In the year 67 BC, Pompey launched an expedition against the peiratês of Greece and Asia Minor.  The word pirate therefore comes from the Greek.  Pirates are in fact bandits who roam the seas to attack, steal, plunder and kill with ferocity. One of their peculiarities is that they operate in times of peace as well as in times of war.  Most often, it is a solitary, rapacious and ruthless men, who carry out their illegal banditry activities with their companions for their own account.  Supported by the Ottoman Empire, piracy in the Mediterranean developed in the 15th century and reached its peak in the 16th century with the “barbaresques”.  It is in fact a form of war against the West.  It was the famous pirates AROUDJ and KHAIR ED DIN, nicknamed the "Barberousse brothers", who transformed the city of Algiers into a stronghold of the Mediterranean and who led expeditions against Charles V with the support of Soleiman II (known as the Great)  .  These incessant attacks were carried out against maritime Europe until 1830, when the city of Algiers was finally taken by the squadron of Admiral Duperré ().  It is on the side of the West Indies, in the Caribbean Sea, that piracy in the Indian Ocean finds its roots.  From the 16th century, after Christopher Columbus, who was the first to reach the island of Hispaniola (the island of Santo Domingo and today Haiti and the Dominican Republic) in 1492, Spanish navigators frequented the territories of America  of the South and stripped the Amerindian civilizations of their wealth, which they brought back to Spain.  Throughout the sixteenth century, the Spaniards transported to their territory three times the stock of gold and silver of all Europe.  On their way back, the islands of the West Indies then become ideal resting places for these vessels and their precious cargoes.  This situation stirs up greed;  the first pirates of the Caribbean then appear. The stragglers of the convoy or the buildings separated by bad weather are the object of systematic attacks.

Lile Saint-Martin, which remained unoccupied until 1617, offered them an ideal hideout.  After Île à Vache in the south of Haiti, it was Île de la Tortue (in the north) which, from 1630, became their main haunt.  From 1648, with the development of the French colony on the island of Saint-Barthélemy, the latter was used as a supply base by the Spanish galleons on the route to the West Indies.  This situation does not escape the vigilance of sea skimmers. Attacks against these wealthy convoys are increasing and their successes contribute to the development of this practice.  Pirates like NAU, dit L'OLONNOIS ("), or Henry MORGAN are renowned for their cruelty and very feared in the area. Another bloodthirsty pirate called MONBARS L'EXTERMINATEUR stands out from the others for his cruelty, cunning and  the number of its captures. Its reputation is such that it later inspired the famous fictional characters Captain Hook and Rackam the Red. Surprisingly, two female pirates, Mary READ and Anne BONNY, renowned for their aggressiveness, sow the seeds of  terror in the Caribbean. No doubt one of the last pirates to rage in the Caribbean was the infamous BLACKBEARD, whose real name was Edward TEACH. Piracy bases were set up on the island of Providence (today  New Providence), in the Bahamas, then in Guinea and Sierra Leone, from where pirates embarked on the slave trade and supplied New York, Charleston and Virginia with slaves, gold and ivory traded along the African coast.  In his work  Under the black flag, Philippe Jacquin tells us that at that time and during the period of a generation, these pirates reached the number of about five thousand, of which three-quarters were Anglo-American.  During the 17th century, colonies and national navies developed and grew stronger.  The English (in Jamaica) and the Spaniards set up strong military naval bases from 168o and pursued pirates relentlessly.  Over the next few years, most piracy disappeared from the Caribbean.  From 1685, pirates began to abandon this region and gradually settled in the Indian Ocean.  English or American pirates, such as John BOWEN, Henry AVERY, William KIDD or Thomas TEW, settled in the bays of northern Madagascar, between Tamatave and the bay of Antongil, but more particularly on the island of Sainte-Marie (Nosy Boraha).  French pirates followed, such as Olivier LE VASSEUR dit LA BUSE, and MISSON.  It is said that in 1690, under the impetus of a defrocked Dominican priest, the pirate CARACIOLLI, and the French pirate Olivier MISSON (a Huguenot), there was an attempt to create a kind of "pirate republic".  dream” north of Diégo-Suarey bay which would have taken the name of Libertalia.  Even today, opinions are very divided and the greatest experts in piracy could not agree on the reality or the fiction of this event.  Many other English pirates also established themselves in the vicinity and terrorized the trading vessels as soon as they approached.  The Comoros islands, the islands of the Mascarene archipelago and the islands of the Seychelles are subject to the installation of bases or extended stays.  At that time, attempts at colonization by the French in Madagascar and Bourbon Island (Mauritius Island was colonized by the Dutch) were still in their infancy and there was no national navy to ensure security in  the region.  Also, the pirates give free rein to daring enterprises under the famous "black flag with a skull", called Jolly Roger, against Portuguese, Dutch, English or French vessels.  An imposing vessel of the Grand Mughal Aurangzeb's fleet is captured en route to Mecca by the fearsome pirate Henry AVERY and his crew.  The ship, the Gang-i-Sawai, is laden with gold, gems and diamonds from Golconda in India.  Also on board is a Mughal princess whom the pirate takes as his wife... These gentlemen therefore go back to the Malabar coast, the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, where they harass all boats for the mythical riches of the Indian or Arab princes of  'Oman.  These numerous boats represent lucrative catches, because they are loaded with spices, precious fabrics or slaves.  Others taken in the Indian Ocean are the object of fierce fighting with swords, rifles, axes, grenades, pistols and pikes. 

Crewmen are all the more cruel and enraged in combat the higher the value of the coveted loot.  After the partition, the rest of the plunder, consisting of pearls, precious stones, silverware, gold, ivory and diamonds, is placed by the captain in strong marine chests.  These precious spoils are then buried and hidden on the coast or inside the islands, then deserted, of the archipelagos of the Indian Ocean.  They are safer hidden on a desert island than if they stay aboard the ship. It is reasonable to think that some of these chests are still buried there. For example, tangible traces of the presence  of pirates are found in the Seychelles on Frigate Island.  At Grand'Anse and Anse Lesage there is a great teak mast, the ruins of a forge and three tombs on which were placed handles of sabers and swords.  But already, in 1695, some pirates abandoned their activities and settled on Isle Bourbon when Captain Henry AVERY landed dozens of buccaneers on the island.  About fifty are granted amnesty: they integrate into the population and become peaceful settlers.  About twenty tried to flee and were taken prisoner by the squadron of Serquigny, which brought them back to France.  Several pirates, such as Howell DAVIS, Edward ENGLAND, TAYLOR and LE VASSEUR, regularly visit Isle Bourbon.  Captain Thomas WHITE leaves some pirates during a break in Saint-Paul.  Captain Christopher CONDENT (alias CONGDOM) and his 135 crew also benefit from an amnesty and take up residence on the island.  For his part, the famous pirate John BOWEN settled in Isle Bourbon in 1704 after a last passage to the island Mauritius occupied by the Dutch.  But his "retirement" in the French colony was short-lived since he died a few months later, in 1705. It is estimated that during the period from 1685 to 1730, the number of pirates in the Indian Ocean reached one thousand.  But the determination of the deputy governor of Isle Bourbon, Antoine Desforges-Boucher, and that of the English authorities, will end up having the upper hand.  Commodore Matthews' squadron will pardon or eliminate them.  From 1718, there is then a very clear decrease in the activity of pirates, and one can consider that the region is rid of these "skimmers of the sea" from 1730.

 

Written By Denis Piat