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IGN Insider
Nov 13 2004
The Pirates of Pirates!
Part two focuses on William Kidd and Jean Lafitte.
November 12, 2004 – If you checked in with us yesterday, you saw the
kickoff of our Pirates! feature. In it we detailed Stede Bonnet and
Blackbeard, two of the pirates you’ll be sharing the seas with when
Firaxis and Atari ship Pirates! later this month.
We continue the feature today by taking a look at pirate/pirate
hunter William Kidd and Jean Lafitte.
William Kidd
Captain Kidd’s story serves as a cautionary tale, warning of the
dangers of privateeringand of the blurry line between that occupation
and outright piracy.
In December, 1695, a privateering vessel named the Adventure Galley
was launched at Deptford, England, on the Thames River. The ship was
to sail around Africa and destroy pirates operating in the Red Sea
and to harass French shipping there. She was commanded by William
Kidd, an experienced captain and privateer.
The Galley’s maiden voyage was beset by ill luck and delay. Upon
departure Kidd promptly lost almost half of his crew to the English
navy’s press gangs and was forced to make up the missing men by
recruiting the dregs and scum of New York harbor. It took five long
months for Kidd to make the voyage around Africa, and on arrival he
immediately lost another fifty men to a tropical disease.
By the time he reached the Red Sea the surviving crewmen were almost
in open mutiny and Kidd was ready to resort to almost any means to
keep them in line. Unfortunately, most of the French shipping had
been driven out of the area, and all Kidd encountered were neutral
vessels. But Kidd was desperate, probably fearing for his life, and
he attacked and captured a number of neutrals, believing (or hoping)
that ambiguities in their ownership and papers made them legitimate
prizes.
On January 30th of 1698, Kidd encountered the Quedah Merchant. Owned
by Armenians and flying under false French colors, the Merchant was
one of the richest prizes ever taken at sea. Kidd was enormously
pleased with his good fortune – until he discovered that the Merchant
had an English captain, which made his attack an act of outright
piracy. In horror, Kidd ordered that the ship be freed, but his crew
angrily refused. Instead, they sailed the ships to the African island
of Madagascar and divided the plunder (surprisingly, they gave Kidd a
full privateer captain’s portion of 40 shares). Then all but a
handful of men deserted Kidd for another pirate in the area.
Convinced that he was an innocent victim of the actions of his
mutinous crew, Kidd took the remainder of his men back to New
England, where he hid some of his treasure before reporting to the
local authorities. The authorities made Kidd reveal where he had
hidden the treasure, then shipped him back to England in irons.
After rotting in prison for a year, Kidd was put on trial. He was
quickly found guilty of piracy and sentenced to be hanged.
Even then his bad luck didn’t desert him: the rope broke and it took
his executioners two tries to kill him.
(Incidentally, this is the only known instance of a pirate burying
any substantial amount of treasure. Most everybody else spent their
loot as quickly as they got it.)
Jean Lafitte
Jean Lafitte was born sometime around 1778. He and his older brother,
Pierre, went to sea at an early age; somewhere off the west coast of
Africa the two quarreled with their captain, and began new careers as
privateers. An extremely brave, skilled, dashingly-handsome and
personable young man, Jean Lafitte quickly earned himself a
captaincy. After a good run in the Indian Ocean, the Lafittes moved
on to the Caribbean, where they established a base of operations on
Grand Terre, an island in the mouth of the Mississippi. Lafitte ran a
tidy little criminal empire in the Louisiana bayous. His men ranged
far and wide over the Caribbean while he and his brother fenced much
of the loot in New Orleans, where they became something akin to folk
heroes.
When the US took possession of New Orleans, the new Governor tried to
have the rogues arrested, but without success. With intimate
knowledge of the swamps and bayous of Louisiana – as well as the
enthusiastic support of the locals of New Orleans – the Lafittes were
virtually untouchable.
In 1812 the US declared war on England. An admirer of the United
States, Jean Lafitte offered his services to the US Governor in
return for full amnesty for him and his men, but the Governor
declined the offer. When the British invasion was imminent, the
Governor launched a surprise attack against Grand Terre, driving
Lafitte and his men into the dismal swamps.
Lafitte’s men wanted to join the British to exact revenge against the
Americans, but Lafitte stood firm. Staking his freedom and his life
on one last throw of the dice, Lafitte decided to meet in person with
General Andrew Jackson, the newly-arrived commander of New Orleans’
defense.
A former Tennessee lawyer and politician, “Old Hickory” was known as
a brilliant soldier and an honest, straightforward man. Much to
everyone’s surprise the general and the pirate got along famously,
and Jackson quickly accepted Lafitte’s offer.
The events of the Battle of New Orleans are well-known. Lafitte and
his men acted as guides for the US forces, allowing them to launch
surprise attacks against the approaching British, delaying their
advance until the American defenses were in place below the city. In
the final battle Lafitte led an independent force of sharpshooters
against a regiment attempting to outflank the American position,
while his other men worked the American artillery, earning Jackson’s
admiration for their coolness under fire. The American position was
unassailable, and the British Army was driven back with heavy losses,
securing New Orleans for the United States. General Jackson was true
to his word, and Lafitte and his men received full pardons.
— Firaxis