Europe was bursting with energy in the late 15th century, but progress was being hindered by a shortage of reliable currency.

   Columbus was aware of this, and one of the main goals of his voyage was to find gold. The first large amounts of precious metals from the New World were the plunder that came from the Spanish victory over the Aztecs in Mexico and Inca Indians in Peru.

   While the Spanish extended their empire in the Indies and mainland America, the first trickle of precious metals swelled to a flood on which Spain rode uneasy during the following two centuries. Silver and gold provided instant wealth, but undermined Spain's industries. It fed the pride of her enormously disdainful aristocracy and stunted the growth of the middle and mercantile classes.

   Soon mints in the Spanish colonies began producing large numbers of silver pieces of eight, which became the main cargo of Spanish ships and a standard currency all over the world. The results were predictable. When foreign trade to Spanish America was prevented by the king, or there was a state of war, or for no reason except the chance of easy loot, other European adventurers haunted the Caribbean Sea or cruised the ocean routes of Spain's ships rolling home deep and richly laden.

   During the early years of colonial expansion, merchant ships bound for the Indies sailed independently, suffering more danger from the hazards of the new navigation than from the depredations of pirates. However, by the 1520s French pirates became a menace to Spanish merchantmen as they neared home ports.

   In response, King Carlos of Spain provided a small war fleet to patrol the sailing routes in the eastern Atlantic, their cost being covered by a tax imposed on freight to and from the New World.

   In 1526 Spanish ships were ordered to sail in convoys, but it was not until the renewal of war with France in 1543 that rules were laid down for the timing, routing, conduct, armament and manning of convoys sailing to and from the Indies.

   So effective did the Spanish system become that, in the whole history of the fleets, very few ships from the guarded convoys were lost to pirates.
   Graphic: Frank Suddeth