Editing Darien scheme (section)

===New Edinburgh===
[[File:New Caledonia in Darien2.jpg|thumb|450px|"A New Map of the [[Isthmus of Darien]] in America, The [[Bay of Panama]], The Gulph of Vallona or St. Michael, with its Islands and Countries Adjacent". In ''A letter giving a description of the Isthmus of Darian'', Edinburgh: 1699. The Scottish settlement of New Edinburgh can be seen on the coast above right.]]

Close to the fort, the settlers began erecting the huts of the main settlement, New Edinburgh (until 2011 known as Puerto Escocés (''Scottish Harbour''), now Puerto Inabaginya, in [[Guna Yala]] Province, Panama), and clearing land to plant [[yam (vegetable)|yams]] and maize. Letters sent home by the expedition created a misleading impression that everything was going according to plan. This seems to have been by agreement, as certain optimistic phrases kept recurring. However, it meant the Scottish public would be completely unprepared for the coming disaster.<ref name="Prebble, The Darien Disaster"/>

Agriculture proved difficult and the natives, though hostile to Spain, were unwilling to trade for the combs and other trinkets offered by the colonists. Most serious was the near-total failure to sell any goods to the few passing traders who put into the bay. With the onset of summer the following year, malaria and fever led to many deaths. Eventually, the [[mortality rate]] rose to ten settlers a day.<ref name="Carroll"/> Natives brought gifts of fruit and [[Plantain (cooking)|plantains]], but these were appropriated by the leaders and sailors, who mostly remained on board ships. The only luck the settlers had was in [[Staurotypus|giant turtle]] hunting, but fewer and fewer men were fit enough for such strenuous work. The situation was exacerbated by the lack of food, mainly due to a high rate of spoilage caused by improper stowing. At the same time, King William instructed the Dutch and English colonies in America not to supply the Scots' settlement, so as not to incur the wrath of the [[Spanish Empire]].<ref name="Carroll"/> The only reward the council had to give was alcohol, and drunkenness became common, even though it sped the deaths of men already weakened by [[dysentery]], fever and the rotting, worm-infested food.

After just eight months, the colony was abandoned in July 1699, except for six men who were too weak to move. The deaths continued on the ships, and only 300 of the 1200 settlers survived. A desperate ship from the colony had called in at the Jamaican city of [[Port Royal]], but it was refused assistance on the orders of the English government, who feared antagonising the Spanish. Those on the single ship that returned home found themselves regarded as a disgrace to their country, and were even disowned by their families.<ref name="Carroll"/> The ''Caledonia'', with 250 survivors, including William Paterson and the Drummond brothers, made a desperate passage to New York, then just a small town of 5000, landing on 10 August. Four days later, ''Unicorn'' (commanded by [[John Anderson (New Jersey politician)|Captain John Anderson]]) limped into New York harbour. In a letter to Hugh Montgomerie, a Glasgow merchant, Robert Drummond reported that sickness and mortality continued to afflict the remnant of the colonists.<ref>Betteridge, R. & McLean, R. (2019), ''Northern Lights: The Scottish Enlightenment'', National Library of Scotland, p.6</ref> When the Scots were told that two ships, the ''Olive Branch'' and ''Hopeful Beginning'', had already sailed to re-supply the now deserted colony, Thomas Drummond commissioned two [[sloops]] to aid their efforts in Darien.<ref name="referenceH">Prebble, ''The Darien Disaster'', pp. 206–207 & 220.</ref>