The sky remained overcast throughout the night and we woke to passing showers, heavy at times. A few of the intrepid on board swam in the choppy water but reported only a rocky shore and nothing of interest below. By late morning a huge electrical storm approached and we all piled out to the cockpit to encounter the electrical theatrics. Once the storm had abated, we got underway and motor sailed to Gorda Sound.
This huge bay is formed by Virgin Gorda Island and two other islands, Mosquito and Prickly Pear. Reefs extend off most of the coastline, making navigation quite tight. We moored off Prickly Pear Island at Vixen Point, which had a lovely golden sandy beach. The sky was clearing with enough blue for sailor's trousers, and after a very late lunch, we swam to shore across a grassy bottom, seeing a giant stingray, large yellow starfish, a few big fish and a huge school of fingerlings by the beach. We walked the beach and checked out the Sandbox Cafe, which we learnt was closed for the day. The girls took the tender for a spin and headed to Saba Rock, which lies in the passage SW of Prickly Pear. Saba Rock is a tiny speck of an island with a boutique hotel and bar restaurant that clings to the rock.
When we returned to Trilogy, the guy from Sandbox had dropped by to collect the mooring fees and offered very kindly to open the restaurant for us for dinner. At 19:00 we were collected in his comfortable tender and taken ashore. There were only a few lights able to be turned on due to a faulty generator not charging the batteries sufficiently. In the soft half light, he made us cocktails and then served chicken rotis and buffalo wings (chicken), which we enjoyed very much. The Wifi was good and we all settled into making the most of the connectivity to make phone calls home and catch up on emails. Once we'd had our fix, we were taken back to Trilogy after a very happy time, once more the only guests in the restaurant!
Prickly Pear island was once a pirate lair, which sparked our curiosity to know more about the pirate fraternity. As long as men have transported anything of value across the ocean, there have been others willing to relieve them of it! For several hundred years the Vikings made annual raids along the coasts of Western Europe. The Bible even speaks of 'princes of the sea'. It was in the Middle Ages that piracy got underway with a vengeance. At the same time 'privateering' also came into vogue....privately owned vessels manned by civilians who were commissioned with 'letters de marque' as auxiliaries to the Royal Navy. They were used mainly against merchant shipping and were actively encouraged by monarchs in times of war or hostility to attack.
Having laid claim to all of the Americas and West Indies, the Spanish Armada was a force to be reckoned with. Others nations were happy to see pirates siphoning off funds intended for the Spanish Reformation, by intercepting the treasure ships loaded with Aztec gold. Numerous ex-pirates played an important role in the defeat of the Spanish Armada. They could switch between being privateers, giving them a legal status to enter ports, and outright piracy when there was an uneasy interval of peace. The defeat of the Armada intensified the harassment of Spanish merchant ships and allowed English, French and Dutch colonies to germinate in the now undefended West Indies.
The word 'buccaneer' comes from the French boucaniers who settled in Hispaniola. They made a meagre living barbecuing beef in smokehouses and selling it to passing vessels. When the Spanish foolishly drove them off the island, they turned to hunting Spanish ships. Hence Buccaneers became a new and fearful term for pirate. New struggling colonies were a welcome market for plundered goods. Jamaica's Port Royal became one of the richest towns in the region because of pirate gold.
So, the pirates were a vital part of the colonisation of the West Indies. The Spanish meted out their own punishment if they caught pirates or privateers. They made no distinctions between the two except that the privateers were sent to the gallows with their commissions tied around their necks. Hanging was the usual end for captured pirates but if they fell into the hands of the Inquisition p, they may receive a more drawn-out demise on the rack!
The ideal pirate vessel was small and fast. Bermudan sloops were felt to be ideal because of their speed (over 11 knots) and manoeuvrability, and could carry up to 75 men. All the crew were shareholders in the 'company' and part owners of the ship. A bigger company might go for a brigantine, a two masted vessel with a choice of a square or fore-and-aft rig, or a versatile combination of the two. This is often how pirates made their assaults. They would sneak out from a concealed cove and run down a sluggish merchant ship.
The Virgin Islands made an excellent hunting ground with their myriad of coves and passages. Situated right on the treasure route from South America to Europe, the area was visited by many notorious Caribbean pirates such as: Edward England, Charles Vane, Calico Jack, Bartholomew Roberts (who became one of the greatest pirates of all) and the formidable Blackbeard, who would go into battle with slow burning matches alight in his beard and behind his ears, to enhance his devilish appearance.
As the colonies began to stabilise, law and order made the pirates less welcome as members of the community. Many of them set off for the North American mainland, to help harass the British shipping magnates. Others headed for the Orient, the Red Sea, the Indian Ocean and Madagascar.