Port Royal and Its Role in the Lives of Buccaneers - Essay Example

PORT ROYAL AND ITS ROLE IN THE LIVES OF BUCCANEERS. Student’s Name Task Course Tutor Date Port Royal and its role in the lives of buccaneers. Introduction In 1603, France’s King Henry IV allocated a man named Pierre Dugua de Mons a big piece of land on which he could set up a French colony within Jamaica. The first group of settlers set foot there in 1604 and they chose their landing site at St. Croix Island where they immediately began the building of houses.1 Winter there was cold and windy and the colonists were not prepared for the new conditions, with almost a half of their population succumbing to death from scurvy and cold. As from the spring of 1605, they chose a new site which was located some miles away, and this came to be known as Point Cadgway and later Port Royal.2 This paper discusses Port Royal and its role in the lives of buccaneers during the seventeenth century. During the early 1600′s, many French settlers who were evicted from their Caribbean settlements by the Spanish opted to move and live as frontiersmen at the Hispaniola Island. They were notably highly skilled hunters who made use of long knives and muskets and were believed to have been the best musket-using marksmen worldwide. A large number of them later became pirates and started attacking Spanish ships which were plying the Caribbean. They took up an island named ‘Tortuga’ and converted it into a hideout for fugitives and pirates from everywhere. They were thereafter referred to as the buccaneers.3 As at the 1640′s, buccaneers had evolved into seamen and abandoned their hunting activities. They dressed in hats, wool pants and coarse shirts. They would use small boats in sneaking upon large Spanish ships, mostly at night. Marksmen who stayed back in the boats shot at the Spanish soldiers and helmsmen as other buccaneers closed up to the ship’s side. With time, they gained a reputation of being highly cruel and caused a lot of fear among Spanish sailors.4 By 1654, Jamaica was under the control of Spain at a time when Spain was engaged in war with England. The Lord Protector of England, Oliver Cromwell, commissioned an expedition to take over Hispaniola.5 Burney explains that in 1655, there was the dispatch of a fleet of soldiers and ships to the Caribbean under the leadership of Admirals Venables and Penn and Venables. These were on a mission to capture a town named Santo Domingo and the Island of Hispaniola. The mission was not successful as the Spanish put up strong defenses. However, the invaders were not ready to go back home empty-handed, and they therefore decided to attack and capture Jamaica which was sparsely populated and the lightly fortified instead. The Englishmen started constructing a fort on a natural harbour located on the island’s southern shores. Here, a town emerged close to the fort and first named Point Cagway, and its name later changed in 1660 to Port Royal. Before long, it became the busiest among all the ports within the Americas and was run by the buccaneers.6 In 1655, England sent the Spaniards out of Jamaica. From then on, a large number of buccaneers took off and settled in Port Royal. Before British arrival at Port Royal, it only had the reputation of fishing and careening spot for ships. 7Arawak Indians utilized its Palisaoes for fishing. Later on, the Spanish realized it could be a good spot for the careening of ships. However, neither of the two groups tried to set up any permanent structures. A large number of attacks were carried out from the port with the support of Jamaica’s governor. Soon afterwards, the buccaneers had started attacking whole Spanish towns that were on the Spanish Main. The Role of Port Royal in the Buccaneers’ Lives The town played a significant role in the buccaneers’ lives as a centre for their activities as from the mid-17th century. This was because of its booming economy and acceptance of the buccaneers as legitimate members of the society. The years between the 1650s and the 1720s marked what is usually referred to as the Golden Age of Piracy. During the period, there were three major emergences of piracy, and the time happened to be highly lucrative for pirates.8 Port Royal was useful to the buccaneers because of a number of advantages that it offered them. First, its harbour and closeness to trading routes made it easy for the pirates to have a more effective access to their targets. They could easily stalk vessels as they came in and out of the ports so as to identify easy targets. However, its most significant advantage was that the surrounding harbours and ports were very close to the only safe straights or passages that offered an opening to the Spanish main port via the Atlantic. 