Page 26: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (June 2, 2010)

aThe pirates were led by Jean Lafitte.

Rather than trying to pillage Galveston, they were fleeing in order to avoid an im- pending assault by a naval task force.

Jean Lafitte and his older brother Pierre began their free-lance privateering in the

Caribbean in about the year 1800. By 1807, they had established a base on the island of Barataria, in Barataria Bay in the new United States Territory of

Louisiana. The Lafitte’s oversaw opera- tion of a fleet of corsairs that plundered vessels in the Gulf of Mexico and the

Caribbean Sea. Merchandise seized was often sold in the thriving black market in

New Orleans. In their spare time, the

Lafitte brothers engaged in smuggling.

Both the piracy and the smuggling brought the Lafitte’s to the attention of federal officials, including the Customs officers in New Orleans, the Revenue

Cutter Service (predecessor of the US

Coast Guard), and the US Navy. Several vessels operated by Lafitte were seized by the Revenue Cutter Service, but illicit activities continued. The Lafitte brothers were arrested and jailed in New Orleans.

After posting bail, they fled back to the relative safety of Barataria Island. Dur- ing the War of 1812, when the British

Navy tried to recruit the Lafitte brothers, they negotiated an arrangement with US

Army General Andrew Jackson to assist in the defense of New Orleans in ex- change for pardons for past offenses. The

Lafitte brothers and their band of

Barataria pirates fought well during the

Battle of New Orleans and duly received their pardons.

After the War, the Lafitte’s and their friends promptly returned to their prior practices. Needless to say, this made them quite unwelcome by federal offi- cials. By the middle of 1816, things were becoming difficult on Barataria Island.

The Lafitte brothers and compatriots de- camped, looking for an alternate base.

Also in 1816, Mexico was engaged in a war of independence from Spain. Mex- ican rebels worked out an arrangement with Louis Michel Aury, another priva- teer, for him to set up operations on

Galveston Island in sparsely settled

Texas. [There was a surfeit of pirates in the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea at that time.] He would provide logistical support to the rebellion and harass the

Spanish Navy. The Mexican Govern- ment would provide him with Letters of

Marque so as to possibly legitimize his activities and would provide whatever protection it could. Aury duly estab- lished a small base on Galveston Island.

Jean Lafitte moved his men and vessels to Galveston later that year. Showing more profit potential than Aury, it did not take Lafitte long to win over the loyalty (if that is the right word) of the pirates and privateers in Galveston. Aury soon departed for Amelia Island, Florida (but that is a different story which will not be pursued here). Lafitte was not only en- gaged in piracy and smuggling, he was also involved in duplicitous diplomacy.

At the same time that he was reassuring the Mexican rebels that he had taken over the role of Aury, he was telling the Span- ish Government that he was spying against the Mexicans on their behalf.

There is little evidence, though, that

Lafitte provided material support to ei- ther side in the Mexican War of Inde- pendence. The base at Galveston Island, now renamed Campeche, soon became the pirate headquarters for the entire Gulf of Mexico, attracting a growing number of miscreants and law-breakers. Lafitte and his band built gambling houses, boarding houses, saloons, and houses of prostitution. Lafitte built a home/fortress called Maison Rouge (the Red House) to serve as his headquarters. Cannons were installed on the roof.

It had everything a pirate needed. It was a protected harbor. It was near a ready market – Houston. Most impor- tantly, from Lafitte’s perspective, was the jurisdictional situation. Galveston was in a legal vacuum. It was outside the reach of traditional government and law en- forcement. The island was claimed by both Spain and Mexico, but neither had the capability at that time of exerting their authority. The United States was reluc- tant to act directly against the island, since it was part of a foreign nation.

Thus, the pirates could plunder at will in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean and then scurry back to Galveston to dis- pose of their ill-gotten gains and replen- ish for another foray.

By 1821, the United States Government had gotten totally fed up with the activi- ties of the Lafitte brothers at their head- quarters on Galveston Island. The USS

Enterprise was dispatched to advise

Lafitte to cease his piratical activities.

Jean Lafitte received the message po- litely, but continued as before. Several months later, in May 1821, the Enterprise returned, but with a flotilla of Navy and

Revenue Cutter Service gunboats. Lafitte stalled for several days while he made preparations.

On the night of May 7, 1821, the pirates set fire to most of the buildings in Galve- ston (including Maison Rouge) and quickly departed in their fastest vessels.

Rumors persist that, prior to his hasty de- parture, Lafitte buried some of his ill-got- ten gains on Galveston Island and in surrounding locations.

The US naval force was not required to fire a shot, thus avoiding a diplomatic confrontation with the Mexican Govern- ment, which by that time was in the final stages of winning its War of Independ- ence.

As governments became better estab- lished throughout Latin America, the pos- sible refuges for pirates rapidly disappeared. Several operated off the coast of Cuba for a few years, but in- creasing pressure from US naval forces and from the Spanish colonial govern- ment on Cuba brought that to an end.

The traditional piracy problem in the

Western Hemisphere was largely re- solved, not so much by defeating the pi- rates at sea (although that occurred with regularity), but by destroying or other- wise eliminating their shore bases.

It is unclear how much of this history translates to the situation in the current problems in the Indian Ocean and the

Gulf of Aden. There seems to be a con- sensus, though, that these modern-day pi- rates will not be totally defeated until law and order are returned to the coastal vil- lages of Somalia. 26 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News

COLUMN GOVERNMENT UPDATE

Pirates Burn Galveston

Pirates burned Galveston to the ground – but not recently

About the Author

Dennis L. Bryant, Maritime

Regulatory Consulting,

Gainesville, FL

Tel: 352-692-5493

Email: [email protected]