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England’s second most important failed colony
Providence Island failed in ways that illuminate American character, but it was also an extremely important colony. It was the first colony to introduce widespread slavery. It was one of England’s first Caribbean colonies. It traded with New England, and some of its settlers would later move to North America. Most important of all, though, it was the pet project of the colonization-minded Puritans who would soon become leaders of the Parliamentary cause.
When Providence Island is remembered at all, it’s because the Earl of Clarendon identified it as the place where Parliamentary opposition to the King was organized in the years of his personal rule. This is absolutely true, even if that wasn’t the intention of the colony. Without Providence Island, the story of the English Civil War would have been dramatically different (if the war happened at all).
Providence Island today
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/nov/09/colombia-film-english-old-providence
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34487450
Transcript
Welcome back, everyone, and a very happy Thanksgiving to all of you! In a funny little coincidence, this week’s episode will actually involve the sister ship of the Mayflower. Not something I planned at all, but kind of fun.
And, this episode will be the start of a series that I’m really excited about, discussing the history of England’s second most important failed colony, behind Roanoke, of course.
Introduction
This colony was called Providence Island, and it’s actually a Caribbean island which is now owned by Colombia. But, there are a few reasons that I wanted to take a few weeks to go through this history. In all honesty, one of those reasons is that this subject has almost never been discussed before, and I just think that’s too cool. Like I’m wading into an unknown, mysterious corner of history. Fun.
But, more importantly, it’s because of the immense amount of perspective we can get from this story. I’m always someone who thinks that the periphery of history is where the real action is, and where the real insights are to be found. Providence Island wasn’t all that different from any of the successful colonies we’ve discussed. You’ll recognize a lot of the people from other series. It went through a lot of the same trials and tribulations that Virginia, Plymouth, Massachusetts, Saybrook and Maryland did. But, whereas those colonies went on to become the foundation of the United States of America, Providence Island is little more than a historical footnote, about which only 2-3 books have ever been written.
And that gives us a completely new way to understand American colonization. All of these colonies could have failed. Examining why they managed to hold on, while Providence Island failed, and failed spectacularly, gives us insight into what it took to set up a successful colony. But, what becomes clear is that the requirements for setting up a successful colony, are remarkably similar to the principles which became the foundation of American culture.
Exploring this failure is also a good way to address some enduring perceptions which have shaped how we’ve seen the histories of some of these early colonies. The writing about this era of American history is extremely fragmented. New Englanders wrote about New England. People in the Chesapeake wrote about the Chesapeake. And the two had a lot of differences, but by taking a step back and comparing the two regions to Providence Island, some of the similarities also start to show. The two regions are literary foils of each other, but they’re not complete polar opposites.
And the second reason that this story is such a great one to discuss is because it was so very important. There were a lot of failed colonies at this time in history. The majority packed up and left after a few months. Some hung on a few years. And we’ve discussed some of them, and their impact on American history. Wessagusset, the Popham colony, Avalon. And all of those did help to shape the course of American history, to some extent or other.
Providence Island was important on a whole different scale, though. The Providence Island Company was comprised of King Charles’ 20 richest, most powerful and most emphatic opponents, people like John Pym, Lord Saye and Sele, the Earl of Warwick, Lord Brooke, the Earl of Manchester, Oliver St. John, and the list goes on. These people were already some of the king’s biggest critics, but during the 11 years of his personal rule, they were meeting regularly to discuss how to mold the ideal Puritan society. They were discussing ideological issues, political issues, issues of how government should be run, issues of what religious life should look like. In the process, their ideas became more refined, and more extreme, and they became more united, and less willing to back down. They didn’t just have an idea of what they opposed. They had an ideal to work toward. So when the King did have to call a Parliament in 1640, these people were organized and ready to take the king on in a way no one expected. They were perfectly positioned to take the reins and lead the Parliamentary cause in a way that no one had before. In fact they were so strong and so united that many people in England, even at the time, thought they’d simply used the company as a front while they organized a rebellion. So, without the Providence Island Company, the dispute between King and Parliament, and the course of any Civil War, would have been radically, dramatically different.
And, in addition, Providence Island became the first colony to introduce slavery on a wide scale, many of its colonists would ultimately become Americans in places like New England and New York, and it was a significant trade partner with early New England.
