The Spanish Convoy of 1750: Heaven's Hammer and International Diplomacy

8. Closing the Books (Cuentas y Quentas)

83 8 Closing the Books (Cuentas y Quentas) Significant portions of the surviving documentation concerning the 1750 flota are financial accounts (spelled interchangeably in eighteenth-century Spanish as cuentas or quentas). In Spanish (as in English), the word “account” can carry a narrative as well as a financial meaning. Indeed, these quentas are rich in both. At the end of the day, the financial implications of the story mattered the most to the individuals who were most likely to put pen to paper. What had been lost, saved, retrieved, and stolen were issues to be resolved before discussion about the ill-fated voyages from Havana to North Carolina , Virginia, and Maryland finally disappeared from the historical record. As with many events involving natural disasters, closing the books on the flota was gradual, painful, confusing, and unsatisfactory, especially for those who like to see justice and moral triumphs in the historical past. By the time John Watson and his entourage returned from their partially successful trip to the Leeward Islands in the fall of 1751, all • • The Spanish Convoy of 1750 84 of the Spaniards and surviving cargo had left North Carolina and Norfolk—except for the solitary figure of Juan Manuel de Bonilla, captain of the Guadalupe. Interestingly, his old fragata was still afloat, and she was finally brought into Norfolk from North Carolina after having been put up for sale in North Carolina.1 During Bonilla’s wait in Virginia, captains and owners of the other ships in the flota, one by one, closed their books in Cádiz, in some cases delivering most of the goods shipped from Veracruz and Havana while in others simply parceling out a percentage of what had been initially shipped.2 Of course, in the case of the zumaca traveling with the Galga and with the packet Salvador, no cargo and only a few men made it back to Cádiz. Probating the will of Captain Cruañes from the Soledad served as the last remaining legal record of that ship’s sad fate.3 In a critical way, Watson’s trip to the Leewards determined the length of the flota’s saga. Disappointingly for Bonilla, the Virginia merchant only brought back news (cuentas) and accounts (quentas) of what goods and money had been recovered from the hands of pirates under Lloyd in Tortola, St. Kitts, St. Thomas, and St Eustatius. In no case, not even in the British-owned Leewards, did Watson convince any official to turn over the goods and money to him for delivery to Bonilla. All insisted that they needed direct authorization from London , The Hague, or Copenhagen before dispersing these funds. Since Watson’s accounts indicated that the value of this merchandise and money was significant—well over one hundred thousand pesos—Bonilla felt that his obligations to his shipping clientele (in­ teresados) had not ended and that he needed to travel to London to finish his work.4 Because the governors of the British, Dutch, and Danish Leewards would have to correspond with their governments in Europe, London was the obvious location to handle this final stage. Little did the good captain realize that he would be long dead before final payments were rendered in 1768. Closing the Books (Cuentas y Quentas) 85 Sometime in the fall of 1751, Bonilla, his interpreter, and, most likely, Watson left Norfolk for London.5 It was not a smooth voyage, for the passenger ship carrying Bonilla hit a dangerous storm in the English Channel and struck the Goodwin Sands off Deal, nearly destroying the ship and all aboard. While the Spanish captain seemed to experience nearly every disaster possible at sea, he wrote about only a few. The storm in the English Channel was one.6 In early December 1751, Bonilla arrived in London. He immediately resumed contact with Cádiz and notified the merchant’s guild (Consulado) of his new residency and his work to obtain restitution of the stolen goods.7 While pursuit of the money in the Leewards was the principal reason to be in London, another motive drew him to England as well. The controversial gift or levy imposed by the colonial officials of North Carolina had been firmly repudiated by the king’s advisers, and the crown issued orders to refund the entire amount to Bonilla. The former attorney general of North Carolina, Thomas Child, had returned to England, and the former governor...