During the government of Sir John Yeamans a civil disturbance broke out among the colonists, which threatened the ruin of the settlement. “The Proprietors,” says Hewatt, “were unable to furnish the colony with regular supplies, and the spots of sandy and barren land poorly rewarded their toil. Many of them were unskilled, and the European grain which they were accustomed to sow soon proved suitable to neither soil nor climate. The settlers began to murmur against the Proprietors and to curse the day they left their native land to starve in a wilderness. While they gathered oysters for subsistence with one hand, they were obliged to carry the musket in the other for defence against the Indians.” In this emergency, a true son of Ireland is seen to have been in the forefront of the battles waged by the afflicted colonists. Florence O’Sullivan was one of the leading men among the settlers of Charlestown, some of whom were his countrymen, and to whom they looked for guidance and counsel. O’Sullivan is said to have come to South Carolina with Governor Sayle. He was surveyor-general of the province until he was succeeded by John Culpeper in 1671. He is thought to have been of the famous family of that name whose paternal home was on the borders of Cork and Kerry, and which gave to America schoolmasters, governors, a celebrated general of the Revolutionary army, and in later days men who distinguished themselves in every sphere of activity in the new country. To add to the troubles between the colonists and the Indians, it is related that about this time there was great fear among the Carolinians of an invasion by the Spaniards from the South. Militia companies were formed in and around Charlestown to resist invasion, and O’Sullivan had been placed in command of a body of men on an island in the harbor—now known as Sullivan’s Island. Their situation was one of great danger and they were instructed to warn the inhabitants on the first approach of the enemy, and then return to shore. “The great gun”—evidently the only one available—was in the immediate charge of O’Sullivan. The Spaniards did not put in an appearance; the scanty supplies of the party soon gave out, but they stuck to their post until starvation stared them in the face. They remained until all hope had fled that their supplies would be replenished, and when they were not forthcoming, O’Sullivan and his men, deciding that to perish from hunger would be an inglorious end, deserted the island without consulting the governor and joined the discontented party in the town.