9 The harbour’s location also happened to be highly ideal for the launching of raids and sneak attacks on various Spanish settlements. Because of these factors, Port Royal was able to act as a perfect base for the pirates who mainly preyed upon Spanish ships that were heading back to Spain carrying silver, gold and different other treasures. The available harbour was also big enough to accommodate the pirates’ ships and also left enough space for them to repair and careen their vessels.10 After several years, the English who were also supposed to be the ones protecting the Jamaican island happened to lack the sufficient numbers of troops to protect the city of Port Royal. For a few years after the colonization of Jamaica by the English, two war ships were based near Port Royal. However, they were soon afterwards taken back to England. With the withdrawal of the warships, the citizens of Port Royal were left in a panic as they were worried about their protection, especially against the Spanish.11 In 1657, they identified and sent their representatives to Tortuga, which was by then a pirate haven nearby and off the Hispaniola Island, to request some buccaneers to adopt Port Royal as their base of operations. It was believed that their presence would ensure some degree of protection.12 Port Royal’s administrators were scared that the Spanish would be able to re-take the whole island. There was a fort, Fort Charles on the harbor which was strong and operational at the time. There were four more which were scattered elsewhere around town. However, there was a shortage of manpower to provide a strong defense of the city in case it came under attack. They therefore decided to start inviting the buccaneers and other pirates to settle there, as this would ensure the presence of many potential fighters and ships at any given time in the town. They also went to the extent of contacting a notorious buccaneer organization named Brethren of the Coast to settle there and this arrangement proved to be beneficial both for the city and the pirates as there was no longer the fear of possible Spanish attacks. 13 Henry Morgan, a buccaneer was among the invading forces which were under Penn and Venables. When in May 1655 the control of the island was taken by the English, there was the onset of building of Fort Cromwell so as to protect the newly acquired territory. With this, there was the rise of a community named Point Cagway near the fort. 14Upon restoration of the English monarchy in 1660 and the ascending to the throne of Charles II, Fort Cromwell took up another name, Fort Charles, while Point Cagway was renamed Port Royal. So as to economise on costs, the British opted to use the buccaneers in defending their new colony. The buccaneers were on their part very willing to comply with the request because the town had several taverns, grog shops, a deep natural water port and ready market for their goods by willing merchants. It generally had many places where they could spend the money that they had acquired. 15 Port Royal offered a good geographical location for everyday business of the buccaneers, namely the attacking of vessels. From their base in Port Royal, buccaneers, who gained the title of privateers when recognized by the government, carried out merciless attacks on Spanish ships that were traveling across the seas. They also raided and looted towns that were located in the present day South America. 16 Henry Morgan was appointed to be the militia commander of Port Royal. At any time when the buccaneers achieved any success, Port Royal rejoiced, because a majority of its citizens put their money into the buccaneers' activities and got a share of the returns later. 10% of the loot went to the king while the remaining was auctioned.17 Port Royal played the role of a recreational centre for the fun-loving buccaneers. Between 1655 and 1680, there was a war with Spain. During the time, Port Royal rose to be a famous hideout for buccaneers. It had an excellent strategic positioning and because of this, many of the buccaneers used it as their main operations base. Soon afterwards therefore, Port Royal had been transformed from a peaceful city into a criminal nest characterized by hundreds of taverns and brothels. It gained the deserved description of “the richest and wickedest city".18 As from 1670, the city’s influence grew even more. Because of the legality of slave, sugar and piracy loot made it the trading centre of the entire Caribbean.19 The town had by then become famous for being a ‘modern Sodom’ in which most residents were prostitutes and pirates. The pirates were extremely extravagant and liquor was available for anyone who was willing to partake it. Port Royal’s taverns were characterized by excessive alcohol