Daniel Elfrith

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Daniel Elfrith 1607-1641 was a 17th-century English privateer, colonist and slave trader. In the service of the Earl of Warwick, Elfrith was involved in privateering expeditions against the Spanish from his base in Bermuda. He was particularly known for capturing Spanish slave ships bound for the Spanish Main and selling the slaves himself to rival colonies in the Caribbean and the American colonies. He and John Jupe were the first men to arrive in the Colony of Virginia to sell slaves. Arriving only four days ahead his partner, Jupe had sold the first African slaves in the American colonies in exchange for provisions, however Elfrith's arrival sparked considerably more controversy and was turned away by the colony. He is also one of the earliest Englishmen, along with Sussex Camock, to discover and later take part in the initial settlement of Providence Island in 1629. A personal friend of the Earl of Warwick, his son-in-law Philip Bell became the island's first governor while he assumed the position of its admiral.