Francois l’Olonnais was renowned for being particularly cruel and was especially feared by the Spanish colonists. Very little is know about his early life. It is known that his real name was Jean-David Nau and that he later became known as Francois l’Olonnais, meaning Frenchman from Sables-d’Olonne, referring the place he was born in sometime between 1630 and 1635. It is thought he received this name while on Tortuga. He was also sometimes simply known as Captain Francois. His family were so poor they sold him or he sold himself as an indentured servant to the French West India Company when he was fifteen. At first, he was sent to work on a sugar plantation in the French colony of Martinique in the Caribbean in the 1650s, sometime later ending up on Tortuga, off the coast of Hispaniola. While serving his three-year indenture, he got to know many buccaneers. What we know of this infamous pirate captain comes mostly from Alexandre Exquemelin’s 1678 account in the Dutch version The History of the Buccaneers of America.…
Piracy Act 1744
Under this act British subjects serving as privateers for an enemy of Great Britain could be tried for a felony not treason. It was easier to convict someone of a felony than prove treason. It was passed during the War of Austrian Succession waged from 1740 to 1748, in which Britain fought against France and Spain. As with many wars before, privateers were an integral part of the armed forces of all powers, and it would seem that British citizens regulary found employment with foreign powers.
An example of using privateers to support navies, occurred in 1744, when a British force of 300 men accompanied by two privateers from Saint Kitts successfully captured the French half of neighbouring Saint Martin. In late May 1745, two French royal frigates of 36 and 30 guns respectively under Commodore La Touché, together with three privateers sailed from Martinique to invade and capture the British colony of Anguilla in retaliation, but were repelled with heavy loss in the Battle of Anguilla.…
Piracy Act 1721
This act’s longer title is: An Act for the more effectual suppressing of Piracy. Its aim was to counter the rapid growth of piracy in the early 18th century by removing some deficiencies in the preceding piracy laws. It was mainly concerned with those who dealt with and supported the pirates and other criminals, requiring commanders of vessels and others who traded with pirates or supplied them in any way to be treated as pirates themselves. The act included provisions for the confiscation of any ill-gotten cargo and the offending commander’s ship. It’s main aim was to undermined support for the pirates. The act was repealed on 5th November 1993.
Spanish Ladies
“After an hour or so of frantic prancing and gyrating some of the pirates decided to take a rest from the strenuous physical activity and sat to one side singing an old seaman’s song known as Spanish Ladies.”
Spanish Ladies is a traditional British naval song, describing a voyage from Spain to the Downs from the viewpoint of naval ratings. It is believed to have been inspired when the Royal Navy carried supplies to Spain to aid its resistance to revolutionary France during the War of the First Coalition, which took place from 1793 to 96. Spending a lot of time in Spain during this period it seems many British sailors managed to obtain Spanish wives and lovers, who they either didn’t want to or weren’t able to bring home to England when the war ended.
Perpetual acts 1719
The full title of this act:
An Act for making perpetual so much of an Act made in the Tenth Year of the Reign of Queen Anne, for the reviving and continuing several Acts therein mentioned, as relates to the building and repairing County Gaols; and also an Act of the Eleventh and Twelfth Years of the Reign of King William the Third, for the more effectual Suppression of Piracy; and for making more effectual the Act of the Thirteenth Year of the Reign of King Charles the Second, intituled, “An Act for establishing Articles and Orders for the regulating and better Government of His Majesty’s Ships of War, and Forces by Sea.”
This act commenced on 23rd November 1719. Section 3 amends the Piracy Act 1698, which was about to expire, making it perpetual, as well as extending existing Vagrancy acts. It was repealed on 15th July 1867 by the Statute Law Revision Act.…