How English pirates turned the Galápagos into their secret Pacific base, 1680–1800
For 150 years after their discovery, the Galápagos Islands barely appeared on any map. The Spanish kept them secret. Then, in 1684, a band of English buccaneers sailed in — and changed the islands' history forever. They gave the islands new names, drew the first accurate charts, and turned this volcanic wilderness into the most important pirate base in the entire Pacific Ocean.
Bishop Tomás de Berlanga's ship drifts off course en route to Peru. He finds strange volcanic islands crawling with iguanas and giant tortoises — and reports them to the King of Spain as barren and cursed. The Spanish decide to keep their existence secret.
Bishop Tomás de Berlanga was sailing from Panama to Peru on official Church business when his ship was becalmed and drifted west in an unusual current. After days without wind, his crew were dying of thirst when they stumbled upon these strange volcanic islands on 10 March 1535.
"The land is worthless... good for nothing." — Berlanga's verdict in his report to King Charles V of Spain, 1535
Spain controlled the Pacific trade routes to its South American colonies and wanted no rival power to know about this archipelago. The islands were left off official Spanish navigation charts entirely — a deliberate act of cartographic secrecy that held for 150 years, until the pirates arrived.
Flemish cartographer Abraham Ortelius includes the islands on his world map under the name Insulae de los Galopegos — "Islands of the Tortoises." But the Spanish keep them off official navigation charts, hoping no rival power will find them.
Ortelius published the first modern atlas in 1570 — the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum ("Theatre of the World"). It was the bestselling book in Europe for decades. His inclusion of the Galápagos, named Insulae de los Galopegos, was based on travellers' reports, not direct observation. The islands appear as rough blobs off the South American coast.
Galápago is an old Spanish word for a type of saddle — specifically the wooden saddle frame used on pack horses. Spanish sailors noticed that the shells of the giant tortoises they found there resembled this saddle shape. So "Islands of the Tortoises" became the name that stuck.
The saddle-shaped shells of the tortoises from the drier islands were the direct inspiration for the archipelago's permanent name.
English buccaneers, fleeing Spanish warships after raids on Panama and Peru, discover the Galápagos make the perfect hiding place. Remote, unguarded, with fresh water and thousands of tortoises for food — they begin using the islands as a base between raids.
The English buccaneers needed a base to repair ships, restock food and water, and hide from Spanish warships — all without being near any Spanish port. The Galápagos offered volcanic springs for fresh water, tortoises for meat that lasted months at sea, sheltered bays for careening ships, and complete invisibility off official charts.
Careening meant hauling a ship onto its side on a beach to scrape off barnacles and repair the hull — essential every few months in tropical waters. Santiago's James Bay became the main careening ground. Pirates would spend weeks here making repairs, completely out of reach of Spanish authorities. Carvings from this era are still visible in Tagus Cove on Isabela Island.
Over 50 ship names and dates carved into the rock at Tagus Cove survive today — the oldest dated 1836.
Buccaneer navigator Ambrose Cowley draws the first accurate chart of the archipelago. He names every island after English royalty and nobility — King James Bay, Albemarle Island, Narborough, Hood — names the islands carry in English to this day. The map is good enough to navigate by for the next 100 years.
Remarkably accurate for a man working by dead reckoning and compass alone. Cowley correctly identified all major islands, their relative positions, and crucially, the safe anchorages. His chart was immediately adopted by other buccaneers and whalers, and British Admiralty charts still showed his English names until the 20th century.
Cowley named every island after a powerful English nobleman or royal — a deliberate strategy. English pirate captains needed letters of marque (official licences to attack enemy ships) from influential backers. Naming islands after the Duke of Albemarle or the Earl of Chatham was a form of flattery designed to win favour — and perhaps a pardon for past crimes.
"Albemarle Island" for the Duke of Albemarle, "Chatham" for the Earl of Chatham, "Hood" for Viscount Hood — political flattery disguised as cartography.
William Dampier — pirate, navigator, naturalist and writer — makes the first of several visits to the Galápagos. He writes detailed observations of the wildlife and geography that will influence naturalists for the next 150 years, including a young Charles Darwin.
