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Anguilla

A poor, dry English island far to leeward of Saint Christopher's, living by tobacco, salt and land crabs, whose deputy governor held his commission from the Leeward Islands government and where pirates were put ashore in 1720 and William Kidd was refused succour in April 1699.

Anguilla lies far to leeward of Saint Christopher's, in the Leeward Islands government. Two or three hundred English were making tobacco on it by 1668, and it was reckoned not worth keeping. Salt was made here. Land crabs swarmed, excellent good meat and a main support of the islanders, who ranged about a crabbing after a shower of rain.1,6,7

Water and want

Sir Nathaniel Johnson wrote from Nevis in February 1688 that the settlers of Anguilla and Tortola had petitioned to remove to Crab Island: those at Anguilla wanted water, had suffered much from droughts, and produced nothing that paid the King revenue. The island had been settled for years, though, and its deputy governor was named in the Leeward governor's commission.8,9

Governor Hamilton wrote in March 1718 that the poor people of Anguilla, Spanish Town and Tortola were still very pressing to remove to Santa Cruz, almost famished after the longest dry spell in the memory of man. Five dry months in 1720 saw several desert the island.10,11,12

Attacked by night

Abraham Howell, the deputy governor, wrote from Anguilla on 31 December 1688 that on the 21st the island had been attacked by "a sort of people under the notion of Spaniards", with English, Irish, French, Turks, mulattos, negroes and others among them. Captain Bear was said to be there; Howell would not vouch for it.13

Thomas Hill reported from Saint Christopher's on 8 January 1689 that piratical vessels had assaulted Anguilla by night and were beaten off by Howell. Hill puts no date on the assault itself and wrote from another island. Howell's letter was written on Anguilla.28

The island had seventy or eighty fighting men, and Howell could not collect above twenty. The raiders landed where there were few inhabitants and forced a man and a woman to pilot them to a place called the Road. Two hours before daylight they took prisoners and wounded two men, who broke through them and escaped.14,15

By eight Howell had come up with a small party and they re-embarked, leaving the prisoners on shore with ten Frenchmen taken elsewhere and sent on to Saint Martin's. Two ships had brought them, one of twenty-six guns and one of sixteen, with about two hundred and fifty men. Sir Francis Watson, writing from Jamaica, called Bear an Englishman under Spanish protection and a chief in these villainies.16,17,18

In 1689, days after the capture of Saint Christopher's, the French of Saint Martin's and Saint Bartholomew attacked and subdued Anguilla. They later restored most of the inhabitants' goods, keeping property worth 1,400 pieces of eight to cover their expenses.2

Pirates among the inhabitants

Governor Hart visited in 1724 and learned that the first inhabitants had fled Barbados and the greater islands for debt or to escape punishment, and had since been increased by pirates who came in upon acts of grace and settled there. He found a fierce contention for property and no form of justice, and left six justices of the peace, a secretary and a provost marshal.19,20

His answers to the Board of Trade that July counted 360 whites and 900 blacks. Anguilla, Spanish Town and Tortola had no shipping from Great Britain and no customs officers, and the little they made went to the Dutch at Saint Eustatius and the Danes at Saint Thomas.3

Early in 1720 the crew of a ship the pirates called the Royal Rover, after a great many depredations on the coast of Guinea, came to a separation, some resolving to steal ashore. Six were landed on Anguilla pretending to have been shipwrecked, were detected, brought up to Governor Hamilton, tried and sentenced to death.21

A news-sheet enclosed in the Bermuda despatch of that March made the party five white men and one black, with two of them then in gaol at Antigua.22

Captain Hume of the Scarborough, hunting two pirate sloops, put in at Anguilla and was told they had been at Spanish Town. Charles Vane, wanting provisions, was steering between Saint Christopher's and Anguilla when he fell in with a brigantine and a sloop with the cargo he wanted.23,24

About four hours

William Kidd, homeward bound in the captured Quedagh Merchant, renamed the Adventure Prize, arrived at Anguilla about the beginning of April 1699 and sent his boat ashore. His men had the news there that he and his people had been proclaimed pirates; it threw them into such consternation that they looked to run the ship ashore rather than come into an English port. He was refused succour, stayed about four hours and sailed for Saint Thomas.4,25

The Council of Nevis passed the story to William Blathwayt on 18 May and sent HMS Queenborough after him, dating the call twenty days since; Kidd's own account puts it about the beginning of April. At his trial in May 1701 a passenger named Davis described the boat and the news waiting there; the island, in the print, is Amboyna.26,27

Abraham Howell's letter of 31 December 1688 is the only writing from Anguilla itself. The day Kidd anchored and the bay he lay in are open; the Colonial Office correspondence for the Leewards in 1699 at Kew would settle both. What became of the six men put ashore in 1720 lies in the Leeward admiralty proceedings.

