Aves, sent 800 men under the
Sieur de Franquesnay to make a descent upon St. Jago de Cuba, but the
expedition seems to have been a failure.[401]

On 1st March 1678 a commission was again issued to the Earl of Carlisle,
appointing him governor of Jamaica.[402] Carlisle arrived in his new
government on 18th July,[403] but Lord Vaughan, apparently because of
ill-health, had already sailed for England at the end of March, leaving
Sir Henry Morgan, who retained his place under the new governor, deputy
in his absence.[404] Lord Carlisle, immediately upon his arrival,
invited the privateers to come in and encouraged them to stay, hoping,
according to his own account, to be able to wean them from their
familiar courses, and perhaps to use them in the threatened war with
France, for the island then had "not above 4000 whites able to bear
arms, a secret not fit to be made public."[405] If the governor was
sincere in his intentions, the results must have been a bitter
disappointment. Some of the buccaneers came in, others persevered in the
old trade, and even those who returned abused the pardon they had
received. In the autumn of 1679, several privateering vessels under
command of Captains Coxon, Sharp and others who had come back to
Jamaica, made a raid in the Gulf of Honduras, plundered the royal
storehouses there, carried off 500 chests of indigo,[406] besides cocoa,
cochineal, tortoiseshell, money and plate, and returned with their
plunder to Jamaica. Not knowing what their reception might be, one of
the vessels landed her cargo of indigo in an unfrequented spot on the
coast, and the rest sent word that unless they were allowed to bring
their booty to Port Royal and pay the customs duty, they would sail to
Rhode Island or to one of the Dutch plantations. The governor had taken
security for good behaviour from some of the captains before they sailed
from Jamaica; yet in spite of this they were permitted to enter the
indigo at the custom house and divide it in broad daylight; and the
frigate "Success" was ordered to coast round Jamaica in search of other
privateers who failed to come in and pay duty on their plunder at Port
Royal. The glut of indigo in Jamaica disturbed trade considerably, and
for a time the imported product took the place of native sugar and
indigo as a medium of exchange. Manufacture on the island was hindered,
prices were lowered, and only the king's customs received any actual
benefit.[407]

These same pr