Mélange Travel & Lifestyle Magazine January 2018 | Page 464

SABA’S PIRATE HISTORY . . .
hurricanes in 1772 and 1780. Here, a captured ship
was repainted, and stripped of all evidence that
would show its original owners or home port. On
7 November 1828, a Danish captain was sent from
St. Thomas to investigate rumours of this activity
on Saba. A section of the report describes what he
saw at Wells Bay:
Captain Klauman sailed tightly around the little island or
cliff Saba, where he found a bay on the north west side,
resembling a seafarer harbor; for in addition to three half-
sunken and abandoned schooners, whose names were
painted over, the whole coast was concealing masts, rods
ribs, bowsprits, booms, boats, and fragments of ships; also,
some people were seen carrying boxes and packs up on the
mountain, with many people gathered on shore
(Danish National Archives, West Indies #142).
Then, a merchant in Statia (often Nathaniel
Mussenden, chief of police) would send a letter
to the governor of Saba, noting that his ship was
captured by pirates, but then miraculously turned
up empty and at anchor off of Saba. He would
request that the governor of Saba furnish him with a
new set of ships’ papers showing his ownership. The
merchant would then sail to Saba, board the ship
with a small crew, and then sail it to St. Thomas to be
sold at public auction.
These four islands enjoyed this period of trade
with pirates and privateers up until 1829, when St.
Eustatius and Saba were exposed by the British in
what became known as the “Carraboo Incident”.
A pirate crew from Baltimore assembled in St.
Thomas, and was sponsored by Cabot & Co. They
had obtained an old Buenos Airean letter of
marque, and changed the expiry date on it from
1826 to 1828. They claimed to sail under the flag of
Buenos Aires, and named their ship the Las Damas
Argentinas. Cabot & Co. had claimed that they had
never looked at the letter of marque to assess its
authenticity during the investigation that followed.
The Las Damas Argentinas had captured several
ships and had them sent to St. Eustatius, but their
luck ended by capturing a British copper-clad vessel
built in Liverpool named the Carraboo. Authorities
in St. Kitts noticed this ship laying empty at anchor
off of Saba, and the governors of St. Eustatius and
Saba ended up getting caught red-handed, and
resigned their positions afterwards.
The discovery of the Carraboo and the subsequent
investigation which revealed the underground
smuggling and laundering network between St.
Thomas, St. Barts, Saba, and St. Eustatius became an
international sensation, with regular updates of the
developments appearing in newspapers across the
world, even as far away as Australia. The Las Damas
Argentinas made the mistake of boldly attempting
to enter the anchorage zone of St. Eustatius to
reclaim the Carraboo as their prize while the British
navy had it under their custody, and they ended up
being captured. The crew was taken to St. Kitts, and
all were executed for piracy except for the cabin boy.
There is much more to this history of privateering
and piracy between St. Thomas, St. Eustatius, Saba,
and St. Barts! If you’re interested, visit the Saba
Archaeological Center’s public outreach page at
http://www.facebook.com/sabarchaeology.
A book on this period in the islands’ history will be
available in late 2019 or early 2020.