1692. A square grid of 25 blocks was soon laid out, five extending between modern Luque to Col
on Streets to face the riverbank, while an equal number ran inland from today’s Pichincha to Boyac
a Streets. Residents were assigned urban plots measuring roughly 90 x 90 feet in this so-called Ciudad Nueva or ‘‘New City,’’ which was defended by intricate, twin lines of trenches running along Mejı´a and Elizalde Streets, soon extended to encircle the entire perimeter. Yet many citizens refused to forsake their homes in the Ciudad Vieja, or ‘‘Old City.’’

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Howard, Thomas (fl. 1698
1703) Grace, and by their behavior since my arrival gave me full confidence of their sincerity, which has been successfully confirmed by their apprehending them to the number of thirteen, three whereof died of their wounds. I am glad of this new proof Captain Hornigold has given the world to wipe off the infamous name he has hitherto been known by, though in the very acts of piracy he committed, most people spoke well of his generosity. On January 30, 1719 (O.S.), Rogers furthermore added: ‘‘I have paid as much as I could spare towards the bounty money His Majesty has allow’d for apprehending pirates to Captains Hornigold and Cockrem, and those that were with them.’’ This is the last mention of the ex-rover amid the official correspondence. In The Pirates’ Who’s Who, Philip Gosse noted only this laconic epilogue: ‘‘Shortly afterwards, Hornigold was wrecked on a reef and drowned.’’

See also Bellamy, Samuel; Jennings, Henry; La Buze, Louis; Pedrero; Pieces of Eight; Plate Fleet; Thatch, Edward, alias ‘‘Blackboard;’’ Vane, Charles.

References Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924). Jameson, John F., comp. and ed., Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period: Illustrative Documents (New York: Macmillan, 1923). Journal of the Board of Trade and Plantations, Volume 3: March 1715
October 1718, Book T (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1924).

HOWARD, THOMAS (fl. 1698
1703) Minor commander, who flourished briefly as Captain of a raider in the Red Sea, before retiring a rich man—only to be murdered. Little is known about his early life, some alleging that he was born the son of a penniless Thames lighterman in London, others that he had squandered an inheritance. The former seems more likely, for while sailing toward Jamaica sometime prior to 1698, he apparently deserted his ship and with some likeminded companions stole a canoe, and set off for the Grand Cayman Islands. There they eventually merged into a multinational group of some 200 unemployed rovers, which coalesced during this uneasy peace after the conclusion to King William’s War, under the leadership of a renegade privateer Captain out of New York. Details about their activities remain murky, but these pirates evidently took several vessels of increasing size, including a well-armed Spanish ship and a large New England brigantine, into which Howard was appointed as quartermaster. The most complete account of the emergence of this pirate force was given by Governor Samuel Day of Bermuda, who informed the Council of Trade and Plantations in London: . . . that about the latter end of April last [1699 O.S.], one Captain Hind, a notorious pirate and sea-rover, having lately got into a brigantine with a mix’t company of Dutch, French, and other people, came up with an English-built ship mounted with 22 guns called the Providence

Howard, Thomas (fl. 1698
1703) galley, under the command of Captain William Rhett of Carolina, who made a very generous defense, but was outdone and taken by the said pirate; that having taken the said ship, Hind and his mixed and divided gang fell into a mutiny. And the English party prevailing, they laid hands and exercised their power on their Captain, Hind, and turned him and fifteen more of his comrades on shore on a place called the Berry Islands, about ten leagues to the leeward of Providence [Nassau in the Bahamas], allowing them three small arms and a bottle of gunpowder. After this, one John James took upon him the command of the ship. Howard was evidently a member of this company, as James worked his way north toward Virginia aboard this pirate galley, now renamed the Alexander. Numerous more captures were made off that coastline, before the rovers steered out across the Atlantic in early August 1699 (O.S.) for the Guinea coast of Africa, where they took more prizes, including a 36-gun Portuguese ship. Rounding the Cape of Good Hope for Madagascar, the Alexander was unexpectedly wrecked and lost on a reef, during which upheaval Howard allegedly seized the bulk of the pirates’ booty, and escaped ashore in a boat with a faction of the crew. They lived for a while by fishing and hunting, but during one of their hunts, the men ran away and abandoned Howard. He was cared for by a local chieftain, until he could be rescued by George Booth early in 1701. Howard remained aboard the flagship Speaker

following Booth’s death, and John Bowen’s subsequent election as its new Captain. When this vessel was lost by grounding on St. Augustine’s Reef, Howard briefly settled on the nearby island of Mauritius. Shortly thereafter, though, he recruited his own band of pirates and took the 36-gun Prosperous, being elected its Captain around Christmas 1702. Meeting up with Bowen sometime later at the port of Mayotte, the two pirate commanders combined to attack the East Indiaman Pembroke in March 1703, off Johanna Island in the Comoros. They parted company for a few months while Bowen’s ship Speedy Return was being careened, but the two cooperated once again in August 1703, when they engaged two rich Indian ships off Saint John’s Island. Tenaciously pursuing their opponents up a river, the pirates subdued the largest vessel after a fierce fight, discovering treasure and goods aboard worth £70,000. Both crews merged aboard this large prize, a 56-gun ship renamed the Defiant, under Bowen’s command. Howard nonetheless received a fortune as his share when they dropped anchor to divide up their spoils at the Indian port of Rajapura, so decided to retire from piracy, and remained there when Bowen departed with the Dauntless. Howard then married a local woman, but according to the chronicler Charles Johnson, being ‘‘a most ill natur’d fellow, and using her ill, he was murder’d by her relations.’’

See also James, John.

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References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 17 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1908). Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924). Seitz, Don Carlos, Gospel, Howard F., and Wood, Stephen, Under the Black Flag: Exploits of the Most Notorious Pirates (Mineola, NY: Courier Dover, 2002).

HYNE, CAPTAIN (fl. 1699) Renegade privateer out of New York, probably of Dutch ancestry. As part of a lengthy report submitted on May 3, 1699 (O.S.), to the Council of Trade and Plantations in London by Governor Richard, Lord Belloment, he informed that the following statement had been received two days previously when Master John Clotworthy returned to New York aboard the Jamaican sloop Mary, and so was included: Hyne the Pyrat he informs of is a bloody villain, has murdered several men, and will give no quarter, they say, to Spaniards that he takes. He belongs to this town, his wife and family now here. He was master’s mate of the Fortune, which I seized at my first coming here, which had been also commissioned by Colonel [Benjamin] Fletcher. The most complete account of Hine’s rise as a pirate leader, during the uneasy interlude of peace immediately after the end to King William’s War, was given when the brigantine Larke of John Trimingham returned to Bermuda from New York and its Captain recited the

following string of events to Governor Samuel Day, who in turn forwarded them onto the Council of Trade and Plantations in London: . . . that about the latter end of April last [1699 O.S.], one Captain Hind, a notorious pirate and sea-rover, having lately got into a brigantine with a mix’t company of Dutch, French, and other people, came up with an English-built ship mounted with 22 guns called the Providence galley, under the command of Captain William Rhett of Carolina, who made a very generous defense, but was outdone and taken by the said pirate; that having taken the said ship, Hind and his mixed and divided gang fell into a mutiny. And the English party prevailing, they laid hands and exercised their power on their Captain, Hind, and turned him and fifteen more of his comrades on shore on a place called the Berry Islands, about ten leagues to the leeward of Providence [Nassau in the Bahamas], allowing them three small arms and a bottle of gunpowder. After this, one John James took upon him the command of the ship. In a letter addressed to England’s Secretary of State James Vernon from Charleston on May 27, 1700 (O.S.), Edward Randolph complained of the: Injustice of Governor [Joseph] Blake to William Joel of Bermuda, by which he got from him £80 upon pretense of his vessel not being registered, although nine months is allowed for the registering of vessels. Joel’s vessel and loading taken by Hinde the pirate, and in her defense he lost his right hand, and cannot bear

Hyne, Captain (fl. 1699) the charges of a journey to England to petition His Majesty for relief.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 17

(London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1908). Salley, A. S., Jr., comp. and ed., Commissions and Instructions from the Lords Proprietors of Carolina to the Public Officials of South Carolina, 1685
1715 (Charleston, SC: Historical Commission, 1916).

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I For certainly we are in a state of war with the pirates, expecting them upon our coasts, and many be within the Capes all this summer. —Virginia’s Governor Francis Nicholson, aboard HMS Shoreham, June 1700

INTERLOPER

of blacks and Christians dead; and about ten days since agent Peirson arrived in an interloper of forty guns. He landed two or three hundred Negroes at Barbados, of which I am told that the Spaniards bought a hundred and fifty. I shall order the ship to be seized, and shall do my best always, but I know of no expedient but . . . clearing the coast of Africa and America. Being unwilling to offend the Company, I told the Spaniards that I must not buy of interlopers, and Colonel Molesworth threatened to seize them; but the Negroes were landed out of port and will pass to the Spaniards by second hands.

A term specifically applied in the Caribbean to any unsanctioned merchant visitor who sought to smuggle goods ashore for sale, most especially slaves. As the African Company held the exclusive Crown monopoly to import and dispose of African captives, any other English vessel bearing such captives was regarded as a trespassing ‘‘interloper,’’ subject to official seizure. For example, Gov. Sir Thomas Lynch of Jamaica reported to London in February 1684 how the Spanish ship Santo Tom
as had entered Port Royal with factors from Cartagena wishing to buy slaves:

Reference

Unfortunately, we have no Negroes, nor hope of Negroes this long time. There were two miserable ships of the African Company with two-thirds both

Calendar of State Papers: Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11

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Ireland, John (fl. 1695) (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898).

IRELAND, JOHN (fl. 1695) ‘‘A wicked and ill-disposed person,’’ according to the royal warrant granted in King William III’s name in 1695 to ‘‘our truly and dearly beloved Captain William Kidd,’’ ordering him to be seized along with other pirates who were doing mischief to ships trading off the coast of North America.

Reference Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924).

ISLA DEL MUERTO Spanish name, meaning ‘‘Dead Man’s Island.’’ At least six geographic sites are still known today by this grim name: one is a small, barren rock in the approaches to the Gulf of Guayaquil, more properly called Isla Santa Clara—its lugubrious nickname apparently derived from the fact that seen at sea-level from a certain angle, it resembles a fallen man, while its low silhouette also results in it being called Bajo del Muerto. This particular island was used as a stopover-point by the buccaneers under Franc¸ois Grogniet and George Hout, during their stealthy advance into that estuary to sack the city of Guayaquil farther upriver in April 1687. The chronicler Ravenau de Lussan apparently remained unaware of

Isla Santa Clara’s lurid nickname and described it in his journal as ‘‘merely a huge piece of rock.’’ Another Isla del Muerto forms part of Alacranes Reef, a half-moon crescent of jagged rocks some 80 miles off Mexico’s Yucat
an coast, where Laurens de Graaf battled the Armada de Barlovento in a legendary triumph. A third is better known as Isla Front
on, part of a cluster of islands off Lima’s Pacific seaport of Callao—a desolate spot which would for many years serve as a penal island. A fourth forms part of the inland Zapatera Archipelago near Granada in Lake Nicaragua (home to prehistoric rock-carvings), while a fifth lies off the southwestern coast of El Salvador. A sixth is an extinct volcanic tip rising out of the northern Sea of Cortez, off Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula—so named, allegedly, because the first Conquistadors found only a single corpse when they stepped onto its stark and silent shores.

See also Barlovento, Armada de (Volume 1); De Graaf, Laurens (Volume 1); Grogniet, Franc¸ois; Hout, George; Lussan, Ravenau de.

References Lussan, Ravenau de, Journal of a Voyage into the South Sea (Cleveland, OH: Arthur H. Clark, 1930). Seliger, William G., Isla El Muerto and the Treasures of the ‘‘Consolaci
on’’ (Privately published, Ecuador, 2008).

J The Captain was a man of middle stature, square-shouldered, large jointed, lean, much disfigured with the smallpox, broad speech, thick-lipped, a blemish or cast in his left eye, but courteous . . . —John James, as described by one of his victims, August 1699

Perhaps for this reason, they refused to part with their prisoner, for on January 16, 1694, during a period of particularly low English fortunes, the island Council ruled that:

JACOBS, CAPTAIN (fl. 1690
1694) Possibly a Dutch mercenary, who served both the French and English in the Greater Antilles during the War of the League of Augsburg or King William’s War. Late in 1690, Gov. Pierre-Paul Tarin de Cussy of Saint-Domingue sent a flagof-truce bark to Jamaica, hoping among other things to arrange the exchange of ‘‘Capitaine Jacob’’ and his crew, who had been captured after a pitched battle against two armed English barks, one of 10 guns and 75 men, the other of 8 guns and 65 men. De Cussy added that Jacobs had been wounded three times in this engagement, and that the English regarded him ‘‘with much admiration and held him in high esteem.’’

Since the men in the [two hired Jamaican sloops] of war refuse to go to sea, ordered that Captain Jacobs have leave to go out in the vessel lately captured from the French, on terms of ‘‘no purchase, no pay,’’ and that the tenths and fifteenths on captures be remitted to them.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 14 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1903).

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James, John (fl. 1699) Lugo, Am
erico, Recopilaci
on diplom
atica relativa a las colonias espa~ nola y francesa de la isla de Santo Domingo, 1640
1701 (Ciudad Trujillo, Dominican Republic: Editorial ‘‘La Naci
on,’’ 1944).

JAMES, JOHN (fl. 1699) Welsh-born pirate, who operated for only a few summer months off Virginia and Africa’s Guinea coast, before being wrecked that winter at Madagascar. Virtually nothing is known about his birth or early life, beyond the fact that numerous victims affirmed that he was Welsh, and one—Nicholas Thomas Jones, Master of the sloop Roanoke Merchant—even specified that James had told him ‘‘he was a Welshman of Glamorganshire.’’ The most complete account of his rise as a pirate leader, during the uneasy interlude of peace immediately after the end to King William’s War, was given when the brigantine Larke of John Trimingham returned to Bermuda from New York and this Captain recited the following string of events to Governor Samuel Day, who in turn forwarded them onto the Council of Trade and Plantations in London: . . . that about the latter end of April last [1699 O.S.], one Captain Hind, a notorious pirate and sea-rover, having lately got into a brigantine with a mix’t company of Dutch, French, and other people, came up with an English-built ship mounted with 22 guns called the Providence galley, under the command of Captain William Rhett of Carolina, who made a very generous defense, but was outdone and taken by the said pirate; that

having taken the said ship, Hind and his mixed and divided gang fell into a mutiny. And the English party prevailing, they laid hands and exercised their power on their Captain, Hind, and turned him and fifteen more of his comrades on shore on a place called the Berry Islands, about ten leagues to the leeward of Providence [Nassau in the Bahamas], allowing them three small arms and a bottle of gunpowder. After this, one John James took upon him the command of the ship, and standing out to sea they spied a sail, which proved to be a man-of-war, and they chased her into Virginia, having killed her above forty men. And the said pirates, James and company, have given out that they resolve to stay there and take a better ship, which lies within the capes of Virginia. James certainly did work his way north toward that coastline with his pirate galley, which he had now renamed the Alexander. En route, he seized the 20-ton Bermudan sloop Success of William Joell, and then the brigantine Charles of William Sare, which was headed in the opposite direction, from Carolina toward the Bahamas. To compensate Joell for the loss of his twoyear-old sloop, James gave him the Charles, which the Bermudan sailed away and clandestinely sold at Curac¸ao. On July 26, 1699 (O.S.), James brazenly penetrated the Virginia Capes and stood into Lynnhaven Bay, raking the 16-gun HMS Essex Prize of Captain John Aldred with a broadside, causing it to retreat up the James River. James meanwhile robbed the ship Maryland Merchant of Bristol, whose Master Richard Burgess

James, John (fl. 1699) later gave a detailed description to the authorities of his assailant: The Captain was a man of middle stature, square-shouldered, large jointed, lean, much disfigured with the smallpox, broad speech, thick-lipped, a blemish or cast in his left eye, but courteous, and declared he designed no prejudice to the English nation as to their persons, but particular wants would be supplied, and would rather pay for necessaries than be obliged to take it perforce; a compliment not obliged to believe, finding the contrary myself. The rattled Burgess had provided such a precise picture of the man who ‘‘so damnified’’ him, because he was convinced that he had been confronted by none other than the notorious Captain William Kidd, for whom a global manhunt was then in full vigor, and furthermore asserted that his captors carried in their hold ‘‘£3,000,000 sterling in gold and silver’’—although both facts were palpably untrue. Kidd had actually been captured that previous month in New York City, while James and his men were so hard-pressed that they eagerly ‘‘seized the cargo of corn and pork from a North Carolina sloop.’’ And as noted above, when the Alexander ransacked the sloop Roanoke Merchant on July 27, 1699 (O.S.), its Master Jones observed ‘‘ye company and Captain himself to have gold chains about their necks.’’ Shortly thereafter, the rover must have steered northeast for on August 3, 1699 (O.S.), James plundered Master Joseph Baker’s Charles of New York about 200 miles east of that seaport, out in the open Atlantic. When news of this and other depredations were

carried before Governor Richard, Lord Bellomont, he would later report to London how he had ordered the newlyarrived 32-gun, 135-man frigate HMS Arundel of Captain Josias Crow to exit New York soon after it had entered on September 27, 1699 (O.S.): . . . on a cruise to look after a pirate ship whereof Hine of New York was commander, but since John James, a Welshman, has commanded, Hine with some others having been put on shore on a maroon island. The ship had infested the Eastern Coast a long while, but she was gone before Captain Crow could overtake her. Indeed, James had long since vanished across the Atlantic for the Guinea coast, where he made numerous more prizes, including a 36-gun Portuguese ship. However, on rounding the Cape of Good Hope for Madagascar, his galley Alexander was wrecked on a reef, at which time the bulk of his booty was stolen and taken ashore in a boat by the quartermaster Thomas Howard, and no more was heard of Captain James.

See also Howard, Thomas; Kidd, William.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series America and West Indies, Volumes 17, 19 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1908
1910). Shomette, Donald G., Pirates on the Chesapeake: Being a True History of Pirates, Picaroons, and Raiders on Chesapeake Bay, 1610
1807 (Centreville, MD: Tidewater, 1985).

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Jennings, Henry (fl. 1712
1716)

JENNINGS, HENRY (fl. 1712
1716) Jamaican merchant seaman and wartime privateer, whose commissioned anti-piracy sweep in peacetime resulted in charges against himself. Jennings was a merchant Captain known to have operated as a privateer out of Port Royal during Queen Anne’s War, being regarded on Jamaica as a man ‘‘of good standing and estate.’’ When a hurricane struck that island on the evening of August 28, 1712 (O.S.), his 4-gun sloop Diamond was among at least 54 vessels that were lost that night. Then a storm drove the annual plate fleet bound from Havana for Spain onto the barrier reefs of nearby Florida on the night of July 30
31, 1715, leaving the wreckage of its dozen rich galleons strewn temptingly over 40 miles of coastline around Cape Canaveral. A boat with some survivors limped back into the Cuban capital by mid-August, and the Spaniards immediately launched a large-scale rescue operation. Their salvage flotilla arrived and set up a base-camp amid the Palmar de A€s Keys (part of modern Orchid and Hutchinson Islands, between Vero Beach and Sebastian Inlet, Florida), raising 5 million out of an estimated 7 million pieces-of-eight in royal bullion lost among these wrecks, by the time the fair weather finally brought a temporary halt to operations in late October. Both Henry Jennings and John Wills therefore received permits a week later, on November 21, 1715 (O.S.), and exited Port Royal for those troubled waters,

soon to be followed by a half-dozen other hard-bitten commanders. Beersheba dropped anchor in Port Royal by January 26, 1716 (O.S.), and Jennings found the political climate greatly changed. Three weeks previously, news had arrived of the Jacobite Rebellion in Britain, in which members of Governor Hamilton’s own family were implicated. On April 28, 1719 (O.S.), Governor Sir Nicholas Lawes of Jamaica wrote to inform the Council of Trade and Plantations in London about various matters, and on the policy of piratical prosecutions, requested the following clarification: I should be glad Your Lordships would do me the honor to explain in a fuller manner how His Majesty’s pardon to the pirates is to be understood. I have told Mr. Bonfils and other sufferers that whatever goods or effects can be proved to be in the hands of any persons under my government, which they can anyways legally claim, that in such case wherever it appeared I would do them all the service in my power to obtain restitution. But Your Lordships will please to consider that if the pirates, after they have received His Majesty’s pardon for the offence and have not wherewithal to make satisfaction to those they have injured, should be clapped up in goal, it would render His Majesty’s gracious intentions towards them in a great measure ineffectual, and deter others from coming in; and I am really persuaded the prosecution which has already been commenced against Jennings has had a bad effect, not

Judgment Cliff one of the pirates having surrendered to me since that time. Evidently, both public and official opinions were shifting in Jennings’ favor. Indeed, when Governor Lawes next reported to London on December 6, 1719 (O.S.), he included the fact that: . . . the writ of error brought by Captain Jennings before me in Council, as a Court of Appeals upon a judgment obtained on his bond for £1,500 in the Grand Court, come to a hearing some days ago, and the Council have reversed the said judgment. Mr. Bonfils has desired leave to appeal to His Majesty in Council; which I have granted him, and His Majesty’s determination in this affair will be a guidance with respect to the putting in suit the bonds given by the other sureties.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 31 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1933).

JOLLY ROGER Later-day English euphemism for a pirate flag, believed to have derived from the French expression joli rouge or ‘‘jolly red’’—itself an ironic reference to the blood-red ensigns flown in battle, whenever no quarter was to be expected or given. However, there is no recorded usage of this expression during the late 17th or early 18th centuries, when piracy was in its prime.

JUDGMENT CLIFF Located on a steep hillside in Jamaica’s Saint Thomas Parish, high up in the Blue Mountains. This curious name originated when a mile-long segment of this hill’s eastern face broke loose during the great earthquake of June 1692, and slid down onto some dwellings clustered below, along the banks of the Yallahs River near Llandewey, burying some homes completely, as well as damming up the river itself. The famous doctor and naturalist Hans Sloane later noted this spectacular slide, with the following words: At Yellows, a great mountain split and fell into the level land, and covered several settlements, and destroyed nineteen white people. One of the persons, whose name was Hopkins, had his plantation removed half-a-mile from the place where it formerly stood. Seventeenth century islanders promptly began interpreting this phenomenon as a divine punishment, weaving many tales as to its motivation over ensuing decades, including one about how a retired Dutch pirate had been buried alive in his home by this rock-slide, as God’s judgment for his many past sins. Presumably, this particular version of the legend was fueled by the name of the Dutch-born privateer Jelles de Lecat—known among the English as ‘‘Yellows’’—although his demise had actually occurred in an altogether different manner.

See also Lecat, Jelles de.

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K The encouragement given to the pirates that have been in the Red Sea, causes our people to run away to them, for there they are all pardoned. —Complaint by Governor Sir William Beeston of Jamaica, July 1693

Reference

KELLEY, JAMES A notorious pirate, who while serving aboard the East Indiaman Mocha, led a mutiny and with his own hands murdered the ship’s commander, Captain Edgecomb, in his sleep. Kelley came back to America with Captain William Kidd, and was caught in 1699 at Charlestown opposite Boston by the Governor of Massachusetts, who described him as ‘‘the most impudent, hardened villain I ever saw.’’ It was said that Kelley had entered the service of the Mogul, turned Mohammedan, and been circumcised. To settle this last point, the prisoner was examined by a surgeon and a Jew, who both declared on oath that it was so.

Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924).

KIDD, WILLIAM (fl. 1689
1699) Scottish-born rover and pirate-hunter, who ironically became one of the most notorious pirates of them all. Legend has it Kidd was born at Greenock in Scotland around 1645, the son of a Presbyterian minister. He first figured in official records in the summer of 1689, when on learning of the outbreak of the War of the League of Augsburg or King William’s War back in Europe, he and a 663

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Kidd, William (fl. 1689
1699) few colleagues carried an anchored French privateer away from St. Kitts in the Leeward Islands, and into Nevis. Lieutenant-General Christopher Codrington would report to London on August 15, 1689 (O.S.), how he had arrived at Nevis eight days previously: . . . and found a French ship of sixteen guns, that had been surprised and captured by the English. She was formerly a privateer manned by a hundred and thirty English and French, but mostly French. All but twenty of them made a descent on St. Christophers, leaving the ship at anchor at Basseterre with twelve French and eight English on board. The last named set upon the French, soon overcame them without the loss of a man, and brought the ship in here. She is now fitting for the King’s service, her captain being William Kidd. This vessel had four additional guns installed and was renamed Blessed William, Kidd being either elected or appointed as its Captain, with additional volunteers raised to bring its complement up to 80 to 90 privateersmen. It was thereupon incorporated into the small squadron which Captain Thomas Hewetson was to lead against the French. A descent was made against Marie Galante on December 30, 1689 (O.S.), the French island being ransacked over the next five days. On returning to Nevis, the squadron was hurried out again to rescue the expedition of Sir Thomas Thornhill, which had become cut off after attacking the French colony of Saint Martin. Hewetson and Kidd arrived off that island in late January 1690, to find the English troops besieged ashore by five French warships under Jean-Baptiste Ducasse. The two squadrons exchanged

broadsides throughout much of that day, until Ducasse withdrew at nightfall. Thornhill’s men were rescued and restored to Nevis, Kidd himself being praised by Hewetson as a ‘‘mighty man’’ who fought as well as any he had ever seen. Yet his freebooters felt differently, muttering about Kidd’s ‘‘ill behavior,’’ feeling resentful at finding themselves embroiled in a line-of-battle engagement with scant booty to be won. Consequently, when Kidd went ashore on February 2, 1690 (O.S.), a group of mutineers led by William Mason made off with Blessed William, and £2,000 worth of Marie-Galante loot. Gov. Christopher Codrington presented Kidd with a recently-captured French vessel which had been renamed Antigua, and after raising a new crew, the furious captain set off in pursuit of his lost ship. Blessed William had meanwhile been sailed to New York, where Kidd eventually arrived in March 1691, too late to overtake the mutineers (who had served briefly as New York privateersmen, before departing for the Indian Ocean). However, New York’s previous Governor had also been driven out of office when James II had fled into exile, and a usurper government had entrenched itself in power under Jacob Leisler, complicating Kidd’s quest. The new monarchs William and Mary had dispatched Colonel Henry Sloughter from England to restore royal rule, but he had not yet arrived, and as Mason had served Leisler’s administration with Blessed William, Kidd now sided with the royalist faction. Antigua was being used to ferry arms and ammunition to the troops preparing to assault insurrectionist Fort James, just as Sloughter arrived to carry the day for the Crown. Kidd’s loyalty was rewarded with £150 from the new provincial Assembly, and he furthermore profited from

Kidd, William (fl. 1689
1699) the adjudication of the 100-ton French prize Saint Pierre, which had been seized by Blessed William using one of Leisler’s commissions. More importantly, Kidd married Sarah Bradley Cox Oort, their marriage license being dated May 16, 1691 (O.S.), just days after her second husband John Oort had died, leaving her a sizeable estate. Kidd then sortied 11 days after his wedding to pursue a French privateer which was reportedly lurking off Block Island (Rhode Island). On June 18, 1691 (O.S.), Governor Simon Bradstreet of Massachusetts reported to Sloughter: Captain Kidd and Captain Walkington, in their passage from Rhode Island to this place [Boston], came in sight of the privateer before being advised of her, and as some English prisoners then on board [it] say, neglected a fair advantage to take her and to have made themselves masters of very considerable purchase, they reporting her to be a ship worth ten thousand pounds or more. At their arrival here [Boston], very fair proposals were made and encouragement given to the said two Captains to be further enforced with men to cruise some days for her, but they saw no reason to accept thereof, notwithstanding the prospect of gain so great as might have been sufficient to invite thereto, besides the service it would have been to Their Majesties to have had such an enemy suppressed. Bradstreet furthermore complained of the two privateers’ conduct, especially Walkington, in pressing men from various vessels around Boston harbor so as to augment his crew. Kidd seems to have resumed his patrol and joined forces with a swift privateer sloop out of Bermuda under

Captain George Dew, creating even more mischief during a visit to New Hampshire. On July 29, 1691 (O.S.), a local sloop proceeding down the Piscataqua River with a company of militiamen to mount a seaborne raid against the French settlements in Casco (Maine), ‘‘sailed by a brigantine and a small sloop with the King’s jack flying,’’ which opened fire to prevent their passage. The nearby fort on Great Island fired several guns back at the two interlopers, but even when Dew came ashore next morning, he unabashedly refused to explain the two privateers’ actions. The local authorities noted that: ‘‘The name of the Captain of the brigantine, which is above mentioned which fired at us, was Kidd; and said Kidd belonged to New York, as we are informed.’’ As the two menacing vessels thereupon weighed anchor, some more shots were angrily fired across Dew’s bow, at which the rovers ‘‘returned and came to an anchor in the River of Piscataqua again, to the great fear of the inhabitants.’’ Kidd nonetheless left shortly thereafter, and parted company as well with the young and pugnacious Dew. He soon seems to have settled down to live in New York, it being reported how he sold property on Dock Street in 1693, and moved into a fine house next year with his wife at 119
121 Pearl Street, as well as purchasing a pew in Trinity Church— where the newly-arrived Royal Governor Benjamin Fletcher was also a congregant. Kidd still maintained contact with his former calling, though, for on May 27, 1694 (O.S.), Captain John Evans of HMS Richmond noted in his log how Captain Kidd, a ‘‘privateer,’’ left New York harbor in his brigantine; and shortly thereafter, Kidd figured as foreman of the jury which acquitted his friend Robert Livingston’s ship Orange of trading with the

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Kidd, William (fl. 1689
1699) French enemy on Hispaniola, despite overwhelming evidence against him. In 1695, Kidd sailed Antigua to London, ostensibly on a trading voyage to England, although also in hopes of obtaining a privateering commission. These were not easily available, so that he and his fellow New York Scotsman, Livingston, who was also in London that summer, entered into a scheme with the influential Earl of Bellomont: As the Earl was in need of money, and about to be appointed Governor of New England, he would gather investors and secure a patent from his friends in the Whig government to allow Kidd to outfit a ship and hunt for pirates in the Far East, who were making a rich haul in those unguarded waterways. Through a special proviso, Kidd would be allowed to carry his prizes back to New England for adjudication, where the investors would additionally profit as they need pay no royal duties. A privateering commission to operate against the French was therefore issued to Kidd on December 11, 1695 (O.S.), and a few days later the brand new frigate-galley Adventure of 34 guns, 287 tons, and 46 sweeps was bought at Deptford, 70 crewmen being recruited to serve aboard on the basis of ‘‘no purchase, no pay.’’ A second patent was issued to Kidd on January 26, 1696 (O.S.), specifically allowing him to hunt for such rovers as Thomas Tew and William Mayes, a most unusual concession for any but a Royal Navy warship. Adventure quit London at the end of February 1696, yet did not get far. Kidd had acquired a reputation for conceited boastfulness because of his influential patrons, and instead of saluting a warship at the mouth of the Medway, he had his men man the yards and ‘‘clap their backsides in unison’’ over some

minor slight. Adventure was consequently detained and Kidd’s seamen taken aboard HMS Duchess of 90 guns, not being released to him until April, after which he continued his interrupted voyage. While traversing the Atlantic, he captured a small French fishing-boat, before putting into New York to recruit a larger complement. Announcing a cruise to the Red Sea, he quickly had 152 men on board—some coming from as far away as Philadelphia—and on September 6, 1696 (O.S.), bid farewell to his wife and daughters to get under way. Adventure reached Madeira by mid-October, then visited the Cape Verde Islands. Proceeding southward, he unexpectedly fell in with the Royal Navy squadron of Commodore Thomas Warren on December 12th (O.S.). They sailed together for a week toward the Cape of Good Hope, Kidd bragging of his prospects, while worrying that Warren might impress many of his seamen. Consequently, when the ships became becalmed, Kidd availed himself of this opportunity to row out of sight. Warren entered the Cape Colony convinced that Kidd intended to turn pirate, while the latter reached Madagascar on January 27, 1697 (O.S.). These suspicions were confirmed later on that same summer, when Adventure attacked the peaceful Mocha tradingfleet in August 1697, being driven off by the 36-gun English East Indiaman Sceptre. Other attacks nonetheless ensued, until Kidd finally succeeded in capturing a rich prize at the end of January 1698, the 400-ton Quedah Merchant out of Surat, India. It took him a few weeks to dispose of its goods, then several months before he touched at the pirate lair off Madagascar, where he

Kidd, William (fl. 1689
1699) beached and burnt Adventure, before heading home in his prize. In early April 1699, Quedah Merchant or Adventure’s Prize made its landfall off Anguilla Island in the West Indies, where Kidd took on fresh provisions. He now learned that his numerous clumsy attempts to capture merchantmen in the Far East had spread alarm throughout the East India Company, which had declared him a pirate and instituted a global manhunt. He sought asylum at Danish Saint Thomas, yet this was denied to him, so he hovered off Mona Island between Puerto Rico and Santo Domingo, selling off the last of his Indian wares while attempting to buy another ship.

Kidd tried to smuggle so many caches of booty ashore before surrendering to the Boston authorities, that rumors would persist for many years about his buried treasure, as in this romantic scene depicted by Howard Pyle. (Johnson, Merle (compiled by). Howard Pyle’s Book of Pirates: Fiction, Fact & Fancy Concerning the Buccaneers & Marooners of the Spanish Main, 1921)

He eventually purchased the sloop San Antonio and abandoned his prize, creeping stealthily into lower Delaware Bay early in June 1699, hoping to avoid detection. His wife Sarah and daughters met him off Rhode Island’s Oyster Pond Bay a few days later, when Kidd learned the full scope of his notoriety. Honest merchants felt that he was a villainous pirate, while others believed that he was returning fabulously wealthy. Kidd clandestinely distributed portions of his booty among trusted friends, even sailing San Antonio up into Narragansett Bay to visit his 67-year-old retired colleague, Captain Thomas Paine. The customs collector at Newport set out with 30 armed men aboard a boat to try to intercept Kidd’s renegade sloop, but the fugitive knew that he could not afford to be arrested until he got into Boston, where he might hope to be protected by his patron, the Earl of Bellomont—who had been installed as New England’s Governor little more than a year previously. Kidd therefore fired two cannon-shots to drive back the collector’s boat, before continuing up the bay to drop anchor off Conanicut Island near Jamestown, and summon aboard Paine. The latter agreed to safeguard numerous of his gold bars, despite the very real danger that he might be charged with receiving and concealing stolen goods, a capital offense. Kidd then went back out to sea and proceeded toward Boston, having sent a message on ahead to his patron Bellomont, to determine where he stood. The Governor returned a letter assuring Kidd of protection, yet hinting at unforeseen complications. San Antonio therefore put into that port, where Kidd met Bellomont on the weekend, July 1
2, 1699 (O.S.). On

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Knight, William (fl. 1685
1686) that following Monday, the rover also presented himself before the Massachusetts Council, and although all seemed to go well at first, Kidd was arrested when he returned to testify on Thursday, July 6th—despite rushing into the chamber and crying out for Bellomont’s assistance as the constables closed in. The Governor did not intercede as Kidd was dragged away and jailed, nor when he was deported to England next spring. After a sensational trial, Kidd was executed at Wapping along the banks of the Thames, on May 23, 1701 (O.S.).

See also Dew, George; Mayes, William; Paine, Thomas (entry in Volume 1); Tew, Thomas.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series America and West Indies, Volumes 13, 15
19 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1901
1910). Calendar of State Papers, Domestic: William III, 1698 (London, 1933). Chapin, Howard M., Privateer Ships and Sailors: The First Century of American Colonial Privateering, 1625
1725 (Toulon: G. Mouton, 1926). Jameson, John F., comp. and ed., Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period: Illustrative Documents (New York: Macmillan, 1923). Ritchie, Robert C., Captain Kidd and the War against the Pirates (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1986).

KNIGHT, WILLIAM (fl. 1685
1686) English privateer who roamed the South Sea. In March 1685, Knight’s bark with a dozen men came from the coast of New Spain to join the pirate fleet of Edward Davis, Franc¸ois Grogniet, Charles Swan, and other rovers lying off the coast of Panama. After an unsuccessful engagement against the Armada del Mar del Sur on June 7th, these buccaneers fell out among themselves along national lines. Knight at first sailed northwestward as a part of the English contingent, raiding Realejo and Le
on (Nicaragua) early in August 1685, for little gain. Returning southward, he wound up raiding the Peruvian coast with Davis in July 1686, before parting from him after careening at the Juan Fern
andez Islands, and ‘‘making the best of his way round Tierra del Fuego to the West Indies.’’

References Bradley, Peter T., The Lure of Peru: Maritime Intrusion into the South Sea, 1598
1701 (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1990). Dampier, William, A New Voyage Round the World (New York: Dover, 1968). Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924). Lussan, Ravenau de, Journal of a Voyage into the South Sea (Cleveland, OH: Arthur H. Clark, 1930).

L Have you heard of Teach the rover, And his knavery on the Main, How of gold he was a lover, How he lov’d all ill-got gain? —From a ballad attributed to 13-year-old Benjamin Franklin, Boston 1719

LA BARCA, ESTEBAN DE (fl. 1722
1724)

also encouraged to sally against the English interlopers. Although the brief European conflict between Spain and the Quadruple Alliance of Britain, France, Holland, and Austria had ended fifteen months earlier, the Spaniards nonetheless regarded the growing number of English loggers settling into the jungle maze around the Valis River mouth as trespassers, and a potential future threat.

Mexican corsair who thrice sortied from Campeche to strike against the foreign logging camps in Belize. Virtually nothing is known about his birth or early career, until a Cuban corsair happened to put into Campeche with a captured English sloop and frigate in August 1722, which it had intercepted off the northeastern coast of the Yucat
an Peninsula for illegally carrying cargoes of logwood away from Spanish-claimed Belize. This Cuban captain—possibly Juan Machado or Juan P
erez Machado—was offered various inducements by the local Mexican authorities to remain on patrol in their waters, and Campeche’s seamen were

First Cruise (1722) Perhaps further encouraged by news that Jamaica’s ports and shipping had been devastated by a huge hurricane on August 28, 1722 (O.S.), thereby reducing the danger of encountering any strong English force at sea, La Barca was one of the first Campechan 669

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Labat, Jean-Baptiste (fl. 1694
1705) corsairs to sortie on this privateering venture. Within a few weeks, he set sail with only 25 men aboard two piraguas. His pair of tiny craft hugged the coastline as they rounded the Yucat
an Peninsula, and eventually stole into the profusion of channels of the Valis River delta to surprise an anchored English frigate. This 24-gun vessel, manned by 36 crewmen and eight black slaves, was carried by storm in a violent assault which left one of La Barca’s men dead and six wounded, as well as an Englishwoman slain and various injuries aboard the frigate. Discovering that their prize was loaded with logwood and intended to weigh anchor the very next day, the victorious corsairs sailed it back to Campeche, where it was condemned early in 1723 as a legitimate prize.

Second Sweep (1723) Because of this lucrative haul, La Barca was provided with a demi-galley and piragua manned by 40 men, and accompanied by another small corsair vessel, on his next sortie. His flotilla rounded the Yucat
an Peninsula once more, and sighted an English sloop being careened on Isla Mujeres, which it captured. Another sloop and a brigantine were also intercepted as La Barca approached the Valis River mouth again, after which his corsairs stole ashore and torched a few English logging camps, before retiring for Campeche.

newly-launched royal paquebote, named Felipe V. This force was to include such corsair commanders as La Barca, Jos
e Aguirre, Jos
e Marqu
es de Valenzuela, Juan Rodrı´guez de Raya, Baltasar de Alc
azar, and Juan de Ulloa as subordinates. The first elements of this formation reached Ascensi
on Bay (modern Emiliano Zapata Bay) by April 2, 1724, where Rodrı´guez held a council-meeting and proposed leading the main body inside Belize’s protective chain of reefs, while Marqu
es was to sail on ahead and await off Cocos Key, before then sailing down outside them and catching any interlopers who attempted to escape. Yet after the main force departed Ascensi
on Bay on April 11, 1724, Marqu
es’ galliot was wrecked on a reef, delaying the advance of the flotilla. Rodrı´guez paused at Aguada Key to send piraguas in search of his vanished consort, but in vain. Instead, the concealed Spaniards sighted seven English sails farther out at sea on the afternoon of April 21, 1724, and prepared to stand out next day to engage, but awakened to find an empty horizon. A pair of piraguas was consequently dispatched toward the Valis River mouth on April 24, 1724, to gather intelligence. They returned two days later with six English prisoners, who informed Rodrı´guez until April 28th, when they proceeded to blockade Belize. As two Royal Navy schooners under a Captain named Peyton were protecting the poachers inside, though, the English were allowed to exit unmolested on May 1st, before the Spaniards disembarked.

Third Assault (1724) The provincial Governor of Yucat
an, Antonio Cortaire y Terreros, decided to follow up La Barca’s successes next year with a full-blown expedition, commanded by Campeche’s coast-guard Captain Nicol
as Rodrı´guez aboard his

LABAT, JEAN-BAPTISTE (fl. 1694
1705) French missionary who met numerous flibustiers during his travels throughout

Labat, Jean-Baptiste (fl. 1694
1705) the Lesser Antilles, and later recorded descriptions of their activities. Born near Paris in 1663, Labat joined the Dominican Order at the age of nineteen. Ordained as a priest by 1685, he was assigned to Nancy, where in addition to his clerical duties, he taught philosophy, theology, and mathematics. His intellectual prowess and curiosity were considerable. While at the Jacobin monastery on Paris’ Rue Saint-Honor
e in 1693, word arrived that many missionaries in the French West Indies had died during a recent epidemic. Over the objections of his superiors, Labat volunteered to go out to serve as a replacement, having long harbored a desire to see and live in the New World.

Trans-Atlantic Crossing (1693
1694) Labart departed Paris on August 5, 1693, traveling to the port city of La Rochelle to book passage across the ocean. Any ocean voyage threatened to be doubly perilous at that time, for in addition to natural dangers, the War of the League of Augsburg or King William’s War against the combined powers of England, Holland, and Spain was just then entering its fifth year. The 30-year-old friar secured a berth aboard the French Royal Navy ship Loire, an armed fl^ ute or cargo-vessel of 500 tons manned by 80 sailors, which although fitted with 30 gunports only had 20 cannon mounted, so as to make room for 30 soldiers and 25 civilian passengers, plus extra cargo. Under Capitaine de la H
eronniere, this ship set sail on November 29, 1693, paired with the smaller royal fl^ ute Tranquille, as part of a 38-vessel convoy to be escorted across the Atlantic

by the brand-new 44-gun, 500-ton warship Opini^ atre (Obstinate) of Capitaine de Sainte-Marie. On the afternoon of January 28, 1694, just as the Loire was approaching Martinique alone—having become separated from its convoy—it was sighted and pursued by HMS Chester of 50 guns. The French crew was able to beat off its more heavily-armed opponent, because the English initially believed that they were engaging the more powerful Opini^ atre, rather than a cargo ship. Night fell with Loire still managing to defend itself, and it then slipped away into the darkness, despite suffering 37 killed and 80 wounded during this lopsided struggle, including its brave Captain de la H
eronniere.

Antillean Observer (1694
1705) Labat gratefully disembarked from this battered vessel on Martinique at 3:00 P.M. that following afternoon, January 29, 1694, and two weeks later began his missionary work when he was sent by Governor Charles de Courbon, Comte de Bl
enac, to its northeastern parish of Macouba. Labat would spend the next two years energetically working at several spots throughout the island, using his mathematical talents to help rebuild many of its structures and enhancing many businesses, in addition to his religious duties. He also took keen note of everything new which he encountered, including the island’s colorful sea-rovers. As early as March 6, 1694, he had celebrated a Mass at Martinique’s main harbor of Saint-Pierre for a flibustier captain and crew, who had just brought two English prizes into Les Mouillages.

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La Buze, Louis (fl. 1716
1717) Labat recorded how their anchored corvette even fired salvoes at appropriate points during his ceremony, and a portion of their booty was donated to the Church. The vigorous Dominican was transferred to Guadeloupe in 1696, remaining on that large neighboring island for another four years, until restored to Martinique on August 30, 1700. Three days later, he departed on yet another mission, setting sail for the English island of Grenada aboard the large bark Trompeuse, and also visiting Barbados en route. When hostilities against England and Holland were renewed in 1703, Labat was summoned back to Guadeloupe to improve its defenses. The Dominicans resident at their coastal town of Baillif also employed his talents, by asking him to design and supervise construction by their slaves that same year of a stone defensive tower (which still stands today, known as the Tour de p ere Labat or ‘‘Father Labat’s Tower’’). His ship arrived in the roadstead at Cadiz by October 9. 1705, and he stepped ashore next day. On regaining France, he wrote a six-volume treatise entitled Voyages aux Iles de l’Am
erique, which was published in Paris in 1722. It contained valuable information on Antillean life, and frequently mentioned the activities of privateers such as Capitaine Pinel and George Roche. Labat died on January 6, 1738.

See also Flute; Roche, George.

Reference Labat, Jean-Baptiste, Memoirs, 1693
1705 (London: Routledge, 1970 translation by John Eaden).

LA BUZE, LOUIS (fl. 1716
1717) French corsair who apparently operated out of Saint-Domingue, often in concert with English pirates. Nothing is known about his early life and career, beyond the few glimpses contained in English records, where phonetic versions of his surname appear in many garbled forms: ‘‘Leboofe,’’ ‘‘Leboose,’’ ‘‘La Buze,’’ ‘‘de Boure,’’ etc.

Consort with Hornigold (1716) He sallied out of Nassau yet again in March 1716, in company with the French privateer Postillon of Captain Louis La Buze, 140 men being distributed between both their sloops. Early next month, they seized a large foreign merchantman at anchor in the Cuban port of Mariel, which was apparently smuggling goods ashore. Hornigold, and La Buze, robbed it of everything of value over the span of a week, before abandoning their ransacked prize at the approach of a rival privateering flotilla under Jennings. Hornigold, and La Buze, then prowled farther along the northwestern Cuban coastline, rounding its tip to intercept a pair of Spanish brigantines off Cape Corrientes, loaded with cacao from Maracaibo. When these Spaniards could not raise the demanded ransom to have their vessels spared, they were set ashore, and their brigantines burnt.

La Claverie, Charles De (fl. 1702
1711) Hornigold and La Buze next proceeded along Cuba’s southwestern shoreline to Isla de Pinos (modern Isla de la Juventud), where they met three or four empty English sloops and ‘‘made use of them in cleaning their own,’’ before restoring them to their crews. The rover pair subsequently weighed again by late May 1716 to call at French Saint-Domingue, but here Hornigold was voted out of office in favor of his crewman Samuel Bellamy, ‘‘upon a difference arising amongst the English pirates because Hornygold refused to take and plunder English vessels.’’ He therefore departed with only 26 loyal hands aboard a smaller prize sloop, Bellamy retaining 90 men aboard Mary Anne, most of them being English. After having visited the Spanish authorities at St. Augustine, Florida, in early June 1716, Captain Howard of HMS Shoreham returned to South Carolina and reported on September 15th (O.S.) that at least three English sloops out of Nassau were involved in piratical deeds: ‘‘One Horngold, Jennings, and Fernando, who have got 200 men, and are joined by a Frenchman.’’

Later Depredation (1719) Although it is uncertain whether La Buze was still in command, his vessels at least were known to be prowling the waters off Saint-Domingue some two-and-a-half years later. On February 24, 1719 (O.S.), an escaped English captive—John Bois, former carpenter of the merchant frigate Wade—declared before Governor Walter Hamilton of Antigua, how while: Bound for Jamaica, he was taken by a French pirate ship, the Mary Anne. The pirates plundered and drove the

ship [Wade] ashore after using the Captain very barbarously, upon suspicion of his having concealed money. Their consort the Postillion took a French pink, which they fitted out and then sank the Mary Anne in Saman
a Bay. They pretended to trade with Spanish merchants upon the coast, but robbed them when they got them on board. They afterwards took several vessels belonging to New England, one belonging to Bermudas, and one to Jamaica. Ironically, these French corsairs—perhaps including La Buze—were in turn captured and plundered in ‘‘Scots Bay,’’ along the north coast of Hispaniola, by Edward England’s pair of English pirate vessels in January 1719.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 30 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1958). Jameson, John F., comp. and ed., Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period: Illustrative Documents (New York: Macmillan, 1923).

LA CLAVERIE, CHARLES DE (fl. 1702
1711) French merchant master who operated as a wartime privateer, and was detained for smuggling on Cuba. The first official notice of his activities occurred during the early months of Queen Anne’s War, a conflict which saw France aligned with Spain against Britain and The Netherlands. He was most likely of Basque origin, his surname

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Lartigue (fl. 1696) apparently being more correctly written as ‘‘Chavarie’’—which in Spanish would have been rendered as ‘‘Chavarri’’—yet which would be quite commonly garbled into ‘‘La Claverie’’ or ‘‘Claverie’’ by various French scribes. At Marly on August 2, 1702, he secured a commercial permit from the Admiralty of Guyenne to transport a consignment of goods to the Americas aboard his 26-man, 100-ton ship Trois Unis, furthermore bearing a privateering commission ‘‘to pursue corsairs and pirates.’’ Information about his movements in the New World remained sketchy, although he was possibly the ‘‘Captain Claverie’’ who was reported as having found a tobacco-ship from Brazil out at sea and brought it into Plaisance on Newfoundland in July 1707, as well as taking a galley from Amsterdam in those same waters in December 1708. And despite France’s alliance with Spain, he was also charged in 1711 (under the name of ‘‘Carlos de la Claverı´a’’) for making an unauthorized visit to Santiago de Cuba with his ship Dauphin, resulting in the confiscation of his cargo and its adjudication at Havana next year.

References Archives D
epartementales de la Gironde [France], 6B 79 173v.-175v. Archive of Indies (Seville), Escribanı´a de C
amara de Justicia 55A. Archives Nationales d’Outre-mer [France], COL C11C 5/fol. 90-103 and 6/fol. 121
131.

LARTIGUE (fl. 1696) French rover who is described in a document dated June 22, 1696, as a

‘‘flibustier of B
earn,’’ then residing at Mont-Carmel (Basse-Terre), on the West Indian island of Guadeloupe. Nothing is known about his privateering activities.

Reference Goddet-Langlois, Jean and Denise, La vie en Guadeloupe au XVIIe si ecle, suivi du Dictionnaire des familles guadeloup
eennes de 1635
1700 (Fort-de-France: Editions Exbrayat, 1991).

LAURENS, PIETER (fl. 1693
1705) Dutch-born privateer who operated out of Rhode Island and Boston during King William’s and Queen Anne’s Wars, with English commissions under the Anglicized name of ‘‘Peter Lawrence.’’ In the summer of 1693, following the withdrawal of the frigate HMS Nonsuch from those waters, its provincial Assembly later reported that: . . . there hath been a French privateer, which being near Rhode Island, hath seized several vessels; one of them belonged to Rhode Island, John Godfrey, master; whereupon Your Majesty’s Governor [John Easton] sent forth a brigantine under command of Cap’n Peter Laurence, who having been forth to pursue after them, not finding them, are returned. Granted a second commission more than a year later by Deputy Governor John Greene, Jr., he captured two French fishing boats off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland.

Laurens, Pieter (fl. 1693
1705) Once peace was restored, the government of Rhode Island later justified Major Greene’s issuance of this particular license against complaints being received from the Council of Trade and Plantations in London, by writing on May 13, 1700 (O.S.), to explain that Lawrence’s commission was only ‘‘to cruise upon this coast, and [he] was never off from the coast further than Canada.’’

Queen Anne’s War (1702
1705) Shortly after news of the May 1702 declaration of hostilities against France and Spain reached Boston from London, Lawrence posted surety and obtained a privateering commission from Governor Joseph Dudley to once again sortie eastward into French-Canadian waters with his sloop Charles. He soon captured ‘‘some small vessels’’ and sent these into Boston for adjudication, except one which was apparently forced by weather ‘‘down to South Carolina, where the company had her condemned and sold.’’ As the onset of that upcoming winter would curtail local operations, Lawrence put into his old base of Providence on Rhode Island late that same autumn to recruit fresh hands, before steering south toward the warmer Caribbean. Off the coast of Cuba, his Charles joined forces with the privateers Hannah and Mary out of Boston under Captain John Blew, and Tyger from Barbados under Captain Jeremiah Burrows. Early in 1703, this trio captured the ship Jes
us Nazareno y Nuestra Se~ nora de la Escalera of Captain Alonso Caro Galafate in Matanzas Bay east of Havana, which had been chartered by the Spanish Crown as

an aviso or ‘‘dispatch-vessel’’ to convey trans-Atlantic correspondence to and from Cartagena (Colombia). The three Captains steered northward with their rich prize that spring, but as they approached the coast of New England, debated among themselves whether to put into Providence or Boston. Although Lawrence had been commissioned out of the latter port, he later argued that he also carried: . . . instructions both from the Governor of Boston and our owners, that prizes taken to the eastward we should send to Boston, and to the southward, into any of Her Majesty’s governments in America for condemnation. Even after having contacted Charles’ owners while still at sea, his fellow commanders and all three crews nonetheless voted to put into Rhode Island, presumably because its adjudication would prove less strict and hence more profitable for the privateers. Their flotilla consequently dropped anchor off Providence, and on April 23, 1703 (O.S.), formally petitioned its private Governor Samuel Cranston to inspect and receive their Spanish prize. Two of Charles’ irate owners in Boston—the merchants George Lawson and Andrew Faneuil—angrily appealed to Governor Dudley to not allow any ‘‘judgment to proceed, or all would be immediately embezzled.’’ The prize was reputedly laden with wines and other valuables worth more than £5,000, so that Dudley: . . . immediately wrote to both the said Captains [Lawrence and Blew], directing them to bring their prize to Boston,

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Laurens, Pieter (fl. 1693
1705) their commission port, whence they proceeded, where the ships under their management belonged, and where they were indebted for their advance, and where dwell all the owners and sharers with them. But while vainly awaiting a reply, Cranston had also contacted Thomas Newton, Deputy Judge of the Vice-Admiralty Court at Boston, asking him to assist in the legal adjudication of Jes
us Nazareno, adding: ‘‘I should have been glad if they had not brought it into this government, as I told them before her arrival, for I feared it would create us many enemies, besides much trouble to myself, with little profit.’’ Still hoping to forestall matters, Dudley dispatched the Deputy Receiver of the Lord High Admiral’s Tenths in Massachusetts Bay to intervene, but as Rhode Island fell outside this official’s jurisdiction he was simply ignored. Proceedings began at Providence on May 8, 1703 (O.S.), when it was declared that on first carrying their prize, its captors had pillaged items ‘‘called small plunder’’ worth £441, nine shillings, and nine pence, but that all its bulk cargo had remained intact. Jes
us Nazareno and its contents would eventually be appraised at only £1,681, and two days afterward, Dudley wrote furiously to London, concluding his report: I have found the reason of Mr. Lawrence, one of the privateers, unwillingness to come hither. One Captain Tucker of Bermudas brings me account that Lawrence met him in the sea in November last past, and rob’d him and sunk his vessel, and set him on shore at Carolina. I am taking care to have him arrested upon that head,

to see what may appear upon his trial, but I shall not be able to bring it to pass, while they have a pretence to any government [at Rhode Island]. Indeed, Lawrence seems to have spent the year there. Next spring, in one of the earliest advertisements ever published in North America, the May 15
22, 1704 (O.S.), edition of the Boston News-Letter contained the following notice: Captain Peter Lawrence is going aPrivateering from Rhode Island in a good sloop, about 60 tons, six guns, and 90 men for Canada, and any gentlemen or sailors that are disposed to go, shall be kindly entertained. The haven offered by Rhode Island to Lawrence and other such seafaring renegades formed one of 13 charges leveled from London against that colony’s private ‘‘chartered government’’ in March 1705, accusing them of serving as ‘‘a receptacle of pirates.’’

See also Commission Port.

References Bartlett, John R., Records of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, in New England, Volume III (Providence, RI: State Printers, 1858). Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 18, 21
23 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1936). Chapin, Howard M., Privateer Ships and Sailors: The First Century of American Colonial Privateering, 1625
1725 (Toulon: G. Mouton, 1926).

Lenham, George (fl. 1687
1694)

LEAGUE A measurement of distance, roughly equivalent to three miles. In the 17th century, English nautical leagues were gauged at 20 to a degree of latitude, roughly equivalent to 6,000 total yards. Each league was furthermore subdivided into three nautical miles. The Spaniards used the same measurements at sea [5.57 kilometers], although on land a legua of 17.5 to a degree was sometimes employed, equivalent to 6.35 kilometers.

Reference Howse, Derek, and Thrower, Norman J. W., eds., A Buccaneer’s Atlas: Basil Ringrose’s South Sea Waggoner. A Sea Atlas and Sailing Directions of the Pacific Coast of the Americas 1682 (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1992).

LE MOYNE D’IBERVILLE, PIERRE (1661
1706) French explorer who founded the colony of Louisiana, then died serving as a privateer during the War of the Spanish Succession. Iberville (as he is most commonly known to English-speaking historians) was born at Montreal, Quebec, on July 20, 1661. He began his military career in 1686, taking part in an expedition against the English in the Hudson’s Bay region. He spent the winter of 1687
1688 in France, requesting aid to reinforce the French fur-trading outposts and turn back the Indians of Port Nelson. Once more back in James Bay, he organized a furring expedition. In

The French-Canadian privateer and founder of Louisiana, Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville. (Library of Congress)

1690, he took part in Governor de Frontenac’s campaign out of Quebec City, against the English colonies to the south. In 1697, he was granted a monopoly over the trade in Hudson’s Bay.

Reference Dictionnaire de l’Am
erique franc¸aise (Ottawa, Ont: Ottawa University Press, 1988).

LENHAM, GEORGE (fl. 1687
1694) English privateer and pirate-hunter. In the autumn of 1687, Lenham sailed to New Providence in the Bahamas with a special peacetime commission from Lieutenant Governor Hender Molesworth of Jamaica, to seek out pirates. This patrol had been prompted

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L
eog^ane by news of Thomas Woollerly disposing of his booty illegally at those islands, and when Lenham arrived he learned of another band of pirates ‘‘who had burnt their ship and raised a fort of eight guns on a neighboring island for their security.’’ In the words of Molesworth’s report, dated December 7, 1687 (O.S.): He [Lenham] accordingly sailed thither, beat them out of it and brought off the men with their goods, and three or four Portuguese negroes who were the only witnesses that could be produced against them. It appeared from their account that they had taken a Portuguese ship off the coast of Brazil, and on this evidence the men were condemned. Though pardon had been promised, not one of them singly would make the least confession. At last the pardon was offered to all, when it appeared that they belonged to three sloops which left Carolina in company, with the resolution to take some good ship and sail with her to the South Sea. At last they got a Dutch vessel of good force, with which they took another and sailed away south, but were beaten back by foul weather at Magellan’s Strait, and forced into [New] Providence. There they burnt their ship (as Woollerly had done before them) and hearing of the proclamation for pardon of pirates, were intending to go to New England. Their spoil was condemned, though it was of little value. . . . Almost five months later, the citizens of the Bahamas complained to the Council of Jamaica that Lenham and Royal Navy Captain Thomas Spragge had plundered

their houses during this operation, which both commanders denied, attributing this charge to the islanders’ well-known sympathy for such rovers. Lenham was also most likely the same ‘‘Captain George Lenham’’ listed in May 1699 among the property owners of Jamaica’s ‘‘Windward Parishes,’’ who had suffered material losses during the French invasion and pillage along that particular stretch of coastline five years previously.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 12, 17 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1933).


OGA ^ NE LE Technically, the French administrative capital for Sainte-Domingue, although not the colony’s largest or busiest city. Soon after J
er
emie Deschamps de Moussac et du Rausset had arrived at Tortuga Island in 1659, with authorization from both Paris and London to act as its private ‘‘Governor,’’ he founded a new mainland settlement named Petit-Go^ave to take advantage of its broad and fertile plains. By 1663, a second hamlet dubbed L
eog^ane (the French rendering of La Yaguana) had also been established nearby by another 30 migrants; then in June 1665, one of L
eog^ane’s estateholders—Bertrand d’Ogeron, Sieur de la Bouere, a retired Marine Regiment Captain and shareholder in an earlier colonizing company—was appointed Governor over the entire French half of Hispaniola by the newly-created

Le Picard, Capitaine (fl. 1682
1690) Compagnie des Indes Occidentales or ‘‘Company of the West Indies’’ in Paris, which was backed by the chief royal minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert. Despite considerable resentment on Tortuga against this corporation’s trade monopoly and its boucaniers even mutinying against d’Ogeron in the spring of 1670, his 11-year tenure nonetheless proved remarkably successful; the colony flourished as numerous engag
es or ‘‘indentured laborers’’ were brought out from France to clear and work SaintDomingue’s mainland. By the time d’Ogeron resumed his private occupation at L
eog^ane in 1674, the total French population had multiplied from 700 to 800 residents to roughly 5,000. Although Cap-Franc¸ois (modern CapHa€tien) soon emerged as the busiest and largest town, L
eog^ane and Petit-Go^ave shared the title of its administrative capital, as they were farther removed from seaborne raiders, and better sheltered from hurricanes behind the island’s central mountain range. L
eog^ane’s inhabitants had initially been concentrated at a spot called l’Ester or ‘‘The Inlet,’’ with a few others living some miles away at Petite-Rivi ere or ‘‘Little River’’; both communities—plus a few lesser ones scattered in between—comprised the ‘‘parish of L
eog^ane,’’ and were ministered to by the Dominican Order. However, their geographic dispersal meant that they could never be coalesced into a defensible whole, so that PetitGo^ave was fortified to act as a single stronghold during times of war, most especially after the harrowing AngloSpanish descent against the island’s northern coastline in spring of 1695. Still, Petit-Go^ave did not prove entirely satisfactory as a capital, as it was too far west from the rich farmlands on Cul-de-

Sac Plain for easy overland access, while furthermore blighted by an insalubrious reputation.

LE PICARD, CAPITAINE (fl. 1682
1690) Wide-ranging French flibustier, who roamed deep into the South Sea and as far north as Canada during his career. Details about his early life are unknown, and even his true name is uncertain. It is believed that Picard had served as a subordinate under Thomas Paine of Rhode Island, when that freebooter had been operating with a French commission against the Spaniards during the late 1670s and early 1680s. It also seems that Picard was a member of the crew of the famous Laurens de Graaf, when that chieftain weighed from Petit-Go^ave (Haiti) on November 22, 1684, to prowl the Spanish Main. Ten weeks later, having failed to make any significant captures, Picard may have been the leader of a faction of 87 flibustiers who voted to separate, sailing away on February 13, 1685, on an independent cruise aboard a Spanish prize nicknamed the Cascarilla. Ten days later, after meeting Captains Jean Rose and Mathurin Desmaretz at sea, Picard’s contingent decided to steer for Golden Island off the northeastern coast of Panama, so as to cross the Isthmus into the South Sea. Dropping anchor, they learned that a large force of flibustiers had already preceded them under Captains Franc¸ois Grogniet and Lescuyer to join an even bigger contingent of English buccaneers who were known to be operating in the Pacific. Picard and his companions were

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Le Picard, Capitaine (fl. 1682
1690) overtaken by Rose and Desmaretz, so that on March 1, 1685, ‘‘after commending our journey to God,’’ 264 mainly French flibustiers set off through the jungle afoot.

