Corsairs and privateers (privateers) of the island of Jamaica in the 17th century were known in the West Indies no less than the filibusters of Tortuga. And the most famous of the privatizers of the Jamaican Port Royal, Henry Morgan, became a living personification of that era. Today we will start a story about Jamaica and Port Royal's dashing filibusters.
Jamaica Island: History and Geography
The name of the island of Jamaica is derived from the distorted Indian word "Xaymaca", which can be translated as "land of springs" (or "springs"). There are indeed many small rivers - about 120, the longest of them, Rio Grande, is more than 100 km long, and along the Black River small vessels can climb up to a distance of 48 km.
For Spanish ships crossing the Atlantic Ocean, such an abundance of water resources turned out to be very useful, Jamaica became an important base for them on the way to Central America and back.
This island was discovered by Christopher Columbus on May 5, 1494, during his second voyage to the shores of America.
In 1503-1504 (fourth journey) Columbus again found himself in Jamaica, this time forcedly, because he had to land his storm-torn ships aground off this island. To improve the supply of the crews of his ships, he acted as a great magician, able to "extinguish the moon" (lunar eclipse on February 29, 1504).
On this island, Columbus had to spend a whole year, having survived the revolt of part of the team members, led by brothers Francisco and Diego Porras, who accused him of not making enough efforts to return to his homeland.
Only on June 28, 1504 from the island of Hispaniola two Spanish ships came for them.
Sometimes we hear that Columbus received the title of "Marquis of Jamaica", but this is not true. This title (as well as the title of "Duke of Veragua") was granted in 1536 to the navigator's grandson - for abandoning the claims to the lands discovered by his grandfather (and, accordingly, from the income from them).
Jamaica belongs to the group of the Greater Antilles, being the third largest, second only to Cuba and Haiti. One of the Spanish settlers wrote this about Jamaica:
“This is a magical, fertile island, like for me, either a garden or a treasury. There are many better lands here, which we have not seen in other parts of the Indies; it is abundant in cattle, cassava and other … fruits of various kinds. We have not found a nicer and healthier place in the Indies."
The island is stretched from west to east (length - 225 km), its width ranges from 25 to 82 km, and its area is 10991 km². The population of this country is currently more than 2 million 800 thousand people.
To the coast of Panama, where the loading of the Silver fleets was carried out, from Jamaica only 180 sea lios (999, 9 km) - Hispaniola and Tortuga were further away.
The north coast of Jamaica is rocky, with a narrow strip of beaches in the central part. On the southern, more indented, there are many coves, the best of which is Kingston Harbor (in the southeast of the island).
It is closed from ocean waves by the Palisades sand spit, which is 13 km long. It is here that Kingston, the capital of Jamaica, is located, and here, a little to the south, the pirate city of Port Royal was previously located.
Currently, Jamaica is divided into three counties: Cornwall, Middlesex and Surrey, their names recall the centuries of British rule.
The first European settlement in Jamaica (New Seville) appeared in 1509. On the island, the Spaniards met with the friendly tribes of the Taino Indians ("good, peaceful" - apparently in comparison with the Caribbean Indians) from the Arawak group. By the beginning of the 17th century, these Indians almost disappeared on the island due to diseases introduced by settlers and harsh working conditions on sugar plantations (currently the number of Taino Indians in Jamaica is about 1000 people).
To work on plantations, as early as 1513, the Spaniards began to import black slaves from Africa to Jamaica. As a result of this "migration policy", the population of Jamaica is currently more than 77 percent black and about 17 percent are mulattos. The island is also inhabited by Indians (2, 12%), Caucasians (1, 29%), Chinese (0, 99), Syrians (0, 08%).
Conquest of Jamaica by the British
In 1654, Oliver Cromwell decided what to do with the warships freed after the end of the war with the Netherlands. It was a pity to disarm them, to pay the crews a salary "just like that" - all the more so. And therefore it was decided to use them for the war with Spain in the West Indies: the victory promised great benefits to the English merchants who trade with the New World, and the seizure of new territories made it possible to resettle “so many people from New England, Virginia, Barbados, the islands Somers or from Europe, as much as we need."
