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Edward Mansvelt

Elected admiral of the Jamaica privateers, who took the island of Providence from Spain in May 1666 under a commission that did not cover it, and was dead within two years without ever being tried.

BornNot establishedDied1666 or 1667Also writtenMansvelt (Exquemelin, The Buccaneers of America); Mansfield (Governor Modyford's Jamaica letters); Capt. Edward Mansfield (Modyford to Lord Arlington, 8 March 1665/6)

Edward Mansvelt was chosen admiral by the Jamaica privateers in the winter of 1665/6, took Providence island off its Spanish garrison in May 1666 with no orders to do it, and was dead within a year or two, untried. Governor Sir Thomas Modyford wrote to London about him while it was happening; Alexandre Exquemelin, who put the whole cruise into his Buccaneers of America and printed it in English in 1684, dated none of it.1,2,3

The name

The surname arrives in two shapes. Exquemelin has Mansvelt, the Dutch form and the conventional one; Modyford's English letters have Mansfield. The forename comes from a single line: writing to Lord Arlington on 8 March 1665/6, Modyford named "Capt. Edward Mansfield their Admiral". Exquemelin never gives him a Christian name at all.4

Admiral of the Jamaica privateers

The privateers chose him themselves. "Our privateers have chosen Capt. Edward Mansfield their Admiral", Modyford wrote: an election, reported by a governor who did not make it. The fleet sailed in the middle of January 1665/6 out of the South Keys of Cuba, under the Governor's commission, with Curacao named as the object. That January is 1666 by modern reckoning; the year still turned in March.5,6

Curacao never happened. Modyford, writing on 16 June 1666, reports that Mansfield came into Jamaica on the 12th and complained "that the disobedience of several officers and soldiers was the cause of their not proceeding on the design".7

Providence, May 1666

The old fellow, Modyford called him, half amused and half alarmed. He was resolved "never to see my face until he had done some service to his Majesty", and went off with two hundred men, about eighty of them French, to attempt Providence, which had been English until the Spaniards' whole armada took it in 1641 and was garrisoned ever since. Of his seamanship the Governor allowed him one virtue: "an excellent coaster, which is his chief if not only virtue". The ships came within half a mile in the night by an unusual passage among rocks "where they say ship never came", landed early, marched four leagues, and surprised the Spanish governor.8,9

About two hundred soldiers got into the fort and yielded on conditions to be landed on the main. Twenty-seven pieces of ordnance and a hundred double jars of powder were found in a fort Modyford reckoned very strongly built. The plunder they owned to was small: a hundred and fifty enslaved people, of whom they carried off a hundred. Thirty-five men stayed behind under Capt. Hattsell, keeper of the magazine, and the island was rendered to Modyford for the King's account. Many of the guns, they said, had Queen Elizabeth's arms engraven on them.10

Modyford's June letter reports the capture as recent; a letter written at Plymouth on 21 August, carrying news out of Jamaica, puts it "about the middle of May last" and counts the force at four privateers.11

Providence was not in the commission. Modyford's answer was a rebuke and nothing else. He had "only reproved Mansfield for doing it without orders", and told London why: "really he dare not go further than rebukes without his Majesty's express orders, lest he should drive them from that allegiance which they make great profession of now more than ever". By 21 August he had despatched Major Samuel Smith to govern the Isle of Providence, and a commission of 10 November 1666 made Sir James Modyford Lieutenant-Governor of Providence, also Sta. Catarina. Commissioned privateering by Jamaica's lights; piracy in Spanish eyes.12,13,14

The mainland cruise

He left a garrison on St Catherine under Le Sieur Simon and took the fleet on against the mainland, cruising toward the river Colla and Nata and setting prisoners ashore near Puerto Velo. Not a day of it is dated. Exquemelin puts the island near Cuba in one passage and near Costa Rica in another, and the credit he gives Mansvelt for reaching Granada and the South Sea may belong to another raider, such as John Davis.15

Exquemelin makes Mansvelt the predecessor and admiral who chose Henry Morgan for his vice-admiral. No paper written at the time puts the two men in the same fleet.16,17

Two deaths

He was never tried, no court ruled on any of it, and he was dead within a year or two of Providence. How he died is another matter. In Exquemelin he dies quietly, at Tortuga, with no day, no month and no cause to it.18,19

