Editing History of the Bahamas (section)

===Republic of Pirates===
{{Main|Republic of Pirates}}
The Bahamians soon came into conflict with the Spanish over the salvaging of wrecks. The Bahamian wreckers drove the Spanish away from their wrecked ships, and attacked Spanish salvagers, seizing goods the Spanish had already recovered from the wrecks. When the Spanish raided the Bahamas, the Bahamians in turn commissioned [[privateer]]s against Spain, even though England and Spain were at peace. In 1684, the Spanish [[Raid on Charles Town|burned the settlements]] on New Providence and Eleuthera, after which they were largely abandoned. New Providence was settled a second time in 1686 by colonists from [[Jamaica]].
[[File:Henry Every.gif|thumb|upright|left|Pirate captain [[Henry Every]] on shore while his ship the ''[[Fancy (ship)|Fancy]]'' engages another vessel. Every eluded the authorities after supposedly bribing the governor appointed by the Proprietors of Carolina]]
In the 1690s, English privateers (England was then at war with [[France]]) made a base in the Bahamas. In 1696 [[Henry Every]] (or Avery), using the assumed name Henry Bridgeman, brought his ship [[Fancy (ship)|''Fancy'']], loaded with pirates' loot, into Nassau harbor. Avery bribed the governor, Nicholas Trott (uncle of the [[Nicholas Trott]] who presided at the trial of [[Stede Bonnet]]), with gold and silver, and by leaving him the ''Fancy'', still loaded with 50 tons of [[elephant#Tusks|elephant tusks]] and 100 barrels of gunpowder. Following peace with France in 1697, many of the privateers became [[Pirate|pirates]]. From this time the pirates increasingly made Nassau, the Bahamian capital founded in 1694, their base. The governors appointed by the Proprietors usually made a show of suppressing the pirates, but most were accused of dealing with them. By 1701 England was at war with France and Spain. In 1703, and again in 1706, combined French-Spanish fleets [[Raid on Nassau|attacked and sacked]] Nassau, after which some settlers left, and the Proprietors gave up on trying to govern the islands.<ref>Albury:51-5<br>Craton:70-87<br>Johnson:6<br>Woodard:12-14, 23-24</ref>

With no functioning government in the Bahamas, English privateers operated from Nassau as their base, in what has been called a "privateers' republic", which lasted for eleven years. The raiders attacked French and Spanish ships, while French and Spanish forces burned Nassau several times. The [[War of the Spanish Succession]] ended in 1714, but some privateers were slow to get the news, or reluctant to accept it, and slipped into piracy. One estimate puts at least 1,000 pirates in the Bahamas in 1713, outnumbering the 200 families of more permanent settlers.<ref name="ReferenceA">Albury:58-68<br>Craton:89-90<br>Woodard:89-90, 140, 160</ref>

[[File:Flag of the Flying Gang.svg|thumb|[[Jolly Roger]] of the [[Flying Gang]].]]
The "privateers' republic" in Nassau became a "pirates' republic". At least 20 pirate captains used Nassau or other places in the Bahamas as a home port during this period, including [[Henry Jennings]], [[Edward Teach]] (Blackbeard), [[Benjamin Hornigold]] and [[Stede Bonnet]]. Many settler families moved from New Providence to Eleuthera or [[Abaco Islands|Abaco]] to escape harassment from the pirates. On the other hand, residents of Harbor Island were happy to serve as middlemen for the pirates, as merchants from [[New England]] and Virginia came there to exchange needed supplies for pirate plunder.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> Piracy provoked frequent and brutal but ineffective retaliatory attacks by the French and Spanish.{{cn|date=July 2023}}