St. Augustine Pirates and Privateers

Entrenched on Florida's Atlantic Coast since the sixteenth century, the Spanish presidio of St. Augustine was a prime target for piracy. For the colonial governors of Great Britain, France and Spain, privateering—and its rogue form, piracy—was a type of warfare used to enhance the limited resources of their colonies. While the citizens of St. Augustine were victims of this guerrilla war, they also struck back at their enemies using privateers such as Francisco Menendez, whose attacks on Bri...