The Myth and Reality of Vice-Admiral Sir Christopher Myngs

Sir Christopher Myngs by Sir Peter Lely, c. 1665-1666. Courtesy of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London.

Christopher Myngs is often remembered as a buccaneer, a man who led savage raids across the Spanish Main with little concern for the destruction he left in his wake. But that image obscures reality. Myngs was never a pirate, he was a naval officer carrying out England’s imperial strategy at a time when Jamaica was fragile and surrounded by enemies. He had the intelligence and flexibility to expand the reach of the English Navy by partnering with buccaneers, and in doing so, he gave the English colony of Jamaica its best chance for survival. His story is not one of rouge violence, but of calculated force first for the Commonwealth and later the Crown that rewarded him with a knighthood, to the great dismay of the Castillian government.

Our story begins in December 1654 when Oliver Cromwell’s fleet of 30 ships sailed out of Portsmouth Harbor. The mission was Cromwell’s Western Design— to drive the Kingdom of Castile out of the Caribbean. General Robert Venables led the army; Admiral William Penn commanded the ships.

The fleet left Portsmouth with William Goodsonn - Wikipedia 1,000 trained soldiers and 1,500 new recruits. Three civilian commissioners were to accompany the fleet. They would set up the government in the lands that would be conquered. Only two joined the fleet in Portsmouth. The third, the governor of Barbados, was to join the fleet when it reached Barbados. When the fleet arrived in Barbados, he assisted in adding 2-3,000 more recruits. He, however, stayed in Barbados. The fleet sailed on to its main objective Santo Domingo, Hispaniola, the Castilian nerve center for the Caribbean.

After Cromwell’s forces failed to take Santo Domingo, Venables convinced Penn to sail on to the lightly guarded island of Jamaica. Between Santo Domingo and Jamaica, one of the two commissioners died. The expedition was now down to one commissioner. 

The attack on Jamaica went well. Within two weeks, Jamaica was English. Conquering the island was one thing; holding the island proved to be another.

Before Admiral Penn sailed back to England in July 1655, he established the Jamaica Station for the Commonwealth Navy at The Point (Port Royal). He designated a dozen frigates from his fleet and sufficient seamen to remain behind with his Vice-Admiral, William Goodsonn, as the commander of the station.

General Venables left for England a week after Penn, leaving a number of his soldiers to guard the island. He appointed Major General Richard Fortescue to command of the army. Fortescue, however, died in October, three months after being appointed. The army elected Colonel Edward D’Oyley to be interim commander-in-chief.

When Oliver Cromwell learned of General Fortescue’s death, he appointed Robert Sedwick as a second civil commissioner of Jamaica. When Sedgwick arrived on the island, he found everything in disarray. Supplies were inadequate and many of the troops were dying of disease. With Sedwick in charge of the civilian details, life around Jamaica began to improve.

Back in England, Cromwell rewarded Sedgwick with a commission of major-general and commander-in-chief of Jamaica but by the time the notice of his commission reached Jamaica in early May of 1656, Sedgwick was ill and able to take up his command. He died in late May and Colonel D’Oyley continued as commander-in-chief of the army on an interim basis.

When D’Oyley took command, a mutiny was underway. He quickly ordered one of its leaders, Captain Thomas Throckmorton, arrested. D’Oyley personally sentenced Throckmorton to death for inciting a riot. The sentence was carried out at dawn at The Point. With Throckmorton’s execution, order was reestablished.

Cromwell, upon learning of the death of Robert Sedwick, appointed General William Brayne to command the army. In mid-December, General Brayne arrived and assumed command. In less than a year, General Brayne died.

Without a leader selected by Cromwell, Colonel Edward D’Oyley was elected to be interim commander-in-chief. D’Oyley was now the military leader and the remaining commissioner was the civilian administrator.

In January 1656, Christopher Myngs arrived in Jamaica aboard his 44-gun frigate Marston Moor. Myngs had been the captain of the Elisabeth during the First Anglo-Dutch War (1652-1654). Myngs assumed the role of subcommander of the naval fleet at the Jamaica Station under Vice-Admiral Goodsonn. This would be Myngs’ first of three tours of duty on the island. 

