SANTIAGO DE CUBA IN TROUBLE WITH PIRATES

The increasing importance of Santiago de Cuba and its coasts in commercial point of view was attracting the pirates since a long time. Jean François de la Roque, François Leclerc (better known as Pata de Palo, Jacques de Sores, Henry Morgan, Christopher Mings, Cornelius C. Jo, and the Dutch Laurens de Graff are among the pirates and corsairs that plundered Santiago de Cuba from the 16th century to 18th century.

The first pirate assault on the bay of Santiago took place in 1538. The combat between the Spanish caravel La Magdalena and a French corsair vessel that had penetrated the Santiago Bay with the intention of attacking and taking the city, ended with the victory of the Spanish. It was a strange fight, in that both captains agreed not to fight at nights and made brief periods of rest to eat biscuits, to drink wine and to treat the wounds, although it occurred as a bloody hand-to-hand clash at daytime.

During the 16th century the city was plundered many times by the pirates. These cruel persons had not any religious belief, so that along with the rich residences the cathedral has been always in their target. In 1553 Jacques de Sores attacked the city and demanded 80.000 pesos for not destroying the cathedral. In 1562 the cathedral’s roof was destroyed by the pirates, and during the plunder of the city in 1586, the cathedral was set on fire.

In 1566, the Spanish Crown enforced the rules called as the Spanish Treasure Fleet or West Indies Fleet (Flota de Indies) as a measure to prevent the attacks of the pirates to the commercial ships that run to an appalling degree. According to the new rules, all ships departing from the ports of the New World that were under Spanish dominance, should arrive first in Havana, and then to sail to Spain under convoy. The castle of Havana was fortified to overcome this task. The increasing traffic of the commercial ships led to the increase of the population of Havana and the development of various branches of business in the city and made a peak in the economics of the area.

Although Santiago de Cuba has lost its leading position to Havana, the unfavorable conditions forced the government to divide the island into two administrative regions, so that Santiago de Cuba remained as the capital city of the province Oriente until the 17th century (from 1522 to 1589). During this period, buffeted by severe earthquakes and pirate attacks, the city developed more slowly compared to its western rival, Havana, but most of the colonial architecture that remained in the heart of the city as the emblematic buildings, was built during this era.

By 1570, many Spanish men began to live with local women in the Spanish colonies on the island, because the number of Spanish women who came to the island with the Spaniards was very few. Over time, a mixed population developed, consisting of people of Spanish origin, people brought to the island as slaves from Africa, and the original natives of the island. Even though the Spaniards represented a superior stratum, there were no sharp boundaries between those of Spanish descent and those of indigenous descent. Those brought from Africa were closer to the Spaniards in terms of social status than the indigenous people of the island. This change in social life was more evident in Santiago de Cuba.

With the growth of the maritime transport in the Caribbean, the aggressive political and commercial rivalry between Spain and England increased in the 17th century and led to an intermittent conflict between Spain and England that was never formally declared as a war. Towards the end of the war in May 1603, Christopher Cleeve arrived in the Caribbean in the large armed galleon Elizabeth and Cleeve with some privateers. His “military expedition” was largely funded by several merchants from London. His aim was to attack Santiago de Cuba, because although it was Cuba's second largest city, it had never been attacked by the British since the outbreak of the war. Christopher and his men enter the unfinished fort and the ravelin without encountering any resistance. Even though they encountered weak resistance when entering the city, they plundered the city easily. Among the many buildings looted was the Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of the Assumption. Thus, Christopher and his men captured a significant amount of loot. Christopher, who occupied the city, demanded a large amount of ransom, saying that otherwise he would set fire to many buildings, including the cathedral. However, he didn’t receive any answer. Thereupon all the fortifications in the city were destroyed and many ships in the harbor were plundered and burned. Christopher, who stayed in Santiago de Cuba for less than a week, destroyed most of the city and left the city, leaving his loot behind.

The construction of the stone fortress, integrated with the existing ravelin, begun under the direction of the famous Italian military engineer and architect Juan Bautista Antonelli in the time of the Governor Pedro de la Roca y Borja in 1633. Therefore, the castle was given the name El Castillo de San Pedro de la Roca, but the folk espoused the name of El Castillo de El Morro rather than its official name, as it was more meaningful and easier to call it by its localization, the promontory of El Morro. The construction of the castle finished in 1638.

Despite the indomitable appearance of the castle, in 1662 the English Vice Admiral Sir Christopher Myngs, who had a dirty career and also known as pirate, captured the castle after discovering, to his surprise, that it had been left unguarded. The city fell easily, and this success brought much loot to the pirates. The famous English pirate Henry Morgan that was under the command of Myngs at that time, stole the bells of the cathedral after plundering the temple and setting its chapel on fire. In same year the castle was destructed after an attack of the British navy; it was rebuilt in 1663 and subsequently expanded in 1669. Thanks to the refortification of the castle, an attack by a French squadron in 1678 was prevented. In the same year, the attack of nearly 800 bandits led by Pierre de Frasquenay, who ravaged the Antilles, was foiled.

The depredations that the city was suffering by the pirates, led the santiaguero authorities to use the same method with the pirates. Several governors of Santiago de Cuba authorized some santiaguero groups to go out when a ship appeared on the horizon, fight and return with the booty. These santiaguero corsairs played an important role in the defense of the city. In 1704, when Don Juan Barón de Chávez, head of the government, heard that the British navy was enlisting military people in Provincia and Siguatey islands belonging to the archipelago of Bahamas to attack Santiago de Cuba, he gathered 150 men, mostly of santiguero corsairs, and made a raid on the British forces that were not expecting such an attack. Chávez returned to Santiago de Cuba with a great triumph and considerable booty, consisted of guns, boats, and weapons. Consequently, the Spanish king Felipe II granted the city the title “muy noble y muy leal / very noble and very loyal” by a Royal Decree on February 14, 1712. It is the first title that Santiago de Cuba received. The city suffered severe damages by the consecutive earthquakes during the period of 16th and 18th centuries, but the city repaired itself each time. The Spanish took the advantage of the opportunity to incorporate the most recent developments in the architecture into the rebuilding process of the important buildings like the cathedral, castle etc. After the fortification, the Morro castle became the fundamental link of the defensive system of the coast during the colonial time, not only against the British navy, but also against the corsairs and the pirates that plunder the Caribbean in the 18th century.