"Thoroughly researched account of attempt by English Protestants to establish colony on Old Providence Island (Santa Catalina, off the coast of Nicaragua). Planted in 1630, colony failed to prosper for reasons author develops with clarity and erudition, and was wiped out by the Spanish in 1641. Failure, of course, did not end British interest in the Caribbean or in the Central American coast. Major work"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 58.