Pacific Penetration (1685
1686) Emerging on the far side of the Isthmus of Panama by April 11, 1685, Picard and the rest were met by a boat which Grogniet had sent back for them. This craft conducted the new arrivals to a pirate assemblage off Isla del Rey, where they joined the fleet of English Captains Edward Davis, Charles Swan, William Knight, and Francis Townley. The flibustiers were offered the 90-ton Santa Rosa, which had been recently captured from the Spaniards, all the French agreeing to serve under Grogniet. The six vessels and almost 1,000 freebooters settled down to blockade the City of Panama, in hopes of intercepting the annual Peruvian treasure fleet. But these Spanish vessels slipped past, delivered their cargo, and sallied to engage the buccaneers on June 7, 1685, catching the rovers unawares off Pacheca Island. An indecisive engagement ensued, with the buccaneers eventually being driven off. They then fell out among themselves along national lines, each group blaming the other for this defeat. A joint attack was made next on the coastal town of Remedios (Pueblo Nuevo), after which both contingents headed northwestward as separate groups. Lussan and the other flibustiers refused to join the English raid on Le
on (Nicaragua) of early August 1685, preferring to take 120 men in five boats for a

repeat attempt against Remedios. This was repulsed and Realejo attempted on November 1st, but the French found it already devastated from an earlier English assault, so obtained little booty. Reversing course, on January 9, 1686, they captured the tiny coastal town of Chiriquita (Panama), which they abandoned a week later. At the end of this same month, a Spanish squadron passed them by out at sea, and when the flibustiers approached Remedios again on the night of March 5
6, 1686, to forage for food, they were ambushed by a small frigate, a barco luengo, and a piragua, suffering more than 30 casualties. They then roamed westward once more, anchoring off Esparta on March 19th, and sighting Townley’s small flotilla four days later.

Sack of Guayaquil (April 1687) The South American coastline swam into view by April 6, 1687, and at noon six days later Grogniet’s and Dew’s combined force reached Point Santa Helena, the north-westernmost entry into the wide, tapering Gulf of Guayaquil. That night, they espied a Spanish prize manned by eight English pirates from Captain Edward Davis’ crew, who next day agreed to join their enterprise. Running southward unseen farther out at sea, they circled back and by dawn of April 15, 1687, sighted Cabo Blanco, the south-easternmost entry into the Gulf. By 10:00 A.M., 260 rovers had transferred off their ships—which were to remain hidden in a nearby bay—while Grogniet’s and Dew’s raiding-party began rowing into the Gulf aboard eight large piraguas. By sundown, they had reached Santa Clara Island, a barren rock in midchannel also known as Isla del Muerto

Le Picard, Capitaine (fl. 1682
1690) or ‘‘Dead Man’s Island,’’ anchoring overnight to ride out the powerful ebbtide flowing out of the Guayas River into the ocean. Next morning, piloted by four native turncoats serving among their ranks, they glided across to Pun
a Island and hid there all day, before circling past its Spanish settlements that same night to conceal themselves once more at dawn of April 17th, up an estuary near Pun
a’s northern tip. Here, the buccaneers agreed to storm specific strongpoints once they reached Guayaquil, in three companies under Grogniet, Dew, and Pierre Le Picard. But on emerging that same dusk aboard their boats to enter the Guayas River, they found its countercurrent so strong that they had to return to Pun
a Island by daybreak of Friday, April 18, 1687. Spotted by coastal-watchers before they could hide up another inlet, these lookouts set fire to a hut as a warning-signal to the Spaniards farther upriver, before a buccaneer party pushed through the jungle to extinguish it, killing two of these sentinels and capturing a third. The rovers remained hidden throughout the rest of that day, and even allowed an arriving Spanish ship to pass unchallenged upriver, before reemerging at nightfall to penetrate the eastern mouth of the Guayas River. Their native guides piloted them past a couple more lookout-stations, the flotilla’s movements masked behind several small islands. By the time the pirates hid yet again at dawn of Saturday, April 19th, they had circled far enough upstream to be able to surprise Guayaquil out of its east next daybreak, a Sunday. Meanwhile, the Pun
a signal-blaze had been reported within the city that

same Saturday morning, so that Gover
nor Juan Alvarez de Avil
es and militia General Fernando Ponce de Le
on mustered every able-bodied man; however, when nothing more occurred by evening, the entire garrison stood down. As a result, when the pirate formation finally came gliding out of the darkness at 4:00 A.M. on Sunday, April 20, 1687, their surprise was complete. Dew’s two piraguas disgorged more than 60 men at Marı´a Fico’s landing dock north of the city, half circling around Ataranza Inlet on foot to occupy the city workshops, while the remainder scrambled up the cliffs to conceal themselves outside the earthen San Carlos redoubt atop Santa Ana Hill. Grogniet meanwhile disembarked more than a mile farther to the south, the swift downriver current having carried his six piraguas off course, so that he failed to land anywhere near La Planchada fort on the city outskirts. Instead, his flibustiers waded ashore into dense brush around the small anchorage of Casones (near modern Aguirre and Elizalde Streets), where they were challenged by a Spanish sentry and gun exchanges quickly erupted. Rain started to fall as well, so that the French also had to pause in a large house for their grenadiers to light their tinders, before Grogniet could advance at daybreak with ‘‘flags flying and drums beating,’’ into the maze of shipyards lining the four intervening inlets lying between them and Guayaquil proper. General Ponce had meanwhile appeared on the far side of these yards, mounted on a horse, to direct the 300 black and Spanish militiamen who were rallying out of the city to the northern shoreline of the fourth inlet, which was owned by Juan de Villamar.

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Le Picard, Capitaine (fl. 1682
1690) In the rainy gloom, Grogniet’s advancing flibustiers mistook its low wooden levee for a fort, so that they lost several men probing forward gingerly along the small bridge spanning Jos
e del Junco’s adjoining inlet, before a pirate detachment finally paddled around westward on planks—between Junco’s house and Carlos’s smithy—to outflank these defenders. Ponce was shot in a thigh and fell, being helped to remount, before ordering his men to retreat back into Guayaquil. Grogniet followed them into its streets, only to discover that the Spaniards were making a second stand from behind earthworks around Guayaquil’s main square, as well as sweeping all nearby intersections with grapeshot. This resistance lasted for more than an hour, until another pirate flanking column circled behind the Franciscan church and headed toward the Dominican monastery. Afraid of being cut off from their last avenue of escape into the high ground behind the city, the Spanish abandoned the main square, allowing Grogniet to push up Los Morlacos Street and along the riverfront in twin columns. For a third time, the defenders regrouped in trenches encircling the nearby northern heights, but their seven guns within San Carlos redoubt could not be depressed low enough to fire down the slope, so that Grogniet soon fought his way into this system of trenches, along with Dew’s few-dozen men attacking by surprise from the opposite side. By 11:00 A.M., the last traces of Spanish resolve sputtered out, 34 defenders having been slain during these seven hours of rain-soaked combat, compared to nine pirate dead and a dozen wounded— among the latter, Grogniet. The city was

quickly occupied and 700 prisoners herded into Guayaquil’s main church, while Picard assumed command over the flibustier contingent. Leading citizens were singled out to be terrorized—the wounded Ponce, for example, being beaten on his back with sword-blades in front of his weeping family—while fearsome pirates roared demands of 300,000 pesos out of Ecuador’s interior to free all their hostages. To further drive home their point, seven or eight rich Spaniards were dragged out of the church and down to the riverbank, along with all the clerics, where Lorenzo de Sotomayor was randomly selected and murdered by a pistolshot. Eventually, the victorious pirates reduced their demand to 100,000 pesos, a ransom which was to be raised and paid by families and friends who lived inland. Meanwhile, Guayaquil’s buildings were ransacked, 14 anchored vessels were seized, and pirate piraguas sped upriver in pursuit of fleeing Spanish craft. Eventually, a boat was sent downriver on Wednesday morning, April 23, 1687, to contact the anchored pirate ships waiting at Cabo Blanco, and order them to rendezvous with the raiding-party at Pun
a Island. Next day, Picard and Dew withdrew from gutted Guayaquil, their original eight piraguas now augmented by four large riverboats, plus a new Spanish brigantine, with more than 250 captives crammed aboard. At the very last moment, Picard
ordered the wounded Governor Alvarez to stay behind, so as to arrange a flow of supplies for the pirates and their prisoners, until the ransoms could be paid. The wounded Grogniet was carried back aboard his flagship that same evening, when the raiders reunited with their vessels off Pun
a. He expired of his wounds by May 2, 1687.

Le Picard, Capitaine (fl. 1682
1690) Picard’s and Dew’s buccaneer contingents shared plunder totaling ‘‘134,000 pesos, much precious jewelry, a large amount of wrought silver, and an exorbitant tally of merchandise and produce,’’ before being joined a few days later by Davis, who brought word that a squadron of Peruvian privateers was on its way to drive them away. The Peruvians appeared by May 27, 1687, with the purchased vessels San Jos
e and San Nicol
as of 20 guns apiece commanded by the Biscayans Dionisio L
opez de Artunduaga and Nicol
as de Igarza, plus a small patache. The pirate formation by now included almost 20 medium- to small-size craft, mostly prizes, which the Peruvian privateers rather gingerly engaged at long range over the next five days, eventually scattering the freebooters and recuperating some lost vessels. During these actions, San Nicol
as ran hard aground on a sandbank off Atacames, so limped back toward Callao taking on water. It was quickly replaced by San Francisco de Paula and another patache, which joined L
opez de Artunduaga off Ecuador and helped him resume his distant pursuit of the retreating buccaneers, at last compelling them to relinquish their largest prize (San Jacinto) before making a final division of spoils off Cape San Francisco, and dispersing northward 10 days later. Each then went his separate way, Picard venturing with five vessels as far north as the Mexican port of Tehuantepec, which he captured with 180 men on August 30, 1687, then looked into Acapulco bay a few weeks later. Reversing course until he regained the Gulf of Fonseca, Picard scuttled his vessels there on January 2, 1688, and with some 260 followers, marched overland into Nueva Segovia Province. In the interior

highlands the buccaneers constructed rafts and sped down the Coco River, emerging at Cape Gracias a Dios by March 9, 1688. A Jamaican ship was persuaded to carry them to Saint Domingue, which they reached on April 8th. Picard and his flibustiers were leery of any official retaliation for their actions, peace having long since been declared between France and Spain; therefore, they feigned ignorance of this new state of affairs, because of their lengthy absence. Governor Pierre-Paul Tarin de Cussy was not present at the capital of Petit Go^ave, being on an inspection tour of Saint-Domingue’s northern districts, so there were no immediate repercussions, although it soon became obvious that Crown policy had changed drastically with regard to roving, despite the continuing local distrust against their Spanish neighbors. De Lussan and many other freebooters therefore elected to disperse farther afield, with Picard apparently choosing to emigrate with his booty to Acadia in French North America.

Battle Off Block Island (July 1690) Official word arrived during the winter of 1689
1690 of the outbreak back in Europe of the War of the League of Augsburg—soon to become known in British North America as ‘‘King William’s War’’—and with the coming of that spring, local offensives and counteroffensives began. By early July 1690 (O.S.), it was being reported at Boston that a pair of hired ships had exited in search of ‘‘a French privateer, who we have information lies about Cape Cod, and has taken 23 small vessels which belong to this country.’’ Such reports were

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Picard Retreat Pacific, 1688.

N

After skirmishing against some Peruvian privateers in the Gulf of Fonseca (1), Picard scuttled his ships and led his 260 followers inland, determined to regain the Caribbean. Local Spanish forces allowed his small army past Choluteca into the central highlands, where Picard eventually found the headwaters of the Coco River (2). Building rafts, he headed downstream, emerging by March 9, 1688, at Cape Gracias a Dios (3), where he commandeered a Jamaican to carry him on to Saint-Domingue.

Le Picard, Capitaine (fl. 1682
1690) confirmed when a bark limped into Boston harbor on the morning of July 7, 1690 (O.S.), crammed with about 50 men released by this raider. Possibly this referred to Picard, for a few days later he is known to have passed through Nantucket Sound with his small flotilla, and led a landing party ashore at Block Island on July 12, 1690 (O.S.), plundering and seriously mistreating its inhabitants. News of this depredation quickly reached the mainland, so that warning bonfires were lit ‘‘from Pawcatuck to Seaconnet,’’ while a sloop with 34 men was sent out from Newport next day on a reconnaissance. That following night, Picard apparently tried to penetrate Newport itself, but drew off when discovered. Three days later, on July 17, 1690 (O.S.), Governor John Easton overrode his Quaker sensibilities and ordered the 10-gun sloop Loyal Stede of Barbados, which was lying in Newport roads, impressed into the colonial service. (This vessel had been named in honor of Edwin Stede, Lieutenant-Governor of that West Indian colony.) Some 60 men were hastily mustered, and Paine was put in command of this sloop, as well as of a smaller consort which accompanied him under Captain John Godfrey. Three days later, the two craft set out for Block Island, with an extra contingent of soldiers crammed aboard. Picard had meanwhile moved off to attempt an attack against New London (Connecticut), so that Paine’s force gained Block Island without sighting their enemy. Next day, the two New England sloops beat about offshore, until they beheld the French formation bearing down on them that same afternoon of July 21, 1690 (O.S.): one large

bark, one large sloop, and a smaller sloop. Paine retreated so as to be able to take up a defensive position in the shallows off Block Island, and therefore only have to work the guns on one side of his vessels. The French, misinterpreting this flight to mean that the pair were frightened coastal traders, made all possible sail and ‘‘sent a piragua before them, full of men, with design to pour in their small arms [fire] on them and take them, as their manner was.’’ Unfortunately, Paine’s gunner opened fire too soon on this leading French vessel, missing and thus alerting Picard that his opponents were armed. The piragua sheered around and its men reboarded the French ships, before all three resumed their advance on the New Englanders. A brisk fire-fight erupted at five o’clock that same evening lasting until nightfall, during which the French suffered 14 killed, including their secondin-command—‘‘a very violent, resolute fellow,’’ according to English sources, who was shot in the neck while drinking a glass of wine and wishing damnation on the opposition. Paine only emerged with one dead and six wounded, and next morning Picard made off. The two New England sloops pursued, forcing the French to scuttle a merchantman which they had captured, by firing ‘‘a great shot through her bottom.’’ When Paine reached it, he found this prize already standing straight up and down, so that none of its cargo of wine and brandy could be saved before it slipped beneath the waves. Paine nonetheless returned triumphantly into Newport, where he learned that reinforcements had since arrived from Boston under Captain Sugars, who was sent off after the retiring Picard.

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Leroux or Le Roux, Jean (fl. 1692
1693) In a letter written to Governor Sloughter of New York almost a year later, the Massachusetts authorities on June 18, 1691 (O.S.), complained ‘‘that the French privateer that lately visited Block Island, has lyen upon the coast and taken three small vessels belonging to this colony inward-bound: viz., two from the West Indies and one from Connecticut.’’

See also Paine, Thomas (Volume 1).

References Archive of Indies (Seville), Audiencia de Quito 159, Number 20, Folios 48
53. Baxter, James P., Documentary History of the State of Maine, Volume 5 (Portland, ME: Maine Historical Society, 1897). Bernal Ruiz, Marı´a del Pilar, La toma del puerto de Guayaquil en 1687 (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispanoamericanos, 1979). Bradley, Peter T., The Lure of Peru: Maritime Intrusion into the South Sea, 1598
1701 (New York: St Martin’s Press, 1990). Lussan, Ravenau de, Journal of a Voyage into the South Sea (Cleveland, OH: Arthur H. Clark Company, 1930).

LEROUX OR LE ROUX, JEAN (fl. 1692
1693) French privateer captured near New York City. Leroux, having been raised as a Huguenot or French Protestant, emigrated to New York and became a naturalized English citizen in the spring of 1692, presumably so as to escape from religious persecution by his Catholic compatriots. Master of a coastal

trading sloop, he then made a voyage to Boston during which he allegedly scuttled his vessel ‘‘and ran away with £600 or £700 in money,’’ for which he was imprisoned. Breaking jail in Boston, he contrived to escape north into Canada along with some French prisoners of war (the War of the League of Augsburg [known in America as King William’s War] being then in its fourth year). Leroux crossed the Atlantic to France and claimed to have been interviewed in February 1693 by Jean Gabaret, ‘‘Lieutenant General of the French forces by sea,’’ as to a potential descent on New York by 10 men o’ war and six fireships, which he discouraged despite being offered the position of pilot. Instead, Leroux quit La Rochelle in July 1693 in command of a privateer bark of 4 guns and 35 men, arriving off the coast of New England where he seized a Boston ketch, and on October 16th a Rhode Island sloop. Shortly thereafter, however, he anchored his bark on the north side of Nassau Island and led a landing-party ashore ‘‘to take his wife and [five] children on board,’’ whom he had left behind. Leroux’s group was discovered and captured, and a vessel sent out after his bark in the Sound. It easily outsailed its pursuer, but the captain remained in English hands, being kept ‘‘close prisoner till the King’s pleasure is known.’’ Several of those defrauded by Leroux’s earlier Boston voyage called for his immediate execution, but a month-anda-half later passions had cooled sufficiently for the city council to order ‘‘John Reaux [sic] to be released from irons and lodged in New York jail.’’ That following spring, Leroux offered to serve aboard the provincial man o’

Letter of Marque war, and on March 15, 1694 (O.S.), this was accepted, ‘‘provided that Captain Evans take care that he shall not escape’’ again.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 14 (London; Her Majesty’s Stationery office, 1903).

LE SERF, JEAN (fl. 1692
1693) French sea-master and slaver, who briefly prowled the Caribbean as a privateer during King William’s War. Le Serf (also spelled Leserf or Le Cerf) was most likely born around 1652, and was already a veteran West Indian seafarer when he secured a commercial permit on November 29, 1684, to sail from his native Bordeaux for the Americas that following spring, in command of the 12-man, 50-ton Palme. Almost exactly one year later, he obtained a second license on November 25, 1685, for another voyage, this time in command of the 20-man, 140-ton slaver Saint-Jean. This vessel departed on January 10, 1686, and left the French coast behind 13 days later, reaching Gor
ee in Senegal by February 14, 1686. After loading 105 black captives on account of the Compagnie royale d’Afrique, Saint-Jean weighed again on May 5th and reached Cap-Franc¸ais (modern Cap-Ha€tien) by June 11th, where it delivered the 90 survivors of its trans-Atlantic crossing. Le Serf’s second officer and three hands also deserted in that port one night in a boat, and when Le Serf fired four shots

after them, he was fined by the local authorities. Saint-Jean cleared for France on August 11, 1686, reaching Le Havre by October 4th, and Bordeaux six days afterward. After a dispute with the owners at Le Havre, during which Le Serf threatened to retain part of his cargo of tobacco if he were not paid, he also placated his restless crew with extra pay, and then—as this New World cargo was mostly intended for Holland—he sailed again on December 1686, before finally regaining his home on January 3, 1687. Le Serf signed up for a third transAtlantic crossing that same September 23, 1687, a regular commercial run with the 11-man, 55-ton Aimable. However, once France was plunged into war against The Netherlands, Spain, and England during the winter months of 1688
1689, all such commercial traffic became much more difficult. We therefore next find him obtaining a privateering commission at Bordeaux on July 5, 1692, for the formidable 195-man, 300ton warship Saint-Louis. Almost exactly one year later, he obtained yet another privateering commission on July 15, 1693, for the 160-ton ship Saint-Pierre.

Reference Saugera, Eric, Bordeaux, port n
egrier: chronologie, e
conomie, id
eologie, XVIIeecles (Paris: Karthala, 1995). XVIIIe si

LETTER OF MARQUE Another name for a privateer or corsair vessel, yet apparently distinct in that its crew received regular wages ‘‘as any merchant marine sailors,’’ in addition to shares from captures, while privateersmen served for booty alone.

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Lewis, John (fl. 1715) On May 5, 1703 (O.S.), the minutes for the Council of Barbados session on that day recorded the following: Edward Chilton, Attorney General, moved that no privateers be admitted to go out of this island until they have given security to pay the Lord High Admiral’s tenths of every prize they shall take, which was granted. Then he presented a commission from England empowering Charles Thomas to receive the Lord High Admiral’s tenths, and also a commission from the Lord High Admiral appointing Captain Charles Thomas, James Aynsworth, and Thomas Stewart to be Commissioners to examine witnesses of all prizes brought in here by letters of marque; which the Board allowed.

See also Letter of Marque (Volume 1).

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies., Volume 21 (London; Her Majesty’s Stationery office, 1952).

LEWIS, JOHN (fl. 1715) English master who robbed a wealthy Spanish passenger, and so came to be accused of piracy. In the spring of 1715, Lewis provided passage homeward from Jamaica aboard his brigantine Lark to the visiting trader Jer
onimo Jos
e de la Vega y Caviedes, Marqu
es de Nevares, the retired Governor of the remote Andean province of Popay
an (Colombia). According to the Jamaican merchant James Cumberford,

who was also traveling aboard this vessel as supercargo, Lewis ‘‘set ashore at Santa Marta ye said Marques and promis’d to send him his goods ashore, but instead broke up some of his trunks and took out of them a great deal of riches.’’ Cumberford disapproved of this theft, but ‘‘not being able to oppose ye master and crew, dissembled till they came to Charleston’’ in South Carolina, where he denounced this crime before Governor Charles Craven on June 2, 1715 (O.S.). Lewis was briefly detained along with his crew, while Lark was impounded and the stolen goods seized, although nothing more was then done. Cumberford therefore wrote on July 8, 1715 (O.S.), to also report this incident to the Governor of Jamaica, Lord Archibald Hamilton, who immediately forwarded the information on to the Council of Trade and Plantations on August 30, 1715 (O.S.), with the added information that Lewis and his men had apparently been allowed to escape from Charleston with Craven’s connivance. The Crown authorities in London responded very strongly to this matter by that same November, ‘‘. . . as His Majesty is very sensible such a base and dishonorable action may very much reflect on the credit of the nation, and affect the trade and commerce of those parts.’’ Secretary of State James Stanhope therefore: . . . assured the [Spanish Ambassador] Marquis de Monteleon that the Governors of all His Majesty’s provinces are directed to seize Lewis and all or any of his crew, that they may be brought to condign and exemplary punishment, and for making full restitution to the Marquis of such of his goods as can be found anywhere, or reparation to him out of the effects of the criminals, when any such can be seized.

Loverell, Captain (fl. 1696) It was hoped that such vigorous prosecution would furthermore allow the King’s ministers to in turn ‘‘engage the Court of Spain to do his subjects justice on the like occasions’’; yet, despite repeated commands, Lewis was never caught, nor were Nevares’ goods ever returned.

See also Hamilton, Lord Archibald.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 28, 29 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1955).

LILLY, THOMAS (fl. 1698) English privateer who in October 1698, was ordered arrested at St. Kitts for persisting in attacks against French subjects, despite the cessation of the War of the League of Augsburg (King William’s War) that previous year. Lilly had once served under the notorious James Weatherhill of Jamaica.

Reference Chapin, Howard M., Privateer Ships and Sailors: The First Century of American Colonial Privateering, 1625
1725 (Toulon: G. Mouton, 1926).

LISLE OR LYLE, CAPTAIN (fl. 1688
1689) English freebooter captured off French Hispaniola. Early in November 1688, after the English authorities on Jamaica had

detained a group of French flibustiers, Governor Pierre-Paul Tarin de Cussy received word that Lisle had arrived at ^Ile a Vache off the southwestern tip of Saint-Domingue with a barco luengo called Dorado (Spanish for Golden One), ‘‘heretofore commanded by one [John] Coxon.’’ Lisle’s crew consisted of 80 English, three French, and five Dutch or Flemish buccaneers. Governor de Cussy issued orders for this ship’s detention: . . . which was punctually done on the 16th of November. A few days later 38 men, 24 of them English, were brought to me at Petit-Go^ave, several now [February 5, 1689] being left ashore miserably wounded. Lisle had meanwhile been condemned to perpetual punishment aboard France’s galleys and his companions sentenced to long terms, by which the French Governor demonstrated to his English counterparts that he too ‘‘shall show no mercy to those that I catch.’’

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 13 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1901).

LOVERELL, CAPTAIN (fl. 1696) Jamaican privateer who ventured north to Rhode Island, intending to raid French Canada during King William’s War. As a postscript to a letter written to Governor Benjamin Fletcher at New York from Newport on May 14, 1696 (O.S.), Rhode Island’s Governor Walter Clarke added how on:

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Low, Edward or ‘‘Ned’’ (fl. 1722
1724) . . . the 12th instant [May 1696 (O.S.)], arrived here one Cap’n Loverell from Jamaica, a private manof-war of six guns, one hundred and two men, bound for the coast of Canada; he commanded with him one small ship, which he took off the coast of Cuba, the mariners leaving her as was suspected, being near land, found no person in her, by reason of the fogs, laying long off and on this coast, so that they were very suspicious to be enemies, which occasioned some trouble. But sending out a boat of twenty men, was discovered and made known to us, and are both come into our harbor of Newport, endeavoring for a pilot, with intent to proceed as promised.

Reference Bartlett, John R., Records of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, in New England, Volume III (Providence, RI: State Printers, 1858).

LOW, EDWARD OR ‘‘NED’’ (fl. 1722
1724) Minor English pirate, notorious for his cruelty and destructiveness. According to the chronicler Charles Johnson, Low was born in the Westminster district of London, sometime around 1690. He grew up amid great poverty, illiterate, and running ‘‘wild in the streets of his native parish.’’ Apparently his family consisted of criminals and thieves, so that he too became embroiled in petty street crime at a tender age, along with his older brother, who would eventually be hanged at Tyburn.

The notorious Captain Edward Low riding out a hurricane ashore, from The History of the Lives and Actions of the Most Famous Highwaymen, 1734. (Library of Congress)

Low left England around 1710, emigrating to North America and visiting several places, before settling down to work as a rigger in a Boston shipyard. He married Eliza Marble on August 12, 1714 (O.S.), at the First Church of Boston, and they soon had a son. Tragically, this child died in infancy, and his young wife also succumbed during the winter of 1719, while giving birth to a daughter who would be christened Elizabeth. These losses naturally left a deep impression on Low; it was reported later how he would often express regret for the daughter he had left behind.

Piratical Career (1722
1723) Early in 1722, he joined a 12-man crew aboard a sloop that cleared Boston on a

Low, Edward or ‘‘Ned’’ (fl. 1722
1724) peacetime voyage, to gather logwood from Honduras. Low was put in command of the boat-party ferrying logs out from shore, and while employed on such heavy labor in that tropical heat, allegedly returned aboard ship thirsty and hungry, only to be told by the Captain that he and his men would have to wait to eat and drink. Angry, Low ‘‘takes up a loaden musket’’ and fired at the Captain, but missed. Forced to quit his sloop because of this act, Low and a few friends took over a small sloop out of Rhode Island that very next day, killing a crewman in the process. Now fully committed to a life of piracy, they supposedly then ‘‘made a black flag, and declared war against all the world.’’ Working their way over toward the Cayman Islands, Low’s tiny band became absorbed into the pirate crew of Captain George Lowther, who was prowling in those waters with his 100ton Rhode Island sloop Happy Delivery, mounting eight cannon and 10 swivel-guns. Losing this vessel shortly thereafter, the pirates transferred aboard the Ranger, and then captured the 6-gun brigantine Rebecca on May 28, 1722 (O.S.). Lowther installed Low aboard as Captain, with Francis Farrington Spriggs as his quartermaster, and 43 other piratical hands. The two Captains amicably parted company, and within a month Low had cruised far north up the Atlantic Seaboard, laying at anchor by Friday, June 15, 1722 (O.S.), within the small fishing harbor of Port Roseway (modern Shelburne, Nova Scotia). When 13 Marblehead schooners began coming in from the nearby fishing-banks to rest there over the weekend, the pirates seized and looted every one of them. Low furthermore selected the brand-

new, 80-ton schooner Mary of Joseph Doliber as his new flagship, arming it with 10 guns and renaming it the Fancy, before burning his other prizes and abandoning Rebecca. He was to rove off Newfoundland for the next several weeks, pitilessly preying on hapless fishermen, before finally standing out across the Atlantic for the Azores. Among those islands, he intercepted a French pink named the Rose and converted it into his new flagship, while ceding command of Fancy to his subordinate Charles Harris. After sweeping through the Canary and Cape Verde Islands, this pair of pirate vessels steered west across the Atlantic toward Brazil, yet were forestalled by contrary winds and currents. Driven northwest to the Wild Coast, Low entered a quiet harbor some 120 miles short of Surinam and attempted to careen Rose, so as to clean its befouled hull. Instead, his pink was heeled too far over, water poured into its open gunports and Rose sank, killing two men. Most of the pirates’ provisions had also been lost aboard, so that Low was forced to captain the prize schooner Squirrel, and go in search of new victims in order to resupply. Steering toward Tobago, the pirates overshot this island, before eventually dropping anchor off the French-held island of Grenada. Hiding most of his cutthroats below decks, Low was permitted to send men ashore for water, then next day captured a French sloop which the authorities had sent out to investigate. It was renamed Ranger and became Low’s next flagship, while Squirrel was given to his quartermaster Spriggs, who renamed it the Delight; and then sailed away in the middle of

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Low, Edward or ‘‘Ned’’ (fl. 1722
1724) the night with a small crew after a disagreement with Low. The pirate chieftain nonetheless intercepted more sloops in those same waters, including one which he kept as the Fortune. Then on January 25, 1723 (O.S.), Low captured the rich Portuguese prize Nossa Senhora da Vitoria, allegedly butchering most of its crew in a fit of rage, after its Captain had deliberately dropped a bag containing 11,000 gold moidores into the sea. Tales of Low’s barbarity were by now increasing. He reached the island of Roat
an off the Honduran coast by early March 1723, watering and resting for a few weeks, before resuming his depredations. The American Weekly Mercury newspaper reported in it 6
13 June 1723 (O.S.) edition how: Captain Willing, Captain Burlington, and Capt Eastweek, and a schooner all belonging to New England, and a sloop Captain Ellicott [bound] for Hampton in Virginia; in sailing round the west end of Cuba, off of Cape St. Antonio, the aforesaid vessels were taken by pyrates and only Fraser escaped by running close under the land and coming to an anchor within the breakers, then weighing and standing to the southward, past them in the night and so got clear of them; but entering the Gulf, the pyrates waiting there for them, took them and plundered them; they cut and whipped some, and others they burnt with matches between their fingers to the bone, to make them confess where their money was, they took to the value of a thousand pistoles from passengers and others, they then let them go, but coming on the coast off of the Capes of Virginia, they were again chased by

the same pyrates who first took them, they did not trouble them again but wished them well home, they saw at the same time his consort, a sloop of eight guns, with a ship and a sloop which were supposed to be prizes, they were commanded by one Edward Low. The pyrates gave us an account of his taking the Bay of Honduras from the Spaniards, which had surprised the English and taking them, and putting all the Spaniards to the sword excepting two boys, as also burning the King George and a snow belonging to New York, and sunk one of the New England ships, and cut off one the master’s ears and slit his nose, all this they confessed themselves; they are now supposed to be cruising off of Sandy Hook or thereabouts. Low narrowly escaped an encounter with HMS Greyhound a month later, and his eventual fate is unknown. He was last seen steering toward the Canaries and Guinea, and is believed to have ended his days in Brazil.

See also Careen; Moidore; Sunday Keeping; Wild Coast.

References Ashton, Philip, Jr., Ashton’s Memorial: An History of the Strange Adventures and Signal Deliverances of Mr. Philip Ashton (Salem, MA: Peabody Museum, 1976). Dow, George F. and Edmonds, John H., The Pirates of the New England Coast, 1630
1730 (Salem, MA: Marine Research Society, 1923).

Lussan, Ravenau De (fl. 1684
1688) Leslie, Edward E., Desperate Journeys, Abandoned Souls (New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1998). The Lives and Adventures of Sundry Notorious Pirates (New York: Robert M. McBride and Company, 1922).

LUQUE, MATEO (fl. 1722) Italian-born corsair and Puerto Rican guardacosta, executed for piracy on Jamaica. Virtually nothing is known about this rover, beyond the details of his untimely end. A year after peace had been restored between Britain and Spain, the 42-gun HMS Launceston of Captain Bartholomew Chandler had been dispatched from Port Royal to patrol off the southwestern tip of Saint-Domingue (modern Haiti), where many English merchantmen were being intercepted. Governor Sir Nichols Lawes later informed the Council of Trade and Plantations in London, via a letter written on May 18, 1722 (O.S.), how this Royal Navy warship had: . . . luckily met with a notorious Spanish pirate commanded by an Italian, one Mathew Luke [sic], the crew consisted of fifty-eight, chiefly mulattoes and Spaniards of Porto Rico. Last week, I had them all brought to a trial. The commander pretended he had a commission from the Alcalde of Porto Rico to be a guard de la coast, but it having been plainly proved that he had taken two English vessels who were going on their lawful occasions, and no ways near to or within the sight of any part of Hispaniola, the Judges found them all guilty of piracy, except seven. Two we were obliged to

make evidences of, and it appearing on the trial that eight more were young raw lads and had never been at sea before, the judges recommended them as objects of His Majesty’s mercy; so that out of the fiftyeight, there were forty-one hanged. According to a petition later filed by Candler and his crew to claim their prizeshares for this capture, Luque’s ship was called the Venganza. The Governor concluded his report by adding he had also heard that the corsair Captain ‘‘when he was to die, confessed the taking two other vessels, besides those he was accused of.’’

See also Guardacostas.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 33 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1934). Calendar of Treasury Papers, Volume 6: 1720
1728, Volume 253 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1889).

LUSSAN, RAVENAU DE (fl. 1684
1688) Flibustier chronicler, famous for his eyewitness accounts of raids into the South Sea. Born on the outskirts of Paris at an unknown date, Lussan set sail from Dieppe on March 5, 1679, as an engag
e or indentured servant destined for three years’ servitude on the West Indian island of Saint-Domingue. He came to

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Lussan, Ravenau De (fl. 1684
1688) hate his master so much, that he later refused to even mention his name in his memoirs. Once his indenture was complete, Lussan joined the household of Deputy-Governor Monsieur de Frasquenay, where he remained another six months. Then, wishing to earn money to meet his obligations, he ‘‘conceived the idea of joining the buccaneers, sailing away with them [and] seizing what money I could from the Spanish.’’ He consequently enlisted in the 120-man crew of the legendary Dutch-born flibustier Laurens de Graaf, departing PetitGo^ave on November 22, 1684, aboard a 14-gun Spanish prize. De Graaf sailed to the Spanish Main and by January 1685 reunited with his colleagues Michiel Andrieszoon, Jean Rose, and other consorts, then agreed to split up at a conference held off Cape de la Vela (Venezuela) on February 8th, thus allowing Lussan and 87 others to sail away by February 23rd with his 14gun prize. Three days later, they called at Golden Island off the northeastern coast of Panama, and learned that a large force of flibustiers had already traversed the Isthmus under Captains Franc¸ois Grogniet and Lescuyer, to join an even bigger contingent of English buccaneers who were known to be operating in the South Sea. Lussan and his companions, after reuniting with Rose, Pierre Le Picard, and Capitaine Desmarais, decided to follow the first groups across the Isthmus, and on March 1, 1685, ‘‘after commending our journey to God,’’ 264 mainly French flibustiers set off on foot.

Pacific Campaign (1685
1688) Emerging on the far side of the Isthmus of Panama by April 11, 1685, they were met by a boat which Grogniet

had sent back for them. This craft conducted the new arrivals to a pirate assemblage off Isla del Rey, where they became incorporated into the fleet of the English Captains Edward Davis, Charles Swan, William Knight, and Francis Townley, who offered the flibustiers the 90-ton Santa Rosa that they had recently captured from the Spaniards. All the French were to serve under Grogniet, and the six vessels and almost 1,000 men of this freebooter fleet settled down to blockade the City of Panama, in hopes of intercepting the annual Peruvian treasure-fleet. But these Spanish vessels slipped past, delivered their cargo, and sallied to engage the buccaneers on June 7, 1685, catching the rovers unawares off Pacheca Island. An indecisive engagement ensued, with the buccaneers eventually being driven off. They then fell out among themselves along national lines, each group blaming the other for this defeat. A joint attack was made next on the coastal town of Remedios (Pueblo Nuevo), after which both contingents headed northwestward as separate groups. Lussan and the other flibustiers refused to join the English raid on Le
on (Nicaragua) of early August 1685, preferring to take 120 men in five boats for a repeat attempt against Remedios. This was repulsed and Realejo attempted on November 1st, but the French found it already devastated from an earlier English assault, so obtained little booty. Reversing course, on January 9, 1686, they captured the tiny coastal town of Chiriquita (Panama), which they abandoned a week later. At the end of this same month, a Spanish squadron passed them by out at sea, and when the flibustiers approached Remedios again on the night of March 5
6, 1686, to forage for food, they were

Lussan, Ravenau De (fl. 1684
1688) ambushed by a small frigate, a barco luengo, and a piragua, suffering more than 30 casualties. They then roamed westward once more, anchoring off Esparta on March 19th, sighting Townley’s small flotilla four days later. Despite some residual ill-will, the two groups combined for a joint attempt against the inland city of Granada (Nicaragua), landing a force of 345 men on April 7, 1686, and fighting their way into that city three days later. Again little plunder was found, as the Spaniards had transferred their valuables offshore to Zapatera Island, so that the pirates withdrew empty-handed five days later. They endured numerous ambushes before passing Masaya and regaining their ships, after which they traveled to Realejo. Having enjoyed such limited success thus far, the French voted on June 9, 1686, to divide their forces. Lussan’s group eventually rediscovered Townley’s contingent, now commanded by George Dew, in the Gulf of Nicoya on January 23, 1687, and after ravaging that area for a month, weighed together for a surprise attack on the Equatorial port of Guayaquil. On April 16, 1687, the rovers arrived opposite Pun
a Island, and two hours before dawn on Sunday, April 20th, landed to march inland against Guayaquil. The Spaniards had earlier been advised of strange sails off the coast, but when no attack developed, assumed this to be a false alarm. Between three and four o’clock on that rainy Sunday morning, though, the buccaneers burst on them and a vicious house-to-house struggle ensued. Between 34 to 60 Spaniards were killed in eight hours of fighting, and many others captured, as opposed to only nine pirate dead and a dozen wounded. Among the latter was Grogniet, who died a few

days later and was succeeded by Picard. Several days later Davis joined, bringing word of a squadron of Peruvian privateers on their way to attack the raiders. Another inconclusive series of engagements was fought against these vessels off Pun
a between May 27th and June 2nd, after which the bands separated. Lussan sailed with Picard’s five vessels as far north as Tehuantepec (Mexico), which was captured on August 30, 1687, then looked into Acapulco bay before reversing course into the Gulf of Fonseca. There, the flibustiers boldly scuttled their vessels on January 2, 1688, and marched inland into Nueva Segovia province. In the interior highlands they constructed rafts and sped down the Coco River, emerging at Cape Gracias a Dios on March 9th. A Jamaican ship was persuaded to carry them to Saint-Domingue, which they reached by April 8th.

Later Career (1688
1705?) Picard and the flibustier commanders were somewhat leery of the official reaction to their campaign, peace having long since been reestablished between France and Spain, which they feigned not knowing because of their lengthy absence. Governor Pierre-Paul Tarin de Cussy was not present at the capital of Petit Go^ave, being then on an inspection tour of that island’s northern districts, so there were no immediate recriminations for the returnees, although it became obvious the Crown’s policy had changed drastically with regard to roving. Many of the freebooters therefore elected to continue even farther afield, although Lussan was fortunate in that being a

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Lussan, Ravenau De (fl. 1684
1688) subordinate—as well as author of a meticulous journal of these events—he was able to approach the Governor without hesitation. Pleased with his account, De Cussy issued Lussan a certificate on May 17, 1688, at Port-de-Paix, praising his ‘‘zeal and courage,’’ and recommending him both to the authorities and to Lussan’s father in Paris. The young adventurer must have returned there very shortly thereafter, for his Journal du voyage fait a la Mer du Sud avec les flibustiers de l’Am
erique (‘‘Journal of the Voyage made to the South Sea with the Filibusters of America’’) was

published in 1689, and reissued next year, and again in 1705.

References Bradley, Peter T., The Lure of Peru: Maritime Intrusion into the South Sea, 1598
1701 (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1990). Lugo, Am
erico, Recopilaci
on diplom
atica relativa a las colonias espa~ nola y francesa de la isla de Santo Domingo, 1640
1701 (Ciudad Trujillo, Dominican Republic: Editorial ‘‘La Naci
on,’’ 1944). Lussan, Ravenau de, Journal of a Voyage into the South Sea (Cleveland, OH: Arthur H. Clark, 1930).

M Where is the trader of London town? His gold’s on the capstan, His blood’s on his gown, And it’s up and away for Saint Mary’s Bay, Where the liquor is good, and the lasses are gay. —Early Eighteenth-Century ballad, referring to the pirate lair off Madagascar

MACHADO, JUAN

often shrouded in mists, because of the humid trade winds constantly wafting in from the Indian Ocean. Innumerable coves and inlets dot its northwestern and southwestern sides, with beaches ideal for careening ships, plus ample access to fresh water and many food sources, including citrus plants. On November 28, 1697 (O.S.), Captain Thomas Warren of HMS Windsor wrote the following description of this island to the East India Company:

See P
erez Machado, Juan

MADAGASCAR A huge island which lies about 250 miles off the southeast coast of Africa, and which temporarily served as a notorious pirate lair during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. It is about 1,000 miles long from north to south, and nearly 360 miles wide at its center, making it the fourth largest island in the world. Its straight eastern coastline gives way to a narrow band of plains, quickly rising into a mountainous spine whose forests are

The master of ship from Madagascar, whom I met, gave me the following account: There is a small island called Santa Maria at the northeast part of Madagascar, where the pirates have a very commodious

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Mal De Siam

Map of Madagascar in 1705, shortly after its greatest heyday as a pirate lair. (Jupiterimages)

harbor to which they resort and clean their ships. Here they have built a regular fortification of forty or fifty guns. They have about 1,500 men, with seventeen sail of vessels, sloops and ships, some of which carry forty guns. They are furnished from New York, New England, and the West Indies with stores and other necessaries. I was informed that if they could obtain pardons, they would leave that villainous way of living.

MAL DE SIAM A French expression which translated literally ‘‘Siamese disease,’’ a 17thcentury nickname for yellow fever. According to the chronicler priest Jean-Baptiste Labat, this disease was so called because it was believed that the crew of the royal vessel Oriflamme had contracted it at Brazil on their return leg from Bangkok, and so introduced it to the French West Indian island of Martinique.

Reference Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 16 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1905).

Labat, Jean-Baptiste, Memoirs, 1693
1705 (London: Routledge, 1970, John Eaden, trans.).

Mar Del Sur, Armada Del

MAR DEL SUR, ARMADA DEL Peruvian squadron based at Callao, whose principal duty was to escort silver consignments from Potosı´ to the Royal Mint at Lima, then on to Panama City for export to Spain. Starting during the 1680s, this force also had to contend with waves of foreign pirates penetrating into the Pacific, for which their large and heavy ships would prove ill-suited. The Armada del Mar del Sur—its name literally meant ‘‘South Sea Fleet’’—fell under the jurisdiction of Peru’s Viceroys in their military capacity as Captains-General, and so was administered through adjutants known as tenientes de capit
an general. Over several decades of peace, this position had become a well-paid sinecure, usually occupied by wellconnected relations. Actual command was exercised by the Captains of the Armada’s capitana or ‘‘flagship’’ and almiranta or ‘‘vice-flagship,’’ who were military officers drawn from the Callao garrison rather than naval officers, and addressed as ‘‘General’’ or ‘‘Almirante’’ respectively. The five companies garrisoning Callao provided sea-going infantry for the Armada, so that at any given time, 200 to 300 of these soldiers could be found aboard the warships, on cruises of several months’ duration. Early every year, the Armada would sail southward from Callao to Chincha, to load the mercury being extracted from the azogue mines at Huancavelica. It would then convey that year’s production of this ingredient still farther south, unloading it at Arica in present-day Chile, to be conveyed high up into the Andes by mule-trains for use in refining

ores at the Potosı´ mines. The anchored Armada would meanwhile receive the past year’s raw silver output, crude bars which would be sailed back to Callao and carried inland to the Lima mint, for assaying and the striking of coins. Then in May or June, the Armada would depart again, this time northward for Panama with the King’s bullion and an accompanying convoy of Peruvian merchantmen, travelling to meet the annual plate fleet from Spain and conduct business. This voyage from Callao to Panama usually only took three weeks, but the Armada had to remain at anchor until the commercial fair concluded, after which it faced a slow upwind beat back toward Callao, normally arriving late in the year. Sometimes, passengers even disembarked at Paita and traveled the last few hundred miles overland, rather than tarry aboard the slow-moving ships. Because of the particular nature of their missions, Armada vessels had soon become quite large and cumbersome, more like Indiamen than fighting men-ofwar. Their tactics were completely defensive as well, relying on the remoteness of their routes and the vastness of the ocean for safety. Artillery was often reduced during peacetime, so as to accommodate greater cargos, while senior commanders were under orders that if approached by enemy vessels while bearing the King’s treasure, they were to defer combat until the silver could be set ashore.

Emergence of the Peruvian Privateers (1687
1688) Such constraints meant that the Armada del Mar del Sur was ill-suited to offensive operations, such as the pursuit of the elusive pirates who began slipping into

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Mar Del Sur, Armada Del First Wave Pacific

N

First Wave Pacific, 1680
1681. In April 1680, Coxon, Edmond Cooke, Peter Harris the Elder, Sawkins, and Sharpe had pushed inland from Golden Island (1), to raid in the Pacific. After destroying Santa Marı´a el Real (2), they reached the Gulf of San Miguel, and defeated a Spanish force off Panama (3). Coxon then withdrew, leaving Sawkins in command, who ventured to Remedios (4) before being killed. The remainder touched at Coiba Island (5), before dividing—some to retrace their steps back across the Isthmus, while Sharpe steered southeast for Gorgona Island.

the Pacific Ocean in alarming numbers as of the mid-1680s. Therefore, while the regular warships were absent on a commercial mission early in 1687, a consortium of rich Peruvian merchants had agreed to finance a private armadilla, which they called the Compa~ nı´a de corso ‘‘Nuestra Se~ nora de Guı´a (literally the ‘‘Privateering Company Our Lady as Guide’’). The Viceroy contributed guns and ammunition, and allowed these corsairs to retain full shares in any prize which they took. Shortly thereafter, the merchants had three purchased vessels ready to sail: the 20-gun San Jos
e and San Nicol
as, commanded by the Biscayans Dionisio L
opez de Artunduaga and Nicol
as de Igarza respectively, plus

a small patache. In mid-May 1687, they sortied hurriedly, on receipt of a report that the pirates Franc¸ois Grogniet, George Dew, and Le Picard had captured Guayaquil, and were holding its citizens for ransom offshore. On May 27th, they came within sight of this enemy formation, consisting of almost 20 medium and small craft under Davis, Picard, and George Dew. A long-range gun duel ensued over the next five days, with the Peruvian privateers eventually scattering the raiders and recuperating some prizes. During this action, San Nicol
as ran hard aground on a sandbank off Atacames, and limped back into Callao taking on water. It was quickly substituted by San Francisco de Paula and another

Mar Del Sur, Armada Del patache, who joined L
opez de Artunduaga and resumed the pursuit of the retreating buccaneers. Davis departed southward around the Horn, and the Peruvians were able to hound the remaining rovers as far north as New Spain, bringing them to a confrontation in late December 1687, where the pirates were worsted. Another contingent of six buccaneer ships and many piraguas was defeated in Amapala Bay during the summer of 1688, obliging the raiders to retreat overland. For the first time in almost a decade, the Pacific coast was free of any large concentration of pirate vessels, and the Armada resumed its former peacetime duties. The convoy which recently promoted general Antonio de Vea escorted to Panama with the vice-flagship Guadalupe early in 1691 was one of Peru’s biggest, beginning its return passage on July 7th. Guadalupe and one other man o’ war protected twelve merchantmen all the way to Callao, arriving by December 1st, and followed by another warship and five more merchantmen which had lagged behind. But by now the vice-flagship was more than 30 years old, and in need of being replaced. The 40-gun private ship Jes
us, Marı´a y Jos
e was purchased in 1692 as a stopgap measure, but new warships actually had to be built. The Viceroy therefore approached the merchant backers of the ‘‘Nuestra Se~ nora de Guı´a’’ Privateering Company, who agreed to dissolve their enterprise and instead channel funds into the construction of a new Armada.

Rebuilt Fleet (1693
1694) By early 1693, two warships capable of mounting roughly 40 guns apiece were taking shape in the Guayaquil

yards, under the supervision of Juan Bautista de Mendive and master shipwright Andr
es del Valle. That summer, De Vea traveled there to assume command of the new 845-ton flagship Santı´simo Sacramento (Most Holy Sacrament). Unfortunately, he died on the last leg of the journey before Guayaquil, being replaced by Jos
e de Alzamora, who sailed this 40-gun vessel back into Callao by September 25, 1693. The following summer, the new 36-gun, 781-ton vice-flagship Nuestra Se~ nora de la Concepci
on arrived on June 8, 1694, accompanied by a small new frigate, the San Miguel, which was to serve as patache along with the 256-ton, 18-gun Santa Cruz (Holy Cross). The older auxiliary Santo Toribio was scrapped, and this was to remain the basic constitution of the Armada for the remainder of the 17th century. Peru’s authorities therefore had to rely on hired merchantmen and privateers to maintain patrols out of Callao until the early 1690s, when this buccaneer menace finally abated.

French Alliance (1701
1721) The War of the Spanish Succession witnessed only minor enemy incursions into the Pacific: In 1704 the former buccaneers William Dampier and Thomas Stradling rounded Cape Horn with their vessels Saint George and Cinque Ports, achieving little before being chased away by a 20-gun Callao warship, seconded by a hired Spanish, and three French merchantmen; then in 1709 Woodes Rogers prowled past with his frigate Duke and Stephen Courtney’s Duchess, seizing Guayaquil in early May before continuing north. However, for Callao the most significant change inaugurated by this Bourbon ascension

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Maroon to the throne in distant Madrid was to be an attempted reform of its naval establishment, as royal officers came out from Spain for the first time to assume direct command over its operations. First to appear was the French military engineer Jean-Baptiste de Rosmain, who arrived from Panama in mid-1707 and helped rebuild some of Callao’s crumbling walls before dying on February 27, 1711. Then the French mercenary Commodore Jean-Nicolas Martinet entered on September 27, 1717, having been contracted by the Spanish Crown to rid South America’s coastline of foreign smugglers. He brought the purchased French warships Prı´ncipe de Asturias (ex-Conqu
erant) of 700 tons, 64 guns, and 500 men; Triunfante (ex-Grand Saint Esprit) of 600 tons, 50 guns, and 400 men; plus the storeship Princesse de Valois. They had been accompanied out of Cadiz by the 60-gun Spanish warship Nuestra Se~ nora del Carmen (ex-English Pembroke) of Captain Bartolom
e de Urdinzu, plus the 48-gun, 600-ton Peregrino (ex-French P elerin) of Blas de Lezo; however, the latter pair had been incapable of rounding the Horn, so had turned back to Buenos Aires. Martinet had already seized a French smuggler off Cobija, plus another five French vessels off Arica, before gaining Callao. Peregrino did not catch up until March 1718, but Carmen had for a second time been compelled to circle back into the Atlantic, seizing two small Saint Malo frigates off the River Plate before finally being abandoned there as useless. Urdinzu therefore did not enter Callao with his two prizes until January 1720, further bringing in the newly appointed Naval Intendant-General Gabriel Lacunza, who was to begin reorganizing its shore establishments in

the face of aroused opposition from jealous local authorities. Martinet’s ships returned to Europe shortly thereafter (relations between the French mercenaries and Peru’s officials having soured), while Lezo soon succeeded the unhappy Urdinzu in command of the remaining Armada forces. These proved so weak that Callao was briefly blockaded in May 1721 by five French merchantmen, who hoped to continue their illicit trade along that coastline. Next year, the engineer Captain Nicol
as Rodrı´guez reached Callao, and on August 22, 1724, began a much needed overhaul of its perimeter, which lasted almost nine years.

See also Almiranta; Armadilla; Capitana; Dew, George; Grogniet, Franc¸ois; Le Picard, Capitaine; Mar del Sur, Armada del (Volume 1); Patache; South Sea.

References Bradley, Peter T., The Lure of Peru: Maritime Intrusion into the South Sea, 1598
1701 (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1989). Lussan, Ravenau de, Journal of a Voyage into the South Sea (Cleveland, OH: Arthur H. Clark, 1930). P
erez Mallaı´na Bueno, Pablo Emilio, and Torres Ramı´rez, Bibiano, Armada del Mar del Sur (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1987).

MAROON Term originally derived from the Spanish adjective cimarr
on, which denotes anything wild, rogue, or untamed, but in English came to mean deliberately abandoning someone on a desolate island or beach as a punishment.

Maroon The original expression had many applications—ganado cimarr
on, for example, meant wild cattle; indio cimarr
on, a renegade Indian; negro cimarr
on, a runaway slave—and was often spelled in late 17th- or early 18th-century Spanish as cimaroon or cimarroon, before accents had become standardized in that language. Runaway slaves, in particular, were referred to collectively as cimarrones by Spaniards during the colonial era, from where this noun presumably passed into English. The reason for this confused application was that during the 17th century, many Africans who eluded their Spanish masters sought refuge in coastal areas, normally shunned as unhealthy by Castillian Spaniards, and reminiscent of West Africa to these fugitives. Buccaneers and other seamen who chanced on these isolated havens, hidden in remote tropical inlets all the way from the Spanish Main deep into the Gulf of Mexico, assumed that their

inhabitants had been driven there—‘‘marooned’’—for their rebelliousness. By the early 18th century, pirates had begun giving their own sinister twist to this term. For example, Henry Watson, an English merchant traveling toward Bombay aboard the ship Ruparrel, was captured and held for several weeks aboard John Hore’s John and Rebecca in the Indian Ocean during the summer of 1696. When several fellowprisoners managed to slip away one night aboard a small boat, the infuriated pirates turned on Watson next morning: . . . and threatened to make me fast and beat me, and afterwards turn me on shore naked on a bare rock, or maroon-key as they called it, without food, wood, or water. I told them that they knew my daily solicitation to them to be put on shore, that I knew nothing of these men’s going, or I should certainly have escaped

A marooned pirate, as envisioned by the great illustrator Howard Pyle. (Johnson, Merle (compiled by). Howard Pyle’s Book of Pirates: Fiction, Fact & Fancy concerning the Buccaneers & Marooners of the Spanish Main, 1921)

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Maroon Islands with them. This abated their rigor and villainous design against me. In another instance of this term’s usage, when Woodes Rogers stepped ashore at lawless Nassau on the morning of July 27, 1718 (O.S.), to assume office as new Royal Governor of the Bahamas, he was greeted by a double-line of freebooters extending ‘‘from the waterside to the fort,’’ who fired a welcoming salute over his head as he passed between them. The Royal Navy Captain Pomeroy of the sloop Shark, who witnessed this colorful reception, later noted: ‘‘Governor Rogers made his entry, and was greeted with a great deal of seeming joy from those who style themselves marooners.’’

See also Spanish Main.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 16 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1905). Konstam, Angus, Blackbeard: America’s Most Notorious Pirate (New York: Wiley, 2007).

MAROON ISLANDS Nickname during the late 17th and early 18th centuries for the largely-deserted Bahamian archipelago, where many hapless seamen came to be abandoned. For example, the ex-privateer Read Elding, writing from Nassau to London in his capacity as Acting-Governor on October 4, 1699 (O.S.), reported that: The West Indies are full of pirates. I have been so severe to those sort of

people, that about a fortnight now past I had a notorious pirate tried here, condemned, and hanged. I am informed that there are several pirates at St. Thomas and Danish port to windward, and so scattered amongst some of the Maroon Islands, which they expected that some encouragement might be given them, as formerly used to be among these territories.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 17 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1908).

MARTEL, JAMES (fl. 1716
1717) West Indian freebooter, who operated briefly during the uneasy interlude of peace following Queen Anne’s War. Charles Johnson, author of A General and True History of piracy, confessed that ‘‘we have not been able to find the Original of this Rover, of whom we are now to speak.’’ Martel was believed to have operated out of Jamaica as a privateer, until these hostilities ceased in April 1713. The first official notice of his activities did not occur until late September 1716, when his 8-gun, 80-man sloop intercepted the galley Berkeley. This 200-ton slaver had departed Bristol on January 10, 1716 (O.S.), to make a stopover at West Africa, and deliver 200 slaves into Port Royal by that same August. Its Captain Edmund Saunders had then loaded with a cargo of Jamaican sugar and rum, as well as six months’ provisions, before departing on his

Martel, James (fl. 1716
1717) homeward leg by mid-September. A few days out into the Caribbean, though, Berkeley was intercepted by Martel, who robbed it of £1,000 in cash, some valuables, and all its provisions. This pirate inflicted a like treatment on a sloop shortly thereafter called the King Solomon, as well as two other vessels, while standing toward the Cuban coastline. Then near the mouth of Guant
anamo Bay, he and his marauders sighted a passing 20-gun galley named the John and Martha, ‘‘which they attacked under the pyratical black Flag, and made themselves masters of her.’’ Martel decided to transform this fine vessel into his new flagship, so set Captain Wilson ashore with a few loyal hands, and told him: . . . to advise his owners, that their ship would answer his purpose exactly, by taking one deck down [i.e., lowering its profile by removing a deck]; and as for the cargo, which consisted chiefly of logwood and sugar, he would take care it should be carried to a good market. Martel increased the armament of this prize to 22 guns and manned it with 100 men, while another 25 remained on his original sloop to operate it as his consort. Both pirate vessels steered for the Leeward Islands, pillaging a sloop and a brigantine on their arrival, before chasing down and retaining the 20-gun ship Dolphin, which had been bound toward Newfoundland. In mid-December 1716 (O.S.), Martel stole all the provisions from the galley Kent, outward-bound from Jamaica under Captain Thomas Lawton, then did the same to a small ship and sloop coming downwind from Barbados, as well as removing several

crewmen to swell his ranks. The galley Greyhound out of London, sailing from Guinea toward Jamaica under the slaver Captain Evans, was relieved of gold dust, elephants’ tusks, and its 40 healthiest captives, before Martel decided that he needed to careen and clean his ships—so as to fit himself out ‘‘for further mischief,’’ according to Johnson. Martel therefore piloted his flotilla (two 20-gun ships, two sloops of 8 and 4 guns, plus another sloop which he seized en route) to the sparsely populated island of Saint Croix in the Virgin Islands, arriving there by early January 1717 (O.S.). He carefully picked a small, shallow harbor along its northwestern shoreline, divided by a small islet and with rocks offshore, as a defensible bolt-hole. A 4-gun battery was erected on the islet, a 2-gun battery was installed at the north point of this bay, and the 8-gun sloop was warped into the channel-mouth to serve as a guardship. Finally, Martel lightened his flagship and entered, preparing to careen it. But two months previously, Governor Walter Hamilton of the English Leeward Islands had summoned the 30-gun, 140-man Royal Navy frigate Scarborough from Barbados, to ‘‘disperse those vermin’’ such as Martel and Samuel Bellamy, who were committing so many depredations throughout the archipelago. Despite having lost 20 hands due to illness, and with another 40 men lying sick, its Captain Francis Hume sailed in response, being reinforced with 20 soldiers during a stopover at Antigua on January 4, 1717 (O.S.), plus another 10 from Nevis, and 10 more from St. Kitts. On reaching Spanish Town at the southern end of Virgin Gorda, Hume had still sighted no pirates and so was about to

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Matross reverse course, when a boat arrived on the evening of January 16, 1717 (O.S.), with news that Martel’s flotilla had put into northwestern Saint Croix. Scarborough immediately weighed and materialized outside Martel’s anchorage by next morning. Hume bravely worked his frigate in as close as possible to its offshore rocks and reefs, then anchored to begin his bombardment. The pirate batteries replied with red-hot shot, but after several hours of intense firing, Martel’s 8-gun guard ship sank in the channel around 4:00 P.M. on that same January 17, 1717 (O.S.). Hume then shifted his aim across the islet against Martel’s flagship until nightfall, when the Royal Navy frigate weighed and stood out to sea, rather than risk running aground as the winds and tides shifted in the darkness. The warship nonetheless hovered offshore over the next couple of days, before retreating over the horizon by the evening of January 20, 1717 (O.S.). Martel chose this opportunity to try to slip out to sea, but his flagship ran aground at midnight, after which Scarborough loomed back out of the darkness. Desperate, Martel set his grounded galley ablaze—which was consumed ‘‘with 20 Negroes in her, who were all burnt’’—before fleeing into the woods of Saint Croix with a few loyal hands. Only 19 pirates managed to escape out through the shoals aboard a small sloop, after which Hume freed the prisoners aboard the remaining prize ship and sloop, then continued his patrol. Martel was never heard from again.

References

See also

See also

Bellamy, Samuel; Logwood.

Matross (Volume 1).

Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies., Volume 29 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1957). Johnson, Capt. Charles, The History of the Lives and Actions of the Most Famous Highwaymen, Street-Robbers, Etc., Etc., to Which Is Added a Genuine Account of the Voyages and Plunders of the Most Noted Pirates (London: Longman, 1813).

MATROSS Seventeenth century English expression for a gunner’s mate, doubtless derived from the Dutch word matroos, signifying a ‘‘sailor.’’ For example, late in King William’s War, Governor Francis Russell of Barbados reported to the Lords of Trade and Plantations in London on August 25, 1695 (O.S.), how he had 12 gunners and 24 matrosses to man the 267 guns of his island defenses; he furthermore indicated that the 42 guns within the principal Needham’s Fort or Charles Fort, covering the main anchorage at Carlisle Bay, had one gunner and 12 matrosses, ‘‘which are all that can be depended on to secure it against surprises.’’ Two years later, on October 14, 1697 (O.S.), the Council of Barbados also passed an order ‘‘for Robert Chapman, son of the late master gunner, to be admitted [as] a matross.’’

Mayes, William (fl. 1694
1699)

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 14, 15 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1903
1904).

MAYES, WILLIAM (fl. 1694
1699) Rhode Island seafarer who emulated his countryman Thomas Tew, by making a piratical foray into the Red Sea. Mayes was the son of a local tavernkeeper of that same name, who seems to have been operating a public house in Rhode Island ever since the early 1670s. Historical records show that William Mayes, Sr., received at least one such publican license in 1687, and he would seem to have been quite well-connected in local politics, because his wife Sarah was the daughter of Samuel Gorton, a former President of that private colony. When Tew returned to Newport in the spring of 1694 with immense booty acquired from the capture of one of the Great Mogul’s treasure ships, Mayes and many other Rhode Islanders were dazzled by this display of wealth. Consequently, he obtained clearance from the customs house at Newport that same September 7, 1694 (O.S.), to sail his 60-ton brigantine Pearl, of six guns and 50 men, ‘‘on a trading voyage to Madagascar.’’ But as the Lords of Trade and Plantations in England would later note, there was virtually no commerce to be had on that wild island, so the best reason one could have for sailing there would be ‘‘to buy goods captured by pirates.’’ At worst, Mayes intended to try his hand at piracy himself. This was seemingly confirmed when on December 3, 1694 (O.S.), he further-

more obtained ‘‘a defensive commission against His Majesty’s enemies,’’ plus an outright war commission one week later—both from the disreputable Deputy Governor of Rhode Island, John Greene, Jr., an individual described by a contemporary source as ‘‘a brutish man of very corrupt or no principles in religion.’’ London would later object that Greene was not empowered to issue such patents, nor did he extract the requisite bond against Mayes’ future good behavior. Greene eventually countered that he was unaware of any such laws, to which the Lords responded in exasperation that ‘‘such an ignorant person’’ should never have been put into office. By this time, of course, Mayes’ Pearl had long since weighed from Newport on December 17, 1694 (O.S.), for the Cape of Good Hope. Next year, rumors began to drift back that he had helped the notorious Captain Henry Every rob another of the Great Mogul’s treasure ships, the Ganj-i-Sawai. When Captain William Kidd was issued a pirate-hunting commission in London on January 26, 1696 (O.S.), he was specifically instructed to hunt for such renegade rovers as Thomas Tew and William Mayes, who had apparently far exceeded their privateering licenses against the French by these actions. On February 9, 1697 (O.S.), the Lords of Trade and Plantations in London furthermore wrote an angry inquiry to Governor Samuel Cranston and the Council of Rhode Island, demanding an explanation for their sanctioning of such a piratical cruise. They did not reply until more than a year later, on May 8, 1698 (O.S.), and then blandly asserted: Several informations have been forwarded to you, that Rhode Island is a

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Mayes, William (fl. 1694
1699) place where pirates are entertained. Thus it is said that William Mayes, a pirate fitted out at Rhode Island, and that Thomas Jones was concerned in the old bark with Captain Want. These things have been misrepresented to you. We have never countenanced such proceedings, and we are sure that William Mayes had his clearance here for Madagascar and a commission from this government to fight the French. By the best information that we have, Captain Every plundered him, and we very much suspect has destroyed him and his company, for none of them are returned and there is no news of any of them.

