In 1685 & 1686, in the West Indies, the English were hunting pirates and arresting any Englishmen that sailed under a foreign flag. The French were arresting pirates while reigning in their privateers. The Spanish had called an Inquisition to deal with the corsairs and were building mercenary privateer navies to attack the pirates where they lived. These were the opening moves of a war that would engulf the world, and the first shots were fired against the Buccaneers.