So far on this channel I’ve talked about what pirates were doing when they were at sea but
where did they go AFTER they filled up their holds with stolen cargo or precious metals? Well, if you
were a pirate in the late 1600’s the number one destination you’d want to visit would have been
Port Royal, Jamaica. A little back story about Port Royal. Prior to Columbus the Taino natives
used the area around Port Royal for fishing, but it’s not known if they actually settled there. In
1494 the Spanish landed in Jamaica and, in 1509, a group of people settled in Port Royal. They didn’t
have much use for it outside of cultivating and processing sugar cane. The main reason the Spanish
were on Jamaica was to keep the other European powers from being able to get a foothold in the
Caribbean. In 1655 Port Royal was captured by the English invasion of Jamaica and, by 1659,
200 houses, shops, and warehouses had been set up. During this time the Governor of Jamaica, Edward
D’Oley welcomed Pirates to base in Port Royal. These pirates were largely made up of buccaneers,
who had been living on Hispaniola and hunting wild pigs until the Spanish threw them out. These men
wanted to get back at the Spanish and the English were happy to help them out with that! The
English quickly granted letters of mark turning the buccaneers into legal English Privateers
and then started ordering raids on the Spanish. By doing this they found a way to defend Port
Royal without having to spend much at all. The Spanish were unable to retake Jamaica due to
the pirates protecting it. That, combined with the Pirates attacking their ships drove up the demand
for goods in Spain. The merchants on Jamaica would initiate trade with the Spanish and then
have the privateers attack the vessels to steal it back. This was making Port Royal one of the
wealthiest English colonies in North America. In 1668 Henry Morgan sacked Portobello and
returned to Port Royal with a plunder worth 75,000 pounds which was more than 7 times
the annual value of Jamaicas sugar exports. Port Royal was appealing to pirates due to
the close proximity to trade routes giving them easy access to prey as well as the proximity to
several of the only straits between the Spanish main and the Atlantic. The harbor was large and
had a place to careen their ships. By the 1660’s Port Royal was known as “Sodom of the New World”
and most of the people who lived there were pirates, merchants, or prostitutes.
Charles Leslie wrote a history of Jamaica and described Port Royal like this: “Wine
and women drained their wealth to such a degree that some of them became reduced to beggary.
They have been known to spend 2 or 3,000 pieces of eight in one night; and one gave a strumpet 500 to
see her naked. They used to buy a pipe of wine, place it in the street, and oblige everyone that
passed to drink.” At its height Port Royal had one drinking house for every 10 residents
and in July 1661 alone 40 new licenses were granted for taverns. Up until 1692 around
6,500 people lived in Port Royal. There were 2000 buildings on only 51 acres of land. As available
land decreased people would either fill in areas of water with sand or build taller. The buildings
became heavier as people built with bricks mimicking the construction style of England.
On June 7th, 1692 an earthquake struck Jamaica causing most of the north section of Port Royal
to be lost. The earthquake caused the sand to liquefy and flow out into the harbor.
In the 1960’s a pocket watch was recovered that was stopped at 11:43 and,
along with supporting evidence, it is believed this is the exact time the earthquake struck.
When the earthquake occurred the liquefaction would have make the ground look like quicksand
and eyewitness accounts attested to buildings sliding into the sea.
After the earthquake there was a tsunami and many dead bodies were left to float in the harbor.
No housing, medicine, or clean water caused many more residents to die of various illnesses.
The earthquake and tsunami killed between 1,000 and 3,000 people and over the next few months an
additional 2,000 died. Attempts to rebuild the city to it’s former glory were largely
unsuccessful but Port Royal was still in use for years, although instead of a sanctuary for pirates
the English government started to imprison and hang them there. Gallows point was the
final resting place for pirates like Charles Vane and Jack Rackham and Mary Read died in
prison there. In 1774 Port Royal was, once again, destroyed, but this time due to a major hurricane.
By 1774 Kingston had become much more important. Finally in 1907,
a massive earthquake liquefied the sand again destroying nearly all of the rebuilt city.
There is an archaeological presence and in 1981 Texas A&M began a 10 year investigation. Thanks
to their efforts we have learned much about the everyday life in English colonial cities from
the time. Some consider Port Royal to be the most important underwater archaeological site
in the western hemisphere due to the amount of artifacts and how well they are preserved.
From nothing to a major pirate outpost and back to obscurity again Port Royal
has seen its ups and downs. Recently Jamaica has built a cruise ship terminal in Port Royal
complete with a floating pier to prevent damaging the historical artifacts below.
I hope you enjoyed todays video and if you did please give us a like and
hit the subscribe button! We also have a link to our Paypal and Patreon below. if
you have any questions or suggestions for future videos please leave a comment below.