Raid on Charles Town The Raid on Charles Town or Spanish raid on New Providence was a Spanish naval expedition on 19 January 1684 ( O . S . ) led by the Cuban corsair Juan de Alarcón against the English privateering stronghold of Charles Town ( later renamed Nassau ) , capital of the Bahamas . The Bahamas harbored pirates and privateers who preyed on Spanish ships . Governor Clarke , described as " one of Cromwell ' s officers " justified privateering as necessary for the colony ' s defense , but in one letter of marque he authorized offensive attacks on Spanish holdings far from the Bahamas . Clarke ' s encouragement of privateering contravened and jeopardized the 1667 and 1670 treaties of Madrid , which established peace between the English and Spanish . On 19 January 1684 ( O . S . ) a Spanish expedition reduced the Bahamian settlements and defenses to ruins , carrying off the governor in chains , together with the inhabitants . Clarke was tortured to death and his body was roasted after an approved judgement set by the Inquisition . John Oldmixon claimed that Clarke died being roasted on a spit after the Spaniards had killed him . The Bahamas subsequently remained devoid of any recognizable English presence until December 1686 , when a small contingent from Jamaica under the preacher Thomas Bridges reoccupied New Providence Island , and more colonists gradually joined them . Background . Spain ' s corsair Juan de Alarcón stealthily approached to New Providence with a commission issued by Governor José Fernández de Córdoba and a pair of " barcos luengos " carrying 200 men . Having seized a woodcutting sloop off the island of Andros , de Larco compelled its master William Bell to pilot in via the eastern channel , at daybreak Larco disembarked 150 men within a half - mile outside Charles Town ( later Nassau ) , while his corsair ships bore down upon the six vessels anchored in its harbor . Raid . Charles Town ' s population consisted of approximately 400 men capable of bearing arms plus perhaps 200 women , a like number of children and 200 slaves . Taken utterly by surprise , they were incapable of mounting an effective defense . Former governor Robert Clarke was wounded and captured as he attempted to mount a feeble countercharge , while his recently arrived successor Robert Lilburne fled from his bedroom in the Wheel of Fortune , along with most other residents . The 10 - gun New England frigate " Good Intent " of Capt . William Warren and another anchored vessel managed to escape across the bar , leaving the Spaniards to pillage the remaining four ships and quickly ransack the town , loading their plunder aboard their largest prize before torching the rest and sailing away that same evening . Alarcón thereupon hastened across to northern Eleuthera and visited a like treatment upon its English settlement , before returning to Charles Town on 15 November 1684 ( O . S . ) to set fire on its buildings and carry off numerous residents to Havana . The Bahamas subsequently remained devoid of any recognizable English presence until December 1686 , when a small contingent from Jamaica under the preacher Thomas Bridges reoccupied New Providence Island , and more colonists gradually joined them . Aftermath . Most of its buildings are burned , and the Bahamas are left depopulated . Some 200 colonists seek refuge on Jamaica while another 50 from northern Eleuthera temporarily resettle in Casco ( Maine ) , leaving the Bahamas devoid of Englishmen until 1686 . Upon the departure of the Spaniards the settlers pulled themselves together again and a new governor , Mr . Lilburn that came out from England .