38 SMITHSONIAN MISCF.LLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 92 



of the harl)Our. The heights of Roatan command such an extensive 

 prospect, that no vessel can pass to the Bay of Honckiras without 

 being seen from them." He adds that the EngHsh took possession of 

 Roatan in 1742 and built a fort in which they put 250 men commanded 

 by Pitts, a logwood cutter. (Strangeways, i82'2, pp. 40-42.) About 

 1827 Roberts visited the islands. In regard to Port Royal he says: 

 " This beautiful island has an excellent harbor, easily defended ; it 

 was once in the possession of the English, who erected batteries 

 completely commanding this harbor, and marked out a space at its 

 end for the erection of a town." At the time of Roberts' visit none 

 of the islands were occupied, owing, he states, to danger of Indian 

 attacks. (Roberts, 1827, p. 276.) Although England specifically gave 

 up her claims to this region in the treaty of 1763, she nevertheless 

 retained her hold on Roatan, the piratical inhabitants of which caused 

 so much trouble to Spain that, in 1780, she once more declared war. 



The events which followed are described by the Bishop Pelaez 

 (quoted by Squier, 1858, pp. 616, 617) : 



On the 24th of September, 1781, advices reached Truxillo, which were imme- 

 diately communicated to the government at Comayagua, that certain negroes 

 and others, to the number of about 300 men, had constructed three forts at the 

 entrance of the principal port [Port Royal] of the island of Roatan, armed with 

 50 guns, and that three armed vessels cruised in the neighborhood, the object of 

 the whole being to intercept the ships plying between the kingdom of Guatemala 

 and Cuba. It was reported that these freebooters had 3,000 barrels of provi- 

 sions for their support, and that their object in holding the port was to make it 

 a refuge for their vessels, which were no longer allowed to go to Jamaica. 



When this information reached Guatemala, the President Galvez made ar- 

 rangements to expel the intruders. He called out the militia of Amatitlan, 

 Zacatapeque, Chiquimulu, Santa Ana, San Salvador, Nueva Segovia, Leon, 

 Olancho, Tegucigalpa, and Comayagua. The company from Leon numbered 

 200 men, under the command of Colonel Don Josef de Navas ; San Salvador 

 sent 300 men, and Santa Ana 200 ; and Don Miguel Machado, of Gracias, headed 

 200 men, equipped at his own cost. 



In the meantime, two Spanish vessels of war, the Santa Matilda and Santa 

 Cecilia, of the royal navy, with a sufficient number of piraguas from Bacalar, 

 arrived at Omua, and the forces above mentioned, under the command of Galvez 

 himself and his Lieutenant Estacheria, embarked on the 2nd of March, 1782. 

 They steered direct for Roatan, and at once attacked the forts erected to com- 

 mand the principal harbor [Port Royal]. After a heavy cannonade, detachments 

 of the troops landed and opened regular trenches against the forts, which were 

 so closely invested and hotly pressed that on the i6th of the month they sur- 

 rendered at discretion. The lives of the defenders were spared, but all their 

 dwellings, to the number of 500, were destroyed. 



The British also had settlements on the islands of Bonacca and 

 Morat, all of which were captured by Galvez. The prisoners were ex- 



