Inaugural Piracy Studies Conference — Program – Piratería de la Edad Moderna Temprana

Day 1: February 28, 2020

All sessions on Feb. 28 take place at the University of North Florida on the third floor of Student Union West.

9:30-11 am

Contact Zones: Pirates, Ordinary Seamen, and Indigenous Peoples

Room 3804, chair: Leonardo Moreno (University of Pittsburg)

Enemigos en común en la frontera del imperio español: alianzas comerciales entre piratas e indios en Colombia (siglos XVI y XVII), Johana Barrero (University of North Florida)

El presente trabajo de investigación argumenta que dentro de los documentos legales que fueron dejados por indígenas, los testamentos se consideran de especial interés, ya que estos además que ser documentos legales importantes, tienen el poder de resumir el resultado material y social de una vida entera. Al concentrarme no solamente en el contenido de estos testamentos indígenas sino en los diferentes procesos en los cuales estos documentos fueron preparados y el lenguaje tan específico que se usó, este trabajo de investigación provee información relevante en dos áreas: Primero, mi investigación indica que algunas comunidades indígenas formaron lazos políticos y sociales con piratas ingleses y holandeses durante el siglo XVI Y XVII, lo cual produjo contactos e intercambios interculturales que podrían cambiar nuestra forma conservadora de ver esta era colonial. Segundo, en los casos de mujeres indígenas que fueron forzadas a migrar a áreas más urbanas para encontrar trabajo, dichos testamentos y las historias que ellas cuentan sobre sus herencias y legados se convierten en herramientas muy importantes para documentar las relaciones cambiantes de género en este contexto colonial.

Esta investigación propone que al examninar de cerca estos testamentos es posible dar una nueva luz al tema sobre cómo estos contactos e intercambios interculturales fueron tan frecuentes. Las rivalidades en el Nuevo Reino de Granada eran intensas y estos testamentos indican que piratas ingleses y holandeses encontraron en repetidas ocasiones objetivos comunes entre diferentes tribus indígenas y grupos de esclavos africanos. Así mismo es mi objetivo revelar información contundente sobre las relaciones comerciales que reconocidos piratas como Laurens Cornelis Boudewijn de Graaf tuvieron con mujeres indígenas de Cartagena, Colombia en 1683.

Cartografías genitales, raptos y comercio sexual en las primeras exploraciones de la ‘natura’ americana, Paola Uparela (University of Florida)

Mapa de Lopo Homem II es un artefacto que cita y expone plásticamente la relación histórica entre violencia y “descubrimiento” mediante una herida vertical y vaginal que interrumpe nuestra mirada cartográfica. El mapa parece acuchillado, cosido y vuelto a abrir; sus heridas sugieren la carne violentada. La herida-vagina aparece no sólo abierta sino abriéndose, y revela en su parte superior evidencias de una sutura malograda. El trabajo de Varejâo me sirve para afirmar que la escritura colonial sutura malamente “la violencia que la hace posible”. En las crónicas de los primeros exploradores de las Américas hay un interés casi obsesivo en la vagina de las indígenas, la cual se nombra mediante significantes como “natura”, “vergüenza”, “pudenda”. Esos cuerpos son luego vinculados con comentarios a favor de la conquista, la violación, la evangelización, la explotación laboral e incluso la esclavitud y el comercio sexual. La ponencia examina tres relatos: un Almirante que abre el occidente a la expansión imperial y que ve en la naturaleza del Nuevo Mundo cuerpos edénicos de niñas que luego son raptadas y comercializadas; una joven caribe regalada a un marinero italiano que la tortura y viola; y un explorador que imagina indias que conservan su apariencia virginal pero que provocan con su lascivia la pérdida del miembro viril. Veremos cómo algunos de los primeros exploradores/saqueadores del Nuevo Mundo se apropiaron lingüística y materialmente de esos cuerpos y los convirtieron en objeto de especulaciones etnográficas, de conquista y de intercambio comercial.

‘Vermin who are the enemies of all Mankind:’ Guardacostas, Smuggling, and Piracy in the Eighteenth-Century Caribbean, Andrew Rutledge (University of Michigan)

Spanish officials in the eighteenth century were determined to put an end to the contraband flowing into their American empire. However, the limited financial resources available forced Spanish ministers to rely heavily on a permanent force of privateers: the guardacostas to combat smuggling. Initially created to combat the buccaneers and pirates of the seventeenth-century, by the 1700s guardacostas’ purpose was primarily the pursuit of contrabandists; and they were given a largely free hand in pursuing suspected smugglers. The result was frequent seizures and plundering of Anglo-American shipping, often on the flimsiest of pretexts such as the presence of a few Spanish coins. In the three decades following the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, over two hundred Anglo-American vessels—as well as dozens of French and Dutch—were seized throughout the Caribbean and along the North American seaboard.

