Joost Van Dyk - Soper's Hole Settlement

Soper's Hole Settlement

The early colonial history of the British Virgin Islands is not especially well documented. However, it is known that during the early years of the seventeenth century, van Dyk had created a small settlement at Soper's Hole on Tortola's West End, leading a largely unremarkable career as a privateer or pirate, and that he was trading with the Spanish settlers in Puerto Rico in breach of a Papal concession to the Spaniards. Between raids, van Dyk and his crew farmed cotton and tobacco. By 1615 van Dyk's settlement was recorded in Spanish contemporary records as having expanded, and consisting of Dutch, French and English pirates, who had constructed some small defences. At this time the Spanish Governor in Puerto Rico began to regard van Dyk less as an irritation and more as a potential threat to Spanish trading interests in the region. However, at the time Holland and Spain were subject to a binding truce. When the truce came to an end in 1620 van Dyk perceived his potential vulnerability, and built a more substantial earthen fort at what would later be named Fort Recovery