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45-567: Used as a hideout by buccaneers in the early colonial period, the island was home to a small settlement of fishermen and charcoal producers until 1955, when the freshwater supply was exhausted and the market for charcoal ended with the spread of electrification after the Cuban Revolution . A causeway connecting the island to the Cuban mainland opened on July 26, 1988, and resort construction began. The first resort, Guitart Cayo Coco (now

90-518: A "corsair" by the governor of Panama. Nevertheless, these rough men had little concern for legal niceties, and exploited every opportunity to pillage Spanish targets, whether or not a letter of marque was available. Many of the letters of marque used by buccaneers were legally invalid, and any form of legal paper in that illiterate age might be passed off as a letter of marque. Furthermore, even those buccaneers who had valid letters of marque often failed to observe their terms. The legal status of buccaneers

135-591: A kind of privateer or free sailors particular to the Caribbean Sea during the 17th and 18th centuries. First established on northern Hispaniola as early as 1625, their heyday was from the Restoration in 1660 until about 1688, during a time when governments in the Caribbean area were not strong enough to suppress them. Originally the name applied to the landless hunters of wild boars and cattle in

180-438: A summary fashion, and many ended their lives by "dancing the hempen jig", a euphemism for hanging. Public executions were a form of entertainment, and people came out to watch them as they would for a sporting event today. Newspapers reported details such as condemned men's last words, the prayers said by the priests, and descriptions of their final moments in the gallows. In England, most executions took place at Execution Dock on

225-621: A wooden frame on which Tainos and Caribs slowly roasted or smoked meat, commonly manatee . The word was adopted into French as boucan , hence the name boucanier for French hunters who used such frames to smoke meat from feral cattle and pigs on Hispaniola . English colonists anglicised boucanier to buccaneer . About 1630, French interlopers were driven away from the island of Hispaniola and fled to nearby Tortuga . French buccaneers were established on northern Hispaniola as early as 1625, but lived at first mostly as hunters rather than robbers; their transition to full-time piracy

270-560: Is doubtful many buccaneers got off with just a time in the pillory. However, a pirate who was flogged could very well spend some time in the pillory after being beaten. "The most common shaming punishment was confinement in the pillory often with symbols of their crimes." After the threat began to abate, literature brought buccaneers to glory as example of virility and self-reliance. Daniel Defoe ’s works like Robinson Crusoe (1719), Captain Singleton (1720), and A General History of

315-741: The Brethren of the Coast . Although corsairs, also known as filibusters or freebooters , were largely lawless, privateers were nominally licensed by the authorities – first the French, later the English and Dutch – to prey on the Spanish, until their depredations became so severe they were suppressed. The term buccaneer derives from the Caribbean Arawak word buccan , which refers to

360-467: The French Revolution , the buccaneer companies were run on lines in which liberty , equality and fraternity were the rule. In a buccaneer camp, the captain was elected and could be deposed by the votes of the crew. The crew, and not the captain, decided whether to attack a particular ship, or a fleet of ships. Spoils were evenly divided into shares; the captain received an agreed amount for

405-593: The Nine Years' War (1688-1697) they were no longer an important factor. Until about 1688 the governments were not strong enough, and did not consistently attempt, to suppress the buccaneers. In January 1684, Havana responded to the attacks by the buccaneers of the Bahamas in the event known as the Raid on Charles Town . In the 1690s, the old buccaneering ways began to die out, as European governments began to discard

450-604: The River Thames in London . In the cases of more famous prisoners, usually captains, their punishments extended beyond death. Their bodies were enclosed in iron cages (for which they were measured before their execution) and left to swing in the air until the flesh rotted off them—a process that could take as long as two years. The bodies of captains such as William "Captain" Kidd , Charles Vane , William Fly , and Jack Rackham ("Calico Jack") were all treated this way. It

495-451: The tidal flow , thus changing the salinity and temperature of the water. A number of gaps were created in the causeway to restore some water flow. Wild flamingos still live in the shallow waters of the bay and can often be seen from the causeway, albeit less frequently. Two short causeways link Cayo Coco to Cayo Guillermo (to the west) and Cayo Romano (to the east). Still largely wild with swamps and scrubland populated by wild cattle,

