| dc.description.abstract | This dissertation dives into the world of free and coerced seafarers who participated in Anglo-Spanish inter-imperial warfare and the communities they shaped in the Atlantic and Caribbean urban ports. Drawing on secular, ecclesiastical, and naval records and employing network analysis, it tracks the diverse experiences of El Africa’s multiracial crew on the sea and on the land. The warship El Africa was built in Havana’s shipyards in 1733 and sank in 1741 in the British Siege of Cartagena during the War of Jenkins’ Ear (1739-48). On its Atlantic expeditions, El Africa’s crew faced not just attacks but also bloodshed, disease, and death. This dissertation demonstrates that El Africa survived only through the skills of its diverse crew whose origins we can trace to Andalucía, the Mediterranean and Arab worlds, West Africa, and various regions of the Caribbean. Their diverse origins, cultural and scientific knowledge, and maritime skills were critical to the success of the Spanish Navy.
In 1738, El África sailed from Havana to reinforce squadrons defending Cartagena de Indias from imperial and privateers’ threats. Cartagena was one of the most critical seaports in the Atlantic during this time, but after the War of Jenkins' Ear broke out in 1739, and despite Spain having won the Siege of Cartagena (1740-1741), El Africa did not survive. The dissertation then "comes ashore" tracing surviving crewmen and analyzes how the mobility, violence, and death they experienced shaped the communities they developed after the war. It follows them and their new social and economic interactions in Cartagena, where legal and illicit trade networks with smugglers were central to their success. By the outbreak of the Seven Years’ War (1756-63), these naval veterans had developed a thriving network of commercial businesses, established religious and social ties to the local community, and bought and exchanged slaves, some of whom they sexually exploited. Although El Africa only existed for nine years, its microhistory is a window into larger themes, allowing me to track often “invisible” subjects who sustained the Spanish navy and made important contributions to the life of port cities across the Atlantic World. | |
