Found this bit..

[Red Cat Jenny]

The place was a gilded hades, and mammon held sovereign sway over its people. Bearded seamen, bronzed and weather-stained, bedecked with priceless jewellery and the finest silks of the Orient, swaggered along its quays and gambled with heavy gold coins whose value no one cared to estimate... Common seamen hung their ears with heavy gold rings studded with the costliest gems... And every man in that crowd of pirates lived beneath the shadow of the gallows.

- Account of life in Port Royal, Jamaica by 17th century traveller named Henderson

[blackjohn]

I'll add...

[1] Quoted in "To Hell or Barbados!" by Sean O'Callaghan*

I wonder if this is an accurate account or apocryphal. The wording sounds a bit 20thC to me.

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_O%27Callaghan