In the early days of 1694, tireless traveler Gregorio de Robles arrived at a bay on the northern coast of Hispaniola, where the town of Puerto Plata once stood. He journeyed on the ship of an asiento slave merchant, and once ashore, he encountered two Dutch sloops and an English one full of goods and openly trading. Locals had prepared 1,000 hides and the English and Dutch sailors went ashore “as if it was their own land,” ready to exchange their wares for all kinds of agricultural products. Robles suggested that this port needed to be better defended and that the city of Santiago should have a “good commander” because vigilance was crucial to protect the region. If Gregorio de Robles suspected that the local militias were involved in allowing this illicit trade, he was correct. Less than a century after the depopulations, the northern residents of Hispaniola had once again restored their transnational mercantile connections with the complicity of local militias and officials.