Interim Governor Fulgencio Garcia de Solis was an exception, a rare example of one who took action against illicit traders. In April, 1753, John Hume, a Charleston sea captain, sailed his Isabel into Saint Augustine harbor intending to recover three of his Negro slaves. Three years earlier Hume had called at the Florida capital (probably to sell his English wares), and during his stay the three Negroes had robbed a resident of the town. Governor Navarrete had summarily condemned the trio to three years at hard labor on the fortifications of Saint Augustine. Now that they had served their sentences, Hume wanted them back. [Note: interim gov to king 6/16/1754] As he made arrangements with the governor for their return, one of his passengers on the Isabel, an erstwhile French surgeon named Guillaume Ambland, disembarked and entered the town with a trunkful of choice articles to sell to the residents. While he was peddling his wares on the streets of Saint Augustine, a detachment of troops seized him and placed him in prison. Ambland had clearly disobeyed Spanish law prohibiting foreign traders in Saint Augustine, and Garcia easily established the surgeon’s guilt. Using the summary court, he first sentenced Ambland to perpetual banishment from all Spanish domains. Then the governor confiscated and sold the Frenchman’s trunk of goods, realizing a profit of 1,294 pesos four reales for use in rebuilding the sea wall around Saint Augustine. Captain Hume was not involved, but Garcia returned only one of the three Negroes. Two of the slaves had embraced Roman Catholicism during their stay in Saint Augustine and were granted their freedom. The third Negro, however, either had not wanted freedom or preferred life with his old master and sailed with Hume on the Isabel. To all these proceedings the king and the Council of the Indies gave their approval, but refused to allow the entire amount realized from the sale of Ambland’s articles to be used for building the sea wall: one-sixth of the 1,294 pesos rightfully belonged to the crown, and the king insisted that this be sent to Spain immediately. (Tepaske GSF)