In April 1656, Vice-Admiral Goodsonn led a fleet of ten ships and 450 men on an attack on Rio de la Hacha (Riohacha), on the northern coast of South America. Disappointed with the lack of plunder, they burned the town.

In May 1656, Myngs led an English raid on Santa Marta in what is now Columbia. He had included buccaneers, that is, French and Dutch pirates, to bolster his English fleet. Although the monetary results were disappointing, the raid asserted English presence in the region.

Edward D’Oyley knew Port Royal was strategically important. To counter the Castilian and French continuing threats to England’s control of Jamaica, D'Oyley invited the buccaneers  (the Brethren of the Coast) from the pirate haven of Tortuga, a small island north of the island of Hispaniola, to make to use the port in exchange for protection against Castile and France. By being only a military leader, he lacked the authority to issue commissions to these buccaneers. Commissions or some would call them letters of marque, would have made the buccaneers adjunct to the English navy and would have given them the protection guaranteed by the international law of the sea. The practice of recruiting buccaneers increased English effectiveness against Castilian targets.

In addition to protecting the island, the buccaneers brought trade to the port and spent money on supplying and repairing their ships. They paid their taxes to port officials when the vessels they had seized were sold at government auctions. The town also benefited when buccaneers spent time at taverns, brothels, and rooming houses. By encouraging buccaneers to use the harbor, The Point was developing a reputation as a haven for pirates and buccaneers.

Pirates, buccaneers, privateers, smugglers, and merchants were beginning to pay visits to the harbor at The Point. Docks, wharves, and storage facilities were beginning to appear. The proximity to Castilian targets and the safety of the harbor was enticing to many.

Myngs’ first tour of duty in Jamaica ended in the summer of 1657.

In February 1658, Myngs returned to Jamaica as naval commander of the Jamaica station. During this period, he acquired a reputation for unnecessary cruelty, sacking several Castilian colonial towns while in command of whole fleets of buccaneers.

His mission was always clear — protect Jamaica and weaken Castilian influence in the Caribbean. D’Oyley continued to build the infrastructure of the island and fend off attacks by the Maroons and their Castilian allies. The Maroons were enslaved Africans who had escaped to Jamaica’s interior and had formed a number of independent communities. These communities were not monolithic, each had its own leadership and territorial domains. Two main groups had emerged: the Juan de Bolas’ group and the Juan de Serras’ group. Castilian Governor Don Cristóbal Arnaldo de Ysassi formed alliances with the Maroon leader, primarily Juan de Bolas and Juan de Serras, to conduct guerilla warfare against the English. The Castilian forces and the Maroons maintained distinct settlements in Jamaica's mountainous interior. These alliances were strategic, leveraging the Maroons’ knowledge of the terrain and guerilla tactics.

Christopher Myngs had returned to Jamaica in February 1658 for his second tour of duty. He was now the commander of the naval station at The Point. He had already established himself, with the help of his buccaneer friends, as the protector of the island. So, Myngs and D’Oyley stepped into the void created by the lack of leadership from England.

After failing to capture a treasure fleet, Myngs led several aggressive campaigns, raiding Castilian colonies around the Caribbean coast of South America. They were significant Castilian outposts. Not only did Myngs capture valuable goods, he also tested Castilian defenses. His destruction of these settlements caused substantial disruption to Castilian activities in the region.

With the death of Oliver Cromwell on September 3, 1658 and the Commonwealth faltering, Jamaica and the other colonies were left largely to fend for themselves. The more established colonies could take care of themselves, but Jamaica was another story. The situation was ripe for a pragmatic response. Colonel D’Oyley was already in charge of the government in Spanish Town, having just returned from defeating the Castilians at the Battle of Rio Nuevo (June 25-27, 1658).

D’Oyley’s victory at the Battle of Rio Nuevo was a major accomplishment. It, at least for a time, ended large scale Castilian attacks meant to destabilize his government. The attacks by the Maroons and Castilian gorillas were becoming more frequent and more disruptive. D’Oyley recognized the threat posed by the combined Maroon and Castilian forces. He led expeditions into the mountains to dismantle the Castilian strongholds. In these campaigns, many Castilian soldiers were killed or captured.

