Qualla: Raid on Cartagena de Indias (1697)

Raid on Cartagena de Indias (1697): Introduction

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Montal, M. de. Auteur du texte, Public domain. The deal was simple: Baron de Pointis would lead the fleet, the buccaneers would provide muscle, and everyone would share the plunder. What happened instead became one of the most treacherous episodes in Caribbean colonial warfare. On 6 May 1697, a French force appeared before the walls of Cartagena de Indias, the wealthiest city in the Spanish Americas, and took it with shocking ease. The aftermath would leave the city plundered twice over, an English admiral dead of disease, and the buccaneers swearing vengeance against the very man who had recruited them.

Image: Montal, M. de. Auteur du texte | Public domain

Raid on Cartagena de Indias (1697): A Privateer's Gamble

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Léon Guérin and various engravers, Public domain. By 1695, the French Navy was a shadow of its former power. Decades of war against England and the Dutch Republic had hollowed out the fleet, and France turned to what it called guerre de course - state-sanctioned piracy. Bernard Desjean, Baron de Pointis, had spent years in the C...

Image: Léon Guérin and various engravers | Public domain

Raid on Cartagena de Indias (1697): Walls That No Longer Held

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Perrot P. (?), Public domain. Cartagena's defenses had been legendary. For a century and a half, the city's fortresses, chains, and gun batteries had repelled pirates, rival navies, and storms alike. But by 1697, neglect had taken its toll. Garrisons were undermanned. Walls needed repair. When Pointis brought...

Image: Perrot P. (?) | Public domain

Raid on Cartagena de Indias (1697): The Betrayal and the Second Sacking

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Pierre Landry (1630-1701), Public domain. Pointis had no intention of honoring his arrangement with the buccaneers. The moment the plunder was loaded, he sailed directly for France, leaving his buccaneer allies standing on the docks of a ruined city with nothing to show for their service. The buccaneers' response was pre...

Image: Pierre Landry (1630-1701) | Public domain

Raid on Cartagena de Indias (1697): The Plague Ship

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Pierre Landry (1630-1701), Public domain. England dispatched Admiral John Nevell from Cadiz to intercept Pointis on his return voyage. After a three-day chase across the Atlantic, Nevell's squadron managed to capture a single ship - and it was the worst prize imaginable. The vessel was a French hospital ship crawling wit...

Image: Pierre Landry (1630-1701) | Public domain

Raid on Cartagena de Indias (1697): A City That Endured

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Pierre Landry (1630-1701), Public domain. The 1697 raid was neither the first nor the last assault on Cartagena de Indias. Sir Francis Drake had sacked it in 1586. The English would try again in 1741 with a massive fleet, only to be repelled in one of the most lopsided defeats in British naval history. But the Pointis ra...

Image: Pierre Landry (1630-1701) | Public domain