Francis Fernando ( fl. 1715–1716) was a Jamaican pirate and privateer active in the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

. He was one of the few confirmed mixed-race Captains in the

Golden Age of Piracy The Golden Age of Piracy is a common designation for the period between the 1650s and the 1730s, when maritime piracy was a significant factor in the histories of the Caribbean, the United Kingdom, the Indian Ocean, North America, and West Africa ...

History

Francis Fernando, described as “a

mulatto (, ) is a racial classification to refer to people of mixed African and European ancestry. Its use is considered outdated and offensive in several languages, including English and Dutch, whereas in languages such as Spanish and Portuguese is ...

commander” and “a tawny Moor,” owned an estate on

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

and was prosperous enough to post a security deposit for his voyages. He was granted a

privateering A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

commission in late 1715 from Lord Archibald Hamilton, Governor of Jamaica. He also sold Hamilton a share of ownership in his

sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular sa ...

''Bennett'', which meant Hamilton would personally profit from any prize ships Fernando took. In early 1716 he captured the Spanish sloop ''Nuestra Señora de Belen''. His commission had been to sail against pirates; he justified taking the Spanish ship on the grounds that had originally been an English vessel (the ''Kingston'' or ''Kensington''), unlawfully captured by the Spanish. He returned to Jamaica to have the prize confirmed, though he only left the bulk cargo aboard - he had removed all the jewels, coins, and other valuables, worth 250,000

pieces of eight The Spanish dollar, also known as the piece of eight ( es, Real de a ocho, , , or ), is a silver coin of approximately diameter worth eight Spanish reales. It was minted in the Spanish Empire following a monetary reform in 1497 with content ...

. Shrewdly, Fernando kept the ''Bennett'' offshore while awaiting the

prize court A prize court is a court (or even a single individual, such as an ambassador or consul) authorized to consider whether prizes have been lawfully captured, typically whether a ship has been lawfully captured or seized in time of war or under the te ...

’s judgment. He captured another Spanish ship shortly afterwards, this time sailing to

New Providence New Providence is the most populous island in the Bahamas, containing more than 70% of the total population. It is the location of the national capital city of Nassau, whose boundaries are coincident with the island; it had a population of 246 ...

in the

Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...

to share out the loot with his crew. He sailed back to Jamaica to determine whether he would be allowed to keep his loot and go free, and “if he found he could not, he gave out that he would return to Providence and settle amongst the rovers.” Later in 1716 he was reported as sailing alongside

Henry Jennings Henry Jennings (died possibly 1745) was an 18th-century Kingdom of England, English privateer from the colony of Bermuda, who served primarily during the War of the Spanish Succession and later served as leader of the pirate haven or "Pirates' ...

Benjamin Hornigold Captain Benjamin Hornigold (1680–1719) was an English pirate who operated during the tail end of the Golden Age of Piracy. Born in England in the late 17th century, Hornigold began his pirate career in 1713, attacking merchant ships in the Bah ...

, and Olivier Levasseur, using New Providence as his home port. That same year Hamilton issued a proclamation demanding that Jennings, Fernando, James Carnegie, Leigh Ashworth, and others surrender to authorities, but Hamilton was soon removed from power over corruption charges. Despite this, by 1717 Hamilton's successor

Nicholas Lawes Sir Nicholas Lawes (1652 – 18 June 1731) (sometimes "'Laws'" in contemporary documents) was Governor of Jamaica from 1718 to 1722. Early life Nicholas Lawes was born in 1652 to Nicholas and Amy Lawes. Knighthood He was a British kni ...

declared that England would not make any restitution to the Spanish for various offenses, including Fernando's capture of the ''Nuestra Señora de Belen''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fernando, Francis 18th-century pirates Year of birth missing Year of death missing British pirates Caribbean pirates

History

Further reading

See also

References