consumption, with even wild animals being said to have taken part in it. For instance, parrots would gather to drink the large ale stocks just like the drunks who always filled the taverns which served it.20 Port Royal grew to be one of two biggest towns in the country and also the most economically significant ports among all English colonies. During the times when it was most popular, the city’s Drinking House to Residents Ratio stood at 1:10.21 In July 1661 alone, about fourty new taverns were licensed. In the twenty years up to 1692, approximately 6,500 were living in Port Royal. Other than the buccaneers and prostitutes, there were also fourty four tavern owners, four goldsmiths, and several other categories of merchants and artisans living in about two hundred buildings that were squeezed into fifty-one acres of land. The seaport was visited by two hundred and thirteen ships in 1688 alone.22 Port Royal acted as a cultural melting pot for buccaneers. The tolerance of the town to what should have been a crime drew many pirates to come in and settle, at least for a while. This led to a lot of diversity in the population, thereby making the people able to coexist with one another even better. Even though Port Royal might not have been worse than London, Bristol or other seaports during the period, it was special as it was at the middle of a sort of legalized piracy which got a lot of encouragement to set base in Port Royal by successive Jamaican governors who wanted their presence to help in dissuading Spanish colonizers from trying to take over the island. The buccaneers got letters of marque from the authorities and these authorised them to carry out attacks on Spanish ships.23 When the governments stopped the issuance of Letters of Marque against Spanish fleets and the possessions later during the 16th century, many buccaneers used the city as their base at the height of 17th century piracy. Pirates from various parts of the world came into Port Royal, with some coming from as far as Madagascar.24 The town acted as an economic hub for the buccaneers, with some investing in it. Port Royal grew to be a centre for slave and sugar trade for both buccaneers and other people. It was also an exchange point for raw materials for instance wood. There was a boom in smuggling as there was the closure of Spanish ports within the New World to all foreigners. It also offered a large market source for European-made goods and African slaves. Because of its characteristic of being a rough-and-tumble centre, the city tended to have a loose attitude with regard to religions. It was therefore an open ground for all denominations, attracting Jews, Anglicans, Catholics, Quakers, Presbyterians and Puritans. By 1690, the city was an important and large town comparable to Boston, with many of its local merchants becoming immensely wealthy.25 The city’s wealth grew so much that its coins got greater preference than the common bartering of services and goods as a mode of payment. Port Royal was a religious reference point for buccaneers when talking about the wages of sin.26Although written history about the buccaneers of Port Royal indicates that they were generally not involved in religious activity, most of them eventually left the practice and rejoined mainstream society. Those who were encouraging them to drop out of their trade would point out their destructive lifestyles and the likely consequences with reference to the calamities that occurred during the later years of the town’s growth. 27In 1692, a great earthquake led to the sinking of about two-thirds of the town. Over 3000 people died in the tragedy in what people considered to be God's punishment upon a town which had become notorious for its wickedness and debauchery. Although the earthquake was not extremely strong, the city had been built without the necessary strong foundation although it was basically in a sandpit. Entire streets therefore easily slipped away into the sea. In the aftermath of the earthquake, Kingston rose to be the new centre for trading and with time, the most influential city in Jamaica.28 Port Royal as a city played the role of raising the profile of previously unknown pirates to major historical figures. As from 1701, six pirates particularly gained prominence. In addition to Henry Morgan, they included Edward Low, Edward Teach, Bartholomew Roberts, Anne Bonney and John Rackham. All of them were criminals who had been declared outcasts of Port Royal during the Jamaicans rule. 29When the Jamaican governors sought protection of the pirates rather than their previous reliance on the English, the six realized that Port Royal had much potential and therefore made an effort to seize the chance of ruling the island through overthrowing the