INFLATED NUMBERS
During the revolution, the Bahamas had been captured by Spain. After the war, a Loyalist lieutenant colonel of South Carolina, Andrew Deveaux, recruited a handful of militia and Harbour Island settlers and took Nassau by an ancient strategy. He had with him about two hundred men. The Spanish outnumbered them, but the invaders took the high ground in a brief skirmish. Then the Spanish watched boat load after boat load of troops being ferried ashore from Deveaux’s ships. What they didn’t see was that on the return trip, the men lay flat in the bottom of the boats and were rowed back to the ship, to return again, standing up as, apparently, a fresh band of troops. The frightened Spaniards surrendered in the face of the exaggerated strength of the troops and shortly afterward departed. Before we give up against overwhelming odds, let’s make sure we have calculated the strength of the enemy correctly. From Bahamas Islands, by H. Hannan
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