The reason for the seizure of Spanish possessions was the attacks on the English colonists of the island of St. Christopher (1629), Tortuga (which was then under the control of the British - 1638) and Santa Cruz (1640).
At the beginning of August 1654, Cromwell handed a note to the Spanish ambassador, which contained deliberately impracticable and even provocative demands to ensure the religious freedom of English subjects in the lands controlled by the Spanish kings and to give English merchants the right to free trade in them.
The ambassador said that "to demand this is the same as demanding from my master to give both eyes!"
Now Cromwell's hands were untied, and a squadron of 18 warships and 20 transport ships was sent to the West Indies with the order to capture the island of Hispaniola for Britain. In total, the ships housed 352 cannons, 1145 sailors, 1830 soldiers and 38 horses. Later, they were joined by three to four thousand volunteers recruited in the British-owned islands of Montserrat, Nevis and St. Christopher. This squadron began "making money" on the island of Barbados, in the harbor of which the British captured either 14 or 15 Dutch merchant ships, whose captains were declared smugglers.
The governor of Hispaniola, Count Peñalba, had only 600 or 700 soldiers to defend the island, to whose aid came local colonists and buccaneers, who did not expect anything good from the British. Despite the clear superiority of forces, the British Expeditionary Force did not achieve success here, losing about 400 soldiers in battle and up to 500 who died from dysentery.
In order not to return home "empty-handed", on May 19, 1655, the British attacked Jamaica. On this island, their actions were successful, on May 27 the Spaniards surrendered. Cromwell, however, was dissatisfied with the result, as a result of which Admiral William Penn and General Robert Venables, who led the expedition, were arrested upon returning to London and placed in the Tower.
Time has shown that Jamaica is a very valuable acquisition, this colony was one of the most successful in the British Empire. The end of the era of privatizers and filibusters was relatively painless for Jamaica. In colonial times, its economy, based on the export of sugar, rum, and then coffee, tropical fruits (mainly bananas), then also bauxite, was quite successful. Jamaica even became the first country in the New World to build a railroad. Slavery on this island was abolished earlier than in the USA (in 1834) - not because of the special love of the British colonialists for freedom and democracy, of course: desperate blacks constantly rebelled, disrupting the supply of sugar and rum, and the British came to the conclusion that there will be fewer problems with civilian workers. And the planters were now relieved of worries about the maintenance of disabled slaves.
The Spaniards tried twice to retake the island. They came to terms with its loss only in 1670, when the Madrid Peace Treaty was concluded, according to which Jamaica and the Cayman Islands came under British jurisdiction.
On August 6, 1962, Jamaica declared its independence, while remaining part of the British Commonwealth of Nations, that is, the head of this state is still the monarchs of Great Britain - a country that still does not have a document that could be called a constitution … And there is an opinion that the same dear old lady Elizabeth II is by no means a "fabulous" or decorative queen, but the governors general of the British Dominions are not "wedding" generals at all.
But back to the 17th century.
The result of the British conquest was an influx of adventurers and poor people into Jamaica, mainly from Ireland and Scotland. Due to its favorable geographical position, the island turned out to be extremely attractive for English privateers (privateers), they especially liked the small town of Puerto de Caguaia, founded by the Spaniards in 1518. The British began to call it Passage Fort, and the harbor was named Port Caguey. The new town, which in June 1657 arose at the tip of the Palisades Spit, was named Point Caguey. But this city will receive worldwide fame under the name Port Royal - such a name it will have in the early 60s of the 17th century.
Vice Admiral Hudson and Commodore Mings, their campaigns against the Spaniards
The first to attack the Spanish possessions were not the privates of Jamaica, but Vice Admiral William Hudson, based on this island, who raided the city of Santa Marta (in present-day Colombia) in 1655, and Commodore Mings, who led expeditions to the shores of Mexico and Venezuela in 1658-1659.