Henry Wasey, master of the Concord of 400 tons, swore otherwise. Seized with his ship at anchor in Portobello on 25 May 1666 and put in irons as a supposed spy, he had seen prisoners taken in Providence made slaves there. He swore his deposition on 19 August 1668, and it was read in Council that December: "that Capt. Mansfield, an English vessel, brought in as prize at the Havannah, and Capt. Mansfield, the Commander, clapped in irons, who it was reported was suddenly after put to death". Wasey does not say this was the Providence commander, and what he swore to was gaol talk out of Havana. Later retellings credit Exquemelin with an execution by the Spanish, though the English text of 1684 carries only the Tortuga death.20,21

Almost all of this was read in a Victorian editor's calendar, not in the letters. Sainsbury quotes in places and abridges throughout, and the manuscripts in Col. Papers, Vol. XX have not been opened for this record. The Dutch Exquemelin of 1678 and the Spanish of 1681 have not been laid beside the English text of 1684. So this page can tell you what he took in May 1666 and not when he died.22

What the evidence does not settle

Origins

  • Mansvelt's birthplace and nationality

Death

  • The date of the reported death at TortugaPossible
  • Whether Henry Wasey's captured commander was Mansvelt

Exquemelin's versions

  • Differences among the 1678, 1681 and 1684 editions

Each line is one question with its own grade, taken from the register where a claim carries it. Nothing here is graded as a whole.

Sources for this record

Every statement above that rests on a checked claim carries a small number; the numbers lead here. Each entry gives what is claimed, how far the record supports it, and where it comes from.

