16世纪中期开始,殖民帝国西班牙的海洋霸主地位开始遭到英国和荷兰的严重挑战,《西洋和西属美洲殖民地的沿海地区成了英西斗争的主战场。英国主要采取“海盗战争”的方式,即给海盗们发放私掠船特许证,利用他们作为海上战斗部队,掠夺运输美洲金银的西班牙船只,或者进攻西属殖民地的港口。 Beginning in the mid-16th century, the maritime dominance of the colonial Empire, Spain, began to be seriously challenged by the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. “The coastal areas of the American and Western colonies of the West and West became the main battlefields of the Sino-Western struggle. The British mainly resorted to the ”war on pirates" by distributing pirate charter ships for private pirates, using them as naval combat units, plundering Spanish ships transporting American silver and gold, or attacking the colonies of western colonies.