The Hudson expedition was rather unsuccessful: his prey were cannons, gunpowder, cannonballs, skins, salt and meat, which, according to one of the officers of that squadron, could not recoup "the gunpowder and bullets that were used up in this case."
But the raids of Mings, whose courageous actions and good luck even Olone and Morgan could envy, turned out to be very successful. In 1658, his ships attacked and burned the port of Tolu, as well as the city of Santa Marta in its vicinity (New Granada). Three Spanish ships were captured, which Mings sold profitably to the corsair captains (Laurence Prince, Robert Searle and John Morris). And at the beginning of 1659, Mings, at the head of a squadron of three ships, reappeared off the coast of Venezuela, plundering Cumana, Puerto Cabello and Coro. In Corot, the commodore got a fabulous "prize" - 22 boxes of silver (400 pounds each). Also, 1 Spanish ship was burned and 2 Dutch (under the Spanish flag) were captured, one of which was carrying a load of cocoa. The total cost of mining in 1659 was 500,000 pesos (about 250,000 pounds sterling). In 1662, Commodore Mings led a joint squadron of British warships and corsairs of Port Royal and Tortuga, which attacked the city of Santiago de Cuba (this campaign is described in the article Tortuga. Caribbean paradise of filibusters).
In the future, the "worries" to seize Spanish ships and plunder the coasts fell on the shoulders of Port Royal's privatizers.
Rivalry between Port Royal and Tortuga
Port Royal and Tortuga fiercely competed for the right to be the most "hospitable" and bases visited by privateers and corsairs: each ship that entered their harbor brought substantial income to both the state treasury and local "businessmen" - from dealers of loot, owners of taverns, gambling and brothels to planters and buccaneers who profitably sell various supplies to filibusters.
In 1664 g.the former governor of Jamaica, Charles Littleton in London, presented to the Lord Chancellor of England his views on the development of privatization on this island. Among other things, he pointed out that "privatization feeds a large number of sailors, from whom the island receives protection without the participation of the naval forces of the kingdom." If privatizers are prohibited from stationing in the ports of Jamaica, Littleton pointed out, they will not return to a peaceful life, but go to other islands, the "prize goods" will cease to flow to Port Royal, and then many merchants will leave Jamaica, which will cause a significant increase in prices.
Another governor of the island, Sir Thomas Modiford, after the lifting of the temporary restrictions on privatization in 1666, happily reported to Lord Arlington:
“Your Excellency is well aware of the great antipathy I had for privateers during my stay in Barbados, but after I accepted His Majesty's decrees for the strictest execution, I discovered my mistake in view of the decline of the forts and the abundance of this place …
When I saw the deplorable state of the flotillas that returned from Sint Eustatius, so that the ships were defeated, and the people went to the coast of Cuba to get a livelihood, and thus were completely alienated from us. Many remained in the Windward Islands, not having enough funds to pay off their obligations on Tortuga and among the French buccaneers …
When, around the beginning of March, I discovered that the Guard of Port Royal, which under the command of Colonel Thomas Morgan (not the Pirate Henry) numbered 600, had been reduced to 138, I convened a Council to decide how to fortify this very important city … everyone agreed. that the only way to fill Port Royal with people is to send letters of marque against the Spaniards. Your Excellency cannot even imagine what general changes have taken place here in people and in business, ships are being repaired, a large influx of artisans and workers who go to Port Royal, many return, many debtors have been released from prison, and ships from the trip to Curacao those who did not dare to enter for fear of creditors came and re-equip themselves."
Governor of Tortuga Bertrand d'Ogeron (described in a previous article, "The Golden Age of Tortuga Island"), trying to make his island more attractive for privateers of all stripes, brought ship carpenters and caulkers from France so that they could “repair and ship ships who come to Tortuga”. His letter to Kolbert, dated September 20, 1666, states:
“We must do so to … further increase the number of our filibusters.
