Ships Log: Searle's Raid on St Augustine, 3-6-10

Rape, Pillage N Burn,


In 1668, Capt Robert Searle n his privateers from Port Royal sailed under the cover of night into the harbor of St Augustine to loot the silver ingots held in the royal coffers of the Spanish. They killed 60 people and pilaged the goverment buildings, churaches n' homes. The devaststion wrought by these blood thirsty pirates prompted Spain's Council of the Indies to build Castillo de San Marcos.

The re-enactor who run the re-enactment are much more colonial type than pirate types, as the whole city seem to dislike pirates. They consider themselves privateers, but from the Spanish point of view, they were viewed as pirates, for they burn the town down.