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Lorens DeGraffDutch filibuster
Country:
 Netherlands |
Content:
Biography of Laurens de Graff
Laurens de Graff was a Dutch buccaneer of Dutch nationality. It should be noted that his surname is not of noble origin and should not be written with the particle "de". Laurens Graff initially served the Spanish, but later became the husband of the famous Breton huntress-buccaneer Marie Bougouin, the widow of Pierre le Grand, the founder of what is now Port-au-Prince in Santo Domingo.
Description by Exquemelin:
"Captain Laurens is tall but not hunched, his face is handsome but without any femininity, his hair is light golden but not red, and his main pride is his Spanish-style mustache, which suits him more than anyone else in the world. We have never known a better gunner; when aiming a cannon at a target, he always accurately calculates the point where his shell should hit, just like his bullet when firing a rifle. Captain Laurens is a brave, fast, and decisive man. To conceive a plan, organize it, and execute it are the three obligatory steps of any operation for him. He is not afraid of dangers, but he is always too impatient and hot-tempered. In all other respects, he is skilled in the techniques of fighting the Spanish, as he understands them well, having spent a long time among them in his youth. Laurens always carries violins and trumpets with him at sea, and he enjoys entertaining himself and others with their playing during breaks between battles. He clearly stands out among other buccaneers with his education and good taste. In the end, he became so famous that as soon as news of his arrival in any port spread, people would flock from all sides to see with their own eyes that he was just an ordinary person like them."
What sets him apart from others is that he served the Spanish at sea for quite some time, even fighting against the buccaneers he now belongs to. If he had continued to serve them, he would have saved them from many troubles and losses, but the further events cannot be predicted. In reality, Laurens had the opportunity to visit the islands of Santo Domingo, Tortuga, and Jamaica, and after numerous battles that brought him a large number of prisoners, he himself was captured. Finding himself among people whose worth he knew well, having himself experienced their fighting qualities, Laurens decided to stay with them and now fight the Spanish even more fiercely than the French, whom he previously captured as prisoners. He had plenty of time to learn about the cunning and cruelty of his former superiors, and now he passionately desired to find an opportunity to punish them. His most brilliant operation, apart from his participation in expeditions to Campeche and Veracruz, which will be discussed later, was his miraculous escape from two powerful sixty-gun Spanish ships with 1,500 men on board, one of which was an admiral's galleon and the other a vice-admiral's.
Seeing too late who he was dealing with, Captain Laurens could no longer escape. He gave the order to blow up his ship if it became clear that the battle was lost, and daringly passed between the two galleons under enemy fire from 120 guns, shooting at the Spaniards haphazardly but intensively from both sides, so that the enemy gunners could not aim accurately. As a result of the fierce exchange of fire, Laurens himself was knocked down by a cannonball that hit him on the way out, but with the words "It's nothing," he quickly got up and headed for the gun he had aimed at the target. With the first shot, he brought down the main mast of the admiral's ship; the frightened captain of the vice-admiral's ship did not dare to board, despite the enormous imbalance of forces.
This scandalous story became known not only in the New World but also in Europe. The Spanish court could not allow 1,500 men to give in to some unfortunate pirate for the sake of a small vessel, especially since a reward had been offered for his head. On the other hand, Laurens gained great fame and a loud name after this successful maneuver. Another time, when he fell into an ambush near Cartagena with the captains Miguel, Jonque, Lesage, and Bruage, he was surrounded by three Spanish warships with more than 800 men and 80 guns. Laurens captured the admiral's ship with 38 cannons, while Jonque seized the vice-admiral's ship. After this adventure, Laurens, Miguel, and Bruage, having excellent ships, joined forces.
At this point, I would like to say a few words about Captain Miguel and Captain Bruage, although dedicating separate pages to them is too much honor for such petty adventurers, rather smugglers than hardened pirates. For some reason, they always acted together, at least I have never come across separate mentions of them in the chronicles. These two individuals are only known to us in connection with their joint actions with Laurens de Graff and after the following incident, which sheds light on an important circumstance: the difficulty of distinguishing genuine "neutrals" from false ones engaged in military smuggling.
Once, they were fortunate enough to capture two Dutch merchant ships. During the inspection of the two ships, they found nothing worth mentioning. The captains were about to leave the ships when they came across a small slave sitting in the hold. He revealed to them the secret: these two ships were carrying a cargo of 200,000 ecus of gold and silver from Cartagena, which they were to deliver to Spain in this way, along with a bishop. Moreover, the gold was well hidden among the cargo in the hold.
