Early history info: Navassa Island (formerally called Navaza) was first discovered by Christopher Columbus's right hand man Mendoza who, in 1502, was sent by Columbus to get help in Hispanola (Dominican Republic). Columbus was shipwrecked and in danger in Jamaica and he dispatched Mendoza and some soldiers and a handfull of Indians in two canoes to the east for assistance. After rowing for two days, Mendoza and his crew discovered Navassa. A full moon silhouetted the island as it came looming out of a dark sea. Some of the men died of drinking their own urine and were buried on Navassa. The men refreshed themselves by eating sea birds, the eggs and Iguanas. After they left, the island was again unvisited by white man until the pirate era of the early 1600's.

In 1660 a Captain on a British Man-O-War noted in his logbook that he witnessed "many pirates living on Navassa Island in wooden houses." The island offered a safe haven for pirates since it was so very remote.

It was also ideal since it was near the 'Windward Passage" which the Spanish treasure galleons used as an alternative route back to Spain with their cargos of silver and gold, gems and Chinese porcelain. There is little doubt that the pirates buried much stolen treasure on Navassa in it's many caves and crevires. The pirates disappeared on Navassa sometime in the early 1700's.

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