To non-Spaniards, the guardacostas were considered the same as the Anglo-American pirates who had emerged at the dawn of the century: “vermin who are the enemies of all mankind.” Using the career of Juan León de Fandiño, one of the most infamous guardacosta commanders and the man who famously severed Robert Jenkins’ ear, this paper will examine the guardacosta’s origins, activities, and their condemnation as pirates by other European empires. In doing so, it will demonstrate how the unspoken seventeenth-century policy of “no peace beyond the line” became increasingly untenable in Europe as the complaints of the ever more influential sugar and slave-trading lobbies grew louder.

Indígenas navegantes y piratas. El caso de Paita, Antonio Jaramillo (Universidad Autónoma de México)

Los navegantes ingleses, franceses y holandeses en América, llamados genéricamente “piratas” por las autoridades españolas, vieron en las sociedades indígenas americanas unas aliadas naturales en contra del enemigo común hispano. En muchos lugares de América, se forjaron sólidas alianzas entre piratas y pueblos indígenas en búsqueda de objetivos comunes. A los piratas les interesó especialmente el vínculo con pueblos indígenas que practicaran la navegación, pues estos, en los márgenes del control efectivo español, podrían ayudarles a embarcar y desembarcar mercancías y hombres, reparar embarcaciones y abastecerse de productos y alimentos. Por su ubicación geográfica, el puerto de Paita, Perú, necesitaba de ser abastecido de agua y alimentos por balsas desde la caleta indígena de San Lucas de Colán. El tráfico cotidiano de balsas indígenas era una oportunidad para los piratas y desde las primeras expediciones en pasar al Pacífico en el siglo XVI, Paita se convirtió en un lugar de paso recurrente. Por esta razón existen numerosas descripciones de la tecnología náutica indígena, propiciando una circulación de ideas sobre las balsas de Colán desde fechas tempranas en Europa. Apoyándose en diarios de navegantes europeos y documentos inéditos del Archivo Regional de Piura, esta ponencia analiza la relación entre indígenas navegantes de Colán y piratas, los beneficios que ganaban ambos colectivos y el impacto de la tecnología náutica americana en Europa. Se apoya la idea de que no es posible entender las expediciones europeas en América sin la activa participación de la población indígena.

Piracy and Colonial Forces

Room 3806, chair: Karen Cousins (University of North Florida)

George Anson’s Voyage to the Pacific and the Defense at the Margins of the Empire, Sabrina Guerra Moscoso (Universidad San Francisco de Quito)

In 1740, Commodore George Anson’s expedition to the Pacific once more demonstrated the chronic fragility of Spanish defenses in the entire region. The success and impunity enjoyed by the British privateer illustrated the need for the Spanish Crown to consider serious defense reform. The main reforms focused on the improvement of the Armada Real and the construction of fortifications. This paper seeks to determine how successful Bourbon reforms were in improving the defense system in the Pacific after Anson’s expedition. For the Spanish Crown, the Pacific was a peripheral region that for a long time had been dealing with threats and challenges from other colonial powers. This paper will also assess the empowerment of local authorities and merchants to face the menace posed by the British and other colonial powers.

Pirate Attacks on the Port of Veracruz, Andrew Grant Wood (University of Tulsa)

Since the early colonial period, Veracruz and its island fortress of San Juan de Ulúa long served as the primary port for New Spain and primary line of defense against foreign attack. Initially no more than a primitive pier with metal rings for ships to moor, Spanish fleets began arriving annually. Disembarking cargo and trans-Atlantic migrants while subsequently loading precious metals, goods and travelers to be transported overseas, San Juan de Ulúa soon attracted the attention of English, Dutch, French and other pirates looking to get in on the action. Ensuing measures to protect and better defend Veracruz played out over the years both in the development of San Juan de Ulúa as well as in and around the town of Veracruz.

My presentation will consider defensive strategies made manifest in Veracruz undertaken by colonial officials during the time between two major historical episodes: (1) the so-called Battle of San Juan de Ulúa of 1568 (starring English privateers John Hawkins and a young Francis Drake) and (2) the attack and occupation of Veracruz in 1683 (and its aftermath) by pirates Laurens de Graaf, Nicholas van Hoorn and Michel de Grammont. Here, particular attention will be paid to developments taking shape at San Juan de Ulúa as well as related projects such as the building of the city wall in the larger Atlantic world context of inter-imperial rivalry and war.

