Speaker 1: Happy Saturday. Since we had a pirate episode this week,
Speaker 1: we are returning to that theme for today's Saturday Classic.
Speaker 1: It is about the pirate utopia of Libertalia, which may
Speaker 1: or may not have been a real place. This originally
Speaker 1: came out on July eleventh, twenty eighteen. Enjoy Welcome to
Speaker 1: Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production of iHeartRadio. Hello,
Speaker 1: and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly Frye and I'm
Speaker 1: Tracy V. Wilson. And today I thought we were due
Speaker 1: for a little bit of fun summer pirate time. This
Speaker 1: one is kind of a fun story. It's a little kooky.
Speaker 1: This is a subject that goes by two names depending
Speaker 1: on the source you're looking at. Sometimes you will hear
Speaker 1: it as Libertatia with a tia ending. Some of it
Speaker 1: is Libertalia with an la ending. That's what those things
Speaker 1: that even in different printings of the same book, you
Speaker 1: will see it both ways, depending on the printer's decision.
Speaker 1: I presume. The other part that's fun is that this
Speaker 1: may or may not have been a real thing. Yep,
Speaker 1: but it is an interesting thing to examine. The primary
Speaker 1: account that we have of Libertalia is from a general
Speaker 1: History of the robberies and Murders of the most Notorious Pirates.
Speaker 1: This is in volume two, so if you go looking
Speaker 1: online and you only get volume one, you will not
Speaker 1: find this and be like what you said, this was
Speaker 1: in here volume two. That one published in seventeen twenty eight.
Speaker 1: The writing lists its author as Captain Charles Johnson, and
Speaker 1: we're going to circle back to more specifics about its
Speaker 1: authorship at the end. We've talked about it on the
Speaker 1: show before as well, but we will revisit it. And
Speaker 1: the idea that a bunch of pirates wanted to create
Speaker 1: a utopia of equality, which is what this story is,
Speaker 1: might seem a little bit far fetched, but it does
Speaker 1: sound a lot like other utopian experiments we've talked about
Speaker 1: just said earlier on the timeline, and with a high
Speaker 1: seas theme. And there are also some instances we know
Speaker 1: about of pirates kind of trying to do that, which
Speaker 1: we'll talk about at the end. And it's also in
Speaker 1: a place in the world that there were definitely a
Speaker 1: lot of pirates, Yes, we talk about that at the
Speaker 1: end as well. And Libertalia, which in truth, as we said,
Speaker 1: might be completely fictional, would have been settled sometime probably
Speaker 1: in the late seventeenth century, and that's just based kind
Speaker 1: of on backdating from when the book was published, because
Speaker 1: we don't have much in terms of specific dates beyond that.
Speaker 1: So we're going to go through this whole story of
Speaker 1: this unique pirate settlement as laid out in the General
Speaker 1: History by Johnson, and then we will talk about the
Speaker 1: other author who usually gets credit for writing a story
Speaker 1: and whether that history has roots in reality. The story
Speaker 1: of Libertalia begins with a man named Mysol who was
Speaker 1: a Frenchman born in Provence to a good family. The
Speaker 1: true name of the family is purposefully left out of
Speaker 1: the general histy street of pirates to safeguard their reputation.
Speaker 1: While Meisson's father did pretty well, there were so many
Speaker 1: children in the family that he knew he needed to
Speaker 1: go make his own way in the world rather than
Speaker 1: depending on any inheritance, which is a popular pirate origin story. Yes, indeed,
Speaker 1: this one kind of as we go through you'll find
Speaker 1: checks kind of all the boxes of popular pirate stories,
Speaker 1: but it also has the fun one of we're not pirates.
Speaker 1: So Missoul was educated in humanity, logic, and mathematics and
Speaker 1: then at age fifteen, was sent to Angier in western
Speaker 1: France for a year of military training, and per Charles
Speaker 1: Johnson's account, which he claims is sourced from Meisson's own
Speaker 1: writing about his life, Misson's father had a life as
Speaker 1: a musketeer in mind for his son, but Misson had
Speaker 1: decided on a life at sea. So Meissan's father set
Speaker 1: him up with letters of recommendation all of the items
Speaker 1: he might need, and then arranged for a volunteer stent
Speaker 1: aboard the Victoire, which was a ship commanded by a
Speaker 1: relative named Monsieur forbat The young Misson aboard the Victoire
Speaker 1: departed the port at Marseille and ventured into the Mediterranean.
