Pirate Corsairs and Pirates
Filibusters, Corsairs and Pirates (part 2)
Many figures were distinguished either by their cruelty, or their sadism, or by their exploits, or also by the very conditions which led them to piracy, like Bartholomew the Portuguese, Monthar the exterminator, Rock Brasiliano, Lewis Scott English , but above all, the Olonois, one of the cruelest and most ruthless of the rascals, “(…) who boasted of having never spared the life of a prisoner”. L.Olois had devised a new plan which consisted not in attacking Spanish ships but in making raids on the places of origin of wealth: the Spanish colonies (the city of Maracaibo in Venezuela in particular).
On the English side, one of the most famous buccaneers and corsairs, was Henry Morgan, who had settled in Port-Royal in Jamaica: new favorite place of buccaneers, from 1655, who found the Tortoise .. (. .) a place too clean for the installation of the headquarters ”. Port-Royal of Jamaica became one of the richest, but also the most immoral cities of the region where the “(…) buccaneers could not only not have to fear attacks, but also sell their booty , get drunk, and when they had spent everything find a new embarkation. Morgan gathered up to 10 ships and 500 pirates and plundered the island of Cuba, the city of Maracaibo and especially the city of Panama. He inherited from the king a post of lieutenant governor of Jamaica and ended his days there as a wealthy planter and commander-in-chief of the island’s forces. Many others stood out:
John Coxon, William Dampierre, and Ducasse (governor friend and ally of buccaneers) in the capture of Cartagena. The XVIIIth century will see, in 1697 by the Treaty of Ryswick, and 16 years later by the Treaty of Utrecht, the end of a major part of the operations of corsairs in the Antilles: thousands among them were laid off ; some settled in an honest trade, but the majority grouped and took to the sea, without commissions, in “(…) declaring war on all nations ”. Some were. renowned like Avery (Long Ben), William Kidd, Bartholornew Roberto …
The latter was remarkable because he only drank tea, straddled discipline (all the lights had to be turned off at 8 o’clock in the evening), had a great aversion to play, made his toilet to fight, and was very elegant. He captured 400 ships during his career, but was roughly treated in two countries, Barbados and Martinique; he then designed his new pavilion, representing a huge silhouette, sword in hand, standing on two skulls under which we read A.B.H. and A.M.H. which meant a Barbadian head and a Martinican head. “(…) History says that afterwards, when one of the inhabitants of these two islands had the misfortune to fall into his claws, he paid for it with his life” …
Love was also at the origin of certain embarkations: two women distinguished themselves as real furies on the seas; Irishwoman Ann Boney (based in Jamaica) and Mary Read. However with the new rise of tensions, and the wars in the 18th century, especially the 7 years that lasted the American Revolution (1775-1782), there was a resumption of activity of the corsairs, more or less carrying authentic commissions. Serious unrest occurred later in the long struggle between England and France that raged between 1793 and 1815: “At that time, many of these so-called corsairs were neutral, and were very interested more to secure catches and spoils for their personal profit than to assist one or the other party in their fiery conflict ”.
When the war ended, thousands of men who had served on board these corsair vessels found themselves unemployed and became pirates … Martinique also had its: corsairs who are perhaps less famous, but who were able to take advantage of the situation: Le Vassor, de Latouche, Dubuc, etc …
These new pirates were worse than those we had seen so far, “…) they were cowards, formed by the foam of the rebel marines of the Spanish colonies, then in conflict with their metropolis, and the scum of the Antilles; it was a band of bloodthirsty savages “” (…) who never dared to attack but the weak and who had no more respect for the lives of the innocent than the butchers have for those of their victims “. Also England and America pooled their navies to fight hard, in the waters of the Antilles, this scum. We can locate around 1835 the virtual disappearance of pirates from our waters.
