Storyline of the San Patricios

Padraig O'Connell was a young officer in the British Royal Navy. He rose through the ranks quickly, despite his Irish heritage. This of course required him to renounce his Catholic upbringing, something that constantly gnawed at his conscience.

When he achieved the rank of Commander he was put in command of a British 'Sloop of War' and tasked with the job of stopping smugglers in the Irish Sea.

O'Connell was disturbed by the treatment of the Irish peasantry at the hands of Navy officers and witnessed the hanging of several citizens that clearly had nothing to do with the smugglers.

After 2 long years of such duty, O'Connell received his orders to sail for the West Indies and report at Port Royale for further duty. When he arrived the Jamaica fleet was in a state of mutiny. The cause of the mutiny appeared to be a lack of rum rations for the sailors. When the mutiny was eventually put down, the Lord Admiral decided to find a scapegoat for the rebellion and settled on the Irish sailors in the fleet. 10 were hanged and a further 50 or so flogged and sent to the prison colony in Georgia.

This was the last straw for Padraig, after a midnight meeting with some of his fellow officers, they agreed to follow him and leave the service. Not being of a piratical bent, the group fled to New Spain to offer their services to his most Catholic Majesty, Philip V of Spain.

Acting as Privateers for the King of Spain, the group adopted the mantle of the Patron Saint of Ireland, and thus the San Patricio Squadron was formed!