Pirate Incursions in the South Sea and their Impact on Lima’s Defense Policy in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries, Judith Mansilla (Florida International University)

Lima’s political position, as capital of the Peruvian viceroyalty, and geographical location, close to the coast, posed a tangible threat possible against rebellious outbreaks from lower social groups, attacks from other European powers, or the coalition of both. Despite its vulnerability, for most part of the sixteenth century, royal authorities hesitated about protecting the city and the port with defensive building structures because they were confident that adversary armies would be unable to reach the South Sea waters. After Drake circumnavigated South America, opening the South Sea to other European nations, peninsular and colonial authorities recognized the vulnerability of the viceregal capital and the rest of the coast. This paper demonstrates pirate incursions shaped colonial administrators’ views on defense policies. As the incursions of pirate crews increased during the seventeenth century, Lima’s royal representatives understood the urgency of building defensive structures to protect the capital. However, they also refrained from ambitious fortification projects because of the economic burden these would represent to the Crown. Faced with the double challenge of delivering bullion to the king and protecting the viceregal capital from attacks of pirate crews, royal administrators resorted to strategies of negotiation and bargaining. The gradual fortification of Callao and Lima, in the 1640s and 1680s respectively, displays how state practices of negotiation allowed colonial authorities to rule among the contradictory interests of the monarch and a provincial center.

Piratería y Guerra de Sucesión en las noticias impresas en Lima (1700-1711), Paul Firbas (Stony Brook University)

Esta ponencia estudia las noticias sobre piratería y presencia de navíos extranjeros en Sudamérica durante la Guerra de Sucesión. La ponencia presentará una revisión completa de todos los impresos periódicos publicados por Joseph de Contreras y Alvarado en Lima entre 1700 y 1711, más varias relaciones que salieron en la misma imprenta desde 1688, para ver en esos textos los cambios y permanencias en la posición oficial del gobierno virreinal y metropolitano sobre los piratas, corsarios y barcos extranjeros en ese particular contexto de guerra internacional.

11:00 am-noon

Lunch

On your own. Student Union West has a sit-down restaurant (The Boathouse) on the second floor, and a small food court on the first floor. For all options on campus, see the UNF Dining Services website.

Noon-1:15 pm

Plenary Address 1

Room 3703 AB, welcome and introduction, John Kantner (University of North Florida) and Mariana-Cecilia Velázquez (University of Nevada-Reno)

Of Time & Sea Bandits: Shifting Facets of Pirate Studies & New Directions, Kris E. Lane (Tulane University)

As one of the world’s oldest and most notorious professions, piracy has been an object of sustained fascination and horror across time and cultures. Always freighted with myth, sea banditry has inspired poets, bards, novelists, painters, playwrights, and filmmakers. The task of disentangling its ambivalent nature and twisted legacy has also attracted theologians, political and legal theorists, sociologists, anthropologists, literary critics, and historians. One may rightly apply the term ‘pirate studies’ to this diverse and growing field of investigation, but what holds it together and what tensions strain its limits? What theoretical approaches to the study of piracy have risen and fallen over the years, and what new directions might we set out to explore?

1:30-3:00 pm

Representations of Piracy: Substructures of Nations and Empires

Room 3804, chair: Mariana-Cecilia Velázquez (University of Nevada-Reno)

La mirada del pirata en Espejo de paciencia de Silvestre de Balboa, Raúl Marrero-Fente (University of Minnesota)

Espejo de paciencia de Silvestre de Balboa (Gran Canaria, 1563-Cuba, 1649?) es un poema escrito en 1608 para conmemorar el secuestro y liberación del obispo de Cuba fray Juan de las Cabezas Altamirano ocurrido el 29 de abril de 1604 en las cercanías de la villa de Bayamo en Cuba. El poema tiene dos cantos. En el primero, se narra el secuestro y cautiverio del obispo Cabeza por piratas franceses. El primer canto termina con la liberación del obispo, después del pago de un enorme rescate. El segundo canto relata el combate entre los criollos y los piratas franceses, que finaliza con la victoria de los criollos. En esta ponencia analizo los eventos del poema desde la perspectiva de los piratas franceses, algo que la crítica anterior a esta obra ha pasado por alto. De esta manera, aparecen nuevas preguntas sobre los eventos históricos relacionados con el poema y sobre la participación de los criollos en las actividades de contrabando con los piratas franceses.

