PIRATES AND PRIVATEERS
Pirates • Privateers Buccaneers • Corsairs Barbary pirates The flag of 18th-century pirate Calico Jack Piracy is robbery committed at sea, or sometimes on the shore, by an agent without a commission from a sovereign nation. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Edward_England. ... This article is about sea pirates. ... This article is about the concept in naval history. ... This article refers to the type of pirate. ... Please wikify (format) this article as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ... Though at least a portion of them are better described as privateers, the Barbary pirates, or corsairs, were pirates that operated out of Tunis, Tripoli, Algiers, Salé and ports in Morocco, preying on shipping in the western Mediterranean Sea from the time of the Crusades as well as on ships...
Jolly Roger
Golden Age of Piracy
Places:
Piracy in the Caribbean Port Royal • Tortuga • St-Malo Libertatia • Barbary Coast A generic version of the Jolly Roger. ... A painting depicting the era. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Port-Royal was a Cistercian convent in the Vallée de Chevreuse southwest of Paris that launched a number of culturally important institutions. ... A map of Haiti with ÃŽle de la Tortue to the north. ... Categories: France geography stubs | Communes of Ille-et-Vilaine ... The Barbary Coast, or Barbary, was the term used by Europeans till the 19th century to refer to the coastal regions of what is now Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya. ...
Famous Pirates and Privateers:
Sir Francis Drake • Sir Henry Morgan Bartholomew Roberts Blackbeard • Redbeard Anne Bonny • Mary Read Robert Surcouf • René Duguay-Trouin Stede Bonnet • Jean Bart François l'Ollonais • William Kidd Calico Jack Rackham List of pirates Sir Francis Drake, c. ... Sir Henry Morgan (c. ... Bartholomew Roberts born John Roberts (May 17, 1682 - February 10, 1722), also known as Bart Roberts (Welsh: Barti Ddu), was a Welsh pirate who raided shipping off the Americas and West Africa between 1719 and 1722. ... A flag often attributed to Blackbeard. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Anne Bonny from a Dutch version of Charles Johnsons book of pirates. ... Mary Read Mary Read ( 1690–1721) was a female English pirate. ... Statue of Robert Surcouf in Saint-Malo. ... Statue in St Malo René Trouin, Sieur du Gué, usually called Réné Duguay-Trouin, (Saint Malo, 10 June 1673 -- 1736) was a famous French privateer, Lieutenant-Général des armées navales du roi (admiral) and Commander in the Order of Saint-Louis. ... The flag of Stede Bonnet Major Stede Bonnet, the gentleman pirate, was one of the most interesting but least successful sea pirates. ... Jean Bart (October 21, 1651 - April 27, 1702) was a French naval commander of the 17th century. ... An illustration of François lOllonais from a 1684 edition of The History of the Bucaniers of America Jean-David Nau (c. ... William Captain Kidd (c. ... John Rackham (died 17 November 1720), also known as Calico Jack Rackham or Calico Jack, was an English pirate captain during the early 18th century. ... This is a list of known pirates, buccaneers, corsairs, privateers, and others involved in piracy. ...
Naval officers:
Robert Maynard • Captain Ogle William Rhett Blackbeards severed head hanging from Maynards bow Robert Maynard was a lieutenant in the British Royal Navy, captain of HMS Pearl, and is most famous for defeating the infamous pirate Blackbeard in battle. ... Sir Chalonor Ogle (1681-1750) was an Admiral of the Fleet in the British navy. ... Colonel William Rhett moved to South Carolina in 1698. ...

Libertatia (also known as Libertalia) is said to have been a free colony forged by pirates under the leadership of Captain James Misson in the late 1600s. Whether or not Libertatia actually existed is disputed. It is described in the book A General History of the Pyrates by Captain "Charles Johnson," an otherwise unknown individual who may be a pseudonym of Daniel Defoe. [1] Much of the book is a mixture of fact and fiction, and it is possible the account of Libertatia is entirely fabricated. [2] Look up pirate and piracy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... November 5, 1605 â€” The Gunpowder Plot to blow up the British Parliament. ... There are very few or no other articles that link to this one. ... Author of A General History of the Robberies and Murders Of the most notorious Pyrates (1724), his true identity remains a mystery. ... A pseudonym (Greek pseudo + -onym: false name) is an artificial, fictitious name, also known as an alias, used by an individual as an alternative to a persons true name. ... Daniel Defoe Daniel Defoe (1660 [?] â€“ April 1731) was an English writer, journalist and spy, who gained enduring fame for his novel Robinson Crusoe. ...