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540-631: The Brethren began the so-called Golden Age of Piracy and brigandage which affected the Caribbean until socioeconomic and military changes of the late 17th and early 18th century finally caused its decline. Many pirates made their journeys there, and one of the most famous was Alexandre Exquemelin . In keeping with their Protestant and mostly common-law heritage, the Brethren were governed by codes of conduct that favored legislative decision-making, hierarchical command authority, individual rights, and equitable division of revenues. Henry Morgan , one of

585-508: The Caribbean islands was a compounding factor. Most maritime families moved to the mainland colonies of the future United States or to their home countries. A few, unable to compete effectively with slave labor, enamored of easy riches, or out of angst continued to maintain the Brethren of the Coasts as a purely criminal organization which preyed upon all civilian maritime shipping without the legal endorsement of any government. This second era of

630-471: The Dutch colonies of St. Eustatius and Tobago . In 1666, however, when the French joined the Dutch in the war, the weakness of this policy was proved. The English hoped to capture the French plantations of St. Kitts , where there were new settlers of both nations, and so they declined to make a new agreement for neutrality. They made what was intended to be a surprise attack, but was an ignominious failure, and

675-408: The English settlers in the island had to surrender unconditionally. More than 8,000 of them were shipped away, and their property was seized by the French. Lord Willoughby , the able governor of Barbados, got together an expedition for a counter-stroke, but his fleet was broken up by a hurricane in which he perished. The French captured one island after another. In 1667 naval ships from England regained

720-506: The European governments asserted their authority, the buccaneers first became separated by nationalities and then in time were suppressed altogether, leaving behind only dispersed bands of pirates. English settlers occupying Jamaica began to spread the name buccaneers with the meaning of pirates. The name became universally adopted later in 1684 when the first English translation of Alexandre Exquemelin 's book The Buccaneers of America

765-581: The Hotel Colonial Cayo Coco), opened in 1993. The Cuban exile group Alpha 66 attacked the resort with machine guns in 1994 and 1995, but there were no injuries. Cayo Coco and the neighboring Cayo Guillermo provided settings for Ernest Hemingway 's Islands in the Stream and The Old Man and the Sea . On September 9, 2017, Cayo Coco was hit by Hurricane Irma , causing devastation to

810-695: The Indian Ocean, the east coast of North America, or West Africa as well as in the Caribbean. Sometimes the buccaneers held more or less regular commissions as privateers, and they always preyed upon the Spaniards; but often they became mere pirates and plundered any nation. As a rule, the buccaneers called themselves privateers, and many sailed under the protection of a letter of marque granted by British, French or Dutch authorities. For example, Henry Morgan had some form of legal cover for all of his attacks, and expressed great indignation at being called

855-659: The Pacific. They had not been long on their journey when the Anglo-Spanish treaty of 1680 was signed, which at last stipulated for a real peace beyond the Line and indirectly recognised the right of the English to trade in West Indian waters. When the buccaneers returned by way of Cape Horn in 1682, the survivors found themselves treated as pirates. The French, within a very few years, also controlled their buccaneers, and in

900-616: The Pyrates (1724) (purportedly written by Defoe) set the tone for the glamorous ways in which later generations would perceive them. Brethren of the Coast The Brethren or Brethren of the Coast were a loose coalition of pirates and buccaneers that were active in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in the Atlantic Ocean , Caribbean Sea , and Gulf of Mexico . They mostly operated in two locations,

945-518: The Spanish driving them out. These former refugees lived in something akin to a republic. Despite their origins their ranks swelled as they were joined by other adventurers of various nationalities, including Spaniards , African sailors, as well as escaped slaves and outlaws of various sovereigns. The English had their heyday around the 1650s, when they seized Tortuga from the Spanish . These privateers were issued letters of marque to defend

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990-524: The Spanish on the coast of Cuba. They called this activity buccaneering. Their principal station was Tortuga, but from time to time they seized other strongholds, like Providence, and they were welcomed with their booty in ports like Port Royal in Jamaica . At first they were international. In 1663 it was estimated that there were fifteen of their ships with nearly a thousand men, English, French, and Dutch, belonging to Jamaica and Tortuga. As time went on and