Speaker 1: Misson learned about navigation and life at sea, and he
Speaker 1: spent his early time on the Victoire learning all that
Speaker 1: he could from the more experienced men aboard. According to
Speaker 1: the story, he just was constantly asking them questions uh.
Speaker 1: And he loved being a sailor, and he was well
Speaker 1: regarded because of his really well mannered demeanor. But when
Speaker 1: the Victoires set into port in Naples, Nisson's life course changed.
Speaker 1: He got permission from the captain to go ashore and
Speaker 1: to travel inland. To Rome, but what he found there
Speaker 1: was really disheartening. He was really chagrined at all the
Speaker 1: licentiousness and the indulgence of the papal court. He really
Speaker 1: lost his faith, deciding that quote all religion was no
Speaker 1: more than a curb upon the minds of the weaker,
Speaker 1: which the wiser sort yielded to in appearance only in Rome, Misson,
Speaker 1: who was pretty devout at that point, went to confession,
Speaker 1: and in doing so he meant a quote. Lewde priest
Speaker 1: by the name of Carraccioli, who was Dominican, and while
Speaker 1: making the acquaintance of a man of the church who
Speaker 1: was not exactly a pillar of piety, solidified Misson's perceptions
Speaker 1: that the Church was corrupt. He and Karaccioli became friends,
Speaker 1: and they actually would remain companions for the rest of
Speaker 1: their lives. Carraccioli told Misson that a life in the
Speaker 1: church was a pretty good gig. It came with friends
Speaker 1: and opportunities, and quote the ecclesiastical state was governed with
Speaker 1: the same policy as were secular principalities and kingdoms, that
Speaker 1: what was beneficial, not what was meritorious and virtuous, would
Speaker 1: be alone regarded. He likened the papacy to a monarchy
Speaker 1: to explain the situation to Misson, and he explained his
Speaker 1: own contempt at the whole structure, saying, quote, for my part,
Speaker 1: I am quite tired of the farce and will lay
Speaker 1: hold on the first opportunity to throw oh off this
Speaker 1: masquerading habit. The priest went on to say that he
Speaker 1: was worried that by the time he stayed in the
Speaker 1: church long enough to make a tidy living so that
Speaker 1: he could leave, that he would be too old to
Speaker 1: enjoy any of it. So Missoul proposed that the priest
Speaker 1: join him on the seas. So the two men traveled
Speaker 1: together to Livorno, Italy to meet back up with the Victoire,
Speaker 1: and with Missol's recommendation, Carraccioli was welcomed onto the crew.
Speaker 1: Almost immediately, Caraccioli got a taste of the dangers of
Speaker 1: sailing life. The Victoire was engaged in a long and
Speaker 1: brutal battle with two other ships. Caraccioli was shot in
Speaker 1: the leg in this conflict, and it was a massive struggle,
Speaker 1: but ultimately the Victoir won. There wasn't much of value
Speaker 1: to take from the best at opponents, but an estimated
Speaker 1: fifteen Christian slaves were freed in the process. After the battle,
Speaker 1: the battle damage to Victoire headed back in some Marseilles
Speaker 1: for repair, and Masson used the downtime to visit his family,
Speaker 1: bringing Caraccioli along with him. He also brought with him
Speaker 1: word from the captain that Misson had conducted himself admirably
Speaker 1: at sea. He had a nice little letter to show
Speaker 1: his parents that he was doing a good job. After
Speaker 1: a month of rest, the captain of the Victoire sent
Speaker 1: word to Misson and his friend that they were to
Speaker 1: set sail again, leaving from Marseilles to go to Rochelle
Speaker 1: to pick up merchantmen and saale for the West Indies.
Speaker 1: And as the crew waited at Rochelle for the next
Speaker 1: phase of the journey, the merchant ships that they were
Speaker 1: to join with weren't ready to set sail. Misson and
Speaker 1: Caraccioli decided to take work on another vessel in the
Speaker 1: meantime because he did not like to be idle at all.
Speaker 1: They got into some adventures along the way, but the
Speaker 1: more important part of their escapades, as related in the
Speaker 1: General History, was their ongoing discussion of religion and God.