  1. A buccaneer commander known as Mansvelt or Mansfield was active out of Jamaica in the mid-1660s, his existence carried both by Governor Modyford's contemporary Jamaica letters and by Exquemelin's narrative. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Calendared state papers and period narrative: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 5 (1661-1668), no. 1147: Governor Sir Thomas Modyford to Sec. Lord Arlington; Col. Papers, Vol. XX., No. 26; Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 5 (1661-1668), no. 1216: Governor Sir Thomas Modyford to Sec. Lord Arlington, 16 June 1666; Col. Papers, Vol. XX., No. 100; The Buccaneers of America (1684 English translation; read via the Project Gutenberg reprint 'The Pirates of Panama, or The Buccaneers of America', ed. G. A. Williams)
  2. The whole documentary base for Mansvelt rests on two independent strands: Exquemelin's narrative, a single buccaneer memoir, and Governor Modyford's Jamaica letters in the Calendar of State Papers Colonial, which are contemporary official correspondence. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Calendared state papers and period narrative: The Buccaneers of America (1684 English translation; read via the Project Gutenberg reprint 'The Pirates of Panama, or The Buccaneers of America', ed. G. A. Williams); Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 5 (1661-1668), no. 1147: Governor Sir Thomas Modyford to Sec. Lord Arlington; Col. Papers, Vol. XX., No. 26; Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 5 (1661-1668), no. 1216: Governor Sir Thomas Modyford to Sec. Lord Arlington, 16 June 1666; Col. Papers, Vol. XX., No. 100
  3. Exquemelin's Buccaneers of America, which survives in editions that diverge (1678 Dutch, 1681 Spanish, 1684 English), supplies the only continuous narrative of Mansvelt's cruise and gives no calendar dates for any part of it. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: read via the Project Gutenberg reprint 'The Pirates of Panama, or The Buccaneers of America', ed. G. A. Williams)
  4. The forename Edward rests on one contemporary official document, Modyford's letter of 8 March 1665/6, which names "Capt. Edward Mansfield their Admiral"; Exquemelin gives no forename, spelling the surname Mansvelt, while Modyford's English letters give Mansfield. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 5 (1661-1668), no. 1147: Governor Sir Thomas Modyford to Sec. Lord Arlington; Col. Papers, Vol. XX., No. 26; the surname forms also in The Buccaneers of America (1684 English translation; read via the Project Gutenberg reprint 'The Pirates of Panama, or The Buccaneers of America', ed. G. A. Williams)
  5. Mansfield was reckoned admiral of the Jamaica privateers by election, Modyford writing that "Our privateers have chosen Capt. Edward Mansfield their Admiral". Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 5 (1661-1668), no. 1147: Governor Sir Thomas Modyford to Sec. Lord Arlington; Col. Papers, Vol. XX., No. 26
  6. The one firm calendar anchor for the cruise is Modyford's report that the privateers chose Mansfield admiral and sailed in the middle of January 1665/6 from the South Keys of Cuba under the Governor's commission, with Curacao as the declared object; the Jamaica letters run on the Old Style year, so that January is 1666 by modern reckoning. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 5 (1661-1668), no. 1147: Governor Sir Thomas Modyford to Sec. Lord Arlington; Col. Papers, Vol. XX., No. 26; Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 5 (1661-1668), no. 1216: Governor Sir Thomas Modyford to Sec. Lord Arlington, 16 June 1666; Col. Papers, Vol. XX., No. 100
  7. Modyford's letter of 16 June 1666 reports that Mansfield arrived at Jamaica with one other ship on the 12th of that month and complained that the disobedience of several officers and soldiers was the cause of the fleet not proceeding on the design of Curacao. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 5 (1661-1668), no. 1216: Governor Sir Thomas Modyford to Sec. Lord Arlington, 16 June 1666; Col. Papers, Vol. XX., No. 100
  8. The same letter records that Mansfield, whom Modyford calls "the old fellow", was resolved never to see the Governor's face until he had done some service to his Majesty, and that with 200 men, about 80 of them French, he resolved to attempt the island of Providence, which had been English until the whole Spanish armada took it in 1641 and had been garrisoned by Spain ever since. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 5 (1661-1668), no. 1216: Governor Sir Thomas Modyford to Sec. Lord Arlington, 16 June 1666; Col. Papers, Vol. XX., No. 100
  9. The same letter calls Mansfield "an excellent coaster, which is his chief if not only virtue", and records that he brought his ships within half a mile of Providence by night through an unusual passage among rocks "where they say ship never came", landed early in the morning, marched four leagues, and surprised the Spanish governor, who was taken prisoner. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 5 (1661-1668), no. 1216: Governor Sir Thomas Modyford to Sec. Lord Arlington, 16 June 1666; Col. Papers, Vol. XX., No. 100
  10. The same letter records that about 200 soldiers held the fort and yielded on conditions to be landed on the main; that 27 pieces of ordnance, 100 double jars of powder and shot were found in a work Modyford calls very strongly built; that the plunder acknowledged was 150 enslaved people, of whom 100 were carried off; that 35 men and Capt. Hattsell, keeper of the magazine, were left on the island, which was rendered to Modyford for the King's account; and that many of the guns were said to bear Queen Elizabeth's arms. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 5 (1661-1668), no. 1216: Governor Sir Thomas Modyford to Sec. Lord Arlington, 16 June 1666; Col. Papers, Vol. XX., No. 100
  11. The capture of Providence, with the surrender of its forts and Spanish garrison, is fixed to the spring of 1666 by Modyford's letter of 16 June 1666, which reports it as recent; a letter written at Plymouth on 21 August 1666, carrying news brought from Jamaica by Capt. James Alford of the Oporto merchant, places it "about the middle of May last" and counts the force at four privateers. No source read for this record gives a day. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 5 (1661-1668), no. 1216: Governor Sir Thomas Modyford to Sec. Lord Arlington, 16 June 1666; Col. Papers, Vol. XX., No. 100; Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 5 (1661-1668), no. 1267: John Clarke to Joseph Williamson, Plymouth, 21 August 1666; Col. Papers, Vol. XX., No. 137
