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Jamaica

The island England took from Spain in 1655 and ran by council, assembly and parish. Its governors commissioned the privateers of the buccaneering decades; the Admiralty court at St Jago de la Vega tried and hanged the pirates of the 1720s.

Also writtenHis Majesty's Island of Jamaica (the formal style in the 1721 Jamaica trial print); St Jago de la Vega (English official and legal usage for the capital, printed throughout the 1721 trial record); St. Jago (the form used in the Council of Jamaica minutes of 28 November 1671 for the seat of the Assembly); Spanish Town (English vernacular name of the capital, used in the Jamaica trial claims for the gaol that held Rackham's company)

Jamaica is the island and its jurisdiction. Port Royal keeps the harbour; the parishes, the assembly and the court belong here.

The island the English kept

Oliver, Lord Protector, proclaimed on 10 October 1655 that the island of Jamaica was "in the possession of this State", with "the enemy found upon it fled into the mountains with intention to escape". He offered every settler removing there twenty acres for every male of twelve years old and upwards, and "ten acres for every other male or female". Instructions of the same day told Richard Fortescue to "fortify the harbour of St. Jago, where the fleet first arrived".5,6,7

Captain William Godfrey wrote from the Marmaduke on 30 April 1656 of "the raging fury of mortality in the Army which is almost destroyed". Most of the Spaniards had deserted the island, he reported, and the English still met "opposition from the negroes and mulattoes who slew about 40 of our soldiers about a month since".8,9

The Earl of Inchiquin wrote home from Jamaica on 31 August 1690 of a rising. On 29 July more than five hundred enslaved people on "Mr. Salter's estate in the mountains in the middle of the Island" broke out. He gave the numbers there as "six or seven whites" to five hundred, and called that the usual proportion in the island. Two hundred had come in by the letter's end, and "what with killed and wounded, we look upon the rebellion as over". The maroon communities have their own record.10,11,12

Parishes, an assembly, and the trade

The Council of Jamaica on 28 November 1671 set named officers to take account of the enslaved people parish by parish, Clarendon, St. Elizabeth, St. John's, St. Katherine's and the rest. The same minute ordered writs issued for "an Assembly to meet at St. Jago 1st February next", with three members chosen for St. Katherine's parish.13,14

Behind the order lay the peace. His Majesty "has adjusted a Peace with his Catholic Majesty in America, and strictly commanded the Governor to release all prisoners", and disputes had arisen "about freeing Indians, negroes and mulattos". Every holder was to give "account of all Spanish negroes they have and of what age, sex, and country they are", on pain of being sent up prisoners for contempt. Major Beeston and Captain Read had already treated with the Governor of Cartagena at eighty pieces of eight for each.15,16,17

The island's Council and Assembly told James II that though "some thousands of negroes have been imported by the Company into this Island" within the past six years, "few of these have fallen to the planters' share". Outward it was sugar. Weather drier and hotter than usual in 1690 hindered its carriage to the coast and held up the fleet.18,19

The commissions the governors signed

Modyford had "only reproved Mansfield for doing it without orders" after the taking of Providence, and dared go no further than rebukes. Panama has its own record. On 2 December 1670 the captains resolved "that it stands most for the good of Jamaica and safety of us all to take Panama".20,21

A warrant of 17 November 1671 had Sir Thomas Modyford, late governor of Jamaica, kept "close prisoner of the Tower for several misdemeanours committed during the time of his government". Lynch wrote to Arlington on 29 November that he would do nothing without positive directions, "for I had rather sustain the charge of the whole nation in Jamaica than of one ambassador in the Tower".22,23

Captain Balchen of the Diamond reported "two sloops fitted out of Jamaica, one belonging to Capt. Edward James, the other to Capt. Jennings, which had my Lord Hamilton's Commission for suppressing of piracys, but this design, as they said themselves was upon the wrecks". They "went to sea and in a shorter time than cou'd be expected, return'd again with a considerable sum of mony".24,25

