Dominique You

Dominique You or Youx, real name probably Frederic Youx (* probably 1770-1775 in Saint- Domingue, † November 15, 1830 in New Orleans), was a French pirate who after 1800, especially in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico was active.

About Youx ' origin nothing certain is known. It is often falsely stated that he was an older brother of the pirate Jean Laffite brothers Pierre and with which he operated after 1812. The more frequent in the historical literature to-find indication Youx had served in Napoleon's army as an artilleryman, is probably wrong.

For the first time he entered 1805 in appearance, when he started with the equipped with a French letter of marque ship La Superbe ships apply, the (present-day Haiti) operated with the rebellious colony of Saint -Domingue trade. The pinch he sold in the West Indies, he was operating from the Cuban port city of Baracoa, where he went in 1807 also deserves to defend the harbor against a British attack. That the French colonies fell in the following years to the British, had for Youx means that he hardly found safe havens and its previously issued by French authorities letters of marque would lose their recognition. When the Spanish port city of Cartagena de Indias in Colombia today declared its independence in 1811, he had to be hired by the rebels as a privateer, and made in the following years under Cartagenean flag hunting mainly on Spanish ships. In 1812 he first appeared in New Orleans. Here he was soon working closely with the notorious brothers Pierre and Jean Laffite together, who operated out of their bases in the swamps of Louisiana hard to reach out as a privateer and smuggler.

In 1814 he was convicted by a jury in New Orleans in absentia for piracy and was arrested. However, when British troops landed in the autumn of the year during the British- American War near New Orleans, he offered the American defenders of the city on his services and was discharged as many others willing to fight convicts from prison. In the Battle of New Orleans on January 8, him Andrew Jackson transferred the command of an artillery company, which especially excelled in the successful defense of the city. After the battle, he settled down as respectable citizens in New Orleans.