Miguel ordered the cargo and the bishop, who could be ransomed for 50,000 ecus, to be brought on board his ship. It should be noted that they acted quite nobly, not taking the "neutral" ships for themselves, which was common practice at the time. But the gold was found and appropriated by our "friends," so the captains of the Dutch ships expressed their dissatisfaction.
"Really?" Miguel replied to them. "Alright then! I agree to fight the two of you alone," and Captain Bruage will watch our fight. But if I emerge victorious, I will become the owner not only of the Spanish money but also of your two ships."
Both Dutchmen preferred to leave the money and the prelate to the buccaneers and quickly departed. However, it happened that Bruage, losing his masts in an unequal struggle with the wind, was forced to make a stop on the island of Saint Thomas. Danish people lived on this island, but their king had just become a member of the electorate of Brandenburg. The German governor immediately released the prelate without any ransom, and in exchange for his "goodwill," sold Bruage the necessary materials for the construction of new masts for all the gold he had on his ship. A good deal: Bruage lost everything but remained free, while the German governor made a great profit by selling a few logs for a tidy sum. Truly, the price of an Easter egg!
However, let us return to Laurens de Graff. He was fortunate enough to capture a ship with 14 cannons loaded with china and 47 pounds (about 23 kg) of pure gold without firing a single shot! It is interesting to mention the chronicler's record regarding the privateering patent:
"Before taking any action, he went ashore at Santo Domingo with only a hundred men to persuade the governor to leave such a magnificent loot entirely at the disposal of the buccaneers and renew his expired patent.
By the way, it should be noted here that although the buccaneers set out on a journey with the aim of persuading the governor to leave the captured gold to them, it was done merely for the sake of formality, as they often disposed of the loot immediately after capturing it. They analyze how valuable all the spoils of war are to them; after assessing the value, they leave, at best, a portion of the loot for the governor, as if he were present among them, and then divide the rest among themselves. If, by chance, the buccaneers did not divide the loot before arriving at their base, their captain would disembark and go to the governor with a report on the operation carried out and the size of the captured loot. He tells him that all the captured valuables are war trophies obtained during a corsair expedition in accordance with the issued patent. After such civilized formalities, the governor assesses the situation and personally takes about a tenth of the value of the entire loot for himself."
Afterwards, Laurens joined pirate Jean-David Nau, better known as François l'Olonnais, on a joint attack on Veracruz - a landmark operation, in some ways even bolder than Henry Morgan's famous Panama adventure. As I have already described this operation in the pages dedicated to l'Olonnais, I will only touch on the moments directly related to Captain Laurens.
The pirates managed to plunder the city, although not as thoroughly as planned due to the timely arrival of Spanish reinforcements. It so happened that Laurens de Graff had a major falling out with another participant of the expedition, the Dutch pirate Willems van Hoorn. The cause of the dispute was a mere slander, a simple rumor spread by an Englishman about an unseen "leather trunk adorned with arabesques" in which van Hoorn allegedly kept his personal loot, the rights to which were contested by Laurens de Graff. A fight broke out, during which de Graff dealt a mortal blow to van Hoorn. Meanwhile, Spanish reinforcements arrived, and the pirates hastily retreated.
After experiencing several unpleasant adventures on the way back, Laurens de Graff and l'Olonnais parted ways with rather harsh words, as l'Olonnais accused Laurens of killing van Hoorn.
After a few successful independent raids, Laurens embarked on a solo expedition but was attacked by three ships with 50 guns on board. His own ship was captured along with all the loot, but unfortunately, despite being seriously wounded, he managed to escape and return to Santo Domingo. Here, he spent a long time recovering his strength. It was during this time that he encountered... l'Olonnais. Once again, they decided to embark on a joint expedition, but in one of the sea battles, l'Olonnais was killed.
Upon his return to Santo Domingo, Laurens de Graff received an official pardon for the killing of van Hoorn (after a strict investigation) and was appointed the mayor of the island of Santo Domingo with the task of establishing a police force on the island. Later, he was appointed "lieutenant of the king" and participated in Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville's expedition in 1699, who founded New Orleans, where de Graff ended his days.
