Caledonia's Last Stand

Book excerpt: The history alone could not explain the colonys disastrous outcome; you really had to stand on the shore of Punta Escoces to realize that the Scots were bound to disaster the moment they chose the site to bear the name Caledonia. The bay was a beautiful, deadly trap. On 2 November 1698 a fleet landed on the Isthmus of Darien to create a colony and launch a new Scottish trading empire. Eighteen months later, the colony had seen the loss of ten ships, almost 400,000 and the lives of 2,000 souls. Nat Edwards invites himself to Panama, the real-life setting for an almost unbelievable 17th century expedition of Scottish hope and adventure. His erratic odyssey to find the lost graves of the Scots settlers neatly blends pirates, street riots, treasure hunters, indigenous peoples and killer bees, with the astonishing facts he sets out with. Nats discoveries are often frustrating, occasionally freakish, but always fascinating.