The Lords of Trade acknowledged receipt of this belated letter that same October 25, 1698 (O.S.), and opened with a rebuke: We cannot but take note of your delay in replying, since we know by the receipt of one of your officers, that our letter remained in your hands for some months unanswered. You send us copies of acts and proclamations in defence of your conduct in relation to pirates, and seem to say that Rhode Island has never countenanced them, adding that William Mayes was cleared from your Custom-house for Madagascar, with a lawful privateer’s commission. All this is very well, but for your further justification against aspersions that have been, and still are cast upon you, we desire to have copies of all private commissions granted by your Governors or Deputy Governors during the late war, as also of the bonds given by the said privateers on receiving the said commissions.

Governor Cranston answered in late May 1699, explaining that he and his fellow Rhode Islanders ‘‘are a plain and mean sort of people, but very loyal,’’ who had innocently erred through ignorance, and would in future ‘‘endeavor to be more diligent.’’ A mere six weeks later, Mayes apparently returned from his epic four-anda-half year voyage into the Indian Ocean, as Richard Coote, Earl of Bellomont, the Royal Governor for New England, would report from Boston that same July 8, 1699 (O.S.), about numerous pirate ships returning into New York and Rhode Island, and specifically mentioned that: ‘‘A great ship has been seen off this coast any time this week; ‘tis supposed to be one Maise [sic], a pirate, who has brought a vast deal of wealth from the Red Seas.’’ Bellomont added on August 24th (O.S.), that after having arrested the fugitive Kidd: . . . for want of a man-of-war, I could not attempt anything against a great ship that hovered off this coast five or six days together, about the time I secured Captain Kidd, supposed to be one Maze [sic], a pirate, who is said to have brought £300,000 from the Red Sea, and who, ‘tis believed here, would have come into this place [i.e., Boston], could he have hoped to make his terms; but hearing how it fared with Kidd, he bore away, and ‘tis said he is gone to Providence. The Governor furthermore wrote from New York on October 15, 1699 (O.S.), to the Lords of the Admiralty in London, how he had been informed: . . . that Mays, a pirate, and another came with two ships to the east end of

Michele, Biagio (fl. 1687) Nassau Island the latter end of last winter, and had to the value of half a million between ‘em; that they sent privately to this town to know whether they might come in with safety and be pardon’d, but that some men of the Law frightened them away, by telling them there would be no quarter for ‘em, if they fell into my clutches. Mayes had apparently chosen wisely, by putting into the private colony of Rhode Island, beyond the immediate reach of the Crown authorities. Despite Bellomont’s directives to its local officials, he was never arrested, and in 1702, like his father before him, was granted a license to sell ‘‘all sorts of strong drink’’ at the family inn, the White Horse Tavern. This institution still operates today, at the corner of Marlborough and Farewell Streets in modern Newport.

See also Kidd, William; Tew, Thomas.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 16
18 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1905
1910). Chapin, Howard M., Privateer Ships and Sailors: The First Century of American Colonial Privateering, 1625
1725 (Toulon: G. Mouton, 1926). Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924).

MICHELE, BIAGIO (fl. 1687) Corsican-born mercenary, who patrolled the Greater Antilles under Spanish

colors, until he was brutally executed for leading a peacetime raid against the French flibustier haven of Petit-Go^ave. Biagio Michele was apparently the younger brother of Giovanni Michele, who had been commonly referred to by the Spaniards throughout his privateering career as ‘‘Juan Corso,’’ until he was lost somewhere along the Gulf Coast of the modern United States during a storm in May 1685. His younger sibling was to be likewise known by the Hispanicized name of ‘‘Blas Miguel Corso.’’ Both had been born on Corsica at a time when that island was governed by the Republic of Genoa, itself a satellite of Spain, so that they had been able to win authorization from Madrid to operate in the New World.

Cuban Patrols (February
June 1687) No longer subordinated to his deceased brother, Biagio Michele reached Havana from Mexico early in 1687 with his piragua, apparently nicknamed the Cachimbo or ‘‘Tobacco Pipe,’’ most likely because of its long, low, brown appearance. Although peace reigned in Europe that year between all the major powers, he secured a local privateering commission on February 26, 1687, from Havana’s Acting-Governor, garrison commander Andr
es de Munibe, to patrol Cuban waters as a guardacosta or ‘‘coast-guard’’ vessel. Setting sail accompanied by another corsair’s brigantine, Michele and his piragua circled around western Cuba, where his consort dropped anchor in the port of Casilda, while Cachimbo proceeded on to Trinidad to recruit more men. A few volunteer hands were taken on there, and Corso also borrowed two swivel-guns, a

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Michele, Biagio (fl. 1687) dozen rifles, and 400 pesos from his fellow privateer Captain, Mateo Guarin. Once Michele returned into Casilda, he exited again in company with his brigantine consort, coasting together farther east toward Santiago de Cuba. En route, the two corsair vessels inspected a Spanish frigate outward-bound from Cartagena (Colombia), as well as a sloop coming out of Puerto Rico. On gaining Santiago and being interviewed by its authorities on April 14, 1687, Michele learned that its Governor Gil Correoso Catal
an had been temporarily suspended from office because of suspicions of illicit commerce with foreign traders, and supplanted for a few months by the Mexican visitador Tom
as Pizarro Cort
es. The latter granted Corso a second privateering license, as well as permission to recruit more hands in that port. The citadel commander, sargento
mayor Alvaro Romero Venegas, would also later testify that he had specifically warned Michele against operating beyond this jurisdiction and attacking the French flibustier bases on nearby Saint-Domingue, as a fragile truce had been forged and appeared to be holding. After more than 20 days of this layover at Santiago, Michele exited and steered around the eastern tip of Cuba for the port of Baracoa, with a total of 83 men aboard both the replenished vessels. At Baracoa, he found the suspended Governor Correoso living in exile, who later declared how he too had warned the Corsican against any offensive action against the nearby French harbors, which would threaten the shaky truce. Yet that same May 1687, the galliot Santiago of the Biscayan privateer Fermı´n de Salaberrı´a had been hurrying from Veracruz with messages for its main squadron, when it became embroiled in a losing battle

off J
ucaro on the south-central Cuban coast, against a pirate flotilla under the famous Laurens de Graaf. The Biscayan vessel was soon driven aground, and in serious danger of being captured, until some small local guardacosta vessels hastened out to his rescue. De Graaf immediately turned on them as well, seizing a schooner and sinking a piragua, before standing away in triumph. This bloody encounter may have possibly goaded Michele into contemplating a counter-blow, as the truce was seemingly being observed by only one side. In any event, when he exited Baracoa with Cachimbo and his brigantine consort, Corso made a stealthy crossing over to the dark-green coasts of Saint-Domingue, so as to launch a surprise dawn-attack against the flibustier capital of Petit-Go^ave. Moreover, this date had been chosen with particular care, as Sunday, August 10th, was also the Church feast-day when Saint Lawrence would be honored, so that he and his raiders hoped to catch De Graaf in his home port, relaxed and unwary, in anticipation of celebrating his holiday.

Petit-Go^ave Raid (August 1687) As Cachimbo and the brigantine groped through the pre-dawn darkness toward their objective, they intercepted a canoe bearing an elderly Frenchman named Jean de Lassaline, his black wife, their young son, and a slave. A second canoe was seized shortly thereafter as well, with four more Frenchmen aboard. The senior of these, a man named Saint-Antoine, gave in to the Spaniards’ threats, and agreed to pilot them into Petit-Go^ave’s harbor.

Moidore At first light on August 10, 1687, the officer of the watch overlooking the harbor, Captain Vigneron, saw a large piragua gliding into its roads, which he challenged. A terrified French captive was made to reply, but when Vigneron suspiciously hailed for a second time, a warning cry ensued. Before the French defense could react, though, the Cubans swarmed ashore, rampaging throughout the town. In the home of Mayor Dupuis they hacked both he and his young manservant to death with their machetes, then bayoneted the Mayor’s pregnant wife when she wept that she could not live on without her husband. The small fortress was occupied without resistance, and many homes ransacked (some by local ‘‘Negros, Negresses and free mulattos,’’ a French official angrily noted). But in the growing dawn, the defenders realized that Miguel had but a few-score men ashore with him, and no more than 85 in total, of whom 20 had remained aboard his brigantine and demi-gal ere (half-galley) out in the harbor. French reinforcements began pouring in from outlying areas, shooting down isolated groups of looters and Cubans, who had few firearms between them. Miguel’s men were soon forced back inside the fortress, then forsaken by their two craft out in the harbor, as the batteries opened fire on them. Only the piragua still rocked idly in the surf, with a single Cuban corsair on board, until De Graaf personally waded out ‘‘machete in hand’’ and took it. The attackers were now trapped inside the fortress, and sent out a message with ‘‘a woman of ill repute they had captured,’’ offering to restore their booty if allowed to sail away. Now fully enraged, the flibustiers scorned this suggestion, storming the walls and

taking the remaining 47 Cubans prisoner. Another 17 already lay dead in the streets of Petit-Go^ave. The next day a summary trial was held, at which Miguel and his two principal lieutenants were condemned to be ‘‘broken alive’’ on the wheel, while another 42 corsairs were sentenced to be hanged, and only two—‘‘a young boy and a Negro’’—were spared because they had been forced to join the raiders. On August 12, 1687, these terrible punishments were carried out, Miguel being slowly battered to death as the ‘‘whites, mulattos, Indians, and blacks who had accompanied’’ him were strung up all around the dying figure.

See also Biscayan Privateers; Corso, Juan (Volume 1); De Graaf, Laurens (Volume 1); Guardacostas; Michele, Giovanni (Volume 1); Piragua.

Reference Lugo, Am
erico, Recopilaci
on diplom
atica relativa a las colonias espa~ nola y francesa de la isla de Santo Domingo, 1640
1701 (Ciudad Trujillo, Dominican Republic: Editorial ‘‘La Naci
on,’’ 1944).

MIGUEL, BLAS See Michele, Biagio

MOIDORE Term which had originally entered the English language from the Portuguese phrase moeda d’ouro, literally meaning a ‘‘coin of gold,’’ but which came to be

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tienne De (fl. 1691
1696) Montauban or Montauband, E generally applied to any finely-wroughtpiece of gold currency during the 18th century. For example, on July 21, 1716 (O.S.), the Scottish widow Luce Evans bequeathed to her sister Margaret Morgan of Llantarnam ‘‘a piece of gold of the value of 27 shillings, sixpence, commonly called a Portugal Moyder [sic].’’

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 5, 7 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1880
1889). Cardiff Records, Volume 3: Wills, 1702
1717 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1901).

MONTAUBAN OR
TIENNE MONTAUBAND, E DE (fl. 1691
1696) French flibustier who was reported as operating off Newfoundland during King William’s War. When the French fishing-boat master Jean Pigeon returned across the Atlantic into Bordeaux in December 1691 with his 60-ton Charmante of Saint-Malo, he declared to its port authorities that late that same summer, Montauban had forcefully removed a member of Pigeon’s crew—18-year-old Franc¸ois Chandavoine, a native of the French Antilles—in exchange for ‘‘four hogsheads of sugar.’’

Antillean Sweep (1694) On February 11, 1694, Montauban received a privateering commission from Versailles to campaign with his 34-gun, 200-ton, and 172-man ship Trois Fr eres. He consequently materialized off the

Venezuelan coast that same spring, ravaging as far west as Caracas, before steering for French-held St. Kitts. There, he learned of an English convoy about to depart Barbados and Nevis for London, so hastened to lay in wait of these merchantmen off Bermuda. Before reaching that Atlantic island, though, Montauban sighted the English vessels at sea, defeating their escort-ship Wolf and capturing two merchantmen laden with sugar, while the rest scattered. While nearing Europe with his three prizes, Trois Fr eres also encountered a 16-gun English vessel which was homeward-bound from Spain, and which Montauban took after a brief fight and carried into La Rochelle for sale. He then entered Bordeaux in September 1694 with his three other rich prizes, but soon became alarmed when his wild flibustiers—‘‘finding themselves in a large city where pleasure and abundance reign’’—ran up enormous expenses on his credit. Montauban lamented of his men: Every night was passed in amusements, every day in running in masks throughout the city; they had themselves carried in chaises, with torchbearers even at high noon, while a few died of their debauches, and four others deserted me. Fearful of seeing all his profits evaporate, the Captain recruited and trained a number of local volunteers as replacements, then prepared Trois Fr eres for an early departure next year.

African Misadventure (1695) Montauban cleared Bordeaux in February 1695 to campaign off Guinea in West Africa. After hovering uneventfully for

Moreno Mondrag
on, Blas (fl. 1703
1713) eight days off the Azores, he spent another two weeks waiting in vain for some Dutch East Indiamen which were daily expected at the Canaries, but which slipped past him safely into port. Disappointed, Trois Fr eres steered for the Cape Verde Islands, and sighted two English vessels anchored off May Island. He wrote an account of his misadventures, which was published in Amsterdam in 1698 by the exiled Huguenot publisher J. Louis de Lorme under the title of Relation du voyage du Sieur de Montauban, capitaine des flibustiers, en Guin
ee en l’an 1695.


MORENO MONDRAGON, BLAS (fl. 1703
1713) Cuban corsair who helped assault Nassau, and fought against the English and Dutch throughout Queen Anne’s War. Virtually nothing is known about his birth or early career, although when these hostilities erupted in the summer of 1702, Moreno was apparently an active participant in the West Indian island trade owning the brigantine Nuestra Se~ nora del Rosario y las
Animas. The first notice of his privateering involvement occurred when Governor Juan Var
on de Ch
avez of Santiago de Cuba issued a call early next year for local volunteers to serve against the English and Dutch. Having careened, armed, and fitted out his Rosario as a corsair vessel, Moreno was duly issued a commission on March 15, 1703, ‘‘to cruise those coasts, infested by English and Dutch pirates, who were preventing [the importation] of foodstuffs, which were brought by sea into that garrison-city.’’

He ventured to Baracoa after it had been attacked, and patrolled the northeastern Cuban coastline as far as Puerto del Prı´ncipe, while receiving complaints from Havana about the boldness of English rovers prowling out of Nassau. As a result, Moreno took part in a joint expedition that same autumn with 100 or more French boucaniers aboard a sloop out of Saint-Domingue (modern Haiti) under Claude de Lachasney— also recorded as La Chaney or Le Chesnaye—which was supplemented by at least 100 Spanish volunteers aboard Moreno’s brigantine Rosario.

Destruction of Nassau (September 1703) Since both the French and Spanish allies in the region regarded New Providence Island as a mutual menace, Le Chesnaye and Moreno steered stealthily for the Bahamas, snapping up every craft that they met, so as not to reveal their approach. An English captive was then coerced into piloting them directly into Nassau’s main anchorage before dawn, so that some 200 raiders were able to wade ashore one dark morning early in September 1703, taking its defenders completely by surprise. The Acting-Governor Ellis Lightwood, ‘‘a gentleman of considerable estate in that island,’’ had hosted a raucous party the previous night to celebrate the birth of his son, so that virtually every able-bodied Englishman had gone to bed very late and quite drunk. The assault-column therefore: . . . found no resistance, nor was any of the inhabitants destroyed at that time, except only one man who was killed, and another had his hand cut

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Morpain, Pierre (fl. 1706
1711) off. However, before [the attackers] attempted the fort, they made a hail and by threatening their [latest Nassavian] prisoners, found that there would be no resistance, so proceeded and carried all before them. The French Captain and the Spaniards declared if anybody had appeared in the fort and fired but one gun, they would never have attempted it. Instead, though, Le Chesnaye’s and Moreno’s men were able to fall exultantly to looting the captive dwellings and ‘‘plundered in gold, silver, slaves, etc., to the value of £30,000.’’ They also removed 22 of the fort’s 40 guns, destroying the rest and breaking the wooden gun-carriages so new ones could not immediately be reinstalled, as well as the gates so as to leave the palmettoand-lime structure to slowly rot. A total of 11 prizes were also seized, before the raiders ‘‘burnt the town and church to ashes,’’ then departed almost two weeks later for Santiago de Cuba with 80 to 100 captives, including Lightwood. When the new Governor-designate Edward Birch landed at devastated Nassau on January 1, 1704 (O.S.), he would become so discouraged at beholding its ruined state—the score or so survivors not even having a ‘‘shift to cover their nakedness,’’ according to another report—that he did not bother unfurling his company-issued commission to assume office, preferring to take ship for South Carolina a few months later.

Defeat off Hispaniola and Later Career (1706
1713) At the conclusion of these hostilities, the Spanish Crown rewarded Moreno

in December 1713 by appointing him as a Captain in the Armada de Barlovento, a reward for his having: . . . dislodged the enemies from the island of Providence which they had occupied, having fitted out a brigantine at your own expense for this purpose and then continued patrolling the coasts of America, in pursuit of the pirates which infested them, to the detriment and loss which you experienced of said brigantine, fighting against them.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 21, 23 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1952).

MORPAIN, PIERRE (fl. 1706
1711) Wide-ranging French privateer, who was credited with saving Acadia from an Anglo-American invasion. Morpain was born on February 9, 1686, in Blaye, a small town on the banks of the Gironde River estuary, 30 miles north of the great Atlantic seaport of Bordeaux. Within the next three years, the famous military engineer Vauban would complete a massive new citadel beside this town, one of a trio of forts designed to impede any enemy incursion upriver. The future rover’s parents were a minor local dignitary and businessman of modest means, Jacques Morpain, and his wife Marguerite Audoire. Following the premature death of both, the teenaged Pierre set sail in 1703 to join his older brother in the Antilles.

Morro The War of the Spanish Succession was just then entering into its second year, with France and Spain ranged against England and The Netherlands. Displaying a remarkable aptitude for freebooting, Morpain obtained his first privateering commission in 1706, and at the age of 20 was entrusted with command of the Intr
epide by Governor Jean-Pierre de Charitte of Saint-Domingue. One of Morpain’s earliest voyages was to carry a group of Dutch captives to Curac¸ao for exchange, during which passage he intercepted a neutral merchantman with a suspicious manifest, carrying it into Santiago de Cuba for adjudication before its more pliant Spanish-American officials.

Acadian Rescue (1707) The next summer, Morpain sailed Intr
epide north on his own initiative to prowl off the New England coast, where he promptly took two important prizes: a slave-ship and the merchant frigate Bonetta, which was laden with foodstuffs. Wishing to secure his captures at the nearest French-held port, the 21-year-old Captain towed his prizes into the harbor at Port-Royal (modern Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia) on August 13, 1707. This front-line outpost had just survived a 10-day siege by 1,100 New Englanders under Colonel John March of Casco Bay (Portland, Maine), who had withdrawn less than a month previously aboard their two-dozen sloops and transports. The arrival of Morpain with a frigate bulging with supplies was consequently viewed by its frightened, outnumbered, and isolated defenders as a miraculous deliverance. One week later, Colonel March returned and disembarked

1,600 troops for a second attempt against the French stronghold. Yet its heartened garrison put up a stout resistance, and the New Englanders’ assault once more became bogged down, after which March fell ill. This second thrust ended in failure and retreat like the first, convincing the Anglo-American authorities of their need for regular troops and warships to be sent out from England, so as to better assure the success of any future ventures. In the glowing account of this defense written to France’s Minister of Marine, Governor Daniel d’Auger de Subercase of Port-Royal stated that Morpain and his rovers had ‘‘helped us to fight them off and left us 700 barrels of flour, without which we would certainly have been in difficult straits.’’ Intr
epide departed on September 20, 1707, as Morpain wished to return to Saint-Domingue to report to Governor Charitte, as well as to sell his cargo of captive slaves in the Antilles.

Reference LeBland, Robert, ‘‘Un corsaire de SainteDomingue en Acadie: Pierre Morpain, 1707
1711,’’ Nova Francia [Canada] 6, No. 4 (1931), pp. 195
203.

MORRO Spanish word for any large harborcastle or coastal fortification. This term doubtless originated in medieval times, when such defenses were needed in Spain against the seaborne descents by fierce North African Moors. This generic name became confused by English and other foreigners in the New World as the actual name for an individual castle, leading to a profusion of

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Musson, Matthew (fl. 1716
1719) ports ostensibly having a morro of their own: Havana, Santiago de Cuba, San Juan de Puerto Rico, etc. In fact, all of these castles, or morros, had different individual names, the one at Portobelo being officially called San Felipe, etc.

MUSSON, MATTHEW (fl. 1716
1719) Luckless Jamaican privateer, who operated briefly as a pirate-hunter, without much distinction. Musson must have obtained a peacetime privateering commission sometime late in 1715 or early 1716 from the Jamaican Governor Lord Archibald Hamilton, to bring in rogue rovers who were proliferating throughout the Caribbean. After working his way northward past the pirate hotbeds off Cuba, Florida, and the Bahamas, Musson proceeded still farther up the Atlantic Seaboard and in the spring of 1716 put into Charleston, South Carolina, to renew his sixmonth license. Its provincial Deputy Governor Robert Daniel later declared on July 14, 1716 (O.S.), that: I renewed the commission of Captain Mathew Musson to take pirates, etc., the commission he had from the Lord Hamilton being nearly expired, and he intending to cruise about Cape Florida, a station now much frequented by pirates. I added a further power against the Yamasees and other our Indian enemies, who were likely to be met with upon that coast. Having intelligence of several pirates lying amongst the Bahama Islands, he met there one Perrin from Virginia on board a sloop in which Hornigold the pirate sailed, and which he took last

winter from the Spaniards, having on board sundry goods which Perrin pretended to have bought of Hornigold. Musson seized the said sloop and sent Perrin in a sloop [named the Betty] properly owned by him, and the said goods, under command of Joseph Carpenter to this government, in order to be prosecuted for his clandestine and illegal trade. However, when Musson’s consort sloop Betty reached Charleston in mid-July 1716, a jurisdictional dispute flared up between the naval authorities anchored out in its harbor aboard HMS Shoreham, and the Deputy Governor’s provincial officials ashore, which quickly degenerated into an armed confrontation, gunfire, and much abusive language (Daniel himself being derided in his boat as an ‘‘old rogue, old dog, old crooked-back, Lurkenburg dog,’’ etc.). Betty’s hold was forcibly opened, and Musson’s evidence rifled and removed by Shoreham’s officers, who were convinced that the Carolina authorities often connived with pirates and smugglers to defraud the King’s Exchequer. Unaware of this fracas, Musson evidently continued operating in and around the Bahamas with his privateer vessel, until he was shipwrecked amid its archipelago in March 1717. He subsequently secured passage to London, where on July 5, 1717 (O.S.), he appeared as an expert witness before the Council of Trade and Plantations, who were worried by the escalating wave of piracy in those troubled waters. Musson was able to inform them, that after having come ashore from his lost vessel: At Harbour Island, he found about 30 families, with several pirates,

Musson, Matthew (fl. 1716
1719)

The Morro guarding the entrance into San Juan de Puerto Rico, one of several castles erected to defend Spanish seaports in the New World. (Ramunas Bruzas)

which frequently are coming and going to purchase provisions for the pirates’ vessels at Providence [i.e., Nassau, which was located on the main New Providence Island]. There were there two ships of 90 tons which sold provisions to the said pirates, the sailors of which said they belong’d to Boston. At Abaco, one of the Bahamas, he found Captain Thomas Walker and others who had left Providence by reason of the rudeness of the pirates, and settled there. They advis’d him that five pirates made ye harbor of Providence their place of rendezvous viz., Horngold, a sloop with 10 guns and

about 80 men; Jennings, a sloop with 10 guns and 100 men; Burgess, a sloop with 8 guns and about 80 men; White, in a small vessel with 30 men and small arms; Thatch [i.e., Blackbeard], a sloop 6 guns and about 70 men. All took and destroyed ships of all nations, except Jennings, who took no English; they had taken a Spanish ship of 32 guns, which they kept in the harbor for a guardship. Ye greatest part of the inhabitants of Providence are already gone into other adjacent islands, to secure themselves from ye pirates, who frequently plunder them. Most of the ships and vessels taken by

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Musson, Matthew (fl. 1716
1719) them, they burn and destroy when brought into the harbor, and oblige the men to take on with them. The inhabitants of those Isles are in a miserable condition at present, but were in great hopes that His Majesty would be graciously pleas’d to take such measures, which would speedily enable them to return to Providence, their former settlement. There are several more pirates than he can now give an account of, that are both to windward and to leeward of Providence, that may ere this be expected to rendezvous there, he being apprehensive that unless the government fortify this place, the pirates will, to protect themselves. It is possible, although unconfirmed, that Musson may have returned to the Bahamas next summer as a member of Governor Woodes Rogers’ colonizing

expedition, which succeeded in reimposing direct Crown rule over that outpost. The last notice we have of this privateer occurred on March 4, 1719 (O.S.), when William Whaling or Whaley was tried at Nassau ‘‘for stealing goods belonging to Mathew Musson, Gent., and William Hewson, mariner, from the house of John Peardon and setting fire to the said house,’’ for which crimes the accused was executed.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 29, 31 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1957). Journals of the Board of Trade and Plantations, Volume 3: March 1715
October 1718 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1924).

N . . . and these people are so skillful, My Lord, that what is a precipice to us, is flat terrain for them.
—Governor Juan Alvarez de Avil
es of Guayaquil, reporting on the capture of his city heights by pirates led by George Dew, April 25, 1687

Michiel de Ruyter. Narborough himself was promoted to command of the 40-gun frigate HMS Assurance for his bravery during this battle. In May 1669, following the cessation of hostilities, he was appointed to the Sweepstakes of 36 guns, 300 tons, and 80 men, setting sail from the Thames that same autumn to attempt to establish peaceful contacts with Spain’s colonies on the Pacific coast of South America. Narborough passed through the Strait of Magellan in November 1670, and by Christmas Day (December 15, 1670 [O.S.]) Sweepstakes came to anchor in Valdivia Bay, Chile. After an initially friendly reception, the Spaniards abruptly arrested a small landing-party going ashore from his vessel, and Narborough found the port closed to him. Unable to recover

NARBOROUGH, SIR JOHN (fl. 1687
1688) English Admiral who made a private voyage into the South Sea, and then died working Sir William Phips’ Spanish wreck site off Santo Domingo. Narborough had been born at Cockthorpe in Norfolk, England, in early October 1640. His first voyages were to the Guinea coast and Saint Helena aboard merchantmen, and his earliest naval career was spent as a prot
eg
e of Sir Christopher Myngs, with whom he sailed to Jamaica on his second tour-of-duty in 1657. Returning to England more than five years later, Narborough followed Myngs into a succession of warships during the Second Anglo-Dutch War, until the latter died during the ‘‘Four Days’ Fight’’ of June 11
14, 1666, against 719

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Narborough, Sir John (fl. 1687
1688) his men, nor authorized to take any offensive action, he returned through the Strait in January 1671, arriving home by that same June. (More than a decade later, Bartholomew Sharpe’s men would report that Narborough’s ‘‘lieutenant and nine or ten others’’ were still being held captive at Lima, Peru.) In June 1672, Narborough served with some distinction aboard the 100-gun flagship HMS Prince, at the otherwise lackluster Battle of Solebay during the Third Anglo-Dutch War, and next year was promoted to Rear Admiral and knighted. In October 1674, following England’s withdrawal from the war against The Netherlands, he was sent to deal with the Tripoli corsairs, blockading their ports and capturing ships until the Bey agreed to terms in early 1677. Within a few months, Narborough returned into the Mediterranean to visit a like treatment on Algiers, which also submitted more than a year later. Thanks to these victories, Narborough was able to retire from the sea as a wealthy man, being appointed one of His Majesty’s Commissioners of the Navy in March 1680, and entering into a rich marriage the next summer with Elizabeth Hill of Shadwell. (His first marriage to Elizabeth Calmady in the spring of 1677 ended tragically when she died during that following winter ‘‘mightily afflicted with a cough, and big with child.’’) Despite his retirement from active duty, newfound wealth, and growing family, Narborough continued to be interested in naval affairs, becoming William Phips’ firmest backer in his attempts to locate a Spanish shipwreck in the West Indies. When these efforts were finally crowned with success in 1686, Narborough could not resist visiting the site when a second expedition

was organized in England next year. He commanded this group from the 48-gun frigate HMS Foresight, while Phips served aboard the 400-ton merchantman Good Luck and a Boy, John Strong had the James and Mary, and the ship Princess and smaller Henry rounded out the convoy. These five set sail from the Downs on September 3, 1687, but soon encountered heavy weather. Phips’ vessel was damaged and forced back into Plymouth, while Strong became separated from the others off Cape Finisterre. Narborough reached Funchal at Madeira Island with the smaller two ships on October 13th, and Barbados by November 16th, where he found James and Mary already awaiting him. He departed again more than two weeks later for Saman
a Bay, on the northeastern coast of Hispaniola, reaching there on December 5th. Two days later, Phips joined him, and the expedition proceeded northward to the Ambrosian Bank (today’s Silver Bank) where the galleon lay. By the time Narborough’s flotilla arrived on December 15th, they found it surrounded by more than four-dozen craft. These and many other local scavengers had been working the wreck for months, making away with an estimated £250,000. The interlopers were driven off, and Narborough’s men settled in to resume their work, employing a total of almost 200 divers; yet the gleanings now proved slender, hard labor resulting in relatively little silver. In February 1688, the site was visited by two Dutch warships, the 46-gun frigate Noordhollandt and a galliot hoy, bearing the exiled English nobleman Lord Moraunt. Foresight cleared for action ‘‘not knowing his design,’’ but he had allegedly come merely to view the wreck (although it was suspected that his true intent was to sound

New Providence (Nassau) Narborough out as to his loyalty to James II). After being rowed over the spot in a pinnace, Moraunt found the sea too rough for anything to be seen, so withdrew. Little more treasure could be raised, and an attempt to blast away coral with an underwater explosive failed. By the beginning of May 1688, morale aboard the flotilla was lagging, with the weather squally, men on half-rations, and disease spreading throughout the ships. Narborough himself fell ill on May 18th, and finally decided to give up. After a few days’ preparation, Foresight attempted to weigh on the evening of May 26th, but an anchor remained fouled on the bottom. Narborough’s last action was to order divers to recover it, before lapsing into unconsciousness. At three o’clock next morning, he died. Unable to embalm the corpse, Foresight’s surgeon removed Narborough’s bowels, and the body was rowed over to the wreck site at five o’clock that same afternoon, and slid over the side as the ships fired a salute. His entrails were then conveyed home to England and buried at the church of Knowlton, near his estate at Deal, with the rather misleading inscription: ‘‘Here lie the remains of Sir John Narborough.’’

See also Myngs, Sir Christopher; Phips, Sir William; South Sea.

References Bradley, Peter T., The Lure of Peru: Maritime Intrusion into the South Sea, 1598
1701 (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1990). Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11

(London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898). Dictionary of National Biography (London, 1885
1900, 63 volumes; reissued by Oxford University Press, 2004). Earle, Peter, The Treasure of the Concepcion: The Wreck of the Almiranta (New York: Viking, 1980).

NEW PROVIDENCE (NASSAU) Strategically placed seaport, which because of its sparse population and lax overseas administration, briefly became a major pirate lair. The first English pioneers in this archipelago moved onto a succession of its islands, one smaller one due west of Eleuthera being occupied about 1666— which until then had been unofficially called ‘‘Sayle’s Island’’ because their Governor, William Sayles, had allegedly twice ridden out storms in a sheltered harbor on its northeastern shore. On becoming inhabited, it was renamed ‘‘New Providence’’ in memory of the earlier Calvinist colony on Providencia or Santa Catalina Island, 150 miles east of Nicaragua’s Mosquito Coast, which had been extirpated by a Spanish expedition a quarter-century earlier.

Early Struggles As ‘‘Charles Town’’ (1666
1694) Despite only measuring 58 square miles, and being rather flat and covered with brushwood and lagoons, this newlyinhabited island was surrounded by crystalline waters and enjoyed one of the most delightful climates in the archipelago—being neither too rainy, as occurred

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New Providence (Nassau) farther to its northwest, nor too hot and arid as to its southeast. Its anchorage also proved to be exceptionally good, approachable via the deep-water passages dubbed ‘‘Tongue of the Ocean’’ or Providence Channel, as well as protected from southeasterly gales and hurricanes by an 80-foot ridge rising just 400 yards south of its beach. The harbor also offered respite from sea currents because of a five-mile-long offshore cay, which was christened ‘‘Hog Island’’ by Gov. Nicholas Trott in the mid-1690s, apparently in memory of his family estate and birthplace of Hog Bay, Bermuda. Although vessels of more than 500-tons could not easily traverse its 14-foot-deep, reef-lined bar, the inner roads stretched out three-and-a-half miles long by onethird of a mile wide, with high and low tides ranging from 18 to 24 feet in depth. Soon, a ramshackle collection of huts built from the nearby palmetto copses began sprawling just inside the bar, each plot surrounded by its own colorful garden or orchard; this whole untidy agglomeration was named ‘‘Charles Town’’ in honor of the recently-restored Stuart monarch Charles II in England. By early 1670, it was estimated that half of the 1,000 English residents of the Bahamas were eking out a hard-scrabble existence on New Providence Island, when they were unexpectedly reinforced by survivors from Captain John Russell’s Port Royal, wrecked on Abaco Island while conveying a large party of settlers and supplies to the Carolinas. This unforeseen landing inspired Russell’s London-based backers—six high-born friends of the King known collectively as the ‘‘Lords Proprietors of Carolina’’—to rewrite the Bahamian company charter that same November, displacing its original Puritan shareholders in favor of themselves.

Residents of the islands nonetheless retained much of their autonomy, a primitive log stockade being completed at Charles Town by 1672, which became unofficially recognized as the archipelago’s capital despite conflicting claims from Harbour and Exuma Islands. Nothing more was done to encourage the development of the Bahamian chain, though, its settlers languishing rather forlornly over the next few years, supplementing their meager fishing and agricultural activities by scavenging for wrecks or ambergris, as well as by trading with any vessel which chanced to call. This eagerness to please casual visitors meant that West Indian privateers soon found Charles Town a most obliging bolt-hole to dispose of their booty, although such illicit proclivities also attracted unwanted attention against the struggling settlement. In March 1683, for example, the French flibustier Br
eha—seconded by the English mercenaries John Markham of New York, Thomas Paine, Conway Wooley, plus Dutch-born Jan Corneliszoon (also of New York)—sailed from New Providence Island to raid Spanish Saint Augustine, and in retaliation, the Cuban corsair Captain Juan de Larco made a stealthy descent with 200 men aboard a pair of vessels on January 19, 1684 (O.S.). Having seized a woodcutting sloop off Andros, De Larco compelled its master to pilot them through the lessfrequented eastern approach, so that his 150 raiders disgorged suddenly at daybreak within a half-mile of Charles Town itself, while his corsair ships bore down on the six vessels anchored in its harbor. Charles Town’s population consisted of approximately 400 men capable of bearing arms—although scarcely half

New Providence (Nassau) actually possessed any guns—plus perhaps 200 women, a like number of children, and 200 slaves. Taken utterly by surprise, they were incapable of mounting an effective defense; former Gov. Robert Clarke was wounded and captured as he attempted to mount a feeble counter-charge, while his recently-arrived successor Robert Lilburne fled from his bedroom in the Wheel of Fortune Inn into the jungle, along with most other residents. The 10-gun New England frigate Good Intent of Captain William Warren and another anchored vessel managed to escape across the bar, leaving the Spaniards to pillage the remaining four and quickly ransack the town, loading their plunder aboard their largest prize before torching the rest, then sailing away that same evening. De Larco hastened across to northern Eleuthera and visited a like treatment on its English settlement, before returning to Charles Town on November 15, 1684 (O.S.), to torch its buildings and carry off numerous residents to Havana. Frightened by this devastating sweep, a couple of hundred survivors sought refuge on Jamaica, while another 50 from northern Eleuthera were temporarily resettled at Casco (Maine). The Bahamas subsequently remained devoid of any recognizable English presence until December 1686, when a small contingent from Jamaica under the preacher Thomas Bridges reoccupied New Providence Island, and more colonists gradually joined them. The archipelago revived fully after the New England salvor William Phips raised an immense fortune in bullion from the nearby Ambrosian Bank (modern Silver Bank, north of the Dominican Republic) in spring of 1687 from the Spanish vice-

flagship Nuestra Se~ nora de la Pura y Limpia Concepci
on, which had sunk in 1641. The resultant treasure-hunting fever made the Bahamas an attractive prospect once more, Phips’ patron— Christopher Monk, 2nd Duke of Albemarle—even attempted to take over the archipelago’s lease from his fellow Proprietors back in London, although balked by the new King James II, who preferred having the islands transformed into a Crown colony. This latter notion was postponed when that English monarch was driven from the throne in November 1688 and succeeded by the Protestant Queen Mary and her Dutch consort William, Prince of Orange-Nassau, after which war erupted with England, Holland, and Spain being ranged against France. New Providence Island was consequently left largely to its own devices once again, profiting as a lawless privateer base during the ensuing hostilities (known to history as King William’s War, the War of the League of Augsburg, the War of the Grand Alliance, or the Nine Years War). Its remote locale, coupled with its insignificance and absentee rulers, meant that the ruffianly Colonel Cadwallader Jones could even act as self-proclaimed ‘‘Governor’’ from 1690 to 1693, refusing to acknowledge the authority of William and Mary.

Creation of ‘‘Nassau’’ (1695
1717) Eventually, though, Jones was succeeded in August 1694 by the more loyal and ambitious Nicholas Trott; with allegiance to the Crown restored, the island capital could begin to undergo

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New Providence (Nassau) a modest reformation by commencing construction of a 28-gun wooden fort, as well as implementing a rational street-plan. The town was officially renamed ‘‘Nassau’’ next year in honor of the Queen’s foreign-born consort, and by the time Trott’s term ended in November 1696, it boasted 160 houses, being assigned a Vice-Admiralty Court as of February 1697 complete with judge, registrar, and marshal appointed from London, who arrived that same July. Such a measure was needed because of continuing venality in island administration; Trott lost his post for receiving the notorious pirate Henry Every, a renegade who had mutinied and carried off an English salvage ship from La Coru~ na, Spain, launching a year-and-ahalf rampage through the Far East during which he had robbed the Mogul trader Ganj-i-Sawai of £200,000 off Bombay. Hoping to escape back into civilian life, Every and his 200 cutthroats dropped anchor in late April 1696 at Royal Island off Eleuthera, sending a boat with four spokesmen the 50 miles into Nassau to allegedly offer Trott a £1,000-bribe to permit their stolen flagship Fancy into port, and its crew to disperse. On acceptance, Every sailed into Nassau harbor masquerading as ‘‘Henry Bridgeman’’ and Fancy as an ‘‘interloper’’ or unlicensed slaver from the Guinea Coast, with an unregistered cargo of ivory and slaves. He and Trott then struck a deal for disposal of the ship; Every made Fancy over to the Governor’s care, after which it was stripped of everything of value including its 46 guns, 100 barrels of powder, many small arms, 50 tons of ivory, sails,

blocks, etc. It was allowed to drift ashore two days later, being pounded to pieces by the surf. With this tell-tale piece of evidence destroyed, Every and his men disappeared from the Bahamas aboard passing ships. Imposing honest administration in this unruly, unfrequented colony proved so difficult that Nassau’s new Gov. Nicholas Webb even quit office for Newcastle (Delaware) in 1699, his chosen successor, the mulatto privateer Read Elding, being arrested in October 1701 by another disreputable figure, Elias Haskett; although quickly released by a band of Elding’s own supporters, who in turn deposed and banished Haskett. Such tumultuous, ineffectual leadership was to cost Nassau dearly when another round of hostilities erupted back in Europe in May 1702: Queen Anne’s War or the War of the Spanish Succession, with England and Holland arrayed against France and Spain. Officials at Saint-Domingue and Santiago de Cuba, who viewed New Providence Island as a mutual menace, raised a joint expedition of French boucaniers and 150 Spanish soldiers aboard two frigates commanded by Claude Le Chesnaye and Blas Moreno Mondrag
on, materializing off Nassau in October 1703. More than 100 startled residents were slaughtered in this opening onslaught, while another 80 to 100, including Acting-Gov. Ellis Lightwood, were carried away as captives two weeks later, along with 13 prizes and 22 cannons, while the town’s half-rotted palmetto-and-lime fortification was thrown down. When the new Governor-designate Edward Birch landed at Nassau early in 1704, he became so distraught at beholding its ruined state—survivors not

New Providence (Nassau) having even a ‘‘shift to cover their nakedness,’’ according to his report—that he did not bother unfurling his companyissued commission before taking ship to South Carolina a few months later, and eventually home to England. Another enemy raid in 1706 left only 27 families still cringing inside makeshift huts on New Providence Island, and no more than 400 to 500 English residents scattered throughout the entire archipelago, who suffered considerable distress from more descents for the remainder of this conflict, while their scant overseas trade dried up and no new Governors or assistance came out from England. The cessation of hostilities in 1713 brought little relief, as hundreds of West Indian privateers—suddenly bereft of legitimate employment—drifted into the sparsely-populated Bahamas to continue preying on nearby shipping lanes, selling their booty to accomplices ashore. Rogue captains such as Benjamin Hornigold, ‘‘Calico Jack’’ Rackham, and Edward Teach (alias ‘‘Blackbeard’’) were so powerful that when Nassau’s Vice-Admiralty Judge Thomas Walker brought Hornigold’s lieutenant Daniel Stilwell to trial for robbing a Spanish vessel in 1715, an enraged Hornigold crossed over from Eleuthera and released the prisoner and his men from jail, threatening to burn Walker’s house about his ears. The judge fled in August 1716, after more pirates had entered port and brazenly placed their guns within Fort Nassau’s crudely reconstructed embrasures, menacing the harbor and town. International grievances against this burgeoning ‘‘pirate republic’’ at last goaded the British government into reviving its former plan of bringing the Bahamas directly under Crown rule.

Crown Capital (1718
1775) Woodes Rogers, a battle-scarred privateer who had circumnavigated the globe and captured a Manila galleon—as well as incidentally rescuing the marooned Scottish master Alexander Selkirk from the Juan Fern
andez Islands, thereby furnishing the inspiration for Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe—was selected to effect this difficult transition, sailing from England with 250 new colonists aboard the 460-ton ex-Indiaman Delicia, backed by the frigates HMS Milford and HMS Rose, plus the naval sloops Buck and Shark. News of his appointment had preceded him, along with a promised amnesty for pirates, so that the more recalcitrant spirits such as Blackbeard had already forsaken the Bahamas for easier hunting-grounds. Still, when Rogers’ expedition arrived outside Nassau’s bar on the afternoon of July 26, 1718 (O.S.), Charles Vane’s pirate flagship remained defiantly at anchor, so that the Governor-designate sent Rose and Shark to take soundings after nightfall. Vane responded by loosing a recently-captured French prize against them in flames, before getting under way next dawn for Abaco. With this lone threat removed, Rogers came ashore by mid-morning, being greeted by an honor guard of 300 boozy buccaneers under Hornigold and other captains, who swore fealty to the Crown. Rogers promptly assumed office and began civic improvements to Nassau, such as repairing its shoddily-rebuilt fortress, erecting a new barracks and eastern battery, granting 120-square-foot plots in town to each new settler family, plus 25 acres outside for gardens, as well as many other needed public-works.

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Noland, Richard (fl. 1717
1722) However, progress was soon suspended by the eruption of the War of the Quadruple Alliance in December 1718, with England, Holland, France, and Austria being ranged against Spain. Although heavily-outnumbered elsewhere, the Spaniards in Cuba were able to mount a strong expedition against Nassau; the privateer Capts. Francisco Cornejo and Jos
e Cordero appeared outside the harbor on February 24, 1720 (O.S.), with 1,200 to 1,300 men crammed aboard three frigates, plus nine sloops and brigantines. Reluctant to steer directly across its bar because of the intimidating presence inside of Delicia and the 24-gun frigate HMS Flamborough, these raiders instead circled east before disembarking three contingents under Capts. Fernando Castro, Francisco de Le
on, and Juli
an Barroso, who inflicted considerable material damage among outlying properties before finally being expelled a few weeks later by the 500 militiamen which Rogers had gathered at Nassau. Yet the Spanish continued to roam unchecked throughout the islands, making off with at least 100 slaves and much booty, before peace was restored in March 1721.

NOLAND, RICHARD (fl. 1717
1722) Irish-born pirate who also served as a Spanish corsair. First mentioned in September 1717 as ‘‘quartermaster of the late Sam Bellamy,’’ Noland was hired at that time by Captain Benjamin Hornigold to act as his agent at Nassau, recruiting men and looking after his financial interests during Hornigold’s absence. Hornigold weighed shortly thereafter, with a cargo of provisions to sell to Richard Thompson and other smugglers residing on Harbour Island.

By next summer, Noland had evidently taken up service with the Spaniards. When Richard Taylor of Philadelphia, Master of the sloop Elizabeth and Mary, reached Exuma Island in the Bahamian archipelago to load with salt on July 5, 1718 (O.S.), he was instead surprised and taken by three Spanish piraguas which had prowled into these waters from the Cuban port of Baracoa. Taylor later testified how: Richard Holland [sic], an Irishman in command of one of them, told deponent that a new Governor was lately arrived at the Havana from Spain, with orders to destroy all the English settlements on the Bahama Islands: and that they had provided for that purpose, one ship of 50 guns and 700 men, another of 26 guns and 300 men, and three row galleys full of men, with instructions in case of surrender, to transport the people and their effects to Carolina, Virginia, or some other of the northern governments, but in case of resistance to send them to the Havana, for Old Spain. Deponent desired that he might go with his sloop to defend her upon her trial, but this was refused, and Holland said the Alcalde of Baracoa or Trinidad would for 500 pieces-of-eight condemn any vessel he carried in, and showed him a large commission from the Alcalde of Baracoa for what he did. Taylor was held prisoner until July 24, 1718 (O.S.), Noland and his Cuban consorts all the while ‘‘cruising about between Stocking Island and Exuma, at which time they stretch’d over for Cat Island and on the 26th landed there in a creek on the southwest part of the island, and took six women and several

Norton, Benjamin (fl. 1720
1722) children, but not one of the men belonging to the said island, they all flying to the bushes for shelter.’’ Of English vessels etc. taken since the cessation, restitution is to be made, especially for four prizes brought in by Captain Richd. Holland, ‘‘which are the only that were taken, and as for others which they say were taken by Nicholas of the Conception, they did not come here, excepting a sloop loaden with flour, the which was returned to the Captain and afterwards bought on the account of the King, the payment of which hath not been yet made, by reason that the persons have not come that are interested in the same. Also, there was a frigate returned to them that was taken by Captain Rendon without any lading’’ etc. etc. St. Augustine de Florida, 3rd Aug. (N.S.) 1722. Signed, Don Antonio de Benavides.

See also Hornigold, Benjamin.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 30, 33 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1930
1934). Woodard, Colin, The Republic of Pirates (New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008).

NORTON, BENJAMIN (fl. 1720
1722) Rhode Island privateer victimized in the West Indies by Bartholomew Roberts, who subsequently released him with a rich

prize so that when Norton returned home, he was charged with colluding in piracy. In the autumn of 1720, during the closing phase of the War of the Quadruple Alliance which had seen Britain, France, Holland, and Austria embroiled in conflict against Spain, the wealthy Newport merchant Joseph Whippole financed Norton’s venture into Antillean waters with his brigantine—‘‘a vessel by common observation more fit for pirates than trade, for which they pretended to employ her,’’ according to the disapproving Scottishborn Judge of the Vice-Admiralty Court in New England, John Menzies. Yet the eyewitness testimony of Richard Simes, Master of the sloop Fisher out of Barbados, would assert while lying at anchor on January 13, 1721 (O.S.): . . . in Saint Lucia near Pidgeon Island, deponent’s sloop and Captain Norton’s brigantine belonging to Rhode Island, were seized by the pirate Roberts, who afterwards sailed for the windward of Barbados to cruise for provisions, of which they seemed to be in great want. They took four French sloops, three of which they sunk, and the other they gave to deponent. They forced Captain Norton and all his men to remain with them, using his mate very barbarously. Toward the end of November of that same year, the Dutch Envoy in London submitted the following complaint to the British government: The ship El Puerto del Principe of Flushing was taken by Roberts the Pirate at Dominica, 29th January 1721, and afterwards brought into Tarpaulin Cove, New England, by Benjamin Norton of Newport, Rhode Island, who pretends that Roberts

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Norton, Benjamin (fl. 1720
1722) took a brigantine from him, and gave him this ship instead. Norton broke bulk at Tarpaulin Cove (a byplace fit for roguery), and in a clandestine manner put a considerable part of her cargo into small vessels and sent them to sundry ports therewith; some of the cargo he hid in the woods, and some part he left on board. The news thereof coming to the several governments, and Governor Cranston issuing a Proclamation enjoining all persons that had any of the effects to bring them to him, some negroes and sugar were brought to him at Newport, a sloop with part of the said ship’s cargo was seized at New York, another at New London, and another at Boston. The ship itself was brought by the Seahorse man-of-war to Boston with a large quantity of sugar on board, and is there seized. On August 25, 1722 (O.S.), an Order-inCouncil was issued by King George I from Kensington Palace in England, and repeated again one month later, instructing the Governor and Council of Rhode Island:

. . . to deliver into the custody of the Judge of the Vice-Admiralty [Court] of New England, the proceeds of the sale of the ship and cargo brought into Tarpaulin Cove by Benjamin Norton, and condemned as having been piratically employed. They are to be strictly observant to the decree of that court for the future, and not to assume to themselves in anywise any right to Admiralty jurisdiction, as they will answer the contrary at their peril. This command was received in Rhode Island by November 9, 1722 (O.S.), and read into the official minutes four days afterward.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 32, 33 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1933
1934). Jameson, John F., comp. and ed., Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period: Illustrative Documents (New York: Macmillan, 1923).

P And thus, my Lord, it is with everything in that place. It is a perfect receptacle of rogues and pirates . . . —Governor Joseph Dudley of Massachusetts, complaining about the separate jurisdiction of Rhode Island, May 1703

cannot propose fewer than twenty whole culverins, and fifteen demiculverins, which if thought fit to be complied with, together with a sufficient complement of round, doubleheaded, and partridge shot, and a supply of all necessary ammunition for those guns as are useful, according to the enclosed account, I doubt not but to put these islands in a very good posture of defense.

PARTRIDGE English nickname for clusters of small rounds fired from cannon, later more commonly known as grapeshot. Apparently this name derived from the buckshot commonly used in hunting partridges. For example, immediately on assuming office on April 29, 1701 (O.S.), as Lieutenant-Governor of Bermuda, Benjamin Bennett was expected to report to London about the state of its defenses and armaments, which he found to be deplorable, yet assured the Council of Trade and Plantations:

A year later, as tensions escalated between England and France, this artillery arrived and Bennett reported that he had mounted these new guns in the fortifications, while placing ‘‘the old ones that are useless on the platforms I am planting in the trenches, and against such places where an enemy may land, and they will serve very well for partridgeshot.’’

The supply of great guns, My Lords, I am to request, there being so general a deficiency and unserviceableness of those here, and many more being wanting that might be placed to do service in the castle and forts, that I 729

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Patache As Queen Anne’s War threatened to erupt, the government of Barbados also cast about for temporary local measures to provide ‘‘for the better defense of this Island,’’ until regular forces could arrive from across the Atlantic. The minutes of its Council in Assembly meeting on February 24, 1702 (O.S.), indicate that these measures included: . . . that materials be always in readiness to fit out two or three fire-ships; that guns, without carriages till they can be gotten, be planted in the breast-works, and that cross entrenchments be made at the end of every gully and fortified with great guns on planks, where carriages are not to be had; that bits of old iron be bought of the several smiths to use in bags as partridge shot . . . Not surprisingly, pirates were also known to favor such rounds. Cecil Headlam even described Blackbeard preparing to make his last stand within Ocracoke Inlet in November 1717, thus: The pirate captain had heralded the fight by draining a bowl of liquor, and crying: ‘‘Damnation to anyone who should give or ask quarter.’’ Then he raked the approaching sloops with his great guns loaded with partridge shot, inflicting serious loss on the unprotected sailors . . .

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 19, 20, 30 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1910
1930).

PATACHE Generic Spanish term used to describe any smaller vessel acting as a consort to a larger ship, or as a fleet auxiliary, rather than to a specific type of craft. Over the centuries, this expression had also passed verbatim into both the English and French languages, although it was often misspelled. For example, in July 1711—as Queen Anne’s War was just entering its tenth year—Rear Admiral James Littleton, naval commanderin-chief on the Jamaica station, exited from Port Royal with five two-deckers and a sloop to intercept the homewardbound galeones or South American plate fleet, as they emerged from a long layover in Cartagena. Five large Spanish vessels were duly sighted and chased back into that Colombian port on August 7, 1711; another four were sighted the next morning. Of the latter, the 50-gun HMS Salisbury of Captain Francis Hosier and 50-gun Salisbury Prize (ex-French Heureux) of Robert Harland managed to overtake and subdue the 60gun, 1,050-ton Spanish vice-flagship San Joaquı´n of Admiral Miguel Agustı´n de Villanueva, while a second smaller Spanish consort was also captured by Edward Vernon’s 48-gun HMS Jersey. When the victorious Royal Navy squadron returned into Port Royal a week later with its two prizes, the newly-arrived Jamaican Governor Lord Archibald Hamilton informed the Council of Trade and Plantations in London on August 15, 1711 (O.S.): I shall now have the satisfaction to mention to Your Lordships the success of Mr. Littleton’s cruise, which has been the taking of the Vice-Admiral of the galleons, and another galleon they call a potache [sic], which are both

P
erez Machado, Juan (fl. 1722) now in harbor. I can’t give Your Lordships any particulars of their value, reports about galleons being very different; these are said to be full of goods, but that Monsieur Du Casse had taken out all the King’s plate, and several merchants their money. However, it’s beyond dispute that they are very rich prizes. The Almirante of the galleon died of his wounds. One of many instances of the usage of the term patache in Spain occurred when Crown ministers in Madrid, seeking to encourage alternate routes for South American exports, granted a license in 1724 to Francisco de Alz
aibar and Crist
obal de Urquijo to jointly make a pair of commercial voyages to Buenos Aires ‘‘with two ships of a combined burthen of 1,000 tons, and a patache.’’

Governor George Phenney wrote from Nassau on September 14, 1722 (O.S.), to inform the Council of Trade and Plantations in London how he had captured one of two sloops prowling through that archipelago under Machado’s fellow corsair commander, Augustı´n Blanco, and that: There was found among the prisoners a journal belonging to William Williams, Master of the Oak bound from London to Virginia, which is brought down to the 24th July last [1722 O.S.], so that I am afraid Juan Matchao [sic], a comrade of Augustine’s who has been upon that coast and lately spoke with him among these islands, has made a prize of the said ship, the prisoners telling me he gave them that and other papers to make cartridges, as he passed by them.

See also Ducasse, Jean-Baptiste; Galeones; Hamilton, Lord Archibald; Patache (Volume 1); Plate Fleet.

References Archive of Indies (Seville), Contadurı´a 1791, Number 7. Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 26 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1925).

It is likely that this Machado was actually Captain Juan P
erez Machado, originally born in Havana, and that he was also the same anonymous ‘‘corsair from Trinidad on Cuba’’ who carried two English prizes into Campeche that same August 1722, in turn inspiring sorties from that Mexican port by Esteban de la Barca, which repeatedly circled around to the eastern side of the Yucat
an Peninsula and assaulted the English logging establishments in Belize.

See also
REZ MACHADO, JUAN PE (fl. 1722) Spanish corsair who operated out of Cuba and the Mexican port of Campeche. Peace having been uneasily restored between Britain and Spain 18 months previously, the newly-arrived Bahamian

Blanco, Augustı´n; La Barca, Esteban de.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 33 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1934).

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Phips, Sir William (fl. 1683
1690)

William Phips, low-born carpenter and treasure-salvor, who rose to become Governor of Massachusetts. (Library of Congress)

PHIPS, SIR WILLIAM (fl. 1683
1690) Low-born New England salvor, who rose to become Royal Governor of Massachusetts. He was born on February 2, 1651 (O.S.), in the backwoods hamlet of Woolwich, Maine, later described as ‘‘a despicable plantation on the river of Kennebeck.’’ He was the youngest of 14 children of an immigrant gunsmith from Bristol in England, who co-owned the local trading-post, bartering weapons for furs from the Wabanaki natives. When his father died, 14-year-old William was apprenticed for four years to a carpenter. On completing his indenture, the 18-year-old Phips made his way to Boston, and took service there with a ship’s

carpenter. The young man succeeded in this trade, and according to an account later published by Cotton Mather, grew ‘‘tall beyond the common set of men, and thick as well as tall, and strong as well as thick.’’ Phips also befriended the ship’s Captain Roger Spencer, and began making voyages to the Bahamas and West Indies. Then in 1673, the 22-year-old married the Captain’s sister, Mary Spencer Hull, widow of the prosperous merchant, John Hull. This union had provided Phips with the means to buy and command his own ship. Enormously ambitious, the young husband had allegedly bragged to his wife that ‘‘he should come to have the command of better men than he was now accounted himself, and that he should be the owner of a fair brick house’’ in the most fashionable quarter of Boston. During his subsequent travels, Phips learned of numerous Spanish shipwrecks dotting the Caribbean, many with immense treasure still aboard. He quickly acquired a reputation for ‘‘continually finding sunken ships,’’ and grew skillful at underwater salvage. In particular, he visited a famous wreck site near New Providence in the Bahamas (perhaps Nuestra Se~ nora de las Maravillas, lost in 1656?), which was being worked by many other seafarers, and he also heard rumors of another lost galleon which lay undisturbed on the shoals north of Hispaniola. He tried to raise money in Boston for an expedition in quest of this latter wreck, and when this failed, sailed to England in the early 1680s to petition Charles II. Another semi-official expedition was preparing there around this same time in an attempt to combine regular naval patrols with a search for the wreck, comprised of Captain George Churchill’s HMS Falcon of 42 guns, and Captain Edward Stanley’s HMS Bonito of four.

Phips, Sir William (fl. 1683
1690) But while in London, Phips came into contact with the wealthy Sir John Narborough, a Commissioner of the Royal Navy and former serving officer in the West Indies, who shared this enthusiasm for such projects. Thanks to his intervention, Phips was provided with the loan of an 18-gun Royal Navy vessel, Golden Rose (also known as Rose of Algier, having been captured during the recent campaign against that North African state), which he was to man with 100 men and sail to the Bahamas so as to work the known wreck there, and thus raise the finances for a subsequent expedition north of Hispaniola.

Bahamian Expedition (1683
1685) Phips cleared from the Downs on September 5, 1683, steering for Boston to pick up his diving equipment, and arriving there by the end of October. Proud of being in command of a King’s ship, he exceeded his instructions when he insisted that every vessel salute his flag, and was fined £10 for firing five times at the Samuel and Thomas of London, when it failed to do so. His men, who were serving for shares only—no wages—furthermore got into an altercation with the Boston constabulary, which ended when Phips ordered them back aboard ship. He then argued with the constables himself, saying ‘‘he did not care a turd for the Governor’’ and inviting the constabulary to ‘‘kiss his arse.’’ Hauled into court once more, he was released with the admonition ‘‘that everybody in Boston knew very well what he was and from whence he came, and therefore desired him not to carry it so loftily among his countrymen.’’

Phips also made agreements with Captains William Warren of the ship Good Intent and William Davis of a Bermuda sloop, to help him work the wreck. Warren sailed first from Boston on November 28, 1683, followed by the other two on January 14th. Phips arrived at New Providence in the Bahamas on February 9th, only three weeks after it had undergone a devastating attack from the Spaniards out of Havana. He reached the site itself March 16th, and discovered that it had been largely picked clean over recent months by rovers such as Thomas Paine. Several weeks’ work resulted in only disappointing returns, and after another Spanish attack on New Providence (this time by the Cuban corsair Gaspar de Acosta), Phips was forced to go careen his ship on a desolate isle. His hard-bitten crew attempted to rise with the ship and try ‘‘a trade of piracy in the South Sea,’’ but the massive Phips put them down with his fists. In November 1684 he visited Port Royal, Jamaica, where he got into a public dispute with a Spanish Captain, whose slaver was also lying in the harbor (see sidebar). A few days afterward, the pugnacious salvor departed, accompanied by the sloops of Davis and a local captain named Abraham Adderley. They paused at Puerto Plata on the north coast of Santo Domingo, where Phips met a very old Spaniard who claimed to have been ‘‘cast away in the [1641] wreck’’ of the vice-flagship Nuestra Se~ nora de la Pura y Limpia Concepci
on, and was willing to guide him out to its site. Together, they traveled northeastward to the Ambrosian Bank, but could not hit on the galleon exactly. Nevertheless, Phips realized that he was close, but because of the growing

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Phips, Sir William (fl. 1683
1690)

PHIPS AT PORT ROYAL, NOVEMBER 1684 Big, loud, and truculent, the future Royal Governor of Massachusetts left an indelible impression during his visit to Jamaica. Many masters were assertive and brash during those days in the lawless West Indies, yet none more so than the 33-year-old New Englander. Self-consciously proud about being in temporary command of a King’s ship, he roamed the crowded streets of Port Royal seeking a fight with Spanish visitors. They remained unpopular, yet given the shaky peace established between both Crowns, were being actively courted by the wealthier commercial houses, who wished to sell slaves and other goods into Spanish America. It was therefore ruefully, that the island’s Acting-Governor Hender Molesworth—in office scarcely a few months, and invested in the slave trade in his private capacity—penned the following account on November 18, 1684 (O.S.), to his young friend William Blathwayt, an influential civil servant of the Privy Council in London: This afternoon, the Spanish factor with one of his captains came to me with great complaints, that they had been affronted by some unknown people, and could not pass the streets in peace. But their chief complaint is against Captain Phipps [sic] of H.M.S. Rose, who is said, upon some mistaken punctilio of the sea, to have fired a shot at one of the Spaniards, who had on a festival day put his pendant under his ram, and made him take it in. Captain Phipps meeting the Spanish captain in the street, with a rabble at his heels, told him that if he did not pay him for his shot, he would take his sword from him. The Spaniard was unwilling either to give up his sword or to pay the money, and the rabble was ready to have laid hands on him, if a gentleman passing by had not taken ten shillings from his pocket and paid it for him. I am told that this is not Phipps’s first affront to the Spanish captain, but that he constantly seeks occasion for it, being egged on by ill-wishers to the trade. The Spaniards were so sensibly concerned that the factor asked leave to send his two greatest ships away, which I could not refuse, though I cannot think where they will go. I ordered Captain Phipps to come to me and explain his conduct, but as he is on the point of sailing, I doubt whether he will do so—or indeed, whether he thinks himself bound to obey. Valuing himself on his independence and his private instructions, he may run into further mistakes and not think himself accountable to this Government. This will show you how liable we are to be affronted by capricious captains. When privately animated by enemies to the Government they are ready to raise a faction against the authorities of the place, and, as it were, to use the King’s name against himself. This man never had better than a carpenter’s education, and never before pretended to the title of Captain; but now he assumes it, though he cannot yet show a commission for it, and takes more to himself than any other of the King’s Captains. I must do justice to the Government and the Spaniards, but will endeavor to do so without hindering his voyage. I enclose copy of the letter that I wrote to him. I hope that in future, when ships put in here accidentally for relief, their commanders may be better instructed, and not go about to disturb the Government and take part with the disaffected. The original of this document is reproduced in the Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898), p. 730.

