The Nations of Piracy! Last update 13th January 2002

All the nations of the Caribbean were involved in the Spanish War of Succession (1701-1713). In 1700 the Spanish Hapsburg King, Charles II died without children. The French king, Louis XIV, cast eyes at Spain and threatened to add it to his empire, placing his puppet, Phillip V on the throne. Arrayed against the move was England (Queen Anne I 1702-1714), Holland and the Austrians (Hapsburg King Leopold I upto 1705, and then Joseph I 1705-1711, then Charles VI 1711-1740). England and Holland feared the collapse of their trade networks in the New World should the French win. In the end, France won the struggle and Phillip V ascended the Spanish throne, but much of his empire was shattered and concessions granted to other empires. Gibraltar and Minorca fell to England, Siciliy, Savoy, Naples, Milan and the Spanish Netherlands fell to Austria, with a small portion going to Prussia. France agreed to the coronation of England's Queen Anne's son over James II.

Spain

Spain was the main nation of the early years of the Caribbean. They had extensive capital holdings all along the coastline, usually acting as harbours where the gold looted from the native indians was collected, sorted, stamped, cross referenced and sent to Spain for the enjoyment of the King. Due to the actions of previous generations of pirates, the Spanish treasure fleets were now sailing in convoys of many galleons, usually supported by one or two Man'O'Wars. These were the treasure fleets. She was almost always at war, or at least the brink of it, with all the other nations, and was always waging war on the pirates and native indians of the interior. To protect her towns from pirating and smugglers, she maintained a Guarda le Costa - naval patrol ships always on the lookout for non Spanish ships within 5 nautical miles of any Spanish held land. The Spanish also harboured some of the pirates who preyed on ships of the other nations.

For details of the Treasure Fleets

Holland

Holland was never a major power in the Caribbean, though her contribution was quite significant to the development of the towns and pirates of the region and to naval warfare in general. She was the major trading nation of the period preceding this one, and her merchant ships were quite common in the Caribbean.

The Dutch had a deserved reputation as naval masters developed after their war with Spain and the impressive fleets harvesting herring. They were the merchant fleet of Europe and the Caribbean colonies until the English started to peg them back. The Anglo-Dutch wars of the 1650-1670's commenced the reversal of their fortune, which was finished by the war with France which required the Dutch to form a serious land army at the expense of the navy, and to make treaties with other nations such as England. The Dutch never had enough of their own sailors to man their navy, having to hire sailors from Germany, Norway and even England.

Even so, their leaders were brilliant and for most of the 1600's their tactics were based on decisive melee combats and fire ships, ideal for piracy. Their vessels were comparitively smaller than other nations due to the fact they were longer haul vessels.

England

In 1707, Scotland joined the United Kingdom, but in many ways kept its own autonomy.

England developed a powerful navy over the course of the 1600's, coming through the various Anglo-Dutch wars of the 1650's with a new look navy and naval tactics based on 'The Line of Battle'. The main requirement of 'The Line' though was a rigid adherance to discipline and orders, which precluded the use of merchants turned war vessel. It was through 'The Line' the English were able to take advantage of their higher and better armed ships. Unfortunately the English were losers in the 3rd Anglo-Dutch war more due to Dutch good luck and poor Anglo-French relations and intentions. The navy of the 1670's was badly undermanned, so in responce the navy developed professional standards and discipline. In 1677 the navy introduced professional qualifications for captains and officers. In order to secure a lieutenants commission the applicant had to be at least 20 years old and have 3 years experience at sea. They also had to sit an exam judged over by a board of senior captains. For the English the best form of training for their officers was to serve an apprenticeship being taught by their elders.

Enmity between England and France was fierce, causing the English parliament to introduce the Act of Settlement, meaning that no catholic (and therefore French king) could take the English throne.

Queen Anne, last of the Stuarts ruled until 1714, followed by George I who defeated an attempt by James II to take control.

Capture Port Royal in 1710

In late 1717, the naval presence on the American coast was boosted by order of the king to counter piracy, the break up being:

France

France boasts a proud naval history in the Caribbean, it's former citizens in the area being the precursors for pirates in the region. The French in the previous century were split by a serious religious difference between 2 sections of it's populous, with one section contributing significantly to the growth of piracy. Due to the war with England over the north american continent and the French loss, they were in decline in the Caribbean by this time. They maintain a number of towns in the east Caribbean islands and still contribute to the settlements of the English around the northern Caribbean.

The French were studying the art of naval warfare as a theory by the late 1600's and following the Anglo-Dutch wars possessed the largest naval fleet. She was the largest nation in Europe and could support a good navy with its taxes. However, the navy never secured a place in the national psyche as it had in England and Holland. The French king was more interested in expanding the nation by grabbing land than by trade. He was casting envious eyes at Spain, England and Holland and setting England and Holland at each other and cutting the colonies of Spain off. He did use his navy to cut the Spanish off, his navy killing the last great Dutch commander de Ruyter. It was after this the French and English had what might be termed an arms race with ships, as the British realised the French continental empire dream. The naval battles between the two nations ended up with the English on top.

In 1685 the King split the nation by breaking the Edict of Nantes which codified the tolerance of Protestants in the Catholic nation. The resulting fleeing of 200,000 or so citizens to foreign conutries was a blow to France as many of the people were skilled craftsmen and mariners. Many of these men also went to the Caribbean and became pirates. others fled to England.

In 1690 the fleet had reached its peak and was falling from interest. By 1715 it had shrunk to 50% of it's former size, partly due to the focus on the land army. Other factors were the blockading of the channel to limit access to Baltic naval yards and a severe shortage in cannon. A planned invasion of England in 1695 had been called off and no reason could be imagined to maintain such a large navy. Instead,a policy of commerce raiding was instituted, whereby France was leasing its warships to privateers. The navy lost its glory and no longer threatend other naval powers.

After 1704 French naval activity was dominated by an increasing focus on commerce raiding. Powerful privateer fleets raided convoys. The French abandoned 3 decked ships in favour of larger 2 decked ships and also evolved the frigate as a fast commerce raider.

Ruled by King Louix XIV until 1715, then by King louis XV

Take control of Mauritius 1710

America

While nominally the continent of north america was still an annexe of England, already the personality of a future America was developing in its citizens. Loud, brash, full of self importance and quite adept at manipulating others to solve their own problems, the Americans made quite willey merchants and pirates. The north american continent had no navy as such, being fully reliant on the English navy to protect its colonies there. The southern colonies were susceptable to pirate raids, and hence were also susceptable to being the wintering ports for pirates in disguise and an alternate location to unload booty, and therefore some of the southern towns thrived on the influx of foreign gold.