ABSTRACT
English voyages to the West Indies in the period 1588 to 1595, between the defeat of the Armada and the last voyage of Sir Francis Drake, were, as far as is known, all privateering ventures. In general, however, the privateering expeditions with which we are concerned were not of much geographical significance; Hakluyt included them rather to illustrate the valour of Englishmen and the glory of their exploits. Official reports and investigations, as well as private letters, give us a measure of the impact, psychological and economic, naval and military, of ventures which, in the laconic accounts of English seamen, seem almost routine. The prize jurisdiction of the court made it the arena of many a dispute between English and foreign merchants, behind whom stood their respective governments. A large part of the business of the court consisted of spoil and piracy cases, concerned with attacks by English seamen upon foreign or English shipping.
