Pirate Kings

From NexusWiki

The Pirate Kings were a loose confederation of Carribean pirates and buccaneers who operated out of the islands of Saint Germaine beginning in approximately 1630 to 1742, when they were destroyed by the Spanish armada.

After the start of the thirty years war, the Spanish military force in the Carribean found itself waning due to a variety of economic and military pressures. This, combined with increasing numbers of Dutch, British, Portuguese, and French treasure fleets gave rise to a significant number of "nautical mercenaries."

The first recorded instance of any pirates taking port at Tebeka was in 1635, but evidence suggests that at least a few pirate fleets had used Kate's Bay as a shelter in the past. The position of Northcamp Island in relation to the rest of the Carribean made it a good place to "hide out" from naval warships, and over time more and more pirates began making Tebeka a port-of-call.

In 1643 several larger pirate gangs made a blood-pact to work together. They called themselves the "Pirate Kings," surmising that they ruled the seas and were due "taxes." At its height in the mid-1660s, the Pirate King fleet numbered over 40 ships.

Starting around 1720 the power of the Pirate Kings was in steep decline. The number and value of treasure ships that passed through the region had started to dry up, and with it the number of pirates. By the mid 1730s, there were a mere seven ships that called Tebeka home.

In 1741 the Spanish decided that they wished to possess the islands, surmising that they would make a solid way-port for the slave trade. In 1742, almost 100 years after the Pirate King pact, a Spanish fleet numbering twelve vessels moved into the Kate's Bay and set about systematically destroying the pirate ships they found. Spanish soldiers swarmed the island and anyone bearing the marks of a pirate (and many who did not) were executed.