Balchen thought it "the greatest of piracy". It was "blam'd by some of the Island", he wrote, "but by those who had share of the mony thought just". On 19 May 1716 Whitehall ordered a commission drawn superseding Hamilton and appointing Peter Heywood.26,27

The court at St Jago de la Vega

The Act for the more effectual suppression of piracy, 11 Will. 3 c. 7, had the royal assent on 11 April 1700. It let a court be assembled "on Shipboard or upon the Land" as often as occasion required, of "Seaven Persons at the least". Nobody could sit and vote in it but "knowne Merchants Factors or Planters", officers of the King's ships, or the masters of English ones. It sat at Jamaica under a commission of the Great Seal dated 3 April 1718, and Robert Baldwin printed Act and proceedings on the island.2,28,29

One office held the island's vice admiralty and the presidency of that court. Sir Nicholas Lawes's style ran whole: captain general and governor in chief of Jamaica and its dependencies in America, chancellor, vice admiral, and president of the court.1

Jonathan Barnet took John Rackham's sloop at the west end in late October 1720, at about ten at night, and landed the prisoners at Davis's Cove for the gaol at Spanish Town. The capture and the trials have their own records.3

The court condemned Rackham and ten others on 16 and 17 November. Five hanged at Gallows Point at Port Royal, four at Kingston the next day and two on the Monday. Three of the bodies were carried to Plumb Point, Bush Key and Gun Key and hung there in chains.4

Mary Read and Anne Bonny, sentenced on 28 November, told the court that they were "both quick with Child" and asked that the sentence be stayed. It was respited and an inspection ordered. Charles Vane was tried in the same court on Wednesday 22 March 1720/21 and found guilty on the first and second articles.30,31

The coast they worked

Dorothy Thomas deposed that she was in a canoe at sea, with some stock and provisions, on the north side of Jamaica when a pirate sloop, which she afterwards heard was Rackham's, took most of what she had. The indictment laid the taking of the sloop Mary about a league from Dry Harbour Bay, and valued her at "Three hundred Pounds, of Current Money of Jamaica".32,33

Sir Nicholas Lawes wrote to the alcaldes of Trinidado on Cuba on 26 January 1721-2 about the "frequent Depredations, Robberies, and other Acts of Hostility" done on the King's subjects by men who claimed commissions from them. He demanded back "all the Negroes" that Brown and Winter had "taken off from the North-Side of this Island".34

No order commissioning the vessel that took Rackham has been produced. It would sit in the Colonial Office Jamaica correspondence in CO 137 or in the Council minutes at the Jamaica Archives in Spanish Town, and would settle the question. Nothing here counts the people landed in a year or the sugar shipped; the naval officers' shipping lists in CO 142 carry both. The St Catherine parish register at Spanish Town holds the burials of those the court sentenced. No document here gives the island's Taino or Spanish names.

