Author Topic: Thomas Baskerville and Sir Francis Drake  (Read 54 times)

Michael Caswell

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Thomas Baskerville and Sir Francis Drake
« on: September 16, 2021, 07:14:23 pm »
When I was about ten years old someone gave me a blue hard covered book. It had the title, which I forget, done in gold paint.  I spent many a cold night, huddled up in bed with a hot water bottle reading this book, because it was so exciting.  It was all about the pirates and mischievous goings on in the Caribbean. Battles galore, slaving, gold, murders and mass killing everywhere, all the juicy stuff that burns easily into a boy’s memory. I lost the book, but not the memories.
 
About ten years ago my wife and I went to Puerto Rico, for a vacation and we visited the fortress in San Juan. In the courtyard there were many little gift shops and one was a book store. We went in and there was a section called ‘Pirates’, and I walked up to it, gazed for a minute then picked one out. Maybe it was the author’s name German Arciniegas that attracted me?
The preface stated “A breathtaking and magisterial work, encompassing four centuries of history of the Caribbean.”

I had found it, first book I picked up, my pirates book! The title is ‘Caribbean, Sea of the World.’  ISBN 1-55876-312-0

I’ve been to numerous islands in the Caribbean on vacation, and even got to sail a 50 feet yacht through Sir Francis Drake’s Passage’, which was quite the thrill. Drake was a companion of Sir Thomas Baskerville, and I have an extensive family tree of this family. It only recently dawned on me that I should discover which Thomas Baskerville this was. On  checking which one sacked Panama with Drake, I find he lived at Sunningwell, in Berkshire, and had a son Hannibal. Aha!  So, he must have been related to the Baskervilles in Winterbourne Bassett. And my hunch was right. It was easier to hunt for Hannibal, and there he was, already recorded in my tree.

Thomas Baskerville of Winterbourn Bassett is the 2nd cousin (3x removed) of Thomas Baskerville of Sunningwell.

The point of this post? Wiltshire played a huge part in the trade and wars that went on in the Caribbean. I also believe the Baskervilles owned plantations on the Roanoke river in Virginia. This would account for the incredible wealth the Wiltshire Baskerville family had.

If you want a darned good book to snuggle up with this winter, this one is it!

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