Speaker 1: Through these discussions, Misson was adopting a deist philosophy and
Speaker 1: continuing to just turn away from all organized religion. There's
Speaker 1: a chunk of texts that several paragraph long in which
Speaker 1: the writer seems to be sorting out his own thoughts
Speaker 1: on the matter of God and the soul. Craciole continued
Speaker 1: to speak on religion both with Misson and with the
Speaker 1: other sailors on their journeys, and as such he became
Speaker 1: something of a religious leader simultaneously. Because both Carraccioli and
Speaker 1: Misson had become a highly skilled sailors, a lot of
Speaker 1: the men they traveled with were really looking up to
Speaker 1: both of them. Yeah, there's a sort of wonderful irony
Speaker 1: that Carracciole wants to leave the church because he thinks
Speaker 1: organized religion is not for him either, and then he
Speaker 1: sort of becomes a religious leader after that. That's kind
Speaker 1: of a fascinating twist. So on a cruise to Martinique,
Speaker 1: the Victoire was engaged in battle by an english man
Speaker 1: of war with forty guns called the Winchelsea. The early
Speaker 1: battle took a serious toll on the leadership of the Victoire.
Speaker 1: The captain, second captain, and three lieutenants were all killed
Speaker 1: very early on. So short on officers Misson and Caraccioli,
Speaker 1: who had always been quick to step up when needed,
Speaker 1: began giving orders and leading the remaining Victoire crew. They
Speaker 1: were victorious, but this was actually by accident, because for
Speaker 1: reasons unknown, the wind Chelsea exploded, killing all of its
Speaker 1: crew save one lieutenant, who died two days later. Aboard
Speaker 1: the Victoire, and after the conflict with the wind Chelsea,
Speaker 1: Caraccioli saluted Misson as captain and told him that he
Speaker 1: must make a choice to return to port and be
Speaker 1: at the mercy of other men's decisions, or to take
Speaker 1: the Victoire as his own and make his fortune. Misson
Speaker 1: opted for freedom, but stated to the assembled crew that
Speaker 1: quote a great number of them had resolved with him
Speaker 1: upon a life of liberty, and had done him the
Speaker 1: honor to create him chief. That he designed to force
Speaker 1: no man, and be guilty of that injustice he blamed
Speaker 1: in others. Therefore, if any were reverse to the following
Speaker 1: his fortune, which he promised should be the same to
Speaker 1: all he desired, they would declare them, and he would
Speaker 1: set them ashore, whence they might return with conveniency. They
Speaker 1: could basically opt out of this sort of life of piracy.
Speaker 1: But his offer was instead met with shouts of vive
Speaker 1: le capitan nisson, which is also the origin story of
Speaker 1: most pirate crews. Yes, I'm gonna be cool, you guys.
Speaker 1: You don't have to come with me, but if you
Speaker 1: want to, let's go. Let's all go. Yeah, we're going
Speaker 1: to talk about Misson's life and leadership, but first we
Speaker 1: will pause for a quick sponsor break. So Missul immediately
Speaker 1: set the tone of his leadership by giving the crew
Speaker 1: the power to select their own officers. Then their next
Speaker 1: destination was agreed upon as a group. Misol suggested the
Speaker 1: coast of Spain. All of the men were in accord
Speaker 1: with that course. Then they had to decide on their color,
Speaker 1: and at this point Carraccioli was quick to clarify that
Speaker 1: they were in fact not pirates quote, but men who
Speaker 1: were resolved to assert that liberty which God and Nature
Speaker 1: gave them, and own no subjection to any farther than
Speaker 1: was for the common good of all. So he advised
Speaker 1: that they fly under a white flag quote, with liberty
Speaker 1: painted on the fly. Next, the belongings of all the
Speaker 1: officers who were slain in the fight with the wind
Speaker 1: Chelsea were brought on the deck and the money on
Speaker 1: board was put into a chest which was declared to
Speaker 1: belong equally to all the men. The lieutenants were asked
Speaker 1: to make an assessment of the men on board and
Speaker 1: determine who had immediate need of clothes that they could
Speaker 1: be prioritized to receive the clothes of the deceased men.
Speaker 1: Misson followed this up with a speech that the men
Speaker 1: should all show one another brotherly love and cast aside
Speaker 1: any grudges they had, and that they should see one
Speaker 1: another as equals. Quote for when equity was trodden underfoot, misery, confusion,
Speaker 1: and mutual distrust naturally followed. It sounds so idyllic. Everybody
Speaker 1: loved one another. We're all in this together. Uh. But
Speaker 1: it was not all hippie love from Misson, as he
Speaker 1: also declared war on any ports that would deny them
Speaker 1: entry and any who would not give them what they needed.
