On the 12th of December, 1715, pirate Captain Francis Fernando, commander of the sloop Bennett, received his privateering commission from Jamaican Governor Lord Archibald Hamilton; one of many who had been granted the right to hunt down pirates in the area.
Pirates had been causing issues around Jamaica, as ‘privateers without licenses’ as merchants complained. In total, fourteen sloops, including Fernando’s Bennett, were commissioned to hunt down the rogues, but would later all be referred to as “…the remedy was worse than the disease.”
As for Captain Fernando, he was described as a mulatto commander of his sloop and that “this tawny Moor has an estate at Jamaica and has given good security for his navigation.” He had also sold a share of one-third of his sloop to Governor Hamilton, meaning that any profit he’d make out at sea, the Governor would stand to profit from it.
However, once at sea, Captain Fernando and the crew of the Bennett immediately turned to piracy. Rather than setting out to pursue the ‘rogue privateers’, they intercepted a Spanish sloop (a target not acceptable for his privateering commission) named the Nuestra Senora de Belen, captained by Manuel de Aramburu. She had been making her way to Havan from Veracruz, but had been severely damaged by a storm at sea, seeing her dismasted and her guns thrown overboard to keep afloat.
Fernando would go on to easily seize the vessel, which contained 250,000 pieces of eight, jewels and fine goods. He would write a letter to Hamilton, with his excuse that what he did was okay, as the sloop had originally been named the Kensington, an English sloop that had been captured by the Spaniards off of Cartagena, and that he was simply returning her to the English. When the captured and enraged Spanish captain was brought before Hamilton, Hamilton agreed with him that what Fernando had done was indeed piracy, but offered no remedy.
Before Fernando and the crew of the Bennett could be chastised for his actions, they departed for the Bahamas. Early into 1716, the crew would hit more ships, including another Spanish sloop who’s contents would be brought to the pirate haven of Nassau. By the end of the year Captain Francis Fernando would be mentioned in a letter by Captain William Howard of the HMS Shoreham off of Charles Town South Carolina, along with Henry Jennings and Benjamin Hornigold as privateers turned pirates who take refuge at Nassau, stating multiple vessels had arrived in Charles Town harbor that had been plundered by each.
(Pictured is a letter of marque being held up [from Pirates of the Caribbean], the coastline of Jamaica, and a load of gold below deck [from Black Sails])
