Privateers and Early Spanish Colonies

Jean Florin

A French Privateer who was active around 1522. He stopped a Spanish ship leaving the Azores, expecting the cargo to be basic trade items and instead found it to be full of Aztec gold.

Francois Le Clerc

A French pirate during the 1550s. Had the nickname "Jambe de Bois" which meant "Peg Leg." He targeted some of the most populates, richest Spanish parts of the New World, which the Spanish empire hadn't prepared for.

The Drake Plate

A hoax that began in 1936. Previous student of historian Herbert Bolton made a fake plate, supposedly left by Drake when he claimed California, and planted it. They had planned to come clean before it got too big, but the plate was lost for years. By the time they heard about it, it was already in the news.

Letter of Marque and Reprisal

A letter from the ruler, usually a king or queen, of a country that allowed a person to legally be a pirate under that countries law. This was the only thing that made the difference between a pirate and privateer.

Sea Beggars

A mocking nickname given to Dutch pirates by the French and the Spanish.

Treaty of Tordesillas

A treaty between Spain and Portugal. Divided up the unclaimed world as the Western hemisphere belonging to Spain and the Eastern hemisphere belonging to Portugal.

50 percent

After Florin's attack, what percentage of Spain's ship were being lost to the area between the Azores and Spain's coast?

The Caribbean

After Spain started guarding the Azores more closely, piracy moved here, which was called the Spanish Main at the time.

John Hawkins

An English pirate who's main philosophy was trading what he had seized. Since Spanish settlements weren't allowed to trade with the English, he would negotiate with the governor of whatever city so that they "captured" the city without any attack, and then "punished" the citizens by making them trade with him. His second in command was Francis Drake.

100,000 ounces of gold, thousands of pounds of pearls

Approximately how much treasure was on board the ship that Jean Florin seized?

Trade

Colonies in the New World would give out letters so that privateers would bring _____ to their settlement.

Killed a mutineer

Drake ______ _ ________ to teach his crew a lesson and to bring them back under control.

Collapsed

Drake attacked the Spanish so viciously on the high seas that the Spanish Bank ________.

After

Drake died of a fever a few months _____ Hawkins.

Sinking

Drake got so much treasure from the Caca Fuego in the form of 26 tons of silver, as well as emeralds and other jewels that his ship was ________

California

Drake laid claim to this piece of land in North America, despite the fact that Spain had already technically claimed it.

6 Ships

Drake left with _ _____, and almost immediately lost 3 to bad weather. He lost 2 more near the Caribbean.

Outdated

Drake's last expedition didn't yield nearly as much profit as expected because Drake's knowledge of the New World was _______.

25 Ships

For the expedition after his infamous seizure of the Caca Fuego, Drake had __ _____, compared to his original 6.

Pacific Ocean

Francis Drake found out that this ocean hadn't been infested with pirates, and a fortune by capitalizing on it.

Different Methods

Hawkins and Drake spent their time on this expedition arguing due to the ________ _________ they had for pirating.

Fever

Hawkins died of _____ a few months into the expedition, which dampened the mood of the crew.

2

How many of Hawkins' ships survived the encounter with the Treasure Fleet?

The Treasure Fleet

In order to protect their cargo ships from pirates, the Spanish put their cargo ships together in a convoy with heavily armed warships. This fleet lasted from the 1530s to the 1730s and was only captured once.

1568

In this year, Hawkins was going through the Caribbean when he was caught in a storm. He needed to dock, but the closest port was Spanish and would attack him on site. He ran up the Spanish flag to try and pretend to be a part of the Treasure Fleet. He wanted to simply wait out the storm, not go into town or attack. While they were waiting, the real Treasure Fleet showed up.

The Azores

Islands owned by Portugal, but Spain had access to them. Spanish ships would stop there to re-supply after the harrowing trip across the Atlantic. Pirates realized the opportunity and hovered around the islands, waiting for ships.

Trials over seized ships

Kings and queens granted letters of marque and reprisal because they would make money from the;

Havana, Cuba

La Clerc also captured this town. When the city fought back, he murdered his hostages, the people who attacked him, burned their Catholic symbols, and then left the town in ruins.

French Protestant

Le Clerc was a _____ _________ who was targeting Catholics. He drowned priests for no other reason than religious driven hatred when he captured a ship with a group of them on board.

English

Most ______ pirates were privateers.

Canonballs

Normally, the Caca Fuego would have been hard to seize, but the Spanish had gotten lax and the crew had forgotten to restock on __________.

Saint Augustine

One of the oldest cities in the United States, which was originally set to drive away the pirates that had been making bases there.

1628

Piet Hein captured the entire Treasure Fleet. This was the only time the Treasure Fleet was captured.