Dampier was the first person to circumnavigate the world three times. While raiding Spanish ships, he kept meticulous journals of every plant, animal, and coastline he observed. His 1697 book A New Voyage Round the World was an instant bestseller — Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift, and Charles Darwin all read it. He introduced over 1,000 words to the English language including "barbecue," "avocado," and "chopsticks."
Dampier wrote the first printed natural history descriptions of the islands: marine iguanas ("large ugly creatures... their colour is an ugly yellowish-brown"), giant tortoises ("so heavy and fat that the least of them will serve two men for a week"), sea lions, and flamingos. Darwin read these specific passages before sailing on the Beagle in 1831.
"The iguanas... will lie still and suffer a man to come and take them by the hand." — Dampier, noting the tameness Darwin would still observe 150 years later.
British whalers place a wooden barrel on the shore of Floreana Island. Any ship leaving the Pacific picks up letters bound for home; any ship arriving delivers them. No stamps, no payment — just trust. The system works for over a century.
Captain James Colnett of HMS Rattler placed the original barrel on the beach at what became Post Office Bay, Floreana. The rule was honour-based: any ship departing the Pacific checked the barrel and took letters addressed to ports on their homeward route. Any ship arriving in the Pacific dropped off any letters they had been carrying. No stamps, no postal service, no payment.
"It cost nothing and worked perfectly — a testament to the honesty of sailors who had everything to gain from a system that worked." — historian account of the barrel postal system
The system was still working when Darwin visited in 1835 — 42 years after it was established. Letters from sailors' families in England reached them in the Pacific. A letter might change hands three or four times across different ships before arriving. The original barrel has long gone, but a replica stands on the same spot. Tourists today still follow the same rules: pick up a postcard addressed near your home town and hand-deliver it.
An Irish sailor named Patrick Watkins is marooned — or chooses to stay — on Floreana. He lives alone for two years, growing vegetables to trade for rum. He eventually seizes a ship's boat, forces five sailors to help him row to Ecuador, and arrives alone. The five men are never seen again.
Watkins was described by passing sailors as an extraordinary sight: wild red hair matted and long, dressed in rags, intensely self-sufficient. He had cleared land and grown a vegetable garden — sweet potatoes, pumpkins, and other crops. He would approach any anchoring ship and trade his produce, always demanding rum in exchange, always drinking it on the spot before returning to his solitary life.
In 1809, Watkins obtained a ship's boat through means unknown. He then persuaded — or perhaps forced — five sailors from a passing vessel to crew it with him for the voyage to mainland Ecuador. The journey took weeks in an open boat. When the boat arrived at Guayaquil, Patrick Watkins stepped ashore alone. No explanation was ever recorded. The five men were never seen or heard from again.
The fate of the five men who helped Watkins row to Ecuador has never been explained. It remains one of the first unsolved mysteries of the Galápagos Islands.
HMS Beagle anchors at San Cristóbal on 17 September. Darwin spends five weeks in the islands — walking ground that buccaneers and whalers had already transformed. He reads Dampier's accounts. His observations here will eventually lead to On the Origin of Species (1859).
Darwin was 26 years old when the Beagle anchored at San Cristóbal on 17 September 1835. He was initially underwhelmed — describing the landscape as "a shore fit for Pandemonium" and the lava scenery as "hideous." He noted that the wildlife was completely fearless of humans. He pushed marine iguanas into the sea and they swam straight back to him. He placed his hat on a hawk and it simply sat there.
Darwin arrived in islands already transformed by 150 years of pirate and whaling activity. He had read Dampier's journals before sailing — the same William Dampier who visited in 1684. The wildlife Darwin observed as "perfectly tame" was tame for exactly the reason Dampier had described it: it had never been hunted by land predators. But the tortoises had been, and Darwin arrived in islands already ecologically wounded. This connection is rarely told.
"The natural history of these islands is eminently curious, and well deserves attention." — Darwin, The Voyage of the Beagle, 1839
Cowley drew the first reliable navigation chart of the Galápagos in 1684 — a remarkable achievement for a working pirate. He named every island after English nobles and royals, calculating that flattery might earn him patronage back in England. His chart was accurate enough to use for over a century.
