In Search of the Buccaneers spans 70 years and takes the reader to a dozen cities in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico where the buccaneers, often legitimately equipped with royal commissions from French, English and Dutch colonial governors, assaulted the Spanish at sea and on land. It traces the evolution of the early buccaneers - hunters in northwest Hispaniola - to sea-roving buccaneers who lived by the convention 'no purchase, no pay'. By the mid-sixteenth century the enormous wealth Spain had extracted from her colonial possessions was becoming depleted. At the same time her European rivals sought to establish themselves in the Caribbean islands.' It was buccaneering that allowed colonization to take root and thrive. This book is written not primarily for the academically-minded but for the history enthusiast with a lively interest in the Caribbean 's colourful history and heritage.