240 THE OCEAN RIVER 



bean and became familiar with the islands and the buccaneers 

 trading there. He located a sunken treasure ship in the south 

 Bahamas, and persuaded the new Governor of Jamaica, Lord 

 Albemarle, the son of General Monck, to outfit a search. After 

 two attempts, in 1687, they found the treasure, which 

 amounted to about 300,000 pounds sterling. Albemarle, who 

 was much in debt in England, kept all but 16,000 pounds, 

 which went to Phips. He then sailed for England, and was 

 knighted by the king and made Sheriff of New England under 

 Andros. When that unpopular governor was deposed, Sir 

 William Phips came back as a friend of the colonists and 

 led the successful expedition that captured Port Royal from 

 the French. He failed in subsequent attempts against Quebec 

 and Montreal, but used some of his treasure to pay off the 

 colonial expenses of the expedition. He was appointed royal 

 Governor of Massachusetts in 1692, the first native son to 

 attain this honor — illustrating the growing importance of the 

 colonies in relation to the mother country. Phips was a sea 

 captain and knew his own mind. He tolerated, as did Governor 

 Fletcher of New York, the use of New England harbors by 

 Caribbean buccaneers and pirates; trade was the important 

 thing. But he was unfitted for his position; he fought with 

 Fletcher and was called back to England where in 1695 while 

 awaiting trial, he died. 



It is pertinent to quote Haring on the conditions at this 

 time along the western seaboard: 'Tn the North American 

 colonies these new pirates still continued to find encourage- 

 ment and protection. Carolina had long had an evil reputa- 

 tion as a hotbed of piracy, and deservedly so. The proprietors 

 had removed one governor after another for harboring the 

 freebooters but with little result. In the Bahamas, which be- 

 longed to the same proprietors, the evil was even more fla- 

 grant. Governor Markham of the Quaker colony of Pennsyl- 

 vania allowed the pirates to dispose of their goods and refit 



