Pirate Hunters: Treasure, Obsession and the Search for a Legendary Pirate Ship

by Robert Kurson

In 1655, England invaded Jamaica and captured it from the Spanish. The conquest planted the English into the heart of the Caribbean, well positioned to disrupt Spanish shipping and attack her colonies. But just a year later, many of the warships that had captured the island had been retired or returned to England. Left vulnerable, the English governor of Jamaica needed to figure out another way to defend the island. And he had to do it fast. So he turned his attention three hundred miles northeast to Tortuga, a wild island inhabited by English, French, and Dutch cutthroats who made their livings by attacking Spanish ships. People called these bandits buccaneers, from the French word boucan, for the wooden cooking frame used by area hunters to smoke meats. The governor made the buccaneers an offer: Protect English interests in Jamaica with your heavily armed ships and you can use Port Royal’s harbor as a base for your pirating operations. Tough men, from Tortuga and elsewhere, lined up to accept. Some secured official commissions from the English Crown and were known as privateers.