Isla de Providencia

Mansvelt recognized the spirit and promising possibilities of the new accession to the buccaneer's ranks, selected Morgan as his vice admiral And with fifteen ships and over five hundred men, the pirate fleet set sail on a glorious program of pillage and murder.

Their first blow was struck at old Providence Island, then known as St. Catherine, which Mansvelt planned to transform into a pirate kingdom of his own.

With little loss, the pirates took the island, established a garrison of their own men, and sailed for Costa Rica and the coast of Panama, where they pillaged and destroyed to their heart's content, until finally driven off by the Spanish troops sent by the governor of Panama.

Returning to Jamaica, Mansvelt laid before the governor of Jamaica his plans for establishing a buccaneer stronghold at old Providence, and asked for men and ships as well as a prize.

Oddly enough, his excellency failed to fall in with the old pirate's plans, and Mansvelt, realizing he had bitten off a bigger slice than he could swallow by himself, sailed for Tortuga.

Here, as Esquemeling says, death suddenly surprised him and put a period to his wicked life, and Morgan found himself sole chieftain of the pirate fleet.

In the meantime, the governor of Jamaica had thought matters over, and Mansvelt being gone, he dispatched a shipload of men and women to old Providence.

The governor's underhanded actions were, however, brought to naught, owing to the fact that the island had again been taken by the Spaniards, and the British ship and its people fell into their hands.