Piracy, Discovery and the War Machine: Deleuze & Guattari and Imperial Spanish Poetry, Jason McCloskey (Bucknell University)

In Nomadology: The War Machine, Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari examine the tension between what they term the nomad and the state in the formation of the war machine. According to their treatise, the state seeks to press nomads into its service, and in doing so, nomad science, characterized by an improvised and situational epistemology, is subsumed into the hierarchical knowledge they call state science. This theoretical framework by Deleuze and Guattari is especially applicable to piracy, as the work of several critics, such as Amadeo Policante, have demonstrated. This paper builds on Policante’s work and applies the ideas of Deleuze and Guattari to other aspects of piracy and seafaring as portrayed in the epic poems of the Spanish Empire. Epic poetry is, after all, the ideal genre for viewing the portrayal of the early modern war machine. In the epics discussed in this paper, the seafarers employed by rival states—especially England—are called pirates, and the portrayal of their thinking exemplifies the cognitive process that Deleuze and Guattari attribute to nomads. The depiction of their thought patterns contrasts with that of the seafarers who sailed for the Spanish Empire, such as Christopher Columbus and Ferdinand Magellan. Yet these seafarers are no less nomads appropriated by the Spanish state. The differences in representation suggest a strategy to distance the war machine of the Spanish Empire from the nomads that historically constituted it. Conversely, the emphasis on the nomad origins of rival war machines speak to a strategy of delegitimization.

Piratas católicos en la Guerra de los Nueve Años: la representación de Alonso Ramírez y Raveneau de Lussan como optimus civis de sus imperios, Leonor Taiano (University of Notre Dame)

Durante las rivalidades franco-españolas que tuvieron lugar durante la Guerra de los Nueve Años se publicaron dos libros cuyo contenido se relaciona con los conflictos diplomáticos del periodo, los problemas religiosos y las cuestiones del comercio transatlántico: Infortunios de Alonso Ramírez y Journal du voyage fait à la mer de Sud avec les flibustiers de l’Amérique. Ambas obras describen a sus protagonistas como héroes ejemplares, cuyo catolicismo y amor patrio les permitió resistir una serie de penurias y tentaciones. Tratando de profundizar sobre los elementos que ponen en relación la religión y la piratería en el contexto bélico de finales del siglo XVII, esta ponencia analizará la manera cómo Infortunios y el Journal retoman la imagen del buen ladrón, el motivo de la imitatio Christi y el tópico de la manumisión inter amicos para poner en evidencia la supuesta superioridad ético-moral del católico. El estudio parte de la perspectiva que en estas obras los elementos antes citados catalizan la edificación de la imagen del pirata católico o cripto-católico como optimus civis de sus respectivos imperios. La ponencia estará dividida en tres partes. En la primera analizaré el significado que la imagen del buen ladrón tiene tanto en el personaje del criptocatólico condestable Nicpat de Infortunios como en el del protagonista del Journal. En la segunda estudiaré la manera cómo la piratería permite que tanto Alonso Ramírez como Raveneau de Lussan lleven a cabo su imitatio Christi. En la tercera profundizará sobre la representación de ambos como optimus civis que deben ser puestos al servicio de sus respectivas coronas.

La crónica histórica y la figura del héroe pirata: el caso de las Crónicas coloniales (1921), de Ricardo Fernández Guardia, Dorde Cuvardic García (Universidad de Costa Rica)

Esta presentación propone una comparación entre dos textos que hablan sobre Miles Philips (alias Miguel Pérez), un miembro de la expedición que John Hawkins organizó entre 1567 y 1569 con el fin de obtener cautivos en Sierra Leona para luego venderlos como esclavos en puertos españoles en el Caribe. Debido a los combates que la expedición de Hawkins entabló con las tropas españolas en costas de la Nueva España en 1568, Philips y otros expedicionarios ingleses fueron dejados en tierra, capturados y trasladados a México donde fueron hechos cautivos. Philips, además, fue juzgado por la inquisición y condenado por herejía. Sin embargo, logró escapar y regresar a Inglaterra en 1582. Los dos textos que tenemos sobre la vida de Philips en México son (1) el proceso que la inquisición abrió allí en contra suya entre los años 1572 y 1577 y (2) un relato escrito por él mismo en 1582 en Inglaterra e incluido por Richard Hakluyt en The Principal Navigations, Voyages and Discoveries of the English Nation (1589). A pesar de las innegables diferencias entre estos dos textos, es posible reconocer dos asuntos que los conectan: el rol de la religión (más que el comercio de mercancías o cautivos africanos) como el factor que decide la aceptabilidad o rechazo de comerciantes ingleses en territorios españoles y, en segundo lugar, la función de la escritura legal o narrativa (más que la aplicación de la ley) como estrategia que permite que las agencias individuales se reconstruyan en el contexto de pugnas imperiales.