  12. Modyford recorded that he had "yet only reproved Mansfield for doing it without orders", and that he dared not go further than rebukes without the King's express orders, "lest he should drive them from that allegiance which they make great profession of now more than ever". Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 5 (1661-1668), no. 1216: Governor Sir Thomas Modyford to Sec. Lord Arlington, 16 June 1666; Col. Papers, Vol. XX., No. 100
  13. Jamaica and London converted the seizure into a Crown possession within months: Modyford wrote on 21 August 1666 that he had despatched Major Samuel Smith with a small supply of men to govern the Isle of Providence for his Majesty, and a commission of 10 November 1666 appointed Sir James Modyford Lieutenant-Governor of the island of Providence, also Santa Catarina, to govern by instructions from Sir Thomas Modyford at Jamaica. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 5 (1661-1668), no. 1263: Governor Sir Thomas Modyford to the Duke of Albemarle, 21 August 1666; Col. Papers, Vol. XX., No. 133; and no. 1307: commission appointing Sir James Modyford Lieutenant-Governor of Providence, 10 November 1666; Col. Papers, Vol. XX., No. 166
  14. Mansvelt's acts fall on the line between commissioned privateering and piracy: he sailed under Modyford's Jamaica commission, Modyford reproved him for taking Providence without orders, and Spain regarded the whole enterprise as piracy. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 5 (1661-1668), no. 1216: Governor Sir Thomas Modyford to Sec. Lord Arlington, 16 June 1666; Col. Papers, Vol. XX., No. 100; Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 5 (1661-1668), no. 1147: Governor Sir Thomas Modyford to Sec. Lord Arlington; Col. Papers, Vol. XX., No. 26
  15. Exquemelin supplies the only continuous narrative of the cruise, covering the fleet, St Catherine, the garrison left under Le Sieur Simon, the raid on the Central American mainland toward the river Colla and Nata, the prisoners set ashore near Puerto Velo, and the death at Tortuga; he gives no calendar dates, places the island near Cuba in one passage and near Costa Rica in another, and the credit for reaching Granada and the South Sea may belong to another raider such as John Davis. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: The Buccaneers of America (1684 English translation; read via the Project Gutenberg reprint 'The Pirates of Panama, or The Buccaneers of America', ed. G. A. Williams)
  16. Exquemelin alone makes Mansvelt Henry Morgan's predecessor and admiral and has him choose Morgan for his vice-admiral for the expedition; no contemporary document read for this record links the two men. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: The Buccaneers of America (1684 English translation; read via the Project Gutenberg reprint 'The Pirates of Panama, or The Buccaneers of America', ed. G. A. Williams)
  17. The reputation of Mansvelt as admiral of the buccaneers and Morgan's mentor rests on two unequal footings, Modyford's contemporary "their Admiral" and Exquemelin's narrative of the mentorship and the whole cruise, and the two should not be merged into a single legend. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Calendared state papers and period narrative: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 5 (1661-1668), no. 1147: Governor Sir Thomas Modyford to Sec. Lord Arlington; Col. Papers, Vol. XX., No. 26; The Buccaneers of America (1684 English translation; read via the Project Gutenberg reprint 'The Pirates of Panama, or The Buccaneers of America', ed. G. A. Williams)
  18. Mansvelt was never tried and no court adjudicated his guilt; he died in 1666 or 1667 before any trial, so no act of his is proven in law. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Calendared state papers and period narrative: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 5 (1661-1668), no. 1147: Governor Sir Thomas Modyford to Sec. Lord Arlington; Col. Papers, Vol. XX., No. 26; Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 5 (1661-1668), no. 1216: Governor Sir Thomas Modyford to Sec. Lord Arlington, 16 June 1666; Col. Papers, Vol. XX., No. 100; The Buccaneers of America (1684 English translation; read via the Project Gutenberg reprint 'The Pirates of Panama, or The Buccaneers of America', ed. G. A. Williams)
  19. The date and place of Mansvelt's death are unfixed: Exquemelin places it at Tortuga with no date, giving a window of late 1666 or 1667, and no dated primary record of the death was located for this record. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: The Buccaneers of America (1684 English translation; read via the Project Gutenberg reprint 'The Pirates of Panama, or The Buccaneers of America', ed. G. A. Williams)
  20. In a deposition sworn on 19 August 1668 and read in Council that December, Henry Wasey, master of the Concord of 400 tons, stated that he had been seized with his ship at anchor in Portobello on 25 May 1666 and put in irons as a supposed spy, that he saw prisoners taken in Providence made slaves at Portobello, that a vessel of Capt. Mansfield's was brought in as prize at the Havannah, and that Capt. Mansfield the commander was clapped in irons and reported to have been put to death soon afterwards; the deposition does not say that this was the commander who took Providence. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 5 (1661-1668), no. 1827: Deposition of Henry Wasey, master of the Concord, 19 August 1668, indorsed read in Council 19 December 1668; Col. Papers, Vol. XXIII., No. 43
  21. Exquemelin survives in editions that diverge (1678 Dutch, 1681 Spanish, 1684 English), and later summaries credit him with two different death accounts, illness at Tortuga and capture and execution by the Spanish, while the 1684 English text read for this record gives only the Tortuga death. Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Period narrative: The Buccaneers of America (1684 English translation; read via the Project Gutenberg reprint 'The Pirates of Panama, or The Buccaneers of America', ed. G. A. Williams); the divergence between the 1678 Dutch, 1681 Spanish and 1684 English editions, and the second death account, carried by later summaries
  22. The Calendar of State Papers Colonial entries used here (nos. 1147, 1216, 1263) are nineteenth-century calendar abstracts, not full transcripts; the original manuscripts in Col. Papers, Vol. XX and the Colonial Entry Books should be collated for exact wording and for what the abstracts omit. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 5 (1661-1668), no. 1147: Governor Sir Thomas Modyford to Sec. Lord Arlington; Col. Papers, Vol. XX., No. 26; Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 5 (1661-1668), no. 1216: Governor Sir Thomas Modyford to Sec. Lord Arlington, 16 June 1666; Col. Papers, Vol. XX., No. 100; Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 5 (1661-1668), no. 1263: Governor Sir Thomas Modyford to the Duke of Albemarle