1035-788: The airport on Cayo Coco. An earlier airport, the Cayo Coco Airport has been reclaimed as a small natural park called Parque Natural El Baga. Prior to the construction of the Jardines del Rey Airport, tourist flights for area resorts landed at the Máximo Gómez Airport (Aeropuerto Máximo Gómez; airport codes IATA: AVI, ICAO: MUCA) near Morón on the Cuban mainland. Thomas Cook Group was a major tour operator for Cayo Coco, transporting holidaymakers from Manchester , Glasgow and London Gatwick from 2007, until its collapse in 2019. Buccaneers Buccaneers were

1080-640: The centres of international strife throughout the eighteenth century although by that time it was regulated in the same way as in Europe, and had become inseparable from the European wars. During the Second Anglo-Dutch War in 1665, de Ruyter attacked Barbados with a strong squadron, and the English had no choice but to base their defence on the buccaneers whom the governor of Jamaica had previously been trying to suppress. They were unmanageable and destroyed where they conquered, but they mastered

1125-452: The city the most prosperous in the Caribbean. There were even Royal Navy officers sent to lead the buccaneers, such as Christopher Myngs . Their activities went on irrespective of whether England happened to be at war with Spain or France. Among the leaders of the buccaneers were two Frenchmen, Jean-David Nau, better known as François l'Ollonais , and Daniel Montbars , who destroyed so many Spanish ships and killed so many Spaniards that he

1170-568: The command of the sea and made various conquests, but the Peace of Breda re-established the status quo in March of that year. Henry Morgan was knighted in 1674 and became lieutenant-governor of Jamaica. In the late 1670s there was a succession of raids on Spanish ports. In 1680 a party made its way across the Isthmus of Panama and, sailing in captured Spanish ships, pillaged the coasts and commerce of

1215-415: The end of the 17th century, the buccaneers' attacks began to disrupt France and England's merchant traffic with Spanish America , such that merchants who had previously regarded the buccaneers as a defence against Spain now saw them as a threat to commerce, and colonial authorities grew hostile. This change in political atmosphere, more than anything else, put an end to buccaneering. A hundred years before

1260-403: The island from the Spanish and raid Catholic French and Spanish shipping. Their decline can be attributed to various factors. The peace between William of Orange and Spain decreased the incentive in privateering. The Treaty of Madrid (1670) resulted in the English renouncing their claims to Caribbean territories. In addition the demographic changes which featured a rise in slave labor in

1305-714: The island of Tortuga off the coast of Haiti and in the city of Port Royal on the island of Jamaica . The Brethren were a syndicate of captains with letters of marque and reprisal who regulated their privateering enterprises within the community of privateers and with their outside benefactors. They were primarily private individual merchant mariners of Protestant background, usually of English and French origin. They were originally refugees who settled in Hispaniola , mostly French Huguenots and British Protestants. They would supply wares to visiting ships in exchange for guns and ammunition, an activity which led to

1350-541: The islands boast about a dozen large international hotels currently offering approximately 5000 rooms: the Jardines del Rey project plans to eventually offer 32,000 rooms. Beaches are attractive for tourists and the enormous coral reef off the north coast attracts divers from around the world. The island has its own international airport, the Jardines del Rey Airport (Aeropuerto Jardines del Rey; airport codes IATA: CCC, ICAO: MUCC). Since 2005, tourists can fly directly in to

1395-419: The largely uninhabited areas of Tortuga and Hispaniola . The meat they caught was smoked over a slow fire in little huts the French called boucans to make viande boucanée – jerked meat or jerky – which they sold to the corsairs who preyed on the (largely Spanish) shipping and settlements of the Caribbean. Eventually the term was applied to the corsairs and (later) privateers themselves, also known as

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1440-611: The mainland of Spanish America , known as the Spanish Main , and sacked cities. Perhaps what distinguished the buccaneers from earlier Caribbean sailors was their use of permanent bases in the West Indies. During the mid 17th century, the Bahama Islands attracted many lawless people who had taken over New Providence . Encouraged by its large harbour, they were joined by several pirates who made their living by raiding

1485-440: The old state of affairs in which, even when they were at peace with Spain and Portugal in Europe, there was 'no peace beyond the Line '. The West Indies were beyond the range of the European international system. Sometimes this was for their advantage but on the whole, with the intermingled possessions, trade rivalries, and disputes about territorial rights, the local conditions led to conflicts. The West Indies continued to be one of

