Pirates of the Caribbean - what nationalities were the caribbean pirates from-Mostly English/French?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cristiano viejo

Francis Drake was a simple pirate who was defeated by Spaniards over and over until that he was died in America

he was not even a pirate, he was a looter of small towns

https://www.abc.es/espana/20141109/a...411081642.html

(google translation)

The myth of English piracy: less than 1% of Spanish galleons were captured

The literature and the Anglo-Saxon propaganda have exaggerated the episodes of a war that Spain won. Between 1540 and 1650, of the 11,000 ships that made the America-Spain route, only 107 were lost due to pirate attacks

Between 1540 and 1650 -period of greater flow in the transport of gold and silver- of the 11,000 ships that made the America-Spain route, 519 ships were lost, mostly due to storms and other natural reasons. Only 107 did so for pirate attacks, that is less than 1%, according to the calculations of Fernando Martínez Laínez in his book "Tercios de España: A Legendary Infantry". A minimum damage that is explained by the great effectiveness of the convoy system organized by Felipe II.

Thus, the Monarch established by Royal Decree as soon as he reached the throne the conditions to ensure a naval defense system immune to pirate attacks. The trip of the Fleet of the Indies took place twice a year. The starting point was located in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, where the fleet carried out the last inspections, and from there it left for La Gomera, in the Canary Islands.

After the wash-pick up water on land, the squadron consisting of about 30 ships sailed between twenty and thirty days, depending on weather conditions, to the islands of Dominica or Martinique (Central America) where supplies were replenished. During the whole journey the convoy was led by the flagship and the best armed galleons were located to windward -where the wind blows- to provide escort to the group. The general objective was that no ship be lost sight of or deviate from the course alone. And at night, the boats lit a huge lantern aft to serve as a reference to the one behind them.

The Spanish convoy system, whose theorist was Captain Menéndez de Avilés, would be copied by England and the United States. in the two world wars. But the real proof that it fulfilled its purpose is that only two convoys were completely captured in all its history: the first, in 1628, at the height of Matanzas (Cuba), at the hands of the Dutch admiral Piet Heyn; and a second time in 1656.

Was the Empire injured by piracy?

Unable to attack the Indian Fleet or the large galleons, the activity of Francis Drake and others of his size was limited in most cases to attacks on defenseless populations of the Caribbean. Not in vain, the defensive system of some Spanish populations was really deficient and it was easy to take advantage of the incompetence of the local governors. For example, on January 1, 1586, the aforementioned Drake took the city of Santo Domingo for a month and then the fire with impunity.

The activity of Francis Drake was limited to the plundering of the defenseless populations of the Caribbean

However, after the disaster of the Invincible Armada Felipe II took the problem of piracy seriously and allocated eight million ducats for new ships and fortifications in the Caribbean. These, like the impregnable Cartagena de Indias, were reinforced by the best architects of the Empire. A logistical effort that accelerated the decline of this type of piracy, that financed and driven in the shadows by countries like England, France or Holland. It is worth remembering that, although characters like Drake had a private license, Spain did not recognize these pirates as consairs but as pirates, since they acted in times of peace.

It is for all these reasons that the historian Germán Vázquez Chamorro downplays the influence that piracy could have on the devaluation process of the Spanish Empire. In his opinion, the most famous pirates exalted to fame, especially by English literature and propaganda, really attacked fishing boats or boats of little or no value to the Spanish Crown. In fact, the enemies of Spain dispensed with allying with the pirates when they discovered other methods to gain ground to this empire. Thus, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, all nations conspired to persecute and mercilessly punish pirates.