So far on this channel I’ve talked about
what pirates were doing when they were at
sea but where did they go AFTER they filled
up their holds with stolen cargo or precious
metals? Well, if you were a pirate in the
late 1600’s the number one destination you’d
want to visit would have been Port Royal,
Jamaica. A little back story about Port Royal.
Prior to Columbus the Taino natives used the
area around Port Royal for fishing, but it’s
not known if they actually settled there.
In 1494 the Spanish landed in Jamaica and,
in 1509, a group of people settled in Port
Royal. They didn’t have much use for it
outside of cultivating and processing sugar
cane. The main reason the Spanish were on
Jamaica was to keep the other European powers
from being able to get a foothold in the Caribbean.
In 1655 Port Royal was captured by the English
invasion of Jamaica and, by 1659, 200 houses,
shops, and warehouses had been set up. During
this time the Governor of Jamaica, Edward
D’Oley welcomed Pirates to base in Port
Royal. These pirates were largely made up
of buccaneers, who had been living on Hispaniola
and hunting wild pigs until the Spanish threw
them out. These men wanted to get back at
the Spanish and the English were happy to
help them out with that!The English quickly
granted letters of mark turning the buccaneers
into legal English Privateers and then started
ordering raids on the Spanish. By doing this
they found a way to defend Port Royal without
having to spend much at all. The Spanish were
unable to retake Jamaica due to the pirates
protecting it. That, combined with the Pirates
attacking their ships drove up the demand
for goods in Spain. The merchants on Jamaica
would initiate trade with the Spanish and
then have the privateers attack the vessels
to steal it back. This was making Port Royal
one of the wealthiest English colonies in
North America.
In 1668 Henry Morgan sacked Portobello and
returned to Port Royal with a plunder worth
75,000 pounds which was more than 7 times
the annual value of Jamaicas sugar exports.
Port Royal was appealing to pirates due to
the close proximity to trade routes giving
them easy access to prey as well as the proximity
to several of the only straits between the
Spanish main and the Atlantic. The harbor
was large and had a place to careen their
ships. By the 1660’s Port Royal was known
as “Sodom of the New World” and most of
the people who lived there were pirates, merchants,
or prostitutes.
Charles Leslie wrote a history of Jamaica
and described Port Royal like this:“Wine
and women drained their wealth to such a degree
that some of them became reduced to beggary.
They have been known to spend 2 or 3,000 pieces
of eight in one night; and one gave a strumpet 500
to see her naked. They used to buy a pipe of
wine, place it in the street, and oblige everyone
that passed to drink.”At its height Port
Royal had one drinking house for every 10
residents and in July 1661 alone 40 new licenses
were granted for taverns. Up until 1692 around
6,500 people lived in Port Royal. There were
2000 buildings on only 51 acres of land. As
available land decreased people would either
fill in areas of water with sand or build
taller. The buildings became heavier as people
built with bricks mimicking the construction
style of England.
On June 7th, 1692 an earthquake struck Jamaica
causing most of the north section of Port
Royal to be lost. The earthquake caused the
sand to liquefy and flow out into the harbor.
In the 1960’s a pocket watch was recovered
that was stopped at 11:43 and, along with
supporting evidence, it is believed this is
the exact time the earthquake struck. When
the earthquake occurred the liquefaction would
have make the ground look like quicksand and
eyewitness accounts attested to buildings
sliding into the sea.
After the earthquake there was a tsunami and
many dead bodies were left to float in the
harbor. No housing, medicine, or clean water
caused many more residents to die of various
illnesses. The earthquake and tsunami killed
between 1,000 and 3,000 people and over the
next few months an additional 2,000 died.
Attempts to rebuild the city to it’s former
glory were largely unsuccessful but Port Royal
was still in use for years, although instead
of a sanctuary for pirates the English government
started to imprison and hang them there. Gallows
point was the final resting place for pirates
like Charles Vane and Jack Rackham and Mary
Read died in prison there. In 1774 Port Royal
was, once again, destroyed, but this time
due to a major hurricane. By 1774 Kingston
had become much more important. Finally in
1907, a massive earthquake liquefied the sand
again destroying nearly all of the rebuilt
city.
There is an archaeological presence and in
1981 Texas A&M began a 10 year investigation.
Thanks to their efforts we have learned much
about the everyday life in English colonial
cities from the time. Some consider Port Royal
to be the most important underwater archaeological
site in the western hemisphere due to the
amount of artifacts and how well they are
preserved.
From nothing to a major pirate outpost and
back to obscurity again Port Royal has seen
its ups and downs. Recently Jamaica has built
a cruise ship terminal in Port Royal complete
with a floating pier to prevent damaging the
historical artifacts below. I hope you enjoyed
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