It is necessary to send from France annually to both Tortuga and the Coast of Saint-Domengue from one thousand to one thousand two hundred people, two-thirds of whom must be capable of carrying weapons. Let the remaining third be children of 13, 14 and 15 years old, some of whom would be distributed among the colonists, and the other part would be engaged in filibustering."
In the struggle for corsairs and privateers, the British even considered the possibility of a military expedition against Tortuga and the Coast of Saint-Domengue. However, in December 1666 it was decided that the attack on Tortuga
“Will have very bad consequences, for the assassination attempts (on the French settlements) will accustom them, the desperately needy guys, to revenge on our coastal plantations … loyalty to the king."
Forced cooperation between Port Royal and Tortuga
Meanwhile, the measures taken by the Spanish government to escort their caravans and strengthen the settlements of the New World pushed the corsairs and privateers of Tortuga and Port Royal to cooperate and coordinate actions: the time of loners had passed, now "large squadrons for big things" were required. The authorities of the rival islands also understood this.
In the fall of 1666(at this time there was a war between France and England), visiting Tortuga, English Captain Wilem, in a conversation with Governor D'Ozheron
"I tried my best to keep the peace between Tortuga and Jamaica, declaring that the people on that island will force the general to do this, even if he resists."
Three days later, the French privateer Jean Picard (better known as the captain of Champagne) returned to Tortuga, bringing with him the English ship he had captured.
Bertrand d'Ogeron bought the ship from Picard, and allowed Captain Will to take it to Jamaica to return it to its rightful owners.
Governor Thomas Modiford responded by freeing eight captured French filibusters.
"The ship that brought them in was loaded with wine and many black women, whom we badly needed,"
- says d'Ozheron.
Why did he need these black women so much, D'Ozheron is silent. Perhaps some of them became "priestesses of love" in the first brothel of Tortuga (opened in 1667). But most of them were probably used as servants - after all, someone also needed to darn shirts and wash the trousers of sailors who come to the island of corsairs and marque ships.
In 1667 a peace treaty was concluded between England and Spain, but the British filibusters continued their attacks on Spanish ships and coasts. At the end of 1671, Francis Wizborn and his French colleague from the island of Tortuga Dumangle (a participant in the famous Morgan campaign to Panama), acting without a letter of marque, robbed two Spanish villages on the northern coast of Cuba. They were captured like pirates by Colonel William Beeston, commander of the Royal Frigate Esistens, and taken to Port Royal. In March 1672, the friends-captains were sentenced to death, but the authorities of Jamaica did not dare to carry out this sentence, fearing revenge from the filibusters of Tortuga. As a result, the pirates were freed and continued their fishing at sea. Seriously worried about the impossibility of issuing privatization certificates to "their" corsairs, Jamaican officials enviously watched as "the French from Tortuga make everything they manage to capture with a prize." In November 1672, Deputy Governor Thomas Lynch lamented that "now in the Indies there is not a single English pirate, not counting a few sailing on French ships" (hinting that some of the English filibusters went to Tortuga and Saint-Domengue).
However, close "business ties" did not prevent the privateers from attacking ships of other countries (not only Spain), if there was such an opportunity. During the Anglo-Dutch War of 1667, privateers of the Netherlands, who willingly and fruitfully collaborated with both the British and the French, began to actively attack British merchant ships in the Caribbean.
Pirate Babylon
Let's go back to Port Royal. The base of corsairs and privateers in Jamaica developed rapidly, quickly reaching the level of French Tortuga, and soon surpassing it. Port Royal's harbor was larger than Buster's Bay and more comfortable. Its port usually housed 15 to 20 ships at the same time, and the sea depth reached 9 meters, which made it possible to receive even the largest ships. In 1660, Port Royal had 200 houses, in 1664 - 400, in 1668 - 800 buildings, which, according to contemporaries, were "as expensive as if they stood on the good shopping streets of London." During its heyday, the city had approximately 2,000 wooden and stone buildings, some of which were four stories high. The privatizers had 4 markets at their disposal (one of them was a slave market), banks and representative offices of trading companies, numerous warehouses, several churches, a synagogue, more than a hundred taverns, numerous brothels and even a menagerie.
