The Windward Passage
A naval briefing on the strait between Cuba and Hispaniola.
The objective and cargo
The Windward Passage lies between Cuba and Hispaniola, where French and Spanish traffic crosses the routes into the Caribbean. Merchant prizes can carry indigo, sugar, hides, silks, salt, iron fittings, seed stock, powder, canvas and other goods useful to Nassau. A prize may be worth more as a vessel than as cargo.
Word from the waterfront
- A French snow has been reported as “running heavy.” The report may be stale or wrong by the time a vessel reaches the Passage.
- Spanish coasters are expected in the region.
- Warnings about patrols circulate, but merchants have not reported a large naval sweep. Silence is useful evidence, not proof that the waters are safe.
- Survivors of a captured Dutch vessel may have reached port and described the encounter. A disguise may conceal one ship, but not the company sailing beside it.
A plausible route
- Leave Nassau by an eastern channel and run southeast down Exuma Sound, keeping the Exuma Cays to starboard.
- Pass Long Island and use the Crooked Island Passage, or the wider water east of the Ragged Islands, toward the Old Bahama Channel.
- Keep Cape Maisí, the eastern tip of Cuba, to starboard and Cap Saint-Nicolas on Saint-Domingue to port as you enter the Passage.
The distance is roughly 350–400 nautical miles; a vessel beating into the easterly trade winds might take several days. The Passage is about fifty miles wide. Great Inagua and the Cuban and Saint-Domingue coasts offer possible anchorages, but many are exposed to local authorities.
Risks
- Spanish patrols. The guarda costas work from Cuban ports such as Santiago de Cuba and Baracoa, and are quick to seize an English-speaking vessel. A single armed sloop is possible even when no large patrol is reported.
- French patrols. Saint-Domingue is French territory, with its own privateers and naval interests. Taking a French merchantman can create a new enemy.
- Weather. Late summer and autumn bring hurricane risk, and the Passage has few safe harbours outside Spanish or French control.
- Recognition. A changed paint scheme, removed scrollwork or new name boards can disguise a captured snow, but a companion vessel, crew descriptions or a familiar sailing pattern may still give it away.
- Two-ship command. A disguised merchantman may close a target while a second ship stands off. Hunting separately covers more water but needs a safe rendezvous and reliable signals.
- Prisoners and reputation. How captured crews are treated affects future information, rescue, ransom and retaliation.
- Home port. While the ships are away, civic works and provisioning must continue under local leadership.