Booty Call

 

 

Columbus arrived in the Bahamas on October 12 thinking he had arrived in the East Indies.

 

 

  

 

 

We arrived on May 16 thinking we had died and gone to heaven.  I expect that both ours and Columbus’s thoughts were on the same wavelength as we exited our respective ships.  “Where can I get one on those great Island drinks with the cute little umbrellas?” 

 

 

  

 No grim looking custom agents to spoil our entry but numerous descendants of African slaves selling opportunities to explore their island home. Not for us, like Columbus we had limited funding and were traveling on a pensioner’s budget not provided by a Spanish queen but the English crown.

 

 

The original inhabitants of the islands who first met Columbus no longer exist having been harvested by the Spaniards as slaves until they disappeared in the late 16^th century.

 

 

 

 

 

The Spaniards left the island basically undeveloped for the next 130 years as their focus was on gold and plunder, not to be found on the islands. The Puritans showed up in the early 17^th century followed by other English speaking colonists along with their slaves. The descendants of these slaves now form the majority of the population.  

 

The islands location, close to the sailing routes to Europe, become pivotal in its past and current economy.   Ship wrecks were common and the Bahamians become expert wreckers at recovering booty from sunken Spanish ships. This brought them into direct conflict with Spanish wreckers resulting in back and forth invasions of the islands. 

 

 

This conflict resulted in the creation of new form of commerce.  Why wait till the ship sinks, why not grab the booty while it is still floating. Privateers or pirates entered the already busy shipping industry. At one time or other over 20 pirate captains made their home in Nassau.

 

 

 

 

 

The privateer tradition continues today. But rather then go out and find ships to plunder; the ships now come willingly to Nassau to be plundered

With only about 6 hours to discover Nassau, we were off the ship early. The cruise ship parking lot was full so we expected busy conditions and wanted to avoid the crowds. The Bahamas host 1.5 million tourists a year.

 

I love a good fort and Nassau has not one but two of them to visit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Built both around the same time, they never saw a shot fired in anger.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course, we made time for the obligatory umbrella drink. Our nips were lumb by the time we re-boarded the ship and seven sea days before we see land again.