John Whitesmith (1546-29 December 1583) was an admiral of the Royal Navy of England during the 1500s. Whitesmith was responsible for privateering against ships from New Spain during the Anglo-Spanish War, but was captured in the failed Battle of Fort Francisco de las Carolinas and died in a penal colony.
Biography[]
John Whitesmith was born in Lincolnshire, England, in 1546 to a merchant family. His family was made of fishermen who tended to the local lakes, and Whitesmith dreamed about sailing the open seas. In 1573, when piracy against New Spain was beginning to take its form, Whitesmith set out to join in the plundering. He took to the seas as a merchant, and while docked in Cadiz Harbor in Spain for a bartering mission, he recruited a crew and left to plunder Spanish shipping.
In 1579, after sailing from Spain to the abandoned cay of Cat Island, Whitesmith began his career. His first capture was a fishing fleet of four Spanish ships off Grand Chapa (off present-day Mexico) and used the fish to feed his crew for many weeks. He proceeded to pursue a merchant hunting career, capturing sixteen Spanish ships between January 1580 and February 1580.
As his fame rose due to his brave exploits, he became a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I of England, and in 1583 he convinced her to let him lead a 700-man and 5-ship expedition to capture Fort Francisco de las Carolinas in present-day South Carolina on the United States coast. Whitesmith's fleet ran into many difficulties and the attack failed due to strong winds, fog, and the fort's impregnable defenses. His ship, the frigate "Queen Elizabeth", was captured by the Spanish and he was held as a prisoner.
Forced to serve time as a laborer, he was sent to Angola to assist in the mining operations of the Spanish African Company. Whitesmith died of malaria while in the San Guzman colony.