Navy

Pirates and privateers acted as the Dutch's ____ during this time.

Pirates

Privateers are ______ to every country except the one they received a letter from, and so are usually still referred to as both terms.

Spanish Galleons

Ships the Spanish used, which were mainly massive moving fortresses and were built for storage and fire power. They were inferior to English Galleons because they were very slow moving.

Rebuilt

Spain had Havana _______. Within five years, it was captured by another pirate captain. This cycle happened often in this area.

Aided

Spain's reaction to the news of the Sea Beggars plans _____ the Dutch.

1970s

The Drake Plate wasn't proven as a hoax until the _____.

England

The Dutch originally used this nation as a home base before going to the New World.

1555

The Governor of Havana refused to negotiate with Le Clerc for the hostages he had, and instead built a small military force, which was made mainly of slaves.

Go to different ports

The Treasure Fleet was only vulnerable during one part of their journey, which was when they split up to;

All together

The Treasure Fleet went through the Florida Strait ___ _______.

How rich Spain was

The amount of treasure in the ship Jean Florin attacked made the rest of Europe more aware of what?

Cabin Boy

The capture of the Treasure Fleet almost wasn't successful because a _____ ___ deserted and talked about their plan.

France

The first country to really get involved in privateering.

Retire

The loss of his ships and the run in the with Treasure Fleet make John Hawkins decide to ______.

Caca Fuego

The name of the Spanish ship that Drake seized off the coast of North America, which had been taking cargo from China to Mexico.

Lost

The slave force the governor put together attacked in the night, and took Le Clerc and his crew by surprise. The slave force ____.

Santiago, Cuba

The town that Le Clerc held hostage for a full month.

1595

The year that Drake left for his last expedition. This time he left with 52 ships, and his old mentor John Hawkins even came out of retirement to join him.

1562

The year that Hawkins was most active. He captured a Portuguese slave ship. He then carried the slaves to the New World to trade them, which led to his subsequent "capture" of many colonies.

1527

The year that Jean Florin was captured by the new patrols that Spain had set up. He and all his crew were all hanged, despite Florin's insistence that he was a privateer and not a pirate.

1648

The year the Dutch were granted their freedom.

Wind Patterns

These made the travel routes across the Atlantic predictable and helped pirates know the best places to go to attack returning ships.

Florida Strait

This area of the Caribbean was a major hunting ground for pirates, since all traffic going to or from the Spanish colonies had to travel through here. Geographically it was very easy to trap ships here.

Spain

This country was the main victim of pirates.

The Spanish Armada

This fearsome military force was created to try and combat the pirates that were plaguing the Spanish.

Jacques De Sores

This pirate captain is often confused with Francois Le Clerc because of the parallels their exploits share. Both captured Havana, had religious animosity, etc.

Queen Elizabeth

This ruler of England promised to punish Drake, since Spain and England were at peace when the Caca Fuego was attacked. However, in the end, Drake was given a knighthood.

Early Spanish Ship Canon

This type of canon was essentially a field canon put on a ship. Because of it's large wheels, it would roll out of place when fire, and it's size made it difficult to put back in place. It also wasn't stable enough for to be used effectively on ships.

Early English Ship Canon

This type of ship canon was designed for use on ships, and had smaller wheels, which made them easier to get back in place, made them more stable, and allowed for quicker firing.

Fleet

To combat the rise of piracy off the coast of the Azores, Spain built a _____ that patrolled the area heavily.

English "Race Built" Galleons

Were built to be fast and maneuverable first and foremost.

The Dutch Rebellion

What political event, which took place during the 1560s-1570s, led to the rise of privateering and piracy among the Dutch?

To circle the globe

What was Drake's plan that he didn't tell his men about, leading to whispers of mutiny?

Buried Treasure

What was one of the legends that is popular today because of Francis Drake?

Sea Dogs

What were English pirates called?

Run

When Hawkins was faced with the real Treasure Fleet, what did he do?

Frenzy

When Jean Florin attacked a ship and found a large amount of treasure, it sent people into a _____ and led to a rise in piracy in the Atlantic.

The Caribbean

When the Dutch were given their freedom, they were also allowed to settle in;

Warships

When the letter got to the Treasure Fleet, they had split up and in the end only the ________ got the message to wait and try to cross, leaving them vulnerable to capture.

Stay where they were

When they heard of the Dutch's plan, Spain sent a letter ordering the Treasure Fleet to;

Francis Drake

Worked originally as John Hawkins' second in command, but took over for him when he retired. He is the most successful pirate of the 1500s. He had a very long, profitable career that spanned the globe. He was very dedicated to the pirate mentality, and many pirate legends can be traced back to him.

Piracy

______ erased England's debts.