So, not only did Providence Island have a direct impact on American history, it also had a direct impact on English history, which then created an indirect impact on American history.
And the icing on the cake is that this island is still inhabited, and its inhabitants speak English, and they just last year released their first-ever movie.
So without further ado, let’s get started.
When King Charles took the throne, he was ready to go to war with Spain. And in the Parliament of 1626, a handful of Puritan Parliamentary leaders suggested that the king renew the Elizabethan policy of privateering. This, they said, would do two things. It would allow the king to avoid unpopular revenue-raising policies, like ship money, and it would weaken the Spanish war effort in Europe by taking the war to the Spanish colonies. Benjamin Rudyerd said this would make the king “safe at home and feared abroad,” and John Pym wanted a massive fleet of 60 vessels, half of which would be 300-500 tons.
The king didn’t agree, but the idea endured. The Earl of Warwick owned the largest privateering fleet in England, and was responsible for a full half of all English privateering activities. Of course, Warwick was also deeply involved in colonial ventures, from the Virginia Company to New England, and he’d been running the Somers Isles, or Bermuda, for a decade.
So, he had some of his captains poke around the Caribbean to look for a suitable location for a colony which could facilitate the English colonization of Central America. Central America and the Caribbean were still the prime colonization locations, with gold, and the ability to grow all sorts of exotic commodities.
And, in 1629 two of Warwick’s ships, a barque inventively named Warwick & Somer Islands, under Captain Sussex Camock, and the Robert, under Captain Daniel Elfrith came across two islands, 12 miles apart, just off the coast of Nicaragua. In Spanish, they were called Santa Catalina, and San Andreas. Sir Francis Drake had once visited them, but they had never been inhabited. No one else had successfully planted a colony so close to the heart of Spanish America, and the islands were worthless to the Spanish.
To Camock and Elfrith, though, they looked perfect. San Andreas was perfect farmland, but didn’t have a good source of clean water, and wasn’t easily defensible. Santa Catalina, though, looked ideal. After navigating a coral reef, which was excellent to help keep any potential colony secure, they landed, and found a stunningly beautiful island, which, by the way, I’ve uploaded pictures of online. There’s a huge hill on the island, and at the bottom, there were trees that produced a cotton-like substance. At higher elevations, there were wild orange and lemon trees, as well as papayas and guavas. Interestingly, the birds which inhabited the island had migrated south from New England. There was plenty of clean water, and the hill and reef meant the island would be easy to defend.
At the top of the hill, Elfrith saw a little ship riding at anchor in the harbor. On a narrow sandbar nearby, a group of men were cleaning their cannons. They had to find out if the men were Spanish, so they made their way to the sandbar, and approached the men saying, “we come in peace.” “We are Dutch” was the response. The leader of the Dutch was William Blauveldt, and Blauveldt offered Elfrith a smoke. And explained that he and his men had arrived on the island a few days before to get water and hunt the wild pigs and pigeons living on the island. They were privateering, trying to capture Spanish merchant ships which regularly ran supplies to the coastal towns, which were 50 miles away.
Camock and Elfrith had found the perfect location. Camock stayed on San Andreas with 30 men to hold it, and further explore it. Elfrith rushed back to Bermuda, and reported his findings to his son-in-law, Philip Bell, who was governor there. Bell was pretty dismayed by the un-Godly state of affairs in Bermuda, as well as the colony’s economic woes, so when Elfrith came with news of the perfect place to build a Puritan society, he wrote to Nathaniel Rich, Warwick’s cousin and closest business associate, echoing Elfrith’s enthusiasm and encouraging the colonization of Santa Catalina. He said the tobacco and other commodities they could grow there could double or triple any man’s estate in all of England. But, the best thing about it was that it lay in the heart of the Indies, and at the mouth of the Spaniards. And, the worst thing about it was that it lay in the heart of the Indies, and at the mouth of the Spaniards. But it could be fortified to the point of near-invincibility, and wasn’t boldness a virtue?
