“The ‘flota’ (fleet) a convoy system which was made up of a mixture of cargo ships, warships and light craft for convoys. This meant that all trade was now supported by this system to ward off efficiency issues with delivery of goods including that of piracy and privateering. From here he went on to discuss the movement to a more efficient machine which he called the ‘plantation’. This machine in particular “repeats itself continuously” (Benítez-Rojo 8) The point of his examination of these machines was to enforce the idea of the Caribbean as a meta-archipelago and to introduce the idea of the Caribbean as a ‘historico-economic sea’.”