Darien Expedition Lands

On November 3, 1698, the ill-fated Darien expedition landed on the Isthmus of Panama.  According to bank historian Andrew Kerr ("History of Banking in Scotland"), 'The expedition consisted of five well-armed ships, laden with merchandise, and having twelve hundred men on board. They arrived at their destination with but small loss, and the colony was formally established as New Caledonia, with New Edinburgh as its chief town. ...'

Sir Walter Scott's information largely agrees with Kerr's.   Scott covers the Dairen Scheme in his "Tales of a Grandfather".

'Twelve hundred men, three hundred of whom were youths of the best Scottish families, embarked on board of five frigates, purchased at Hamburgh for the service of the expedition ; for the King refused the Company even the trifling accommodation of a ship of war, which lay idle at Burntisland. They reached their destination in safety, and disembarked at a place called Acta, where, by cutting through a peninsula, they obtained a safe and insulated situation for a town, called New Edinburgh, and a fort named Saint Andrew. With the same fond remembrance of their native land, the colony itself was called Caledonia. They were favourably received by the native princes, from whom they purchased the land they required. The harbour, which was excellent, was proclaimed a free port; and in the outset the happiest results were expected from the settlement.


The arrival of the colonists took place in winter, when the air was cool and temperate ; but with the summer returned the heat, and with the heat came the diseases of tropical climate. Those who had reported so favourably of the climate of Darien, had probably been persons who had only visited the coast during the healthy season, or mariners, who, being chiefly on shipboard, find many situations healthy, which prove pestilential to Europeans residing on shore. The health of the settlers accustomed to a cold and mountainous country, give way fast under the constant exhalations of the sultry climate, and even a more pressing danger arose from the want of food. The provisions which the colonists had brought from Scotland were expended, and the country afforded them only such supplies as could be procured by the precarious success of fishing and the chase. ...'
 
The Darien colony was abaondoned less than two years later.

Darien Scheme

On April 11, 1700, the Scottish settlement of Darien was abandoned.  The Darien Company began as the first large-scale Scottish joint-stock company.  Its formation was encouraged by the passage of the Act, William and Mary 1693, which included a chapter (34) "for the encouraging of foreign trade".  This act effectively promised William's protection for such endeavors.  Darien was the brainchild of financier William Paterson.

Paterson attempted, and failed, to obtain funding for his proposed trading colony on the Isthmus of Darien (Panama) in England and Holland.  Eventually, he turned to his native Scotland, where the project found substantial interest.  Scotland was a poor country at this time.  According to bank historian Andrew Kerr, Scotland's total currency did not exceed L800,000.  The Darien Company, after initial success in Scotland, reached a subscribed funding of approximately L400,000, half of which was paid up.  This was clearly an enormous investment for a Scottish enterprise.

The first ships bound for Darien left on July 26, 1698; a flotilla of 5 well armed vessels.  Two further expeditions were to follow.  Far from protection, the colonists found that rival English colonies in the West Indies and Americas were forbidden to sell food to the Darien group.  Darien was attacked by a much larger Spanish force, and finally the colonists were forced to leave Panama.

Several Scottish writers have commented on this catastrophe, including Tobias Smollett: "The clamor in Scotland increased against the ministry, who had disowned their company, and in a great measure defeated their design, from which they had promised themselves such heaps of treasure.... At Madeira they took in a supply of wine, and then returned to Crab Island, in the neighborhood of. St. Thomas, lying between Santa Cruz and Porto Rico. Their design was to take possession of this little island; but when they entered the road, they saw a large tent pitched upon the strand, and the Danish colors flying. Finding themselves anticipated in this quarter, they directed their course to the coast of Darien. . . . "


Regarding Darien, Walter Scott commented that "Nothing could be heard throughout Scotland but the language of grief and of resentment. Indemnification, redress, revenge, were demanded by every mouth, and each hand seemed ready to vouch for the justice of the claim. For many years no such universal feeling had occupied the Scottish people."