What the evidence does not settle

Rackham's Cay identification

  • Plumb Point, Bush Key or Gun Key may be Rackham's Cay

Barnet's vessel

  • Barnet's vessel was a sloop or the snow Tyger

Ann Bonny's later record

  • The 1733 Ann Bonny burial may not be the piratePossible

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. The governor of Jamaica held the vice admiralty of the island together with the presidency of the court that tried pirates, the 1721 trial print giving the style in full as Sir Nicholas Lawes, Knight, His Majesty's Captain General and Governor in Chief in and over this His Majesty's Island of Jamaica and other the Territories thereon depending in America, Chancellor and Vice Admiral of the same, President. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Trial pamphlet: The Tryals of Captain John Rackam, and other Pirates, Jamaica, printed by Robert Baldwin, 1721, with List of governors of Jamaica for the tenure of 1718 to 1722
  2. The Jamaica Court of Admiralty sat under An Act for the more effectual Suppression of Piracy, 11 Will. 3 c. 7, which received the royal assent on 11 April 1700 and permitted piracy to be tried in the King's islands, plantations and colonies before commissioners drawn from merchants, factors, planters and sea officers, and under a royal commission of the Great Seal dated 3 April 1718 which is recited verbatim in the articles against Charles Vane; the Act and the proceedings alike were printed on the island by Robert Baldwin in 1721. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Trial pamphlet and statute: The Tryals of Captain John Rackam, and other Pirates, 1721, which prints the Act in full
  3. Jonathan Barnet took John Rackham's sloop at the west end of Jamaica in late October 1720, at about ten at night, the day being unsettled since the 22 October that the trial print attaches to the act charged is not a capture date and Governor Lawes's letter points to about 30 October, and landed the prisoners at Davis's Cove, delivering them to Major Richard James, who had them carried to the gaol at Spanish Town; by the sworn deposition of the witness James Spatchears, speaking of Barnet in the third person, he was sailing in company with Captain Bonevie and bound on a trading voyage to the South Keys of Cuba. Likely More likely than not on the evidence we have. Trial pamphlet: The Tryals of Captain John Rackam, and other Pirates, 1721, for the deposition, the capture and the landing; no Colonial Office document naming any Lawes commission could be traced
  4. The Court of Admiralty at St Jago de la Vega condemned John Rackham and ten others on 16 and 17 November 1720; Rackham, George Fetherston the master, Richard Corner the quartermaster, John Davies and John Howell were executed at Gallows Point at the town of Port Royal on Friday 18 November, four more at the town of Kingston the next day and two on the Monday following, and the bodies of Rackham, Fetherston and Corner were afterwards carried to three separate places, Plumb Point, Bush Key and Gun Key, and hung on gibbets in chains for a publick Example, and to terrify others from such like evil Practices. The popular account of a single small cay, which has produced the modern name Rackham's Cay, and the claim that Rackham was beheaded, appear nowhere in the trial print. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Trial pamphlet: The Tryals of Captain John Rackam, and other Pirates, 1721; the single cay and the beheading are recorded only in later writers, and are noted in order to mark them against the print
  5. A proclamation of Oliver, Lord Protector, of 10 October 1655 states that the island of Jamaica is in the possession of this State and that the enemy found upon it fled into the mountains with intention to escape. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 9, Addenda 1655, item 229, Proclamation of Oliver, Lord Protector, giving encouragement to such as shall transport themselves to Jamaica, 10 October 1655
  6. The same proclamation offers every settler removing to Jamaica twenty acres of land for every male twelve years old and upwards and ten acres for every other male or female. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 9, Addenda 1655, item 229, Proclamation of Oliver, Lord Protector, giving encouragement to such as shall transport themselves to Jamaica, 10 October 1655
  7. Instructions of the same day to Richard Fortescue, Major-General of the Forces in America, direct him to fortify the harbour of St. Jago, where the fleet first arrived. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 9, Addenda 1655, item 230, Instructions to Richard Fortescue, Major-General of the Forces in America, 10 October 1655
  8. Captain William Godfrey, writing from the Marmaduke at Jamaica on 30 April 1656, reported the raging fury of mortality in the Army, which he described as almost destroyed. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 9, Addenda 1656, item 257, Capt. Wm. Godfrey to Robt. Blackborne, Marmaduke, Jamaica, 30 April 1656