Some pirate-controlled territories are more reliably documented as having existed in Madagascar for short periods, but as short-lived personal fiefdoms under the brutal control of particularly authoritarian pirate leaders.

Libertatia is said to have consisted of an enclave within north Madagascar and lasted for about twenty five years. The precise location is not known, however, most sources say it stretched from the Bay of Antongil to Mananjary, including Ile Sainte Marie and Foulpointe. This area later became the Kingdom of the Zana-Malata.^{[citation needed]} Other sources put it centered on the Bay of Antongil.^{[citation needed]} Thomas Tew, the Provençal Misson and an Italian Dominican priest Caraccioli were involved in founding it. Helodranon Antongila (Bay of Antongila), sometimes called Antongil, bay in the autonomous province of Toamasina, on the northern section of the east coast of Madagascar, about 60 km long and 30 km wide. ... Mananjary is a fivondronana (urban region) located in the province of Fianarantsoa in Madagascar. ... Mahavelona (fr: Foulpointe), town in Fivondronana Toamasina II, in the autonomous province of Toamasina, on the northern part of the east coast of Madagascar. ... The flag of Thomas Tew Thomas Tew aka the Rhode Island Pirate. ...

Description

The pirate utopia's motto was "for God and liberty," and its flag was white, in contrast to a Jolly Roger. They were anti-statist, waging war against states and lawmakers, attacking their ships, sparing prisoners, and freeing slaves. They called themselves Liberi, and held many principles of anarchism, and lived under a communal city rule, a sort of worker owned corporation of piracy. They had pirate articles (shared codes of conduct), and used elected systems of re-callable delegates. Pirate utopias were described by historian Peter Lamborn Wilson in his eponymous 1995 book. ... A generic version of the Jolly Roger. ... Anti-statism refers to all philosophies that in some degree reject or oppose the establishment of a territorial national government. ... Anarchism is a political philosophy or group of doctrines and attitudes centered on rejection of any form of compulsory government (cf. ...

Misson was French, born in Provence, and it was while in Rome on leave from the French warship Victoire that he lost his faith, disgusted by the decadence of the Papal Court. In Rome he ran into Caraccioli - a "lewd Priest" who over the course of long voyages with little to do but talk, gradually converted Misson and a sizeable portion of the rest of the crew to his brand of atheistic communism:

…he fell upon Government, and shew'd, that every Man was born free, and had as much Right to what would support him, as to the Air he respired... that the vast Difference betwixt Man and Man, the one wallowing in Luxury, and the other in the most pinching Necessity, was owing only to Avarice and Ambition on the one Hand, and a pusilanimous Subjection on the other.

Embarking on a career of piracy, the 200 strong crew of the Victoire called upon Misson to be their captain. They collectivised the wealth of the ship, deciding "all should be in common." All decisions were to be put to "the Vote of the whole Company." Thus they set out on their new "Life of Liberty." Off the west coast of Africa they captured a Dutch slave ship. The slaves were freed and brought aboard the Victoire, Misson declaring that "the Trading for those of our own Species, cou'd never be agreeable to the Eyes of divine Justice: That no Man had Power of Liberty of another" and that "he had not exempted his Neck from the galling Yoak of Slavery, and asserted his own Liberty, to enslave others." At every engagement they added to their numbers with new French, English and Dutch recruits and freed African slaves. Slave ships were cargo boats specially converted for the purpose of transporting slaves, especially newly captured African slaves. ...

While cruising round the coast of Madagascar, Misson found a perfect bay in an area with fertile soil, fresh water and friendly natives. Here the pirates built Libertalia, renouncing their titles of English, French, Dutch or African and calling themselves Liberi. They created their own language, a polyglot mixture of African languages, combined with French, English, Dutch, Portuguese and native Madagascan. Shortly after the beginning of building work on the colony of Libertalia, the Victoire ran into the pirate Thomas Tew, who decided to accompany them back to Libertalia. Such a colony was no new idea to Tew; he had lost his quartermaster and 23 of his crew when they had left to form a settlement further up the Madagascan coast. The Liberi - "Enemies to Slavery," aimed to boost their numbers by capturing another slave ship. Off the coast of Angola, Tew's crew took an English slave ship with 240 men, women and children below decks. The African members of the pirate crew discovered many friends and relatives among the enslaved and struck off their fetters and handcuffs, regaling them with the glories of their new life of liberty.