Uncharted Waters: Race, Nations, and Empires

Room 3703AB, chair: Denise Bossy (University of North Florida)

Wako Pirates and Spaniards in the Philippines, Song I. No (Purdue University)

This presentation will study Francisco de Sande’s letter of June 7, 1576, which was addressed to King Philip II and included the detailed narration of Spaniards’ encounter with a pirate known as Limahón in Spanish (in Chinese ຋澔, Lin Feng), a legendary Wako leader in the Pacific Ocean. Sande was the third governor and captain-general of the Philippines from 1575 to 1580. The Spanish King instructed Sande to abrogate encomiendas established by Spaniards in the Philippines. Although Sande arrived shortly after Spaniards defeated Wako pirates, he narrated what took place and what needed to be done. Sande’s discursive strategies in this letter require a close analysis since he was there to relieve his predecessor, Guido de Lavezares, who led this Spanish victory over Limahón and his followers. On the one hand, While Sande didn’t want to recognize Lavezares’ triumph, he pleaded with Philip II to send more Spaniards to conquer the rest of the Philippines and even China. My analysis of his letter will focus on the notion of race, especially naming Others (non-European people). Sande uses the term “indio” to refer to people in the Philippines and sometimes Japanese or Chinese, and the word “Moro (Moorish)” was referred to Muslims under Sulu and Borneo sultanates. His letter is representative of what Spaniards thought Others in East Indies. Moreover, Limahón is an intriguing character, whose enigmatic identity and origin calls for further study. And I will examine how Asian historians have interpreted the ethnic origin(s) of Wako pirates.

Sketches of the Global in Early Modern Francophone and Hispanophone Texts about Piracy in the Caribbean, Franziska Gesine Brede (Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main)

Early modern texts about piracy in the Caribbean – such as the anonymous “Relation d’un voyage infortuné” (1618-20), Exquemelin (1678 et.al.), de Góngora (1690) and de Seixas y Lovera (1693) – combine the mise-en-scene of the pirate as a figure who is constantly acting “on the edge” (cf. Kempe 2011) with highly ambivalent but revealing representations of space and legality. On the one hand, the texts codify space in a profoundly Eurocentric way, as the Caribbean is perceived through the lenses of medieval and renascent theories on the Mediterranean (e.g. the imaginary model of the Greek Cyclades, the Insularii atlases on island archipelagos (cf. Lestringant 2017), the closedness and cultural connectivity of the Mare nostrum resp. the Caribbean basin, etc.). On the other hand, many scenes are situated in hybrid coastal areas (cf. Ganser 2013) whose spatial descriptions constantly oscillate between territorial order and maritime fluidity. Contrary to romantic representations, the sea itself is only rarely depicted as an uncontrollable and dangerous “smooth” watery space (cf. Deleuze/Guattari 1980). Nevertheless, its geographical striation often needs to be told with reference to clearly quantifiable nautical categories. Thus, the texts demonstrate Eurocentric inscriptions in Caribbean space in a rather ambivalent and potentially self-reflexive way. This transforms them into interesting sources for the perception of early globalization in the pre-national era. The question arises to what extent the texts could indicate another dynamic of globalization that emphasizes the more connective and transareal aspects of space and law, based on structures like spatial vectors (cf. Ette 2001), the network (cf. Dünne 2011) or the archipelago.

‘Ge-Arrgh-raphy:’ South Sea Buccaneers, Mapmaking, and the English Empire, Luke Kasbarian (University of North Florida)

This paper focuses on pirate Captain Bartholomew Sharp’s voyage in 1682. During this voyage, Sharp captured a Spanish deroterro, a collection of maps detailing the western coast of South America, which he returned to King Charles II, avoiding charges of piracy, yet unknowingly altered the geopolitics of the region. By placing Sharp in the context of England’s century-long project of upending Spanish control and forging their own trading empire in the region, I argue that he not only impacted international politics and English policy but also revolutionized the sciences and seafaring navigation. Studying published firsthand accounts and maps from those on the voyage, and focusing particularly on the depiction of the Isthmus of Darien, I compare each of these sources against one another to show how both the author’s and Crown’s manipulation of the information led to over-censorship. Despite how censorship can detract from a source’s reliability, I use it to show how intensely England sought to protect this information, ultimately leading to their failure of controlling the region. Connecting cartography and empire building, I highlight the importance of mapmaking in English policy during this era and how without these maps, the English would never have supported any attempts to establish trade in the region. And despite England’s failures, Sharp led to the rise of South Sea buccaneering, impacted Spanish trade, isolated Spanish coastal cities, and forced Spain to build up a useless navy in the region.