  9. The same letter reports that most of the Spaniards had deserted the island and that the English met opposition now and then from the negroes and mulattoes, who had slain about forty soldiers about a month before. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 9, Addenda 1656, item 257, Capt. Wm. Godfrey to Robt. Blackborne, Marmaduke, Jamaica, 30 April 1656
  10. The Earl of Inchiquin reported from Jamaica on 31 August 1690 that on 29 July more than five hundred enslaved people on Mr. Salter's estate in the mountains in the middle of the island had risen. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 13, America and West Indies: August 1690, item 1041, Earl of Inchiquin to Lords of Trade and Plantations, Jamaica, 31 August 1690
  11. Inchiquin's letter states that there were but six or seven white people to five hundred enslaved people on that plantation, and that this was the usual proportion in the island. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 13, America and West Indies: August 1690, item 1041, Earl of Inchiquin to Lords of Trade and Plantations, Jamaica, 31 August 1690
  12. Inchiquin closed the same letter by reporting that two hundred of the risen had come in and that the rising was looked upon as over. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 13, America and West Indies: August 1690, item 1041, Earl of Inchiquin to Lords of Trade and Plantations, Jamaica, 31 August 1690
  13. The minutes of the Council of Jamaica of 28 November 1671 assign named officers to take account of enslaved people parish by parish, naming Clarendon, St. Elizabeth, St. John's, St. George's, St. Mary's, St. Ann's, St. James's and St. Katherine's. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 7, America and West Indies: November 1671, item 662, Minutes of the Council of Jamaica, 28 November 1671
  14. The same minute orders that writs be issued for choosing an Assembly to meet at St. Jago on 1 February next. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 7, America and West Indies: November 1671, item 662, Minutes of the Council of Jamaica, 28 November 1671
  15. The same minute opens by reciting that His Majesty had adjusted a peace with his Catholic Majesty in America and strictly commanded the Governor to release all prisoners, and that suits and disputes had arisen about freeing Indians, negroes and mulattos. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 7, America and West Indies: November 1671, item 662, Minutes of the Council of Jamaica, 28 November 1671
  16. The Council of Jamaica ordered on 28 November 1671 that all persons give account of all Spanish negroes they held, with their age, sex and country, on pain of being sent prisoners to the Council for contempt. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 7, America and West Indies: November 1671, item 662, Minutes of the Council of Jamaica, 28 November 1671
  17. The same minute records that Major Beeston and Captain Read had by order treated with the Governor of Cartagena for eighty pieces of eight for each Spanish negro. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 7, America and West Indies: November 1671, item 662, Minutes of the Council of Jamaica, 28 November 1671
  18. An address of the Council and Assembly of Jamaica to King James II states that though some thousands of enslaved Africans had been imported into the island by the Royal African Company within the past six years, few had fallen to the planters' share. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 13, America and West Indies: July 1689, 22-31, item 295, Address of the Council and Assembly of Jamaica to King James II
  19. Inchiquin reported on 31 August 1690 that a drier and hotter season than usual had hindered the transport of sugar to the coast and so delayed the fleet. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 13, America and West Indies: August 1690, item 1041, Earl of Inchiquin to Lords of Trade and Plantations, Jamaica, 31 August 1690
  20. Governor Sir Thomas Modyford wrote that he had only reproved Mansfield for doing it without orders after the taking of Providence, and dared not go further than rebukes lest he drive the privateers from their allegiance. 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 and no. 1216, Governor Sir Thomas Modyford to Sec. Lord Arlington
  21. On 2 December 1670 the captains, thirty-seven in number, resolved that it stands most for the good of Jamaica and safety of us all to take Panama. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 7, 1669-1674, item 504, Henry Morgan's relation of 20 April 1671
  22. A warrant of 17 November 1671 directed that Sir Thomas Modyford, late Governor of Jamaica, be kept close prisoner in the Tower for several misdemeanours committed during the time of his government. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 7, 1669-1674, item 653, warrant to Sir John Robinson, Lieutenant of the Tower, 17 November 1671
