The Reverend Cooper-Willyams, Master of Arts of Cambridge University, clearly knew the right people in high places. From the obscure vicarage of Exning in Suffolk, he became in 1798 domestic naval chaplain to the commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean, Admiral the Earl St Vincent, and was present with Nelson at the Battle of the Nile. He had varied gifts, and when not conducting burials at sea or instructing midshipmen in their religious catechism was a prolific writer of travel books, some of which he himself illustrated in colour.
In his book A Voyage to the Mediterranean in His Majesty's Ship, Swiftsure, published in 1802, he describes his stay in Minorca as the guest of General Stuart, and observes the island and its inhabitants with a journalist's curiosity. Of women's dress he writes:

The habit of the Minorquin women is very remarkable and differs more from modern Europeans than any I have seen. At first landing, I mistook the women for nuns of the mendicant order. They are long waisted, and wear a piece of muslin and sometimes black crape under their chins, which, rising up on each side of the face, joins a handkerchief drawn tight across the forehead. Over this they have a large piece of muslin, which extends from the top of the head downwards like a cloak. Some of them wear mantles lappelled, and joined at the back with yellow ribband. Below this, their hair   - which is tied close to the head -  is suffered to hang loose in form and quantity like a horse's tail.
Their petticoats reach  below the knee. Of course they are remarkably attentive to the decorations of their legs and feet, which are universally, from the highest to the lowest, clad in clean white stockings and neat round-toed shoes.
The Minorquin ladies, it is said, wish much to adopt the more elegant dress of the English, but either from some jealous fancy or a regard for the ancient costume of their country, the men will not permit it.
The men themselves, however, had adopted more modern fashions.

The author made several strenuous excursions by mule across the island, and in a coloured engraving in his book depicts a rural scene with Monte Toro in the background entitled 'Inhabitants of Minorca'. In the foreground are two country women, and a priest in long robes and a large beaver hat. But this picture is remarkable for its illustration of the method of making butter, which he describes in the text: 'a dairy woman is standing under a shed holding by two pegs in the wall to steady herself, while with one foot naked stamps in a tub of cream till it becomes butter'.
During this last British occupation, a temporary prosperity came to the island. Never had Minorcans seen so many ships in Port Mahon, nor so many troops encamped ashore. During the year 1800 over 2,000 ships had passed in and out of the harbour, and at one time over 25,000 troops were in camps around Mahon. This did not last after Minorca passed finally under Spanish rule by the Treaty of Amiens in 1802.
On 14 June the Spanish captain-general of Majorca, Don Juan Vives, landed in Ciudadela and hoisted the Spanish flag to the accompaniment of British artillery salutes. Two days later, at a very formal ceremony on the parade ground at Villa Carlos, the British governor Cleophane handed over the island, and revelry and rejoicing followed for some days.
  Why Britain decided to relinquish Minorca after repeatedly fighting for it for a century is difficult to understand, and indeed there was almost a last-minute reversal of the decision. The handing over of Minorca to Spain was part of a 'package deal' with France, in which Britain agreed to relinquish Minorca, Elba and Malta if France would evacuate Egypt. But before the treaty was ratified, France had in fact done so. The British government rushed instructions to Cleophane not to hand over Minorca, but the ship bearing these dispatches arrived two days after the handing-over ceremony, and was further held up by the Spanish authorities.
    With the departure of the British, the prosperity of the island waned, and when peace came there was a large influx of refugees
and fugitives from France and Spain, who only served to increase the scarcity of food and necessities. As a result, many Minorcans during the nineteenth century sought release from penury by emigration. .
A substantial emigration to Algeria took place in 1830, after the conquest of that country by France, the emigrants prospering until the independence of that country in the present century. Most of these resettled in France. Other immigrants went to California and Florida, and in the latter place descendants of Minorcans are still to be found.
The first emigration to Florida had taken place in 1768 during a previous period of economic depression in Minorca, during the second British occupation. Formerly Spanish, Florida had been taken over by the British at the end of the Seven Years War, and was thought to be a suitable location. A Scottish doctor Andrew Turnbull-organised a group of 1,400 emigrants, who were sent out under the leadership of Francisco Pellier. A Minorcan colony was founded at New Smyrna, sixty miles south of the town of St Augustine, which had been founded in 1765. They worked for a time in indigo plantations, but were badly exploited. The 600 survivors settled in St Augustine.
In 1965 St Augustine city celebrated its 200th anniversary of its foundation. Some citizens in unusual costume attracted attention, and were asked whom they represented. They replied, 'We are Minorcans.' They were the descendants of the surviving 600.

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