The next year the French and English buccaneers who occupied the small island of Tortuga made a descent upon the western part of la Espanola, called Haiti by the natives (mountainous land), and maintained themselves there till that part of the island was ceded to France by the treaty of Ryswyk, in 1697.

Spain equipped a fleet to clear the West Indies from pirates in 1630, and placed it under the command of Don Federico de Toledo.  He was met in the neighborhood of San Cristobal by a numerous fleet of small craft, which had the advantage over the unwieldy Spanish ships in that they could maneuver with greater rapidity and precision.  There are no reliable details of the result of the engagement.  Abbad tells us that the Spaniards were victorious, but the buccaneers continued to occupy all the islands which they had occupied before.

In 1634 they took possession of Curagao, Aruba, and Bonaire, near the coast of Venezuela, and established themselves in 1638 in San Eustaquio, Saba, San Martin, and Santa Cruz.

In 1640 the Governor of Puerto Rico sought to expel them from the last-named island.  He defeated them, killing many and taking others prisoners; but as soon as he returned to Puerto Rico the Hollanders from San Eustaquio and San Martin reoccupied Santa Cruz, and he was compelled to equip another expedition to dislodge them, in which he was completely successful.  This time he left a garrison, but in the same year the French commander, Poincy, came with a strong force and compelled the garrison to capitulate.  The island remained a French possession under the name of Saint Croix until it was sold to Denmark, in 1733, for $150,000.  Another expedition set out from Puerto Rico in 1650, to oust the French and Hollanders from San Martin.  The Spaniards destroyed a fort that had been constructed there, but as soon as they returned to this island the pirates reoccupied their nest.  In 1657 an Englishman named Cook came with a sufficient force and San Martin became an English possession.

About 1665 the French Governor of Tortuga, Beltran Ogeron, planned the conquest of Puerto Rico.  He appeared off the coast with 3 ships, but one of the hurricanes so frequent in these latitudes came to the island’s rescue.  The ships were stranded, and the surviving Frenchmen made prisoners.  Among them was Ogeron himself, but his men shielded him by saying that he was drowned.  On the march to the capital he and his ship’s surgeon managed to escape, and, after killing the owner of a fishing-smack, returned to Tortuga, where he immediately commenced preparations for another invasion of Puerto Rico.  When he came back he was so well received by the armed peasantry (jibaros) that he was forced to reembark.