The ArchivesPlacesIle a Vache
Ile a Vache
The Isle of Ash of English colonial papers, used as Henry Morgan's 1670 rendezvous, occupied by pirates and French privateers in the late 1680s, and close enough to threaten Jamaica.
Also writtenIsle a Vache; Isle of Ash (English colonial papers); Cow Island
The island appears in English colonial papers as the Isle of Ash. Henry Morgan's account of his 1670 expedition says that he sailed from Port Royal on 14 August with eleven vessels and six hundred men for the island as their rendezvous. More ships joined there before the expedition moved on towards Providence and Panama.1
Pirates behind fortifications
On 20 March 1688 Jamaica's Council considered a different group on the Isle of Ash. Its minutes say that pirates had fortified themselves there and had English subjects among them. The Council resolved to send a warship to demand those subjects and to attack if the pirates refused. The minute records the decision, not whether the ship sailed or what it found.2
A French-held neighbour of Jamaica
Later that year the Duke of Albemarle reported that the island had once depended on Jamaica and was valuable for turtle fishing. He said it had been held for two years by French forces commanded by a pirate named Laurens, with British subjects barred from hunting and fishing. Albemarle judged the place important and warned that French possession would be dangerous to Jamaica in wartime.3,4
Hender Molesworth made the same strategic point in April 1689. Jamaica, he wrote, lay close to Tortudos, Petit Guavos and the Isle of Ash. French privateers abounded at those places and could reach Jamaica in two days. The island was therefore both a rendezvous and a forward position from which shipping and settlements around Jamaica could be threatened.5
What the evidence does not settle
The English papers identify the Isle of Ash as a nearby island used for rendezvous, fishing and fortification. This draft accepts its identification with modern Ile a Vache, but the manuscript chart, French sailing directions and French colonial correspondence should confirm it. Those records would also identify Laurens, describe the works occupied in 1688 and show whether Jamaica carried out the proposed attack. The papers read here do not establish a later role in Saint-Domingue's plantation economy or any modern heritage claim, so neither is used to define the record.
What the evidence does not settle
The Oxford explosion
- Oxford explosion deaths are put at 200 or about 200
Date of the Oxford explosion
- Whether 2 January 1669 is Old or New Style is unclear
Jamaica Merchant wreck
- The Jamaica Merchant wreck around 1675 is reported second hand
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.
- Henry Morgan's calendared account says his 1670 expedition sailed from Port Royal with eleven vessels and six hundred men for the Isle of Ash as its rendezvous. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Period primary source or printed calendar: CSP Colonial vol. 7, item 504, Henry Morgan's account, calendar p. 197, library line 92
- The Jamaica Council resolved in March 1688 to send a warship to demand the English subjects among pirates who had fortified themselves in the Isle of Ash, and to attack if they refused. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Period primary source or printed calendar: CSP Colonial vol. 12, Jamaica Council minutes, 20 March 1688, calendar p. 520, library line 123
- Governor Albemarle wrote in 1688 that the Isle of Ash had once depended on Jamaica, was valuable for turtle fishing, and had for two years been held by French forces under the pirate Laurens. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Period primary source or printed calendar: CSP Colonial vol. 12, item 1858, Albemarle to the Lords of Trade and Plantations, 1688, calendar p. 579, library line 60
- Albemarle warned that the Isle of Ash was important and would be harmful to Jamaica in French hands during a war. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Period primary source or printed calendar: CSP Colonial vol. 12, item 1858, Albemarle to the Lords of Trade and Plantations, 1688, calendar p. 579, library line 60
- Hender Molesworth wrote in April 1689 that Jamaica lay close to Tortudos, Petit Guavos and the Isle of Ash, where French privateers abounded and could reach Jamaica in two days. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Period primary source or printed calendar: CSP Colonial vol. 13, item 74, Molesworth to Shrewsbury, 17 April 1689, calendar p. 22, library line 63