Pirates of the Caribbean
Port Royal is a town on the southern coast of Jamaica. It was originally colonized by the Spanish, but was attacked and captured by the English in 1655. Because of its good natural harbor and key position, Port Royal quickly became a major haven for pirates and buccaneers. After the capture of Jamaica by the English in 1655 the administrators of the town were concerned that the Spanish could re-take Jamaica. Fort Charles on the harbor was operational and formidable, and there were four other smaller forts spread around the town, but there was little manpower to truely defend the city in the event of an attack.
They began inviting pirates and buccaneers to come and set up shop there, thus assuring that there would be a constant supply of ships and veteran fighting men on hand. It soon became apparent that Port Royal was the perfect place for pirates and privateers. It had a great deepwater natural harbor for protecting ships at anchor and it was close to Spanish shipping lanes and ports. Once it started to gain fame as a pirate haven, the town quickly changed: it filled up with brothels, taverns and drinking halls. Before long, Port Royal was the busiest port in the Americas, largely run and operated by pirates and buccaneers.
Port Royal soon became a trading center for slaves, sugar and raw materials such as wood. Smuggling boomed as Spanish ports in the New World were officially closed to foreigners but represented a huge market for African slaves and goods manufactured in Europe. By 1690, Port Royal was as large and important a town as Boston and many of the local merchants were quite wealthy.
It all came crashing down on June 7, 1692 when a massive earthquake shook Port Royal, dumping most of it into the harbor. An estimated 5,000 died in the earthquake or shortly thereafter of injuries or disease. Looting was rampant and, for a time, all order broke down. Many thought that the city had been singled out for punishment by God for its wickedness.
The war with France gave rise to a system of privateering which soon poured treasures into Port Royal surpassing even the days of the buccaneers; while the victory of Benbow over Ducasse (whose predatory visit to Jamaica has been related) filled the colonists with delight. It was on the 11th of July, 1702, that the brave admiral, the hero of so many sailors' songs, left Port Royal. On the 19th of August he fell in with the French fleet of which he was in search.
Benbow's ships were inferior in number and weight of metal, but he immediately engaged the enemy, and kept up for some days a running fight. On the fifth day his leg was broken by a chain-shot: still he remained on deck, supported in a cot placed on the quarter-deck. He continued the battle till night, when Kirby and Wood, two of his captains, persuaded the rest to withdraw. Benbow was more troubled by the "villanous treachery of his captains" than by the loss of his leg. On returning to Port Royal a court-martial was assembled. Kirby and Wood were shot, and others punished less severely. Benbow lingered long enough to know that his conduct was applauded at home, and died on the 4th of November.
An effort was made to rebuild the city, but it was devastated once again in 1703 by a fire. On the 9th of January, 1703, it broke out among warehouses, some of which contained gunpowder. As they were covered with shingles the flames spread rapidly, and in a short time scarcely a place except the forts was left. Kingston, in consequence of this calamity, increased in importance, and to encourage persons to settle there, taxes were remitted for seven years, while a law was passed prohibiting the use of American shingles in Port Royal. It was repeatedly hit by hurricanes and even more earthquakes in following years and, by 1774, it was essentially a quiet village.
During the early part of the eighteenth century the outlying plantations of Jamaica, the coasting and other vessels, were much annoyed by pirates. Among the most notorious of these was Tench, popularly called Blackbeard; another celebrated pirate was named Martel. The Bahamas had become the resort of great numbers of these men.
Three ships were sent against them. Vane, the leader, with about fifty desperadoes, escaped, but was soon after seized and executed in Jamaica. After this two or three hundred pirates remaining in the Bahamas surrendered and took the oath of allegiance, and became for the most part quiet and reputable inhabitants. A love of adventure, rather than innate villany, seems to have influenced the majority of these men.
In the vessel in which Vane escaped a man named Rackam was second in command. He subsequently assumed the supreme direction of affairs, Vane, with some sixteen others, having been turned adrift for refusing to fight a French vessel. For two years Rackam and his crew were a perfect terror to seamen, constantly turning up where least expected. During August and September, 1720, he hovered about the north-western coast of Jamaica, occasionally running over to Cuba and Hayti. In October Sir Nicholas Lawes, who had heard of his whereabouts, sent round a small armed vessel, under Captain Barnet, who found him in Negril Bay. He attempted to escape, but was taken, with the small crew yet remaining faithful to him, and brought round to Port Royal, where they were tried and executed. Rackam was gibbeted at a place near Port Royal.
Today, Port Royal is a small Jamaican coastal fishing village. It retains very little of its former glory. Some old buildings are still intact and it’s worth a trip for history buffs. It is a valuable archaeological site, however, and digs in the old harbor continue to turn up interesting items.
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