Phips, Sir William (fl. 1683
1690) unreliability of his men, decided to return to England for a new expedition. He paused at Bermuda during April
May 1685, where the colonists were in open rebellion against its Royal Governor Richard Cony, because of the recent death of Charles II and his succession by James, Duke of York, whom they regarded as ‘‘a Papist.’’ Phips helped uphold Cony’s rule, carrying two of his most vociferous opponents back to England as prisoners aboard the Rose when he sailed. They preferred charges against Phips once they arrived (August 1685), so he was detained for a day within ‘‘the liberties of the Tower [of London].’’ His lack of profits also meant that Phips would no longer receive royal patronage, but had to seek out private investors. Fortunately, the wealthy Narborough and hard-pressed Duke of Albemarle agreed to form a syndicate in March 1686, which attracted the necessary funds. The 200-ton merchantman Bridgewater of 23 guns was purchased and renamed James and Mary in honor of the new King and Queen, to which was added the 40-ton sloop Henry under Captain Francis Rogers, with a combined total of 70 crewmembers.

Treasure Expedition (1686
1687) On September 12, 1686, Phips set sail again from the Downs, parting company with his sloop during the trans-Atlantic voyage, before reuniting at the end of November 1686 in Saman
a Bay, on the northeastern coast of Santo Domingo. The two vessels disguised their true intent by pretending to seek trade with the local Spaniards, meanwhile discreetly stocking up on supplies and

waiting for the stormy season to pass, so as to proceed to their true destination of the Ambrosian Bank. After visiting Puerto Plata and the Turks Islands, Phips and Rogers reached the bank on January 12, 1687, and eight days later one of their East Indian divers discovered the wreck, proving it by bringing up pieces of eight ‘‘by thousands, sticking together, the sea water having dissolved some of the alloy or copper next with the silver and made it into verdigris, which has fastened them together.’’ Phips worked the site feverishly until May 2nd, when he set sail for England with more than 34 tons of silver aboard, worth £200,000. He returned to a hero’s welcome that June, a naval guard being placed aboard James and Mary to escort it to its anchorage at Deptford, and prevent any treasure being smuggled ashore. Phips himself was summoned to Windsor on June 28th to tell James II of his expedition, at which time he was knighted and offered ‘‘a very gainful place among the Commissioners of the Navy, with many other invitations to settle himself in England, [yet] nothing but a return to New England would content him.’’ In deference to his wishes, he was appointed Provost Marshal of New England on August 4th, a position second only to that of Governor.

Narborough’s Expedition (1687
1688) But much more silver still remained at the site, so that a second expedition was prepared, which Narborough was to command from the King’s frigate Foresight of 48 guns, being comprised of the 400-ton merchantman Good

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Phips, Sir William (fl. 1683
1690) Luck and a Boy under Phips, James and Mary under John Strong, the ship Princess under Rogers, along with the former Henry. The five set sail from the Downs on September 3, 1687, but soon encountered heavy weather. Phips’ vessel was damaged and forced back into Plymouth, while Strong lost sight of the others off Cape Finisterre. He nevertheless pressed on to Barbados, where he was eventually rejoined by Narborough on November 16th. By the time the expedition finally reached the Ambrosian Bank ([now renamed the Silver Bank) in midDecember, they found it surrounded by more than four dozen craft. These and numerous other local scavengers had been working the wreck for many months, making away with a further £250,000. The interlopers were driven off, and Narborough’s men settled in to resume their work; yet the gleanings now proved slender, five months’ labor resulting in little silver. Phips therefore sailed away for New England in May, ‘‘to entertain his lady with some accomplishments of his predictions,’’ and officially assume office as Provost Marshal. That same winter, James was deposed in the ‘‘Glorious Revolution,’’ and next year the War of the League of Augsburg or King William’s War erupted against France.

Acadian Expedition (April
May 1690) The following spring, Phips exercised his newfound authority by impressing several private vessels and leading a raid against the French settlements in Acadia. His force consisted of his 42-gun, 120man flagship Six Friends under Captain

Gregory Sugars; the 16-gun Swan of Captain Thomas Gilbert; the 8-gun Mary of Captain Cyprian Southack; and five lesser vessels. On April 23, 1690 (O.S.), 500 drafted soldiers went aboard these eight vessels at Nantasket, putting out to sea five days later. On May 1, 1690 (O.S.), they anchored at Mount Desert, and next day attempted to rush Penobscot fort, although the wind died away and left them becalmed in the harbor. It was not until the day after that the soldiers could get ashore, and when they attacked the fort at dawn on May 4th (O.S.), found it deserted. Further reinforcements then joined Phips’ expedition from Salem and Ipswich, which together plundered the settlement of Passamequoddy on May 6th (O.S.), and three days later captured Port Royal in the Bay of Fundy without resistance. Phips’ triumphant fleet returned to Boston at the end of that same month, only to have to hasten back out again in early July, in a vain attempt to counter the retaliatory raid of Capitaine Le Picard.

Quebec Campaign (August
October 1690) That autumn, Phips launched a much more ambitious enterprise, when he sailed from Hull on August 9, 1690 (O.S.), with the following ships in three divisions: Six Friends (flagship), Captain Gregory Sugars John and Thomas, Captain Thomas Carter Return (fire-ship), Captain Andrew Knott Lark, Captain John Walley Bachelor, Captain Thomas Gwynne

Phips, Sir William (fl. 1683
1690) Mary, Captain John Rainsford Elisabeth and Mary, Captain Caleb Lamb Mary Anne, Captain Gregory Sugars, Jr. Hannah and Mary, Captain Thomas Parker Friendship, Captain Windsor Elijah, Captain Elias Noe Swallow, Captain Thomas Lyzenby Swan (vice-flagship), Captain Thomas Gilbert Swallow, Captain Small Samuel, Captain Samuel Robinson Delight, Captain Ingerston Mary of 4 guns, Captain Jonathan Baulston, Jr. Beginning, Captain Samuel Elsoe Speedwell, Captain Barger Mayflower, Captain Bowditch Boston Merchant, Captain Michael Shute William and Mary, Captain Peter Ruck America Merchant (rear-admiral), Captain Joseph Eldridge Lark, Captain Walk Union, Captain Brown Adventure, Captain Thomas Barrington Kathrine, Captain Thomas Berry Fraternity, Captain Elias Jarvis Success, Captain John Carlisle Bachelor, Captain Edward Ladd

plus two transports, commanded by Captains William Clutterbuck and Febershear. Eleven days later, these 32 vessels sighted Cape Breton, and on August 31st (O.S.), Captain Joseph Eldridge’s America Merchant captured a French fishing-boat near ^Ile Perc
e, then Phips landed and burnt some houses. A few more tiny craft were taken as the fleet slowly groped its way up the Saint Lawrence Seaway, with Captains Clutterbuck and Ingerston taking soundings in the lead and waving ‘‘their jack respectively so many times as they had fathom.’’

On October 6, 1690 (O.S.), Phips finally anchored three miles below Quebec, and demanded the surrender of the city. Not surprisingly, the French Governor Comte de Frontenac refused, being well prepared for the English, which he proved once Phips’s fleet weighed and advanced against the batteries. A one-sided duel ensued between the wooden ships and stone ramparts, until the New Englanders cut their cables and drifted out of range. Checked in his assault, Phips was left with no other choice than to retreat a few days later, pausing off the northern tip of ^Ile d’Orl
eans to repair his damaged ships. It was noted that ‘‘Sir William worked as diligently as any among them, plying his former trade of ship’s carpenter,’’ before the fleet fortuitously intercepted the French bark N^ otre Dame de la Conception as it arrived from La Rochelle with a cargo of pork, flour, and salt. Three other French merchantmen were chased a few days afterward, but disappeared ‘‘amid thick fogs and a howling tempest of snow’’ as winter now set in. Captain John Rainsford’s Mary was wrecked on Anticosti Island with 60 men, and Phips limped back into Boston at the end of November with six ships missing, although all but three eventually reappeared. Nevertheless, his grand expedition against Quebec had ended in utter failure.

Later Career (1691
1695) Notwithstanding this setback, Phips traveled to England next year and won appointment as Governor of Massachusetts. When he returned to Boston in May 1692, he found the province in the grip of the Salem witch hunts, which question he relegated to his Lieutenant-Governor

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Picard, Capitaine Le William Stoughton, while concentrating on throwing back the French and Indian counter-offensives along the eastern borders of New England. During his absence 20 innocent men and women were hanged, and when Phips finally returned from Pemaquid and Penobscot that fall, he found his wife among the accused. This promptly led him to decree that no more people were to be committed, and the hysteria abated. Two years later he was accused of maladministration, and sailed to London to clear himself of these charges. He arrived in January 1695, but died suddenly on February 18th, not yet 45 years of age.

References Chapin, Howard M., Privateer Ships and Sailors: The First Century of American Colonial Privateering, 1625
1725 (Toulon: G. Mouton, 1926). Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 11 (London: Her Majestys Stationery Office, 1898). Earle, Peter, The Treasure of the Concepcion: The Wreck of the Almiranta (New York: Viking, 1980).

PICARD, CAPITAINE LE See Le Picard, Capitaine

who had emigrated out to Canada. There he had married Franc¸oise Loisel on August 16, 1669, and presumably their son Franc¸ois, Jr., was born shortly thereafter. The senior Pillet (or Pilet) prospered, as it is known that by February 1681 he was at La Rochelle with his own 200-ton merchant ship Honor
e, preparing to sail for Cayenne, Saint-Domingue, and then homeward to New France. And also that same year, according to a Crown census, his family was recorded as living in the Lower Town of Quebec City. However, Pillet’s father died at Boucherville at nearby Chambly in September 1688, followed almost exactly two years later by his mother. Whether the youthful Pillet then decided to seek his fortune abroad is unknown, but on July 1, 1691—as King William’s War was entering its second year—he obtained a privateering commission at Versailles to sortie from France with his own 200-ton ship Saint-Franc¸ois Xavier. More than a decade later, he would also play a vital role in the French colonization of Louisiana, aboard his 45-ton ketch Dauphine.

References Archives D
epartementales de la Gironde [France], 6B 75 28v.
29v. Higginbotham, Jay, Old Mobile: Fort Louis de la Louisiane, 1702
1711 (Mobile, AL: University of Alabama Press, 1991).

PILLET, FRANÇOIS (fl. 1691
1702)

PISTOLE

French-Canadian seaman nicknamed ‘‘Lajeunesse,’’ who also served in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. His father had been a master carpenter of this same name, originally from Paris,

English nickname for any full-weight Spanish coin, worth more than a pound sterling. For example, among the complaints of corruption filed against the deposed

Pollet, Diego (fl. 1718) private Governor of the Bahamas, Elias Haskett, was one sworn on November 3, 1701 (O.S.), by Tabitha Alford at Nassau, explaining how six weeks previously: Deponent carried to Governor Haskett at his house £50, which was a bribe for enlarging Colonel [Read] Elding, who was then a close prisoner and in irons; when Governor Haskett found it was not as much as he expected, he returned it to deponent, swearing that if Elding did not send him 50 pistols (£67, 10 shillings), he should not be released. Deponent, by order of Elding, was forced to go to Captain George Graham to borrow the rest. Haskett was not contented with that sum, but told deponent that Elding must also send him a rich ring, and a piece of plate of value, which ring and a silver tankard was carried by deponent to Haskett for a bribe, and also some pieces of dry goods, and a set of gold buttons, and three gold drops.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 20 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1912).

POLLET, DIEGO (fl. 1718) Minor Spanish corsair who operated briefly out of Cuman
a, Venezuela. Nothing is known about Pollet’s early life or career. The first notice of his activities occurred in the summer of 1718, when his piragua seized a pair of English trading vessels lying at Salt Tortuga. Pollet had presumably been commissioned by

the Governor at Cuman
a—sargento mayor Jos
e Francisco Carre~no, Knight of the Order of Calatrava—to patrol the regional waters claimed by Spain as part of this jurisdiction, detaining any trespassers, smugglers, or pirates. The merchant ship Neptune of Master Joseph Bosworth and sloop Mary and Elizabeth of Master Anthony Attwood had earlier departed Antigua together for this particular destination, so that Attwood later testified how: . . . on 3rd July [1718 O.S.] saw the ship Neptune, which was in company with him, boarded by a periaga [sic; piragua] or row-galley, upon which deponent put his sloop under sail; but the periaga boarded him, overcame the crew, and carried the sloop into Cuman
a. The periaga was commanded by Dago Pocheet [sic], who showed a commission from the Governor of Cuman
a. On 13th August, after several times petitioning the Governor, deponent was ordered away in a boat with his sloop’s crew, and Captain Bosworth and the Neptune’s crew. The Englishmen regained Antigua a couple of weeks later, where Bosworth and Attwood gave depositions before Governor Walter Hamilton on September 3
4, 1718 (O.S.). A few days afterward, this official complained to London that the Spaniards had also recently taken several other small sloops belonging to the Leeward Islands, ‘‘which only went to Crab Island and St. Croix to get turtle.’’ Nothing more was heard from Pollet, though, and Governor Carre~no’s threeyear term expired by the spring of 1719. His successor, Juan de la Tornera Sota, pursued a much less aggressive policy regarding the English. Indeed, within several months of his assuming office,

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Pound, Thomas (fl. 1687
1703) the Spanish sloop Marı´a appeared off Barbados on December 18, 1719 (O.S.), and its Master Pablo Planes stepped ashore next morning, to inform the English authorities that his cargo consisted: . . . of a little turtle-shell, four bags of coconuts, two bags of snuff, and a small quantity of hides, being the growth and produce of ye Spanish West Indies, which he was directed by the Governor of Cuman
a to barter for provisions.

See also Crab Island; Piragua; Salt Tortuga.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 30, 31 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1930
1933).

POUND, THOMAS (fl. 1687
1703) Massachusetts privateer turned renegade. In 1687, Pound was a loyal servant of the English Crown, serving as pilot aboard the Royal Navy sloop HMS Rose which patrolled the New England coastline in search of illicit traders, smugglers, and pirates. Next year, he was appointed captain (commission dated July 11, 1688 [O.S.]) of the new colonial sloop Mary, which Gov. Sir Edmund Andros had ordered built through public subscriptions. Yet he was to operate this vessel only briefly, because the upheaval caused by the ‘‘Glorious Revolution’’ in England (when James II was deposed in favor of the Protestant rulers William and Mary) (see sidebar) evidently led to his dismissal.

On August 8, 1689 (O.S.), amid reports that the former King had landed in Ireland with a French army to attempt to recoup his throne, Pound sailed out of Boston harbor with five men and a boy as passengers aboard a small vessel. When off Lovell’s Island, five other armed men joined them and Pound seized command, declaring his intention of going on a self-proclaimed privateering cruise. The first vessel which he and his partner Thomas Hawkins met—a fishing-boat—was rushed, but at the last moment Pound changed his mind and merely bought ‘‘eight pennies’ worth of mackerel’’ from the surprised fishermen. The renegades then proceeded northward to Falmouth, Maine, where the corporal and soldiers of the guard deserted their fort one night to join forces with Pound. Meanwhile, the colonial sloop Resolution had been manned with 30 sailors in Boston, and ordered out into Massachusetts Bay under Captain Joseph Thaxter to detain these rovers on a charge of piracy. Pound, however, circled past and around Cape Cod to instead take up station in Vineyard Sound, where over the next few weeks he attacked the merchant sloop Good Speed off Cape Cod, and seized the brigantine Merrimack along with several other prizes.

Battle off Tarpaulin Cove (October 1689) On September 30, 1689 (O.S.), Pound’s original sloop Mary was dispatched from Boston to again search for him, with 20 volunteer crewmembers under Captain Samuel Pease. This vessel reached Wood’s Hole four days later, where a boat rowed out from shore and informed Pease that the renegades were cruising off

Pound, Thomas (fl. 1687
1703) nearby Tarpaulin Cove. At this news, Mary’s crew gave ‘‘a great shout or hurrah,’’ and shortly thereafter sighted their prey to westward, overhauling it in a stiff south-southeasterly wind. Pease had the King’s jack raised and a shot from the great gun fired across the renegades’ forefoot, at which a man climbed Pound’s mast and affixed ‘‘the red flag of piracy at the mainmast top.’’ Pease responded with a single musket-shot, then a full volley, directly into the renegades’ hull and as the distance narrowed, called on them ‘‘to strike to the King of England.’’ Such a sentiment must have enflamed Pound, who could be clearly seen on his quarterdeck, brandishing a sword and shouting back above the wind: ‘‘Come aboard, you dogs, and I will strike you presently!’’ Pound then picked up his gun and led his men in firing a volley against Mary, which touched off a heated exchange. Pease’s sloop, being more nimble, ran down to leeward of the renegades, normally a tactical disadvantage—but not on such a blustery day. The heeling caused by the strong wind raised Mary’s weather side as a bulwark for its marksmen, while further allowing the volunteers to fire down on the more exposed renegades. They nonetheless resisted bravely, even after Pound was wounded in both arm and side, and was carried below. Soon, two of Mary’s men were also injured by an accidental detonation of gunpowder, which created a small fire and much billowing smoke. Seeing this, the renegades cheered and redoubled their efforts, shooting Pease in the arm, side, and thigh, as well as wounding two other volunteers. With Captain Pease below being tended, his Lieutenant Benjamin Gallop assumed command and decided to board the enemy. Mary surged alongside the renegade craft, and a fierce hand-to-hand

struggle ensued. Muskets were swung about viciously as clubs, until four pirates lay dead and 12 wounded, forcing the remaining two to surrender. By now, the weather had become so bad that Gallop sailed his two vessels into the Sakonnet River, and anchored in the shelter between Pocasset and Rhode Island. Next morning, October 5, 1689 (O.S.), the casualties were treated by doctors ashore, after which Pease resumed command six days later and attempted to sail back to Boston. His wounds proved too severe, though, so that he was carried back ashore to die in agony on October 12th (O.S.), being buried at Newport. A week afterward, Gallop sailed Mary back into Boston with his prize, and the 14 prisoners were cast into jail.

Later Career (1690
1703) Although Pound was tried on January 13, 1690 (O.S.), and found guilty of piracy, along with his confederate Hawkins and several other crewmembers, the peculiar circumstances motivating his cruise meant that none was executed. Instead, he and Hawkins were sent to England for a determination (the latter dying en route in a fight against a French privateer). Pound arrived and was eventually set at liberty, afterward even obtaining command of a ship. He died there in 1703.

References Chapin, Howard M., Privateer Ships and Sailors: The First Century of American Colonial Privateering, 1625
1725 (Toulon: G. Mouton, 1926). Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924).

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Pound, Thomas (fl. 1687
1703)

ENGLAND’S ‘‘GLORIOUS REVOLUTION’’ OF 1688 Ever since his older brother Charles II had died in February 1685, his successor James II was viewed with suspicion by his English subjects. A staunch Catholic, it was feared that he would attempt to reimpose his faith on the Protestant kingdom. He had lost the support of the dominant Anglican Tories in Parliament that first year. His removal of Protestants from key positions of power and his recruitment of a large peacetime army had also seemed preludes to a seizure of absolute power. As a result, a conspiracy had been hatched to remove James in favor of his daughter Mary and her husband, the Dutch Stadhouder Willem of Orange. Both were Protestant, and both were grandchildren of King Charles I of England. They stood second and third in line to the throne. And Willem moreover had the reputation of being the main Protestant champion in Europe against French Catholic absolutism. Events accelerated as of late 1687, once it was learned that James was expecting a child. This had made the prospect of a Catholic dynasty on the English throne much more likely. When James had signed a naval agreement with Louis XIV of France in April 1688, Willem began actively raising political and financial support to invade. He had struck secret deals with the Holy Roman Emperor in Vienna, the Duke of Hanover, the Elector of Saxony, even Pope Innocent XI. All had been united by their hostility to France. The Dutch Navy had been mobilized, thousands of troops had mustered, and 400 transports were hired. But great care had also gone into a propaganda effort to convince the English people that Willem would be coming in peace to ‘‘save the Protestant religion.’’ When Louis XIV had warned the States-General in September 1688 against acting in England, his threat backfired. James had been embarrassed, and the Dutch convinced that a secret Franco-English alliance must exist. Their 21,000 troops had boarded their transports by October 8th, to be escorted by 53 warships under Lieutenant-Admiral ‘‘Kees the Devil’’ Evertsen. Contrary winds had kept them in Hellevoetsuis until November 11th, when the so-called ‘‘Protestant Wind’’ carried them across to England. This enormous 60,000-man fleet, four times the size of the Spanish Armada and carrying 5,000 horses, had sailed through the English Channel uncontested because Admiral George Legge, Lord Dartmouth, could not exit from the Thames. Willem had landed amid popular acclaim at Torbay on November 15, 1688. His banner had read: ‘‘The Liberties of England and the Protestant Religion I Will Maintain.’’ His Dutch army behaved well, and he did not thrust inland. Instead, he had let anti-Catholic riots and desertions sap James’ resolve. The King had joined his 19,000-man army at Salisbury two weeks later, only to soon retreat. Willem had begun a triumphal advance on London, until James fled for France on December 21st. Captured the next day, there were cheers when he was brought back into London. Willem had arranged for a second escape, so as not to complicate his own assumption of office. The Dutch had called their venture the Glorieuze Overtocht or ‘‘Glorious Crossing.’’ English supporters would dub Willem’s almost-bloodless ascension as the ‘‘Glorious Revolution.’’

R For our word’s sake, we let thee go, But to Creoles we are a foe. —Scribbled in chalk above the companion-way of a prize released off Saint Kitts by Bartolomew Roberts, further embellished with ‘‘a Death’s head and arm with a Cutlass,’’ September 1720

RACK

ashore, besides eighteen sloops lost. That night I sailed for Montserrat.

In nautical terminology, a synonym for wreckage, as in the expression ‘‘rack and ruin.’’ For example, when the 26-gun, 115-man frigate HMS Speedwell of Captain Jedidiah Barker departed Barbados’ Carlisle Bay on an anti-piracy patrol on August 6, 1699 (O.S.), this officer later reported.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 17 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1908).

RACKHAM, JOHN, ALIAS ‘‘CALICO JACK’’ (fl. 1718
1720)

On the 7th we arrived at Martinico [sic; Martinique] where we met with a great deal of rack and timber, whereon I hoisted out my boat and sent my Lieutenant ashore, who brought me off word that they had had a very severe hurricane, which carried down houses and trees and put three ships

Minor rover best remembered for his colorful nickname, and female shipmates. Governor Nicholas Lawes of Jamaica reported to London how:

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Reiner, George (fl. 1691
1692) On the 11th December [1718 O.S.], an unlucky accident happened to a ship called the Kingston from London, whose cargo is said to be valued at £20,000. She was unfortunately taken by one Thompson, a notorious pyrate, within sight of Port Royal and none of His Majesty’s ships of war being then in harbor, the freighters and owners of that ship made application to me to commission two sloops, which were then lying in harbor ready to sail, to go in quest of the said pyrate, they promising at the same time one-third part of whatever was recovered as a reward, beyond what His Majesty had been pleased to promise in his Royal Proclamation, to such who would go out in the said sloops on that service; I did thereupon grant two commissions to the said vessels, to continue in force for the space of two months and no longer, and gave the commanders thereof proper instructions, and took the usual security on like occasions for the due observance of them: and they were soon man’d and sayl’d the 26th December in pursuit of the pyrate. But on November 13, 1720 (O.S.), Governor Lawes could inform London how: About a fortnight ago, a trading sloop belonging to the island [i.e., Jamaica], being well manned and commanded by a brisk fellow, one Jonathan Barnet, did us a very good piece of service: he was met by a pirate vessel at the leeward part of this island commanded by one Rackum [sic], in which were eighteen pirates more, whom he took and are now in jail; this week I intent to have them tried.

See also Vane, Charles.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 31, 32 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1933).

REINER, GEORGE (fl. 1691
1692) Renegade English privateer, who made a lucrative piratical foray into the Red Sea during King William’s War, before slipping back into civilian life in South Carolina. According to a deposition given almost eight years later in New York City by Adam Baldridge before its Royal Governor Richard, Lord Bellomont, Reiner had been one of the earliest rovers to call at his notorious freebooter sanctuary on Saint Mary’s Island near Madagascar. Baldridge’s statement read: October 13, 1691 [O.S.]: Arrived the Batchelor’s Delight, Captain George Raynor [sic] commander, burden 180 tons or thereabouts, 14 guns, 70 or 80 men, that had made a voyage into the Red Seas and taken a ship belonging to the Moors, as the men did report, where they took as much money as made the whole share run about £1,100 a man. They careened at St. Marie’s, and while they careened I supplied them with cattle for their present spending, and they gave me for my cattle a quantity of beads, five great guns for a fortification, some powder and shot, and six barrels of flour, about 70 bars of iron. The ship belonged to Jamaica and set sail from St. Marie’s November the 4th, 1691 [O.S.], bound for Port Dauphin on Madagascar to take in their provision, and December ’91

Reiner, George (fl. 1691
1692) they set sail from Port Dauphin bound for America, where I have heard since they arrived at Carolina and complied with the owners, giving them for ruin of the ship three thousand pounds, as I have heard since. This ship had evidently departed Port Royal on a privateering cruise under the name of Loyal Jamaica, before Reiner had decided to circle around Africa on an unsanctioned raid into the more lucrative hunting-ground of the Indian Ocean. On July 16, 1692 (O.S.), LieutenantGovernor Francis Nicholson of Virginia noted in a letter to the Lords of Trade and Plantations in London: I have an account that a ship lately came to South Carolina, which pretended to have come from the Red Sea and to have captured a Moorish ship, which brought £2,000 apiece to the hundred men of the crew. They parted in Carolina and I hear that several of them are in Pennsylvania, where the government, owing to the Quakers falling out among themselves, is very loose. I beg your orders for my guidance, in case any of these men should come here. In November 1696, Edward Randolph presented a report about illegal trade in South Carolina, part of which read: About three years ago, 70 pyrates having run away with a vessel from Jamaica, came to Charleston, bringing with them a vast quantity of gold from the Red Sea; they were entertained, and had liberty to stay or go to any other place. The vessel was seized by the Governor for the [Lords] Proprietors as a wreck, and sold; they have no regard for the Acts of Trade.

Captured the vessel of Jonathan Amory and carried it into Jamaica, where it was condemned as a legitimate prize (presumably for operating as an illicit trader). However, when Loyal Jamaica subsequently visited Charleston, South Carolina, in April 1692, its crew was seized by the local authorities, apparently on account of rumored irregularities, although they were quickly released on bail. Eight years later, when Governor William Penn wrote from Philadelphia on April 28, 1700 (O.S.), to inform the Council of Trade and Plantations in London of his efforts to root out lawless elements from that colony, in the wake of the peacetime manhunts for such wanted renegades as Henry Every and William Kidd, he mentioned that: [George] Thomson, [Peter] Lewis, and [William] Orr were under suspicion of being old pirates, whose camerades [sic] have long sown themselves in Boston, Rhode Island, New York, Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and Carolina, where their Captain, one Reiner, now lives, and Colonel Quary tells me, he bought their ship. They were 84 in company; here are five of them in this government, but three of them have followed a life of husbandry, turning planters, the other have trades.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 13, 18 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1901
1910). Chapin, Howard M., Privateer Ships and Sailors: The First Century of American

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Richier, Isaac (fl. 1689
1697) Colonial Privateering, 1625
1725 (Toulon: G. Mouton, 1926). Collections of the South Carolina Historical Society, Volume I (Charleston, SC: Historical Society, 1857). Jameson, John F., comp. and ed., Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period: Illustrative Documents (New York: Macmillan, 1923). McCrady, Edward, The History of South Carolina under the Proprietary Government, Volume One: 1670
1719 (Westminster, MD: Heritage Books, 2008).

to get to Bermuda on his own, chairing a meeting of its Council on October 16, 1690 (O.S.), William further issued an Order-in-Council: ‘‘That Sir Robert Robinson be recalled from Bermuda, and that a clause be inserted in Mr. Richier’s instructions directing him to admit Samuel Trott as Collector of the King’s Customs.’’

See also Dew, George; Tew, Thomas.

Reference RICHIER, ISAAC (fl. 1689
1697) Royal favorite rewarded with the office of Governor of Bermuda, On September 17, 1689 (O.S.), the Earl of Shrewsbury informed the Lords of Trade and Plantations in London that the newly-crowned William III had appointed Richier as his Governor for Bermuda, so that instructions for his administration of that island should be prepared. These were ready by November 11th (O.S.), when Richier also petitioned the Board to have his annual salary increased to £400, plus an accompanying detachment of 50 soldiers, and ‘‘two hundred tons of freight to transport myself and family.’’ Instead, the Lords merely recommended that he be given a ‘‘grant of £200 as traveling allowance.’’ Richier’s commission was officially issued on December 8, 1689 (O.S.), and the Board 19 days later ordered ships prepared to deposit him at Bermuda, before carrying Colonel Henry Sloughter on to New York City as its new Royal Governor. But Richier managed

Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 13 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1901).

ROBERTS, BARTHOLOMEW (fl. 1719
1722) Last of the great pirate commanders, who roamed the Atlantic unchecked, before finally meeting a bloody death off the slave coast of West Africa. He was apparently born on May 17, 1682 (O.S.), in Casnewydd-Bach or Little Newcastle, a hamlet which lies near Fishguard and Haverfordwest in Pembrokeshire, Wales. He was christened John Roberts, and his father was most likely George Roberts. It is not clear whether his full baptismal name was John Bartholomew Roberts, and that he later started using his middle name to avoid confusion with another individual, or whether ‘‘Bartholomew Roberts’’ was simply a pseudonym

Roberts, Bartholomew (fl. 1719
1722) adopted to confuse the authorities, just as was his repeated use of the same or very similar names for his many flagships. Roberts is thought to have first gone to sea at the age of 13, but there is no record of any of his activities prior to 1718, when he appeared as mate aboard a Barbados sloop.

Slaver to Pirate (June 1719
May 1720) The 37-year-old Roberts was serving as third mate of the merchant-galley Princess of Captain Abraham Plumb out of London, when around noon on June 5, 1719 (O.S.), a pair of pirate ships under Howell Davis stood into the anchorage off the English slavingstation of Anamaboe on the Gold Coast (modern Anomabu, Ghana). The first of these raiders was described by an eye-witness as a dark-hulled vessel with a black flag fluttering from its masthead, called the King James; the other was a former Dutch trader now mounting 32 cannon and 27 swivels, which Davis had recently captured off Cape Three Points and renamed the Royal Rover. These marauders quickly subdued and pillaged the three English slavers lying in the roads, in the process removing some of their prime seamen, as was their practice—among the latter, the tall and dark-haired Roberts. Six weeks later, Davis visited the Portuguese colony of Principe Island in the Guinea Gulf, masquerading as a patrolling Royal Navy officer seeking to resupply his ships after a cruise against pirates. The local Portuguese Governor was not deceived, though, and instead turned the tables by persuading Davis and a landing-party to

come ashore, where they were then ambushed and the Welsh Captain slain. Retreating out to sea aboard the Royal Rover, his surviving crew-members elected Roberts skilled mariner to fill his place, despite the latter’s very short time among the pirates. Their new Captain—despite never having served in any dishonest capacity—would prove an astonishingly resourceful corsair leader, and indeed become the last of the great rover chieftains. Roberts later allegedly explained his willingness to embrace his disreputable new calling by saying: In an honest service there is thin rations, low wages and hard labor; in this [i.e., roving], plenty and satiety, pleasure and ease, liberty and power; and who would not balance creditor on this side, when all the hazard that is run for it, at worst, is only a sour look or two at choking [i.e., hanging]. No, a merry life and a short one shall be my motto. Having committed himself to sail under the black flag, he furthermore added: ‘‘It is better to be a commander than a common man, since I have dipped my hands in muddy waters and must be a pirate.’’ Black Bart, as he came to be known, would spend the next two-and-a-half years on spectacular campaigns against both sides of the Atlantic. After first devastating Principe Island in retaliation for Davis’ death, he swept through the Bight of Biafra before laying in a course across the ocean toward Brazil. In September 1719, Roberts’ ship came on a Portuguese convoy of 42 merchantmen preparing to depart Bahia, escorted by two men o’ war. Sailing impudently into their midst, he plundered the wealthiest

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Roberts, Bartholomew (fl. 1719
1722) of 400,000 gold moidores, before retiring utterly unscathed. The pirates then visited Devil’s Island in the Guianas, before being chased further northward out of the Caribbean by Royal Navy patrols. Governor Benjamin Bennett of Bermuda received news dated February 8, 1720 (O.S.), and informed London how it had been confirmed that:

Eight days later, Governor Walter Hamilton wrote from Nevis to relate the following string of events to William Popple in London:

. . . a pirate ship that took, some time since, a Portuguese ship upon the coast of Brazil, which he carried to Cayenne, a French island and there plundered her, and there took also a Rhode Island sloop, and after detaining the master for some days, he gave him the Portuguese ship, with which he is arrived at Antigua; the pirate went afterwards to the windward of Barbados, where he took two New York snows, the one he plundered and afterwards gave the vessel to the master and men again, the other they have fitted out of the pirate ship, she being a much better sailor, and are gone to the northward with, and gave the ship to the master of the snow; his men, and some others that pretend to have been forced, of which they landed five white men and one black upon Anguilla, of which number there are now two in jail at Antigua and the rest are sent for, they say. The quartermaster of the pirate and one more were on board the said ship, from whence, and their having divided their plunder to the windward of Barbados (as these men say), it is concluded they have broke up and are shifting for themselves by dropping some in one place, some in another, for they had a great booty in

We have of late heard of several pirates that rove in these seas, particularly one of about thirty guns that had been for a considerable time upon the coast of Guinea, where she had done a great deal of damage, afterwards took a Portuguese ship upon the coast of Brazil, which he brought to the island of Cayenne, a French island lying off of Surinam; and there plundered her of a vast booty, most in moidores, not valuing the rest of the cargo (which consisted of sugar, tobacco, and Brazil plank) would have set the ship on fire, but meeting with a Rhode Island sloop, which they took and fitted out for their use, they gave the Portuguese ship to the master of the Rhode Island sloop, who with the Portuguese that were left on board, brought her into Antigua, where I have ordered a merchant to take care of her and what was remaining on board, for the use of the owner or owners. There are now five white men and one black in the jail of this island, that were of the crew of that ship, which were put ashore out of her at the island of Anguilla, which pretend all to have been forced; I have sent to the Lieutenant-Governor of Antigua to

the Brazil ship, at least 15,000 moidores, besides a vast quantity of dust gold they had got upon the coast of Guinea, where they had taken many prizes.

Roberts, Bartholomew (fl. 1719
1722)

LEAVING ROBERTS’ SERVICE Unlike most other pirate Captains, who usually resented and refused to allow any of their men to quit their company, Bartholomew Roberts was often accommodating to such requests, whether from veteran rovers or pressed merchant sailors. Having himself endured long years of poverty at sea, he seemed to empathize with the desire to slip back into civilian life and enjoy their hard-won booty. One of several instances occurred during his advance up the Atlantic Seaboard in early 1720, and was recorded on the pages of the newspaper American Weekly Mercury: The beginning of last month [i.e., early February 1720 O.S.] arrived in the Capes of Virginia, Captain Knot in a ship of 150 tons and twelve men from London. The said Captain, within 200 leagues of the Capes, was taken by a pyrate ship that was lately come from the coast of Guiney, but last from Brazil, man’d with 148 bold fellows; they took from Knot some provision, but restored him the ship and cargo. The Captain of the pyrates obliged Knot to take eight of his men on board his ship, and made him give an obligation under his hand, that he shipped them on passengers from London to Virginia. The pyrates’ Captain gave those men a boat, which boat Captain Knot was obliged to let any of them have, when they requested to go from his ship. The pyrates also put two Portuguese prisoners on board which they had taken on the coast of Brazil, to be set on shore in Virginia. When Knot arrived within the Capes, the wind turning westerly, he came to an anchor, upon which four of the pyrates came to him and required him to hoist their boat out. This first quartet were rowed deeper into Chesapeake Bay and up the ‘‘Black River’’ (?), until they stepped ashore and found a tavern ‘‘where they might ease themselves of their Golden Luggage.’’ They spent their money so lavishly, though—one even purchasing the freedom of several indentured English women servants for the princely sum of £30—that this extravagance brought them to the attention of the local authorities, who soon committed them on suspicion of being pirates to the county jail. The other four pirates landed at Hampton on the James River, where they too soon fell under suspicion, and were also arrested. The Portuguese captives later told their story to a ship captain who understood their language, who immediately took them before Governor Alexander Spotswood, so that these eight detainees were brought to trial. Although they insisted that they had been taken from the coast of Guinea and forced to become pirates, the Portuguese testified that ‘‘they appeared as forward in action and were as busy in plundering as any of the crew,’’ so were sentenced to death. Six were executed, two reprieved. ‘‘They died as they lived,’’ the account concluded: . . . nor showing any sign of repentance; their bodies were afterwards hanged in chains. They brought on shore with them in Spanish gold and gold dust, upward of 1,500 pounds sterling. Seven of the pirates were Englishmen, the other a mulatto.

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Roberts, Bartholomew (fl. 1719
1722) enquire of the Master of the Rhode Island sloop, his men, or the Portuguese, whether they know any of these persons to have been active amongst the pirates, in order that if any of them have been guilty of the piracy they stand suspected off, they may be proceeded against, etc. I had last Sunday morning an account given me by Major Richard Holmes of Colonel Richard Lucas’s Regiment, and one Mr. Thomas Ottley, that as they were on their voyage to the island of St. Eustatius and St. Thomas (whither they were bound, the first to look for some deserters that had run away) they were informed that a pirate ship lay under the island of St. Thomas, that most of the men were on shore; they went to said ship and found her at an anchor, and was equipped in a warlike manner, and several pirate colors on board, and not being able to bring her up to any of the islands (inhabited) of my government, they carried her to the island of Santa Cruis or Sancta Croix, where they left her under the care of an officer of the regiment and some men, till the Major could inform me of the premises; whereupon I ordered Captain John Rose, commander of H.M.S. Seaford, forthwith to get ready to go down, to take the said ship under his care, and bring her up to this His Majesty’s Island, or the island where at his return he shall hear I then am, and to see that no embezzlement be made; who sailed yesterday with the Major on board. I have desired the Major to make a particular enquiry as to the conduct of the Danish Governor upon this occasion, for it has been of a long standing, and it’s now to be too much

suspected that the Danes give too much encouragement and countenance, nay even public protection to that vermin, which makes our landand seamen so frequently desert, that being their place of refuge. Almost six weeks later, Governor Hamilton would write again on March 28, 1720 (O.S.), to inform the Council of Trade and Plantations how Captain Rose had returned into Saint Kitts with this empty prize, and then sailed up to Nevis to report personally to the Governor how: She was called amongst the pirates by the name of the Royal Rover, and has committed a great many depredations upon the coast of Guinea. She was the same that took the Portuguese ship, and I find the crew were the same which were formerly in a ship they called the King James, which they sunk and betook themselves to this. She is a ship of force capable of mounting 30 guns and had once near 200 men, (and as far as I can learn) was in the service of His Imperial Majesty when she was taken, but she is now much out of order, for which reason I suppose they quitted her. As I have met with a vast deal of trouble and opposition from some persons who would have disputed with me the power I had of seizing her, I think it my duty to lay before Your Lordships a distinct account of the manner in which the ship was taken, and the measures that were took to prevent my securing of her either for His Majesty or for the Right Honorable the Lord High Admiral.

Roberts, Bartholomew (fl. 1719
1722)

North American Foray (February
July 1720) On July 3,1720 (O.S.), LieutenantGovernor Samuel Gledhill wrote from Placentia to the Council of Trade and Plantations in London, to apprise them of the grim situation on Newfoundland, pointing out that there were ‘‘many ships drove in here by the pyrates who infest our coast.’’ He added that: ‘‘These pyrates have now destroyed near 150 boats and 26 ships at Trepassy and St. Mary’s, which if a communication had been cut o’er land, had not been above two days’ march to have rescued those harbors, where the pyrates have been repairing their ships for fourteen days past.’’ Ranging as far as the southeastern tip of Newfoundland, Royal Roger stood into Trepassey Bay on June 21, 1720 (O.S.), with the Jolly Roger flying from its masthead, and the ship’s band loudly playing on deck. An English merchant convoy of 22 sail was gathering within, whose crews fled ashore in panic while Roberts casually rifled their holds. Royal Roger being worn out, he transferred into a Bristol galley which he renamed Royal Fortune. His audacity was so breath-taking that the Governor of New England could not refrain from concluding his report to London on this incident, with the comment: ‘‘One cannot withhold admiration for his bravery and daring.’’ Off the Grand Banks, Roberts seized half-a-dozen French vessels, preferring one mounting 28 guns to his Bristol galley, and so moving his flag and giving this new ship the same name as its predecessor, Royal Fortune. Veering southwest, he then snapped up a string of

prizes off New England in August 1720, the richest being the sloop Samuel bound from London toward Boston. After ransacking it ‘‘like a parcel of furies,’’ Roberts’s crew informed Samuel’s master what they thought about a royal pardon: We shall accept no Act of Grace, may the King and Parliament be damned with their Act of Grace for us, neither will we go to Hope Point [i.e., Execution Dock] to be hanged a-sun-drying. Instead, they let it be known that they would only seek pardons when they had accumulated enough money, which they judged to be ‘‘seven or eight hundred pounds each.’’

Caribbean Rampage (September 1720
April 1721) By early next month, Roberts had run deep down into the Lesser Antilles, espying the sloop Relief out of Bermuda on September 4, 1720 (O.S.), as it was turtling at Carriacou in the Grenadines. This vessel’s Master, Robert Dunn, would later describe how he had been surprised: . . . by a pirate ship and sloop commanded by one Roberts of Barbados, about 130 men all told. The remnant of the Royal Rover’s crew are in this gang. The ship they took on the banks of Newfoundland, French-built, and one of 21 [vessels] they took there. The pirates dismissed deponent after putting on board his sloop some bundles of old rigging and cloth, in return for his tending them with turtles,

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Roberts, Bartholomew (fl. 1719
1722)

Bartholomew Roberts’s pair of pirate ships, Ranger and Royal Fortune, bearing down upon eleven anchored slavers off the West African port of Ouidah, 11 January 1722 O.S. (Pyle, Howard ed. The Buccaneers and Marooners of America, 1897)

which they made him do. They said they intended to take Marie-Galante. They intend to take their revenge of Antigua and Barbados, and then go on the coast of Brazil or the East Indies. They would blow up rather than be taken. Every man double armed, and mostly Englishmen. True to their word, after careening at Carriacou and recuperating, Royal Fortune and its consort stood boldly into Saint Kitts’ principal anchorage of Basseterre at 1:00 P.M. on September 27, 1720 (O.S.), rousing militia defenders all along that stretch of coastline. By the time Lieutenant-General William Matthew, Saint Kitts’ Governor, could arrive on the scene on horseback an hour

later, he could see that already ‘‘the pirates’ ship and sloop with black flags, had cut out one ship—that was under sail actually then—and had set two more on fire.’’ A few belated salvoes were fired off by the shore-batteries, before Roberts moved easily out of range. He sent back a few prisoners after nightfall, with a plea from the captive merchant Captain Henry Fowles for a number of sheep and goats to be prepared to ransom his ship, as well the following letter addressed personally to the Governor: Royal Fortune, Sept. 27th, 1720 [O.S.]. This comes expressly from me to let you know that had you come off,

Roberts, Bartholomew (fl. 1719
1722) as you ought to ‘a done, and drank a glass of wine with me and my company, I should not [have] harmed the least vessel in your harbor. Farther, it is not your guns you fired that affrighted me, or hindered our coming on shore, but the wind not proving to our expectation, that hindered it. The Royal Rover you have already burnt and barbarously used some of our men, but we have now a ship as good as her, and for revenge you may assure yourselves, here and hereafter, not to expect anything from our hands but what belongs to a pirate. As farther, gentlemen, that poor fellow you now have in prison at Sandy Point is entirely ignorant and what he hath, was gave him, and so pray make conscience for once, let me beg you, and use that man as an honest man and not as a C [criminal?]. If we hear any otherwise, you may expect not to have quarters to any of your Island Yours, Bathll. Roberts. Next morning, a boatload of pirates deposited Captain Fowles ashore, then at 11:00 A.M. Roberts’ consort stood into the harbor to receive the anticipated ransom. Instead, Governor Matthew ordered the reinforced batteries to open fire once more, loosing two salvoes and striking the sloop several times, before it retreated out of range. It was noted how the two pirate vessels then ran into the Grand Goulet, and set Fowles’ ship adrift. When this empty vessel was retrieved, the rovers’ parting threat was found written in chalk above its companion-way: For our word’s sake, we let thee go, But to Creoles, we are a foe.

Beneath was drawn a Death’s head, adorned with an arm holding a cutlass. Accompanied by 70 militia riders, the Governor shadowed Roberts’ movements from ashore as the pirates tacked slowly north toward Nevis, disappearing by 10:00 A.M. on September 29, 1720 (O.S.), to the east of Saint Bartholomew’s. Matthew concluded: These villains are certainly going to windward of Antigua and Barbados, etc. They want bread, and will wait some New England vessels coming. They offer any price for Mr. Pinney, Spooner, and Brown for condemning their comrades at Nevis, threaten and bluster much, and have intelligences off this island in particular, that I am surprised at. But instead, Roberts intended to strike out across the Atlantic toward Africa again. Contrary winds so dogged this passage, though, that Roberts and his 124 men almost died of thirst before being driven back into Surinam, on the north coast of South America. Deciding to throw caution to the wind, Roberts then gambled on rampaging through the Windward Islands, notwithstanding the presence of several Royal Navy patrols, and the lack of any adequate pirate sanctuaries. His boldness was nonetheless rewarded by dozens of prizes, the Governor of the French Leeward Islands even noting at one point that ‘‘between the 28th and 31st October [1720] these pirates seized, burned, or sunk fifteen French and English vessels and one Dutch interloper of 42 guns at Dominica.’’ Basing himself off Saint Lucia, Roberts inflicted such a heavy toll on French shipping bound to and from Martinique that its Governor was forced

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Roberts, Bartholomew (fl. 1719
1722) to plead for help from the neighboring British authorities. The Governor of Barbados attempted to assist his beleaguered French colleague, which cooperation so angered Roberts that he designed a special pirate jack, showing a figure of himself standing with a sword in his right hand and each foot atop a skull: one having the initials ABH written beneath it, signifying ‘‘A Barbadian’s Head,’’ the other AMH for ‘‘A Martinican’s Head.’’ The plate on his cabin door also bore this same design. By the spring of 1721, Roberts had nearly brought Antillean commerce to a complete standstill, and so prepared to sail away. Knowing he could expect to find no haven in American waters, he loaded all his plunder aboard two captured ships and struck out across the Atlantic that same April.

Second West African Sweep (April 1721
January 1722) Roberts reached the Cape Verde Islands late that same month of April 1721, where his second Royal Fortune being found to be leaky, was abandoned. All the pirates were concentrated aboard the Sea King, which thus was renamed the third Royal Fortune and made its landfall off the Guinea coast in early June 1721, near the mouth of the Senegal River, toward Sierra Leone. Here there existed a tiny outlaw colony of European smugglers and interlopers, who were not averse to trading with pirates. One of its more famous shore-establishments was run by an ex-buccaneer named John Leadstone, alias ‘‘Old Crackers;’’ another on the Rio Pungo was maintained by Benjamin Gun (who would later serve as the model for Robert Louis Stevenson’s ‘‘Ben Gunn’’ in Treasure

Island). Roberts spent six weeks there, before setting out eastward again in late August 1721. Off Sestos (in present-day Liberia) he captured the Royal African Company frigate Onslow, increasing its armament from 26 to 40 guns and converting it into his fourth and last Royal Fortune. Slowly continuing southeastward, he eventually reached Cape Lopez around Christmastime, before reversing course northwestward. Roberts realized that there were two powerful Royal Navy warships patrolling that coastline, HMS swallow and Weymouth, each mounting 50 guns and almost brand-new, having been launched only two years previously. Believing that they had returned to their winter quarters off Sierra Leone, the pirate captain doubled back along his course and on Thursday, January 11, 1722 (O.S.), brashly stood into the great slaving port of Ouidah. Brushing aside its feeble defenses, he sent boarding-parties onto the 11 slavers lying in its roads and held them for ransom, demanding eight pounds of gold dust apiece (about £500 each, in the currency of that day). All but one master agreed to pay, and this unfortunate’s ship was then set on ablaze and sunk as an example for the rest, despite the 80 slaves already fettered in its hold. Two days later, though, Roberts intercepted a message from Cape Coast Castle to the Royal African Company’s agent in Ouidah, warning him that the pirates were headed in his direction—with Swallow in close pursuit. Alarmed to learn that this Royal Navy vessel was so near at hand, Roberts immediately fled back out to sea and steered southeast toward Cape Lopez again. Two days afterward, Swallow entered Ouidah, and its commander

Roberts, Bartholomew (fl. 1719
1722) Captain Chaloner Ogle made a shrewd guess as to the intruder’s intended bolthole. Pressing on for Cape Lopez himself, the Royal Navy officer began searching its shoreline until at daybreak on February 5, 1722 (O.S.), he suddenly heard the sound of a lone gun being fired in the distance. Sailing in its direction, he at last spotted Roberts’ trio of vessels lying at anchor beneath the Cape: Royal Fortune, along with its consorts Great Ranger and Little Ranger. Aboard the pirate flagship, Roberts, too, saw this strange sail appear, and assumed it to be a large merchantman. Consequently he ordered his subordinate Captain James Skyrme to pursue with Great Ranger, while Ogle cunningly turned Swallow away at this same moment, running before the wind as if afraid, yet actually allowing his solitary pursuer to gradually overhaul. By 10:30 A.M., Cape Lopez had fallen below the horizon, and Skyrme had closed up sufficiently astern of Swallow to open fire with his bow chasers. The gradually narrowed, Great Ranger’s decks were lined with cutlass-brandishing pirates, while also displaying a bewildering array of flags including, most prominently, a black Jolly Roger. Half-an-hour later, Ogle finally decided to spring his trap by bearing up to starboard, running out his guns, and letting fly with a crushing broadside. The pirates were appalled to discover that they had been lured directly beneath the muzzles of a heavily-armed man o’ war, and so fell into some confusion. A brisk firefight ensued, in which one of Skyrme’s legs was blown off, and Great Ranger lost its main topmast. Finally, by three o’clock that afternoon the pirates had had enough, and a desperatelywounded Skyrme struck his colors and

cast them into the sea, so that they could not be used as evidence against him in a court of law. Meanwhile, half-a-dozen of his most desperate crew-members ran down into Great Ranger’s magazine, where they stuck a pistol into a barrel of gunpowder and pulled the trigger, so as to blow everyone aboard into oblivion. However, this container proved to be only partially full, so that while the would-be suicides were horribly burnt, their ship did not explode nor sink. When Swallow’s boarders came over its bulwarks, they found 10 pirates dead and another 20 wounded, out of a crew of 100 men: 59 of them English, 18 French, and the rest Africans. (The Royal Navy warship, by way of contrast, had not suffered a single casualty.) Ogle hastily repaired Great Ranger and sent it limping back toward Principe Island with its wounded pirates under guard, while the uninjured captives were clapped below decks aboard Swallow to return to Cape Lopez. Ogle came within sight of its headland again on the morning of February 10, 1722 (O.S.), just as Roberts was sitting in Royal Fortune’s great cabin, finishing off his favorite breakfast dish of salmigondis. The rover was neither worried by Great Ranger’s five-day absence, nor by the approach of this strange ship under a French flag. It was only when Swallow drew near enough to be plainly visible from on deck, that one of the pirates—a naval deserter who had previously served aboard the man o’ war—recognized his old ship and cried out a warning. Belatedly, Roberts sprang into action, coming on deck and ordering Little Ranger’s crew to reinforce Royal Fortune, thus bringing his flagship’s strength up to 152 men. At 10:30 A.M., he slipped his cable and got under way, directing all full sail to be set. As Royal

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Roche, George (fl. 1691
1697) Fortune gathered way, its commander ducked below and put on his finery in anticipation of a battle. He reappeared wearing a crimson waistcoat and breeches, as well as a hat with a big red feather in it. From his neck dangled numerous gold chains and a silk sling, with two pairs of pistols thrust through it. On gaining his poop deck, Roberts then inexplicably altered course directly toward the charging Swallow, and at 11 A.M. leapt unto a gun-carriage to begin directing his ship’s artillery-fire. But it was the man o’ war which boomed out the first rounds, bringing Royal Fortune’s mizzen topmast crashing down with a single well-aimed broadside. When the smoke and wreckage was cleared, the pirates discovered Roberts draped over the rope tackles of one of his guns, dead from a wound in his throat. He was not quite 40 years of age. Greatly distressed at the death of their brilliant Captain, his followers quickly cast his body into the sea (in accordance with his oftexpressed wish), then fought on as best they could, hoping to win free. But without Roberts, they were no match for Swallow, which continued to pound Royal Fortune relentlessly until 1:30 that same afternoon, when the pirates’ mainmast collapsed. By two o’clock they begged for quarter, and Ogle sent over his boarders, who secured the prisoners and carried them into the English slave factory at Cape Coast Castle to stand trial. Eventually, 52 of these pirates were condemned to hang, 20 to serve as manual laborers in the Royal African Company’s gold mines (which none of them survived), 17 to transportation to Marshalsea Prison in London (only four reaching that destination alive), while the 76 others were either acquitted or reprieved. These numbers were totally insignificant when measured against the tens of thousands of sailors serving at

sea, yet Roberts’ demise marked a distinct watershed in the history of piracy. Half a century earlier his intelligence, charisma, and courage might have earned him a knighthood, such as Morgan and De Graaf had received, or at least offers of wartime command and a comfortable, even honorable retirement ashore. Instead, his meteoric rise had seen him chased to the far ends of the Earth, with every government’s hand raised against him. Despite having captured more than 400 vessels during his spectacular career, this success had not become transformed into either financial or social rewards. He ended his days in a watery grave, leaving lesser marauders to ponder what their own fate must be, where such a talented leader as Roberts had failed. Indeed, it was Ogle who received the knighthood, from a country grateful that he had slain this hated pirate.

See also Moidore.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 31, 32 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1933). Journals of the Board of Trade and Plantations, Volume 4: November 1718
December 1722, Journal Books W and X (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1925).

ROCHE, GEORGE (fl. 1691
1697) English planter from Antigua, who served as a militia officer and raider

Roche, George (fl. 1691
1697)

A PIRATE COVENANT One of the unforeseen consequences of Bartholomew Roberts’ abrupt end off the West African coast in February 1722, was that the written articles governing the conduct of his pirate crew survived his unexpected surprise and death. By this point in the 18th century, with roving on the decline, charters which freebooters had typically agreed to were becoming more like secret covenants. Indeed, pirates were often at great pains to destroy any such papers whenever in danger of being captured, as they realized that they could be presented against them as evidence in a court of law. Such exactly occurred with the set of articles found in Roberts’ cabin, which when read into the record at his surviving crewmen’s trial, were shown to stipulate that: I. Every man shall have an equal vote in affairs of moment. He shall have an equal title to the fresh provisions or strong liquors at any time seized, and shall use them at pleasure, unless a scarcity may make it necessary for the common good that a retrenchment may be voted. II. Every man shall be called fairly in turn by the list on board of prizes, because over and above their proper share, they are allowed a shift of clothes. But if they defraud the company to the value of even one dollar in plate, jewels, or money, they shall be marooned. If any man rob another, he shall have his nose and ears slit, and be put ashore where he shall be sure to encounter hardships. III. None shall game for money, either with dice or cards. IV. The lights and candles should be put out at eight at night, and if any of the crew desire to drink after that hour, they shall sit upon the open deck without lights. V. Each man shall keep his piece, cutlass, and pistols at all times clean and ready for action. VI. No boy or woman to be allowed amongst them. If any man shall be found seducing any of the latter sex and carrying her to sea in disguise, he shall suffer death. VII. He that shall desert the ship or his quarters in time of battle, shall be punished by death or marooning. VIII. None shall strike another on board the ship, but every man’s quarrel shall be ended on shore by sword or pistol, in this manner: at the word of command from the quartermaster, each man being previously placed back to back, shall turn and fire immediately. If any man do not, the quartermaster shall knock the piece out of his hand. If both miss their aim, they shall take to their cutlasses, and he that draws first blood shall be declared the victor. IX. No man shall talk of breaking up their way of living, till each has a share of £1,000. Every man who shall become a cripple or lose a limb in the service, shall have eight hundred pieces-of-eight from the common stock, and for lesser hurts proportionately. X. The captain and the quartermaster shall each receive two shares of a prize; the master gunner and boatswain, one and one half shares; all other officers, one and one quarter, and private gentlemen of fortune [i.e., ordinary hands] one share each. XI. The musicians shall have rest on the Sabbath Day only, by right; on all other days, by favor only.

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Roche, George (fl. 1691
1697) during King William’s War, then later moved to Pennsylvania. According to the French chroniclerpriest Jean-Baptiste Labat, Roche took part in the English invasion of Guadeloupe in 1691—during the second year of the conflict known as King William’s War, and prior to the priest’s arrival in the Antilles—in which the Governor’s aide mayor Jean, Sieur de Bordenave, was killed. A few years later, after peace was reestablished and Roche had resumed his practice of smuggling contraband goods across to that French colony at night, he came to know Labat and once boasted of having personally slain Bordenave: . . . in proof of which he showed some buckles and a silver badge he had removed from his body. He gave me the badge, which I gave to Mademoiselle [Christine] Radelin, daughter of the Sieur Bordenave, who immediately recognized it as her father’s. Just prior to the official proclamation of the Treaty of Ryswyck in 1697, both English and French raiders had redoubled their efforts in those waters, hoping to secure one final haul of plunder before peace was declared. Roche had evidently been one such freebooter commander, for on the night of October 14
15, 1697, he had appeared off Martinique’s harbor of Marigot with a vessel bearing eight guns and almost 80 men. Roche had brought more than 60 of them ashore in two boats, his approach being undetected because the French had neglected their lookouts ‘‘on seeing the night so dark, and the seas so agitated.’’ Leaving two men to guard each of his beached boats, Roche infiltrated the town, but was

discovered and driven off, suffering seven dead and one captured. Two-and-a-half weeks later, he reappeared off Fonds Saint-Jacques, three miles farther up the Martinican coast, and once again attempted to land. The night being clear and moonlit, his boats were spotted while still offshore and challenged by Labat himself, backed by a party of armed black slaves. Surprised to hear themselves hailed, the English ‘‘replied in good French that they were from Basse-Terre [Guadeloupe]’’ and seeking the Sainte-Marie anchorage. Undeceived, Labat in turn tried to lure Roche ashore, but when the English suddenly bent their oars and veered back out to sea, his slaves opened fire. Roche allegedly suffered another three killed and five wounded before his boats could pull out of range, in one of the very last actions of King William’s War.

Emigration to Pennsylvania (1704) Six years later, during the early phases of the next Anglo-French conflict known as Queen Anne’s War, Roche, now a planter and trader of some substance, emigrated to Pennsylvania, and so was mentioned in a letter written by James Logan from Philadelphia late in 1703 to William Penn, with the following words: ‘‘There is one George Roach [sic] lately arrived here from Antigua, a very rich and good-natured man.’’ Next year, Isaac Norton would add in another letter to his friend Jonathan Dickinson: The gentleman thou hast heard of is a Captain George Roche, from Antigua; he has bought Captain Smith’s plantation over Schuylkill, and the

Roche, George (fl. 1691
1697) little place that was Chanlott’s on this side of that river, and there he at present lives. He has also bought Christopher Sibthorpe’s house, and last week has taken most of Samuel Carpenter’s warehouses and part of the dwelling house, and carries on a great trade, especially to Antigua. Roche also became a member of Pennsylvania’s provincial Council, and obtained

a Captaincy of one of its newly-formed militia companies.

References Labat, Jean-Baptiste, Memoirs, 1693
1705 (London: Routledge, 1970, John Eaden, trans.). Memoirs Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Volume 9 (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1870).

759

S All the news of America is the swarming of pirates, not only on these coasts, but all the West Indies over, which does ruin trade ten times worse than a war. —Judge Robert Quarry, 1700

SAINTE-BARBE OR SANTA
RBARA BA

name also came to be associated with the structure itself.

Seventeenth-century expression for a powder-room or magazine, the first used by the French and the second by the Spanish. The origin of this rather curious name stems from early Church history: Barbara was one of the first converts to Christianity, for which her heathen father Diosorus had her tried, tortured, and executed. He personally carried out her death sentence, but in an act of divine retribution, was killed by lightning while returning home afterward. For this reason, the young martyr became known as the patron saint of all those who worked with explosives, such as gunners or miners. A votive image of Saint Barbara being commonly displayed outside any powder-room, her

SALMIGONDIS French name for a communal stew or ragout made with a mixture of meats, to which vegetables and other items were added, the whole being highly seasoned. During the 17th century when salting, smoking, or pickling were the sole means of preservation, people often had to resort to extraordinary means to render their meals more palatable. Salmigondis (usually spelled salmagundi in English) became popular among West Indian buccaneers, not the least because it entailed a shared contribution to a general pot, from which everyone would draw in true Brotherhood fashion. In times of plenty, such 761

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Salt Tortuga meals could make for hearty eating. One such concoction began with whatever available meats being: . . . roasted, chopped into chunks and marinated in spiced wine, then combined with cabbage, anchovies, pickled herring, mangoes, hardboiled eggs, palm hearts, onions, olives, grapes and any other pickled vegetables that were available. The whole would then be highly seasoned with garlic, salt, pepper, and mustard seed, and doused with oil and vinegar—and served with drafts of beer and rum. Reputedly, Bartholomew Roberts was breakfasting on salmigondis in his great cabin aboard the Royal Fortune, when he was caught and killed off the West African coast by HMS Swallow.

Reference Botting, Douglas, The Pirates (Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1978).

SALT TORTUGA English nickname for sun-bleached Isla Tortuga, an island which lies off the northern shores of Venezuela. According to the buccaneer chronicler William Dampier, turtling was such a frequent activity among Caribbean seafarers, that this particular island had come to be ‘‘so called to distinguish it from the shoals of Dry Tortuga, near Cape Florida, and from the isle of Tortuga by Hispaniola.’’ When Dutch salters had first discovered and then flocked during the early 17th century to

exploit the vast natural salt-pans of the Araya Peninsula, on the nearby South American mainland, they were eventually denied access by the erection of a Spanish fort near its entrance in 1623. However, these Dutch interlopers merely shifted their salting operations to other nearby sources: Isla Tortuga, the Unare River mouth, Curac¸ao, and the Antillean isle of Saint Martin. The Spaniards were unable to prevent visits to all of these disperse sites by the persistent salters over the ensuing decades. The name ‘‘Salt Tortuga’’ therefore remained current long after the Dutch had been superseded by other foreigners in the quest for this valuable natural preservative, although French flibustiers would instead refer to this Venezuelan island as ‘‘Tortille,’’ as opposed to Tortue for their famous base off of Haiti. Ships from as far away as French Canada and Boston would come every year to tap the open Venezuelan resource, oftentimes in protective groups or with naval escorts, even during peacetime. For example, Governor Richard, Lord Bellomont, wrote from New York to the Lords of the Admiralty in London on October 27, 1699 (O.S.), two years after King William’s War had ceased, to explain that: Captain Crow is of opinion, your orders will not justify my sending [HMS] Arundel about the middle of December to convoy the ships to Saltertudos [sic], but says if I will positively order him, he will go. The reasons for sending both the [Royal Navy] ships there every winter are that in winter no pirate ships come on the [New England] coast, but may very probably be caught there, whilst if the ships are laid up here, they lose

Sample, Robert (fl. 1719
1720) their men. When I left England my orders from you were to send the Deptford and Fowey frigates every winter upon that service. If there was reason then, there is now. In one of many other such references to Salt Tortuga, Governor Walter Hamilton of Antigua—complaining about Spanish corsair depredations on September 10, 1718 (O.S.), to the Council of Trade and Plantations in London—added that he had just received ‘‘an account that they have also at Tertuga [sic], alias Saltatudas [sic], taken a ship and a sloop belonging to the subjects of His Majesty.’’ And in the uneasy aftermath to the War of the Quadruple Alliance, Samuel Cox reported from Barbados in February 1721 how the frigate HMS Seahorse of Captain Thomas Durrell had arrived ‘‘to convoy the New England vessels to Tortuga for salt.’’ A few years later, the Massachusetts Bay Council would even complain of the poor protection provided by Captain James Cornwall of HMS Sheerness, who: . . . while at Tortuga, he was so far from encouraging the merchant ships under his convoy, that he sequestered and engross’d a great quantity of salt to his own use, to the great damage and discouragement of the trade, so that the merchant ships who used to desire the station-ship here for their convoy, choose to let their vessels go without a guardship, rather than be subjected to the impositions of the said Captain Cornwall.