Speaker 1: He was basically saying, so, we know we're not pirates,
Speaker 1: but other people might not get that, and if they
Speaker 1: treat us like we're pirates, we're gonna have to get piratical. Uh.
Speaker 1: He did also admonish his men to always treat prisoners
Speaker 1: humanly and generously for the sakes of their immortal souls.
Speaker 1: The Victoire and its crew then did some plundering in
Speaker 1: the most polite way possible. They took sugar and run
Speaker 1: from a ship without violence, and then let it go.
Speaker 1: They made fake runs at privateers with no intent to
Speaker 1: actually engage them, betting that the ship would try to
Speaker 1: take them, which meant that they could then defend themselves.
Speaker 1: At one point, Missam told a privateer captain that he
Speaker 1: would plunder nothing from the captured ship, but that they
Speaker 1: would strip it of guns, and the privateers had to
Speaker 1: promise not to engage in racy for six months. They
Speaker 1: made their way around the globe for a while, and
Speaker 1: eventually Misson had two ships under his command. He had
Speaker 1: taken a ship whose crew was so charmed that they
Speaker 1: all opted to join with him, and at this point
Speaker 1: Caraccioli was named captain of the second ship, which was
Speaker 1: named the Biju, and the two vessels made their way
Speaker 1: around the Cape of Good Hope and then on to Madagascar.
Speaker 1: Mis allied himself to the royal family of an island
Speaker 1: near Madagascar in a conflict with a neighboring kingdom. He
Speaker 1: also married into the royal family, and so did Caraccioli.
Speaker 1: Men of the crew married non royal women of the
Speaker 1: island of Johanna, which is modern day Anjuan, and Misson
Speaker 1: and his men helped to defend people off the island
Speaker 1: against invaders. Yeah, there was actually an invasion by the
Speaker 1: queen's brother that they defended against. Uh and they were
Speaker 1: always the good guys in this story. So not long
Speaker 1: after those events, Misson made his way to nearby northern
Speaker 1: Madagascar and he scoped out an area of land that
Speaker 1: appealed to him, and then he went ashore and he
Speaker 1: found good soil there and available fresh water, and he
Speaker 1: decided that he wanted to settle a town there in
Speaker 1: this place that he envisioned would have docks, and it
Speaker 1: would be an asylum, a place for aging men of
Speaker 1: the sea to live out the remainder of their lives
Speaker 1: in peace, and he would call it Libertelia. Messaul waited
Speaker 1: for his entire crew to agree to his plans before
Speaker 1: he actually began the project. All of the men agreed
Speaker 1: to the plan, and they immediately set to work on
Speaker 1: his designs, and within ten days they had cleared one
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty large trees from the area. He requested
Speaker 1: that the royal family of Johanna loan him three hundred
Speaker 1: men to help with the project and return for the
Speaker 1: assistance that had been provided in their defense. And after
Speaker 1: a great deal of debate among the leaders of that island,
Speaker 1: some of whom feared that enabling the settlement could lead
Speaker 1: to their own enslavement down the road, the three hundred
Speaker 1: men were loaned for labor. Yeah, a lot of that
Speaker 1: discussion said around, Wait, we're gonna help them build a
Speaker 1: place from which they could actually come after us. Uh.
Speaker 1: And it was like, well, maybe, but that's better than
Speaker 1: saying no to them and having them come after us now, right, Like,
Speaker 1: this way we at least have a chance that we'll
Speaker 1: still all be friends. And Libertelia was set on a harbor,
Speaker 1: and the first structures that were built were armed forts
Speaker 1: on either side of it, and then homes and shops
Speaker 1: were built, and the town slowly began to take shape.
Speaker 1: Efforts were made to make friends with the native peoples
Speaker 1: of Madagascar. Of course, that is one of those things
Speaker 1: that is also always framed from a very European perspective,
Speaker 1: So take that as a note if you go looking
Speaker 1: for this story. And Libertelia was on its way to
Speaker 1: becoming the peaceful settlement that Misson had envisioned when he
Speaker 1: first ventured onto the land. Libertelia was anti slavery. This
Speaker 1: is something that comes up throughout this account. Misson and
Speaker 1: his men liberated slave ships whenever they came across them,
Speaker 1: and on occasions when slaves were offered to them as barter,
Speaker 1: they would always accept them and then immediately set them free.
