Spices, Silks and Slaves: The Allure of Piracy, Part II

            This week, we explore further the various goods that the Buccaneers of the Caribbean pilfered from their prey.  If you haven't already, read part one of Spices, Silks and Slaves: The Allure of Piracy, Part 1.
            While it might seem odd to many of us today, salt was a highly coveted item in the Caribbean, as it had been throughout the world and human history.  Before the days of refrigeration, not many foods could be kept from spoiling.  Salt, however, is a natural preservative and was used to keep meat from rotting.  Salt in the New World was hacked loose from great piles in Cumana (Venezuela), located on the north coast of South America.  It's no coincidence that this region was referred to as "The Salt Coast."  Naturally, salt was a valuable cargo for Buccaneers to seize.    

            Another valuable resource to come by was Indigo wood from the Orinoco area in South America.  It was prized for the deep blue dye that could be extracted.  It was lumbered from distant forest areas down the Orinoco River, cut into shippable blocks, and transported to the coast.  While it may seem peculiar to imagine a band of Buccaneers celebrating around a shipment of newly captured lumber, Indigo wood would be considered a very fine catch. 

            But inventories from the Americas were not the only treasures that passed through the Caribbean on their way to the ports of Spain and markets of Europe.  Embroidered muslin and fabrics, fine china, silverware, and silks came from China.  Spices like pepper, mustard, ginger, and cinnamon came from Indonesia.  Ivory carvings and combs came from India and China. 

            Every year these exotic goods and many others were shipped across the Pacific to the west coast of Mexico via The Manila Galleon.  They were then carted across the continent to Vera Cruz, where, once a year a great bazaar took place.  Afterward, everything was transported back to Europe via the treasure fleet.          
            All of the goods mentioned so far were some of the more frequent inventories, but there were scores of other items that were produced and traded in smaller quantities, like pearls.  But despite the tremendous wealth that was generated or passed through the Caribbean, the vast majority of goods seized by pirates were not the valuable ones mentioned above but goods that were mundane in nature: provisions like sail cloth, fruit, dried meat, needles, fish, clothing, gunpowder, iron and brass fittings, and all of the other ordinary provisions that made life in the Caribbean possible.  After all, it was the ships that carried these types of items that were most common, least guarded, and most easily captured.      

            Regardless of what the Buccaneers confiscated, they rarely shopped around for buyers when it came to their stolen property.  After a short jaunt from the Windward Passage to Tortuga, they would disembark their stolen cargo and sell it quayside to middlemen and merchants after paying Governor Levasseur’s tax.  Once the spoils were divided, treasure was never buried (a fictitious act for Buccaneers) nor was it saved.  They typically sold or traded everything soon after stealing it, and promptly spent it all in literal orgies of drinking and indulgence of every sort.  It’s because of these flurries of wild spending and brief bouts of high living that Buccaneer havens like Tortuga earned their deserved reputations.

            Though the Buccaneers dreamed of chests full of gold and silver, most would never capture any great quantity until later, when most of them had moved from Tortuga to Port Royal, Jamaica, and put to sea with such devils as Francois L'Ollonais, Christopher Myngs and Henry Morgan.  That’s not to say that vast quantities of gold and silver didn’t pass through the Windward Passage on its way back to Europe.  They certainly did, but these precious metals were transported in Spanish treasure fleets amid dozens of vessels, all jealously guarded by armed war galleons.  Even later, when major cities on the Spanish Main were sacked, the Buccaneers had to divide such spoils many times, since these undertakings required hundreds, even thousands of men.     

          If you enjoyed this blog, join us next week for:  A Democracy of Scoundrels.

For much more on the subject, you can also read my historical novel, The Brethren Prince, available as an e-book at the Amazon Kindle store, Apple iBooks, Barnes and Noble, and other major e-book retailers.