Cassard expedition

The Cassard expedition was a sea voyage by French Navy captain Jacques Cassard in 1712, during the War of the Spanish Succession. Plans of the expedition started on December 2, 1711 as Cassard listened to the king's command fir three ships and five frigates. Departing from the port of Toulon with a fleet of eight ships, 3,000 seamen, and 1,200 soldiers, he raided and pillaged the Cape Verde Islands, the British-controlled isles of Montserrat and Antigua in the West Indies, and the Dutch South American colonial outposts of Surinam, Berbice, and Essequibo. He then proceeded to raid Dutch St. Eustatius, and also succeeded, although with some difficulty, at gaining control of Curaçao, the strongest Dutch settlement in the Caribbean. In many of the places he landed, officials paid a ransom to avoid pillage; this was not always successful, as Cassard sometimes ignored the terms of the agreements he made.

Cassard's exploits won him the Order of Saint Louis.

References

• Norman, Charles Boswell. The corsairs of France. pp. 139–150
• Rodway, James. History of British Guiana