This week, our coverage of Anguilla’s history looks at the subject of piracy. Any Caribbean island worth its salt will have a tale or two of buried treasure… Our little island of tranquillity wrapped in blue is no exception.
The Golden Age of Piracy ran from about 1614 to 1724. The association of piracy and buccaneering with Anguilla dates to this period whenAnguilladeveloped a wide but undeserved reputation as a stomping ground for pirates and buccaneers. The island was described at various times as ‘a nest of pirates and smugglers and outlaws, dangerous to every neighbouring island, and a disgrace to the British name’ (Public Record Office/National Archives CO 230/59).
In 1699, the Council for Nevis wrote that the pirate William Kidd had touched at Anguilla. There, he learned he had been proclaimed a pirate by the English authorities. Believing that he would be pardoned, he sailed to New York and turned himself in. He was arrested, carried toEnglandin chains, tried, convicted and hung. His body was publicly exhibited as a warning to other pirates. Some people still believe he buried his treasure onAnguilla…As an archaeologist, I am sceptical but if you want to learn more, I recommend The Pirate Hunter by Richard Zacks.
Allegations of visits by pirates would haunt the island’s reputation for years. In 1701, Governor Codrington Jr wrote to the Committee for the Colonies that the men ofAnguillawere perfect outlaws. His claim was without base, however.
In 1706,Anguilla’s Deputy Governor, George Leonard, was accused by Richard Oglethorpe of dealing knowingly with the goods of Captain Kidd. Unfortunately, no other details are known. Oglethorpe subsequently married the widow of one of Kidd’s colleagues, Tempest Rogers – the same colleague, incidentally, he accused Governor Leonard of owing money.
Anguilla continued to struggle with its reputation. A retired pirate surfaces on Anguilla in Captain Woodes Rogers who, in 1718, attempted to lure the entire population of Anguilla (then around 1,800 blacks and whites) to his colony in theBahamas. Two years later, six pirates from the Royal Rover landed on Anguilla (in 1720) to start a new life but were detected by the Anguillians and sent as prisoners to Nevis where they were found guilty and sentenced to death.
