period, and the merchants on the coast of Normandy asked and obtained
permission to equip privateers to harass Spanish commerce and attack
the unprotected settlements.

San Juan was one of the first to suffer. An official report dated
September 26, 1528, informs us that "on the day of the Apostle Saint
John a French caravel and a tender bore down on the port of Cubágua
and attempted to land artillery from the ship with the help of Indians
brought from Margarita, five leagues distant. On the 12th of August
they took the town of San German, plundered and burned it; they also
destroyed two caravels that were there...."

French privateers were sighted off the coast continually, but it would
seem that the island, with its reputation for poverty, its two
settlements 40 leagues apart, and scanty population, offered too
little chance for booty, so that no other landing is recorded till
1538, when a privateer was seen chasing a caravel on her way to San
German. The caravel ran ashore at a point two leagues from the capital
and the crew escaped into the woods. The Frenchmen looted the vessel
and then proceeded to Guadianilla, where they landed 80 men, 50 of
them arquebusiers. They burned the town, robbed the church and
Dominican convent; but the people, after placing their families in
security, returned, and under favor of a shower of rain, which made
the arquebuses useless, fell upon them, killed 15 and took 3
prisoners, in exchange for whom the stolen church property was
restored. The people had only 1 killed.

The attack was duly reported to the sovereign, who ordered the
construction of a fort, and appointed Juan de Castellanos, the
treasurer, its commander (October 7, 1540). The treasurer's reply is