What the evidence does not settle

Kidd's April 1699 call

  • Whether Kidd landed himself or only sent a boatLikely
  • Month of the call rests on one hobbyist source onlyConfirmed

Name

  • French form of Anguilla's name is unattested, only expected

Charts and soundings

  • A Golden Age chart or period soundings for Road Bay

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 contemporary report from Nevis records that in 1666, during the Anglo-French war, the French from Saint Kitts landed 300 men on Anguilla and the inhabitants fired their own houses and took to the woods. Anguilla was among the islands Lord Willoughby set out from Barbados on 23 May 1667 to resettle, and by 1668 it held 200 or 300 English, mostly people who had fled there during the war, making tobacco under Captain Abraham Howell as governor within the Leeward Islands government. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Colonial state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 5, 1661-1668, ed. W Noel Sainsbury (London, 1880), read on British History Online: no. 1212, Francis Sampson to his brother John Sampson, Nevis, 6 June 1666, p. 387 [Col. Papers, Vol. XX., No. 97], "The French from St. Kitt's landed 300 men on Anguilla, where the inhabitants fired their own houses and took to the woods"; no. 1524, Major Scott's relation, 12 July 1667 [Col. Papers, Vol. XXI., No. 74], for Willoughby's departure on 23 May "for resettling Antigua, Montserrat, Saba, and Anguilla"; no. 1788, Governor Wm. Lord Willoughby to the Lords of the Council, [9 July] 1668 [Col. Entry Bk., No. V., pp. 115-121], "Far leeward of St. Kitts lies Anguilla, on which are 200 or 300 English, mostly fled thither during the war... Capt. Abraham Howell is Governor"; and no. 1901, notes in the handwriting of Williamson, 1668 [Col. Papers, Vol. XXIII., No. 103], "Anguilla : Far to leeward of St. Christopher's; 200 or 300 English fled thither in time of war; not worth keeping; make tobacco; inhabitants poor and would remove to Antigua; Governor, Abr. Howell"
  2. The French of Saint Martin's and Saint Bartholomew attacked and subdued Anguilla a few days after the capture of Saint Christopher's in 1689, then restored most of the inhabitants' goods while keeping property worth 1,400 pieces of eight to cover their expenses. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Colonial state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 13, 1689-1692, item 444, Lieutenant-General Codrington to the Lords of Trade and Plantations, Antigua, 19 September 1689
  3. Anguilla was a poor and thinly settled slave society and not a slave-trading entrepot. Governor John Hart's answers to the Board of Trade's queries, sent from Saint Christopher on 12 July 1724, counted 360 whites and 900 blacks on the island; reported that Anguilla, Spanish Town and Tortola had no trade or shipping from Great Britain and no officers of the customs among them; and gave the manufactures of those three islands as sugar, molasses and cotton, produced in very small quantities and generally disposed of to the Dutch at Saint Eustatius and the Danes at Saint Thomas. Hart, who visited it, called Anguilla a poor and barren place whose inhabitants bore all the marks of poverty. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Colonial state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 34, 1724-1725, ed. Cecil Headlam and Arthur Percival Newton (London, 1936), read on British History Online: no. 260, Governor Hart to the Council of Trade and Plantations, St. Christophers, 12 July 1724, with enclosure no. 260 viii, Governor Hart's replies to Queries by the Board of Trade. The population table, p. 151, gives "Anguilla... 360... 900" under the headings "Whites" and "Blacks"; p. 149, "The Islands of Anguilla, Spanish Town, and Tartola have no trade nor shiping from Great Britain, nor no officers of the Customs amongst them... The manufacturies of these three Islands are sugar, molosses and cotton, of which they produce but very small quantities and those they generally dispose of to the Dutch at St. Eustatia, and the Danes at St. Thomas's"; p. 143, "The first Island that I visited was Anguilla, which I found to be a poor and barren place, and the inhabitants in their houses cloathing and diet, bore all the marks of poverty"
  4. William Kidd, homeward bound in the captured Quedagh Merchant renamed Adventure Prize, arrived at Anguilla about the beginning of April 1699 and sent his boat ashore, where his men had the news that he and his people had been proclaimed pirates; he was refused succour, stayed about four hours and sailed for Saint Thomas. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Narrative and official correspondence: Narrative of William Kidd, 7 July 1699 (Public Record Office, C.O. 5:860, no. 64 XXV), printed as document no. 76 in J. F. Jameson, ed., Privateering and Piracy in the Colonial Period: Illustrative Documents (New York, 1923): "That about the beginning of April 1699 the Narrator arrived at Anguilla in the West-Indies and sent his Boat on Shore, where his men had the News That he and his People were proclaimed Pirates"; corroborated by the President and Council of the Leeward Islands to Secretary Vernon, 18 May 1699 (C.O. 152:3, no. 21), document no. 72 in the same collection: "about twenty dayes since he touched at Anguilla, a small Island under this Government, where he Tarryed about foure houres; but being refused succour Sailed thence for the Island of St. Thomas"
