These same captains also carried out raids on English coastal settlements. Under Montiano’s sponsorship one privateer, Joseph de Estrada, made a daring attack on North Carolina. Debarking a small band of soldiers and sailors at New Brunswick at the mouth of the Albemarle River early in September, 1741, Estrada set fire to a warehouse and two ships under construction on the banks of the river. On his way back to Florida, he added further insults by seizing five English ships carrying rice, paper, wood, and glass. For the Carolinians the activities of Spanish corsairs were particularly vexing. Since the founding of Charleston in 1670, the English had dominated the Southeast. Now Montiano’s privateers endangered their position in Carolina and caused severe losses to English merchants. (Tepaske GSF)