1530-454: The point that, eventually, most victims would surrender, hoping they would not be killed. When buccaneers raided towns, they did not sail into port and bombard the defences, as naval forces typically did. Instead, they secretly beached their ships out of sight of their target, marched overland, and attacked the towns from the landward side, which was usually less fortified. Their raids relied mainly on surprise and speed. The sack of Campeche

1575-462: The policy of "no peace beyond the Line ". Buccaneers were hard to control; some even embroiled their colonies in unwanted wars. Notably, at the 1697 joint French-buccaneer siege of Cartagena , led by Bernard Desjean, Baron de Pointis , the buccaneers and the French regulars parted on extremely bitter terms. Less tolerated by local Caribbean officials, buccaneers increasingly turned to legal work or else joined regular pirate crews who sought plunder in

1620-488: The return voyage to Spain. The Spaniards also tried to drive them out of Tortuga, but the buccaneers were joined by many more French, Dutch , and English adventurers who turned to piracy. They set their eyes on Spanish shipping, generally using small craft to attack galleons in the vicinity of the Windward Passage . With the support and encouragement of rival European powers, they became strong enough to sail for

1665-490: The same way. These new powers had appropriated and secured territories in the area and needed to protect them. Buccaneers who did not settle down on agriculture or some other acceptable business after the so-called Golden Age of Piracy proved a nuisance to them, too. Spanish anti-pirate practices became thus a model for all recently arrived colonial governments. Some expanded them. When caught by anti-pirate English authorities, 17th and 18th century buccaneers received justice in

1710-399: The ship, plus a portion of the share of the prize money , usually five or six shares. Crews generally had no regular wages, being paid only from their shares of the plunder, a system called " no purchase, no pay " by Modyford or "no prey, no pay" by Enqueueing. There was a strong esprit among buccaneers. This, combined with overwhelming numbers, allowed them to win battles and raids. There

1755-516: The strip of hotels that it hosts, including the Jardines Del Rey Airport and the nearby towns of Ciego de Ávila , and Morón The causeway linking Cayo Coco to the mainland is 27 kilometres (17 miles) long and runs across Bahía de Perros ( Bay of Dogs ). It took 16 months to build and required 3 million cubic metres (110 million cubic feet) of stone. The causeway caused concern among environmentalists because it disturbed

1800-414: Was also, for some time, a social insurance system guaranteeing compensation for battle wounds at a worked-out scale. Buccaneers initially used small boats to attack Spanish galleons surreptitiously, often at night, and climb aboard before the alarm could be raised. Buccaneers were expert marksmen and would quickly kill the helmsman and any officers aboard. Buccaneers' reputation as cruel pirates grew to

1845-474: Was called "the Exterminator". Another noted leader was Welshman Henry Morgan , who sacked Maracaibo , Portobello , and Panama City , stealing a huge amount from the Spanish. Morgan became rich and went back to England, where he was knighted by Charles II . While the buccaneers were powerful it was not only hostility to Spain, but also lack of authority, that prevented the other states from ending

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1890-402: Was considered the first such raid and many others that followed replicated the same techniques including the attack on Veracruz in 1683 and the raid on Cartagena later that same year. Spanish authorities always viewed buccaneers as trespassers and a threat to their hegemony in the Caribbean basin, and over the second half of the 17th century, other European powers learned to perceive them in

1935-480: Was gradual and motivated in part by Spanish efforts to wipe out both the buccaneers and the prey animals on which they depended. The buccaneers' migration from Hispaniola's mainland to the more defensible offshore island of Tortuga limited their resources and accelerated their piratical raids. According to Alexandre Exquemelin , the Tortuga buccaneer Pierre Le Grand pioneered the settlers' attacks on galleons making

1980-443: Was published. Viewed from London , buccaneering was a budget way to wage war on England's rival, Spain. The English crown licensed buccaneers with letters of marque , legalising their operations in return for a share of their profits. The buccaneers were invited by Jamaica's Governor Thomas Modyford to base ships at Port Royal. The buccaneers robbed Spanish shipping and colonies, and returned to Port Royal with their plunder, making

2025-444: Was still further obscured by the practice of the Spanish authorities, who regarded them as heretics and interlopers, and thus hanged or garroted captured buccaneers entirely without regard to whether their attacks were licensed by French or English monarchs. Simultaneously, French and English governors tended to turn a blind eye to the buccaneers' depredations against the Spanish, even when unlicensed. But as Spanish power waned toward

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