  5. Beyond Kidd's own Narrative as calendared, which gives the month of his Anguilla call as about the beginning of April 1699, has him send his boat ashore and puts the stay at about four hours, the day of the month, the anchorage used, the identity of his informant and whether any islander deposed to the encounter afterwards are unestablished. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Secondary biography: The Pirate King, William Kidd biography for the month; no catalogued or primary record retrieved for the day or the surrounding detail
  6. Salt was made on Anguilla by the later 1660s: Under-Secretary Williamson's memorandum on the West Indies records salt made on the island, entering it under the heading for the French island of St Martin's. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 5, 1661-1668, item 1661, Mem. by Under-Sec. Williamson, relating to the West Indies, [1667?], p. 534
  7. Land crabs were numerous on Anguilla and some very large, and they were excellent good meat and a main support of the inhabitants of those islands, who ranged about a crabbing and took them after a shower of rain. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period printed description: Lionel Wafer, A New Voyage and Description of the Isthmus of America (London, 1699), the chapter on the animals of the country, at the side-note Land-Crab's
  8. Governor Sir Nathaniel Johnson reported from Nevis on 20 February 1688 that the poorer inhabitants and all the settlers in Anguilla and Tortola had petitioned him for liberty to go and settle on Crab Island, that those at Anguilla wanted water and had suffered much of late from droughts, and that they produced nothing which paid revenue to the King. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 12, 1685-1688, item 1639, Governor Sir Nathaniel Johnson to Lords of Trade and Plantations, Nevis, 20 February 1688, pp. 505-506
  9. Anguilla had been settled by the English for years and its deputy governor was named in the commissions of the Leeward Islands governor and of his predecessor. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 13, 1689-1692, item 83, Sir Nathaniel Johnson to Lords of Trade and Plantations, Antigua, 20 April 1689, p. 26
  10. Governor Hamilton reported on 15 March 1718 that the poor people of Anguilla, Spanish Town and Tortola were still very pressing to remove to the island of Santa Cruz, and that he had desired them to have patience until the King's commands and the Council of Trade's directions reached him. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 30, 1717-1718, item 442, Governor Hamilton to the Council of Trade and Plantations, St. Christophers, 15 March 1718, p. 214
  11. Governor Hamilton reported in the same despatch that those poor people were almost famished for want of food and that such a long spell of dry weather had not been known in the memory of man. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 30, 1717-1718, item 442, Governor Hamilton to the Council of Trade and Plantations, St. Christophers, 15 March 1718, p. 214
  12. Governor Hamilton reported on 14 June 1720 that it had been so excessively dry for the past five months, and particularly in Anguilla, that several of the inhabitants had deserted the island and more would follow. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 32, 1720-1721, item 107, Governor Hamilton to the Council of Trade and Plantations, Antigua, 14 June 1720, pp. 49-50
  13. Deputy Governor Abraham Howell wrote from Anguilla on 31 December 1688 that on the 21st the island was attacked by a sort of people under the notion of Spaniards, among whom were English, Irish, French, Turks, mulattos, negroes and others, and that Captain Bear was said to be with them, which he could not tell. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 13, 1689-1692, item 83.v, Deputy-Governor Howell to Sir Nathaniel Johnson, Anguilla, 31 December 1688, pp. 28-29
  14. The settlers of Anguilla were not above seventy or eighty fighting men, of whom the deputy governor could not collect above twenty. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 13, 1689-1692, item 83, Sir Nathaniel Johnson to Lords of Trade and Plantations, Antigua, 20 April 1689, p. 26
  15. The raiders of December 1688 landed where there were few inhabitants, took a man and a woman and forced them to pilot them to a place called the Road, where about two hours before daylight they took prisoners and wounded two men, who broke through them and escaped. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 13, 1689-1692, item 83.v, Deputy-Governor Howell to Sir Nathaniel Johnson, Anguilla, 31 December 1688, pp. 28-29
  16. About eight in the morning Howell met the raiders with a small party, whereupon they retreated and re-embarked, leaving their prisoners on shore together with ten French prisoners taken elsewhere, whom the islanders sent to St Martin's. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 13, 1689-1692, item 83.v, Deputy-Governor Howell to Sir Nathaniel Johnson, Anguilla, 31 December 1688, pp. 28-29