See also Dampier, William; Salt Tortuga (Volume 1).

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 17, 30, 32, 35 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1908
1936). Dampier, William, A New Voyage Round the World (New York: Dover, 1968).

SAMPLE, ROBERT (fl. 1719
1720) Subordinate of Captain Edward England, who made his own independent foray to Brazil. England’s piratical squadron had swept along the slaving coast of West Africa during the spring of 1719, intercepting numerous vessels and pressing fresh hands. The marauders seized the 6-gun Elizabeth and Katherine out of Barbados on June 27, 1719 (O.S.), which they armed and manned more heavily shortly thereafter, so as to convert it into a pirate vessel which they rechristened the Flying King. Sample was appointed to its command, and allowed to separate from England’s formation soon afterward with the similarly-transformed Mercury—now rearmed and renamed the Revenge—under a colleague named Lane. Together they crossed the Atlantic into the West Indies, where according to the chronicler Charles Johnson: . . . they took some prizes, cleaned, and sailed to Brazil in November [1719]; they took several Portuguese ships there and did a great deal of mischief, but in the height of their undertakings, a Portuguese man of war, which was an excellent sailor, came a very unwelcome guest to them, and gave them chase.

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Santo Y Se~na Lane’s Revenge managed to temporarily elude this warship, although not long afterward he was wrecked and lost on the Brazilian coast. Sample had meanwhile been forced to beach his Flying King in hopes of escaping ashore, but he and his 70 men were quickly caught by their pursuers. Twelve pirates were killed outright during this fighting, and of the survivors, 38 were later hanged by the Portuguese, ‘‘of which 32 were English, three Dutch, two French, and one of their own nation.’’

on protracted voyages, without worrying about a specific password being altered during their absence.

See also

Seventeenth-century Spanish military rank, much more senior than its presentday English equivalent would imply. A sargento mayor was second-incommand to a military governor of a city, or to the commander of a large garrison, or to maestre de campo (‘‘field marshal’’) during a campaign.

England, Edward.

Reference Defoe, Daniel, and Johnson, Charles, A General and True History Printed by R. Walker, 1742.

Reference Ju
arez Moreno, Juan, Piratas y corsarios en Veracruz y Campeche (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1972).

SARGENTO MAYOR

~ SANTO Y SENA

SCROOPE OR SCROOP, ROBERT (fl. 1692)

Spanish system of passwords, based on the Church calendar, and frequently employed along the South American coastline. If a vessel or fortress were approached by strangers after nightfall, a saint’s name would be randomly shouted out by the sentry on duty, as a challenge. The correct answer was to name the corresponding place associated with each particular saint: for example, to a cry of ‘‘Santa Rosa,’’ the proper reply would be ‘‘Lima,’’ to ‘‘San Francisco Javier,’’ the answer was ‘‘Navarra,’’ and so on. This system had been introduced with foreign pirates in mind, especially the heretic English or Dutch, as they would never have such pious answers ready on their lips. Moreover, such a flexible system permitted Spanish vessels to depart

English captain issued a privateering commission by the Council of Jamaica on February 8, 1692 (O.S.). That same year, he was listed as owning quarter-shares in the sloops Diligence and Dragon. As King William’s War was just then entering its third year—with England, Holland, and Spain arrayed against France—fears of a purported offensive out of Martinique were gripping the British West Indies. The Council of Jamaica consequently initiated a series of defensive measures, assuming leadership in such matters because of the death by disease of Gov. William O’Brien, Earl of Inchiquin, on January 10, 1692 (O.S.). Jamaica’s fortifications were to be strengthened, artillery installed, militia regiments mobilized, martial law imposed, and privateering

Sir Cloudesley commissions freely offered. The Council even complained to the Lords of Trade and Plantations in London that: . . . our seafaring men leave us and seek [commissions] elsewhere. To increase our numbers, we beg that a free pardon may be granted to privateers abroad, to encourage them to return hither. During this wave of warlike preparations, Scroope was issued a privateering license, although no direct enemy threat then materialized, as France’s Navy suffered crushing reversals in European waters that same spring.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 13 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1901). Thornton, Diana V., ‘‘The Probate Inventories of Port Royal, Jamaica,’’ College Station, TX: M.A. thesis, Anthropology Department, Texas A&M University, 1992.

SEEGAR, EDWARD See England, Edward

SHIRLEY, THOMAS (fl. 1692) English captain issued a special privateering commission by the Council of Jamaica. Early in 1692, King William’s War was just then entering into its third year, with England, Holland, and Spain arrayed against France. Rumors of a great French offensive gathering at Martinique gripped the entire British West Indies, spreading as

far as Jamaica. That island’s Council consequently began adopting a series of defensive measures, uncharacteristically assuming leadership in such military matters because of the recent death by disease of Gov. William O Brien, Earl of Inchiquin, on 10 January 1692 (O.S.). Among the measures hastily taken, was one proposing that privateering commissions be freely offered. The Council even complained to the Lords of Trade and Plantations in London that: . . . our seafaring men leave us and seek [commissions] elsewhere. To increase our numbers, we beg that a free pardon may be granted to privateers abroad, to encourage them to return hither. During this wave of preparations, Shirley was issued a privateering license on February 12, 1692 (O.S.), although no enemy invasion then ever ensued, as France’s Navy suffered crushing reversals in European waters that same spring.

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 13 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1901).

SIR CLOUDESLEY Jocular English name for a 17th-century drink, made of small beer and brandy, often with sweetening, spices, and nearly always lemon juice. This concoction was apparently named in honor of the famous mariner Sir Clowdisley Shovell (1650
1707), both for his services against the Barbary corsairs, as well as his unusual—and dreamy—first name.

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Skull and Crossbones

Headstone of an unknown pirate’s grave in Malaysia, engraved with a skull-and-crossbones. (Mika Makkonen/iStockPhoto.com)

Reference Partidge, Eric H., and Simpson, Jacqueline, Penguin Dictionary of Historical Slang (London: Penguin, 1972).

SKULL AND CROSSBONES Lamentably, not an expression current during the 17th or early 18th centuries, the usual term for the symbol displayed by pirates being the ‘‘Death’s head.’’

SKUTT, BENJAMIN (fl. 1693) Longtime English planter on Barbados, who of necessity financed the operations of privateers during times of war.

On May 3, 1676 (O.S.), Skutt was mentioned as owner of the ship Allen of Poole, and so was one of numerous farmers and merchants of Barbados and the Leeward Islands who were subject to payment of a four-and-a-half percent duty. On January 26, 1677 (O.S.), he appeared before the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Treasury Chambers in London on behalf of this group, to request an adjustment, and was also present almost exactly one year later, when the matter of this duty was decided. Skutt petitioned the Crown in mid-June 1693, the fifth year of the War of the League of Augsburg (known in America as ‘‘King William’s War’’), that: . . . in consequence of the losses of West Indian merchants, he may have a license for his advice boat of 150 tons and 16 guns to sail to and from

Spanish Main Barbados, also a commission for her as a private man o’ war, and immunity from embargo or press gang.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 14 (London: His Majestys Stationery Office, 1903). Calendar of Treasury Books, Voume. 5: 1676
1679 and Volume 7: 1681
1685 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1911 and 1916).

€ ERO, SOCARRAS Y AGU BENITO (fl. 1689
1725) Long-serving Spanish corsair, who operated out of Santo Domingo. Apparently, this rover had sortied from the Dominican capital on privateering cruises and coast-guard patrols for more than two-and-a-half decades, starting during King William’s War. As late as 1725, he is known to have brought in the captured Dutch pink Jonge Bonte Koe of Master Nicolaas van der Meer for adjudication.

Reference Archive of Indies (Seville), Contadurı´a 1064 and Escribanı´a de C
amara de Justicia 9B, twenty documents.

SOUTH SEA Term originally applied to the Pacific Ocean by the 16th-century conquistadores. As the first Spanish explorers and conquerors crossed through the native

dominions of Central America and Mexico, to emerge onto the shores of this vast new body of water, their initial contacts gave them the impression that it lay due south of the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean. The Spaniards therefore referred to their latest discovery as the Mar del Sur or ‘‘Southern Sea,’’ to distinguish it from the former two, which were collectively known as the Mar del Norte or ‘‘Northern Sea.’’ This latter expression never really entered into popular usage, although ‘‘South Sea’’ would remain in vogue, even after future explorations had revealed the Pacific Ocean’s true boundaries. Doubtless the presence of the wealthy Viceroyalty of Peru due south of Panama did much to perpetuate this name, which then passed from Spanish into the English language.

SPANISH MAIN The northern coasts of present-day Panama, Colombia, and western Venezuela. This curious name dates from the early 16th century, when Spanish explorers ventured beyond their initial discoveries amid the Caribbean islands, in search of what they believed would prove to be the nearby Asian continent. By coincidence, the first large land mass that they charted contiguously proved to be that of northern South America, which these early pathfinders dubbed Tierra Firme or the Mainland. Even after further explorations had revealed it to be but a portion of a vast new continent, it remained customary to refer to this particular stretch of coastline by its original name. From Spanish, the expression then passed into English, soon being shortened into the ‘‘Spanish Main’’ and occasionally

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Strong, John (fl. 1686
1694) misapplied to the waters lying off that coast, rather than to the territory itself.

See also Spanish Main (Volume 1).

STRONG, JOHN (fl. 1686
1694) English privateer and treasure-salvor, who served in both Sir William Phips’ and Sir John Narborough’s fabulously successful dives on a sunken galleon north of Hispaniola, then launched a similar mission of his own into the South Sea, ending with his death on a fourth and final such attempt at La Coru~ na, Spain, which unwittingly set the stage for Henry Every’s mutiny and subsequent venture into piracy.

Phips’ Expedition (1686
1687) On September 12, 1686, Strong set sail from the Downs, England, as first mate aboard Phips’ tiny flagship James and Mary. Accompanied by the Henry, the two vessels proceeded to the Greater Antilles and there pretended to begin trading with the local Spaniards, while discreetly searching for the remains of the Nuestra Se~ nora de la Pura y Limpia Concepci
on, a fleet vice-flagship which had been sunk in a storm in 1641 while conveying a vast quantity of Mexican bullion toward Spain. Although unable to salvage the wreck themselves, the Spanish authorities still naturally regarded its treasure as their own, and kept its half-forgotten resting place a secret.

After a few weeks, however, the English located it on the ‘‘Ambrosian Bank’’ (today the Silver Bank, directly north of Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic), and worked the wreck until May 2, 1687, when Phips set sail for England with more than £200,000 in silver aboard. He received a hero’s welcome on his arrival there that same June, a naval guard being placed aboard the James and Mary to escort it to its anchorage at Deptford, and prevent any treasure from evading the royal taxes. (More than one year later, Strong and four other officers were arrested for allegedly smuggling £1,200 ashore without paying the requisite duties, although these charges were quickly dropped.)

Narborough’s Expedition (1687
1688) Knowing more silver remained at the site, a second expedition was prepared, with Strong now promoted to commander of the James and Mary. His position nonetheless remained a junior one, as three larger vessels had been incorporated into the flotilla: Narborough himself headed the group aboard the King’s frigate Foresight, while Phips commanded the 400-ton merchantman Good Luck and a Boy, and the ship Princess had also been added, along with the former Henry. The five set sail on September 3, 1687, from the Downs, but soon encountered heavy weather. Phips’ vessel was damaged and forced back into Plymouth, while Strong lost sight of the others off Cape Finisterre. He nevertheless pressed on to Barbados, where he was eventually joined by Narborough on November 16th. By the time the expedition finally reached the Silver Bank in mid-December

Strong, John (fl. 1686
1694) 1687, they found it surrounded by more than four-dozen craft. These and many other local scavengers had been working the wreck for months (including such notables as the buccaneer Laurens de Graaf and, perhaps, the English renegade John Phillip Beare), making away with a further £250,000. The interlopers were driven off, and Narborough’s men settled in to resume their work. But the gleanings now proved slender, five months’ labor resulted in little silver. In May 1688, Phips sailed away for New England, after which Narborough died. His body was buried over the galleon, and the discouraged expedition weighed for England. Strong evidently returned with these vessels to London in early August 1688, being detained shortly thereafter for his alleged fraud.

South Sea Expedition (1689
1690) He was soon released, and also weathered the upheavals surrounding the deposition of James II in favor of the Protestant rulers William and Mary (the so-called ‘‘Glorious Revolution’’ of the winter of 1688
1689), being then able to obtain financial backing for a new, independent salvage operation of his own into the South Pacific. Information had been received ‘‘of a rich wreck or two, at or near to Santa Elena not far from the Bay of Pun
a’’ off Guayaquil, on Spain’s Pacific shores, which Strong proposed locating with the same subterfuge as his mentor Phips: a vessel would be supplied with trade goods to visit this area, and conduct clandestine commerce with the local citizens (who were starved for European goods, on account of the Spanish monopoly). This not only might result in handsome profits, but more importantly

would disguise the true intent of this voyage, which was to dive on the wrecks. Its timing was furthermore favorable, in that England and Spain were now united against France in the War of the League of Augsburg. Consequently, the 270-ton ship Welfare was prepared, with 40 guns and a crew of 90 men and boys. A cargo of woolen fabrics, ‘‘stockings, arms and other ironworks, as hatches, hoes, etc.,’’ was loaded on board, it being speculated this merchandise ‘‘would bring a return of sixteen hundred per cent.’’ The Welfare also carried ‘‘bombs and carcasses for our defence, and to work on the wreck, if there should be occasion to blow up rocks.’’ Thus prepared, Strong set sail from the Downs on October 22, 1689, touching at Plymouth, Madeira, and the Falklands before entering the Strait of Magellan on February 20, 1690. It took Welfare several tries over the span of three months and twelve days to claw its way into the South Pacific, in ‘‘desperate weather,’’ according to Strong’s log. His first contacts with the coastal Spaniards were not promising; they were hostile on account of the numerous corsairs already prowling their shores. The Welfare struck northward until it reached Pun
a on August 20, 1690, where Strong had his first friendly meeting with two Spanish merchantmen bound from Guayaquil toward Payta. He learned of the location of the shipwreck, ‘‘about eight leagues within ye point of St. Helena, about half a mile from the shore in four fathom water, sandy ground.’’ The vessel had been the flagship of the Armada del Mar del Sur, the 900-ton Jes
us Marı´a de la Limpia Concepci
on, which had gone down the night of October 26, 1654, with ‘‘twelve millions of pieces of eight, besides a great

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Strong, John (fl. 1686
1694) quantity of plate.’’ Supposedly, only a small amount had ever been raised by Spanish salvors, but Strong could not find any trace of the remains when he anchored over the spot on September 7, 1690. The local inhabitants informed him that it was 20 years ‘‘since they could see her, by reason she is buried in ye sand.’’ Disappointed, Strong stood away to Juan Fern
andez Island, where on October 21, 1690, he found four English sailors who had been left there three years earlier, by ‘‘a privateer that were on these seas.’’ (This rescue predated Woodes Rogers’ discovery of Alexander Selkirk on this same island by 15 years and provided the inspiration for Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe.) The Welfare then continued down the Chilean coast, suffering 11 men killed when one of Strong’s landing parties was slaughtered in the surf by Spanish lancers. His return passage through the Strait was completed in a week, after which he headed northward into the Caribbean.

Barbados (1691) On February 17, 1691 (O.S.), the Welfare came to anchor at the Barbadian capital of Bridgetown, where Strong quickly secured a contract to transport sugar to London. Twelve days later, though, the Governor impressed his vessel ‘‘to go look after a [French] privateer which had taken several ships about this island.’’ Strong sortied on March 15th, but could not lure this raider close enough to engage, nor overtake the swift French craft ‘‘which sailed too hard for us.’’ Returning to Bridgetown, he finished his lading and departed at dawn of April 15th, escorting an outward-bound convoy of 18 sail.

Off northwest Ireland, Strong intercepted the Dutch flyboat Kroonprins Frederik (Crown Prince Frederick), sailing with Danish papers but a cargo of French wine, as well as a Norwegian vessel ‘‘laden with pickled salmon’’ and other provisions destined for France. He therefore seized both for trading with the enemy, and carried them into Tynemouth on June 14, 1691 (O.S.). The Welfare had been absent for a year-and-a-half, and one of its crew opined at the conclusion to this voyage: ‘‘A traverse of near 40,000 miles might have promised more, we for a long time, and to little purpose, conversed with beasts and men.’’ The profits proving modest, the investors failed to recoup their money.

‘‘Spanish Shipping’’ Expedition (1692
1694) Nevertheless, Strong soon became involved in another project, when in January 1692 a consortium formed to dive on other Spanish wrecks. An Irish-born officer named Arturo O’Byrne had been granted such a privilege by Carlos II of Spain, in honor of two decades’ service in the Royal Spanish Navy, during which O’Byrne had risen to Admiral. Armed with this patent, O’Byrne had sought financial and technical expertise in England, still allied with Spain against the French. He had come into contact with a wealthy London merchant called Sir James Houblon, who had extensive dealings with the Spanish trade, and promptly organized a group of 68 investors to fund the expedition. Because of his ample experience in this area, Strong was retained to command the flagship. Preparations proceeded slowly because of problems

Subigaray ‘‘Chipi’’ (i.e., Junior), Joannes De (fl. 1691
1694) brought on by the war, and an everexpanding role for the expedition itself: soon it was being designed to trade with Spanish America and raid French West Indian outposts, in addition to its original salvage operation. By the time that the flotilla finally prepared to quit Gravesend in August 1693, Strong had been superseded by Charles Gibson as senior captain. Now a major enterprise, the force consisted of the 46-gun flagship Charles II (named after the Spanish King), as well as the frigates James and Dove, and the pink Seventh Son. However, delays continued to plague its departure, so that it was not until early February 1694 that the ships at last arrived in La Coru~ na, Spain. Strong died here within a few days, depriving the expedition of its salvage expert, and spreading unease among the demoralized men. Gibson also lay ill within his cabin, and the crews were not allowed ashore. After three months of this treatment, being long unpaid and in despair of ever seeing the West Indies, the crew of the Charles II rose under their first mate Henry Every, carrying the ship out of harbor the night of May 7
8, 1694, and launching one of the most famous piratical careers.

References Baer, Joel H., ‘‘‘Captain John Avery’ and the Anatomy of a Mutiny,’’ EighteenthCentury Life 18 (February 1994), pp. 1
23. Bradley, Peter T., The Lure of Peru: Maritime Intrusion into the South Sea, 1598
1701 (New York: St Martin’s Press, 1990). Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 13 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1901).

Calendar of State Papers, Domestic: William and Mary, 1691
1692 and 1693 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1901
1903). Dyer, Florence E., ‘‘Captain John Strong, Privateer and Treasure Hunter,’’ The Mariner’s Mirror, Vol. XIII (1927), pp. 145
158.

SUBIGARAY ‘‘CHIPI’’ (I.E., JUNIOR), JOANNES DE (fl. 1691
1694) Dashing young French Basque privateer, killed while fighting in Newfoundland, where he lies buried today. Subigaray was born in the port-city of Bayonne, in the southwestern-most corner of France, in a house which still overlooks the Nive River at 3 du Quai Galuperie. His parents were Joannes and MarieMargerie de Subigaray, of whom little is known. The infant’s name was most likely originally spelled as Joannes de Subigarai Chipi in his native Euzkadi, but which was to be often garbled by French scribes throughout his lifetime as ‘‘Subygaray,’’ ‘‘Suhygaray,’’ ‘‘Suvigaray,’’ ‘‘Suigaray,’’ etc. The diminutive appendage Chipi, signifying Junior, is often erroneously incorporated into his surname as well, and even such compressed versions as ‘‘Desuhigaraychipy’’ or ‘‘Desuigaraychipy’’ have been recorded. It is possible that his surname may actually have been an early variant of the much more common modern Basque surname of Zubigaray.

Privateering Flair (1691) Nothing is known about his early life, except that Subigaray presumably took to the sea at a young age, and made

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Subigaray ‘‘Chipi’’ (i.e., Junior), Joannes De (fl. 1691
1694) several voyages to the Americas aboard merchantmen. The first official notice of his activities occurred in the summer of 1691, when King William’s War, which had pitted France against the combined might of England, Holland, and Spain, was already entering its third year. Despite his youth, Subigaray was sufficiently seasoned as a commander to raise the financing necessary to fit out the 24-gun frigate L
eg ere as a privateer, and make his first independent forays. On June 8, 1691, he seized a Dutch prize known as the Plie Dor
ee. That same September, he daringly trailed an enemy squadron and maneuvered his nimble vessel past three heavily-armed escorts, to snap up a Dutch storeship from amid this large formation’s midst. When carried into SaintJean-de-Luz for adjudication, his prize proved to be loaded with iron, arms, tools, and saffron worth a total of 100,000 francs. The young Captain’s successes quickly inspired many other imitators and earned him the Basque nickname of Croisic, meaning ‘‘Little Corsair’’ (and which in French would become spelled as Coursic). No less a personage than the Governor of Bayonne—Lieutenant-General Charles-Antoine, Duc de Gramont, Viceroy of Navarre and B
earn, etc.—was asked to share in the financing of L
eg ere’s future operations. The Governor also wrote a glowing report to France’s Minister of Marine, Louis de Ph
elypeaux, Comte de Pontchartrain, describing a bold action in early October 1691 when Subigaray—short of water and battling stormy seas—fought his way by surprise into a Spanish harbor to replenish his stock. By the end of that same year, Gramont could furthermore inform Louis XIV with pride that Subigaray and other Basque

privateers had brought in a total of 125 prizes over the previous eight months. The March 1, 1692, issue of the Gazette de France described a dogged, two-day pursuit by Subigaray of a pair of large Dutch merchantmen bound into San Sebasti
an. He had finally fought his way aboard one of these ships—an imposing vessel of 36 guns, 100 men, and 500 tons—on the morning of February 18th, despite being bloodily repulsed twice and receiving a musket-round in his shoulder. The defenders even continued their stubborn resistance from inside the forecastle and below decks, requiring another three-quarters of an hour of vicious fighting to be fully subdued. Coursic suffered five dead and 35 wounded during this entire five-hour fracas, while only 18 Dutchmen emerged from the battle unscathed. Their ship was carrying a valuable cargo of sails, masts, cordage, powder, and other naval stores for a new Spanish flagship which had just been launched at Los Pasajes arsenal. Then while limping homeward into Bayonne a few days later, the battered L
eg ere was intercepted at dawn by the 120-man English privateer Princess, allegedly armed with 64 guns. Onlookers clustered anxiously ashore along Boucau Beach could see how Subigaray out-dueled his larger opponent by 3:00 P.M. The young Captain therefore reentered port with this latest capture as well, to an ecstatic hero’s welcome. Governor Gramont even wrote on March 12, 1692, to request that the King present him with a medal, but Pontchartrain instead replied 10 days later, that Louis had decided to accord Subigaray the singular honor of a commission in France’s

Subigaray ‘‘Chipi’’ (i.e., Junior), Joannes De (fl. 1691
1694) Royal Navy as a Junior Captain (capitaine de fr
egate), with the further intention of placing him in command of one of two new royal frigates being built in the Bayonne yards.

Naval Appointment (1692) Major defeats suffered by France’s regular Navy at Barfleur and La Hogue during this same spring of 1692, had finally convinced the Crown to shift its naval strategy away from set-piece battles—in which its fleets were clearly overmatched by the English and Dutch—to opt for swift sorties and destructive commerce-sweeps by lone squadrons or vessels. So as to better conduct such independent campaigns, skilled privateer captains were to be admitted for the first time into the Navy’s command structure, traditionally the preserve of the nobility. Such unpaid, temporary wartime appointees were to become known as officiers bleus or ‘‘blue officers.’’ Subigaray therefore received just such a ‘‘blue’’ appointment on October 1, 1692, to assume command over the soon-to-be completed royal frigate Aigle. This 36-gun, 300-ton vessel was launched that same December, along with its sister-ship Favori, at the Bayonne yards of F
elicien Arnaud. While commissioning was being completed and a mission planned for next spring by the Crown authorities in the distant capital, Coursic was free to continue patrolling throughout that winter aboard his L
eg ere, leading a force of privateers. Unfortunately, his impulsiveness led him to order an attack immediately on sighting an unidentified squadron off Cape Ortegal, without pausing to hoist the usual recognition-signals. It was only

when Subigaray’s flotilla had closed to within firing-range and the first broadsides were about to be unleashed, that he recognized the vessels as a French naval squadron under Captain Claude, Chevalier de Forbin, so that a tragedy was narrowly averted. Yet this tactical blunder was nonetheless taken very seriously at Versailles, and the over-zealous young ‘‘blue officer’’ was suspended temporarily from holding naval command in March 1693. Still, he continued roving aboard L
eg ere, and even seized the rich English prize Success of Barnstaple on May 21st.

Spitsbergen Raid (1693) Within a month, Subigaray was restored to his naval rank, so as to participate in a strike that upcoming summer against the lucrative Dutch whaling-operations at Spitsbergen on the Arctic Circle. France’s naval planners had decided to send a squadron to that remote locale led by the ‘‘red’’ Commodore Antoine d’Arcy de La Varenne, aboard his new 50-gun, 500-ton flagship P
elican. Subigaray was to command Aigle, accompanied by Favori under his fellow-Basque privateer, the 48-year-old ‘‘blue’’ Captain Louis de Harismendy. The 44-gun, 500-ton privateer Prudent of Captain Jacques Gouin de Beauchesne of SaintMalo was to round out this force. La Varenne’s quartet of warships departed Saint-Jean-de-Luz on the morning of June 30, 1693, and after a month of steadily sailing due northward, sighted Svalbard Island. The French flagship dropped anchor within its South Bay, while La Varenne’s three consorts chased after the scattering Dutch whalers. Harismendy returned with three prizes, and Coursic two, before

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Subigaray ‘‘Chipi’’ (i.e., Junior), Joannes De (fl. 1691
1694) both commanders were told to circle around to the northern tip of the island, and find the main Dutch anchorage. At dawn of August 6, 1693, Aigle and Favori pushed through the ice-floes outside Treurenburg Bay, to find 40 Dutch ships anchored inside, in a defensive crescent. The French sent in a launch to call on the tough whalers to surrender, and when this was refused, fighting erupted shortly after 8:00 A.M. After five hours of furious broadsides, during which each French frigate expended almost 1,600 rounds, the Dutch began to use their longboats to escape, by warping out of the bay. The triumphant Subigaray and Harismendy were left with 13 prizes, of which two were so badly damaged that they had to be burned. After effecting repairs on their own warships, the two French commanders set sail with their 11 remaining prizes on the evening of August 7, 1693, meeting Prudent two days later at sea, with two captive Dutch store-ships of its own. All three raiders rejoined P
elican inside South Bay on August 10th, a total of 26 prizes being assembled. Fifteen were scuttled, after which Coursic was assigned six of the remainder and Harismendy five, weighing anchor by August 14th to escort them homeward into Bayonne. P
elican and Prudent meanwhile split off to cruise down the British coastline, snapping up a West Indian convoy that they chanced to meet off Cape Clear. Subigaray and Harismendy became separated from each other by a thick mist shortly after weighing, and the energetic young Captain even tried to sail his Aigle to rejoin the flagship off the Orkneys, in hopes of seeing more

action, but in vain. The dispersed squadron and its many prizes nonetheless straggled into Bayonne over a few weeks in mid-September 1693, to a jubilant reception. On September 25th, Pontchartrain even wrote to inform Governor Gramont that the King had been ‘‘very pleased with what the two officers [Subigaray and Harismendy] and their crews did on this occasion, and you can assure them that he will remember this on a future occasion.’’ Yet even with the royal expedition to Spitsbergen well concluded, and the European campaigning season winding down with the onset of winter, the restless Subigaray launched yet another sudden privateering sally from Bayonne on November 21, 1693, emerging with Aigle, Favori, Entreprenant, and Jolie to chase away some enemy raiders prowling the coast of Gascony.

Death at Newfoundland (1694) Once winter passed, a new royal expedition was prepared in April 1694, to mount a similar foray against the English fisheries of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. Again, Coursic’s Aigle, Harismendy’s Favori, and Gouin de Beauchesne’s Prudent were to sail together, this time across the North Atlantic for Canada under the leadership of Commodore Pierre Vidard, Seigneur de Saint-Clair, aboard his new 54-gun, 850ton flagship Gaillard. Funding for the flagship was to be furnished by the Crown, but the rest of this squadron was to have their expenses underwritten by private investors, the Commodore himself contributing 1,000 e
cus toward this venture. All four warships departed Bayonne on May 26, 1694, pausing at La

Subigaray ‘‘Chipi’’ (i.e., Junior), Joannes De (fl. 1691
1694) Rochelle, before shouldering their way out into the open Atlantic rollers. Despite reaching Plaisance (modern Placentia) Bay in Newfoundland safely, this expedition’s fortunes then fared badly. Saint-Clair decided to remain at anchor with his flagship, while detaching his three consorts for an attack under the temporary command of his ‘‘red’’ Flag-Captain Duvignau (also spelled Du Vignau, Du Vigneau, etc.) With Coursic’s Aigle in the lead, this trio circled around southern Newfoundland to attempt to penetrate the harbor at Forillon or Ferryland, a major anchorage and shore-establishment for the English fisheries. On approaching it on September 10, 1694, though, the raiders found their opponents forewarned and well ready to receive them. The letter-of-marque Captain William Holman had used his emergency authority, as well as the crew of his 16-gun ship William and Mary; to throw up strong defenses. Four shore-batteries bristling with a total of 30 guns had been installed; plus all local English inhabitants had been mustered, as well as the crews from the eight or nine other anchored vessels. Committed to an attack, though, Duvignau aboard Aigle ordered Coursic to rush the entrance regardless, hoping to fight his way inside. But the frigate ran aground at the channel’s narrowest point, directly under fire from the English batteries, and in a position that the trailing Favori and Prudent could not get past. Subigaray fell mortally wounded, and discipline collapsed as the French FlagCaptain could not communicate with most of his Basque subalterns and crew. In the heat of battle, according to its Basque seamen, a boat was launched to get

Drawing of Joannes de Subigaray’s broken grave-marker at Placentia; it has since been reassembled and is today preserved. (Howley, Rt. Rev. Bishop. The Old Basque Tombstones of Placentia, 1902)

equipment and a line from Harismendy’s Favori to help refloat the grounded Aigle, although Duvignau angrily accused the men of desertion. Eventually, the stranded frigate was refloated by the rising tide, and managed to stagger back out of Ferryland Bay with its dying young commander aboard, after being under fire for eight hours. Favori took it under tow, and all three French vessels limped back to rejoin Saint-Clair at the Placentia Bay anchorage by September 15, 1694. There, the Basque privateers carved a stone grave-marker to bury their beloved Captain, while heated recriminations were being exchanged. Duvignau—guilty

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Sunday Keeping because of his clumsy and bloody repulse—lodged formal charges against several surviving ‘‘blue’’ officers, so as to affix blame. Saint-Clair meanwhile wrote directly to France, trying to explain his expedition’s failure (and his own lack of active participation) by blaming the Governor of Placentia, Jacques-Franc¸ois de Montebon de Brouillan. The Basque seamen remained openly surly with their French leadership. It was a disappointed and cantankerous squadron which quit Placentia on October 15, 1694, to escort home a merchant convoy, and leaving behind the remains of Subigaray.

See also Blue Officers; Holman, William.

References Duc
ere, Edouard, ‘‘Un corsaire basque sous Luis XIV, d’apres des documents in
edits,’’ Revue Internationale des Etudes Basques (1908), pp. 76
82, 222
229, and 302
312. Horwood, Harold and Butts, Ed, Bandits and Privateers: Canada in the Age of Gunpowder (Toronto: Doubleday, 1987). Howley, Michael F., The Old Basque Tombstones at Placentia (Ottawa, 1902).

SUNDAY KEEPING Religious observance practiced by certain pious New Englanders, of refraining from doing any work on the Sabbath. A long-established custom ashore, many religious-minded skippers would also depart the fishing banks prior to the weekend, so as to anchor in a quiet harbor and spend the Lord’s Day in restful

contemplation, without any labors beyond routine shipboard duties. When 13 such ‘‘Sunday Keeper’’ fishing-schooners from Marblehead stood into Port Roseway at the southwestern tip of Nova Scotia to anchor on Friday, June 15, 1722 (O.S.), they found the pirate brigantine Rebecca of Captain Ned Low already inside, who pillaged them all.

See also Low, Edward.

Reference Ashton, Philip, Jr., Ashton’s Memorial: An History of the Strange Adventures and Signal Deliverances of Mr. Philip Ashton (Salem, MA: Peabody Museum, 1976).

SWAN, CHARLES (fl. 1684
1686) English adventurer who roamed the South Sea. As a young man, Swan had served under Henry Morgan at the sack of Panama. More than 10 years later, he was residing in England when the sensational trial of Bartholomew Sharpe was held, revealing new knowledge about the Spanish Pacific. In particular, Swan met Sharpe’s companion Basil Ringrose in London, and after exchanging reminiscences, decided to raise a peacetime trading expedition by traveling around the Horn into South America. Ringrose agreed to invest in this venture and accompany it, so that soon the 16-gun Cygnet was being furnished with a crew of 60 men and £5,000 worth of merchant

Swan, Charles (fl. 1684
1686) Second Wave Pacific, 1684
1687.

N

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Swan, Charles (fl. 1684
1686) traders’ goods, weighing on October 1, 1683. A few months later, at the entrance to the Strait of Magellan, they encountered the Nicholas of John Eaton, also out of London on a similar mission. However, the latter had been operating with a much more vigorous hand, leaving a trail of destruction down the Brazilian coast and capturing a Portuguese prize, which sank in a storm. Some of Swan’s men wished him to adopt the same policy and when he refused, one night nine deserted ‘‘after they saw they could not prevail with me to play the rogue.’’ Nonetheless, the two English ships continued round the Horn in company, but became separated by bad weather. On April 2, 1684, Cygnet entered the Spanish port of Valdivia, Chile in an open attempt to establish trade relations, much as Sir John Narborough had done 14 years earlier. At first, everything went well, with Swan even warning the Spaniards about the presence of more hostile Englishmen off the coast, but once the initial surprise wore off, the Spanish authorities ruthlessly reimposed their monopoly over trade. Swan had two men killed and others captured while going ashore under flag of truce, adding: ‘‘An ambuscade of between 100 and 200 men came out and fired upon a poor eight of us in the yawl.’’ Rebuffed at Valdivia, he wandered northward into the Gulf of Nicoya (in present-day Costa Rica), where on August 3, 1684, he met a small party of buccaneers under Peter Harris. They had sortied from Jamaica on a straightforward freebooter raid, crossing the Isthmus of Panama, sacking the town of Santa Marı´a, and defeating a Spanish flotilla off Panama’s Pearl Islands. Swan’s disgruntled crew now insisted on joining

them and he felt constrained to accede, else he would have been left with ‘‘no one to sail the ship.’’ He sold some of his cargo to the buccaneers, retaining only the silks and muslins, and insisting that Cygnet’s owners receive a share of any prize money. Reversing course southward, Swan and Harris reached Isla de la Plata (literally ‘‘Silver Island,’’ or ‘‘Drake’s Island’’) on October 2nd, where they found the 36-gun Bachelor’s Delight of Edward Davis. Together they mustered close to 200 men, and on October 20, 1684, sailed for the mainland. Paita was assaulted the morning of November 3rd, but nothing much of value was found before the town was put to the torch. The Lobos Islands were visited next, where Swan encouraged his men to sample the local wildlife by ‘‘comparing the seal to a roasting pig, boobies to hens, and the penguins to ducks.’’ A second abortive raid followed against Guayaquil in early December, which ended when the pirates’ captive Indian guide escaped as they were marching overland. A few prizes were then taken off the coast, but the rovers realized that they were too weak for greater enterprises, so headed northward for Panama in hopes of meeting other buccaneers crossing the Isthmus. At the end of December, they captured an aviso off Gallo Island bound for Callao, and although its correspondence had been flung overboard, some letters were retrieved from the water quickly enough to reveal the annual plate fleet had arrived at Portobelo on November 28th, which the Peruvian silver ships would very soon have to sail to meet. On January 8, 1685, the buccaneers furthermore intercepted the 90-ton Santa Rosa, before repairing to the Pearl Islands to careen. On February 14th, a

Swan, Charles (fl. 1684
1686) fresh contingent of 200 French flibustiers and 80 English buccaneers reached the islands in coastal canoes, under the command of Franc¸ois Grogniet and Lescuyer. The flibustiers were offered the Santa Rosa by Swan and Davis, while the Englishmen were incorporated into Cygnet and Bachelor’s Delight. In appreciation, Grogniet presented the two commanders with blank commissions issued by the French Governor of SaintDomingue. Davis accepted, but Swan—vainly striving to maintain some semblance of legality—politely declined with the observation that: . . . he had an order from the Duke of York neither to give offence to the Spaniards, nor to receive any affront from them; and that he had been injured by them at Valdivia, where they had killed some of his men and wounded several more, so that he thought he had a lawful commission of his own to right himself. More buccaneers were apparently on their way, so a party was sent to await them in the Gulf of San Miguel. On March 3, 1685, they met Captain Townley’s 180 men, mostly English, in two captured barks. A few days later, another bark bearing about a dozen Englishmen entered the Gulf of Panama from the west, having separated from William Knight off the coast of New Spain. And on April 11th, another band of 264 mainly French flibustiers arrived across the Isthmus under Rose, Le Picard, and Desmarais. Swan availed himself of this opportunity to send letters back across the Isthmus to his wife and owners, explaining his change of fortunes and beseeching them to intercede with the King:

. . . for as soon as I can I shall deliver myself to the King’s justice, and I had rather die than live skulking like a vagabond for fear of death. On June 7, 1685, a fleet of six Spanish men o’ war suddenly emerged from a morning shower off Pacheca Island, and caught the pirates unprepared. An indecisive, long-range engagement ensued, with the lightly armed buccaneer craft unwilling to close with the mightier vessels of the Armada del Mar del Sur, who in turn could not overtake such nimble opponents. Nevertheless the next day ended with a Spanish victory, the pirates being driven off and Peru’s silver delivered. The buccaneers fell out among themselves, with Davis, Swan, Townley, and Knight sailing northwestward as a single group, raiding Realejo and Le
on (Nicaragua) in early August 1685, for little gain. After maintaining a fruitless blockade of the Mexican coast until March 1686, Swan concluded he would rather head across the Pacific for the East Indies. After making a few more minor captures in the Philippines, he died—possibly in an arranged accident—at Mindanao.

References Bradley, Peter T., The Lure of Peru: Maritime Intrusion into the South Sea, 1598
1701 (New York: St Martin’s Press, 1990). Calendar of State Papers: Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 12 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1899). Dampier, William, A New Voyage Round the World (New York: Dover, 1968).

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T We hear that there are three [pirate ships] cruising off Cape Comorin, who vainly as well as impudently give out that they are friends to no man, but to God Almighty. —Letter from Bombay, 18 February 1697 (O.S.)

TAVERNS

Reference

In 1710, Thomas Walduck puckishly observed that the first institution which the English always established in a new colony was a drinking-house—in contrast to the Spaniards who began with a church, and the Dutch who started with a fort. Some of the better known taverns which dotted Port Royal’s crowded streets prior to its destruction by the great earthquake of June 1692 (see sidebar) were the Black Dog, Blue Anchor, Cat and Fiddle, Cheshire Cheese, The Feathers, Green Dragon, Jamaica Arms, King’s Arms, The Salutac¸on [Salutation], The Ship, Sign of Bacchus, Sign of the Mermaid, Sign of the George, Sugar Loaf, Three Crowns, Three Mariners, Three Tunns, and The Windmill.

Pawson, Michael and Buisseret, David J., Port Royal, Jamaica (Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1975).

TEACH, EDWARD See Thatch, Edward

TENTHS In the 18th century, the percentage due to the English Crown from any privateer capture adjudicated before a court of law, the proceeds of which were assigned to the Lord High Admiral. Shortly after the accession of Queen Anne to the throne in April 1702, with war about to erupt between England and 781

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PORT ROYAL EARTHQUAKE At 11:40 A.M. on a busy Wednesday morning, June 7, 1692 (O.S.), an earthquake struck with such ferocity that much of the northern section of the town slid into the harbor, at least two rows of its buildings and some 2,000 of 6,500 inhabitants being swallowed in 30 to 40 feet of water. Another 2,000 people succumbed as a result of the tidal wave which followed almost immediately thereafter, swamping many of the remaining dwellings and even bursting open the graveyard, adding to the subsequent spread of disease. Such a dramatic catastrophe was widely interpreted abroad as divine punishment, Port Royal’s lurid past as a buccaneer roost leading some moralists to label it ‘‘the wickedest place on earth,’’ although not having been previously known as exceptionally licentious, when compared to other seaports. Nevertheless, many frightened survivors temporarily shifted to ‘‘the Rock’’ (modern Rockfort) at the eastern extreme of the bay in the aftermath to this calamity, while Council members examined several sites along the inner shoreline for a new urban locale, rejecting Delacree Pen or ‘‘cattle-farm’’ where the ferry connecting Port Royal to Liguanea Plain had traditionally deposited its passengers as too marshy and unhealthful. A hog-crawl farther east was therefore selected and purchased for £2,000 from its absentee proprietor, Colonel William Beeston, after which a gridiron-pattern of blocks measuring half-a-mile wide by three-quarters of a mile deep was laid out by John Goffe, and 809 lots were assigned for distribution. Within six weeks of Port Royal’s devastation, the name of this new settlement appeared in Council minutes as ‘‘Kingston’’; yet despite a decree directing that all surviving property-holders were to erect a house ‘‘worth £50’’ within three years of receiving their new allotment, little construction actually commenced, as most Port Royal residents were at first inclined to rebuild on the original land-spit. A further complication arose when Beeston arrived early in 1693, armed with a knighthood and title as the island’s new Lieutenant-Governor, and immediately contested the Council’s unilateral purchase of his hog-crawl, so that it reverted to his ownership. He thereupon began privately selling lots at £5 apiece, while at the same time using his official position to constitute Kingston into a parish—a church soon being started on the southeast corner of King Street and the new settlement’s ‘‘Parade’’ or main square—as well as ordering the island Secretary, Receiver-General, and naval agent to all transfer their operations ashore from Port Royal, so that merchants and others must also transpose. However, Beeston’s blatant profit-mongering naturally retarded Kingston’s development, as well as the fact that Jamaica remained distracted by on-going hostilities against France known as King William’s War. The destruction of all harbor defenses except for Fort Charles and part of Morgan’s Line by the earthquake and tidal wave soon tempted the French of Saint-Domingue (Haiti) to mount an invasion attempt under their Gov. Jean-Baptiste Ducasse, who materialized off Jamaica’s eastern tip on the morning of June 17, 1694, with 22 vessels bearing more than 3,100 men. The bulk of this fleet anchored in Cow Bay, 15

Tenths

miles east of devastated Port Royal, hoping that they had taken the defenders by surprise; yet on realizing that the English had been forewarned and were prepared to resist, Ducasse contented himself with plundering isolated coastal communities as far west as Carlisle Bay, before departing in late July.

Holland against France and Spain, she appointed her husband and consort, Prince George of Denmark, to this supreme naval rank, while the influential John Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, similarly received the highest army rank of Captain-General. The royal tenths from all seizures made by English privateers anywhere in the world would therefore be destined to Prince George, and colonial officials overseas were so advised. For example, a year after these hostilities had actually erupted, the Council of Barbados during its May 5, 1703 (O.S.), session entertained a motion from that island’s Attorney-General, Edward Chilton: . . . that no privateers be admitted to go out of this Island until they have given security to pay the Lord High Admiral’s tenths of every prize they shall take, which was granted. Then he presented a commission from England empowering Charles Thomas to receive the Lord High Admiral’s tenths, and also a commission from the Lord High Admiral appointing Captain Charles Thomas, James Aynsworth, and Thomas Stewart to be commissioners to examine witnesses of all prizes brought in here by letters of marque, which the Board allowed. A year-and-a-half earlier, before Anne had even attained the throne or war had been declared, the Council of Barbados had passed an act omitting this perquisite.

The Council of Trade and Plantations in London therefore wrote reprovingly to Governor Sir Bevil [or Beville] Granville on February 16, 1704 (O.S.): Upon consideration of an Act passed at Barbados, November 18, 1701 [O.S.], entitled An Act to encourage privateers in case of a war, wherein is no provision for preserving to the Lord High Admiral his tenths and other dues according to the enclosed Order of Council of March 6, 1665/6, we are to advise you to endeavor that a clause be inserted in some other Act for reserving the said tenths and dues, otherwise this Act will be repealed by Her Majesty for that defect. Three months later, the Board of Trade and Plantations wrote more approvingly to Governor-General Sir Christopher Codrington on May 4, 1704 (O.S.): ‘‘The account of prizes taken and condemned at Antigua, we sent to my Lord High Treasurer, and the account of His Royal Highness’ tenths of prizes condemned at Nevis, to the Admiralty.’’

See also Tenths (Volume 1).

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 21, 22

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Tew, Thomas (fl. 1692
1695) (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1913
1916).

TEW, THOMAS (fl. 1692
1695) Rhode Island rover, who after prowling the West Indies and Bermuda, became famous for a single spectacular raid into the Red Sea, which set a notorious precedent for other pirate Captains such as Henry Every and William Kidd. As with many other freebooters, details about Tew’s birth and early life remain sketchy. It is alleged that he may have been a younger son of Richard Tew and Mary Clarke, who were known—when that family emigrated out to North America from Maidford in Northamptonshire, England, in 1640—to have already had three boys: six-year-old William, four-year-old John, and two-year-old Richard. A daughter Seaborn was delivered while they were still traversing the Atlantic, and other children would follow once they settled on Rhode Island—yet no record exists of any son named Thomas. Richard Tew’s younger brother John, a doctor who had remained behind in Towcester in England, had a son named Thomas in 1656, who may possibly have then traveled out to America as well, to live with his uncle. Or the Thomas who grew up to become the famous rover may have also been a grandson of Richard and Mary, born to their third son Richard. Thomas Tew himself would later claim that his roots on Rhode Island extended back as far as 1640, and that he had come from a good family. He may have even been a distant cousin to Henry Tew, who would much later rise to become a Lieutenant-Colonel and Deputy

Governor of that colony. Knowledge about young Thomas’ early seafaring experience is equally vague, one of the few hints being mentioned many years afterward, when an old friend named John Graves testified how, while traveling from New England to New York in October 1694: . . . I saw three small vessels, a sloop, a brigantine, and a bark, fitting out at Rhode Island. The name of the master of the sloop was Thomas Tue [sic], whom I had known living in Jamaica twelve years before. He was free in discourse with me . . . Graves’s deposition would seem to indicate that Tew had been on Jamaica as early as 1682, during a turbulent period in Caribbean history, when he very well may have served as a privateer. In any event, by the time the War of the League of Augsburg—known in the American colonies as King William’s War—erupted against France in June 1689, Tew was already a veteran seafarer, who the following year allegedly arrived at Bermuda to obtain a privateering license. He must have proven successful in this calling, for the first official notice of his activities occurred in December 1692, when he purchased another commission from that island’s obliging Lieutenant-Governor, Isaac Richier. Armed with this permit, Tew then bought a partial share from four owners—Henry Fifield, Thomas Walmsley, Richard Gilbert, and Thomas Hall—in the 70-ton 8-gun sloop Amity, which that previous year had been operating as a privateer out of Barbados, under Gilbert as its Captain.

First Red Sea Expedition (1693) Tew furthermore recruited a crew of 46 seasoned veterans, and a mutual

Tew, Thomas (fl. 1692
1695) agreement was signed between all the parties on January 8, 1693 (O.S.), after which Amity put out to sea, accompanied by the privateer brigantine Amy of the Bermudan Captain George Dew. Ostensibly, both vessels were bound for an attack against the French slaving factory of Gor
ee in West Africa, but a few days out into the Atlantic, Dew’s vessel sprang its mast in a storm and the two became separated. Now proceeding alone, Tew assembled his ship’s company and proposed that they choose another destination, farther afield in the unprotected Far East: . . . a course which should lead them to ease and plenty, in which they might pass the rest of their days. That one bold push would do their business, and they might return home, not only without danger, but even with reputation. The crew finding he expected their resolution, cried out, one and all: ‘‘A gold chain, or a wooden leg, we’ll stand by you!’’ Despite the illegality of venturing against neutral shipping, Tew and his men then altered course so as to round the Cape of Good Hope and head into the Indian Ocean. After several weeks’ fruitless search, Tew stemmed the Strait of Bab-elMandeb (in Arabic, the Gate of Tears, the narrow entrance into the Red Sea), where he sighted a ‘‘tall vessel’’ leading six others—an immensely-wealthy merchant convoy belonging to the Great Mogul of India, which was making on a trading-voyage for the Arab ports deeper inside the Red Sea. His heavily-armed privateersmen easily subdued the 300 Indian troops manning the flagship, in a one-sided fusillade

which carried that vessel without suffering a single loss. Tew then carried his prize for St. Mary’s, a tiny slender island off the Madagascar coast, arriving by October 19, 1693 (O.S.), to begin dividing his spoils, and careening his own brigantine. According to a deposition given more than five years later in New York City before Governor Richard, Lord Bellomont, the pirate who controlled that anchorage, Adam Baldridge, would recall how: Arrived the ship Amity, Captain Thomas Tew commander, burden 70 tons, 8 guns, 60 men, having taken a ship in the Red Seas that did belong to the Moors, as the men did report; they took as much money in her as made the whole share run £1,200 a man. They careened at St. Marie’s and had some cattle from me, but for their victualling and sea-store they bought from the Negroes. I sold Captain Tew and his company some of the goods brought in the Charles from New York. The sloop [Amity] belonged most of her to Bermudas. Captain Tew set sail from St. Marie’s December the 23d 1693 [O.S.], bound for America. Amity touched at the open pirate port known as Libertatia on Madagascar proper, before steering back around the Cape of Good Hope for the New World. Traversing the Atlantic, Tew deliberately bypassed Bermuda in favor of his own home-port of Newport, Rhode Island, where the Amity arrived in April 1694, having logged more than 22,000 miles on its epic 15-month cruise. The local citizenry were bedazzled by this exploit, and the exotic plunder brought in: gold, silver, jewelry, elephants’ tusks, ivory, spices, and silk, the whole valued

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Tew, Thomas (fl. 1692
1695) at more than £100,000. Tew’s seamen received shares ranging from £1,200 to an astonishing £3,000 apiece, and the formerly inconsequential Captain now found himself a rich man. He was accorded a hero’s welcome by the townspeople, although less so by honest John Easton, the Quaker Governor of that private colony. When Tew approached him about obtaining a new privateering commission, Easton asked where he intended to use it. ‘‘Where perhaps the commission might never be seen or heard of,’’ Tew replied darkly, and offered to buy it for the sum of £500; which the good Quaker refused. Tew therefore traveled to New York with his family, where they were entertained by the much more pliant Royal Governor, Colonel Benjamin Fletcher. He later described Tew as ‘‘what they call a very pleasant man; so that at some times when the labors of my day were over, it was some divertissement as well as information to me, to hear him talk.’’

Iron strong-box, probably of German or Dutch manufacture, allegedly owned by Captain Thomas Tew. It has an elaborate locking-mechanism within its lid, plus a dummy keyhole in its front panel. (Pirate Soul Museum and Wyatt Gallery)

But their relationship truly flourished on account of corrupt transactions, which included the purchase of a privateering commission for £300 on November 8, 1694 (O.S.). Meanwhile, Mrs. Tew and her two daughters attended gala functions at the Governor’s mansion, dressed in rich silks with glittering diamonds from the Orient, while Fletcher openly bestowed a gold watch on her husband. Tew also took some pains to write to the Amity’s majority owners on Bermuda, alleging that he had not been able to return there as the sloop had sprung a mast, forcing him to bypass that island—despite having ‘‘for two weeks beat unsuccessfully against head winds’’ in a vain attempt to arrive. He furthermore bought their cooperation by sending them a large payment, reputedly equivalent to fourteen times their original investment in Amity.

Second Red Sea Expedition (1694) Returning to Newport, Tew began to prepare his sloop for another cruise. When news of this development spread, there was great excitement throughout that colony, with ‘‘servants from most places of the country running from their masters, sons from their parents,’’ in the hopes of signing on with Tew for this voyage. Some lads even snuck aboard the Amity, trying to sail as stowaways. By the end of November 1694, Tew was ready and got under way. He again worked his way around the tip of Africa, and into the Red Sea. However, when another of the Great Mogul’s treasure ships was finally encountered in September 1695, the results proved very different. For in ‘‘the engagement a shot carried away the rim of Tew’s belly, who held his bowels in his hands for some space.

Thatch, Edward, Alias ‘‘Blackbeard’’ (fl. 1717
1718) When he dropped, it struck such terror to his men that they suffered themselves to be taken without further resistance.’’ At Saint Mary’s Island off Madagascar, Baldridge would record: December 11th 1695 [O.S.]: Arrived the sloop Amity, having no Captain, her former Captain Thomas Tew being killed by a great shot from a Moor’s ship, John Yarland master, burden seventy ton, 8 guns, as before described, and about 60 men. They stayed but five days at St. Marie’s and set sail to seek the Charming Mary, and they met her at Mauratan on Madagascar and took her, giving Captain Glover the sloop to carry him and his men home and all that he had, keeping nothing but the ship. They made a new commander after they had taken the ship, one Captain Bobbington. After they had taken the ship, they went into St. Augustine Bay and there fitted the ship, and went into the Indies to make a voyage, and I have heard since that they were trepanned and taken by the Moors.

See also Bab-el-Mandeb; Baldridge, Adam; Dew, George; Every, Henry; Kidd, William; Trepan.

References Botting, Douglas, The Pirates (Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1978). Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 15
17 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1893
1899). Chapin, Howard M., Privateer Ships and Sailors: The First Century of American Colonial Privateering, 1625
1725 (Toulon: G. Mouton, 1926).

Documents Relative to the Colonial History of New York, Vol. IV. Dow, George F. and Edmonds, John H., The Pirates of the New England Coast, 1630
1730 (Salem, MA: Marine Research Society, 1923). Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924). Jameson, John F., comp. and ed., Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period: Illustrative Documents (New York: Macmillan, 1923). Leamon, James S., ‘‘Governor Fletcher’s Recall,’’ William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, Volume 20, No. 4 (October 1963), pp. 527
542.

THATCH, EDWARD, ALIAS ‘‘BLACKBEARD’’ (fl. 1717
1718) Colorful ruffian who enjoyed a meteoric rise to fame as a pirate, before meeting his inevitable and bloody death. Most contemporary sources indicate that his surname was probably Thatch, although some publications would suggest that it might have been Teach. Nothing is known about his birth or early life, although it is believed that he was originally from the great English seaport of Bristol, and had served aboard privateers operating out of Jamaica against the Spanish and French during Queen Anne’s War. Once these official hostilities ceased as of April 1713, he evidently chose to continue roving, one of many privateers who, now finding themselves unemployed, began drifting toward the Bahamian archipelago. Cuban wartime raids and the lack of any significant commercial traffic left these beautiful islands almost entirely depopulated,

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1718)

Edward Thatch or Blackbeard, as depicted in A General History of the Pyrates by Captain Charles Johnson, 1724. (Jupiterimages)

only 27 families still remaining in makeshift huts on its main island of New Providence. Lawless rovers therefore began filtering into this void, where they could live and prowl as they pleased. This migration accelerated notably after the annual Spanish plate fleet, homeward-bound from Havana, was driven by a storm in late July 1715 onto the Florida coast opposite, leaving a dozen rich galleons strewn temptingly along 40 miles of empty shoreline. Treasure-hunters swarmed into this region to scavenge

among the debris and rob Spanish salvage-teams, so that by the spring of 1716, Nassau had become a full-fledged pirate haunt. Thatch apparently attached himself to the crew of Captain Benjamin Hornigold, and most likely was one of 26 hands who remained loyal when this Captain was voted out of office in favor of Samuel Bellamy in early June 1716, after an unprofitable cruise around Cuba to French Hispaniola. Hornigold’s woes were then compounded when he ventured north aboard a small sloop to South Carolina, where his vessel was destroyed

Thatch, Edward, Alias ‘‘Blackbeard’’ (fl. 1717
1718) by local privateers that same month, although he somehow managed to escape and reestablish himself in the Bahamas by the next year. The first direct mention of Thatch in official records occurred in March 1717, when Captain Thomas Walker—a former dignitary from Nassau, who had been driven over to Abaco Island by the excesses of its piratical occupiers—declared: . . . that five pirates made ye harbor of Providence [i.e., Nassau] their place of rendezvous, viz.: Horngold, a sloop with 10 guns and about 80 men; [Henry] Jennings, a sloop with 10 guns and 100 men; Burgess, a sloop with 8 guns and about 80 men; White, in a small vessel with 30 men and small arms; Thatch, a sloop 6 guns and about 70 men. All took and destroy’d ships of all nations, except Jennings, who took no English. A few months later, the castaway Captain Matthew Musson would report to the Council of Trade and Plantations in London how these pirates had even begun fortifying Nassau’s harbor, adding that: ‘‘Most of the ships and vessels taken by them, they burn and destroy when brought into the harbor, and oblige the men to take on with them.’’ It is possible that such a fate befell the 6-gun renegade sloop Revenge of Major Stede Bonnet out of Barbados, as a few months afterward the Boston News-Letter would be reporting how he had been wounded and his crew suffered almost two-score casualties in assaulting a Spanish warship, so that after ‘‘putting into Providence, the place of rendezvous for the pirates,

they put the aforesaid Captain Teach on board for this cruise.’’

Sweep up the Atlantic Seaboard (Autumn 1717) This cruise, made after augmenting Revenge’s armament to 12 guns and manning it with well over 100 cutthroats, was a brazen piratical foray northward by Thatch to prey on the peacetime maritime traffic circulating off British North America. Around September 29, 1717 (O.S.), Thatch intercepted the sloop Betty off Virginia’s Cape Charles, pillaging it ‘‘of certain pipes of Madeira wine and other goods,’’ before sinking it. Two weeks later, a large ship out of Liverpool was taken near the mouth of Delaware Bay, its Captain Codd and other survivors relating afterward how Revenge was ‘‘commanded by one Teach, who formerly sail’d mate out of this port [Philadelphia].’’ Shortly thereafter, the snows Spofford and Sea Nymph were seized as well, the latter being converted into a pirate consort, helping Thatch to make a string of more captures. Among the latter was a large New York sloop under Captain Simpkins, which was also rearmed with 12 guns so as to serve as a second pirate consort, and a third was procured from Captain Goelet: . . . who was lately taken by Teach the pirate, coming hither [i.e., toward New York] in a sloop from Curac¸ao, half loaden with cocoa, which the pirates threw overboard, and man’d the sloop for a pirate, and gave Goelet and his crew the Sea Nymph snow to bring them home in. Goelet saw the pirate take a ship and

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Thatch, Edward, Alias ‘‘Blackbeard’’ (fl. 1717
1718) a brigantine or snow after parting with them. A subsequent edition of the NewsLetter added that Blackbeard had been joined in his sweep by his old commander Hornigold, for the merchant Captain Pritchard arrived from Saint Lucia with a tale, that on October 18, 1717 (O.S.): . . . in Latitude 36 and 45 [near the modern North Carolina-Virginia border] was taken by Captain Teach, in company with whom was Captain Hornygold; they took from him about 8 casks sugar, and most of their clothes. At the same time, they took a ship from London [bound] for Virginia, out of which they took something and let them go. Four days later, the marauders looted the sloop Robert of Philadelphia and ship Good Intent of Dublin inside Delaware Bay, before abruptly disappearing. Thatch had presumably decided to abandon this hunting-ground off Maryland, Virginia, and the Carolinas, because winter was approaching and the presence of his pirate flotilla was becoming so well known, that it was scaring away potential prizes. He therefore veered around and ran far south, steering so as to materialize unexpectedly in the warm waters of the Lesser Antilles.

