Note 16 — Chapter XIII · IN THE TRACK OF PLATE-FLEETS AND BUCCANEERS

So numerous and powerful did they eventually become that some of their leaders, notably Mansvelt and Morgan, dreamed of establishing an independent state. They had selected the small island of Santa Catalina—now known as Old Providence—just a short distance north of the course along which we are now sailing—as a starting point and, had they undertaken this project while the French and English Buccaneers were still united, they might have been successful.16