Columbus, Francis Drake, and crocodile extinction in the Caribbean: 'Fearefull beasts ... did Incounter & fighte with vs'

(Originally posted elsewhere on 16 May 2022.)

“… very vgly and fearefull beasts to behold … strawnge kindes of beastes … There weare Crocadiles which did Incounter & fighte with vs …”

Those are words sometimes attributed to Sir Francis Drake, drawn from his journal of 20 April 1586. Otherwise, the words have been attributed to Walter Bigges in 1589. In either case, the words relay a European encounter with crocodiles in the Caribbean.

Interestingly, while it may be relatively common knowledge that American crocodiles (Crocodylus acutus) are rather physically large and also widespread on Caribbean shorelines, there’s a possibility that Drake could have been talking about another species.

The Cuban crocodile (Crocodylus rhombifer) is now near extinction, critically endangered, with less than 3,000-ish alive in the wild, surviving only in a small population at Zapata Swamp (Cuba) and a single island offshore.

But it turns out that the Cuban crocodile used to live across Cuba and also elsewhere nearby in the Caribbean, including the Bahamas and the Cayman Islands. European settlers arrived and killed most of the crocodiles within the past few centuries. (Although the larger American crocodile still lives on the saltwater and estuarine shores of some of the Cayman Islands, recent re-evaluation of fossils and colonial records show that some crocodiles living on land or at inland sites were probably Cuban crocodiles.)

In describing the relatively new info on Cuban crocodile presence in the Caymans, scholars Gary Morgan and Nancy Albury also reference the first European accounts of crocodiles in the Caribbean. Very interesting.

Check it out:

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This species [Cuban crocodile; Crocodylus rhombifer] survives today only in Cuba and Isla de la Juventad […]; the populations in The Bahamas and Cayman Islands are locally extinct. […] In his diary (diario), Christopher Columbus reported the capture of a 5.7 foot crocodile in a freshwater lagoon on Crooked Island (Bahamas) in October 1492, and Martin Alonso Pinzon, captain of the Pinta, killed a second crocodile of similar size on Crooked Island the next day […]. The historical occurrence of crocodiles in the Cayman Islands has been of great interest to herpetologists, paleontologists, and historians alike, as the name of the island group suggests the former presence of crocodiles despite their current absence there. The Spanish word caiman (from the Carib cayman) is one of several terms applied to tropical American crocodylians. The Spanish name for the island group is Islas Caiman or roughly translated as “Crocodile Islands.”

The earliest historical documentation of crocodiles in the Cayman Islands was in 1586 on one of Sir Francis Drake’s West Indian voyages. The following historical quotes are presented exactly as they appear in Drake’s original journals (abstracted from Keeler 1981) […]. A quote from Drake’s journal (from Keeler 1981:68; called the “Map Text”) is as follows:“The 20 of Aprill [1586] ve fell with two Ilands called Caimanes, vhere we refreshed our selues with many Allagaitas [alligators] and greate Turtoises [sea turtles], being very vgly and fearefull beasts to behold, but we made good meate to eate …” This same quote with slightly different word usage has also been attributed to Walter Bigges (1589). […]

A third account of Drake’s same 1586 visit to the Cayman Islands stated the following (in Keeler 1981:203-204; called the “Primrose Journal”) “… the xxij [actually the 20th] of Aprill [1586] we fell with an Ile that had no people in hit. There wee fownde strawnge kindes of beastes & killed more than xx [20] Alligatos [alligators]. Those bee suche serpentes as have bin in London to be seene. There weare Crocadiles which did Incounter & fighte with vs, they live bothe in the sea & on lande. We tooke divers & made verie good meate of them; some of the same weare ten foote in lenghte.”

“Allagaitas,” “Alygathaes,” and “Alligatos” are archaic English spellings of alligator but almost certainly refer to a crocodile. […] This is consistent with the abundance of fossil crocodiles on Grand Cayman […]. In his history of Jamaica, Edward Long (1774) noted that crocodiles were living on Grand Cayman. These historical records document that crocodiles inhabited Grand Cayman until at least the late 18th century, after which they apparently were eliminated by European colonists. […] Moreover, the widespread occurrence of fossils of Crocodylus rhombifer [the Cuban crocodile species] on Grand Cayman discovered since 1979 confirms the historical accounts that documented the abundance of crocodiles on the island when European explorers first arrived in the 16th century.

Text above by: Gary S. Morgan and Nancy Albury. “The Cuban crocodile (Crocodylus rhombifer) from late Quaternary fossil deposits in the Bahamas and Cayman Islands.” A bulletin of the Florida Museum of Natural History from 2013.

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I am charmed by the drama: ““… There weare Crocadiles which did Incounter & fighte with vs …”