West Indian Rampage (November
December 1717) Thatch’s shift into this new theater quickly paid handsome dividends, for on November 28, 1717, he sighted the 300-ton French slaver Concorde of

Captain Pierre Dosset within 60 miles of Martinique, as it limped in from a difficult trans-Atlantic crossing (see sidebar). Its 75-man crew had lost 16 men during its protracted voyage, while another 36 lay ill from scurvy and dysentery, so that Dosset’s vessel, with only 14 guns mounted, proved no match for the voracious pirates. According to the French Lieutenant Franc¸ois Ernaut, their attacker, ‘‘Edouard Titche,’’ had two sloops under his command: Bonnet’s Revenge bearing 120 men and 12 guns, the other 30 men and 8 guns. The diseased French could scarcely resist, so that after two pirate volleys, the Concorde surrendered. Thatch sailed his big new prize to the island of Bequia in the Grenadines, where its crew and 450 surviving African slaves were cast ashore, while the ship itself was ransacked. A cache of gold dust was found, and four French crewmen voluntarily joined the pirates, while 10 other skilled hands were pressed including a pilot, three surgeons, a pair of carpenters, two sailors, and the cook. Thatch and his crew then voted to keep the slaver as their new flagship, renaming it Queen Anne’s Revenge. They hoisted the eight guns out of their smaller pirate sloop and installed these aboard, after which the empty sloop was given to the stranded Frenchmen so as to continue their interrupted voyage. (Ernaud would later describe this castoff vessel as ‘‘of Bermuda fabrication, of 40 tons or thereabouts.’’ The French would rename it the Mauvaise Rencontre or ‘‘Bad Encounter,’’ and eventually succeeded in transporting all their African captives from Bequia to Martinique, in two trips.) Thatch soon put to sea again, his new flagship and Bonnet’s Revenge

Thatch, Edward, Alias ‘‘Blackbeard’’ (fl. 1717
1718)

BLACKBEARD’S LOST FLAGSHIP Apparently, sometime during the spring of 1710—the eighth year of the conflict called the War of the Spanish Succession in Europe, yet known in England’s New World colonies as Queen Anne’s War—the French merchant Ren
e Montaudouin of Nantes had acquired a captured 300-ton Dutch frigate armed with 26 cannon, whose original name may well have been Eendracht, as it was to be renamed with the French equivalent of Concorde. Montaudouin had commissioned this ship as a privateer, and it departed Nantes on its first such expedition under French colors that same summer, a lengthy cruise which would last from July 1710 to November 1711. During this year-and-a-half, Concorde traveled down the west coast of Africa and across the Atlantic into the Caribbean, capturing various English, Dutch, and Portuguese vessels. Once hostilities between the Franco-Spanish alliance ceased against England and Holland in April 1713, Montaudouin reduced Concorde’s armament to 16 guns, and fitted it out to serve as a peacetime slaver. The ship made one such voyage that same year, returning home into Nantes to make a second successful triangular slaving-run in 1715. On March 24, 1717, Concorde cleared Nantes for its third such slaving-voyage, armed with 14 guns and manned by 75 seamen under Captain Pierre Dosset. They reached the slave-port of Ouidah in present-day Benin by July 8th, gradually taking on 516 African captives. Dosset and some other officers also secured about 20 pounds of gold dust through barter, as their personal horde. Concorde then weighed to make its trans-Atlantic run, but took nearly eight weeks to complete its crossing, an unusually lengthy passage which claimed the lives of 61 slaves and 16 crewmen, while another 36 sailors became seriously ill from scurvy and dysentery. As a result, the debilitated slaver proved easy prey when it came within 60 miles of Martinique, and was sighted by Thatch’s two heavily-manned pirate sloops. Dosset was in no position to resist such strength, so that after two pirate volleys, he surrendered Concorde.

either being joined or capturing a brigantine shortly thereafter, as within a few days it was being reported that ‘‘a great ship from Boston [the merchantman Great Allen] was taken at or near St. Lucia or St. Vincent, by Captain Teach the pirate in a French ship of 32 guns, a brigantine of 10 guns, and a sloop of 12 guns, his consort.’’ The captors had held Great Allen’s master, Captain Christopher Taylor, ‘‘24 hours in irons, and whipped him in order to

make him confess what money he had on board, [then] burnt his ship, [and] put his men on shore at Martinico [sic; Martinique].’’ Thatch then struck the French island of Guadeloupe on the evening of November 28, 1717 (O.S.), shelling the town and cutting out a large ship which had just finished loading with sugar, before vanishing into the night. Next morning, the English merchantman Montserrat of Master Benjamin

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Thatch, Edward, Alias ‘‘Blackbeard’’ (fl. 1717
1718) Hobhouse had the misfortune to sight ‘‘two ships and a sloop, and thinking one did belong to Bristol and the other two to Guinea,’’ a subordinate named Thomas Knight was rowed across in Montserrat’s longboat to enquire whether they were bringing any mail from home. Knight was beckoned aboard, ‘‘but seeing Death Head in the stern’’ as he drew near, suddenly realized his mistake and tried to refuse, only to be compelled to do so by growled pirate threats. On the morning of November 30, 1717 (O.S.), the sloop New Division of Antigua under Master Richard Joy, was also taken by these same ‘‘two pirate ships and a sloop, who said they belonged to Barbados, and enquired what vessels were along shore.’’ Joy’s vessel was restored to him after a crewman was pressed out of it, then the pirates examined the English anchorage at Nevis from out at sea—contemplating a possible cuttingout operation against its anchored Royal Navy warship, the 24-gun HMS Seaford of Captain Jonathan Rose, although ‘‘the [pirate] Captain being ill, prevented it.’’ This seemed to have been the earliest mention of Thatch’s disease. Although the captive Knight had been deliberately misled as to the renegade commanders’ names, he correctly noted that Thatch’s flagship had ‘‘150 men on board and 22 guns mounted, the sloop about 50 white men, and eight guns.’’ The pirate pair made a distant sighting of HMS Seaford off the island of Saint Thomas on December 2, 1717 (O.S.), while it was transporting Governor Walter Hamilton, yet chose not to engage. Instead they pressed still farther west, carrying an English and Danish prize into Saint Croix’s harbor to ransack over the next couple of days. On December 5, 1717 (O.S.), Queen Anne’s Revenge and

Bonnet’s sloop-consort bore down on the trading sloop Margaret of St. Kitts while it was lying off Vieques Island near the eastern tip of Puerto Rico under Master Henry Bostock. This frightened Master would later relate to Governor Hamilton at Antigua how: He was ordered on board and Captain Tach [sic] took his cargo of cattle and hogs, his arms, books, and instruments. The ship, Dutch built, was a French Guinea-man [i.e., slaver], 36 guns mounted and 300 men. They did not abuse him or his men, but forced two to stay, and one Robert Bibby voluntarily took on with them. They had a great deal of plate on board, and one very fine cup they told deponent they had taken out of Captain Taylor, bound from Barbados to Jamaica, whom they very much abused and burnt his ship. They said they had burnt several vessels, among them two or three belonging to these [Leeward] Islands, particularly the day before a sloop belonging to Antigua, one [Robert] McGill owner. They owned they had met the man of war on this station, but said they had no business with her; but if she had chased them, they would have kept their way. Bostock described this Captain as ‘‘a tall sparse man with a very black beard, which he wore very long,’’ and added that he had informed his captors that an ‘‘act of grace’’ or royal pardon had been granted for piracy and was expected to arrive from England any day, ‘‘but they seemed to slight it.’’ Instead, the cutthroats demanded whether any other vessels were trading off the nearby Puerto Rican coast, and then sent

Thatch, Edward, Alias ‘‘Blackbeard’’ (fl. 1717
1718) Bonnet’s Revenge ‘‘to look for them,’’ before finally telling Bostock that they: . . . intended for Hispaniola, to careen and lie in wait for the Spanish Armada [de Barlovento], that they expected would immediately after Christmas come out of the Havana for Hispaniola and Porto Rico, with the money [i.e., situados] to pay the garrisons. This information was not entirely accurate, for although Thatch may well have paused in nearby Saman
a Bay on the northeastern shores of the modern Dominican Republic to watch for passing ships, he eventually chose to careen his ships on the island of Roat
an in the Bay of Honduras. Their arrival there in early February 1718 was witnessed by Captain William Wade of the sloop William and Mary, probably coming to anchor in Coxen’s Hole. He later reported that there ‘‘came in a ship of about 40 guns and a sloop of 10 commanded by . . . Edward Thatch, having in all about 250 men (70 or thereabouts being Negroes).’’ Wade also noted that these pirates brought in two prizes. They forced him to dump his valuable cargo of logwood overboard, then beached his sloop so as to act as a makeshift dock, to provide them with a platform in cleaning their vessels’ hulls.

Belize and Charleston (March
May 1718) Thatch and his pirates remained at Roat
an for several weeks, seizing whatever vessels happened to enter its anchorage. They bragged to Wade

‘‘sundry times’’ that they ‘‘doubted not but to take and have . . . His Majesty’s ship Adventure,’’ a 36-gun frigate that was then the largest British warship stationed in the Americas. Finally, they departed in mid-March 1718, after first burning the two captured vessels which they had arrived with, as well as restoring William and Mary to Wade, so that he would eventually be able to salvage much of his jettisoned cargo and limp back to Jamaica to tell his tale. Curiously, the departing pirates were attacked off nearby Utila Island by a small sloop. Mistaking Thatch’s formation for a group of merchantmen standing away from the Honduran coast with cargoes of logwood, this vessel closed one evening on one of Thatch’s consorts and hailed, asking whence they came. ‘‘Their reply was: from the sea,’’ recalled a captive held aboard this daring upstart, at which point Thatch’s men promptly fired a hail of musket-balls into their pursuer, forcing it to surrender. Their would-be attacker proved to be the Dolphin, a small vessel which had been attending on the British asiento slaver Royal Prince and its naval escort, HMS Diamond, while they were trading at Veracruz. Dolphin had quit that Mexican port alone, ahead of these two ships that previous month, only to have its crew mutiny and turn pirate. Intrigued because they knew the situation at Veracruz, Thatch interrogated Dolphin’s crew for information about these two large British traders, learning that Diamond’s crew had been weakened by tropical diseases. Preston later reported that the pirates ‘‘often threatened’’ to take this Royal Navy frigate, although Thatch first steered due west for what is

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Thatch, Edward, Alias ‘‘Blackbeard’’ (fl. 1717
1718) now Belize, launching a spectacular raid in early April 1718 against the logwood fleet clustered at anchor off Turneffe Atoll. The sloop Adventure of Captain David Herriot was taken and forced to join the pirate flotilla, which then sailed eastward once again, passing near the Cayman Islands and snapping up a Spanish sloop off of Cuba as well. Turning north, Thatch passed through the Bahamas while avoiding Nassau, where most of its rovers were now preparing to welcome Woodes Rogers as its first Royal Governor, ending forever its role as a pirate refuge. Instead, Thatch proceeded up the Atlantic Seaboard and by May 22, 1718 (O.S.), had arrived in the vicinity of South Carolina’s busy seaport of Charleston with his Queen Anne’s Revenge and three accompanying sloops—Bonnet’s Revenge, Herriot’s captive Adventure, and the Cuban prizemanned by almost 400 pirates. It seemed as if they were seeking an accommodating place where they might receive pardons and disperse with their booty intact, but the Act of Grace only covered depredations committed prior to January 5, 1718 (O.S.). The proceeds from their most recent captures would therefore be forfeit. Governor Robert Johnson of South Carolina described how on June 4, 1718 (O.S.), this formation ‘‘appeared in sight of the town, took the pilot-boat, and afterward eight or nine sail, with several of the best inhabitants on board.’’ A frustrated Blackbeard angrily blockaded this port, the crew and passengers of the Crowley furnishing him with particularly valuable hostages, including the London merchant Samuel Wragg, who was also a member of South Carolina’s colonial Council, and his four-year-old son. Thatch threatened to kill both and send

their heads to Governor Johnson, as well as to ‘‘burn the ships that lay before the town and beat it about our ears,’’ if he did not receive a chest of urgentlyneeded medical supplies. Apparently the pirate chieftain was now suffering from an advanced case of syphilis, contributing to his intemperate, self-destructive outbursts. The Governor complied by sending out a chest containing £300 or £400 worth of mercurial drugs, for just such a treatment.

‘‘Retirement’’ in North Carolina (June
October 1718) Shortly after these medicines were delivered and the captives released, Thatch and his minions wandered higher up the coast, seemingly still seeking an escape ashore. The new, hard-scrabble colony of North Carolina proved much more inviting, as its penniless authorities would welcome the booty-laden rovers, asking few questions as to their past activities. Therefore, on or about June 10, 1718 (O.S.), Thatch’s flagship and Adventure approached the tricky entrance-channel to Old Topsail Inlet, today known as Beaufort Inlet. Two of his sloops already lay at anchor inside, their crews preparing to distribute their goods and disperse. According to a deposition later given by Herriot, ‘‘the said Thatch’s ship Queen Anne’s Revenge run a-ground off of the bar,’’ and his own Adventure ‘‘likewise about [a] gunshot from the said Thatch.’’ Captain Ellis Brand of HMS Lyme would corroborate this information in a letter to the Lords of Admiralty dated July 12, 1718 (O.S.), stating that ‘‘a large pirate ship of forty guns with three sloops in her company came upon the coast of North Carolina, where they endeavored

Thatch, Edward, Alias ‘‘Blackbeard’’ (fl. 1717
1718) to go into a harbor called Topsail Inlet; the ship stuck upon the bar at the entrance of the harbor and is lost; as is one of the sloops.’’ Despite evidence that Blackbeard then attempted to kedge Queen Anne’s Revenge free of this predicament, Herriot believed that the grounding of these two pirate vessels had been intentional, to help break up the company. Thatch promptly sent a few loyal hands ahead to ensure a safe reception at North Carolina’s capital of Bath, before he and Bonnet followed to obtain their pardons from its obliging Governor, Charles Eden. He and the North Carolina Councilors were willing to overlook the pirates’ checkered past for a share of their loot, their colony being quite poor and as yet without any appreciable trade. Once these pardons were issued, Bonnet lingered to also get a clearance to sail Revenge to the Danish West Indian island of Saint Thomas, so as to purchase a new commission and resume privateering against the Spaniards. Yet by the time Bonnet returned to Topsail Inlet in late June or early July 1718, he found that Blackbeard had in the meantime robbed his vessel and the two other pirate sloops of almost all their supplies, beached the majority of their crewmen, and sailed away with 20 loyal hands and the pick of the booty aboard the refloated Adventure. When Bonnet heard shortly thereafter that Thatch had gone to Ocracoke Inlet, he weighed at once with Revenge to hunt down his treacherous ex-confederate, but could not find him. Several months afterward, Governor Alexander Spotswood of neighboring Virginia would report to London: That about the beginning of last June [1718], one Captain Thatch, a noto-

rious pirate, refused to accept of His Majesty’s pardon offered him by the Governor of South Carolina, about eight days before he lost his ship at Topsail Inlet, with one of the four sloops he had in his company; upon which he and his crew pretended to surrender to the Governor of North Carolina, most of his people dispersed, some going towards Pennsylvania and New York, and others betaking themselves to their former villainies under the command of Major Bonnet. Thatch, with about twenty more, remained in North Carolina and kept one of the sloops, pretending to employ themselves in trade, but both their discourses and actions plainly showed the wickedness of their designs. He lived in Bath for a couple of months, marrying a local girl and overseeing an underground piracy operation with the collusion of colonial authorities (see sidebar). In August 1718, Blackbeard, bearing a written copy of his pardon, again took to the sea, telling Governor Eden that he was headed to Jamaica. Adventure returned by midSeptember 1718, having surprised two French merchantmen laden with sugar and cocoa near Bermuda. Blackbeard had emptied one vessel and forced all the French crewmen aboard it, allowing them to sail away aboard this gutted ship, while returning to North Carolina with his bulging prize. He informed the authorities at Bath that he had found this French vessel adrift and abandoned, so that a court of inquiry obligingly ruled that he could keep it and its valuable cargo. Furthermore, acting on Blackbeard’s suggestion, they agreed that the prize itself was leaking

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Thatch, Edward, Alias ‘‘Blackbeard’’ (fl. 1717
1718)

BLACKBEARD AT BATH When the fugitive sea-rover chose to settle in North Carolina’s 13-year-old capital, it was a ramshackle but thriving seaport of perhaps 8,000 inhabitants on the mainland shore of Pamlico Sound. He purchased a house on Plum Point, about a mile south of town, allegedly atop a knoll overlooking its river-traffic. Remnants of an ancient homestead there have been rumored over the years to mark its foundations, although it is impossible to verify that this site was indeed Thatch’s abode for the last few months of his life during that steamy summer of 1718. To the west of Plum Point (often still referred to today as ‘‘Teach’s Point’’), across the mouth of Bath Creek, lies Archbell Point, where the provincial Secretary Tobias Knight had also just bought a plantation that same June 1718, beside Governor Charles Eden’s own 400-acre plantation. Local legend says that a subterranean passage was cut from the cellar of Governor Eden’s mansion to the steep bank of Bath Creek, so that the disreputable pirate Captain might enter and depart unseen on their crooked business dealings. Yet such subterfuge would have scarcely been necessary. Despite his notoriety and lurid appearance, the ruffianly Blackbeard fit in well amid the frontier lifestyle of his hardy fellow-citizens. Even large landowners lived rough during those early colonial days, so that the hard-drinking freebooter with his cache of booty quickly made friends. During his brief sojourn, he even married the 16-year-old daughter of a neighboring planter (allegedly Thatch’s fourteenth wife, at least 10 of her predecessors still being alive). Governor Eden performed this civil ceremony, in his judicial capacity. By August 1718, though, Blackbeard was stealing away to sea once more aboard his sloop Adventure, waylaying riverboats and visiting coasters so as to maintain his new household and old retinue in style. He then cruised to Bermuda, returning by mid-September 1718 with a French prize, which he disposed of with the connivance of local authorities. Shortly thereafter, he departed Bath to establish a base on Ocracoke Island amid the Outer Banks, so as to emerge from various sandy channels and ambush passing merchantmen. He never returned. With the passing of that same century, Bath lost its importance, as the economic life of North Carolina shifted elsewhere. Memories of its infamous denizen nonetheless survived and multiplied. For many years, a round brick structure resembling a huge oven stood in a field between Plum Point and the town of Bath, a tale being told that Blackbeard had used it to boil tar to caulk his vessels, so that this structure became known as ‘‘Teach’s Kettle.’’ Treasure-hunters have also riddled Plum Point with countless holes over the decades, vainly searching for Blackbeard’s last stash of gold, and many spots in the modern town still evoke this dead pirate’s name.

dangerously and so should be scuttled, allowing him to torch and sink all evidence of his crime. In repayment,

Blackbeard shared his windfall: 60 hogsheads of sugar went to Governor Eden; 20 to the Secretary Knight.

Thatch, Edward, Alias ‘‘Blackbeard’’ (fl. 1717
1718) Soon, Blackbeard and his followers began more brazenly basing themselves around Cape Fear and the Outer Banks, so that Governor Spotswood of neighboring Virginia soon received word that he had carried a captured merchantman into Ocracoke Inlet, which he was seemingly converting into a fortified base. The Governor detested pirates in general and Blackbeard in particular, having already persuaded the Virginia Assembly to post a £100 reward for his capture (along with £40 for other pirate captains, £20 for lieutenants, masters, quartermasters, boatswains, and carpenters, and £10 for ordinary seamen). Notwithstanding the fact that Blackbeard’s vessel was clearly operating within North Carolina’s jurisdiction, Spotswood decided to act by sending an agent to survey the situation and bring back a pair of coastal pilots knowledgeable about the local inshore inlets.

Death (November 1718) The Governor thereupon prepared an expedition in utmost secrecy, ‘‘for fear of Blackbeard’s having intelligence, there being in this country an unaccountable inclination to favor pirates.’’ Virginia had two Royal Navy men o’ war stationed as guard-ships in the James River—HMS Pearl under Captain George Gordon, and Lyme under Captain Ellis Brand—but these drew too much water to penetrate the sandy shoals of Ocracoke Inlet. Spotswood therefore hired two shallow-draught sloops and manned one of them with 35 men under Lieutenant Robert Maynard of HMS Pearl, and the other with 25 men under Midshipman Baker of HMS Lyme. Both got under way from Chesapeake Bay at three o’clock on

the afternoon of November 17, 1718 (O.S.), and late on the afternoon of November 21st came within sight of Ocracoke Inlet. After spotting their quarry inside, Maynard and Baker stood into its entrance and dropped anchor to await the dawn. An unconcerned Blackbeard spent that night carousing with his 19 men, and at first light it was the Royal Navy pair which moved first. Maneuvering across the inlet with some difficulty in the gloom, they drew near the Adventure, until Blackbeard himself at last hailed: ‘‘Damn you for villains, who are you?’’ Maynard responded by running up his English ensign and shouting back: ‘‘You may see by our colors we are no pirates.’’ Blackbeard roared out that they should come on board, so that he could personally see who they were, to which Maynard replied: ‘‘I cannot spare my boat, but I will come aboard of you as soon as I can, with my sloop!’’ This implicit threat to storm the pirate vessel sent Blackbeard into a rage, during which he sputtered: ‘‘Damnation seize my soul if I give you quarters, or take any from you!’’ Maynard hollered back in a similar vein, at which Blackbeard ran up his black ensign with its death’s-head insignia, cut his cables, and began sliding Adventure down channel toward the open sea. Baker tried to block this escape with his sloop, at which the pirate veered around and loosed off a vicious broadside, killing Baker and several of his crew, and leaving the Royal Navy sloop helplessly adrift. But the faint morning breeze then died away, so that in frustration Maynard ordered his own crew to man their sweeps, and closed on Adventure with his one remaining vessel.

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Thatch, Edward, Alias ‘‘Blackbeard’’ (fl. 1717
1718) When he came within range, the pirates opened up a withering counterfire on Maynard’s sloop as well, wounding many of his crew and forcing the Royal Navy officer to order most of his men below, out of the line of fire. Only he, a midshipman, and a North Carolina pilot remained above decks, exposed to the rovers’ ire. Sensing his opponent’s weakness, Blackbeard worked Adventure up against Maynard’s sloop, and showered it with glass hand-grenades (bottles filled with powder, small shot and scrap iron, each garlanded with lit fuses). When the smoke from these blasts cleared, Blackbeard noticed that the Royal Navy vessel’s decks were almost entirely empty, so shouted to his men that their enemies were ‘‘all knock’d on the head, except three or four; and therefore let’s jump on board, and cut them to pieces.’’ He himself was the first to vault across, lashing the two sloops together with the rope which he carried in his hands. But at that moment, Maynard shouted down his hatches and ordered all remaining men on deck, much to the pirates’ dismay. Nonplussed, the huge Blackbeard waded furiously into the Navy men, hacking and slashing until he came face-to-face with Maynard, who shot him with a pistol. Howling mad, the pirate chieftain immediately swung his cutlass and snapped the naval officer’s blade in half, yet before he could finish Maynard off, a seaman slashed Blackbeard across the throat with a sword. Surrounded by a pack of sailors, the ogre was then repeatedly shot, hacked, and stabbed until he toppled over dead, at which his followers surrendered. Ten pirates had been killed during this vicious melee, the remaining nine wounded, as opposed to 10 dead and 24 injured among

Maynard’s men. The Royal Navy officer then concluded the day by ordering Blackbeard’s body decapitated, so as to carry his head triumphantly back in to Virginia, dangling from the bowsprit of his sloop.

See also Asiento; Barlovento, Armada de; Bellamy, Samuel; Hornigold, Benjamin; Jennings, Henry; Situado.

References Archives Nationales [France], Centre des Archives d’outre-mer, Aix-en-Provence, AN Col C8A 22 (1717) Folio 447. Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 29, 30 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1930
1933). Collections of the South Carolina Historical Society, Volume II (Charleston, SC: Historical Society, 1858). Konstam, Angus, Blackbeard: America’s Most Notorious Pirate (New York: Wiley, 2007). Lee, Robert E., Blackbeard the Pirate: A Reappraisal of His Life and Times (Winston-Salem, NC: John F. Blair, 1995). Moore, David D., ‘‘A General History of Blackbeard the Pirate, the Queen Anne’s Revenge, and the Adventure,’’ Tributaries 7 (1997), pp. 31
35. National Archives [Kew, UK], ‘‘Captains’ Letters’’, ADM 1/1597. Rankin, Hugh F., The Pirates of Colonial North Carolina (Raleigh, NC: State Department of Archives and History, 2001). Saunders, William L., ed., The Colonial Records of North Carolina, Volume II (Raleigh, NC: State of North Carolina, 1886).

Townley, Francis (fl. 1685
1686) Woodard, Colin, The Republic of Pirates (New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008) and ‘‘Blackbeard in the Bay Islands,’’ Bay Islands Voice 6, No. 8 (August 2008). Yetter, George H., ‘‘When Blackbeard Scourged the Seas,’’ Colonial Williamsburg Journal 15, No. 1 (Autumn 1992), pp. 22
28.

TORTILLE French nickname for sun-bleached Isla Tortuga, an island which lies off the northern shores of Venezuela. According to the buccaneer chronicler William Dampier, turtling was such a frequent activity among Caribbean seafarers that this particular island was called Salt Tortuga among the English ‘‘to distinguish it from the shoals of Dry Tortuga, near Cape Florida, and from the isle of Tortuga by Hispaniola.’’

See also Salt Tortuga; Tortille (Volume 1).

Reference Dampier, William, A New Voyage Round the World (New York: Dover, 1968).

TOWNLEY, FRANCIS (fl. 1685
1686) English buccaneer who raided the Spaniards in the South Sea. Townley was first heard from at the beginning of 1685, when he led a party of 115 mostly English freebooters from Golden Island across the Isthmus of Panama into the Pacific Ocean, to join the

flotilla of Edward Davis and Charles Swan, which had already penetrated those waters. A larger group of French flibustiers had set out later than Townley to do the same, under Capitaines Franc¸ois Grogniet and Lescuyer, but who nonetheless came up with Davis and Swan first. Grogniet therefore sent a boat back into the Gulf of San Miguel to await the others, which met Townley on March 3, 1685, now with a total of 180 to 190 men and two captured Spanish barks. Townley incorporated these vessels—manned with 110 and 80 buccaneers respectively—into the formidable array of pirate craft which then gathered under Davis’ orders to blockade the port of Panama, and hopefully intercept the Peruvian treasure fleet. But toward noon on June 7, 1685, the rovers were caught off guard near Pacheca Island by a squadron of six Spanish men o’ war and a tender from the Armada del Mar del Sur. These bore down on the pirates and an indecisive, long-range engagement ensued, mostly involving Davis and Swan, whose vessels were the only ones among the buccaneer flotilla mounting cannon. Next day, the freebooters were driven off, abandoning their blockade and falling out among themselves, each national group blaming the other for this defeat. Another failed attack followed at the beginning of July 1685 against the coastal town of Remedios (Panama), and afterward both contingents headed northwestward as separate groups. The English under Davis, William Knight, Swan, and Townley raided both Realejo and Le
on (Nicaragua) during the first two weeks of August 1685, but were disappointed at the spoils. Consequently they too split up, Swan and

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Townley, Francis (fl. 1685
1686) Townley proceeding farther northwest to sweep the coast of Mexico and await the Manila galleon, while Davis, Peter Harris, and Knight returned to attack Peru. Swan and Townley made numerous disembarkations along the coast of New Spain, eventually reaching as high as the Gulf of California, but missing the Philippine galleon Santa Rosa that December 1685. Early next year, they decided to part company, Swan remaining to set sail later across the Pacific with his Cygnet, while Townley immediately began working his way back down the Central American coastline. It was presumably Townley’s flotilla which was spotted by the Spaniards near Acapulco in midFebruary 1686, ‘‘burning one of their ships to redistribute the people around the four which remained, and setting our prisoners on land.’’ By March 23rd, he was opposite Esparta (Costa Rica), where he encountered Grogniet’s larger French formation. Despite some residual ill will between both groups, English and French combined for a joint attempt against the inland city of Granada (Nicaragua). Grogniet and Townley landed a force of 345 men on the coast on April 7, 1686, and fought their way into the city three days later. Little loot was found, however, as the Spaniards had been forewarned of their approach and had transferred their valuables across the inland lake to Zapatera Island, so that the pirates withdrew empty-handed five days later. They endured numerous ambushes before passing Masaya and regaining their anchored ships, after which they then traveled to Realejo. Grogniet having had such limited success on his own, half his 300 French followers voted on June 9, 1686, to join Townley, who was determined to press

southeastward for Panama. The remaining 148 flibustiers stayed with Grogniet while he sailed westward, and the two contingents parted company a fortnight later. Thus heavily reinforced, Townley made a sudden descent on the outskirts of Panama on July 22, 1686, seizing merchandise estimated to be worth 1,500,000 pesos, but which was subsequently lost in a Spanish counterambush. Nonetheless, the raiders made off with 15,000 pesos in silver and 300 captives, which Townley used to extort a truce. After two captives’ heads were sent to the President of the Audiencia of Panama, the latter reluctantly agreed to supply the pirates with cattle, sheep, and flour on a daily basis. Meanwhile, Townley was threatening to send another 50 heads ashore, if five buccaneers in Spanish hands were not released. After a month of this uneasy arrangement, the Spaniards attempted a surprise attack on August 22, 1686, by slipping a force of three ships and 240 men out of the island of Perico to fall on the raiders. This assault was fiercely beaten off; two of the Spanish ships were captured and only 65 Spaniards escaped injury or death. A furious Townley, himself wounded in the battle, sent 20 more heads ashore as a protest against this violation of the truce. ‘‘This measure was in truth a little violent,’’ the pirate chronicler Ravenau de Lussan piously noted, ‘‘but it was the only means of bringing the Spanish to reason.’’ Indeed, they promptly delivered an additional 10,000 pesos to Townley on September 4th, along with a conciliatory note from the Archbishop of Panama saying all English prisoners would henceforth be considered Catholics, and so enjoy the protection of the Church. But Townley

Tristan, Jean (fl. 1681
1693) did not savor this victory for long, as four days later he died of his wounds. His body was cast overboard, as he had wished, near Otoque Island and he was succeeded in command of the freebooters by George Hout.

References Bradley, Peter T., The Lure of Peru: Maritime Intrusion into the South Sea, 1598
1701 (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1990). Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 13 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1901). Dampier, William, A New Voyage Round the World (New York: Dover, 1968). Interesting Tracts Relating to the Island of Jamaica (St. Jago de la Vega, Jamaica: Lewis, Lunan and Jones, 1800). Lussan, Ravenau de, Journal of a Voyage into the South Sea (Cleveland, OH: Arthur H. Clark, 1930). Robles, Antonio de, Diario de sucesos notables, 1665
1703 (Mexico City: Editorial Porr
ua, 1972).

TREPAN Slang English expression, used as either a noun or verb, to denote any deception intended to ensnare, ambush, or take by surprise. Many examples abound. For example, the ex-privateer Read Elding, hoping to prove his good intentions as Acting-Governor of the Bahamas, wrote to London on October 4, 1699 (O.S.): The West Indies are full of pirates. I have been so severe to those sort of

people, that about a fortnight now past I had a notorious pirate tried here, condemned, and hanged. I am informed that there are several pirates at St. Thomas and Danish port to windward, and so scattered amongst some of the Maroon Islands, which they expected that some encouragement might be given them, as formerly used to be among these territories. But, to the contrary, I shall and do my utmost to suppress them, wishing that I could but trepan one of their ships, in order to bring them to public justice.

See also Trepan (Volume 1).

Reference Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 17 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1908).

TRISTAN, JEAN (fl. 1681
1693) Huguenot flibustier who became a British subject, and settled on Jamaica. This Captain was first mentioned on May 24, 1681 (O.S.), when his barco luengo was being careened at La Sound’s Key among the San Blas Islands, ‘‘about three leagues from the mouth of the river Concepci
on’’ on the northeastern coast of Panama. While lying at anchor there, he was approached by native canoes bearing John Cooke’s party (among them William Dampier

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Tristan, Jean (fl. 1681
1693) and Edward Davis) who were returning from having served in John Coxon’s raid into the South Sea. They bought beads, knives, scissors, and mirrors from Tristan’s crew to repay their Indian guides, and would have given more ‘‘but could not get any, the privateer having no more toys.’’ Tristan then weighed two days later to rejoin a large raiding party he had been operating with, and which had earlier shifted to nearby Springer’s Key, ‘‘about seven or eight leagues from La Sound’s Key.’’ These included Captains Coxon, Archaimbaud, Thomas Paine, Jean Rose, Tucker, Jan Willems, Williams, and George Wright, who were sailing under commissions issued by the French Governor of Saint-Domingue. Tristan transferred Cooke’s survivors into Archaimbaud’s crew, and the buccaneer commanders decided to make a descent on the Central American coast, for which they hoisted anchor to gain San Andr
es Island, and steal boats to serve as landing craft. But a gale scattered the formation, and as they were struggling to regroup, a large Spanish armadilla appeared from Cartagena to chase the rovers away. Tristan, ‘‘having fallen to leeward,’’ was making for Bocas del Toro (literally ‘‘Bull’s Mouths’’ or ‘‘Entrances of the Bull,’’ on the northwestern coast of Panama), when he sighted these vessels and assumed that they were his corsair comrades. Instead, the Spanish warships fired on Tristan when he approached ‘‘and chased him, but he rowed and towed,’’ and so got away. Nonetheless, Coxon’s flotilla dispersed, and Tristan was not heard of again until next year. In May or June 1682, he arrived off ^Ile a Vache, at the southwestern tip of Hispaniola, homeward bound for PetitGo^ave. Cooke’s South Sea survivors

were also there, now serving aboard Jan Willems’ ship, and had just captured a Spanish vessel. Cooke and his men fitted this prize out as their own, despite having no commission, but according to Dampier the French: ‘‘begrudging the English such a vessel, all joined together, plundered the English of their ships, goods and arms, and turned them ashore.’’ Tristan incorporated eight or ten of the dispossessed Englishmen—including Cooke and Davis—into his own crew, before completing his voyage to Petit-Go^ave. He soon regretted this decision, for shortly after Tristan and the bulk of his French crew had gone ashore on their arrival, the English rose and made off with his vessel, returning to ^Ile a Vache to rescue their companions. Sometime during the ensuing decade of the 1680s, Tristan emigrated to settle on the English island of Jamaica, because he was a Huguenot or French Protestant, and like thousands of his coreligionists felt constrained to flee following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. Whatever the cause for his exile, when the War of the League of Augsburg (known in America as ‘‘King William’s War’’) erupted against France a few years later, he was considered a loyal English subject. Toward the end of 1692, he sailed with a 14-man crew on a smuggling voyage to the Spanish Main, presumably trusting to the alliance with that nation. But on January 16/26, 1693, the President of the Audiencia of Panama—Pedro Jos
e de Guzm
an D
avalos, Marqu
es de la Mina—wrote to the Council of Jamaica: Ever since peace was made between the two Crowns of Spain and England I have endeavored to preserve it,

Tryer, Matthew never doubting that the government of Jamaica would do the like. But recently a sloop has come from Jamaica manned by Frenchmen under Captain Tristan, with merchandise to trade on these coasts. I am surprised that you should have permitted this breach of the treaty. These men though bidden by the Lieutenant General of Portobelo to come to him would not do so, and he, understanding that they were French, seized the ship. The men resisted and were all killed. I cannot omit to point out to you the danger to which the arrival of such vessels, especially manned with Frenchmen, exposes me. The newly-arrived Jamaican Governor, Sir William Beeston, replied toward the end of March 1693: What [Tristan’s] business was on the coast, I know not, but he and all his men were British subjects, and therefore even if they were trading [illegally] I conceive that the utmost required by the Articles of Peace is the seizure of themselves and the condemnation of their goods. But to cut them all off in cold blood on pretence of friendship (you must pardon me for saying it) was sanguinary, and contrary to the good agreement between the two Crowns. This protest prompted a somewhat different tone when the Marqu
es next wrote: I confess that Captain Tristan’s business has troubled me much, for I have always endeavored that English

vessels should have good passage in these harbors, and have given orders accordingly. Frenchmen have too often been allowed to come and prosecute unlawful trade, under pretence of being English. I was lying very sick when I first heard of the matter, and my grief over the deceit of these men went near to cause my death. I have put the guilty parties in close confinement with a view to proper punishment. But do not doubt that the vessel was lawfully seized, for most of her people were French and her captain known to be one of the greatest pirates in America. Had he been brought in alive, I should have punished him.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 14 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1903). Dampier, William, A New Voyage Round the World (New York: Dover, 1968). Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924).

TRYER, MATTHEW A Carolina privateer accused and acquitted on a charge of having captured a sloop belonging to Samuel Salters of Bermuda in 1699.

Reference Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924).

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V . . . any gentlemen or sailors that are disposed to go, shall be kindly entertained. —From Captain Peter Lawrence’s ad in the Boston News-Letter, May 15
22, 1704 (O.S.), seeking recruits for his privateer ship

Reference

VALENTIN, PIERRE (fl. 1701
1702)

Archives D
epartementales de la Gironde [France], 6B 79 121v.
124v. and 153
154.

French merchant captain who sailed with a privateering commission. On Christmas Day 1701, Valentin had been issued a routine peacetime permit at Versailles ‘‘to transport merchandise to the islands of America, Cayenne, Tortuga Island, and Saint-Dominigue’’ with his 65-man, 250-ton frigate Reine des Anges. However, once hostilities against England and Holland erupted in May 1702—a conflict which would become known in British North America as Queen Anne’s War—Valentin furthermore obtained a privateering commission as well at his home-port of Bordeaux on June 7, 1702, so as to enjoy legal claim to any prizes which he might take during his forthcoming voyage.

VANE, CHARLES (fl. 1718
1720) English pirate who defied a Royal Governor, yet was later voted out of his ship for cowardice and ignominiously captured. Vane was apparently one of hundreds of West Indian privateers left unemployed by the conclusion to Queen Anne’s War in April 1713. A couple of years later, the annual Spanish plate fleet, homeward-bound from Havana, was driven onto the Florida coast by a storm in late July 1715, 805

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Vane, Charles (fl. 1718
1720) leaving a dozen rich galleons strewn temptingly along 40 miles of empty shoreline. Swarms of treasure-hunters descended into these waters to scavenge among its debris, and rob Spanish salvage teams. Vane was most likely a member of the expedition which the privateer Captain Henry Jennings then led out of Port Royal, Jamaica, armed with a license from Governor Lord Archibald Hamilton to rein in such excesses. Once at sea, though, Jennings and his minions perpetrated numerous crimes themselves, and even established their baseof-operations at lawless Nassau in the sparsely-populated Bahamian archipelago—which by the spring of 1716 had become a notorious pirate-hotbed and home to such well-known rogue commanders as Benjamin Hornigold and Edward Thatch. Eventually, the British government was goaded by the many complaints which it had received into devising a strategy to bring the Bahamas directly under Crown rule. The archipelago’s old private-company charter was revoked, and while 250 new colonists were being recruited and ships prepared to transport out a proper colonial administration, a royal ‘‘act of grace’’ or amnesty for pirates was sent on ahead across the Atlantic in September 1717, addressed to various regional Governors for distribution among all renegade rovers. Those who chose to accept this pardon would be allowed to live on as honest citizens, those who refused would be hunted down as outlaws. Consequently, the son of Lieutenant-Gov. Benjamin Bennett of Bermuda materialized off New Providence Island in December 1717, bearing a copy of this amnesty for Nassau’s

denizens. At first, his vessel was fired on, the 400 to 500 pirates gathered in port ‘‘having the day before resolved among themselves to sacrifice the first person that should pretend to offer them a pardon.’’ Even after this emissary was allowed ashore and admitted to a parley, ‘‘they held a consult whether they should not destroy him,’’ before cooler heads at last prevailed. Eventually, Jennings and seven or eight freebooter companions traveled back to Bermuda with Bennett’s son in January 1718, while their confederates waited at Nassau to hear how these first representatives would be treated. When the Royal Navy Captain Vincent Pearce also touched at New Providence Island on a similar commission that same March 1718, while outwardbound to take up station at New York with his 20-gun, 100-man HMS Phoenix, he was accorded a much different reception—being welcomed ashore by Jennings and Hornigold in person, and issuing 209 provisional pardons to as many pirates before weighing again on April 6, 1718 (O.S.).

Defiance (1718) Yet not all rovers were eager to obtain such amnesties, or were pleased at the prospect of losing their autonomy by making way for a restoration of ‘‘honest’’ rule. Vane was present at Nassau during this Royal Navy officer’s visit, allegedly scoffing at the very notion of a pardon and certainly appeared in a belligerent mood shortly thereafter at sea aboard his Ranger, ‘‘a sloop of 6 guns and 60 men.’’ He and his ruffians intercepted the Bermudian sloop William and Martha of Master Edward North on April 14, 1718 (O.S.), cruelly

Vane, Charles (fl. 1718
1720)

A defiant Captain Charles Vane, as depicted in Johnson’s General History of the Pyrates, 1725. (Library of Congress)

mistreating both Captain and crew, before releasing this vessel. Next, the merchant sloop Diamond of Captain John Tibby was: . . . captured off Rum Key, one of the Bahama Islands, by Charles Vain [sic], commander of the pirate sloop Ranger. The pirates robbed and beat Tibby and the rest of the company. They had taken twelve vessels on their cruise, seven belonging to Bermuda, including [the vessels of] Edward North, Daniel Styles, and James Basden. Lieutenant-Governor Bennett recorded depositions a month later about these incidents and worriedly noted that one of Vane’s subordinates, Thomas Brown, had once been detained at Bermuda on a suspicion of piracy, so that these rovers

seemed to bear a particular grudge against his island and its inhabitants. They would give no quarter to Bermudians, Vane’s men had sworn, adding menacingly that ‘‘they designed to be with us this summer.’’ Then on April 19, 1718 (O.S.), the sloop Samuel of Master Joseph Besea [sic; Bethea?] was boarded off Crooked Island in the Bahamas ‘‘by Cha. Vain, who robbed and cruelly beat him and the major part of his company.’’ Four days later, the luckless North was lying off Exuma Island, recuperating after his first ordeal at Vane’s hands and in the company of another Bermudian sloop, when they were both spotted by Ranger and subjected to a second mauling. During this second round of abuse on April 23rd (O.S.), North later declared: They informed deponent that they had taken a ship belonging to New England, two sloops of Jamaica, one of these Islands [i.e., Bermuda], some of whom they acknowledged to have used very barbarously by beating them, etc. By early next month, Vane and his heavy-handed marauders—‘‘being in want of provisions,’’ according to the somewhat confused timeline later cobbled together by the chronicler Charles Johnson—began tacking upwind toward the Windward Islands. En route, they intercepted a Spanish sloop bound from Puerto Rico toward Havana, burning it and setting its crew adrift in a boat ‘‘to get to the island by the blaze of their vessel.’’ Then, while prowling between St. Kitts and Anguilla, Vane seized a brigantine and sloop loaded with provisions, and so was able to resupply Ranger.

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Vane, Charles (fl. 1718
1720) Reversing course back into the Bahamas, he made yet more interceptions, before finally returning into Nassau with a large captured French merchantman. This port was now daily expecting the arrival of Woodes Rogers’ expedition as its new Royal Governor, yet Vane supposedly swore that ‘‘while he was in the harbor, he would suffer no other Governor than himself.’’ Less than two months later, Rogers arrived outside Nassau’s bar on the evening of July 26, 1718 (O.S.), aboard the 460-ton hired ex-Indiaman Delicia as his flagship, backed by the frigates HMS Milford of 32 guns under Commodore Peter Chamberlaine and Rose of 20 guns under Captain Thomas Whitney, plus the 10-gun naval sloop Shark and 10-gun privateer Buck. Unfamiliar with the harbor’s approaches, a couple of local pilots had been placed aboard Rose and Shark, who as the sunlight faded cautiously probed their way around the western end of Hogg (modern Paradise) Island, while Rogers’ heavier ships prepared to tack back-and-forth overnight three miles out at sea, in deeper waters. By 6:30 P.M., Whitney’s Rose dropped anchor just inside the harbor entrance, only to have three warning shots fired over it by Vane’s large French prize, which was riding at anchor amid a cluster of vessels flying black flags. The Royal Navy Captain hoisted a white flag to request a parley, sending a Lieutenant across in a boat to discover the reason for this hostility. Vane informed the emissary that he intended to ‘‘use his utmost endeavor to burn us and all the vessels in the harbor,’’ before presenting the Lieutenant with a letter addressed to the new Governordesignate, which read:

July 24th, 1718 [O.S.] Your Excellency may please to understand that we are willing to accept His Majesty’s most gracious pardon on the following terms, viz: That you will suffer us to dispose of all our goods now in our possession. Likewise, to act as we think fit with everything belonging to us, as His Majesty’s Act of Grace specifies. If Your Excellency shall please to comply with this, we shall, with all readiness, accept of His Majesty’s Act of Grace. If not, we are obliged to stand on our own defense. Your humble servants, Charles Vane & Company Its cover furthermore bore the inscription ‘‘We await a speedy answer,’’ but it was impossible to deliver this missive to the distant Rogers that same night. Only Shark, Buck, and the 20-gun hired transport Willing Mind had joined Rose at its anchorage off the western tip of Hogg Island, Rogers’ flagship and Milford still tacking back-and-forth farther out over the dark sea. Vane waited for a reply until 2:00 A.M. on July 27, 1718 (O.S.), when he and his 90 die-hard followers quietly aimed his French prize at the anchored warships and unleashed it in flames, causing them to cut their cables and scatter before the threat of this fireship. When Rogers himself neared the western entrance next morning, Vane was still stubbornly riding at anchor inside Nassau’s harbor aboard the sloop Katherine, which his pirates had previously commandeered from their fellow rover Charles Yeats. As the Governor’s flagship and Milford stemmed the western channel, Vane weighed to begin exiting via the eastern channel,

Vane, Charles (fl. 1718
1720) causing Rogers to signal his sloop escorts to try to intercept. The Governor later reported that Vane and his minions ‘‘fled away in a sloop wearing the black flag, and fir’d guns of defiance when they perceived their sloop outsailed the two that I sent to chase them hence.’’ The Governor stepped ashore at Nassau’s waterfront by midmorning, to be greeted by an honor guard of 300 rovers under Hornigold and other captains, who had chosen to remain behind to swear fealty to the Crown. Two days after his spectacular exit, Vane reportedly took a sloop from Barbados, transferring his unwilling partner Yeats aboard with 25 hands, to sail this prize as his consort. And a day or two later, they also seized the small unlicensed trader or interloper John and Elizabeth while it was making for Nassau, before apparently crossing over to Cuba and eventually steering north for the Carolinas by mid-August 1718, to summon aid from more pirate allies. Considerable confusion exists as to Vane’s exact movements throughout this period, but he seems to have materialized off Charleston on August 30, 1718 (O.S.), intercepting various merchantmen over the next couple of days. Colonel William Rhett offered to go with two sloops to attack them; which being by the Governor and Council approved of, he was commissioned on board the Henry, with eight guns and seventy men commanded by Captain John Masters; and the Sea Nymph, commanded by Captain Farrier Hall, with as many guns and men; both under the direction of the Colonel, who went on board the Henry the 14th of

September, and sailed from Charles Town to Sullivan’s Island in order to cruise: where he was informed, by a small ship from Antigua, which in sight of the bar was taken and plundered by Charles Vane, in a brigantine of sixteen guns and a hundred men; that he had taken two sloops, one Captain Dill, Master, from Barbadoes; the other Captain Thompson, from Guinea, with seventy negroes, which they put on board one Yeats his consort, being a small sloop with twenty-five men, who being weary of this course of life, ran into Edisto River, and surrender’d to His Majesty’s pardon, by which the owners got their negroes again, and Yeats and his men had their certificates sign’d. One was the 80-ton brigantine Dorothy of London, inward-bound with 90 slaves from Guinea, which Vane selected as his new flagship. Yeats was restored into his Katherine, but Vane crammed all Dorothy’s slaves aboard it as well, to continue serving as his tender—but, tired of being so mistreated by his superior, Yeats finally found an opportunity to escape. While lying at anchor one evening, he: . . . slipped his cable and put his vessel under sail, standing into the shore; which when Vane saw, he was highly provoked, and got his sloop under sail to chase his consort. Vane’s brigantine sailing best, he gained ground of Yeats and would certainly have come up with him, had he a little longer run; but just as he got over the bar, when Vane came within gunshot of him, he fired a broadside at his old friend, and so took his leave.

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Vane, Charles (fl. 1718
1720) Yeats ventured up the North Edisto River, sending a message overland to South Carolina’s Governor in Charleston, requesting permission to surrender under the terms of the royal amnesty for pirates, as well as bringing in his consignment of slaves. According to the chronicler Johnson, this was eventually agreed to ‘‘and Captain Thomson, from whom the Negroes were taken, had them all restored to him, for the use of his owners.’’ Vane had meanwhile seized the large merchantmen Neptune and Emperor as they exited Charleston, so stood away from the Carolina coast for the Bahamas again. Governor Rogers had maintained a wary vigil for any news about the outlaw’s movements, and on September 1, 1718 (O.S.), recorded how ‘‘three men that came in a boat from Vaine, who was then on the coast of Cuba, confess’d they promised to meet him again about this time’’ at Abaco Island. Two weeks later, the Governor received more reliable information: . . . that three vessels supposed to be Vane and his prizes were at Green Turtle Key near Abaco, and since I had no strength to do better, I got a sloop fitted under the command of Captain Hornygold to send and view them, and bring me an account what they were; in the meantime I keep a very strict watch for fear of any surprise, and not hearing from Captain Hornigold, I was afraid he was either taken by Vane or begun his old practice of pirating again, which was the general opinion here in his absence; but to my great satisfaction, he return’d in about three weeks, having lain most of that time concealed and

viewing of Vane the pirate in order to surprise him, or some of his men that they expected would be near them in their boats; but though they failed in this, Captain Hornygold brought with him a sloop of this place [Nassau], that got leave from me to go out aturtling, but had [instead] been trading with Vane, who had then with him two ships and a brigantine, his sloop that he escaped hence in [i.e., Yeats’s Katherine] being run away with by another set of new pirates; the two ships he took coming out of Carolina, one of 400 and the other of 200 tons, loaded with rice, pitch, and tar and skins, bound for London. The Neptune, Captain King, being the largest, he sunk and the Emperor, Captain Arnold Gowers, he left without doing her any damage, except taking away their provisions. I have secured the merchant that traded with Vaine [Nicholas Woodall of the sloop Wolf], and having not yet a [judicial] power to make an example of them here, he remains in irons to be sent home to England by the next ship. For want of Captain Whitney’s staying to assist me, we have once more missed taking this pirate. Rogers went on to inform the Council of Trade and Plantations in London that: This Vaine had the impudence to send me word that he design’s to burn my guardship and visit me very soon, to return the affront I gave him on my arrival, in sending two sloops after him instead of answering the letter he sent me. He expects soon to join Major Bonnet or some other pirate, and then I am to be attack’d by them. But being now got

Vane, Charles (fl. 1718
1720) to the 20th of October [O.S.], the heat abates very much and our people all begin to be pretty well, and our fort will be soon in a tolerable posture of defense, and the guardship is well provided, which makes me now not concern’d at his threats.

Visit with Blackbeard (September
October 1718) Vane seemingly persisted with his notion of uniting a freebooter fleet to reclaim Nassau, for a couple of months later, a different correspondent would write from South Carolina: ‘‘The pirates yet accounted to be out are near 2,000 men and of those Vain, alias Vaughn, Thaitch, and others promise themselves to be repossessed of Providence in a short time.’’ For this reason, it appears as if Vane may have quit Green Turtle Cay at the end of September 1718, to head north once more for the Carolinas. During his previous foray into those waters, his old comrade Thatch had been absent on a cruise. Johnson described a meeting between these two pirate commanders at Ocracoke Inlet, before Vane must have steered back for the Bahamas by early October 1718. Whatever if anything had been agreed to, Vane pillaged Eleuthera Island on his return, before intercepting a small sloop and the 40-ton brigantine Endeavour of Master John Shattock on October 23, 1718 (O.S.), off Long Island in the Bahamian archipelago, while it was homeward-bound to Salem, Massachusetts, from Kingston in Jamaica. Shattock later declared that Vane ‘‘bore down on him, hoisted a black flag, and fired a shot at him.’’ Commanded ‘‘to hoist out his boat and come aboard

him,’’ Endeavor’s crew was even threatened to have ‘‘a volley of small shot into them if they did not make haste,’’ before enduring two days of beatings and violence while their vessel was being ransacked. Finally, the gutted Endeavor was freed, although the little sloop was retained as Vane’s tender. He and his pirates then ‘‘resolved on a cruise between Cape Maise and Cape Nicolas’’ (a reference to the Windward Passage between the easternmost Cuban town of Maisı´ and the west Haitian headland of M^ole Saint-Nicolas, normally a rich hunting-ground for any marauders).

Misfortunes (November 1718
February 1719) Yet Vane’s luck now abandoned him. After scouring the Windward Passage for ‘‘some time, without seeing or speaking with any vessel,’’ they finally spotted a large sail on November 23, 1718 (O.S.). On bearing down to engage and hoisting their black ensign, though, this ship replied with a broadside and raised its own colors, proving to be a 24-gun French warship. Vane therefore ordered his 12-gun brigantine to turn tail and run, with the man-ofwar in pursuit, although most of his crew was soon clamoring to fight this larger opponent. Vane refused because of its size and heavier artillery, insisting that the pirates make good their escape. Yet next day, a vote was held and he was turned out of command by 75 of his unhappy crewmen who favored the quartermaster, John ‘‘Calico Jack’’ Rackham. Vane was given the small sloop which had been intercepted off Long Island, parting company from the brigantine

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Vane, Charles (fl. 1718
1720) along with his first mate, Robert Deal, and 15 loyal hands. They briefly prowled along the northwestern coast of Jamaica in late November 1718, seizing another sloop and two piraguas, before steering west toward the hidden logging camps and pirate bolt-holes dotting the steamy Honduran coastline. On December 16, 1718 (O.S.), Vane’s and Deal’s sloops sighted Captain Charles Rowling’s Pearl out of Jamaica and captured it, along with another Jamaican sloop, and a few days later they boarded the 40-ton sloop Prince out of Kittery, Maine, under Captain Thomas Walden. All five vessels were then sailed to an island known as ‘‘Barnacho’’—possibly Bonnaca, a cay lying just off Guanaja Island—where they spent the next couple of months careening and cleaning their hulls. Thus refreshed, Vane and Deal sortied together in February 1719, only to become separated when a heavy storm struck them a few days later. The luckless Vane had his sloop smashed two days afterward on an uninhabited Honduran island, being one of its few survivors to crawl alive onto its beach. He eked out a miserable existence for several weeks, with occasional help from visiting fishermen and turtlers, until a passing Jamaican ship chanced to land for water. Its master, an old buccaneer named Captain Holford, knew Vane from better days, yet refused to carry him off the island. Johnson recorded in his History how he turned away all the castaway’s pleas with the words: ‘‘Charles, I shan’t trust you aboard my ship, unless I carry you as a prisoner; for I shall have you caballing with my men, knock me on my head, and run away with my ship a-pirating.’’ Since he was headed deeper into the Bay of Honduras, the best Holford would

offer was to call at the island again in a month’s time, as he exited. While he was gone, a second merchantman also touched at the island for water, and Vane was able to convince its unwitting master, ‘‘Captain Margaritte,’’ that he had been innocently lost with a tradingsloop. He was therefore given a berth, and quickly became regarded as ‘‘a brisk hand.’’ But when this ship subsequently met Holford at sea, and he was invited to dine aboard, he spotted this new hand working in the hold and immediately informed the Master that it was none other than ‘‘Vane, the notorious pirate.’’ Although Johnson states that it was Holford who carried the prisoner to Jamaica, official records indicate that it was Margaritte who petitioned the Crown for the reward for bringing in this renegade. Vane was tried at a Court of Admiralty session held on March 22, 1720 (O.S.), at Jamaica’s inland capital of Santiago de la Vega (modern Spanish Town) and sentenced to death, the execution most likely being carried out a week later.

See also Careen; Jennings, Henry; Piragua; Rackham, John; Thatch, Edward.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 30, 31 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1930
1933). Calendar of Treasury Books, Volume 6, 1720
1728 Volume 233 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1889). Johnson, Charles, The History of the Lives and Actions of the Most Famous Highwaymen, Street-Robbers, Etc. (London: Longman, 1813).

Van Tuyl, Otto Janszoon (fl. 1695
1705) Journals of the Board of Trade and Plantations, Volume 3: March 1715
October 1718, Book T (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1924). Konstam, Angus, Blackbeard: America’s Most Notorious Pirate (New York: Wiley, 2007). The Lives and Adventures of Sundry Notorious Pirates (New York: McBride, 1922). Woodard, Colin, The Republic of Pirates (New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008).

VAN TUYL, OTTO JANSZOON (fl. 1695
1705) New York adventurer of Dutch ancestry, who prowled the Red Sea with John Hoar, before perishing in a terrible shipwreck. He was born around 1661 at Gameren near the city of Zaltbommel in the Province of Gelderland in The Netherlands, the eldest of what would be eight children born to a sailor named Jan Otto Van Tuyl and Geertruyd Jans Van Lent. His parents married in Utrecht shortly before or after their son’s birth, after which the infant Otto’s father stabbed a man to death in a tavern brawl, so that in January 1662 he had to temporarily flee a murder warrant issued in his native village of Tuyl, on the far side of the Waai River. Both parents and their two-yearold son then departed Amsterdam on April 16, 1663, part of a group of almost 90 emigrants crammed aboard the Bonte Koe of Captain Jan Bergen, bound for New Amsterdam. Next year, this Dutch colony would pass under English rule when four heavilyarmed frigates under Commodore Robert Holmes appeared off Staten Island in

August 1664, compelling Pieter Stuyvesant to surrender by next month and accept the installation of Colonel Richard Nicolls as new Royal Governor over this territory. Henceforth, the Van Tuyl family surname—which rhymes with ‘‘tile’’—would be often misspelled by English scribes, the patriarch himself appearing in city records as ‘‘Jan Otten Van Thyl’’ or even ‘‘John Otter,’’ while his son would be variously listed over the ensuing years as ‘‘Tayl,’’ ‘‘Teyl,’’ ‘‘Thyle,’’ ‘‘Toyle,’’ ‘‘Tyle’’, etc. Presumably the teenaged Otto, as eldest child in the family, followed his father to sea, although details about his early life and career are unknown. The year after his father’s death, Otto married Margrietje Dircks Fluyt in New York City on June 14, 1693 (O.S.), by whom he would eventually have three children. And less than two years after this wedding, the 34-year-old Van Tuyl apparently shipped out on a Red Sea cruise aboard John Hoar’s privateer John and Rebecca.

Indian Ocean Adventures (1695
1703) The Irish-born Hoar had reached Rhode Island that previous year, his vessel Dublin bearing a Jamaican commission, so as to have a rich French prize named the Saint-Paul condemned by its pliant authorities. Once adjudicated, he sold its rich merchant cargo of sugar and indigo to the highest bidders, then refurbished this vessel so as to become his new flagship, renaming it the John and Rebecca. King William’s War was by then entering into its sixth year, so that Hoar next traveled to New York to obtain a new privateering license from

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Van Tuyl, Otto Janszoon (fl. 1695
1705) its accommodating Governor Benjamin Fletcher, as well as to recruit extra hands—presumably including Van Tuyl—for a cruise northeastward to the coasts of French Acadia and Canada. Details about the subsequent movements of John and Rebecca are murky, but these rovers evidently seized a second French prize near the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River, which they converted into a consort under the command of Hoar’s brother-in-law, Richard Glover. Next year, a prisoner taken in the Indian Ocean in August 1696 and held aboard by these pirates for 10 weeks, would later relate how: I have often heard the commander and many of his men say that he took the ship from the French near the river of Canada, and that they had a commission from the Governor of New York to take the French. They fitted their ship from Rhode Island, and the then Governor of New York knew their designs, as also the Governor of Rhode Island. Another pirate-ship of equal burden was fitted out there at the same time with this, which Hore [sic] commands. The Captain of the other ship is Richard Glover, brother-in-law to Hore. Presumably the privateers had wearied of patrolling off French Canada, so decided to venture into the Red Sea in hopes of making a lucrative piratical haul. What exactly Van Tuyl’s participation was during this rampage by Hoar’s pair of raiders in Eastern waters, cannot today be proven. When the pirate Captain Thomas Howard put into Saint Mary’s Bay with his 36-gun prize Prosperous, Van

Tuyl invited him and some of his 70 cutthroats: . . . to visit his plantation in the mainland and attend a celebration held in honor of the christening of two of his children. The company accepted and were hospitably entertained. Word having been passed around by someone envious of his prosperity, that Van Tuyl had once killed some pirates, the fickle rascals—without any facts to justify the fancy—pillaged his house, and in violation of all laws of hospitality took him prisoner. Such goods as they could not transport in cases, they burned or threw into the river, and it was decided to take Van Tuyl to the ship and hang him from the yardarm. Fortunately, a friendly pirate cut his bonds during this drunken chaos, so that Van Tuyl was able to escape into the woods. Rallying a body of native allies, he then laid in ambush as Howard’s pinnace and a canoe began the return-run downriver toward Saint Mary’s Bay. The ingrate pirate Captain was wounded in an arm while passing and the canoe overset near the river-bar, so that Van Tuyl was at least able to recuperate his women captives, and lay ahold of two of his recent guests. Van Tuyl was one of four Red Seamen who returned from Madagascar via Cayenne aboard Captain Giles Shelley’s ship Nassau, slipping across from Sandy Hook to land on a lonely stretch of shoreline. His fellow passenger, Edward Buckmaster—like Van Tuyl, a legal citizen of New York, both their names and residences being listed on the city tax-rolls—described a few days

Van Tuyl, Otto Janszoon (fl. 1695
1705) later how he and ‘‘Paul Swan, Jonathan Evans, and Otto van Toyle went on shore at the west end of Long Island on Saturday last [May 27, 1699 (O.S.)], at seven of the clock in the evening.’’ Although briefly incarcerated, Van Tuyl was released a few weeks later and settled back into civilian life as a merchant. Once Queen Anne’s War erupted a few years later, though, he was tempted back into roving and so prepared a major privateering venture. But tragically, it was reported how, on December 19, 1705 (O.S.). . . .’’ The minutes of Council of New York for June 14, 1699 (O.S.), read: ‘‘Otto van Toyle, one of Hoar the Pirate’s men, committed.’’ Examination of Otto van Toyle by the L.G., June 14, 1699, who sailed with Hoar the pirate to Madagascar and returned on the Nassau, like Buckmaster. The Dutch are so strong in the East Indies that they can fit out 100 sail at any time. There are above 170 privateers at St. Maries, who have fortified themselves there with palisades and great guns. Otto Van Tuyl, in the name of God, Amen. Be it known and manifest unto all people that I, Otto Van Tuyl of New York, merchant, being in good health: I leave to my eldest son Dirck Van Tuyl, six shillings when of age or married. All the rest of my estate, real and personal, I leave to my wife Margaret during widowhood, with full power to sell. If she marries, then she shall deliver up to my children, Dirck, Jan, and Anna, and what she shall have undisposed of, is to go to them equally. If my children should die, then half the estate is to go to my brothers Aert, Abraham, and Isaac

Van Tuyl, and to Elizabeth, wife of William Pell, Antie, wife of Cornelius Van der Venter. And half to my wife’s mother Elizabeth, wife of Joris Burger; and to my wife’s sister Janettie, wife of Moses Gilbert, Fytie, wife of Francis Van Dyck, and to my wife’s half-sisters Engeltie and Elizabeth Burger. I make my brother-in-law, Cornelius Van der Venter, and Moses Gilbert, the guardians of my children under age. And I make my wife Margaret executor. Dated November 12, 1704. Witnesses: Cornelius Louvert Van Wagner, Abraham Low, Abraham Gouverneur. . . . the private ship of war call’d the Castle del Rey of 130 tons, 18 guns, Captain Otto Van Tyle commander, sailed from Jacques Bay (about ten miles from hence) and in going down towards Sandy Hook with an easy gale of wind, she struck upon the East Bank and stuck there. They sent some of their men on shore in the canoe for boats to assist them, but that night a hard gale of wind sprung up between west & northwest, and froze very hard, the ship began to fill with water. A sloop and large boat was sent down, but it freezing and blowing so hard, they would not venture to relieve them, for fear of running the same fate of being aground, and so froze or drowned. The next morning, the gale continued hard all day, and the men were all alive upon the deck and in the shrouds, the sea beating over them; and on Friday morning, the wind abating, a boat went on board and found but four of the men alive; the Captain and all the rest being froze and drowned/ There was 145 men on board when she sailed, and all perished but thirteen, and 132 died in this

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Vercoue, Capitaine (fl. 1693
1694) deplorable manner. Here are widows lamenting the loss of their husbands, and parents their children. ’Tis said about 80 or 90 of the men were English, Scotch, and Irish, and the rest of Dutch parentage, most born in this country. A subsequent news-story added the chilling observation that: ‘‘Christmas Day was the coldest that was ever felt here; Hudson’s River was froze over and continued fast several days, the severe cold lasted three days.’’

See also Hoar, John; Kidd, William.

References Boston News-Letter, issues Number 90 and 92 for the weeks of December 31, 1705
1707, January 1706 (O.S.) and January 14
21, 1706 (O.S.). Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 17 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1908). Jameson, John F., comp. and ed., Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period: Illustrative Documents (New York: Macmillan, 1923). Seitz, Don Carlos, Gospel, Howard F., and Stephen Wood, Under the Black Flag: Exploits of the Most Notorious Pirates (Mineola, NY: Courier Dover, 2002).

VERCOUE, CAPITAINE (fl. 1693
1694) French flibustier mentioned in the chronicle of Jean-Baptiste Labat, as having traveled out from La Rochelle to Martinique aboard the fl^ ute Loire at the end of 1693.

Reference Labat, Jean-Baptiste, Memoirs, 1693
1705 (London: Routledge, 1970).

VIGNERON, CAPITAINE (fl. 1684
1687) French flibustier who operated out of Saint Domingue. In March 1684, Vigneron was listed as commanding the bark Louise of four guns and 30 men, which sailed from Petit-Go^ave for Saint Croix as part of Jean, Sieur de Bernanos’ five-ship flotilla, to enter the Gulf of Paria and ascend the Orinoco River, eventually capturing the Spanish river-fort called San Francisco and frontier outpost of Santo Tom
e de la Guayana. That following January 1685, Vigneron was with Michiel Andrieszoon, Jean Rose, Capitaine La Garde, and an English trader off the South American coast, hoping to intercept a Spanish patache called the Margarita. The night of January 17th, they sighted a ship, which the following morn was challenged. Rose opened fire, but in the growing light Andrieszoon recognized the vessel as the 14-gun Spanish prize of Laurens de Graaf, and realized that they were engaging their own commander. This exchange being halted, the next day the formation headed toward Curac¸ao. At two o’clock that same afternoon, they sighted a Flemish ship standing out of La Guaira, which they chased and captured by evening. On January 20, 1685, De Graaf and his consorts anchored off Curac¸ao, departing four days later. On January 27th, they stood over toward Cape de la Vela

Vigneron, Capitaine (fl. 1684
1687) (Venezuela), although Vigneron parted company during this passage, as he wished to return to Saint Domingue because, only having ‘‘20 men on board, they were not prepared for war.’’ More than a year-and-a-half later, Vigneron was the officer of the watch overlooking the harbor at Petit-Go^ave, when the Corsican-born Cuban corsair Biagio Michele made his attack. At first light on August 10, 1687, Vigneron beheld a large piragua gliding into the roads and challenged it with the cry: D’ou est ce canot? (‘‘Where is that boat from?’’) A French captive named Saint-Antoine, whom the Spanish raiders held captive aboard, was made to reply: Saint-Antoine, qui vient de L
eogane (‘‘Saint-Antoine, coming from L
eogane’’). But when the suspicious Vigneron hailed for a second time, the prisoner bravely shouted out across the waves: ‘‘Aux armes! Aux

armes!’’ (‘‘To arms! To arms!’’), thus alerting the defenses. Michele stormed ashore and caused considerable damage, before being defeated and executed the following day.