3:00-3:30 pm

Break

Refreshments in Room 3805

3:30-5:00 pm

Hidden Pirates of the Caribbean: An Untold Story of Piracy and Contraband

Room 3804, chair: James G. Cusick (University of Florida)

Lesser Known Privateers in Spanish America: Robert Searle, Brandon Alford (United States Army Command and General Staff College)

The field of Atlantic World History has long grappled with the phenomena of piracy studies. Both the field and piracy studies often assume an Anglo perspective. In the realm of Atlantic World piracy studies, especially within the Buccaneer Period during the Golden Age of Piracy (1650-1690), Spanish historical sources provide the perspective of the victims of Anglo piracy. This period is often dominated by impressive figures such as Edward Mansfield, Sir Christopher Myngs, and Sir Henry Morgan. These individuals overshadow the importance of lesser known privateers, such as Robert Searle, that had a larger impact to both the Anglo and Spanish Caribbean in the mid-seventeenth century. Searle, mostly known today for his 1668 raid against the Spanish colony of San Agustín, Florida, attacked many settlements from 1655 to 1674. Although Searle is English, his actions were previously only examined through Spanish archival sources. I will examine the career of Robert Searle and his many raids against Spanish America. Throughout this survey of Searle’s career, I will discuss the study of pirates and privateers within the British National Archives at Kew, London, England. In this discussion I will illustrate how Spanish sources that appear in the English historical record influenced the actions of Robert Searle and his contemporaries. Additionally, I will discuss the various methods I use to track the movements of Robert Searle throughout the Buccaneer Period such as network and shipping analysis.

Piracy and the Decline of Cartagena de Indias: A Reassessment, Leonardo Moreno-Álvarez (University of Pittsburg)

The history of Cartagena de Indias during the seventeenth century is bookmarked by the famous pirate assaults of Drake, in 1586, and Pointis, in 1697. A scholarly focus on these pirate expeditions, however, has obscured how small-scale piracy put a steady pressure on the regional communication and logistical networks of the Western Spanish Caribbean. This paper studies the rise and fall of Cartagena during the seventeenth century by looking beyond direct attacks on the city. Using mostly unpublished sources, the paper links the well-known economic decline of the port (mostly due to the transformation of African slave trade routes after the 1640s) to pirate attacks in areas surrounding the city. I will focus my analysis on three moments: the anti-pirate expeditions that departed from Cartagena in the 1630s and early 1640s against the Puritan colony of Old Providence Island; the increase, during the 1650s, on pirate attacks on canoes, brigs, and other small craft that brought food from Tolú (the main food-producing region near Cartagena), as well as small ships going to Portobelo, Trinidad, and Cuba; and the pirate raids into the Spanish main to sought to enslave Indians to be sold in the Caribbean islands in the 1670s. Studying these expeditions shows how the importance of Cartagena as a defensive node grew precisely at the time when the city and the Crown became the most unable to finance it.

‘Las dos caras de la moneda:’ Piracy and Contraband in San Francisco de Campeche during the decade 1670s, Victor A Medina Lugo (Tulane University)

In 1674, a naked man turned himself into the authorities at the Royal Prison in the port of San Francisco de Campeche. His name was Alonso Matheos and the Spanish authorities were looking for him because they considered him a suspect of smuggling and of keeping communication with the Englishmen that lived in the Laguna de Terminos. Matheos was the owner of the estancia de ganado mayor of Xicalango, near that lagoon. This event started a series of investigations around Campeche that revealed many other implicants, including Spanish officers and members of the cabildo. These investigations revealed the relationships between the authorities and pirates and privateers in the area, adding reasons to the difficulties to protect the port from aggressions. This paper will analyze the events of the decade of 1670 in Campeche, New Spain. Such a decade is mostly known for the pirate attacks of 1672 and 1678, however, it is less known for the contraband case of 1672 and the investigations of 1674-76. All these events proved to be part of a whole picture, one that explains the vulnerabilities of Spanish ports against pirates, and one that shows that the history of piracy is more complex than just heroes and villains.

