page_title: Providence Island colony
section_title: Internal problems
hierarchical_section_title: Providence Island colony / Internal problems
caption_attribution_description: English: Playa Manzanillo (Manzanillo Beach) lies on on the southeast coast of Isla de Providencia or Old Providence. It is a relatively remote beach on a relatively remote island. Like its larger (and much more populated) sister island San Andres, Providencia is closer to Nicaragua than the country it is a part of (Colombia). Unfortunately I am not sure where my original source file is; this is a relatively low res version I uploaded elsewhere on the web some years ago.
context_page_description: The Providence Island colony was established in 1630 by English Puritans on what is now the Colombian Department of Isla de Providencia, about 200 kilometres east of the coast of Nicaragua. Although intended to be a model Puritan colony, it also functioned as a base for privateers operating against Spanish ships and settlements in the region. In 1641, the Spanish and Portuguese, after two previous attempts, finally penetrated the harbors' defenses and defeated the English in battle. The Spanish removed all the people but kept the structures. This garrison was maintained on the island, now called Santa Catalina again, until 1666.
context_section_description: When the English arrived they found a small group of Dutch privateers living there.  Elfrith invited the well-known privateer Diego el Mulato to the island. Samuel Axe, one of the military leaders, also accepted letters of marque from the Dutch authorizing privateering. The settlers were concerned that the presence of these man would draw Spanish retaliation, and also resented having to contribute to building and manning the defences. In 1632 they were near mutiny, led by their chaplain, Lewis Morgan. There were also quarrels over religious practices, with the captains sometimes advocating stricter practices than the settlers were willing to follow. The ministers were often inexperienced, argumentative or otherwise unfit.
  Benjamin Rudyerd wrote to Governor Bell in 1633,
  Wee well hoped (according to our Intentions) That wee had planted a Relligious Collonye in the Isle of Providence, instead whearof wee fynde the roote of bitterness plentifullye planted amongst you, an industrious supplanting one of another, and not a man theare of Place (a straunge thinge to consider) but hee doth both accuse and is accused; these are uncomfortable fruites of Religion.
  At first the island was vulnerable to attack. Samuel Axe and Workmaster Goodman were given responsibility for fortification. Both men became involved in a dispute with Governor Philip Bell and left with Sussex Camock to Cabo Gracias a Dios on the Mosquito Coast to the west, in what is now Nicaragua. Other men also moved to the Cape. Gun carriages, ropes and powder were spoiled by the rain on Providence Island because the settlers did not have boards to make sheds, and did not have sawyers to make boards. At the start of 1634 the Reverend Hope Sherrard reported that there were far too few men to man the forts or repel a landing force, and only enough ammunition for one day's fight.
  On 30 July 1634 the company wrote to Captain Sussex Camock approving of his achievements in opening up trade with the Mosquito Indians, but said there was discontent in Providence, caused by so many men having been taken from it, and that the island needed strengthening.  They hoped that Camock could allow Captain Axe to return to Providence to work on the fortifications there. In June 1634 Captain William Rudyerd told the investors in England that the island had no worth other than as a base for privateering, but if properly fortified, the island could be held against any force by 600 men. In December 1634, a Dutch captain told the company that the fortifications were now "handsome, and their ordance fit to prevent the approach of ships."
caption: Manzanillo beach on the east side of the island
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