When the Bermudian sloop Seaflower was seized by the Bahamians in 1701, the response of Bermuda Governor Bennett was to issue letters of marque to Bermudian Privateers. In 1706, Spanish and French forces ousted the Bermudians, but were driven out themselves three years later by a Bermudian privateer under the command of Captain Lewis Middleton in what was probably Bermuda's only independent military operation. His ship, the Rose, attacked a Spanish and a French privateer holding a captive English vessel.