Page:Vol 3 History of Mexico by H H Bancroft.djvu/164

144 The news of this disaster caused serious alarm throughout Spain and the Spanish colonies, though it was but the beginning of a long series of calamities, many of which I have related. Already the North Sea was infested with pirates, and in the islands of the West Indies thousands of buccaneers, filibusters, and sea rovers, who regarded the Spaniards as their natural prey, had formed permanent settlements. During the latter portion of the seventeenth century the colonies, more especially those of Central America, were never free from their raids; Portobello was sacked; Panamá was destroyed; other cities were plundered or burned; and within a few years of its capture Jamaica became the spot where most of these raids were organized, often with the consent and always with the connivance of the representative of the British monarch.

In 1657 the viceroy despatched a force of over four hundred men to aid the Spaniards in driving the English garrison from the island, but to no purpose. Most of them perished of disease without inflicting any loss on the enemy, and the inhabitants remaining on the island removed to New Spain.

It was not long before the Spaniards felt the evil effects of thus tamely allowing the British to gain a foothold in the West Indies. Every year the convoy of the fleets became more difficult. In one instance fifty-five days were required for the passage from Vera Cruz to Habana, the ships having remained near the coast of Florida, to avoid capture by an English fleet. Often the church bells summoned the