The workload of the Port Royal is eloquently evidenced by the following fact: in 1688 it received 213 ships, and all ports on the American coast of New England - 226. In 1692, the number of Port Royal residents reached 7 thousand people.
One of his contemporaries described this city as follows:
“The taverns are chock-full of gold and silver cups, glittering gems stolen from cathedrals. Simple sailors with heavy gold earrings with precious stones play on gold coins, the value of which no one is interested in. Any of the buildings here is a treasury."
It is not surprising that contemporaries considered Port Royal "the pirate Babylon" and "the most sinful city in the entire Christian world."
During its heyday, Port Royal, located at the western end of the Palisados spit, had 5 forts, the main one of which was called "Charles".
In 1779, the commandant of this fort was Captain I rank (future admiral) Horatio Nelson.
Other forts were named Walker, Rupert, James and Carlisle.
Jamaica corsairs and privates
Lewis Scott (Lewis the Scotsman), about whom Alexander Exquemelin wrote:
“Over time, the Spaniards became convinced that there was no escape from pirates at sea, and began to sail much less frequently. But this did not help them either. Not meeting ships, pirates began to gather in companies and plunder coastal cities and settlements. The first such pirate to engage in overland robbery was Lewis the Scotsman. He attacked Campeche, plundered it and burned it to the ground."
In 1665, the name of the famous corsair Henry Morgan was first mentioned in official documents: together with captains David Maarten, Jacob Fakman, John Morris (who a year later would fight the French corsair Champagne and lose the battle - see the article The Golden Age of Tortuga Island) and Freeman goes hiking to the coast of Mexico and Central America. During this expedition, the cities of Trujillo and Grand Granada were sacked. Upon their return, it turned out that the privatization certificates of these captains had become invalid due to the conclusion of peace between Spain and Britain, but the governor of Jamaica, Modiford, did not punish them.
In 1668, Captains John Davis and Robert Searle (who, as we recall, bought his ship from Commodore Mings) led a filibuster (non-privatir) squadron of 8 ships. They intended to intercept some Spanish ships off the coast of Cuba, but, failing to find them, headed for Florida, where they captured the city of San Augustin de la Florida. The loot of the corsairs was 138 marks of silver, 760 yards of canvas, 25 pounds of wax candles, decorations for the parish church and the chapel of the Franciscan convent worth 2,066 pesos. In addition, they took hostages, for whom a ransom was paid, and black slaves and mestizos, whom they hoped to sell in Jamaica. Since Robert Searle acted without a letter of marque, he was arrested in Jamaica, but released a few months later and participated in Morgan's campaign to Panama.
The unofficial title of Chief Brethren of the Coast was held for some time by Edward Mansvelt (Mansfield), who was either an Englishman or a Dutchman from Curacao.
For the first time his name appears in historical sources in 1665, when he, at the head of 200 filibusters, attacked the Cuban coast, plundering several villages. In 1666 we see him as the commander of a squadron of 10-15 small ships. Alexander Exquemelin claims that in January of this year he attacked Granada, other sources do not mention this campaign. But, given the conscientiousness of this author, it can be assumed that this expedition, nevertheless, took place. In April 1666, Mansvelt's privates attacked the island of St. Catherine and the island of Providence (St. Catalina). On the latter, he tried to gain a foothold, making it a new base for corsairs and privateers, but, having not received reinforcements from the governor of Jamaica, he was forced to leave him. The circumstances of the death of this corsair are not clear. Exquemelin claims that he was captured during another raid on Cuba and was executed by the Spaniards. Others talk about death as a result of some kind of illness, or even poisoning. He was succeeded by the famous Henry Morgan, who received the nickname "Cruel" from his contemporaries. It was he, of course, who became the most successful privateer and pirate of Jamaica, a kind of "brand" of this island.
The life and fate of Henry Morgan will be discussed in the next article.
