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granted the Carolinas, in the present-day American states of North and South
Carolina. Charles also helped to send to the Bahamas 300 settlers who
pledged loyalty to the monarchy.
A Lawless Place
In 1666, four years before Charles’s grant of the Bahamas, a settlement named
for him had been founded on the island of New Providence. Charles Town
soon became a magnet for pirates and outlaws. This was due in part to its
fine harbor, and in part to the absence of real authority in Charles Town. The
noblemen who had received the Bahamas grant did not actually live there,
and the governors they sent to administer their lands were weak and inef-
fective. The city of Charles Town became a rowdy, lawless place, a home for
thieves, prostitutes, and pirates.
In 1684, the Spanish—with whom the British were frequently at war
throughout the 17th and 18th centuries—destroyed Charles Town. But the
people of the city quickly rebuilt their settlement.
For a certain type of person, the Bahamas could provide a good liveli-
hood. Charles Town was home to many
salvagers
. These men combed the
shores for wrecked treasure ships and picked through their remains. Some
went a bit further in their quest for easy riches. Called
wreckers
, they lured
ships laden with gold and other treasures onto the rocky reefs by placing
lights there. When the unsuspecting captain of a ship passing at night saw
one of the lights, he would assume it was a distant lighthouse and that his
vessel was at a safe distance from the land. After a ship ran aground, the
wreckers would board the vessel and confiscate its cargo by force.
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