‘Young, Resolute & Wicked Fellows’: The Pirates of Providence, 1700-1740, Steven C. Hahn (St. Olaf College)

This paper provides a synopsis of a monograph-length study (in progress) investigating the lives of 209 mariners accused of piracy who accepted a pardon from the British crown in the Bahamas in 1718, focusing intensively upon what happened to them after the pardon. By reconstructing their lives, I deconstruct the monolithic image of pirates as unredeemable criminals, demonstrating that a vast majority of them were ordinary seamen whose involvement in crime was opportunistic and fleeting, and who resumed legal trading after their pardons. I argue that class, age, and regional divisions beset the pirate community, and that the pardon was most attractive to mariners possessing greater social and economic capital. By doing so, I reclaim the humanity of these men, connect the story of piracy at sea with the land-based communities that supported it, and illuminate the entangled histories of far-flung places in the Atlantic world.

Piracy and Captivity

Room 3806, chair: Andrew Rutledge (University of Michigan)

‘4 de abril de 1579, el día que topé con Francisco Drake: Don Francisco de Zárate informa al virrey de Nueva España lo sucedido en el puerto del Realejo,’ Rafael Obando Andrade (Universidad Pablo de Olavide)

La presencia de ingleses en el litoral Pacífico en la segunda mitad del siglo XVI fue, sin duda alguna, un duro golpe al comercio imperial español. Especialmente cuando una flota bajo el mando del temerario Francis Drake logró sembrar el terror por toda la costa del virreinato del Perú. Durante meses los ingleses asaltaron pueblos y ciudades además de capturar todo barco que se cruzara en su camino. Uno de ellos fue el Cagafuegos, descrito como un enorme buque bien artillado, donde además de grandes tesoros los hombres de Drake encontraron cartas de navegación hacia las Filipinas. Las aventuras de Drake y sus hombres por el Mare Clausum hispánico, han sido motivo de muchas investigaciones, gracias a los cientos de documentos concentrados en los archivos ingleses y españoles. Lo cierto es que, su fascinante viaje alrededor del mundo, no hubiese sido posible sin la certera captura de un pequeño barco en la costa pacífica de la actual Guanacaste el 4 de abril de 1579, donde viajaba don Juan Pascual de Ciervo, viejo piloto del Galeón de Manila y uno de los pocos marineros capaces de interpretar los mapas robados al Cagafuegos meses atrás en la costa de Ecuador. Lo que sucedió en el encuentro entre el capitán Francis Drake y el capitán Francisco de Zarate, es el eje de esta investigación.

Piracy and Women’s Testimony in Early Modern Florida, Yolanda Gamboa Tusquets (Florida Atlantic University)

The first Spanish period in Florida (1565-1763), from the arrival of Pedro Menéndez de Avilés with families of settlers to the transfer to the British, was not easy. The conditions suffered by the colonists included not only epidemics, hurricanes, poverty, but also attacks from native inhabitants, from corsairs, and from English pirates. In order to evaluate the effect pirate attacks had on the population, including women and children, we need to look, among other documents, in the letters by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés where we find a few descriptions, as well as in the petitions. Petitions are legal documents of request, addressed to the Council of the Indies by means of a scribe from residents of the colony, requesting food, pensions, or financial help, and often including a brief account of the petitioner’s life as justification. One such petition describes a witness account of John Searles’ sack of Saint Augustine. It is a moment in the life of Estefania Ponce de León, a Florida Spanish woman, who suffered captivity and other troubles at the hands of the English pirate. She relates the event in a petition asking for financial help from the Spanish Crown. I argue that letters and petitions, a product of the colonial machinery, help understand the daily conditions of Saint Augustine’s inhabitants. Moreover, the petitions, as narratives of self-defense which share characteristics of the confessional, may be regarded as Florida women’s testimonial literature.

Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa and his Love/Hate Relationship with Enemy Pirates, Jason Hawkins (Florida Atlantic University)