There was an outbreak of plague in London at the time, but as soon as it ended, in November 1630, Warwick gathered a group of 20 close Puritan allies at the home of Lord Brooke in Holbern. These people were largely related by marriage, but they were also, already the people in England who were most upset by the king’s actions. They had led the charge against ship money, for instance, and they were even firmer in their Puritanism than most. The Earl of Clarendon said that Lords Saye and Brook were the only peers in England who were actually Brownists, positive enemies to the whole fabric of the Church.
A week after their first meeting, secretary William Jessop drafted a petition to the king, asking for permission to colonize Santa Catalina, which they would rename Providence Island, and San Andreas, which they would rename Henrietta. Obviously the latter name was an attempt to placate the king who they had opposed so consistently. And, to further encourage the king’s cooperation, they made Warwick’s brother, Henry Rich, the Earl of Holland, governor, and had him advocate for the company’s plan at court. Holland was completely unlike Warwick. He wasn’t a puritan, not even a little bit, and he would fight on the Royalist side in the English Civil War. In fact, Parliament would condemn him as a traitor and execute him in 1649, as Warwick pled for his life.
But back to a less depressing topic. Holland wasn’t going to be given any influence in the colony as its governor. He would just advocate for it at court, and in return, he’d get a healthy chunk of the profits.
And, the king agreed to the plan. He even issued letters of mark to Warwick, allowing privateering in the colony. He granted the patent on November 4, 1630, just 11 days before signing a truce with Spain. He didn’t know how long peace with Spain would last, and if war did break out again, it would be good to keep the Spanish occupied in the West Indies, Elizabethan-style. And, in return for agreeing to their plan, he wanted a fifth of any gold, silver or precious stones the company obtained. He hadn’t disagreed with Pym and Rudyerd’s arguments. He just didn’t want to spend the money for 60 state-of-the-art ships when Parliament wouldn’t even give him a reliable yearly income.
And the company went to work building its colony. They appointed Bell as governor, to act on instructions they sent him from London, as he consulted a six-man soldier and civilian council. These people were experienced army officers and captains, and relatives of company shareholders. Benjamin Rudyerd’s brother, William, was given command of the settlers, and John Pym’s nephew, Rous would be his second-in-command. Fortifications expert Samuel Axe would organize the colony’s military affairs, which were even more important in the heart of Spanish America. Those people were already living in Bermuda, and moved to Providence Island immediately, arriving on December 24, along with a group of artisans to help build the first settlement, which they’d call New Westminster, and its first fort, Warwick. To prevent the Dutch from alerting the Spanish, the company ordered Axe to detain them on the island until it was properly fortified. They were to show the Dutch respect, but at the same time remind them that Providence belonged to them now. By the end of January, they’d built a row of huts, and were working on a Church and governor’s house. Soon, those were done, too, as well as pens for livestock, a forge for tools, a horse-powered mill, and ovens, and fields were planted. Until the harvest, they lived off hard tack, the fruit of the island, and the reef’s turtles and fish. Blauveldt regaled them with tales of his buccaneering adventures. There was no illness, few deaths, and the only issue was that a drought had killed the seeds they’d planted. They weren’t familiar with how to grow some of the things the company had sent them, so they spent their time growing corn, while Bell asked for permission to grow tobacco, which the Bermudians were familiar with. It may not be ideal, but surely it was better than nothing while they experimented with other things.
And in England, the company went about establishing how its colony would run. What would the ideal colony look like? And, the answer may be shocking given the fights which these people were leading against the king.
Firstly, the 20 investors who comprised the Providence Island Company would be the only 20 investors who ever comprised the Providence Island Company. To start with, each investor would give 200 pounds. They wanted their colony to be ideologically pure, and they would rather spend more money per person, than allow morally devious merchants to have a say in company affairs.
Secondly, they decided to conduct all affairs by the ballot box rather than by a show of hands, which would enable all votes to be kept secret. This was how the Virginia Company had operated when the king scrutinized it most closely.
Next, the company strongly believed that there should be no separate societies in America. All colonies should merely be extensions of England, governed by the English Parliament. For this reason, they actively opposed the idea of legislative assemblies in the colonies themselves. So the people who were fighting so hard to increase Parliamentary power in England, would refuse their own colonsits a legislative assembly.
