The Gulf of Nicoya: small craft, shallow water and useful prizes

Ringrose’s Nicoya chapter follows the departure of the party returning across the isthmus. The people remaining aboard continued northward, fished, collected rainwater and altered the vessel’s upper works. The force entering the gulf was smaller than the earlier company. ^[1]

That change helps explain the value of manageable craft. Another large hull could add work as well as capacity when fewer men were available.

The narrative describes drifting farther into the gulf with the tide, checking the depth and backing off when the water became shallow. Meanwhile canoes went to places the main vessel did not reach. ^[1]

A gulf’s size is therefore a poor guide to the freedom of a particular ship inside it. Draft, depth, tide and access to a creek could determine the practical route.

Near Chira, a canoe returned asking for men and arms after two vessels were seen farther up. Part of the company went ashore while others guarded prisoners. The party then ascended a creek and took the barks by surprise. ^[1]

The sequence depended on distributed observation. The captain aboard the main ship did not have a direct view of every opportunity inside the gulf.

Ringrose identifies one bark as a vessel the company had already taken earlier near Panama. Its appearance here warns against assuming that each new capture was a newly encountered hull. Captured vessels could be released and meet the company again. ^[1]

The following chapter judges a bark from Nicoya faster than the principal vessel. A smaller prize could be valuable for its sailing qualities and practical use, independently of a spectacular cargo.

The visit links boats, soundings, prisoners, supplies and subsequent repairs at Golfo Dulce. It is more informative to follow those tasks than to label the whole gulf a pirate base.

This account is confined to the historical visit. It supplies neither modern water depths nor current visitor or anchoring advice.