Edward D'Oley, the governor of British Jamaica, proclaimed in 1661 that the peace just concluded between England and Spain did not apply to the Caribbean.
Pirates and buccaneers could therefore safely set up a base in Port Royal, from where they attacked Spanish ships without coming into conflict with the authorities.
D'Oley's successors also tolerated the pirate trade: taverns, brothels, pirate supply stores - they all derived their livelihood from piracy.
Rainer Hank
Freelance author in the business section of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sunday newspaper.
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After that, the distinction between the colonial establishment and privateering, between state authority and illegal business, became increasingly blurred.
Henry Morgan (1635 to 1688), one of the most famous pirates in the history of the world and known as "the horrors of the Caribbean", was able to "legalize" his illegally captured wealth by investing heavily in sugar cane plantations.
In the end he even became lieutenant governor of the colony and, as a reward, was knighted by the English King Charles II.