       In March 1659, Myngs created a fleet of three English warships, including his ship, Marsden Moor, along with a number of ships sailed by buccaneers. This partnership allowed him to assemble larger and more versatile forces than the Commonwealth Navy alone could provide. They took advantage of the buccaneers’ knowledge of local waters and unconventional warfare methods to execute swift and effective attacks. His collaboration with buccaneers was strategic, leveraging their maritime skills and knowledge of the Caribbean to conduct effective raids against Castilian settlements.

       A turning point with the Maroons occurred in 1659 when D’Oyley convinced de Bolas to switch allegiance by granting the de Bolas’ group land and some autonomy in exchange for their support against other Maroon factions and Castilian forces. This defection weakened Ysassi’s position, as de Bolas provided the English with valuable intelligence on Castilian and Maroon positions.

       Following a series of defeats and the loss of key allies like de Bolas, Ysassi’s efforts to reclaim Jamaica became untenable. On May 3, 1660, recognizing the futility of continued resistance, he fled to Cuba with his remaining followers.

Juan de Serras’ group remained loyal to the Castilians against the English. They operated primarily in the western parts of Jamaica and continued their guerilla warfare.

In January 1662, Myngs chose to raid three Castilian towns, Cumaná, Puerto Cabello, and Coro, in succession, all on what is now the Venezuelan coast.

Cumaná was the oldest European-established city on the South American mainland. Located on Venezuela’s northwestern coast, it became a significant colonial outpost due to its strategic position and access to rich pearl fisheries.

Puerto Cabello was a crucial port on Venezuela's central coast. Its natural harbor facilitated maritime activities, including trade and smuggling.

Coro was among Venezuela’s earliest colonial settlements. Situated on the western coast, it served as an initial point of Castilian exploration and conquest in the region. The city played a pivotal role in early colonial administration and was instrumental in subsequent expedition into the South American interior.

He divided his fleet into smaller fleets so they could conduct surprise attacks that often led to the sacking and plundering of the towns along with a significant loss of life. These actions were part of a broader English effort to undermine Castilian dominance in the Caribbean. The Castilian crown condemned Myngs as a pirate and mass murderer, lodging a formal protest with the English government.

These raids captured 20 chests of silver, amounting to a quarter of a million pounds (between 200,000 and 300,000 pieces of eight). The Coro treasure alone was valued between £200,000 and £300,000. The plunder was one of the largest hauls brought to Jamaica at that time.

Upon returning to Port Royal, Myngs shared half of the plunder to the buccaneers, about 100,000 to 150,000 pieces of eight, rather than a third of the plunder, or about 66,666 to 100,000 pieces of eight, violating Colonel D’Oyley’s explicit orders to reserve two-thirds for the English authorities. By sharing the spoils of his raids generously, he gained the loyalty of both English settlers in Port Royal and buccaneers. This helped to cement the town’s role as a hub for privateering and laid the groundwork for its reputation as a pirate haven.

While these raids were military successes, they were criticised for their brutality. Significant destruction and loss of life. These aggressive actions by Myngs and his fleet played a crucial role in establishing Jamaica as a stronghold for England in the Caribbean and promoted English dominance in the Caribbean during this period, contributing to the eventual decline of Castilian influence in the region.

In the absence of a strong central government in England, Myngs could act independently to fulfill his dual mission — to ensure the survival of the colony and to weaken Castiles’ presence in the Caribbean. By attacking Castilian settlements, he would keep Castile occupied and therefore reduce their attacks on Jamaica. With a lack of oversight, Myngs’ brutality and unauthorized sharing of plunder with buccaneers went unchecked. Had England had a more stable political environment, he might have faced stricter controls over his actions.

But Myngs’ act of defiance came at a cost. It prompted D’Oyley to arrest him for embezzlement and to send him back to England on his own ship, the Marston Moor.

