Guarda Costa

The Guarda-Costa (Spanish: Coast Guard) refers to the small armed coast guard ships and boats with which Spain sought to prevent smuggling or trade with its possessions in the West Indies under a foreign, especially British flag in the 17th century .

background

Spain had an exclusive trading privilege in its possessions in the West Indies, which was only breached by the Asiento , which was agreed with the British, to import slaves . British ships use this exception to trade in violation of the treaty with the South American colonial areas of Spain, and foreign ships smuggled a considerable amount. The Spaniards, on the other hand, used the coast guard boats known as coast guard boats. The Guarda-Costa became known primarily because they proceeded with the utmost severity when searching British ships for contraband . This harshness was particularly noticeable after Robert Jenkins , a British merchant ship captain, presented his ear, which had been severed from the Guarda Costa, to the British Parliament in March 1738. The ear soaked in alcohol is considered to be the trigger for the colonial war between Great Britain and Spain, which was fought out as the War of Jenkins' Ear from 1739 to 1742 .

literature

• Kemp, Peter (Ed.): The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea . 1st edition. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1976, ISBN 0-19-211553-7 , pp. 359 .