Castillo San Felipe del Morro

This is an aerial photograph we got of Del Morro which was a Spanish fortress in Puerto Rico.  It with was considered virtually impenetrable.  One pirate was able to successfully raid the fortress and that was Newfoundland pirate, Peter Easton.  Arguably one of the most successful pirates ever.  



A link to Peter Easton:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Easton

A link to the wiki of Castillo San Felipe del Morro

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castillo_San_Felipe_del_Morro

Here is a quote from my 'Pyrates of Avalon' paper:


During the 1600s Newfoundland was blessed with many premier ship repair and outfitting ports and its’ Avalon coastline was full of harbours and fishing villages. It was also a ‘freeport’ with no state apparatus and rife with pirates. This combination of lawlessness and a sizable shipping infrastructure made it a tempting base for sailors to launch careers as pirates and privateers, but none so famous as  “Pirate Admiral” Peter Easton.

“Pirate Admiral” Peter Easton
Easton was an English privateer commanding three man’o’wars sent to the Grand Banks to guard fishing vessels from Spanish attacks. When the war ended in 1603 so did Easton privaterring commison, but he continued to plunder and so crossed the thin line between privateer and pirate. Recruiting Newfoundlanders as crew, he returned to England, parked his fleet of 40 ship outside of a major inlet and charged a toll.  Despite being allied with a local English lord (who got 10% of the tolls), angry shippers demanded the English Crown do something and a Naval Commander was sent after to free the shipping lane. Easton promptly fled down to the West African coast to pirate Spanish and English vessles and returned to Newfoundland in 1611 with a captured ships full of gold and ivory and used this wealth to establish a fortress at Grace Habour and attempted to build a second one at Renews. Using this as his headquarters Easton raided ports and ships “from Trinity Bay to Ferryland” and sold salted cod and red wine from French and Portuguese boats in the Grand Banks. Once he had enough crew and weapons he went to south after bigger prizes. Aftering looting a Spanish colonial fort in Puerto Rico he returned to Newfoundland again. In his absence 5 French warships had taken over his fort (and crewed it with Basques?) but using the Spanish galleon he had captured on his trip he managed to re-take it at the cost of 47 (57?) men who he buried at Bear’s Cove/ Pirates Graveyard.

After re-outfitting his squad of 10 ships, Easton began raiding the Newfoundland coast again plundering over 50 vessels in StJohn’s and Ferryland habours, including capturing the man England had sent over to be govener of Newfoundland. The man was ransomed and eventually set-up a special anti-pirate court run by the English Navy – the first legal court in North America. A naval captain was sent to hunt Easton down – but instead raided fishing ships in the Grand Banks and returned home to split the profits with the King. Easton used his immense  wealth to secure a pardon for himself in both England and France and retired to live in luxury in France.