Raid on Charles Town

The Raid on Charles Town, or Spanish raid on New Providence, was a Spanish naval expedition on 19 January 1684 (O.S.) led by Cuban corsair Juan de Alarcón against the English privateering stronghold of Charles Town (later renamed Nassau), capital of the Bahamas. The Bahamian settlements and defenses were reduced to ruins, and the Spanish carried off the governor in chains, together with the inhabitants.

Background

The Bahamas harboured pirates and privateers who preyed on Spanish ships. Governor Clarke, described as "one of Cromwell's officers" justified privateering as necessary for the colony's defence, but in one letter of marque he authorized offensive attacks on Spanish holdings far from the Bahamas. Clarke's encouragement of privateering contravened and jeopardized the 1667 and 1670 treaties of Madrid, which established peace between the English and Spanish. On 19 January 1684 (O.S.), a Spanish expedition reduced the Bahamian settlements and defenses to ruins, carrying off the governor in chains, together with the inhabitants.

Raid

Spain's corsair Juan de Alarcón stealthily approached to New Providence with a commission issued by Governor José Fernández de Córdoba and a pair of barcos luengos carrying 200 men. Having seized a woodcutting sloop off the island of Andros, Alarcón compelled its master William Bell to pilot in via the eastern channel. At daybreak Alarcón disembarked 150 men within a half-mile outside Charles Town (later Nassau), while his corsair ships bore down upon the six vessels anchored in its harbour.

Charles Town's population consisted of approximately 400 free men capable of bearing arms, perhaps 200 free women, a like number of children, and 200 enslaved people.