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Oxford

The Royal Navy frigate placed at Henry Morgan's disposal and destroyed by an unexplained explosion during a captains' feast at Ile a Vache.

Launched1656, DeptfordToJanuary 1669, Ile a Vache

The Royal Navy frigate placed at Henry Morgan's disposal and destroyed by an unexplained explosion during a captains' feast at Ile a Vache.

What the record establishes

The Oxford was destroyed by an explosion at the Ile a Vache in early January 1669; the bare fact is attested independently by the buccaneer narrative and by the colonial report1

The explosion came during a feast of the captains aboard the flagship: 'they drank many healths, and discharged many guns ... Most of the men being drunk, by what accident is not known, the ship suddenly was blown up'2

French prisoners held in the hold also died in the blast: Exquemelin has 'three hundred and fifty Englishmen, besides the French prisoners in the hold'3

Exquemelin describes the ship as 'an English ship newly come from New England, well mounted with thirty-six guns'; this New England origin contradicts the Deptford-built Royal Navy Oxford and is treated as his single-source error or conflation4

The loss was reported to Whitehall within a fortnight: the calendar of John Style's letter of 14 January 1669 records 'the blowing up of the Oxford frigate and men'5

A 2004 media report announced that a treasure-hunting team had found the Oxford's wreck off Haiti; this is an unverified announcement, not established by peer-reviewed archaeology, and no securely identified wreck or material evidence for the Oxford was established this session6

What the evidence does not settle

The exact day, the ignition source and the casualty total differ or remain unstated in the surviving accounts.

What the evidence does not settle

Explosion

  • The exact day and ignition source

Casualties

  • The number killed in the Oxford explosion

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 Oxford was destroyed by an explosion at the Ile a Vache in early January 1669; the bare fact is attested independently by the buccaneer narrative and by the colonial report Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Period narrative; Statute: The Buccaneers of America (English translation), the Morgan section; Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, Vol. 7 (1669-1674), January 1669
  2. The explosion came during a feast of the captains aboard the flagship: 'they drank many healths, and discharged many guns ... Most of the men being drunk, by what accident is not known, the ship suddenly was blown up' Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: The Buccaneers of America (English translation), the Morgan section
  3. French prisoners held in the hold also died in the blast: Exquemelin has 'three hundred and fifty Englishmen, besides the French prisoners in the hold' Very likely Strong evidence, short of proof. Period narrative: The Buccaneers of America (English translation), the Morgan section
  4. Exquemelin describes the ship as 'an English ship newly come from New England, well mounted with thirty-six guns'; this New England origin contradicts the Deptford-built Royal Navy Oxford and is treated as his single-source error or conflation Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Period narrative: The Buccaneers of America (English translation), the Morgan section
  5. The loss was reported to Whitehall within a fortnight: the calendar of John Style's letter of 14 January 1669 records 'the blowing up of the Oxford frigate and men' Confirmed Directly supported by the record. Statute: Calendar of State Papers Colonial, America and West Indies, Vol. 7 (1669-1674), January 1669
  6. A 2004 media report announced that a treasure-hunting team had found the Oxford's wreck off Haiti; this is an unverified announcement, not established by peer-reviewed archaeology, and no securely identified wreck or material evidence for the Oxford was established this session Possible Consistent with the evidence, not established. Modern scholarship: Captain Morgan's ship found