Worth, John E. (author)

25th Conference of the Society for Historical Archaeology, Kingston, Jamaica, 9 January 1992

January 9, 1992

In May of 1655, an English fleet returning from a failed attempt to conquer Hispaniola landed in what is now Kingston Harbor, ultimately resulting in the transfer of the island of Jamaica from Spanish to British rule. While this event was to have many consequences, perhaps one of the more obscure unfolded the following year in Spanish Florida, more than eight hundred miles to the north. Although the conquering English fleet returned to Britain in the fall of 1655, intelligence gathered by the Spanish ambassador to England revealed British designs for the fleet to return the next year, one of its goals being the conquest of Spanish Florida by a land assault (Ranjel 1660). Fearing a repeat of the events in Jamaica the previous spring, King Philip IV of Spain quickly dispatched a warning to the Governor of Florida, commanding that precautions be taken immediately.