See also Bernanos, Jean; Michele, Biagio.

References Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924). Lugo, Am
erico, Recopilaci
on diplom
atica relativa a las colonias espa~ nola y francesa de la isla de Santo Domingo, 1640
1701 (Ciudad Trujillo, Dominican Republic: Editorial ‘‘La Naci
on,’’ 1944). Lussan, Ravenau de, Journal of a Voyage into the South Sea (Cleveland, OH: Arthur H. Clark, 1930).

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W Horrible clamors are occasioned by the pirates from all parts, which are unanimously reputed to be English. —From a letter written to the East India Company Directors from Bombay, October 1696

attempt to poach logwood, only to be captured by the Spaniards. Wafer established a surgery in Port Royal, but after four months shipped out with the privateer Captain Edmond Cooke. They sailed to Golden Island, and there met the flotilla of John Coxon, which was about to assault Portobelo. After sacking that port, the pirates returned to Golden Island and crossed over the Isthmus of Panama, capturing a succession of Spanish vessels in the South Sea. Cooke was deposed, and Wafer remained under the overall command of Bartholomew Sharpe, prowling the Pacific coast until April 1681, when a faction under John Cooke quit his company. Wafer was among this latter group, which included William Dampier and Basil Ringrose, and recrossed the Isthmus for the Caribbean. As they were traveling through the

WAFER, LIONEL (ca. 1660
post 1705?) Buccaneer surgeon and chronicler. Wafer apparently lived in the Scottish Highlands as a boy, as well as in Ireland, because it was later recorded that he knew a bit of Gaelic. He first went to sea as a young surgeon’s assistant or ‘‘loblolly boy’’ aboard the English East Indiaman Great Ann in 1677, traveling to Bantam in the Far East. On his return to England aboard the Bombay in 1679, he shipped out in a similar capacity aboard the 300-ton ship John of Captain Buckingham. Reaching Jamaica, Wafer remained on that island visiting his brother (who was employed at Gov. Sir Thomas Modyford’s ‘‘Angels’’ plantation), while the John crossed over to Mexico’s Laguna de T
erminos in an

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Wafer, Lionel (ca. 1660
post 1705?) jungle on May 15th with their Darien Indian guides, Wafer: . . . was sitting on the ground near one of our men, who was drying of gunpowder in a silver plate; but not managing it as he should, it blew up and scorched my knee to that degree, that the bone was left bare, the flesh being torn away, and my thigh burnt for a great way above. Badly injured, Wafer was forced to fall out five days later and remain behind among the Indians. As his wound worsened: . . . the Indians undertook to cure me, and applied to my knee some herbs which they first chewed in their mouths to the consistency of a paste, and putting it on a plantain [banana] leaf, laid it upon the sore. This proved so effectual, that in about 20 days’ use of this poultice, which they applied fresh every day, I was perfectly cured. For several months, Wafer and some companions lived among the natives, until they reached the northern coast in early September 1681, and heard guns being fired out at sea. On investigating, they spotted an English sloop and Spanish tartan lying off La Sounds’ Key, and went aboard the sloop from an Indian canoe. The tartan proved to be a captured vessel under the command of John Cooke. Wafer’s companions were recognized and welcomed aboard, but he himself was dressed in native garb, so: I sat awhile cringing upon my hams among the Indians, after their fashion, painted as they were and all naked but only one about the waist,

and with my nose-piece hanging over my mouth. I was willing to try if they would know me in this disguise, and ‘twas the better part of an hour before one of the crew, looking more narrowly upon me, cried out: ‘‘Here’s our doctor!’’ Reunited with Dampier and his comrades, Wafer cruised the Spanish Main under Capts. George Wright and Jan Willems until late April 1682, when the latter sailed for French Saint-Domingue. Cooke and Wafer were among Willems’ contingent, who fell out with their commander over a prize near ^Ile a Vache, so that the English faction was marooned. But Capitaine Tristan took eight or 10 of them—including Cooke, Edward Davis, and Wafer—aboard as part of his crew and carried them toward Petit-Go^ave. They repaid this kindness by running off with his ship when he and most of his men went ashore, returning to ^Ile a Vache to rescue their English companions. Cooke’s band then seized a ship recently arrived from France with wines and another French ship ‘‘of good force,’’ which they renamed Revenge, deciding to use it on a foray into the South Sea. They therefore sailed these vessels to Virginia, disposed of their prize goods, reunited with Dampier, Ringrose, and other shipmates, then ventured to West Africa, where they seized a 36-gun Danish ship and renamed it Bachelor’s Delight, rounding the Horn to cruise the Pacific. When Cooke died, Wafer remained under his successor Davis, setting out southward from Realejo with three other vessels on August 27, 1685 (O.S.). They visited the ‘‘Gulf of Amapala’’ (today’s Golfo de Fonseca in Honduras) and the Galapagos Islands,

Wanton, William (fl. 1694
1697) before raiding the Peruvian coast with Captain William Knight in July 1686. The latter parted from them after careening at the Juan Fern
andez Islands, ‘‘making the best of his way round Tierra del Fuego to the West Indies,’’ while Davis returned to Mocha Island around Christmas 1686. He and Wafer continued on that coast for another year, before rounding the Horn themselves. After touching at the River Plate, they rounded Brazil and met a Barbados sloop commanded by Edwin Carter, who informed them of King James II’s ‘‘proclamation to pardon and call in the buccaneers’’ (probably of May 22, 1687 [O.S.]), so sailed with Carter’s sloop to Philadelphia, where they arrived by May 1688. Wafer remained there briefly, before transferring to Virginia with Davis and other rovers, ‘‘but meeting with some troubles after a three years’ [sic; two years’] residence there, I came home for England in the year 1690.’’ In fact, Wafer had been arrested on suspicion of piracy immediately on reaching Virginia in June 1688, being deported aboard the Effingham to stand trial in England. Although eventually cleared, he was forced to cede part of his booty in March 1693 toward establishing the College of William and Mary in Virginia. Three years later, Wafer was consulted by the Scottish investors contemplating establishment of a Darien colony, and in 1697 by the Commissioners of Trade in London as to the feasibility of such a project. In the summer of 1698, Wafer was secretly smuggled to Edinburgh and plied for information by the Scots, before their own expedition departed—receiving a paltry £20 for his troubles. Next year, he published his A New Voyage and

Description of the Isthmus of Panama in London. He died about 1705.

References Prebble, John, The Darien Disaster (London: Secker & Warburg, 1968). Shomette, Donald G., Pirates on the Chesapeake: Being a True History of Pirates, Picaroons, and Raiders on Chesapeake Bay, 1610
1807 (Centreville, MD: Tidewater, 1985). Wafer, Lionel, A New Voyage and Description of the Isthmus of America (London: Hakluyt Society, 1933).

WANTON, WILLIAM (fl. 1694
1697) Massachusetts seaman who supposedly fitted out ships on two different occasions, to help defend New England against enemy blockaders. Born at Scituate, Massachusetts, in 1670, Wanton was the third son of a Quaker ship-builder named Edward Wanton. When Wanton married the Presbyterian or Congregationalist Ruth Bryant in June 1691, family opposition drove the couple ‘‘to the Church of England and to the Devil together,’’ as he later jokingly described it. The young inter-denominational couple settled at Newport, Rhode Island, where Wanton was to become a successful merchant, sea captain, and ship builder. In 1694, during the War of the League of Augsburg or King William’s War, a large French vessel (allegedly of 300 tons and 20 cannon) appeared off the harbor-mouth, establishing a blockade ‘‘between Block Island and Point Judith.’’ Wanton and his younger brother John prepared a 30-ton unarmed

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Weatherhill, James (fl. 1693
1694) sloop, and went aboard with 30 of their friends, most hiding below decks. They stood out of port as if bound on a cruise, and were soon intercepted by the French ship, which fired a round across their bow. Immediately, Wanton ‘‘lowered the peak of the mainsail and luffed up’’ toward the enemy, as if in token of surrender. But rather than bring his sloop directly alongside as customary, he drove it under the startled Frenchman’s stern and grappled, further wedging the rudder. His friends then poured up on deck, and a fire-fight ensued until the enemy struck. Three years later, at the very end of that same war, the two brothers allegedly captured another French ship using much the same trick. This time, they sortied aboard two sloops, and encountered their enemy off Holmes’ Hole. While the younger John engaged the Frenchman from a distance, William again drove under his stern and wedged the rudder. The prize supposedly proved ‘‘very valuable, as she had the choicest spoils from the prizes she had taken, and the Wantons were greatly enriched.’’ When the two brothers visited England in 1702, they were granted an addition to their coat of arms by Queen Anne, as well as each being presented with two pieces of plate, a silver punch-bowl and salver, with their mottos inscribed in Latin. In 1732, William Wanton became Governor of Rhode Island.

Reference Chapin, Howard M., Privateer Ships and Sailors: The First Century of American Colonial Privateering, 1625
1725 (Toulon: G. Mouton, 1926).

WEATHERHILL, JAMES (fl. 1693
1694) English privateer originally from Antigua, who commanded the Jamaican sloop Charles, with which he reputedly captured a Spanish merchantman of great value, despite that country’s alliance with England during the War of the League of Augsburg or King William’s War. Several of its crewmembers were killed and others reputedly ‘‘inhumanly abused.’’

Reference Chapin, Howard M., Privateer Ships and Sailors: The First Century of American Colonial Privateering, 1625
1725 (Toulon: G. Mouton, 1926).

WILLEMS, JAN, ALIAS ‘‘JANTJE’’ OR ‘‘JANKE’’ (fl. 1680
1688) Dutch corsair who prowled the Caribbean for many years. Willems appears to have called himself ‘‘Jantje,’’ a diminutive form of Jan or ‘‘John’’ traditionally associated with Dutch sailors (much as ‘‘Jack’’ was among the English); however, this nickname was most often rendered ‘‘Janke’’ or ‘‘Johnnie’’ by other nationalities he came into contact with. The French, for example, listed him as Janch
ee, Janquais, or Jonch
ee; the chronicler Ravenau de Lussan mangled his name even further into Jean Quet; the Spanish knew him as ‘‘Yanch
ee,’’ ‘‘Yanqu
ee,’’ ‘‘Yonqu
ee,’’ or ‘‘Yunqu
e’’; the English came the closest with ‘‘Yankey’’ or

Willems, Jan, Alias ‘‘Jantje’’ or ‘‘Janke’’ (fl. 1680
1688) ‘‘Yankey Dutch,’’ but referred to him more precisely as ‘‘John Williams, alias Yanky.’’

Delivery of the Peace Overture (1680) The first notice of Willems’ activities occurred in the spring of 1680, when he played a modest role in the attempt to reestablish relations between the French flibustiers of Saint-Domingue, and their Spanish neighbors on that same island. On May 16th, Willems was lying with his ship Saint Bernard at Puerto Plata on the north coast of Santo Domingo, when Spanish scouts from the inland town of Santiago de los Caballeros surprised one of his crewmen on the beach, handing the seaman a letter asking if his captain would be willing to communicate with them concerning the peace. Willems sent a written message back to the Spaniards next day, saying that it would give him ‘‘great joy to see them.’’ At ten o’clock the morning of May 18th, a company of Spanish cavalrymen appeared bearing a white flag. Willems sent two boats ashore to convey a deputation aboard, from whom he received a copy of Madrid’s real c
edula of July 6, 1679, which announced ratification of the Treaty of Nijmegen, ending FrancoSpanish hostilities in Europe. The President of the Audiencia of Santo Domingo, Francisco de Segura Sandoval y Castilla, allowed sufficient time for Willems to convey this document to the French Gov. Jacques Nepveu, Sieur de Pouanc¸ay, before dispatching another messenger with a copy of the treaty itself, plus a private letter dated July 10, 1680. Willems was present at the

French capital of Petit-Go^ave when this emissary arrived, recognizing him as one of the persons who had come aboard his ship at Puerto Plata, and subsequently served as interpreter during the interviews with the French Governor, at which local frictions proved too deep-seated for anything other than a brief truce to be arranged.

Cruises (1681
1682) Early in June of that following year, Willems was lying at Springer’s Key in the San Blas Islands north of Panama with a barco luengo of four guns and 60 English, Dutch, and French crewmembers, in the company of John Coxon, Jean Rose, George Wright, and five other captains. The buccaneers were joined by Capitaine Tristan, who had just rescued John Cooke’s band of rovers at nearby La Sound’s Key after their adventures in the South Sea (among whom was William Dampier). From there, the freebooter flotilla decided to make a descent on the Central American coast, for which they sailed toward San Andr
es Island to procure boats. A gale struck the formation, however, and an armadilla of a dozen tiny men-of-war sent from Cartagena furthermore scattered them. Willems put into Bocas del Toro on the northwestern coast of present-day Panama with Coxon, and two weeks later they were joined by Wright. According to Dampier, Willems agreed to act as Wright’s consort ‘‘because Captain Yanky [sic] had no commission, and was afraid the French would take away his bark.’’ The two therefore sailed to Cartagena, seized

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Willems, Jan, Alias ‘‘Jantje’’ or ‘‘Janke’’ (fl. 1680
1688) some boats, then returned to the San Blas Islands to forage. Capturing some coastal traders laden with foodstuffs (as well as rescuing Lionel Wafer), they retired near Darien to careen. Afterward, they prowled past Cartagena, Santa Marta, and Rı´ohacha, before reversing course and intercepting a 12-gun Spanish merchantman from Santiago de Cuba as it was approaching the Spanish Main. During this chase, Wright overtook the Spaniard first and engaged, followed a halfhour later by Willems’ slower craft. Because of this, Wright claimed the entire prize, but was persuaded by his company to share it. Nevertheless, Wright burnt his own bark and assumed command over Willems’ ship, transferring the Dutchman and his crew into the Cuban prize. After the buccaneers deposited their captives at Rı´ohacha, they made for Curac¸ao in mid-November 1681 to attempt to sell their Cuban cargo. No deal could be made, so Willems and Wright continued to Bonaire, where they met a Dutch sloop from Europe with Irish beef, which they exchanged for some of their captured goods. They then visited Aves Islands, where Wright careened his bark while Willems’ was scrubbed, and two guns were fished from the wreck of the Duc d’Estr
ees’s fleet. In mid-February 1682, they crossed to Los Roques, where Willems’ vessel was careened, and 10 tons of sugar sold to a passing French warship of 36 guns. By April 1682, they reached the Salt Tortuga off Venezuela, before attempting to tack upwind to Trinidad, only to be driven back to Blanquilla. Ten days later, they returned to Salt Tortuga, where Willems parted from Wright.

Cuban Blockade (1682
1683) Evidently, he thereupon laid in a course for Saint-Domingue, as later that summer Willems was serving as part of a French flotilla blockading the southern coast of Cuba, under a commission issued to the legendary flibustier Sieur de Grammont. At the end of that year, the force proceeded toward the Bahamas, where a Spanish ship was captured by Willems’ consort Pierre Bot, and its survivors returned to Havana aboard a barco luengo. But Willems’ own activities must have also been noteworthy, for his reputation soon reached Jamaica. In February 1683, Gov. Sir Thomas Lynch, in a vain attempt to destroy the elusive pirate ship Trompeuse or ‘‘Trickster’’ commanded by Jean Hamlin, sent Coxon: . . . to offer to one Yankey (who commands an admirable sailer) men, victuals, pardon, naturalisation, and £200 in money to him and Coxon if he will go after La Trompeuse. Before any deal could be struck, Willems became involved in another, more spectacular venture. Late in March 1683, the flotilla began to sail back toward Petit-Go^ave with another Cuban prize, but on approaching they were met by the Dutch rover Nikolaas Van Hoorn, exiting in Grammont’s corvette Colbert to recall them for a major enterprise against the Spaniards. Van Hoorn had earlier been cheated out of a large consignment of slaves at Santo Domingo, for which Governor de Pouanc¸ay had granted him a letter-of-reprisal against the Spaniards. Willems joined the freebooter force

Willems, Jan, Alias ‘‘Jantje’’ or ‘‘Janke’’ (fl. 1680
1688) which crossed into the Bay of Honduras, searching for further reinforcements. In particular, it was hoped to recruit the Dutch buccaneer Laurens de Graaf and his confederate Michiel Andrieszoon; they were persuaded to join in the projected attack against Veracruz at a meeting held on Roat
an Island that April. The expedition of 13 sail then rounded the Yucatan Peninsula, steering into the Gulf of Mexico.

Sack of Veracruz (May 1683) Willems’ Spanish-built ship was one of two advance scouts used by the pirates to reconnoiter Veracruz’s defenses from out at sea on the afternoon of May 17, 1683. That night, a landing party of 800 buccaneers was slipped into the sleeping city, attacking its buildings at dawn. The Spanish garrison and citizens were surprised in their beds, the entire city being seized and ransacked over the next four days. The pirates then withdrew offshore to Sacrificios Island with 4,000 captives, dividing their booty and awaiting the payment of ransoms out of Mexico’s interior. Two weeks later, they were paid, and after herding 1,500 blacks and mulattos aboard as slaves, the pirate fleet weighed. They encountered the annual Spanish plate fleet just as they were standing out from the coast, but its commander deferred combat, so that the raiders escaped scot-free. The majority of buccaneer craft paused at Coatzacoalcos to take on water before shouldering back around the Yucatan Peninsula to Isla Mujeres, where by late June 1683 they had split the remaining spoils. Each went their separate ways, and by July 26th (O.S.) Governor Lynch was reporting:

Yankey got first to Caimanos [sic; the Cayman Islands] and is bound for Hispaniola. A sloop that came in yesterday got this information from his men. Lynch further identified the main perpetrators of the Veracruz assault as ‘‘Van Hoorn, Laurens, and Yankey Dutch.’’ Willems now subordinated himself to his more famous compatriot, so that after a few months spent enjoying their loot, De Graaf led a pirate contingent consisting of Andrieszoon, Willems, Franc¸ois Le Sage, and several other captains toward the Main, arriving near Cartagena by late November 1683.

Victory off Cartagena (Christmas 1683) When the local Spanish Governor, Juan de Pando Estrada, learned that these rovers were hovering outside his harbor, he commandeered the private merchant ships San Francisco of 40 guns, Nuestra Se~ nora de la Paz of 34, and a 28-gun galliot to chase them away. This trio exited on December 23, 1683, manned by 800 soldiers and sailors under the command of Captain Andr
es de Pez. The result was scarcely as the Spaniards had anticipated, for the seven nimble pirate ships swarmed all over them. In the confusion San Francisco ran aground, Paz struck after four hours’ fight, and Willems took the galliot. Ninety Spaniards were killed in the battle, as opposed to only 20 buccaneers. San Francisco was refloated and became De Graaf’s new flagship, being renamed Fortune (later Neptune); Andrieszoon received command of the Paz, rechristening it as Mutine

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Willems, Jan, Alias ‘‘Jantje’’ or ‘‘Janke’’ (fl. 1680
1688) (Rascal); while Willems was given De Graaf’s old flagship Francesa or Dauphine (Princess). On December 25th, the triumphant buccaneers deposited their prisoners ashore, then settled down to blockade the port. In mid-January 1684, a small convoy of English slavers arrived, escorted by the 48-gun frigate HMS Ruby of Captain Matthew Tennant, who visited Willems and reported ‘‘that Yankey showed him a commission from the Governor of Petit-Go^ave.’’ The freebooters proved friendly, letting the English slavers past and even entering into a contract with one of their passengers, a Dutch slave factor named Diego Maquet, to have a large supply of wine and meat delivered from Port Royal, Jamaica, to Roat
an. Shortly thereafter, the pirates quit their blockade and headed northwestward. En route, De Graaf captured a 14-gun Spanish vessel, then touched at Roat
an with his flotilla before continuing to the south coast of Cuba. There, he and his consorts intercepted a Spanish aviso or dispatch vessel, bearing news that Spain and France were once again at war. Realizing that this meant they could renew their French privateering commissions, De Graaf left Andrieszoon and Willems to prowl the Cuban coast, while he sailed his 14-gun prize into Petit-Go^ave to obtain new patents.

Ransacking of the Dutch West Indiamen (May 1684) After parting company with their leader, Andrieszoon and Willems rounded western Cuba and took up station near Havana. On May 18, 1684, while opposite the tiny hamlet of Santa Lucı´a, they saw

two large vessels approaching, which they stood out to intercept. The strangers proved to be the Dutch West Indiamen Stad Rotterdam and Elisabeth, and despite Holland’s neutrality in the conflict, Andrieszoon led an 80-man boarding party across in two boats to inspect their cargos. He discovered that they had sailed from Cartagena three weeks previously, and because of the protection afforded by Dutch colors, the Spaniards had shipped a great deal of money and passengers on board, including a Bishop. Andrieszoon laid claim to half the 200,000 pesos and all the Spanish nationals, removing them over the masters’ objections.

New England Visit (August 1684) After this lucrative haul, the pair of buccaneer vessels worked their way up the Atlantic Seaboard, and by the end of August 1684 Gov. Edward Cranfield of New Hampshire was informing London that: . . . a French privateer of 35 guns has arrived at Boston. I am credibly informed that they share £700 a man. The Bostoners no sooner heard of her off the coast than they dispatched a messenger and pilot to convoy her into port, in defiance of the King’s proclamation [of March 1684 prohibiting aid and abetment of rovers]. The pirates are likely to leave the greatest part of their plate [i.e., silver] behind them, having bought up most of the choice goods in Boston. The ship is now fitting for another expedition. This was Andrieszoon’s Mutine. Two days later, the Governor wrote again,

Willems, Jan, Alias ‘‘Jantje’’ or ‘‘Janke’’ (fl. 1680
1688) adding that a second French privateer, Willems’ Dauphine, had appeared off that coast. Spanish escapees told the Governor that they had been taken off Cartagena ‘‘by the men who plundered Veracruz,’’ and identified the ship refurbishing in Boston’s yard by its former Spanish name of La Paz, while the second they called Francesa (which the Governor misheard as ‘‘Francis’’). ‘‘They are both extraordinarily rich ships,’’ Cranfield concluded, ‘‘chiefly through spoil of the Spaniards, though they have spared none that they have met at sea.’’ Once Andrieszoon’s ship had completed refitting, Willems’ was to be repaired. However, a couple of weeks later the King’s latest proclamation against piracy was promulgated in Boston, leading Gov. William Dyre to attempt to seize Mutine. It was restored to Andrieszoon after a brief impoundment, but apparently convinced Willems to sail away alone.

Return to the West Indies (October 1684) He was off the Main again by October 14, 1684, for on that day Willems intercepted the English sloop James as it approached that coast with a cargo of goods for the Spaniards. In the words of its master, John Thorp: . . . we met Captain Yankey in the ship Dolphin [sic; Dauphine] off Cartagena, who fired a volley of small shot into our sloop, in spite of our showing our [English] colors, and ordered us on board him, while his men plundered our sloop. We were kept prisoners for six weeks till he came to Petit-Go^ave, where the

Intendant [Chevalier de St. Laurent] and Council voted her good prize. This condemnation occurred on November 22, 1684, and when Thorp and the sloop’s owner James Wale protested against this verdict, the Intendant replied with ‘‘reviling language, and told us to go complain to the King of England.’’ The sloop had been taken entering a Spanish port, with Spanish goods and three Spanish factors aboard, who furthermore had been tortured to reveal their ownership of the cargo. All this evidence rendered the James forfeit, France being then at war with Spain, and the disgruntled English captives noted how ‘‘Laurens the pirate, who gave Yankey his commission, took three barrels of flour from our ship.’’ When news of this capture reached Port Royal early in December, ActingGovernor Hender Molesworth instructed the new Captain of the Ruby, David Mitchell, to ‘‘forthwith sail to Petit-Go^ave and deliver my letter to the Governor, demanding satisfaction for a sloop of this island unlawfully seized by Captain Yankey.’’ Mitchell arrived on the morning of December 16, 1684, where he ‘‘saw in the port the ships commanded by Captain Yankey, Br
eha, Thomas, and Johnson.’’ Dauphine was the largest of this group, being described in a contemporary French document as mounting 30 guns and carrying 180 men. The Royal Navy officer referred to it by its former Spanish nickname when he sent his protest ashore, alleging piracy against ‘‘Captain Yankey of the Francis.’’ The French Gov. Pierre-Paul Tarin de Cussy was absent, but his deputy Capitaine Boisseau returned a polite rejoinder, disputing the characterization of

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Willems, Jan, Alias ‘‘Jantje’’ or ‘‘Janke’’ (fl. 1680
1688) Willems as a pirate. ‘‘I assure you that we know him to be incapable of such a thing,’’ he wrote, explaining that the James had been condemned as a lawful prize after examination at ‘‘the little river L
eog^ane,’’ where it had been found to be laden with Spanish merchandise. Mitchell persisted, arguing next day that the sloop ‘‘was bona fide the property not of Spanish but English subjects,’’ yet to no avail. In a conciliatory gesture, Boisseau sent out three English seamen who had been serving aboard Willems’ ship—it being technically illegal for them to sail under foreign colors while England was at peace—but otherwise took no further action. Ruby returned to Port Royal empty-handed four days later. Willems was next sighted at a huge pirate gathering off Isla de Pinos on Cuba’s southern coast in April 1685, when Mitchell and HMS Ruby stumbled on a vast assemblage of 22 sail including De Graaf, Grammont, George Bannister, and Jacob Evertsen, but could not discover their design, despite speaking with several captains. In fact, the buccaneers were preparing for a major descent on the Mexican port of Campeche.

Assault on Campeche (July 1685) Shifting to Isla Mujeres and Cape Catoche to gather more recruits, the raiders began their advance late in June, their fleet of six large and four small ships, six sloops, and 17 piraguas appearing half-a-dozen miles off Campeche on the afternoon of July 6th. A landing force of 700 buccaneers took to the boats and began rowing in toward shore, and next day overran the city. Its

citadel held out for a week, after which the invaders were left in undisputed possession of the port for two months, but as most of the Spaniards’ wealth had been withdrawn prior to the assault, little plunder was found. Captives were threatened with death if ransoms were not forthcoming, but Yucatan’s Gov. Juan Bruno T
ellez de Guzm
an prohibited all such payments, so that finally the pirates evacuated the city late in August, after putting it to the torch. Disappointed with their results, the pirate host scattered. Willems was not mentioned again for more than a year, but in October 1686 Molesworth received word that: Yankey, the privateer, has taken a Spanish vessel with fifty thousand dollars off Havana. If we could meet with him, this would be a good time to call him to account for the English sloop [James] that was condemned at Petit-Go^ave, but he is said to be bound northward. Almost another year would elapse before the Jamaican Lieutenant-Governor got his opportunity, during which time Willems apparently visited North America once more.

Jamaican Overture (September 1687) Willems was not heard of again until the autumn of 1687, when he reappeared off the northwestern shores of Jamaica with his consort Evertsen, their force being described as follows: Yankey [Willems] has a large Dutch-built ship with 44 guns and

Willems, Jan, Alias ‘‘Jantje’’ or ‘‘Janke’’ (fl. 1680
1688) 100 men; Jacob [Evertsen] has a fine bark with ten guns, 16 patararoes [sic; pedreros or ‘‘swivel-guns’’] and about 50 men. They have also a small sloop. Hoping to obtain supplies, Willems smuggled a letter ashore to a man he had dealt with previously; who in turn requested authorization from the Governor. Molesworth declared that he could not permit the rover to be supplied ‘‘with anything whatever, but that if he was ready to come in and live honestly among us, giving security for the same, he might be received.’’ At the same time, Molesworth secretly directed Captain Charles Talbot of the frigate HMS Falcon to circle round to the north coast of the island and seize Willems, who was still wanted for having captured the English sloop three years earlier. This scheme came to naught when the frigate had to turn back into Port Royal because of its dilapidated sails and rigging. Unaware of this treacherous attempt, Willems and Evertsen entered Montego Bay and drafted a formal petition before its local authority, Ensign William Geese, which read: Captains Yankey and Jacob to Lieutenant Governor Molesworth, Montego Bay, 3 September 1687 [O.S.]. We have arrived from Carolina and brought several people thence who have been driven from the colony by the trouble with the Spaniards. In all sincerity we present ourselves, our ships and company to the service of the King of England, and hope for your assurance that our ships and men shall not be troubled or molested, as we are ignorant of the laws and customs of this island.

We can satisfy you that we have never injured any British subject. (Signed) John Williams, Jacob Everson According to Geese, before this proposal was sealed, ‘‘the whole company agreed to it.’’ Molesworth replied nine days later, offering a royal pardon and letters of naturalization if the rovers would break up their ships and renounce privateering. Willems and Evertsen responded in late September that to do so would leave them ‘‘destitute of all livelihood in present and future,’’ and that neither had ‘‘money to purchase an estate ashore.’’ The Governor remained unmoved, writing on October 19th: ‘‘If you will accept the condition, make the best of your way to Port Royal; if not, leave the coast at once, for I shall consider the treaty to be at an end.’’ Willems and his confederate made off, although a number of their men deserted ashore. The last Molesworth heard of both captains, they were standing ‘‘away to leeward [westward], their vessels being much in want of repair.’’

Final Coup (February 1688) Nonetheless, Willems and Evertsen remained sufficiently strong to attack one of the annual Spanish galleons a few months later, which had crossed the Atlantic to trade with Guatemala and Honduras. In mid-February 1688, the new Jamaican Governor, the Duke of Albemarle, was told: . . . that the pirates Yankey and Jacobs have fallen upon a great Spanish ship in the Bay of Honduras called the Hulk [urca or ‘‘cargo

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Williams, Thomas (fl. 1702
1704) ship’’], and that they had been in sight of her twelve hours. If Yankey failed in this attempt, he is ruined, for it is said that he was very ill provided before. Had I the honor of pardoning pirates, which formally was usual here, I could have done the King good service [by granting amnesty to these two rovers]. Evidently the buccaneers succeeded in their aim, for two months later Albemarle received confirmation that they had fought the Spanish ship ‘‘in the port of Cavana [sic; Puerto Cabello?] from seven in the morning till three in the afternoon, and took her.’’ This was to be both commanders’ last hurrah, however, for later that same summer, Captain Peterson led ‘‘the remainder of Yankey’s and Jacobs’ company’’ to New England, revealing that they were dead. Twenty-five years afterward, the director of the French slaving asiento at Havana was one ‘‘Jean-Baptiste Jonch
ee,’’ who may possibly have been a descendant of Willems, from those early halcyon days on Saint-Domingue.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volumes 11, 12 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1898
1899). Dampier, William, A New Voyage Round the World (New York: Dover, 1968). Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924). Ju
arez Moreno, Juan, Piratas y corsarios en Veracruz y Campeche (Seville: Escuela de Estudios Hispano-americanos, 1972). Marley, David F., Sack of Veracruz: The Great Pirate Raid of 1683 (Windsor, Ontario, Canada: Netherlandic Press, 1993).

WILLIAMS, THOMAS (fl. 1702
1704) Minor Bahamian privateer who operated out of Nassau during Queen Anne’s War. The first official notice of his activities came when Williams, along with his friend Read Elding, was one of that island’s rough-hewn Councilors who deposed the private Governor Elias Haskett in October 1701, supplanting him in office with Ellis Lightwood. In the lengthy memorial which Haskett subsequently presented in his defense before the Council of Trade and Plantations in London next July 1702, he dismissively referred to many of his accusers, among them: Thomas Williams, an old privateer, and so illiterate that he cannot write his name. Thomas Dalton, now Master of a small bark, had served under pirates in the South Sea; a person of a very weak understanding. Nicholas David, a poor journeyman carpenter, working for me at two shillings sixpence a day when I was seized; had been a privateer. A memorial subscribed by the few remaining inhabitants on New Providence Island, dated November 30, 1704 (O.S.), stated that: Several Spanish prizes brought into this harbor by Captain Thomas Williams, who has taken the same by virtue of a commission derived from Sir Nathaniel Johnson, Governor of North and South Carolina.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 20

Woollerly or Woolerly, Thomas (fl. 1687) (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1912). Collections of the South Carolina Historical Society, Volume II (Charleston, SC: Historical Society, 1858).

WOOLLERLY OR WOOLERLY, THOMAS (fl. 1687) English rover who plied the South Sea. In early June 1687, a large ship appeared off New Providence in the Bahamas, and sent a boat ashore to say that she was come from the South Sea under Woollerly. The local Bahamian magistrate, Thomas Bridge, instructed one man to remain ashore while the boat returned to the ship, then learned that the notorious Christopher Goffe and some of his cohorts were also aboard. Bridge therefore advised the strangers: . . . it was the King’s order that they [pirates] should not be entertained, and as she continued standing in, I fired a shot across her forefoot. She then anchored, and next day Woolerly told me that he was come to wood and water, that he had Colonel Lilburne’s commission and had done nothing contrary to it, and that he had taken in Goffe and his companions in extremity of distress. I refused him leave to come in, and he sailed away next day. I am told that they burnt the ship at Andrew’s Island and dispersed, leaving only six or seven men in the Bahamas. Despite Bridge’s apparent compliance with the King’s instructions, the suspicion

remained that Woollerly’s prize had been allowed a place to scuttle, and his men the opportunity to disappear into civilian life, most likely in exchange for a hefty bribe. This impression was reinforced when Bridge delayed writing to his immediate superiors at Jamaica over the next three months, by which time Woollerly had long since left the Islands. In fact, Lieutenant-Gov. Hender Molesworth of Jamaica learned of Woollerly’s presence in the Bahamas through secondhand sources, and on August 17, 1687 (O.S.) was informing London that he had heard the buccaneers: . . . quarreled and burnt the ship, but some of them had bought a vessel and intended to sail for New England, but were detained by want of provisions. It is said that some of these pirates have [so much money], at times [they pay] half a crown a pound for flour. Molesworth consequently dispatched Captain Thomas Spragge of HMS Drake to the Bahamas with specific orders ‘‘to take the pirate Woollerly,’’ but he arrived only to find the pirate gone. It is presumed that the rovers had sailed to Boston, where Goffe is known to have obtained a royal pardon in November of that same year.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 12 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1899). Gosse, Philip H. G., The Pirates’ Who’s Who (London: Dulau, 1924).

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Y And truly since we do our best to suppress our pirates, it is hard that the Spanish Governors should not do the like for theirs, instead of which they encourage them. —Governor Sir Nathaniel Johnson of Antigua, April 1689

That very same day, Yeats lay unhappily at anchor aboard Katherine in Nassau harbor under Vane’s orders, observing the arrival outside of Woodes Rogers’ expedition to assume office as its new Royal Governor. Vane intended to repudiate his authority, though, so fired three warning-shots from a large French prize over the first Royal Navy frigate to edge in through the western entrance that evening of July 26, 1718 (O.S.). He then sent a letter out for the incumbent Governor, outlining his demands, and when no reply was received by 2:00 A.M., aimed his French prize at the first anchored British warships and unleashed it in flames, causing them to cut their cables and scatter before this onrushing fireship. Next morning, Rogers himself led his squadron in through the western

YEATS, CHARLES (fl. 1718) Minor pirate who seemingly operated out of Bermuda, before losing his sloop to a rival Captain, Charles Vane. The latter bore a grudge against Bermudians, which might explain why he took over Yeats’ fine sloop Katherine in the summer of 1718. Richard Tayler of the sloop Elizabeth and Mary—a Philadelphian master being held prisoner around that same time by three Cuban piraguas—testified that during his captivity, he was carried to Cat Island in the Bahamian archipelago, where on July 26, 1718 (O.S.), the Spaniards landed ‘‘and took eight men who had lately belong’d to a pirate sloop built at Bermudas, commanded by one Cha. Yate.’’ 833

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Yeats, Charles (fl. 1718) entrance aboard his flagship, by which time Vane and his 90 die-hard followers were all aboard the swift Katherine. As the Royal Navy warships pressed in, Vane gave the order to weigh and exit via Nassau’s eastern channel, causing the Governor to signal his pair of sloops to try to intercept. He later reported that the pirates ‘‘fled away in a sloop wearing the black flag, and fir’d guns of defiance when they perceived their sloop outsailed the two that I sent to chase them hence.’’ Rogers stepped ashore by mid-morning at the Nassau waterfront to be installed into office, while Vane used Katherine to take a sloop from Barbados two days later, transferring his unwilling partner Yeats aboard this prize with 25 hands, to sail as his consort. And a day or two later, they also seized a small unlicensed trader or interloper while it was making for Nassau, before crossing over to Cuba and then eventually steering north for the Carolinas. They appeared off Charleston by August 30, 1718 (O.S.), intercepting various merchantmen over the next couple of days. One was the 80-ton brigantine Dorothy of London, inward-bound with 90 slaves from Guinea, which Vane selected as his new flagship. Yeats was therefore restored back aboard Katherine, although Vane also crowded all 90 slaves into it as well, to continue serving as his tender. The disgruntled Yeats at last saw an opportunity. While lying at anchor one evening, he:

. . . slipped his cable and put his vessel under sail, standing into the shore; which when Vane saw, he was highly provoked, and got his sloop under sail to chase his consort. Vane’s brigantine sailing best, he gained ground of Yeats and would certainly have come up with him, had he a little longer run; but just as he got over the bar, when Vane came within gunshot of him, he fired a broadside at his old friend, and so took his leave. Yeats sailed up the into shallow waters of the North Edisto River, from where he sent a message overland to South Carolina’s Governor in Charleston, asking to surrender under the terms of the royal amnesty for pirates, in exchange for handing over his slaves. According to the chronicler Charles Johnson, this was eventually agreed to, and Yeats’ name then faded from the history books.

See also Piragua; Vane, Charles.

References Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America and West Indies, Volume 30 (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1930). Johnson, Capt. Charles. The History of the Lives and Actions of the Most Famous Highwaymen, Street-Robbers, Etc. (London: Longman, 1813).

Documents

DOCUMENT 11.
PRIVATEERING COMMISSION ISSUED BY THE EXILED ENGLISH KING JAMES II, JUNE 1691 The almost-bloodless deposal of the last Catholic Stuart monarch during the winter of 1688
1689, in favor of his Protestant challengers William and Mary, created some perplexing uncertainties. Supporters of the popular new rulers insisted that every title or commission issued by the exiled James had been rendered null and void, while only new ones emanating under William and Mary’s seal could be regarded as legitimate. Adherents of the Stuart cause upheld the exact opposite, dismissing all new edicts as worthless paper and maintaining the legitimacy of original documents, so long as their duly-anointed King remained alive and determined to reclaim his throne. Bearers of the wrong commission would be regarded as lawless pirates by their opponents. A sizeable majority in England and its overseas colonies quickly accepted this change in government, so that William and Mary’s titles soon became widely recognized. Yet even two-and-a-half years after fleeing London, James would still continue issuing letters-of-marque from his residence in Paris, such as the following: James the Second, by the grace of God King of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c. To our trusty and well beloved Nicholas Roche, greeting: We reposing special trust and confidence in your loyalty, courage, experience, and conduct in sea affairs, and good affection to us, do by these presents give leave, and permit and suffer you, the said Nicholas Roche, to fit out and equip what vessel soever you please, with what number and complement of men and arms as to you shall seem meet, in order to privateer and seize the ships of all persons whatsoever, only excepted the subjects of those who are in friendship and alliance with us, or of such as have our royal protection and passport, or

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Documents of the Duke of Tyreconnel, our Lieutenant-General and General-Governor of our kingdom of Ireland. Given at our court at the castle of Saint-Germaine the 28th day of June, 1691, and in the seventh year of our reign. Source: Privateering Commission Issued by the Exiled English King James II, June 1691. Reginald G. Marsden, compiler and editor. Documents Relating to the Law and Custom of the Sea. London: Navy Records Society, 1915, Volume 1, Page 139.

DOCUMENT 12.
CAPTAIN THOMAS TEW’S COVENANT WITH HIS CREW, JANUARY 1693 Tew, a Rhode Island privateer, purchased a commission in December 1692—the fourth year of King William’s War against France—from the obliging LieutenantGovernor of Bermuda, Isaac Richier. Armed with this permit, Tew then bought a partial share with four local owners of the 8-gun, 70-ton sloop Amity, and recruited a crew of 46 seasoned veterans. A mutual agreement was signed between all these parties on January 8, 1693 (O.S.), which is reproduced here below—just prior to the Amity’s putting out to sea on its voyage, accompanied by brigantine Amy under Captain George Dew: Articles of agreement indented, had, made, concluded, and agreed upon the eighth day of January in the fourth year of the reign of our sovereign lord and lady, King William and Queen Mary, over England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, Anno Domini 1692 [sic: 1693]. Between the owners Capt Thomas Tew, Henry Fyfeild, Thomas Wamsly, Richard Gilbert, Thomas Hall, being owners of the sloop called the Amity, now riding at anchor in the island of Bermuda at Somers Islands, of the one part, and the rest of the sloop’s company on the other part, have severally and jointly subscribed their names and affixed theirs to those present, as followeth. Whereas the said Capt Thomas Tew and the rest of the sloop’s company, parties to those present, are now intended out on a voyage to sea in the said sloop Amity, now those present witness that it’s agreed by between all the said parties to those present and the said owners Capt Thomas Tew, Henry Fyfeild, Thomas Wansly, Richard Gilbert, Thomas Hall for themselves, their heirs, executors, administrators, and assignees, doth covenant, promise, grant, and agree to and with the said sloop’s company, and every of them his and their executors, administrators, and assignees, by those present in manner and form following (that is to say): In primis: That the said sloop the Amity, at the proper cost and charges of the aforesaid owners, shall within ten days after the date hereof be well and sufficiently fitted, tackled, equipped, and appareled for the sum of months certain and month uncertain as the command and major part of the said company shall agree on, and shall sail on such voyage or expedition as the said commander and company shall think fit for the best advantage of the said owners and company; and further the said owners doth covenant, promise, grant, and agree to and with the

Documents company of the said sloop Amity, in the penal sum of one thousand pounds, that they and their heirs, executors, administrators, and assignees shall and will allow all proper costs and charges to the said company at their return, they giving an account of their expenses, charges, disbursements during the said voyage in the said sloop the Amity. Item: That whatsoever interest, profit, or advantage as money, plate, bullion, jewels, ambergris, goods, wares, merchandise, shipping, vessel or vessels, or other matter or thing whatsoever that shall be found, taken, gotten, had, or recovered at any time or place, or in any manner during the whole term of the said voyage, or voyages or expedition, shall be shared and divided as followeth (that is to say): That all maimed men of the said company that shall be disabled in the true service of the voyage, to the apparent hindrance of getting their future livelihood, before any dividend shall be made, he or they shall have and receive eight hundred pieces-of-eight, or the true value thereof it so much shall be gained, received, or procured in the said voyage. Item: Provided that if any person or persons belonging to the said sloop Amity, in time of fight or in acting or in doing for the good of the said voyage, he or they losing of a joint or joints, they or their executors, administrators, and assignees shall have and receive one hundred pieces-of-eight for each joint so losing. Item: That all plunder that did belong to the said prize or prize’s company, excepting money, plate, bullion, jewels, ambergris, or merchandises, whatsoever that shall be found, taken, gotten, upon deck or between decks, or in the cabin, shall be free plunder equally to be divided amongst the said sloop’s company. Item: It’s further agreed that the said owners, for their said sloop, shall next have and receive nine full common shares, and the commander thereof for the time being for himself and his commission shall have two-and-a-half like full shares, the master shall have one-and-a-half like full shares. The doctor, conditionally (that is) his chest be well fitted with medicines and that he give due attendance on all the said company as need shall require, throughout the said voyage and for the term of one month if need be after the expedition thereof, shall therefore have and receive all surgeons’ instruments and medicines properly belonging to any vessel taken, and also one hundred pieces-of-eight towards his chest, over and above his full share in common with the said company. Item: That if it shall happen that any ship or vessel whatsoever shall be taken, gotten, or obtained during this term of the said voyage by the said parties to those present, or any others being parties hereunto, that then the said commander and his successor commanders for the time being, shall and may save, keep, burn, or destroy such ship, vessel, or vessels at his discretion, according as he shall order and think most convenient, without any of the said company. Item: That all disbursements by the said owners for the said company on the account of provision, shall be duly paid for according to agreement, before any dividend be made of the first money or goods taken, as they or their orders shall think most meet to the advantage. Item: That all and singular, the whole remaining part of the produce, profits, and issues of the said voyage, without any fraud or concealment, shall be shared and

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Documents divided amongst the said company, part and part alike; and ashore, any of them shall die, be shared and divided amongst the said company, part and part alike; and ashore, any of them shall die or be injured in the service of the said voyage, every such person’s share of the whole shall be good to the time of his or their death, and no further; and their executors, administrators, and assignees, by virtue of those present, shall have a good right and title according to demand and receive the same; always hereby excepting and reserving to the said commander and company for the time being, the power known, use, and custom of making any defalcation or abatement, where he or the company find cause for any known default or misdemeanor, or any of the said company then living, which defalcations shall be disposed of amongst the said company by de . . . [illegible], and the party as thereby pretending to be aggrieved shall have no remedy thereby or herein. Item: That whomsoever of the said company shall first spy a sail, and the same prove to be a prize sufficient to make them a voyage, he shall therefore have one hundred pieces-of-eight, or the value at the choice and appointment of the command and the major part of ye company, and free entrance into the prize. Item: That if the company belonging to the said sloop’s canoe [sic; boat], being at any time sent out, shall take or find anything under that value of five hundred pieces-of-eight without gunshot of the said sloop [i.e., beyond range of the sloop], the same shall be equally shared amongst the said canoe’s company; but if any such booty or purchase shall amount to that value or upwards, it shall be brought to a common and general dividend amongst the said sloop’s whole company. Item: It is further covenanted, granted, and agreed to, and with the consent of the sloop’s whole company, that all due and civil respect that is usually paid to a Capt in his station, shall be paid to Capt. Thomas Tew and his successors as our commission officer; and also that the said company in general will furnish themselves with small arms, and ammunition for their small arms, fitting for the said expedition. Item: If any of the said company shall during the said voyage, force or ravish any maid or woman, then he or they shall lose his or their whole share as aforesaid, and be punished at the Captain’s and the company’s discretion. Item: That if any man of the said company shall in time of service, be so drunk and incapable that he does not fight and withstand the enemy, then he or they shall be cut off or punished according as the Captain and the major part of the company thinks meet. Item: That if any of the said company shall in time of service during the said voyage, show or prove himself a coward, then he or they shall lose his and their voyage as aforesaid. Item: That if any of the said company shall during the said voyage conceal or defraud anything of the booty or purchase found, taken, or gotten, to the value of a piece-of-eight for any longer than four-and-twenty hours, and shall not fully and truly deliver the same unto the Quartermaster for the time being, he or they shall therefore lose his and their whole share and dividend as aforesaid. Item: It’s mutually agreed that those Islands [i.e., Bermuda in the Somers Islands] shall be their commission port, and to the full and true performance of these present articles, and every clause and thing herein contained, each of the said parties to those present bindeth him and themselves severally, and his and their

Documents several executors, administrators, and assignees, unto the other of the said parties his and their executors, administrators, and assignees, in the sum or penalty of two thousand pounds current money of those Islands. Nevertheless it’s further covenanted, granted, concluded, and agreed upon that the whole company, or each person severally, will form those articles, accepting the hardness of ye seas and the danger of the enemies, in witness whereof all the said parties to those articles have set their hands, etc. Dated the day and year first above written [January 8, 1693 (O.S.)]. Signed, sealed, and delivered in the presence of us, Joshua Lake Samuel Stone Capt. Thomas Tew Ostensibly, both vessels were supposed to attack the French slaving-factory of Gor
ee in West Africa, but in fact they secretly intended to round the Cape of Good Hope and raid in the easier hunting-grounds of the Red Sea. However, Dew’s vessel sprang its mast in a storm a few days later, so that the two became separated, and Tew’s Amity proceeded alone. Source: Captain Thomas Tew’s Covenant with His Crew, 8 January 1693 O.S.

DOCUMENT 13.
ROYAL PROCLAMATION AS TO PROPER FLAGS TO BE FLOWN BY ENGLISH PRIVATEERING VESSELS, JULY 1694 In an age before naval uniforms had been issued, distinguishing features of a royal warship were its insignia and pennants. Large, powerful men-of-war might be easily recognizable because of their sheer size and heavy armament, yet lesser vessels were harder to differentiate from similar-sized privateers. The multiplicity of jacks and pennants flown by freebooter craft, operating from dozens of different ports ranging from the Lesser Antilles as far north as Newfoundland, prompted the Admiralty in London to issue the following proclamation in the summer of 1694, the fifth year of King William’s War: Whereas diverse of Their Majesties’ subjects have of late presumed on board their ships to wear Their Majesties’ jacks, pendants, and ensigns, which according to ancient usage have been appointed as a distinction for Their Majesties’ ships, and many times thinking to evade the punishment due for the same, have worn jacks, pendants, and ensigns in shape and mixture of colors so little different from those of Their Majesties, as not without difficulty to be distinguished therefrom, which practice is found attended with manifold inconveniences; For prevention of the same for the future, Their Majesties have thought fit, with the advice of their Privy Council, by this their royal proclamation, strictly to charge and command all their subjects whatsoever, that they do not presume to wear in any of their ships or vessels Their Majesties’ jack, commonly called the Union Jack, nor any pendants, nor any such ensigns or colors as are

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Documents usually born by Their Majesties’ ships, without particular warrant for their so doing from Their Majesties, or the Lord High Admiral of England, or the commissioners for executing the office of Lord High Admiral for the time being. And Their Majesties do hereby also further command all their loving subjects, that without such warrant as aforesaid, they presume not to wear on board their ships or vessels any jacks, pendants, ensigns, or colors made in imitation of those of Their Majesties or any other flags, jacks, pendants, or ensigns whatsoever than those usually worn in merchants’ ships, viz. the flag and jack white, with a red cross, commonly called St. George’s Cross, passing quite through the same, and the ensign red with the like cross in a canton white at the upper corner thereof, next the staff; nor any kind of pendant whatsoever, saving that for the better distinction of such ships as shall have commissions of letters-of-marque or reprisals against the enemy, and any other ships or vessels which may be employed. . . . And Their Majesties do strictly charge and command that none of their loving subjects do presume to wear any of the said distinctive jacks unless they shall have commissions of letters-of-marque or reprisals, or be employed in Their Majesties’ service by the before mentioned offices respectively. And Their Majesties do hereby require the principal officers and commissioners of Their Majesties’ Navy, the governors of their forts and castles, the officers of their customs, and the commanders or officers of any of their ships, upon their meeting with or otherwise observing any ships or vessels of Their Majesties’ subjects wearing any flag, pendant, jack, or ensign contrary hereunto, whether at sea or in port, not only to seize or cause such flag, pendant, jack, or ensign to be forthwith seized, but also to return the names of the said ships and vessels, together with the names of their respective masters or commanders unto the Lord High Admiral, commissioners for executing the office of Lord High Admiral, or the judge of the High Court of Admiralty for the time being, to the end that the persons so offending may be duly punished for the same. And Their Majesties do hereby command and enjoin the judge and judges of the High Court of Admiralty for the time being that they make strict enquiry, and cause all such offenders to be duly punished. And all Vice Admirals and judges of the Vice Admiralties are also to do the same, and attend [to] the due observation hereof within the several ports and places belonging to their respective precincts. Source: Royal Proclamation as to Proper Flags to be Flown by English Privateering Vessels, 12th July 1694. Reginald G. Marsden, compiler and editor, Documents Relating to the Law and Custom of the Sea. London: Navy Records Society, 1916, Volume 2, Pages 162
164.

DOCUMENT 14.
LETTERS-OF-MARQUE AND REPRISAL ISSUED TO WILLIAM DAMPIER, OCTOBER 1702 Five months after Queen Anne’s War had erupted in Europe, with England and Holland allied against the recent Bourbon union between France and Spain, the

Documents ex-logger and pirate from the Bay of Campeche, Pacific rover and now also bestselling author of A Voyage Around the World—William Dampier—was readying to put to sea yet again, on another epic voyage. Amid his preparations, he went before the High Court of Admiralty in London on October 13, 1702 (O.S.), to register the following: Appeared personally Captain William Dampier and produced a warrant from the Right Honourable the Commissioner deputed by His Royal Highness Prince George of Denmark, etc, Lord High Admiral of England, Ireland, etc, and of all Her Majesty’s Plantations, etc, for the granting of a commission of letters of marque to him, the said William Dampier, and in pursuance of Her Majesty’s Instructions to Privateers, made the following declaration: viz., that his ship is called the St. George and is of the burthen of about two hundred & sixty tons, mounted with twenty-two guns, that he the declarant goes Captain of her, that she carries one hundred men, one hundred small arms, thirty cutlasses, thirty barrels of powder, thirty rounds of great shot and about one thousand weight of small shot; that the said ship is victualled for eight months, has two suites of sails and some spare sails, five anchors & five cables, and about one ton of spare cordage. That Samuel Huxford goes Lieutenant; John Hill, Master; Robert Edlington, Boatswain; Robert Carr, Gunner; William Joy, Carpenter; Edward Morgan, Cook; and John Phelps, Surgeon of the said ship; and that William Price of Kingstreet near Golden Square in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, is the sole owner and setter-out of the said ship. The same day, this declaration was made before William Dampier. George Bramston, Junior This original document is today preserved by Britain’s National Archives, under the call-number HCA 26/17 f.170. By February 1704, Dampier will have clawed his way through the Strait of Magellan to the uninhabited Juan Fern
andez Islands, accompanied by the 16-gun galley Cinque Ports. After prowling the Pacific coast of Spanish America for the remainder of that year, and vainly awaiting the Manila galleon off Mexico, the former buccaneer will eventually steer out across that ocean toward Asia and home, completing another of his three circumnavigations. Source: Letters-of-Marque and Reprisal Issued to William Dampier, October 1702. Original document held at the National Archives, UK, HCA 26/17 f.170.

DOCUMENT 15.
A NOCTURNAL ENCOUNTER WITH BLACKBEARD UPON THE PAMLICO RIVER, SEPTEMBER 1718 The notorious pirate Edward Thatch had sought sanctuary in North Carolina by purchasing a pardon in June 1718, and a house at Plum Point, about a mile south of its ramshackle capital of Bath. Despite marrying and professing a desire to settle down and retire into an honest life, he slipped back out to sea within a couple of

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Documents months, resuming his former piratical ways by seizing a French merchantman off Bermuda. Stealing back into Pamlico Sound with this prize, Blackbeard proceeded quietly upriver aboard his boat one night in mid-September, to meet under cover of darkness with the pliant provincial Secretary Tobias Knight, so as to arrange the reception of his illegal capture. On returning back out toward his waiting ships next dawn, the pirate Captain—allegedly informed by Knight of a victim lying temptingly along his route—paused to rob this tiny boat of its contents. A description of this brutal crime was subsequently recorded: William Bell of the precinct of Currituck, being sworn and examined, deposeth that being on board his periangor [sic: piragua] at the landing of John Chester in Pamlico River in North Carolina, in the night of the 14th of September last [1718 O.S.], a large periagor passed by standing up the river. That a little before break of day, the same periagor returned and rowed on board the deponent. That a white man, that he since understands was Edward Thache, entered the deponent’s periangor and asked him if he had anything to drink, to which the deponent answered it was so dark, he could not well see to draw any; whereupon the said Thache called for sword, which was handed him from his own periagor, and commanded the deponent to put his hands behind him in order to be tied, swearing Damnation seize him, he would kill the deponent if he did not tell him truly where the money was. That the deponent asked him who he was and whence he came, to which the said Thache replied he came from Hell, and he would carry him presently. That the deponent laid hold of the said Thache and struggled with him, upon which he called to his men to come on board to his assistance, and they came and laid hold on the deponent, his son, and an Indian he had with him; then the said Thache demanded his pistols and the deponent telling him they were locked up in his chest, he was going to break it open, but the deponent entreated him not to do so, for he would open it; but though he permitted the deponent to unlock the chest, he would not suffer him to put his hands therein, but took the pistols out himself. That the said Thache, having got the deponent’s periangor out into the middle of the river, rifled her, took away »66 10s in cash, one piece of crepe containing 58 yards, a box of pipes, half a barrel of brandy, and several other goods; the particulars are mentioned in an account the deponent now delivered into court. That particularly the deponent was robbed of a silver cup of remarkable fashion, being made to screw in the middle the upper part, resembling a chalice, the lower a tumbler, which cup the deponent is informed has been found on board Thache’s sloop. That when the said Thache and his crew had taken what they thought fit from the deponent, they tossed his sail and oars overboard, and so rowed down the river. That the said Thache, in beating the deponent, broke his sword about a quarter of a yard from the point, which broken piece of the sword the deponent found in the periangor and now produces in court; and the deponent verily believes Thache had intelligence of his having money, otherwise he would have passed by in returning from, as he did in going to Mr. Knight, without concerning himself with the periangor.

Documents Source: A Nocturnal Encounter with Blackbeard upon the Pamlico River, September 1718. Saunders, William L. The Colonial Records of North Carolina. Raleigh: P.M. Hale, 1886.

DOCUMENT 16.
MOCK PIRATE-TRIAL PERFORMED ON CUBA BY CAPTAIN THOMAS ANSTIS AND HIS MEN, SUMMER 1722 After a year of roaming the Caribbean, the crews of Captain Thomas Anstis’ ship Morning Star and consort brigantine Good Fortune—many of whom had been pressed into piracy—addressed a petition to the Governor of Jamaica in June 1722, requesting pardons. While awaiting a reply, they apparently withdrew into a quiet bay along the southern Cuban coast, where—to amuse themselves—they would occasionally hold a ‘‘court of justice’’ to try each other for their crimes. As described later in Captain Charles Johnson’s General History, ‘‘he who was on one day tried as the prisoner, would next day take his turn at being Judge.’’ The untutored pirates’ quick-witted sense of humor still shines today, centuries later: The Court and Criminals being both appointed, as also Council to plead, the Judge got up in a tree, and had a dirty tarpaulin hung over his shoulder; this was done by way of robe, with a thrum-cap on his head and a large pair of spectacles upon his nose. Thus equipp’d, he settled himself in his place; and abundance of officers attending him below with crow[bar]s, handspikes, etc., instead of wands, tipstaves, and such like. The Criminals were brought out, making a thousand sour faces; and one who acted as Attorney-General opened the charge against them; their speeches were very laconic, and their whole proceedings concise. We shall give it by way of dialogue: Attorney General: ‘‘An’t please Your Lordship and you Gentlemen of the Jury, here is a fellow before you that is a sad dog, a sad sad dog; and I humbly hope Your Lordship will order him to be hang’d out of the way immediately. He has committed piracy upon the high seas, and we shall prove, an’t please Your Lordship, that this fellow, this sad dog before you, has escaped a thousand storms, nay, has got safe ashore when the ship has been cast away, which was a certain sign he was not born to be drown’d; yet not having the fear of hanging before his eyes, he went on robbing and ravishing man, woman, and child; plundering ships’ cargoes fore and aft; burning and sinking ship, bark, and boat, as if the Devil had been in him. But this is not all, My Lord, he has committed worse villainies than all these—for we shall prove, that he has been guilty of drinking small-beer; and Your Lordship knows there never was a sober fellow but what was a rogue. My Lord, I should have spoke much finer than I do now, but that as Your Lordship knows, our rum is all out; and how should a man speak good law that has not drank a dram? However, I hope Your Lordship will order the fellow to be hang’d.’’

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Documents Judge: ‘‘Hark’ee me, Sirrah . . . you lousy, pitiful, ill-look’d dog; what have you to say why you should not be tuck’d up immediately, and set a sun-drying like a scarecrow? Are you guilty, or not guilty?’’ Prisoner: ‘‘Not guilty, an’t please Your Worship.’’ Judge: ‘‘Not guilty! Say so again, Sirrah, and I’ll have you hang’d without any trial.’’ Prisoner: ‘‘An’t please Your Worship’s honor, My Lord, I am as honest a poor fellow as ever went between stem and stern of a ship, and can hand, reef, steer, and clap two ends of a rope together, as well as e’er a he that ever cross’d salt water; but I was taken by one George Bradley [the name of the pirate acting as Judge] a notorious pirate, a sad rogue as ever was unhang’d, and he forc’d me, an’t please Your Honor.’’ Judge: ‘‘Answer me, Sirrah: how will you be tried?’’ Prisoner: ‘‘By God and my country.’’ Judge: ‘‘The Devil you will . . . why then, Gentlemen of the Jury, I think we have nothing to do but to proceed to judgment.’’ Attorney General: ‘‘Right, My Lord; for if the fellow should be suffered to speak, he may clear himself, and that’s an affront to the Court.’’ Prisoner: ‘‘Pray, My Lord, I hope Your Lordship will consider . . .’’ Judge: ‘‘Consider! How dare you talk of considering? Sirrah, Sirrah, I never consider’d in all my life. I’ll make it treason to consider.’’ Prisoner: ‘‘But, I hope Your Lordship will hear some reason . . .’’ Judge: ‘‘D’ye hear how the scoundrel prates? What have we to do with the Reason? I’d have you to know, rascal, we don’t sit here to hear Reason; we go according to Law. Is our dinner ready?’’ Attorney General: ‘‘Yes, My Lord.’’ Judge: ‘‘Then hark’ee, you rascal at the bar. Hear me, Sirrah, hear me. You must suffer, for three reasons: first, because it is not fit I should sit here as Judge, and nobody be hanged. Secondly, you must be hanged, because you have a damn’d hanging look. And thirdly, you must be hanged, because I am hungry—for know, Sirrah, that ’tis a custom, that whenever the Judge’s dinner is ready before the trial is over, the prisoner is to be hanged of course. There’s Law for you, ye dog. So take him away, Jailer.’’ Source: Mock Pirate-Trial Performed on Cuba by Captain Thomas Anstis and His Men, Summer 1722. Source: Johnson, Charles. A General History of the Robberies and Murders Of the most notorious Pyrates, and also their Policies, Discipline, and Government from their first Rise and Settlement in 1717 to the present year, with the Adventures of the two Female Pyrates, Mary Read and Anne Bonny. To which is prefix’d An Account of the famous Captain Avery and his Companions; with the Manner of his Death in England. London: C. Rivington, J. Lacy, and J. Stone, 1724.

