Named Entity Results, West Indies

Bermudas, first English in the. Henry May, an English mariner, returning from a voyage to the West Indies in a French ship, was wrecked (Dec. 17, 1593) on one of the islands. He and his companions in distress remained there five months, when they rigged a small vessel of 18 tons from the material of the ship, put in thirteen live turtles for provisions, sailed to Newfoundland, and thence returned to England. These islands were named in honor of Juan Bermudez, a Spaniard, who was wrecked there in 1522. May was the first Englishman who set foot upon them. See Somers's Islands.

Biddle, Nicholas, 1750- Naval officer; born in Philadelphia, Pa., Sept. 10, 1750; made Medal presented to James Biddle by Congress. a voyage to Quebec before he was fourteen years of age. In a voyage to the West Indies he was cast away on an uninhabited island, where he remained two months. He entered the British navy in 1770. While a midshipman, he absconded, and became a sailor before the mast in the Carcass, in the exploring expedition of Captain Phipps in which Horatio Nelson serven 1776 he captured two transports from Scotland, with 400 Highland troops bound for America. In February, 1777, he sailed from Philadelphia in the frigate Randolph, and soon carried four valuable prizes into Charleston. Then he cruised in the West India waters with a small squadron; and in an action with a British 64-gun ship, March 7, 1778, was wounded. A few minutes afterwards the Randolph was blown up: and of the entire crew, consisting of 315 men, only four escaped to tell the dreadful ta

as joined by his brother Chateaugay, who brought seventeen settlers from France. Soon afterwards a ship brought twenty young women as wives for settlers at Mobile. Iberville soon afterwards died, and Bienville, charged with misconduct, was dismissed from office in 1707. His successor dying on his way from( France, bienville retained the office. Having tried unsuccessfully to cultivate the land by Indian labor, Bienville proposed to the government to exchange Indians for negroes in the West Indies, at the rate of three Indians for one negro. Bienville remained at the head of the colony until 1713, when Cadillac arrived, as governor, with a commission for the former as lieutenant-governor. Quarrels between them ensued. Cadillac was superseded in 1717 by Epinay, and Bienville received the decoration of the Cross of St. Louis. In 1718 he founded the city of New Orleans; and war breaking out between France and Spain, he seized Pensacola and put his brother Chateaugay in command the

d there he and his accomplished wife were living in happiness and contentment, surrounded by books. philosophical apparatus, pictures, and other means for intellectual culture, when Aaron Burr entered that paradise, and tempted and ruined its dwellers. A mob of militiamen laid the island waste, in a degree. and Blennerhassett and his wife became fugitives in 1807. He was prosecuted as an accomplice of Burr, but was discharged. Then he became came a cotton-planter near Port Gibson. Miss., but finally lost his fortune, and, in 1819, went to Montreal, and there began the practice of law. In 1822, he and his wife went to the West Indies. Thence they returned to England, where Blennerbassett died, on the island of Guernsey, Feb. 1, 1831. His widow came back to the United States to seek, from Congress, remuneration for their losses; but, while the matter was pending, she also died (1842), in poverty, in the city of New York, and was buried by the Sisters of Charity. See Burr, Aaron.

Boggs, Charles Stewart, 1811-1888 Naval officer; born in New Brunswick, N. J., Jan. 28, 1811; entered the navy in 1826; served on stations in the Mediterranean, West Indies, the coast of Africa, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Pacific Ocean. He was made lieutenant in 1837; promoted to commander in 1855; and in 1858 was appointed Captain Charles Stewart Boggs. light-house inspector on the Pacific coast. Placed in command of the gunboat Varuna, when the Civil War broke cut, he was with Admiral Farragut in the desperate fight on the Mississippi, near Forts Jackson and St. Philip. In that contest his conduct was admirable for bravery and fortitude. He was subsequently in command of various vessels on American and European stations, and was promoted to rear-admiral in July, 1870. He died in New Brunswick, April 22, 1888.

Buccaneers, the, Were daring adventurers, who first combined for the spoliation of the Spaniards in the West Indies and the islands of the Caribbean Sea. The first of these were mostly French, who attempted to introduce themselves into the West Indies not long after the conquests of the Spaniards there, and were called flibustiers, or freebooters. Their depredations among the islands were extensive and alarming. They made settlements in Santo Domingo, where the Spaniards at-tempted to eWest Indies not long after the conquests of the Spaniards there, and were called flibustiers, or freebooters. Their depredations among the islands were extensive and alarming. They made settlements in Santo Domingo, where the Spaniards at-tempted to expel them. Retaliation followed. In 1630 they made the little island of Tortugas, west of the Florida Keys, their stronghold, where, in armed bands in rowboats, they attacked Spanish vessels, lying in wait for them on their passage from America to Europe. The richly laden treasure-ships were boarded by them, plundered, and their crews cast into the sea. They extended their operations. The French buccaneers made their Headquarters in Santo Domingo, and the English in Jamaica, during the long

consider these three denominations to be, what in effect they are, one trade. The trade to the colonies, taken on the export side, at the beginning of this century — that is, in the year 1704--stood thus: Exports to North America and the West Indies£483,265 To Africa86,665    £569,930   In the year 1772, which I take as a middle year between the highest and lowest of those lately laid on your table, the account was as follows: To North America and the West Indies£4,791,734 To West Indies£4,791,734 To Africa866,398 To which if you add the export trade from Scotland, which had in 1704 no existence364,000    £6,022,132   From five hundred and odd thousand, it has grown to six millions. It has increased no less than twelvefold. This is the state of the colony trade, as compared with itself at these two periods, within this century — and this is matter for meditation. But this is not all. Examine my second account. See how the export trade to the colonies alone in 1772 stood