On the Rocks: a New Approach to Atlantic World Trade, 1520–1890

Abstract

The natural flows of air and sea had a profound effect on European colonisation and exploitation of the Caribbean. Early European mariners quickly discovered that the clockwise rotation of wind and currents in the North Atlantic basin, most notably that of the Gulf Stream, greatly facilitated navigation to and from the new world. It was also learned that within the Caribbean, the prevailing currents and winds flowed to the west, sometimes reaching speeds of up to five knots. This made it easy to enter, but difficult to exit the Caribbean through the Lesser Antilles. Wooden-hulled sailing ships could leave with some difficulty via the Anegada, Mona, and Windward Passages in the Greater Antilles, though by the early sixteenth century a more desirable route was discovered through the Leeward Passage.¹ This involved sailing through the Yucatan Channel to enter the Gulf Stream in the Gulf of Mexico, and to coast with it through the Straits of Florida and out into the Atlantic Ocean. Thus, virtually all ships destined to or from the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean, or the Atlantic side of Central and South America eventually came through Florida waters. Given the treacherous nature of the reefs and storms along this route Florida’s coastline acted as a kind of cultural sieve, culling a representative sample of this shipping in the form of thousands of sunken vessels which lie preserved on the seafloor, awaiting discovery and excavation by modern archaeologists.