  17. Two ships had brought the raiders, one of twenty-six guns and the other of sixteen, with about two hundred and fifty men, and Howell closed his letter asking for a barrel of powder for his guns, his men being so few that they dared trust no visitors. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 13, 1689-1692, item 83.v, Deputy-Governor Howell to Sir Nathaniel Johnson, Anguilla, 31 December 1688, pp. 28-29
  18. Sir Francis Watson reported from Jamaica on 15 March 1689 that he had sent the Drake to claim the prisoners brought from Anguilla, and that Captain Bear, an Englishman protected by the Spaniards, was a chief in all these villainies. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 13, 1689-1692, item 52, Sir Francis Watson to Lords of Trade and Plantations, [Jamaica], 15 March 1689, p. 16
  19. Governor Hart, having visited Anguilla in 1724, reported that the first inhabitants of the island and of Spanish Town were such as had fled from Barbados and the greater islands of his government for debt or to avoid the punishment of their crimes, and had since been increased by pirates who came in upon acts of grace and were married and settled there. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 34, 1724-1725, item 260, Governor Hart to the Council of Trade and Plantations, St. Christophers, 12 July 1724, pp. 143-144
  20. Governor Hart found at Anguilla in 1724 a very fierce contention for property and no form of justice, and appointed six justices of the peace, a secretary and a provost marshal and gave commissions to officers of the militia. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 34, 1724-1725, item 260, Governor Hart to the Council of Trade and Plantations, St. Christophers, 12 July 1724, pp. 143-144
  21. Early in 1720 the crew of a pirate ship called amongst themselves the Royal Rover, which had committed a great many depredations upon the coast of Guinea, came to a separation, some of them resolving to steal ashore; six were landed upon Anguilla pretending to be shipwrecked, where they were detected, brought up to Governor Hamilton, tried, found guilty and sentenced to death. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 32, 1720-1721, item 28, Governor Hamilton to the Council of Trade and Plantations, Nevis, 28 March 1720, pp. 11-12
  22. A news-sheet enclosed in Lieutenant Governor Bennett's letter from Bermuda of 31 March 1720 makes the party put ashore on Anguilla five white men and one black, of whom two were then in gaol at Antigua and the rest were sent for. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 32, 1720-1721, item 33.i, a newspaper enclosed in Lt. Governor Bennett to Mr. Popple, Bermuda, 31 March 1720, pp. 18-19
  23. Captain Hume of the Scarborough, hunting two pirate sloops through the Leeward Islands, sailed to Anguilla, where he learned that the sloops had some time before been at Spanish Town. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Period narrative: Charles Johnson, A General History of the Pyrates, volume I (London, 1724), the chapter of Captain Martel and his crew
  24. Charles Vane's company, wanting provisions, were steering between St Christopher's and Anguilla when they fell in with a brigantine and a sloop carrying the cargo they wanted, from whom they got provisions for sea store. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Period narrative: Charles Johnson, A General History of the Pyrates, volume I (London, 1724), the chapter of Captain Charles Vane and his crew
  25. The news brought off at Anguilla threw Kidd's men into such consternation that they sought every opportunity to run the ship on shore upon some reef or shoal, fearing he should carry them into an English port. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Narrative printed in a modern work: Dalton, The Real Captain Kidd, printing the Narrative of Captain William Kidd and the Old Bailey trial of May 1701
  26. The Council of Nevis reported to William Blathwayt on 18 May that Kidd had touched at Anguilla some twenty days earlier and, being refused succour, had gone on to St Thomas, and that they had sent H.M.S. Queenborough in pursuit of him. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 13, 1689-1692, item 136, the Council of Nevis to William Blathwayt, Nevis, 18 May, p. 41; the volume covers 1689 to 1692, but the item describes Kidd's homeward voyage from Madagascar, which the calendared papers of volume 17 date to 1699, and the year of the item is not settled there
  27. At Kidd's trial in May 1701 a passenger named Davis, called by Kidd to prove the French passes, deposed that the boat was sent ashore and that word came there that Captain Kidd was published a pirate in England; the printed trial names the island Amboyna. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Trial print in a modern work: Dalton, The Real Captain Kidd, printing the Narrative of Captain William Kidd and the Old Bailey trial of May 1701
  28. Deputy Governor Thomas Hill reported from Saint Christopher's on 8 January 1689 that several piratical vessels had lately been seen near the Leeward Islands, that he had appointed guards, patrols and grand rounds against an attack, and that they had assaulted Anguilla by night but were beaten off by Captain Abraham Howell; he gives the assault itself no date beyond the date of his own letter. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 13, 1689-1692, item 4, Deputy Governor Thomas Hill to Lords of Trade and Plantations, St. Christopher, 8 January 1689, p. 3