existing government. They were able to succeed in their goal and did so through the execution of all government officials in the town square.30 Port Royal acted as an information centre for buccaneers.31 When they got back from their exploits, they would share stories about what had happened and from this, plans would be made to identify the best routes that they could prey on. The bringing together of people who shared interests established a unifying factor for their activities, as was exemplified by their move to New Providence after the decline of Port Royal. Only six years after the pirates’ rise to power, there was a devastating earthquake. The pirates felt that they needed to seek a new power base. There arose a rumour about an island named New Providence that could serve the purpose. This time however, the rush for power was not group-oriented, but each person for himself. All the pirates set out with their crews to New Providence.32 Although there were several attempts at rebuilding Port Royal catastrophes kept occurring.33 In 1703, a large fire destroyed the town. During the 18th and 19th centuries, there were also several hurricanes that hit it and in 1907, a second devastating earthquake reduced it almost entirely to rubble. Fort Charles would remain to be the headquarters of the royal navy based in the Caribbean up to 1905. For the two and a half centuries that it stood, the fort did not come under any attack.34 Presently, Port Royal exists as a small town that holds a population of slightly more than two thousand people. It does not wield any commercial or political influence. The Jamaican government is however trying to convert it into a tourist attraction.35 Conclusion. In conclusion, Port Royal was a small and later influential city in Jamaica. It was situated at the end of a long stretch of land that covered the present-day Kingston Harbor. Initially, Jamaica was under Spanish control. However, it was captured by the English in 1655, the time when King Charles II ascended to the English throne. The town quickly developed into possibly the most licentious one in the world, earning the label of a new Sodom and Gomorrah. Port Royal was the famous home to buccaneers who were employed so as to curtail the power of Spain, a superpower that smaller European competitors could at the time not dare to directly wage war on. It was a popular destination for pirates who were out to spend the treasure that they had grabbed during the 17th century, but declined mainly due to a series of natural catastrophes. Bibliography Secondary sources Black, C, 1993, The History of Jamaica, Longman: London Burney, J, 1907, History of the Buccaneers of America, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge De Brosse, C, 2006, Port Royal: a History and Guide, University of Michigan: Detroit Dodwell, H and Rose, J, 1929, ‘Port Royal’ in The Cambridge History of the British Empire, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Archive Figueredo, D and Argote-Freyre, F, 2007, A Brief History of the Caribbean, Facts on File: New York Gardner, W, 2009, A History of Jamaica from Its Discovery by Christopher Columbus to the Present Time, Penguin Books: London Heuman, G, 2006, The Caribbean: Brief Histories, Greenwood Publishing: Westport Keen, B and Haynes, K, 2009, A History of Latin America, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: Boston Konstam, A and McBride, A, 2000, Buccaneers, 1620-1700, Osprey: Oxford Lane, K, 1998, Pillaging the Empire: Piracy in the Americas, 1500 – 1750, Sharpe Books: London Long, E, 2002, ‘Bucaniers’ in The History of Jamaica: Reflections on its Situation, Settlements, Inhabitants, Climate, Products, Commerce, Laws and Government, Vol. 1, T. Lowndes: London section 6, pp.298-309 Martin, T, 2011, Caribbean History: From Pre-Colonial Origins to the Present, Pearson: London Pawson, M and Buisseret, D, 2000, Port Royal, Jamaica, Bridgetown: Kingston Primary Sources Alexandre O. Exquemelin, How the Buccaneers Equip their Vessels and their Manner of Living, in The Buccaneers of America, [1684], Harmondsworth, Penguin Books, 1969, pp. 70-85. Beard, C, 1861, Port Royal: a Contribution to the History of Religion and Literature in France, Volume II, Longman: London Exquemelin, A, Powell, H and Ringrose, B, 1911, The Buccaneers of America, Allen & Company: London Exquemelin, A, 1684, ‘How the Buccaneers Equip their Vessels and their Manner of Living’, in The Buccaneers of America, 1969, Penguin Books: Harmondsworth Esquemeling, J and Powell, H, 1893, The Buccaneers of America: A True Account of the Most Remarkable Assaults Committed of Late Years upon the Coasts of the West Indies by the Buccaneers of Jamaica and Tortuga. 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