  23. Sir Thomas Lynch wrote to Secretary Lord Arlington from Jamaica on 29 November 1671 that he would do nothing without positive directions, for he had rather sustain the charge of the whole nation in Jamaica than of one ambassador in the Tower. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 7, America and West Indies: November 1671, item 663, Sir Thos. Lynch to Sec. Lord Arlington, Jamaica, 29 November 1671
  24. Captain Balchen of HMS Diamond reported that two sloops were fitted out of Jamaica, one belonging to Capt. Edward James and the other to Capt. Jennings, which held Lord Hamilton's commission for suppressing of piracys. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 29, item 158 iv, Captain Balchen, H.M.S. Diamond, to Mr Burchet, The Nore, 13 May 1716
  25. Balchen reported that the design of those two sloops, as they said themselves, was upon the wrecks, and that they went to sea and returned in a shorter time than could be expected with a considerable sum of money. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 29, item 158 iv, Captain Balchen, H.M.S. Diamond, to Mr Burchet, The Nore, 13 May 1716
  26. Balchen wrote that he could not forbear saying he thought it the greatest of piracy, that it was blamed by some of the island, but that those who had a share of the money thought it just. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 29, item 158 iv, Captain Balchen, H.M.S. Diamond, to Mr Burchet, The Nore, 13 May 1716
  27. On 19 May 1716 Mr Secretary Stanhope directed the Council of Trade and Plantations to prepare a commission superseding the commission granted to Lord Archibald Hamilton and appointing Peter Heywood to the government of Jamaica. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Calendared state papers: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, vol. 29, item 158, Mr Secretary Stanhope to the Council of Trade and Plantations, Whitehall, 19 May 1716
  28. The Act for the more effectual suppression of piracy, 11 and 12 William III c. 7, allows a Court of Admiralty to be assembled on shipboard or upon the land as often as occasion requires, the court to consist of seven persons at the least. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Statute: Statutes of the Realm, vol. 7, 1695-1701, An Act for the more effectuall Suppressions of Piracy, 11 and 12 William III c. 7, pp. 590-594
  29. The same Act provides that nobody may sit and vote in that court but known merchants, factors or planters, or captains, lieutenants or warrant officers in the King's ships of war, or captains, masters or mates of some English ship. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Statute: Statutes of the Realm, vol. 7, 1695-1701, An Act for the more effectuall Suppressions of Piracy, 11 and 12 William III c. 7, pp. 590-594
  30. After sentence of death was pronounced, Mary Read and Anne Bonny informed the court that they were both quick with child and prayed that execution be stayed, and the court ordered the sentence respited and an inspection made. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Trial pamphlet: The Tryals of Captain John Rackam, and other Pirates, printed by Robert Baldwin, St Jago de la Vega, Jamaica, 1721
  31. Charles Vane was tried at the same Court of Admiralty at St Jago de la Vega on Wednesday 22 March 1720/21 before Sir Nicholas Lawes as President, and was found guilty of the piracy charged in the first and second articles. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Trial pamphlet: The Tryals of Captain John Rackam, and other Pirates, printed by Robert Baldwin, St Jago de la Vega, Jamaica, 1721
  32. Dorothy Thomas deposed that she was in a canoe at sea with some stock and provisions at the north side of Jamaica when the pirate sloop took her and stripped the canoe of most of what it held. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Trial pamphlet: The Tryals of Captain John Rackam, and other Pirates, printed by Robert Baldwin, St Jago de la Vega, Jamaica, 1721
  33. The fourth article of the indictment lays the taking of Thomas Dillon's sloop Mary upon the high sea about one league from Dry Harbour Bay in the island of Jamaica, and values her with her apparel and tackle at three hundred pounds of current money of Jamaica. Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Trial pamphlet: The Tryals of Captain John Rackam, and other Pirates, printed by Robert Baldwin, St Jago de la Vega, Jamaica, 1721
  34. Sir Nicholas Lawes wrote to the alcaldes of Trinidado on Cuba on 26 January 1721-2 complaining of depredations and robberies by men who pretended to hold commissions from them, and demanding restitution of all the enslaved Africans that Brown and Winter had lately taken off from the north side of the island. Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: A General History of the Pyrates (1724), Introduction, printing Sir Nicolas Laws's letter to the alcaldes of Trinidado, 26 January 1721-2