A period of confusion and disorder followed. Lawless elements, termed _banditti_, took advantage of the unsettled conditions to plunder plantations and travelers. The painful evacuation of the English continued through the year 1784 and the spring of 1785. Many took the wilderness trails to the west, others went to the Bahamas, some returned to England, or embarked for Nova Scotia, Jamaica, Dominica and elsewhere. They took with them all of their movable possessions. Even the bells and pews of their church, and a crude fire engine were loaded aboard ship for transfer to another colony in the Bahamas. The Minorcans, who had moved to St. Augustine from New Smyrna in 1777, were not greatly disturbed by the impending change in sovereignty. They were Catholics and spoke a language similar to Spanish. They supported themselves by fishing, hunting, and by cultivating small groves and gardens. Some had become small shopkeepers. St. Augustine was their chosen home. Many English still remained when Governor Zéspedes arrived off St. Augustine with thirteen vessels to take over the province of East Florida for Spain. The official transfer of the government took place on July 12, 1784. The Spanish flag was unfurled again over the capital to volleys from the Spanish infantry and a fourteen-gun salute from the artillery. “On the following day,” Governor Zéspedes wrote, “we rendered dutiful and solemn adoration to Christ the King, by attending the _Te Deum_.” The curtain fell on twenty years of English occupation, and a second period under Spain began. [Illustration: _A page from Florida’s first newspaper, the East Florida Gazette, published at St. Augustine February 1, 1783 to March 22, 1784._] _East-Florida_ GAZETTE. Nullius Addictus Jurare In Verba Magistri. Hor. From _SATURDAY_, May 10, to SATURDAY, May 17, 1783. St. AUGUSTINE, May 17. On Sunday last arrived off our Bar, after a tedious passage from New York, his Majesty’s ships Narcissus and Bellisarius, having under convoy four vessels laden with provisions for this province. Three other victuallers had sailed in company, also for this place, but separated by some accident on the passage. EAST-FLORIDA. _By his Excellency_ Patrick Tonyn, _Esquire, Captain General, Governour and Commander in chief in and over his Majesty’s Province of East-Florida, Chancellor and Vice Admiral of the fleet._ A PROCLAMATION