Pedro Sarmiento de Gamboa is most famous for his History of the Incas, his ‘discovery’ of the Solomon and Guadalcanal Islands, as well as his extensive surveys and attempts to colonize, and thus defend, the Straits of Magellan. A lesser discussed episode in his life is his capture and extended captivity by English ‘pirates’ under the command of Sir Walter Raleigh. During this captivity, Sarmiento, speaking Latin with his captors, entered into the good graces of several members of the English nobility, including Raleigh. Realizing how valuable Sarmiento’s cartographic knowledge and diplomatic connections were, the English eventually arranged for Sarmiento to meet with Elizabeth I. In a rare, private meeting with the Queen, Sarmiento negotiated a draft peace treaty between England and Spain. After this meeting, the Queen gave Sarmiento an escort ship back to Spain and sent along a special ambassador. Along the coast of France, however, Sarmiento was captured by Huguenot ‘pirates’ and was thrown in prison for several months until his ransom was paid. During this time, however, ostensibly unaware of Sarmiento’s peace negotiations, Phillip of Spain launched the Grand Armada in an attempt to invade England. At the time, all except a few of the settlers that Sarmiento had transported to the Straits of Magellan died. The failure of both of these endeavors would be bitter disappointments for Sarmiento. Later, because of his familiarity both with the geography of the New World and the tactics of ‘pirates’ there, he was charged with the task of censoring foreign and domestic literature dealing with piracy in the Americas. This censorship was employed not only to protect state secrets (such as how to pass through the Straits of Magellan) but also to ensure that ‘pirates’ such as Francis Drake were not glorified in Spanish literature.

Religión y escritura en dos textos acerca de Miles Philips, Rubén Sánchez-Godoy (Southern Methodist University)

5:15-6:30 pm

Plenary Address 2

Room 3803 AB, introduction: Clayton McCarl (University of North Florida)

Sospechas, preparativos, circulación y utilización de la información: actitudes de España frente a la amenaza pirata al Pacífico Sur, Ximena Urbina (Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso, Chile)

Las incursiones corsarias -en el amplio sentido del concepto, y según la interpretación española- holandesas, inglesas y francesas durante los siglos XVII y XVIII causaron gran impacto en el Mar del Sur, ocasionando reacciones defensivas inmediatas y también a largo plazo. Pero no solo las acciones ofensivas provocaron respuestas, sino también las noticias que llegaban a la metrópoli o a las autoridades indianas sobre sospechadas irrupciones hostiles foráneas.

Las noticias de planes de ataque sabidas por espías y embajadores, la publicación de diarios de viajes al Mar del Sur, la producción de cartografía precisa sobre dicho mar, y las respuestas dadas por corsarios capturados en Indias a los interrogatorios a los que fueron sometidos, son algunas fuentes de información que dieron lugar a reacciones desde la península y también locales, ante la supuesta amenaza. Lo que se pretende mostrar en esta presentación es la circulación de la información sobre intereses foráneos en el Mar del Sur, su interpretación y utilización, considerando las diferentes escalas.

7:30-9:00 pm

Dinner in St. Augustine

Columbia Restaurant, 98 St. George Street. We will be seated together, but participants will pay individually on separate checks. If you plan to join us, be sure to complete the registration survey.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT OUR RESERVATION:

Our dinner reservations are at the Columbia Restaurant in St. Augustine (98 St. George Street, St. Augustine, FL 32084). Phone Number of Columbia Restaurant: (904) 824-3341

What to say at the entrance?
One reservation for 20 people is at 7:30 under the name McCarl, and another, for another 20 at 7:45 under Velazquez. Please ask to be seated with either group, depending on when you arrive and where there is still space.

Where to park? If you don’t have other arrangements for parking in St. Augustine, your easiest option is likely this garage: The Historic Downtown Parking Facility, 1 Cordova St, St. Augustine, FL 32084

Phone Number: (904) 484-5160

On-street parking is possible but can be hard to find.

Day 2: February 29, 2020

10:00 am-noon

Organizational Meeting of the Grupo de Estudio

This meeting will take place in the Dunham Building, 271 Charlotte Street (back of the Oldest House property). Free Parking: available in 272 Charlotte Street.

12:00-2:00 pm

Lunch in St. Augustine

A1A Aleworks, 1 King Street. We will be seated as a group, but participants will pay individually on separate checks. If you plan to join us, be sure to complete the registration survey.

2:00 pm

Group visit to Castillo de San Marcos

Castillo de San Marcos, 1 S Castillo Drive. Admission is $15 per person for adults, and all participants will pay individually. Admission fee is waived for students with a valid ID.

4:00 pm

Group visit to the Oldest House Museum Complex

Oldest House, 14 St. Francis Street. Admission is $10 for adults, $4 for students (with ID), and all participants will pay individually.

Acknowledgments

The Inaugural Piracy Studies Conference is a project of the Grupo de Estudio Internacional “Piratería de la Edad Moderna Temprana.” The conference organizers are Mariana-Cecilia Velázquez (University of Nevada-Reno) and Clayton McCarl (University of North Florida).

This event has received financial and in-kind support from the St. Augustine Historical Society and the following units at the University of North Florida: the Latin American and Caribbean Council; the International Studies Program; the Department of History; and the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures.