Pierre le Grand (pirate)

Pierre le Grand (* in Dieppe ) was a French pirate and allegedly the first to chose the Caribbean island of Tortuga before Hispaniola (Haiti / Dominican Republic) as a base.

In 1602, he fell from Tortuga with a small boat, and only twenty-eight -man crew on the western tip of the island of Hispaniola, a fully laden Spanish Schatzgaleone that had strayed from its convoy and was personally commanded by Vice Admiral of the Spanish fleet. In a daring action le Grand dropped the own ship drill, before he started the Enter attack. So it was for him and his people only alternative wins or sinking. The Spaniards responded completely perplexed when they saw the pirates appear suddenly on board. Since the boat was now fallen, they kept the naughty prey for fallen comrades from heaven devil with supernatural powers, against which one could not seriously contend with a view to profit. The coup succeeded. Pierre le Grand sailed his dash intact to France and sat down as a made ​​man to rest. It can be regarded as a " prototype " of the Caribbean pirates.

It is not clear whether it is at le Grand is a historical figure or an invention of Alexander Exquemelin is because there is no other source of its existence.

Sources and further information

• Alexandre Olivier Exquemelin: The Pirate Book of 1678 - The American privateer. sixth chapter
• Frank Bardelle: buccaneers in the Caribbean Sea. On the origin and social transformation of a historical " fringe movement " .. Publisher Westphälisches steamboat

• Pirate
• Frenchman
• Born in the 16th century
• Died in the 17th century
• Man