The Privateers of the French Antilles and Cartagene (1696 to 1740)

Abstract

Using source material from the departmental archives of Martinique, mostly part of the “Correspondance Générale”, we are going to discuss the activities of the privateers and their contribution to the interventionist military policy of France against the Spanish possessions on the Main, especially against the port of Cartagena of the Indies. We will try to shed some light on their often complex situation at those points in time when alliances change or when treaties are signed in Europe, news of which reaching the islands of the Caribbean only late. This is a situation giving rise to rumours convenient for opportunistic or marginal activities. We are going to ask to what extent these men of various origins serve the diplomatic intentions of the French monarchy, the ambitions of governors and local administrators, the specific interests of the colonists, and, of course, the interests of their own enrichment. When, due to their activities which are sometimes difficult to control, do these men become inconvenient to the central government? Or, on the other hand, how can their suppression still serve the aims of official policy? How is the uncertainty of their condition reflected in their various labels? There are corsairs who have official status and are publicly recognised, privateers and buccaneers who are tolerated, marauders who are disavowed and condemned, but there are also slaver captains who are simple merchants. What sort of personalities do emerge among these men? Some of them integrate local society and become honoured and admired, others however are denounced and hanged. To what extent do some of them, victims of international policy, to which they are mere pawns, pass from one type of status to another, be it due to the passage of time or reasons of state?