And on a related note, they saw the colony very much as their venture. It was their private property, and they intended to keep firm control over it. The settlers would be totally dependent on the company. All supplies would come from the company magazine. They would take an oath acknowledging the investors as the “true owners” of the colony, and they wouldn’t even own their own land. Instead, they would be tenants at halves. The company would own all the land, and the settlers would merely live there, growing what the company told them to. The settlers would also give the company half of everything they grew. In addition, the settlers would build the colony’s defenses and public buildings on their own time, and help pay for them, as well as receiving militia training, and contributing to the ministers’ salaries. The company pointed out that the colonists benefited most from these works, so they should have no problem with doing this.
And, on a slightly weird note, the settlers would be organized into “families.” For the most part, women and children wouldn’t be allowed to go until the island was fortified, but that didn’t mean the family structure couldn’t be replicated. Settlers would live together as “families,” with one designated “father” and the rest “children.” That’s slightly less odd when you consider the fact that most of the indentured servants at this time were mostly orphaned and abandoned teenagers who had been forced aboard ships bound for the colonies, but it was still an awkward arrangement that only emphasized the lack of private land. Fathers would be responsible for maintaining disciplined and moral families, and punishing idleness. Families were prohibited from dividing up the land into individual plots, and told they must work it together. And only the “fathers” could get goods from the company magazine.
The families would be distributed over the land, close enough for protection, but far enough for freedom.
And with those terms in mind, they started trying to recruit settlers. The company told settlers that with Providence Island’s tropical climate, they could make as much in one year there, as in seven in England. Tenancy at halves wouldn’t matter once they were all swimming in money, and even if the colony did fail, at least they’d have a nice place to live for a few years.
The terms, though, just weren’t good, and even as thousands of people poured out of England, the company had a hard time recruiting even 100 to go to Providence Island. Of these, about 7 were established families, and the rest were indentured servants who had borrowed the cost of their fare from their employers, and who went with absolutely nothing.
It was even harder to attract skilled artisans, and the company ultimately decided that individual families should negotiate contracts and pay for their own skilled labor.
And if it sounds like they were being cheap, they were. As we’ve seen, time and time again, colonization was incredibly expensive, and the Providence Island Company had severely limited its available money by refusing to allow more than 20 people to invest in the colony. And, to make up the difference, they took half of all profits, and expected the colonists to pay for anything they needed out of the remaining half of the money. All this on the premise that in a couple years, we’ll probably all be rich enough it won’t matter anyway. The everlasting dilemma of colonization, but in an even more extreme way than we’ve seen in the past.
In February 1631, though, the 100 settlers set sail aboard the Seaflower. Settlers were ordered to plant twice as much corn as they needed, as well as other food crops, and told that as soon as the colony had enough food, they’d send a lot more colonists. And, they were ordered to experiment with tropical commodities and see what they could find on the island that they might be able to sell in England. Anyone who found a viable crop would be rewarded. And they were prohibited from planting tobacco until they’d experimented with other commodities.
So, definitely a slightly odd attempt to found a colony. A lot of the themes are similar to the early days of other colonies. No colony started with private land. Every colony started with too little money, needing a quick return on investments to keep the company viable. And with the exception, perhaps, of Maryland and Massachusetts, which were founded near existing colonies, every colony had exaggerated expectations of quick profit. Though Providence Island may have been quirky in its ideological foundation, every colony was both idealistic and ideological. And avoiding tobacco dependence in Providence Island would undeniably be preferable to going the way of Virginia and Bermuda. I think the oddest thing to me, though, is that after so many years in the colonization business, Warwick and his colleagues thought that one of the ways to avoid the problems faced by other colonies was to increase control from London. But, except in the unique case of Massachusetts Bay, companies and colonists always entered an adversarial relationship, and Warwick had always been on the company side. And, from the company’s point of view, the colonists had always been at fault for their own difficult situations, as well as the companies’ financial problems. As a society, we particularly remember and even believe this accusation about Virginia colonists, but every group of colonists was accused of being lazy, occupied more with trivial matters and their own status than with staying alive, and expecting other people to take care of them when they wouldn’t take care of themselves. How could they have gone to a place with so much promise, and failed to make any money?
Like so many other patterns, that would be repeated in Providence Island, and we’ll start to get into that next week.