The pirates settled down to become farmers, holding the land in common - "no Hedge bounded any particular Man's Property." Prizes and money taken at sea were "carry'd into the common Treasury, Money being of no Use where every Thing was in common." [3]

Captain William Kidd is said to have visited in 1697 to undertake repairs to his ship, and to have lost half his crew to Libertatia. William Captain Kidd (c. ...

Inconsistency

The dates in Johnson's story do not add up. The association with Thomas Tew, who died in 1695, would appear to date Misson's own death to c. 1694: however, in his earlier career with the French Navy, he is supposed to have taken part in an action which occurred in 1708. Events January 27 - Change of emperor of the Ottoman Empire from Ahmed II to Mustafa II (1695-1703) July 17 - The Bank of Scotland is founded by an Act of Parliament of the old Scottish Parliament. ... Events February 6 - The colony Quilombo dos Palmares is destroyed. ... // Events March 23 - James Francis Edward Stuart lands at the Firth of Forth July 1 - Tewoflos becomes Emperor of Ethiopia September 28 - Peter the Great defeats the Swedes at the Battle of Lesnaya Kandahar conquered by Mir Wais In Masuria one third of the population die during the plague J...

Johnson also never refers to Misson by the name "James", which appears to be a later addition to the story.

Literature

• Daniel Defoe, A General History of the Pyrates ISBN 0-486-40488-9 (Dover Publications, 1999)
• Daniel Defoe, Libertalia, une utopie pirate (french extract of "Histoire générale des plus fameux pirates", L'Esprit Frappeur, €1,5 - ISBN 2-84405-058-1)

• The book Pirates: Terror on the High Seas from the Caribbean to the South China Sea (consulting editor David Cordingly, Turner Publishing 1996 ISBN 1-57036-285-8), has a chapter on Libertalia: The Pirate's Utopia. It suggests that Libertatia was fictitious, and discusses the reasons for the legend.

• The True History of the Pyrate Captain Misson, His Crew & Their Colony of Libertatia, London: Spectacular Times, 1980. A condensed version of the story of Captain Misson and Libertatia

• David Rushby, Hunting Pirate Heaven. ISBN 1-84119-488-3. This documents the author's travels searching for evidence of pirate utopias in Mozambique, the Comoros, and Madagascar - notably that of Captain Misson. He gives its name as Libertalia.

• The Wordsworth Dictionary of Pirates, 1997, asserts that Libertatia is fictitious.

• William S. Burroughs: Ghost of Chance, 1991. ISBN 1-85242-406-0. Burroughs uses Libertatia as the starting point of this short novel.

LEsprit frappeur (French for ghost or poltergeist), is a French publishing house, specialized in low-cost books. ... William Seward Burroughs II (February 5, 1914 - August 2, 1997), more commonly known as William S. Burroughs (pronounced ), was an American novelist, essayist, social critic, painter and spoken word performer. ...

Asserting reality

• Raiders and Rebels: The Golden Age of Piracy, by Frank Sherry, ISBN 0-688-04684-3 suggests it existed, although Captain Misson may have been fictitious.

• In fiction William S Burroughs also circles around the legend of Captain Misson and his anarchistic beliefs in the novel Cities of the Red Night.

William S. Burroughs. ... Cities of the Red Night is a novel by beat author William S. Burroughs. ...

Film

• Against All Flags (1952), where the republic is set in the bay of Diego Suarez
• The King's Pirate (1967), a remake of Against All Flags

Against All Flags is a 1952 action film starring Errol Flynn as Brian Hawke, Maureen OHara as Prudence Spitfire Stevens and Anthony Quinn as Roc Brasiliano. ...

See also

• Pirate utopias

Pirate utopias were described by historian Peter Lamborn Wilson in his eponymous 1995 book. ...

External links

• Thomas Tew
• Pirate Utopias (Do or Die) - Piracy and Anarchism
• Of Captain Thomas Tew