Port Royal, Jamaica, Pirate Hideout

The Pirate's Realm

Port Royal sits just south of Cuba on the southern coast of Jamaica. It was founded by the British, who after gaining control of the island from the Spanish in 1655, began fortifying the settlement next to the deep harbor which eventually would hold as many as 500 ships.

Pirates in the Caribbean

Port Royal, Jamaica

Out of fear of Spanish invasion, buccaneers were drawn away from nearby Tortuga to help discourage attack, and after peace with Spain in 1660, those same buccaneers easily acquired letters of marque to plunder their merchant ships.

The early 1670's began a twenty-year boom where Port Royal became a large and busy port rivaling even Boston- a city of over 7000 practically overrun by buccaneers who were as despised for the drunkenness and prostitution as they were loved for their loot. Most notable among the Port Royal pirates was Henry Morgan, whose sacking of Panama ironically led to a change of British policy toward their main source of income. A new anti-piracy law in 1681 and a new governor brought convictions and executions of the illicit merchants as their attacks began to include even English ships.

The final blow came on the morning of July 7, 1692, when a massive earthquake and following tidal wave brought widespread destruction. Two-thirds of the city fell into rubble or sank into the sea.

Port Royal Today-

Today, the small fishing town near Kingston is a well-known tourist destination for pirate enthusiasts, and nautical archeologists as well as treasure hunters regularly survey and make valuable recoveries from the sunken site that was once called the Sodom of the New World.

• Port Royal: a Seventeenth Century Haven for Pirates and Privateers
  11 May 2010 at 11:45am
  Why Port Royal, Jamaica became a haven for privateers and pirates in the seventeenth century and what caused its demise. ... Present day view near Port Royal, a far cry from the golden age of piracy. All images from ...
  
• The Cutler Family Chronicles: The Lore Of Port Royal, Jamaica
  16 Dec 2011 at 12:32pm
  Port Royal, Jamaica has a rich history. Founded in 1618, it is located at the end of a spit of land at the mouth of Kingston Harbor. From its earliest days it served as a refuge for English privateers preying on Spanish treasure ...
  
• Seattle Seafair Pirates reunite at a "Memoirs of a Buccaneer" book ...
  26 Jan 2012 at 9:16am
  In the book I explain how we (his 'Pyrate' troupe) ran aground in Port Royal, Jamaica. Their coast guard recused the school kids on board while we had to pay a local guy $100 in advance to tow the boat. That's piracy.
  
• Elizabeth's Pirate Blog: Pirates in Jamaica and Madagascar ...
  24 Jan 2012 at 7:51pm
  Jamaica and Madagascar were only two of the many islands inhabited by pirates in the seventeenth century. I thought it was interesting that the governors of Jamaica allowed buccaneers to use Port Royal as a base. Pirates ...
  
• Baker Family Tree: Chapter 30 - The Pirate Adam Baldridge
  26 Jan 2012 at 1:09pm
  To the benefit of the pirate colony on St Mary's, a major earthquake on the Island of Jamaica in 1693 destroyed the city of Port Royal. Previously to that point, Port Royal had been the main rendezvous location for pirates in the ...
  

Port Royal, Jamaica, Pirate Hideout

Port Royal Rediscovered / Port Royal info / Port Royal- Pirate Haven