The Voyage of the Seaflower

When in June 1699 Captain Caleb Fibber sailed his ship (the Seaflower), into the harbour at Venice, he had every reason to celebrate. He had made the long journey (see Figure 1) safely from the settlement in the Bay of Honduras that would later be known as Belize without landing at any of the ports in North America or the Caribbean controlled by England (Great Britain, formed by the union of England & Wales with Scotland, would not come into existence until 1707). He had not even stopped at any port in England, Ireland (an English colony until 1801) or Wales (annexed by England in 1536) on his way to Venice (a journey by sea of around 7,500 miles). He therefore assumed he was outside English jurisdiction, its strict maritime laws and its customs regulations.