On May 14, 1660, Parliament voted to restore the monarchy and invited Charles to return from exile in the Dutch Republic. A fleet under Admiral George Monck was sent to Scheveningen to bring Charles, his brothers James, the Duke of York, and Henry, the Duke of Gloucester, and his advisors and supporters to Dover. Charles’s reign as king of England began on May 29, 1660.

Once Charles became King of England, Christopher Myngs was released from the Tower of London without ever standing trial.

      The war with Castile that Cromwell began in 1654 and was technically over by 1660, although the formal treaty ending the war was not signed until 1670. The war, however, did not end in the Caribbean in 1660. England still wanted to diminish Castile’s presence in the Caribbean. The attacks on Castilian shipping and its settlements continued.

Following the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, King Charles confirmed D'Oyley as the first official English governor of Jamaica. His tenure as governor was brief. D’Oyley left Jamaica in August 1662 and was replaced by Thomas Hickman-Windsor, 1st Earl of Plymouth, a Royalist. The title governor of Jamaica was changed again, this time to deputy governor.

With Christopher Myngs out of confinement, what better time than to send him back to Jamaica for his third tour of duty. The governorship was in transition. In August 1662, Christopher Myngs was sent to command of the Royal Naval Station at Port Royal. With the support from the new governor, Lord Windsor, Myngs did not take long to set about doing what he was sent to do — to undermine Castilians dominance and to expand England’s influence in the Caribbean. His target would be the city of Santiago de Cuba. Santiago de Cuba, on the southeastern coast of Cuba, Cuba’s second largest city, and a vital port serving as a hub for military and trade activities.

On October 8, 1662, Myngs’s fleet, eight ships and 800 men, a mix of Royal Navy personnel and buccaneers, who now were sailing with letters of marque, left Port Royal. They launched a surprise attack on Santiago de Cuba, destroyed the Castilian fortress, and looted, sacked and burned parts of the city. They also captured six ships. This victory bolstered Myngs’s reputation and attracted privateers to his subsequent expeditions. His aggressive privateering tactics were instrumental in shaping Jamaica’s role as a base for buccaneer raids.

Lord Windsor’s tenure was brief — lasting only until November — but he brought with him a royal proclamation granting Jamaicans the same rights as English citizens. This encouraged settlement and investment, contributing to Port Royal’s growth as a commercial hub and laid the foundation of the island’s legislative framework.

In November 1662, Lord Windsor was succeeded by Sir Charles Lyttleton, as acting governor. The next year, Lyttleton was followed by Thomas Lynch. Lyttleton and Lynch served in interim capacities, both maintaining the existing policies that supported privateering and trade. Their administrations ensured continuity, allowing Port Royal’s economy to flourish without sufficient disruption.

On February 8, 1663, Christopher Myngs commanded a fleet of 14 ships and 1,400 men, including Edward Mansvelt, Henry Morgan and Abraham Blauvelt. He launched a surprise amphibious assault on the coastal town of Campeche on the Yucatán Peninsula. After two hours of heavy fighting, Myngs’s forces took control of the city. During the intense battle, Myngs sustained severe injuries, leading to Mansvelt assuming command. For two weeks, they plundered the city, taking treasure, goods, supplies, weapons, and hostages. The raid on Campeche marked one of Morgan’s early ventures into large-scale attacks, helping him build a reputation.

Following his injury at Campeche, Myngs returned to England to recuperate. His raids marked a turning point in Port Royal’s use of privateers for economic and military gain. Myngs’s campaigns not only enriched the town but also laid the groundwork for its reputation as “the wickedest city on earth,” where commerce, privateering, and piracy co-existed.

After recovering in England, Myngs was promoted to Vice-Admiral and he played a significant role in the Second Anglo-Dutch War (March 4, 1665-July 31, 1667). He participated in the Battle of Lowestoft, a port in Norfolk in eastern England, on June 13, 1665, for which he was knighted.

On June 11-14, 1666, during the Four Days’ Battle in the southern North Sea, Myngs’ ship participated in the fourth day of the battle. He sustained severe injuries from musket fire. He returned to England and succumbed to his wounds in June 1666.

Martin A. Frey
March 29, 2025