Documents

DOCUMENT 17.
ACCOUNT OF A RANSACKING ON THE HIGH SEAS AT THE HANDS OF NEW LOW’S PIRATES, JULY 1723 During colonial times in New England, it had become customary for some merchant vessels to steer south late in the year, rather than remain laid-up throughout the long winter months. A ship might instead run to warmer climes and take on produce, returning home to make delivery by springtime, before resuming its regular operations. Yet many perils could arise on such vast round-trips, which might easily cover more than 5,000 miles of lonely and often hostile ocean. Misfortune befell the schooner Essex of Salem, Massachusetts, under its 34-year-old Captain Bartholomew Putnam, which limped back into port on July 5, 1723 (O.S.), under its mate Nathan Putnam from such a peacetime voyage, who gave the following declaration before Judge Stephen Sewall: That on the 10th day of March 1722/3 [March 10, 1723 (O.S.)], they set sail from the island of Saltateodos [sic; Salt Tortuga off Venezuela] laden with salt, their vessel being very leaky, bound for New England. That on the 12th day of March aforesaid at night, they sprang their foremast, by reason of which & their vessel’s remaining very leaky, on the 14th they bore up to Jamaica, where they arrived the 24th of the same month; & after they had stopped their leaks & strengthened their mast, refitted their vessel what was necessary, which they were foreed to do at a great disadvantage, by selling a considerable parcel of salt—being at a low rate there. On the 24th of April 1723 [O.S.], they set sail from Port Royal in Jamaica bound for Salem in New England, & on the 8th of May following in the latitude of the 21 degrees North Lat., they unhappily met with Loe the famous pyrate [sic; Edward Low], who had two sloops or vessels under his command; and the pyrates carried the Master Bartholomew Putnam & two of our men on board the vessel he himself [Low] was aboard, & the rest of us on board the lesser piratical vessel called the Ranger, & then the pyrates went on board our vessel, broke open the chests, trunks & ransacked & took away what silver & gold was aboard that they could find, & the cloths & everything else they See cause [sic?], beat the Master with the cutlass, & on the 9th of May dismissed us, when we made the best of our way to New England. On the 23rd day of May, our master Captain Bartholomew Putnam died, having been sick from the time they came out of Jamaica; & that on the 5th day of July 1723, they arrived at Salem in New England with about twenty tons of salt. The deceased Captain Putnam left behind at least three young children, ages eleven to five. Source: ‘‘Account of a Ransacking on the High Seas at the Hands of New Low’s Pirates, July 1723.’’ Elizabeth Putnam, The Putnam Lineage: Historical-Genealogical Notes Concerning the Puttenham Family (Salem, Massachusetts, 1907), pp. 139
140.

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Chronology

January 1686

After his revocation of the Edict of Nantes, Louis XIV boasts that only 1,000 to 1,500 out of 800,000 to 900,000 former Huguenot subjects remain in his realm.

March 1686

On the eastern shores of Yucat
an, Laurens de Graaf leads seven freebooter ships into Ascensi
on (modern Emiliano Zapata) Bay, disembarking 500 buccaneers who march inland. Despite encountering no Spanish resistance and penetrating within half-a-dozen miles of the town of Valladolid, he inexplicably gives the order to retreat, and by April his ships are retiring toward Roat
an.

April 7, 1686

In the Pacific, Francois Grogniet and Francis Townley combine 345 of their buccaneers for an attack against the Nicaraguan capital of Granada, landing at Escalante and fighting their way into that inland city three days later. Little plunder is found, the Spaniards having removed all valuables to Zapatera Island, so that the pirates withdraw empty-handed five days afterward. They endure various ambushes before passing through Masaya on April 16th, regaining their ships and sailing to Realejo, where they vote to split up into smaller groups that June.

April 30, 1686

Grammont’s flagship Hardi, accompanied by a galliot prize and a buccaneer sloop, appears off Florida to make a sneak-attack on Saint Augustine. The galliot is sent toward Matanzas under Spanish colors to gather intelligence, but is wrecked in heavy weather. Grammont therefore sails past Matanzas three days later, driven north by this

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Chronology same storm. After visiting South Carolina, he will be lost with all hands off the Azores a few months later. July 4, 1686

Two Royal Navy frigates from Jamaica—Charles Talbot’s Falcon and Thomas Spragge’s Drake—catch the English renegade Joseph Bannister careening his 30-gun Golden Fleece near Saman
a Bay, along with a small prize. The corsair has two batteries mounted ashore and fights the English frigates as they work in as close as the water will allow, beating Golden Fleece to pieces. Drake suffers 13 casualties and Falcon suffers 10 before running out of ammunition. The English captains return into Port Royal a few days later, and are censured for not destroying both of Bannister’s craft. They therefore rearm and go back to Saman
a Bay, discovering that in the interim the renegade has torched Golden Fleece and sailed away in his prize.

July 22, 1686

In the Pacific, Townley’s buccaneers make a sudden descent on the outskirts of Panama City, seizing merchandise reputedly worth 1,500,000 pesos, but which is subsequently lost in a Spanish counter-ambush. The raiders nonetheless make off with 15,000 pesos in silver and 300 captives, which Townley uses to extort a truce. After two captives’ heads are sent to the President of the Audiencia of Panama, the latter reluctantly agrees to supply the pirates with cattle, sheep, and flour on a daily basis. Meanwhile, Townley threatens to send another 50 heads ashore if five buccaneers in Spanish hands are not released, and an uneasy peace ensues.

August 1686

A galley and two piraguas bearing 100 Spaniards out of Saint Augustine, plus native allies and mulattoes, descend on the new Scottish establishment at Port Royal (South Carolina). Its settlers have been reduced to 25 able-bodied men because of disease and want, so are easily overrun; their capital of Stuart’s Town is destroyed. The Spaniards then range northward to the Edisto, plundering plantations (including those of English Gov. Joseph Morton and his secretary Paul Grimball). The raiders are eventually prevented from assaulting Charleston by a hurricane, which destroys two of their vessels and drowns Capt. Tom
as de Le
on, obliging the remainder to retire toward Saint Augustine. The English wish to retaliate by commissioning two French privateers, but are forbidden by their newlyarrived Gov. James Colleton.

November 16, 1686

An agreement is struck between James II of England and Louis XIV of France, promising to restrict the activities of buccaneers in the New World.

September 16, 1718

Amid growing tensions in Europe, Madrid severs relations with Britain, and orders its Spanish-American officials to begin reprisals against English vessels and goods in the New World.

Chronology December 26, 1718

London declares war against Spain, a decision which will result in a resurgence of privateering throughout the Americas.

March 1719

The War of the Quadruple Alliance escalates when France sends an army via the Pyrenees to invade northern Spain.

April 19, 1719

Joseph Le Moyne de S
erigny et de Loire arrives aboard a French warship at Biloxi, the advance French base on the Gulf Coast, to launch a preemptive strike against the neighboring Spanish outpost at Pensacola.

May 14, 1719

Le Moyne de S
erigny’s four French warships and 600 men surprise Pensacola, calling on its 200-man garrison to surrender. The Spaniards do so after a token three-day resistance, unable to withstand a protracted siege with their 800 noncombatants. De S
erigny offers French citizenship to anyone who chooses to remain, then assigns the 22-gun frigate Comte de Toulouse and 20-gun Mar
echal de Villars to transport the defeated Governor and dispossessed inhabitants to Havana. The occupiers meanwhile begin transforming Pensacola into Louisiana’s new capital and principal port, having been disappointed by the inferior harbor configurations at Mobile and Biloxi.

August 28, 1722 (O.S.)

Jamaica is struck by a hurricane, causing extensive damage and flooding.

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Glossary

Abraham’s Cay—name for what is today Bluefields, Nicaragua Account—an English slang expression for piracy, more commonly used with a verb, such as going or sailing ‘‘on the account’’ Advice-Boat—another term for a dispatch-vessel, derived from the Spanish word aviso Almiranta—a Spanish term for vice-flagship Apostles—military slang for the 12 charges usually carried in a bandolier or cartridge-belt Armada de Barlovento—Spanish naval squadron assigned to patrol the Caribbean Armadilla—a small flotilla of Spanish warships Arribada—Spanish legal term for any unauthorized entry into port Ash, Isle of—English mispronunciation of ^Ile a Vache, the French island off southwestern Haiti Asiento—in English, the name for the monopoly of supplying African slaves to Spanish America Aviso—Spanish word for a dispatch vessel or mail boat Azogue—Spanish word for quicksilver or mercury, a vital ingredient in refining silver ores Bab-el-Mandeb—Arabic name for the narrow strait leading into the Red Sea, the ‘‘Gate of Tears’’ Banda del Norte—Spanish name for the north coast of Hispaniola, inhabited by French intruders Barco luengo or longo—from the Spanish, a type of galliot or oared sailing-vessel

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Glossary Bay of Campeche—English name for the Mexican bay, whose real name is the Laguna de T
erminos Bilboes—a long iron bar with shackles, used to secure prisoners Biscayan privateers—squadron of corsairs raised in northeastern Spain, to combat pirates and smugglers in the West Indies Blue officers—French nickname for non-aristocratic officers of privateer or merchant vessels, temporarily admitted into the Navy during wartime Caper—English spelling of the Dutch word kaper, meaning ‘‘privateer’’ Capitana—Spanish term for ‘‘flagship’’ Careen—nautical expression, meaning to tilt a vessel so as to expose its underside for cleaning or repairs Cassava—tropical West Indian shrub, whose roots provided sustenance for slaves and indentured servants Charter Party—freebooter covenant, drawn up prior to a cruise to determine the division of spoils Cincuentena—Spanish militia cavalrymen on Santo Domingo Clipped money—coins illegally reduced by filing, shaving, or clipping metal from around their edges Cocket—a written certificate issued by a custom-house to a departing ship Commission port—the seaport from which a privateer had received his commission, and where all prizes should be sent Corsair—synonym for privateer, especially among the Spanish Crab Island—English name for what is now Vieques Island, east of Puerto Rico Cross of Burgundy—name for the Spanish flag, a red cross on a white background Darien Colony—short-lived Scottish settlement in northeastern Panama Daudorus—Scottish euphemism for a thrashing or beating Dead Man’s Island—see ‘‘Isla del Muerto’’ Dogger—nautical expression for an auxiliary vessel or ‘‘tender’’ Doubloon—name of the largest Spanish gold coin Dry gripes—English nickname for a West Indian malady Dry Tortugas—English name for the shoals at the west end of the Florida Keys Ducat—English name for a small Spanish gold coin, worth eleven reales Ducking—a type of nautical punishment Enfants perdus—French military slang for any vanguard unit, or frontline assaultforce Engag
e—French indentured servant Flibustier—a synonym for West Indian privateer or corsair, especially among the French

Glossary Flag of truce—in addition to its obvious meaning, also the name applied to any vessel authorized to visit a hostile port during wartime Flip—English nickname for a mixed alcoholic drink, similar to punch Flota—Spanish expression for the annual plate-fleets sailing to and from Veracruz Flute—a type of cargo-ship or transport Flying Gang—nickname for the toughs who controlled the waterfront at lawless Nassau, prior to the restoration of Crown rule Forban—French synonym for ‘‘pirate’’ Forlorn—English military slang for any advance unit or vanguard Freebooter—individual performing military or naval service without salary, but for shares of plunder Galeones—Spanish expression for the annual plate-fleets sailing to and from Cartagena Gardens of the Queen—Spanish name for the maze of islands off southern Cuba Gobernador de Tercio—Spanish officer in command of the Marine Regiment aboard the Armada de Barlovento Golden Island—uninhabited pirate base off northeastern Panama, used to stage forays across the Isthmus into the Pacific Guardacostas—Spanish term for coast-guards Half-Way Tree—a crossroads in Jamaica, northwest of Kingston Hispaniola—English name for the island today shared by the Dominican Republic and Haiti Hogshead—a large wooden cask Inch of candle—method of setting a time-limit, by marking a line upon a lit candle Indigo—a valuable blue dye produced by certain tropical plants Interloper—term applied to any unauthorized merchant visitor, regarded as a trespasser or smuggler Isla del Muerto—Spanish name for ‘‘Dead Man’s Island,’’ at least six spots still bear this grim name today Jolly Roger—later-day English euphemism for a pirate flag, dating from the Victorian era Kaper—Dutch word for ‘‘privateer’’ Keelhauling—savage form of nautical punishment Kilduijvel or Kill-Devil—Dutch euphemism for rum Laars—Dutch name for a ‘‘cat o’ nine tails’’ League—measurement of distance, roughly equivalent to three miles Let-pass—simplest form of ship’s papers, merely identifying a bearer and requesting that he be allowed to pass

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Glossary Letter of marque—another name for a privateering commission, sometimes misspelled as ‘‘letter of mart’’ Letter of reprisal—special type of privateering commission, issued during peacetime to redress a specific wrong Light money—English euphemism for clipped or poor-grade coinage Logwood or Dyewood—dark-red tropical tree, harvested to produce an indelible black or brown dye Madagascar—huge island off southeast Africa, which for a few years became a notorious pirate lair Main—abbreviated form of the Spanish Main, the stretch of mainland coast from Venezuela to Panama Mal de Siam—French nickname for yellow fever Mar del Sur—Spanish name for the ‘‘South Sea,’’ or Pacific Ocean Maroon—expression meaning to abandon someone on a desolate island Matross—English expression for a gunner’s mate Moidore—term originally derived from the Portuguese moeda d’ouro, meaning a fine ‘‘coin of gold’’ Morro—Spanish word for any large harbor-castle or coastal fortification Mum—strong German ale, made from wheat and oat malts Para—Dutch nickname for Paramaribo, capital of Suriname Partridge—English nickname for clusters of small rounds, or grapeshot Patache—Spanish term for any small consort to a larger ship, or fleet auxiliary Pedrero—Spanish name for a swivel-gun, misspelled many different ways in English Pichelingue—Spanish nickname for a Dutchman, believed derived from a garbling of the name Vlissingen or Flushing Pieces of eight—English name for the silver coin known in Spanish as a peso de ocho reales Pipe—a large and long wooden barrel Piragua—Spanish-American term for a crude type of coastal craft or riverboat Pistole—English nickname for any full-weight Spanish coin, worth more than a pound Plate fleet—convoy sent annually for the King of Spain’s American plata or ‘‘silver’’ Puerto Real—generic Spanish expression meaning ‘‘Port Royal’’, used to designate a major anchorage Punch house—English nickname for a low drinking-establishment Purchase—English euphemism for booty or loot, much used among privateers and pirates Rack—a synonym for wreckage in nautical terminology, as in ‘‘rack and ruin’’

Glossary Round-Robin—pirate practice of signing names in a circle, so that no one would be more prominent Sainte-Barbe or Santa Ba
rbara—French and Spanish expression, respectively, for a powder-room or magazine Salmigondis—a stew or ragout dish Salt Tortuga—English nickname for Tortuga Island, off northern Venezuela ~a—Spanish system of passwords Santo y sen Sargento mayor—senior Spanish military rank, such as second-in-command of a military garrison Sir Cloudesley—nickname for a punch-drink made of small beer and brandy Situados—payrolls and subsidies sent annually from Mexico and Peru to SpanishAmerican garrisons Skull and crossbones—not an expression current during the 17th or early 18th centuries Snow—a distinctive type of two-masted, square-rigged brig, with a supplemental half-mast just behind its mainmast. The name ‘‘snow’’ (originally from the Dutch) Fell into disuse as the eighteenth century progressed, giving way to the common term ‘‘brig.’’ Somers Island—early English name for Bermuda South Sea—original Spanish name for the Pacific Ocean Spanish Main—the stretch of coastline along northern Panama, Colombia, and Venezuela State’s ship—designation for vessels of the Cromwellian Navy States’ ship—designation for vessels of the Dutch States-General Sunday Keeping—Puritan religious observance, meaning to refrain from work on the Sabbath Tenths—percentage due to the English Crown from any privateer captures Tortille—French nickname for Tortuga Island, which lies off northern Venezuela Trepan—slang English expression for a snare or deceptive trap Waggoner—English term for a sea-atlas, a book combining charts and written directions Wild Coast—name of the South American shoreline from the Gulf of Paria, to the Amazon River

855

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exico, 1983. ———. ‘‘Las jurisdicciones de Yucat
an: la creaci
on de la plaza de teniente de Rey en Campeche, a~no de 1744.’’ Boletı´n del Archivo General de la Naci
on [M
exico], Segunda Serie, Vol. VII, No. 3 (Jul
Sep 1966), pp. 549
631. ———. ‘‘Ocupaci
on de la Isla de T
erminos por los ingleses, 1658
1717.’’ Boletı´n del Archivo General de la Naci
on [M
exico], Primera Serie, Vol. XXIV, No. 2 (April
June 1953), pp. 295
330.

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e de g
eographie de Paris [France], Vol. 38 (1923), pp. 57
75. S
aiz Cidoncha, Carlos. Historia de la piraterı´a en Am
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1715. Charleston, SC: Historical Commission, 1916. Sanders, Joanne McRee, editor. Barbados Records: Baptisms, 1637
1800. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publications, 1984. ———. Barbados Records: Baptisms, 1693
1800. Houston, TX: Sanders Historical Publications, 1982. ———. Barbados Records: Marriages, 1693
1800. Houston, TX: Sanders Historical Publications, 1982.
Saugera, Eric. Bordeaux, Port N
egrier: Chronologie, Economie, Id
eologie, XVIIe-XVIIIe si ecles. Paris: Karthala, 1995. Saunders, William L., editor. The Colonial Records of North Carolina, Volumes I
II. Raleigh, NC: State of North Carolina, 1886. Seitz, Don Carlos; Gospel, Howard F.; and Wood, Stephen. Under the Black Flag: Exploits of the Most Notorious Pirates. Mineola, NY: Courier Dover, 2002 reedition. Seliger, William G. Isla El Muerto and the Treasures of the ‘‘Consolaci
on.’’ Author: Ecuador, 2008. Shomette, Donald G. Pirates on the Chesapeake: Being a True History of Pirates, Picaroons, and Raiders on the Chesapeake Bay, 1610
1807. Centreville, MD: Tidewater, 1985. Shomette, Donald G. and Haslach, Robert D. Raid on America: The Dutch Naval Campaign of 1672
1674. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1988. ongora, Carlos de. Infortunios que Alonso Ramı´rez, natural de la ciudad de Sig€ uenza y G
San Juan de Puerto Rico, padeci
o. Reprinted in Obras hist
oricas (Mexico City: Porr
ua, 1960). ———. Relaci
on de lo sucedido a la Armada de Barlovento. Reprinted in Obras hist
oricas (Mexico City: Porr
ua, 1960). ———. Trofeo de la justicia espa~ nola en el castigo de la alevosı´a francesa. Reprinted in Obras hist
oricas (Mexico City: Porr
ua, 1960). Snow, Edward R. Pirates and Buccaneers of the Atlantic Coast. Dublin, NH: Yankee Publishing, 1944. Spencer, J. J., editor. ‘‘Some Dari
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408. Storrs, C. ‘‘Disaster at Dari
en (1698
1700): The Persistence of Spanish Imperial Power on the Eve of the Demise of the Spanish Habsburgs.’’ European History Quarterly 29 (1999), pp. 5
38.

Bibliography Sucre, Luis Alberto. Gobernadores y capitanes generales de Venezuela. Caracas: Litografı´a Tecnocolor, 1964.
Taillemite, Etienne. Dictionnaire des Marins Franc¸ais. Paris: Editions Maritimes et d’Outremer, 1982. Taylor, John. Jamaica in 1687: The Taylor Manuscript at the National Library of Jamaica. Kingston: University of the West Indies Press, The Mill Press, and the National Library of Jamaica, 2008 edition by David Buisseret. Theal, George McCall. History of South Africa under the Administration of the Dutch East India Company (1652 to 1795). London: Swan, Sonnenscheim & Company, 1897, two volumes. Thilmans, Guy. ‘‘La relation de Franc¸ois de Paris, 1682
1683.’’ Bulletin de l’Institut fundamental d’Afrique noire [France] 38, No. 1 (January 1976), pp. 1
51. Account derived from two manuscripts preserved in the Bibliotheque Mejanes d’Aix-en-Provence, of a trans-Atlantic slaving voyage made by the ‘‘Compagnie du S
en
egal’’ ship Conquis under Capt. Charles La Guyole. This vessel departed Dieppe on February 7, 1682, and reached Gor
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19. Wafer, Lionel. A New Voyage and Description of the Isthmus of America. London: Hakluyt Society, 1933. Ward, Eliot D. C. ‘‘Imperial Panama: Commerce and Conflict in Isthmian America, 1550
1750.’’ Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Florida, 1988. Weddle, Robert S. Wilderness Manhunt: The Spanish Search for La Salle. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press, 1973. Weeks, Daniel J. Not for Filthy Lucre’s Sake: Richard Saltar and the Antiproprietary Movement in East New Jersey, 1665
1707. Bethlehem, PA: Lehigh University Press, 2001. Wilkins, H. T. Captain Kidd and His Skeleton Island. London: Cassell’s, 1935. Williams, Gary C. ‘‘William Dampier: Pre-Linnean Explorer, Naturalist, Buccaneer.’’ Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 55, Suppl. II, No. 11 (November 2004), pp. 146
166.

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Bibliography Woodard, Colin. The Republic of Pirates. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008. ———. ‘‘Blackbeard in the Bay Islands.’’ Bay Islands Voice 6, No. 8 (August 2008). Yetter, George H. ‘‘When Blackbeard Scourged the Seas.’’ Colonial Williamsburg Journal 15, No. 1 (Autumn 1992), pp. 22
28. Young, Everild, and Helweg-Larsen, Kjeld. The Pirates’ Priest: The Life of P ere Labat in the West Indies, 1693
1705. London: Jarrolds, 1965. Zahedieh, Nuala. ‘‘‘A Frugal, Prudential and Hopeful Trade’: Privateering in Jamaica, 1655
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168. ———. ‘‘The Merchants of Port Royal, Jamaica, and the Spanish Contraband Trade, 1655
1692.’’ William and Mary Quarterly 43, No. 4 (October 1986), pp. 570
593.

Index

Almiranta, 12, 469
470
Alvarez, Augustı´n, 470
41 Andrade, Alonso Felipe de, 471. See also Ducasse, Jean-Baptiste; early Mexican service, 472; reconquest and defense of the Laguna de T
erminos, 472 Andreis, Bernart, 473 Andreson or Andrieszoon, Cornelis, 12
13 Andrieszoon, Michiel, 473; assault on Campeche, 477
478; Cuban operations, 477; New England visit, 475
476; return to Spanish Main, 476
77; sack of Veracruz, 473
74; victory at Cartagena, 474; violation of Dutch West Indiamen, 474
475 Ansell, John, 13. See also Morgan, Sir Henry Anstis, Thomas, 478, 479. See also Account; Fenn, John; Roberts, Bartholomew Apostles, 13, 483 Archambaud, Capitaine, 14
15. See also Abraham’s Cay; Armadilla; Cooke, John; Coxon, John; Dampier, William; Estr
ees, Jean,

Abraham’s Cay, 1
2. See also Nau, Jean-David; Villebon, Jean Account, 3, 463. See also Modyford, Sir Thomas; Morgan, Sir Henry; Purchase Acosta, Gaspar Mateo de, 464; anti-piratical forays, 464
66; early career, 464; later career, 466 Adam, Captain, 3
4 Adventure (frigate), 666, 793 Advice (HMS), 537 Advice-boat. See Aviso Aernouts, Jurriaen, 4. See also Cincuentena; Delisle, Captain; Le Roux, Anne; Lormel, Captain; naval uniforms, 6; North American campaign, 4
5; West Indian campaign, 5 Aigle (frigate), 490, 635, 773 Alarc
on, Juan de, 7
8. See also Barco Luengo Albemarle (HMS), 590 Alford, Lewis, 8. See also Let-Pass Allen, Captain, 8 Allison, Robert, 8
10, 467
69 Allword, Captain, 11. See also Guardacostas; Lecat, Jelles de; Lynch, Sir Thomas; Morris, John I-1

I-2

Index Comte de; De Graaf, Laurens; Grammont, Sieur de; Rose, Jean; South Sea; Spanish Main; Tristan, Jean; Willems, Jan; Wright, George Armada De Barlovento. See Barlovento, Armada de Armada Del Mar Del Sur. See Mar del Sur, Armada del Armadilla, 15, 483. See also Barreda, Felipe de Arribada, 15
16 Artigue or Artigny, Michel d’, alias ‘‘le Basque,’’ 16. See also Exquemelin, Alexandre-Olivier; Nau, Jean-David; Ogeron, Bertrand d’ Arundel (HMS), 659, 762 Ash, Isle of, 17, 484 Ashworth, Leigh, 485
486. See also Fernando, Francis; Jennings, Henry; Piraguas Asiento, 17
18, 486
487 Assistance (HMS), 41, 205, 216, 246, 263, 338, 398, 509 Assurance (HMS), 719 Astorga, Juan de, 487
488 Auger, John, 488 Augers or Augiers, Chevalier de, 488. See also Beare, John Philip; West Indian forays and, 489
491 Avesilla, Alonso de, 491 Aviso, 18
19, 491
492 Avispa (frigate), 120 Aylett, John, 19; death as a privateer, 22; naval service, 20
21; Spanish captivity, 19
20 Azogue, 22
23, 492 Bab-el-Mandeb, 493 Baldridge, Adam, 494 Bamfield, John, 25 Banda del Norte, 494 Bannister, Joseph, 494
497 Barca, Esteban de la. See La Barca, Esteban de

Barco luengo or longo (frigate), 497, 695 Barlovento, Armada de, 26, 497. See also Azogue; Barlovento, Armada de; Graaf, Laurens de; cruise of 1679
1681, 30
31; cruises (1691
1693), 500; cruise of 1683, 32
33; Dari
en campaign, 502
503; defeat before Santo Domingo, 502; failure at Alacr
an Reef, 33
34; fifth fleet, 500
501; first fleet, 26
29; first Saint-Domingue campaign, 499
500; fourth fleet, 498
499; search for La Salle and other cruises, 498; second fleet, 29
30; second Saint-Domingue campaign, 501; Tampico Foray, 33; third fleet, 31
32 Barnes, William, 34
35 Barreda Villegas, Felipe de, 35; Laguna de T
erminos campaign, 36
37; sack of Campeche (July 1685), 37
39 Barre’s Tavern, 39, 503 Basque, Michel Le. See Artigue, Michel d’ Battle of Alacr
an Reef, 107
8 Battle of Cartagena, 102
3 Battle off Block Island, 683
86 Battle off Tarpaulin Cove, 740
41 Battle of the Bar of Maracaibo, 259
62 Battle of Tobago, 46
47, 341
42 Battle with the Biscayans, 109 Beare, John Philip, 504; English service, 504
505; French Service, 506
507; Spanish service, 505
506 Beauregard, Charles Franc¸ois Le Vasseur de, 39 Becquel, Captain, 39 Beef Island, 39, 507; Mexico, 39
40, 507
8; Virgin Islands, 40, 508

Index Beeston, Sir William, 40, 508; career, 42, 510; pirate hunting, 41
42, 509
10 Bellamy, Samuel, 511; cruise (1716
1717), 511
516; shipwreck and death, 516 Ben Franklin’s ode on piracy, 525 Bennett, John, 43 Bernanos, Jean, Sieur de, 517; death, 518
19; flibustier commander, 517; planter and militia officer, 517
18 Bernard, Antoine, 519
20 Bernardson, Albert, 43
44 Berwick (HMS), 630 Bigot. See Vigot, Guillaume Bilbo or bilboes, 44, 520 Billiards, 45, 521 Billop, Christopher, 521
22 Binckes, Jacob, 45; first Battle of Tobago, 46
47; first Caribbean campaign, 45
46; second Battle of Tobago, 47; second Caribbean campaign, 46 Biscayan privateers, 522
24 Blackbeard. See Thatch, Edward; at bath, 796; lost flagship, 791; nocturnal encounter with (1718), 841
43 Blackburne, Lancelot, 47
48 Black flag, 513 Blanco, Augustı´n, 524
26 Bl
enac, Charles de Courbon, Seigneur de Romegoux, Comte de, 48
49, 526
27 Blood-red flag, 345 Blot, Capitaine, 49. See also Bernanos, Jean, Sieur de; Br
eha, Pierre; De Graaf, Laurens; Grammont, Sieur de; Pouanc¸ay, Jacques Nepveu, Sieur de; Willems, Jan Blue officers, 527 Blunden, Robert, 50 Bond, George, 50
51

Bonetta (frigate), 715 Bonidel, Capitaine, 51 Bonito (HMS), 470, 732 Bonnet, Stede, 527; Blackbeard’s subordinate, 529; capture (1718), 531
32; escape, trial, and execution, 532
33; initial cruise, 528
29; last independent command, 529
31 Boone, John, 533
34 Bot or Botte, Pierre, 535
36 Bourillon, Franc¸ois, 52 Bouton, Jacques Cl
ement, 536 Boyne (HMS), 630 Bradish, Joseph, 536
37 Bradley, Joseph, 52. See also Gerritszoon, Gerrit; Lecat, Jelles de; Mansfield, Edward; Morgan, Sir Henry; charges assault (1671), 53
54; as privateer, 52 Brand, Bartel, 54. See also Flute; Modyford, Sir Thomas; Ogeron, Bertrand d’; early life of, 54
55; West Indian sweep and, 55
56 Brandenburg privateers, 57
58 Branly, Captain, 537 Brasiliano, Rok. See Gerritszoon, Gerrit Brauns, Koen de, 59. See also Modyford, Sir Thomas; Morgan, Sir Henry Br
eha, Pierre, 59; Cuban blockade, 60
61; complaint at Petit-Go^ave, 61
62; Saint Augustine raid, 60; salvage operations (1679
1682), 59
60 Breholt, John, 537
539. See also Beef Island; Kidd, William Brenningham. See Brimacain, George Bridget (frigate), 114 Brigaut, Nicolas, 539
41 Brimacain, George, 62
63. See also Bull, John; Fackman, Jacob; Mitchell, Abraham; Modyford, Sir Thomas; Myngs, Sir Christopher; Purdue, John; Searle,

I-3

I-4

Index Robert; Windsor, Thomas, Lord.; privateering commission and, 419
22; privateer turned planter, 63 Brooks, John, 541 Broome, John, 542
43 Browne, James, 64 Buckingham, Captain, 64
65 Buen Jes
us de las Almas (frigate), 362 Bull, John, 65
66. See also Brimacain, George; Fackman, Jacob; Mitchell, Abraham; Myngs, Sir Christopher; Purdue, John; Searle, Robert; Windsor, Thomas, Lord Burke, Thomas, 543
44 Caballero, Andr
es, 67
68; career of, 67; as pirate encounter, 68 Cachemar
ee. See Grogniet, Franc¸ois Cagaway, 68 Callao, 545
46 Campeche, sack of (July 1685), 37
39, 105
7, 159
61, 229
30, 281
82, 366
67 Campos y Espinosa, Alonso de, 69
70 Caper. See Kaper Capitana, 70 Careen, 70
71, 546
548. See also Bannister, Joseph Carlile, Charles, 71
72 Cassava, 72
73 Casten, Captain, 73 Castro, Pedro de, 73; initial captures, 73
75; search for La Salle, 75 Centurion (HMS), 229, 252, 372, 404, 408, 423, 424 Charles (frigate), 399 Charles II (frigate), 590 Charte-partie or ‘‘charter party,’’ 76, 548. See also Purchase Chester (HMS), 600, 671 Chivers, Dirck, 548 Cincuentena, 76 Clarke, Robert, 76
77

Claverie, Charles de La. See La Claverie, Charles de Clipped money or clippings, 549 ‘‘Clostree,’’ Capitaine, 77 Cloudesley, Sir, 765
66 Cobham, Nathaniel, 77
78 Cocket, 78
79, 549
50. See also Cagway; Morris, John Coffin, Captain, 79 Commission port, 550 Cooke, Edmond, 79; Pacific campaign, 81
82; Portobelo attack, 80
81 Cooke, John, 82
83 Cooper, Captain, 83 C
ordoba y Z
u~niga, Luis Bartolom
e de, 83
85 Corneliszoon, Jan, 85 Corsair, 85 Corso, Juan, 85
89 Coward, William, 550
51 Coxon, John, 89; capture of Santa Marta, 89
90; cruises of 1680
1682, 92
93; Indigo seizure, 90; Jamaican service (1682
1683), 93
94; Pacific incursion, 91
92; Portobelo campaign, 90
91; Renegade (1683
1688), 94 Crab Island, 95, 551
52 Crane, William, 95 Crijnssen, Abraham, 96 Cusack, George, 96 Cussy, Pierre-Paul Tarin, Sieur de; early life of, 552; restraint of flibustiers, 553
54 Dampier, William, 555
57 Darien Colony, 557
58 Darien expedition, 10
11, 469 Dark Wanderer (frigate), 505 Dartmouth (HMS), 504 Daudorus, 558 Dauphin (frigate), 16 Dauphine (ketch), 738 Davis, Captain, 97

Index Davis, Edward, 558; Pacific command, 559
61; as pirate, 558 Davy, Capitaine, 561
63 Dead Man’s Island. See Isla del Muerto Deane, John, 97
98 Dedenon, Capitaine, 98 Defiance (HMS), 632 De Graaf, Laurens Cornelis Boudewijn, 98
100; Battle of Alacr
an Reef, 107
8; Battle of Cartagena, 102
3; Battle with the Biscayans, 109; Blas Miguel’s Counter-raid, 109; capture of the ‘‘Situados,’’ 100
101; Cartagena shipwreck, 108
9; cruise to the Spanish Main, 104
5; defeat on Saint-Domingue, 113; disaster at La Limonade, 111
12; emigration to Louisiana, 113
14; engagement off the Caymans, 111; failed Santiago de Cuba Venture, 102; first English overture, 102; ^Ile
a Vache Stronghold, 109
10; Jamaican blockade, 111; Jamaican raid, 112
13; sack of Campeche, 105
7; sack of Veracruz, 101; second English overture, 103
4 treasure-hunting expedition, 110
11; Valladolid raid, 108 Delacourt, Zachariah, 114 Delander, Robert, 114 Delbourg, Jean, 563 Delisle, Capitaine, 114
16. See also Adam, Captain; Cincuentena; Le Roux, Anne; Lormel, Captain Dempster, Edward, 116 Deptford (ketch), 520 Desenne, Jacques, 116
17. See also D’Oyley, Edward; Engag
e Dessaudrays, Capitaine, 563 Devereux, John, 563
64 Dew, George, 564; Bermudan privateer, 568; failed Red Sea venture, 570; ‘‘Hurly-Burly’’ off New England,

568
70; last African attempt and demise, 570
71; Pacific raider, 564
65; sack of Guayaquil, 565
68 Dey, Dennis, 117 Diamond (HMS), 44, 191, 383, 406, 793 Dockyer, Richard, 118 Dogger, 118 Dolphin (ship), 10 Dotson, Thomas, 118
19 Doubloon, 119, 571
72. See also Clipped Money; Ducat; Piece-of-Eight; Pistole D’Oyley, Edward, 119
20 Drake (HMS), 111, 496, 505, 607, 831 Dry gripes, 121 Dry Tortugas, 121 Dublin (frigate), 640 Ducasse, Jean-Baptiste, 572; Anglo-Spanish counterattack, 575
76; capture of Fort Charles, 572
73; career, 578; Cartagena campaign, 576
78; Guadeloupe operation, 573
74; Jamaican campaign, 574
75 Ducat, 121
22 Duchesne, Capitaine, 121 Duchess (HMS), 666 Ducking, 122 Duglas, Jean, 122
24 Duhamel, Capitaine, 580 Duke (frigate), 701 Dumbarton (HMS), 560 Dumesnil, Sieur, 580 Eagle (HMS), 631 Earring, 125 Eaton, John, 125
26 Edmunds, John, 126
27. See also Morgan, Sir Henry; Vaughan, John, Lord Elizabeth (HMS), 96 Elliott, Stephen, 581
82

I-5

I-6

Index Enfants perdus, 582
83. See also Dew, George; Forlorn; Grogniet, Franc¸ois; Picard, Capitaine Le Engag
e, 127 England, Edward, 583. See also La Buze, Louis; Indian Ocean foray, defeat and death, 586
87; initial African and Antillean sweeps, 583
85; renewed West African depredations, 585
86 England’s ‘‘Glorious Revolution’’ of 1688, 742 Essex, Cornelius, 127
29 Essex Prize (HMS), 658 Estr
ees, Jean, Comte and later Duc d’, 129; early career, 129; first Battle of Tobago, 130; later career, 132; naval service, 129
30; second Battle of Tobago, 131; shipwreck on Aves Islands, 131 Evertsen, Jacob, 134
35, 588; Honduran attack, 589; Jamaican overture, 588
89 Evertsen de Jongste or ‘‘the Youngest,’’ Cornelis, alias ‘‘Kees the Devil,’’ 132; later career, 134; West Indian campaign, 133
34 Every, Henry, 589
91 Expectation (ship), 2 Exquemelin, Alexandre Olivier, 135
36, 591
92 Fackman, Jacob, 137; Central American campaign, 138
39; Mexican raid, 137
38 Falcon (HMS), 122, 496, 574, 582, 588, 732, 829 Fenn, John, 593
96. See also Account; Anstis, Thomas; Roberts, Bartholomew ´ Fermın de Huidobro, Juan, 139
40. See also Hadsell, Charles; Maintenon, Charles-Franc¸ois d’Angennes, Marquis de Fernando, Francis, 597
98

Fernando, Luis, 598 Filibuster, 140
41 FitzGerald, Philip, 141
42 Flag of truce, 598
99 Flamborough (HMS), 726 Flip, 599 Flota, 142 Flute, 142
43, 600
601. See also Blue Officers; Labat, Jean-Baptiste Flying gang, 601
2 Forban, 143, 602. See also Willems, Jan Ford, Anthony, 602
3 Foresight (HMS), 21, 217, 264, 390, 720, 735, 768 Forlorn, 143 Fortune (frigate), 62, 63, 420, 421 Fortuyn (frigate), 340 Francis (HMS), 71, 172 Francis, Captain, 144 Franco, Capitaine, 603
4 Freebooter, 144 Gaillarde (frigate), 489 Gaines, Hugh, 605
6 Galeones, 145
46 Galesio, Francisco, 146 Gallion, Captain, 147 Garcı´a Gal
an, Francisco, 145 Gerritszoon, Gerrit, alias ‘‘Rock Brasiliano,’’ 147; Gulf of Mexico campaign, 149
150; Panama campaign, 150
51; rise to Captain, 147
48; St. Eustatius campaign, 148
149 Gibbons, Edward, letter-of-reprisal to, 417
18 Gobernador de tercio, 151 Gobierno, 151 Goffe, Christopher, 606
7 Golden Island, 607
8 Gonz
alez de Perales, Juan, 152 Good Intent (frigate), 7, 212, 723 Goodson, William, 152
53 Goody, Captain, 154

Index Graham, Captain, 154. See also Veale, Captain Grammont, ‘‘Chevalier’’ or Sieur de, 154; Cuban blockade, 157
58; La Guaira raid, 156
57; Maracaibo campaign, 155
56; sack of Campeche, 159
161; sack of Veracruz, 158
59; Saint Augustine raid, 161 Gregge, Thomas, 162 Grenade, 162, 608 Greyhound (HMS), 692 Griffin (frigate), 148, 371, 375, 408 Griffin, John, 609 Griffin, Thomas, 609. See also Commission Port; Dew, George; Goffe, Christopher; Kidd, William; early life of, 609; depredations off New England, 610
11 Griffith (frigate), 423, 424 Grillo, Diego, 162
63 Grogniet, Franc¸ois, alias ‘‘Cachemar
ee,’’ 612; death at Guayaquil, 615
617; penetration into Pacific, 613
15 Grubing, Nathaniel, 617
19. See also Beeston, Sir William; Ducasse, Jean-Baptiste; Elliott, Stephen Guardacostas, 163
64, 619
20. See also Pieces-of-Eight; Pistole Guayaquil; sack of, 565
68, 680
83; relocation of, 649 Guernsey (HMS), 170, 377, 504, 581 Guinea (frigate), 402 Guittard, Louis, 621
25. See also Partridge; Salt Tortuga Guy, Richard, 164. See also Brimacain, George; Harmenson, John; Cagway; D’Oyley, Edward; James, William; Lecat, Jelles de; Let-Pass; Maroon; Modyford, Sir Thomas; Pieces-of- Eight; Reyning, Jan Erasmus; Windsor,

Lord Thomas; later career, 166; profit as a privateer, 164
66 Hadsell, Charles, 167; raider and smuggler, 168; Spanish captivity and escape, 167
168 Half-Way Tree, 627 Hall, Jacob, 168
69 Hamilton, Lord Archibald, 627. See also Ducasse, Jean-Baptiste; Fernando, Francis; Jennings, Henry; Governor of Jamaica, 632
34; later career, 634; naval career, 628
31; political beginnings, 631
32 Hamlin, Jean Vo, 169; first cruise, 169
72; second cruise, 172
73 Hamlyn or Hamlin, William, 173
74 Hampton Court (HMS), 631 Handley, Thomas, 174 Hardue or Herdue, Captain, 174 Harismendy, Louis de, 635. See also Blue Officers; Holman, William; Phips, Sir William; Subigaray ‘‘Chipi,’’ Joannes de; disappointment at Newfoundland, 636
38; Spitsbergen Foray, 636 Harmenson, John, 174
75 Harris, Peter (1671
1680), 175; Pacific incursion, 176
77; as privateer, 175 Harris, Peter (fl. 1684
1686), 177
79 Harris, Thomas, 179
80 Hawkins, Captain, 180 Hawkins, Thomas, 638 Hector (HMS), 481, 595 Henley, Thomas, 180 Henry (HMS), 133, 546 Hewetson, Thomas, 638
39 Heyman’s forgotten grave, 623 Hicks, Gaspar, 639
40. See also Kidd, William Hispaniola, 181 Hoar or Hore, John, 640
42 Hoces, Esteban de, 181

I-7

I-8

Index Holman, William, 642. See also Harismendy, Louis de; L of Marque; Suvigaray ‘‘Chipi,’’ Joannes de Holmes, Sir Robert, 642
44 Honh
on (frigate), 536 Hornigold, Benjamin, 644; loyal privateer, 648
50; piratical acts, 644
47 Hout, George, 656 Howard, Thomas, 650
51. See also James, John Huidobro, Mateo Alonso de, 181; cruises (1668
1669), 182; defeat off Maracaibo, 182
83; Laguna de T
erminos campaign, 183
84; pirate raid, 184 Hunter (HMS), 6, 127, 349, 494 Hyne, Captain, 652
53 Inch of candle, 187 Indigo, 187
88 Interloper, 655 Ireland, John, 656 Isla del Muerto, 656. See also Barlovento, Armada de; De Graffe, Laurens Grogniet, Franc¸ois; Hout, George; Lussan, Ravenau de Island of Margarita, 432
33 Jacobs, Captain, 657 Jamaica, resolution of the council of, 425
26 James (frigate), 504 James, John, 658
59. See also Howard, Thomas; Kidd, William James, William, 189
90 James II, privateering commission issued by, 835
36 Janszoon, Pieter, 190 Jean Charpin’s charter-party, 547 Jennings, Henry, 660
61 Jersey (HMS), 562, 643, 730 Johnson, George, 190

Johnson, Peter. 190
91 Jolly Roger, 661 Judgment Cliff, 661. See also Lecat, Jelles de Kaper, 193
94 Keelhauling, 194 Kelley, James, 663 Kidd, William, 663
68. See also Dew, George; Mayes, William; Paine, Thomas; Tew, Thomas Kilduijvel, 194
95 Knight, William, 668 Laars, 197 La Barca, Esteban de, 669; first cruise (1722), 669
70; second sweep (1723), 670; third assault (1724), 670 Labat, Jean-Baptiste, 670. See also Flute; Roche, George; Antillean observer, 671
72; trans-Atlantic crossing, 671 La Buze, Louis, 672; consort with Hornigold (1716), 672
73; later depredation (1719), 673 La Claverie, Charles de, 673
74 La Garde, Pierre. See Alarc
on, Juan de Laguna de T
erminos, 198
99 Langford, Abraham, 199
200 Laques or Jacques, Captain, 197
98 Larco, Juan de, 201 Lartigue, 674 Launceston (HMS), 693 Laurens, Pieter, 674. See also Commission port; Queen Anne’s war and, 675
76 Layseca y Alvarado, Antonio de, conde de la Laguna de T
erminos, 201; Campeche assault, 202
3; Maracaibo campaign, 202; Spanish counteroffensive, 203
4 League, 677

Index Le Basque, Michel. SeeArtigue, Michel d’ Lecat, Jelles de, 204; Laguna de T
erminos campaign, 204
5; sack of Panama, 205; Spanish service, 205
6 L
eg
ere (frigate), 772 Le Moign, Bernard, 206 Le Moyne d’Iberville, Pierre, 677 Lenham, George, 677
78 L
eog
ane, 678
79 LePain or Pain, Pierre, 206
7 Lepene, Jacques, 207 Le Picard, Capitaine, 679. See also Paine, Thomas; Battle off Block Island, 683
86; Pacific penetration, 680; sack of Guayaquil, 680
83 Le Roux, Anne, 207
8. See also Adam, Captain; Cincuentena; Delisle, Capitaine; Lormel, Capitaine; Tortuga Leroux or Le Roux, Jean, 686
87 Le Sage, Franc¸ois, 208
9 Lescuyer, Jean, 209 Le Serf, Jean, 687 Lessone, Capitaine, 210 Let-pass, 210, 211. See also Allison, Robert; Coxon, John; Essex, Cornelius; Guardacostas; Guy, Richard; James, William; Magott, Thomas; Mansfield, Edward; Oxe, Robert; Sharpe, Bartholomew Letter of marquee, 211; description, 687
88; and reprisal issued to Dampier (1702), 840
41 Letter of reprisal, 211
12 Lewis, John, 688
89. See also Hamilton, Lord Archibald Light money, 212 Lilburne, Robert, 212
13 Lilly (frigate), 259 Lilly, Thomas, 689 Lisle or Lyle, Captain, 689

Litchfield (HMS), 630 Little Betty’s let-pass, 211 Logwood or dyewood, 213 Lord Windsor’s instructions to commodore Myngs, 422
25 Lormel, Capitaine, 213
14. See also Adam, Captain; Cincuentena; Delisle, Capitaine; Le Roux, Anne; Tortuga Loverell, Captain, 689
90 Low, Edward or ‘‘Ned.’’ See also Careen; Moidore; Sunday Keeping; Wild Coast; early life of, 690; piratical career, 690
92 Lucas, Jan, 214
15 Luque, Mateo, 693. See also Guardacostas Lussan, Ravenau de, 693; later career, 695
96; Pacific campaign (1685
1688), 694
95 Lyme (HMS), 794, 797 Lynch, Sir Thomas, 215; first term (1671
1675), 216
18; second term (1682
1684), 218
19 Machado, Juan. See P
erez Machado, Juan Madagascar, 697
98 Magott, Thomas, 221
23 Maidstone (HMS), 582 Maintenon, Charles Franc¸ois d’Angennes, Marquis de, 223; career and death of, 225
26; Flibustier Chieftain, 223
25 Mal de Siam, 698 Maldonado de Aldana, Antonio, 226; Morris and Morgan’s raid, 227
28; Myngs’ and Mansfield’s raid, 226
27 Malherbe, Abraham, 228 Mansfield, Edward, 228; capture of Providencia Island, 231
32; Cartago campaign, 231; mysterious demise, 260;

I-9

I-10

Index sack of Campeche, 229
30; Sancti Spritus raid, 230 Manso de Contreras Rodrı´guez de Mendoza, Andr
es, 232 Mar del Sur, Armada del, 233, 699. See also Almiranta; Armadilla; Capitana; Grogniet, Franc¸ois; Dew, George; Le Picard, Pierre; Patache; South Sea; emerging of the Peruvian privateers, 699
701; first major incursions, 234
36; French alliance, 701
2; rebuilt fleet, 701; standing fleet, 233
34 Markham, John, 236
37 Marmaduke (HMS), 244, 249 Maroon, 702
3. See also Spanish Main Maroon Islands, 704 Marquesa (frigate), 27 Marston Moor (frigate), 120, 406 Martel, James, 704
6 Martien, David, 237; Central American campaign, 238
40; French service, 240; later career, 240
41; Mexican raid, 237
38 Martı´n, Alonso, 241 Martin, Christopher, 241
42 Martı´nez Freire, Antonio, 242. See also Arribada Mary (HMS), 628
29 Mary Rose (HMS), 320 Matross, 242
43, 706 Mayes, William, 707
8. See also Kidd, William; Tew, Thomas Mayflower (frigate), 52, 53, 177 Michele, Biagio, 709. See also Biscayan Privateers; Corso, Juan; De Graaf, Laurens; Guardacostas; Michele, Giovanni; Piragua; Cuban patrols, 709
10; Petit-Go^ave raid, 710
11 Miguel, Blas. See Michele, Biagio Milford (HMS), 725, 808 Mitchell, Abraham, 243. See also Brimacain, George; Bull, John; Fackman, Jacob; Myngs, Sir

Christopher; Purdue, John; Searle, Robert; Windsor, Thomas, Lord Mock pirate-trial on Cuba by Anstis (1722), 843
44 Modyford, Sir Thomas, 244; Governor of Jamaica, 244
46; later career, 247 Moidore, 711
12  Montauban or Montauband, Etienne de, 712; Antillean sweep, 712; African misadventure, 712
13 Moreau, Jean, 247
48 Moreno Mondrag
on, Blas, 713; defeat off Hispaniola and later career, 714; destruction of Nassau, 713
14 Morgan, Edward, 248
51. See also Gerritszoon, Gerrit; Modyford, Sir Thomas; Morgan, Sir Henry; Williams, Maurice Morgan, Sir Henry, 251; arrest, 263
64; Battle of the Bar of Maracaibo, 259
62; Central American campaign, 254
55; hostilities against Spaniards in Americas, 428
31; Lieutenant Governor, 264; Maracaibo raid, 259; Oxford explosion, 258
59; Portobelo raid, 256
58; Puerto del Prı´ncipe raid, 255
56; reconquest of Providencia Island, 262; sack of Panama, 262
63; Santiago de Cuba raid, 252
53; Tabasco raid, 254 Morgan’s fleet, 431
32 Morpain, Pierre, 714
15 Morris, John, 264; Central American campaign, 266
67; death of Rivero Pardal, 268; later career, 268; Mexican raid, 265
66; Morgan’s Lieutenant, 267
68 Morro, 715
16 Moseley or Maudsley, Samuel, 269 Mosquito Coast, 269 Mum, 269
70

Index Mu~ noz Gadea, Juan, 270. See also Estr
ees, Jean, Comte d’; Fermı´n de Huidobro, Juan; Maintenon, Marquis de; brushes with pirates, 270
71; as Governor of Margarita, 271
72 Munro, Captain, 272 Murphy Fitzgerald, John, 273
74 Murphy, John, 274
75 Musson, Matthew, 716
18 Myngs, Sir Christopher, 275. See also; Cagway; D’Oyley, Edward; Goodson, William; James, William; Maldonado de Aldana, Antonio; Mansfield, Edward; Morris, John; Prins, Laurens; Searle, Robert; Spanish Main; Whetstone, Sir Thomas; Windsor, Thomas, Lord; defense of Jamaica and early seaborne campaigns, 276
77; destruction of Santiago de Cuba, 278
81; later career, 282
83; sack of Campeche, 281
82; second descent against the Spanish main, 277
78

Nonsuch (HMS), 674 Noordhollandt (frigate), 45, 720 Norman, Richard, 292
93 Norton, Benjamin, 727
28 Norwich (HMS), 99, 135 Nuestra Se~ nora de la Concepci
on de Ibiza(frigate), 471 Nuestra Se~ nora de la Soledad (frigate), 182, 289, 472 Nuestra Se~ nora de la Soledad y San Antonio, 37, 106, 160 Nuestra Se~ nora del Honh
on (frigate), 107 Nuestra Se~ nora de los Remedios (frigate), 27, 69, 182

Narborough, Sir John, 719
21. See also Myngs, Sir Christopher; Phips, Sir William; South Sea Nau, Jean-David, alias ‘‘Capitaine Franc¸ois’’ or ‘‘Franc¸ois l’Olonnais,’’ 285; Central American campaign, 287
88; death, 288; sack of Maracaibo, 286
87 Navarro, Baltasar, 289
91 Neville, Edward, 291
92 New Providence (Nassau), 721; creation of ‘‘Nassau,’’ 723
25; crown capital, 725
26; early struggle as ‘‘Charles Town,’’ 721
23 Nichols, Bernard, 292 Noland, Richard, 726
27

Paine, Thomas, 301. See also Armadilla; Barlovento, Armada de; Careen; Coxon, John; Estr
ees, Jean, duc d’; Grammont, Chevalier de; Maintenon, Charles Franc¸ois d’Angennes, Marquis de; Morgan, Sir Henry; Nau, Jean-David; Ogeron, Bertrand d’; Phips, Sir William; Purchase; Willems, Jan; Wright, George; Battle Off Block Island, 306
7; Captain Kidd’s confederate, 307
9; English service, 304
5; French service, 302
4; later career, 309
10; return to Rhode Island, 305
6 Panama city; relocation of, 311; sack of, 205, 262
63, 338

Ogeron, Bertrand d’, Sieur de La Bou
ere; disaster at Puerto Rico, 296
98; early life of, 295 Onslow (frigate), 754 Orange, Pierre d’, 298
99 Otto van Tuyl, 813, 815 Outlaw, John, 299
300 Oxe, Robert, 300 Oxford (HMS), 52, 246; disaster aboard, 426
28; explosion, 258
59

I-11

I-12

Index Para, 310 Partridge, 729
30 Patache, 310, 730
31. See also Ducasse, Jean-Baptiste; Galeones; Hamilton, Lord Archibald; Plate fleet Patarata (frigate), 228 Pearl (HMS), 797 Pednau, Jacques, 310 Pedrero, 310
12 Pennon, Capitaine, 312 P
erez de Guzm
an y Gonzaga, Juan, 312
14 P
erez Machado, Juan, 731. See also Blanco, Augustı´n; La Barca, Esteban de Petersen, Jon, 315
16 Petit, Capitaine, 316. See also Bernanos, Jean; Lynch, Sir Thomas; Spanish Main. Phips, Sir William, 732; Acadian expedition, 736; Bahamian expedition, 733
35; later career, 737
38; Narborough’s expedition, 735
36; at Port Royal, 734; Quebec campaign, 736
37; treasure expedition, 735 Phoenix (HMS), 401, 806 Picard, Capitaine Le. See Le Picard, Capitaine Pichelingu, 317 Pieces of eight, 317 Pignier, Captain, 317
18 Pillet, Franc¸ois, 738 Piragua, 318 Pistole, 319, 738
39 Plate fleet, 319
20 Poincy, Philippe Lonvilliers de, 320 Pollet, Diego, 739
40 Pons, Jean, 320
21 Portland (HMS), 21, 42, 509
10 Port Royal, 322; earthquake, 782
83; erection at Cagway, 322
23; Phips at, 734; transformations and, 323
24

Pouanc¸ay, Jacques Nepveu, Sieur de, 324
26 Pound, Thomas, 740; Battle off Tarpaulin Cove, 740
41; later career, 741 Powell, Henry, 326
27 Presbyter (frigate), 33, 237 Prince (HMS), 720 Princesa (frigate), 100, 363 Prins, Laurens, 327; Bonaire raid, 327; Panama campaign, 329
30; Spanish Main and Nicaragua raids, 327
29 Providence (ketch), 19 Puerto del Prı´ncipe, 329. See also Brimacain, George; Bull, John; Fackman, Jacob; Mitchell, Abraham; Myngs, Sir Christopher; Searle, Robert; Windsor, Thomas, Lord; Grammont’s raid, 330; Morgan’s raid, 330 Puerto Real, 330
31 Punch house, 331 Purchase, 332 Purdue (frigate), 332 Purdue, John, 332
33 Quaker (ketch), 521 Rack, 743 Rackham, John, alias ‘‘Calico Jack,’’ 743
44. See also Vane, Charles Ransacking on High Seas at New low’s pirates, 845 Reijniersen, Claes, 335 Reine des Anges (frigate), 805 Reiner, George, 744
45 Relief (frigate), 116 Resolution (frigate), 174 Reyes, Andr
es de los, 335
36 Reyning, Jan Erasmus, 336; arrival in the New World, 337; Binckes’ campaign, 340; death, 343; first Battle of Tobago, 341; hostilities

Index with France, 339
40; Laguna de T
erminos campaign, 337
38; sack of Panama, 338; second Battle of Tobago, 341
42; slaving voyage, 342; Spanish service, 338
39; surrender at Grenada, 340 Richier, Isaac, 746. See also Dew, George; Tew, Thomas Richmond (HMS), 665 Risby, James, 343
44. See also Beef Island; Careen; Coxon, John; D’Oyley, Edward; Lecat, Jelles de; Logwood; Lynch, Sir Thomas Roberts, Bartholomew, 746. See Moidore; Caribbean rampage, 751
54; leaving Robert’s service, 749; North American foray, 751; second West African sweep, 754
56; slaver to pirate, 747
51 Roche, George, 756; emigration to Pennsylvania, 758
59; pirate covenant, 757 Rose (HMS), 725, 740 Royal Prince (HMS), 555 Royal proclamation as flags flown by English privateering vessels, 839
40 Ruby (HMS), 42, 61, 103, 121, 319, 378, 495, 510, 608, 826, 828 Rupert (HMS), 589 Ruyter, Jan Barendszoon, 344
46. See also States’ Ship The Sack of Veracruz, account of, 433
35 Sainte-Barbe or Santa B
arbara, 761 Saint-Franc¸ois (frigate), 59 Salisbury (ketch), 12 Salisbury (HMS), 730 Salmigondis, 761
62 Salter, Thomas, 347 Salt Tortuga, 347
48, 762
63. See also Dew, George; Tew, Thomas Sample, Robert, 763
64. See also England, Edward

S
anchez Xim
enez, Jos
e, 348 San Jos
e y San Diego (frigate), 506 San Luis (frigate), 27, 182 San Miguel (frigate), 701 Santo Cristo de San Rom
an (frigate), 30, 73 Santo y se~na, 764 Sargento mayor, 764 Sawkins, Richard, 348; Coxon’s incursion and, 348; Pacific incursion, 349
50 Scarborough (frigate), 705 Scott, Lewis, 351 Scroope or Scroop, Robert, 764
65 Seaford (HMS), 792 Seahorse (HMS), 763 Searle, Robert, 351. See also Brimacain, George; Bull, John; Fackman, Jacob; Mitchell, Abraham; Modyford, Sir Thomas; Myngs, Sir Christopher; Purdue, John; Spanish Main; Windsor, Thomas, Lord; detention and vindication, 352
53; initial cruises, 351
52; St. Augustine raid, 353
56 Seegar, Edward, 765 ‘‘Senolve, Captain,’’ 357 Sergeant, Benjamin, 357. See also Letter of Reprisal; Modyford, Sir Thomas Sharpe, Bartholomew, 357; Pacific incursion of, 358
60; subsequent career, 360 Sheerness (HMS), 630, 763 Shirley, Thomas, 765 Shoreham (HMS), 598, 623, 655, 671, 716 Sibata, Kempo, 360
62 Sibylle (frigate), 223 Sint Suzanna (frigate), 345 Situado, 362
63 Skull and crossbones, 766 Skutt, Benjamin, 766
67 Smith, Samuel, 363

I-13

I-14

Index Socarras y Ag€ uero, Benito, 767 Somers Island, 363
64 Sorci
ere (frigate), 224 South Sea, 767 Spain’s ‘‘Cross of Burgundy’’ flag, 579 Spanish Main, 364, 767
68 Spanish Privateering Commissions; instructions issued to Brimacain, 419
22; suspension of, 418
19 Speedwell (HMS), 537, 743 Speirdyke, Bernard Claesen, 364
65 Spurre, George, 365; sack of Campeche, 366
67; sack of Veracruz, 367
68 Stanley, George, 368 Starr, John, 368 State’s or States’ ships, 369 Steadman, Captain, 369 Stepney, Robert, 369
70 Strong, John, 768; Barbados, 770; Narborough’s expedition, 768
69; Phip’s expedition, 768; South Sea expedition, 769
70; Spanish shipping expedition, 770
71 Subigaray ‘‘Chipi’’ (i.e., Junior), Joannes de, 771. See also Blue Officers; Holman, William; death at Newfoundland, 774
76; naval appointment, 773; privateering flair, 771
73; Spitsbergen raid, 773
74 Success (HMS), 175, 348 Sunday Keeping, 776 Swallow (HMS), 754, 762 Swan (HMS), 111 Swan, Charles, 776
79 Swart, Adriaen van Diemen, 370; Jamaican service, 372
74; Royalist privateer, 370
72; shipwreck and death, 374
75 Swayne, Peter, 375 Sweepstakes (HMS), 218

Taverns, 781 Teach, Edward. See Thatch, Edward Temp^ete (frigate), 572 Tennant, Matthew, 377
78 Tenths, 378
79, 781
83 Tew, Thomas, 784; covenant with his crew, 836
39; first Red sea expedition, 784
86; second Red sea expedition, 786
87 Thatch, Edward, alias ‘‘Blackbeard,’’ 787
88. See also Asiento; Barlovento, Armada de; Bellamy, Samuel; Hornigold, Benjamin; Jennings, Henry; Situado; Belize and Charleston, 793
94; death, 797
98; retirement in North Carolina, 794
97; sweep up the Atlantic Seaboard, 789
90; West Indian rampage, 790
93 Thurston, Humphrey, 379
80 Tiger Prize (HMS), 630 Toccard, Capitaine, 799 Toccard, Jean, 380
82 Tortille, 382, 799. See also Salt Tortuga Towers, Captain, 382 Townley, Francis, 799
801 Trepan, 382
83, 801 Trinitaire (frigate), 49 Tristan, Jean, 801
3 Trompeuse (frigate), 169, 170, 190, 305, 377 Tryer, Matthew, 803 Turtle, 383
84 Unicorn (ship), 10 Valentin, Pierre, 805 Van De Veld, Andries, 385 Vane, Charles, 805. See also Careen; Jennings, Henry; Piragua; Rackham, John; Thatch, Edward; defiance, 806
11; misfortunes, 811
12; visit with Blackbeard, 811 Van Hoorn, Nikolaas, 385
89

Index Van Klijn, Mozes, 389
90 Van Tuyl, Otto Janszoon, 813. See also Hoar, John; Kidd, William; early life of, 813; Indian Ocean adventures, 813
16 Vaughan, John, 390; as governor of Jamaica, 391
92; later career of, 392 Veale, Captain, 392
93 Ventura Sarra, Juan, 393 Veracruz, sack of, 107, 158
59, 367
68, 473
74 Vercoue, Capitaine, 816 Vertpr
e or Vespre, Capitaine, 393 Victory (HMS), 282 Vigneron, Capitaine, 816
17. See also Bernanos, Jean; Michele, Biagio Vigot, 393 Villebon, Jean, 393
94. See also Abraham’s Cay; Engag
e; Morgan, Sir Henry; Nau, Jean-David; Ogeron, Bertrand d’; piraguas Vliegende Postpaard (frigate), 4 Vonck, Maerten Jansse, 394
95 Wade (frigate), 584, 673 Wade, Captain, 397 Wafer, Lionel, 819
21 Waggoner, 397 Wanton, William, 821
22 Waters, Samson, 398 Weatherbourne, Francis, 398 Weatherhill, James, 822 Welcome (HMS), 263, 398, 509 Wentworth, John, 399 Westerband, Laurens, 385, 398 Westergate (HMS), 244, 249

Weymouth (HMS), 754 Whetstone, Sir Thomas, 399, 408; capture and death of, 404
5; Commonwealth naval career, 400
403; privateer and planter, 404; Royalist convert, 403
4 Wild coast, 405
6 Willems, Jan, alias ‘‘Jantje’’ or ‘‘Janke,’’ 822; assault on Campeche, 828; cruises (1681
1682), 823
24; Cuban blockade, 924
25; delivery of the peace overture, 823; final coup, 829
39; Jamaican overture, 828
29; New England visit, 826
27; ransacking of the Dutch West Indiamen, 826; return to West Indies, 827
28; victory off Cartagena, 825
26 Williams, Maurice, 406
7 Williams, Thomas, 830 Winchelsea (HMS), 482, 514, 596 Windsor (HMS), 697 Windsor, Thomas, 407; as Governor of Jamaica, 408
9; later career, 409 Woodruffe, Thomas, 411 Woollerly or Woolerly, Thomas, 831 Woolley, Conway, 411 Wright, George, 411
13 Wroth, Peter, 413
14 Yeats, Charles, 833
34. See also Piragua; Vane, Charles Yellows, Captain. See Lescat, Jelles de Zoby, Joseph, 415

I-15

About the Author

David F. Marley is a naval historian who has lived and traveled extensively in Latin America and Europe, and currently resides in Canada. His published works include ABC-CLIO’s Historic Cities of the Americas, Pirates and Privateers of the Americas, and Wars of the Americas.