He gave us Hood Island, Albemarle, Narborough, Chatham — names that British sailors used for 300 years.
Perhaps the most extraordinary man of his age — simultaneously a pirate raiding Spanish ships and a meticulous naturalist recording the natural world. His New Voyage Round the World (1697) was a bestseller read by every educated person in England. Darwin read it before the Beagle voyage.
"They are so heavy and fat that the least of them will serve two men for a week." — on the giant tortoises, 1684
The first person known to have lived permanently in the Galápagos. An Irish sailor, possibly marooned, who scratched a living on Floreana for two years — growing sweet potatoes and pumpkins to trade for rum with passing ships. His fate after reaching Ecuador is unknown.
His story of arriving with five men and leaving alone has never been explained.
The Bishop of Panama never intended to find the Galápagos. His ship simply drifted west in a calm when sailing to Peru in 1535. He described islands where iguanas were so tame they had to be pushed aside, and giant tortoises walked through the camp. His report to the King of Spain is the first written record of the islands.
"The land is worthless... good for nothing." — his verdict on the islands he had just discovered.
Darwin arrived in islands already scarred by 150 years of pirate and whaling activity. He was 26 years old and initially unimpressed. But the acting governor's remark that tortoise shells varied by island planted a seed that grew into the theory of natural selection. He had read Dampier's pirate journals before sailing.
"The natural history of these islands is eminently curious, and well deserves attention."
Following the buccaneers came the whalers — hundreds of American and British ships using the islands as a provisioning stop. They took tortoises by the thousands, introduced goats and rats, and transformed the ecology in ways that persist today. Logbooks from this era record over 100,000 tortoises removed.
One captain recorded loading 600 tortoises in a single afternoon on Isabela.
"These Galapagos Islands are a great number of uninhabited islands... they are all rocky and barren, and afford neither wood, water, nor fresh victuals. Yet we were here very well supplied with turtle, and with large fat iguanas, which are very good meat."— William Dampier, A New Voyage Round the World, 1697
Dampier was the first person to circumnavigate the globe three times. He introduced over 1,000 new words to the English language including "barbecue," "avocado," and "chopsticks." His journals were the most read travel writing of the 18th century — Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift, and Charles Darwin all studied them.
His detailed descriptions of the islands' wildlife — tortoises, marine iguanas, sea lions, flamingos — were the first natural history accounts in print. He noted that the animals had no fear of humans. Darwin read these accounts specifically before visiting in 1835, and noted the animals were still just as tame 150 years later.
In the 1790s, British whalers placed a wooden barrel on the shore of Floreana Island and invented one of the most ingenious postal systems in history.
The rule was simple: any ship leaving the Pacific picks up letters addressed to ports along its route home and delivers them. Any ship arriving in the Pacific drops off any letters it's been carrying. No stamps, no payment, no postal service — just the honour code of the sea.
Sailors separated from their families for years could leave a letter in the barrel and trust that eventually, through some unknown chain of ships, it would reach home. The system worked reliably for over a century.
When Darwin visited in 1835, the barrel was already 40 years old and still in use. A replica stands on the same spot today — and tourists still honour the original tradition, picking up postcards addressed near their home town and hand-delivering them.
When Ambrose Cowley drew his 1684 map, he renamed every island after English royalty and nobility. His motive was partly practical — English sailors needed English names — and partly political: flattering powerful men might win him patronage and a pardon for his piracy. Ecuador only reclaimed the Spanish names after independence in the 1820s.
Around 1807, an Irish sailor named Patrick Watkins found himself alone on Floreana Island. Whether he was deliberately marooned, shipwrecked, or simply chose to stay is not recorded. What is certain is that he survived alone for approximately two years.
Watkins was described by passing sailors as wild-looking, with long matted red hair, living in a rough shelter and growing sweet potatoes and pumpkins in a small garden. He would trade his vegetables with passing ships — always demanding rum in return, and always drinking it immediately.
In 1809, Watkins somehow obtained a ship's boat. He then persuaded — or forced — five sailors from a passing vessel to crew it with him for the voyage to mainland Ecuador. He set off with five men. He arrived in Guayaquil alone.