uccaneers who, after plundering Porto Bello, crossed the Isthmus of
Darien to the South Seas, had a remarkable history. For eighteen months
they cruised up and down the Pacific coast of South America, burning and
plundering Spanish towns, giving and taking hard blows with equal
courage, keeping the Spanish provinces of Equador, Peru and Chili in a
fever of apprehension, finally sailing the difficult passage round Cape
Horn, and returning to the Windward Islands in January of 1682. Touching
at the island of Barbadoes, they learned that the English frigate
"Richmond" was lying in the road, and fearing seizure they sailed on to
Antigua. There the governor, Colonel Codrington, refused to give them
leave to enter the harbour. So the party, impatient of their dangerous
situation, determined to separate, some landing on Antigua, and Sharp
and sixteen others going to Nevis where they obtained passage to
England. On their arrival in England several, including Sharp, were
arrested at the instance of the Spanish ambassador, and tried for
committing piracy in the South Seas; but from the defectiveness of the
evidence produced they escaped conviction.[419] Four of the party came
to Jamaica, where they were apprehended, tried and condemned. One of the
four, who had given himself up voluntarily, turned State's evidence; two
were represented by the judges as fit objects of the king's mercy; and
the other, "a bloody and notorious villein," was recommended to be
executed as an example to the rest.[420]

The recrudescence of piratical activity between the years 1679 and 1682
had, through its evil effects, been strongly felt in Jamaica; and public
opinion was now gradually changing from one of encouragement and welcome
to the privateers and of secret or open opposition to the efforts of the
governors who tried to suppress them, to one of distinct hostility to
the old freebooters. The inhabitants were beginning to realize that in
the encouragement of planting, and not of buccaneering, lay the
permanent welfare of the island. Planting and buccaneering, side by
side, were inconsistent and incompatible, and the colonists chose the
better course of the two. In spite of the frequent trials and executions
at Port Royal, the marauders seemed to be as numerous as ever, and even
more troublesome. Private trade with the Spaniards was hindered; runaway
servants, debtors and other men of unfortunate or desperate condition
were still, by every new succes