See also: 1686 in piracy, other events of 1687, 1688 in piracy and the list of 'years of Piracy'.

Events

• Governor of Massachusetts Sir William Phips salvages a Spanish treasure ship, worth around $100,000, off the coast of northern Hispanola.
• Based near the Tres Marias Islands at the mouth of the Gulf of California around 50 French buccaneers, later joined by 30 more, and led by Captain Franz Rools begin raiding Spanish shipping and coastal settlements in New Spain and Peru. The buccaneers continue thier attacks from Navidad to Mazatlan including the towns of Sentispac , Acaponeta , and Rosario until mid 1689. While the buccaneers regularly searched between Baja California and Cape Corrientes for the incoming Spanish Manila treasure galleon the buccaneers are unable to locate it.
• An anti-buccaneering expedition commanded by Sir Robert Holmes arrives in Charleston, South Carolina.
• January - Captain Joseph Bannister , an English pirate who had eluded capture by Jamaican authorities for over two years, is captured and hanged on the HMS Ruby in Port Royal.
• December - The Duke of Albemarle arrives in Port Royal as Governor of Jamaica.

Births

Deaths

• January - Joseph Bannister, English pirate