in. (Add.
MSS., 13,977, f. 508.)]

[Footnote 111: A piece of eight was worth in Jamaica from 4s. 6d. to
5s.]

[Footnote 112: Exquemelin, _ed._ 1684, Part I. pp. 21-22.]

[Footnote 113: Dutertre, _op. cit._, tom. i. ch. vi.]

[Footnote 114: Charlevoix, _op. cit._, liv. vii. p. 16.]

[Footnote 115: Charlevoix, _op. cit._, liv. vii. pp. 17-18.]

[Footnote 116: According to a Spanish MS., there were in Tortuga in 1653
700 French inhabitants, more than 200 negroes, and 250 Indians with
their wives and children. The negroes and Indians were all slaves; the
former seized on the coasts of Havana and Cartagena, the latter brought
over from Yucatan. In the harbour the platform had fourteen cannon, and
in the fort above were forty-six cannon, many of them of bronze (Add.
MSS., 13,992, f. 499 _ff._). The report of the amount of ordnance is
doubtless an exaggeration.]

[Footnote 117: Add. MSS., 13,992, f. 499.]

[Footnote 118: According to Dutertre, one vessel was commanded by the
assassins, Martin and Thibault, and contained the women and children.
The latter, when provisions ran low, were marooned on one of the
Caymans, north-west of Jamaica, where they would have perished had not a
Dutch ship found and rescued them. Martin and Thibault were never heard
of again.]

CHAPTER III

THE CONQUEST OF JAMAICA

The capture of Jamaica by the expedition sent out by Cromwell in 1655
was the blundering beginning of a new era in West Indian history. It was
the first permanent annexation by another European power of an integral
part of Spanish America. Before 1655 the island had already been twice
visited by English forces. The first occasion was in January 1597, when
Sir Anthony Shirley, with little opposition, took and plundered St. Jago
de la Vega. The second was in 1643, when William Jackson repeated the
same exploit with 500 men from the Windward Islands. Cromwell's
expedition, consisting of 2500 men and a considerable fleet, set sail
from England in December 1654, with the secret object of "gaining an
interest" in that part of the West Indies in possession of the
Spaniards. Admiral Penn commanded the fleet, and General Venables the
land forces.[119] The expedition reached Barbadoes at the end of
January, where some 4000 additional troops were raised, besides about
1200 from Nevis, St. Kitts, and neighbouring islands. The commanders
having resolved to direct their first attempt against Hispaniola, on
13th April a land