Speaker 1: Misson wanted the people who chose to settle in Libertalia
Speaker 1: to be called Liberi. The idea was that it was
Speaker 1: open to all and that it transcended any prior nationality
Speaker 1: and signalled a community of equals. Libertalia wasn't Misson's only
Speaker 1: focus during this formative time, though. He still took the
Speaker 1: Victoire out to challenge ships and take their goods, and
Speaker 1: he met with a mix of good and bad luck
Speaker 1: on the sea, and one skirmish with a Portuguese ship.
Speaker 1: He was able to take a large sum of money,
Speaker 1: which is about two hundred thousand pounds, but he also
Speaker 1: lost fifty six men in the process, making it the
Speaker 1: greatest loss of life that he experienced in this kind
Speaker 1: of conflict. But he made his way home to the
Speaker 1: developing town of Libertilia, and from its rudimentary beginnings, the
Speaker 1: land was worked to grow food, and the town was
Speaker 1: able to barter with other villages. They ended up with
Speaker 1: several hundred head of cattle. But in addition to growing
Speaker 1: its footprint and its own crops, Libertelia also grew in
Speaker 1: population because other people came to live there, including the
Speaker 1: English privateer Captain Thomas Two. Missol had first encountered too.
Speaker 1: When the latter sloop appeared in the waters off the
Speaker 1: coast of Madagascar, it appeared there might have been a
Speaker 1: potential idea that they were going to take this new town,
Speaker 1: but eventually things led to Two and his men joining
Speaker 1: the colony at Libertelia. If his name sounds familiar, he
Speaker 1: was part of our episode about Henry every and the
Speaker 1: raid on the Mughall Fleet. He pops up in a
Speaker 1: lot of places. He was a very busy world traveler.
Speaker 1: He was Misson and Two didn't always see things in
Speaker 1: the same light though. Even when Two first arrived in Libertalia,
Speaker 1: Missan was also coming in with a Portuguese ship that
Speaker 1: he had taken. Missong quickly realized that if they were
Speaker 1: going to keep the prisoners, they had taken, they would
Speaker 1: need men to be on guard against an uprising, which
Speaker 1: meant he wouldn't have enough men to go back out
Speaker 1: to sea. And while he had established the settle meant
Speaker 1: as a home base and as a place where any
Speaker 1: marin er could call home, he wanted to continue his
Speaker 1: voyages as long as he could. He was still building
Speaker 1: his settlement and was to be clear getting supplies and
Speaker 1: fortifications and wealth by taking them from ships that he bested,
Speaker 1: even if he was being polite about it. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: don't want to lose sight of the fact that he
Speaker 1: was stealing from people, even if he seems like a
Speaker 1: great magnanimous dude. Yeah, I'm going to build a pirate
Speaker 1: utopia funded by piracy, but I'm not calling at that.
Speaker 1: You guys, we are not pirates unless people treat us
Speaker 1: like pirates, and then we kind of got to be
Speaker 1: pirates a little bit. It's there's a moral flexibility in
Speaker 1: the mix of this whole story. So he had planned
Speaker 1: to just let the ship, the Portuguese ship that he
Speaker 1: had taken and its prisoners go. He also just didn't
Speaker 1: want to take on the load of having to see
Speaker 1: to the needs of all those captured men, like to him,
Speaker 1: this was just way too great a burden for any
Speaker 1: value they were going to get out of it. But
Speaker 1: two and even Raccioli, we're not fans of this idea
Speaker 1: of letting everybody go. They knew that if they set
Speaker 1: those prisoners free, all of Europe would soon know about
Speaker 1: Libertilia and would invade. My Song called a council and
Speaker 1: explained his position, and the men of the council agreed
Speaker 1: with him. All the prisoners were brought before my Song.
Speaker 1: He told them that he knew that they would cause
Speaker 1: his demise, but that he could cause their deaths if
Speaker 1: he wished, and that he needed them each to swear
Speaker 1: an oath not to work against him. Then he gave
Speaker 1: each of them back any belongings that had been taken
Speaker 1: from them and set them to sail on a ship
Speaker 1: that was stripped of all of its guns. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: feel like so much of his leadership is based on
Speaker 1: the like we cool, Like that's his whole approach or
Speaker 1: are we cool? Uh? The next move for Libertilia was
Speaker 1: actually away from this everybody be cool freedom and no
Speaker 1: rules approach that it began with. But we will talk
Speaker 1: about that after we first hear from one of our sponsors.
Speaker 1: While the idea of a utopia always sounds great in theory,
Speaker 1: in practice it is really hard to throw a bunch
Speaker 1: of humans together, tell them they all equally share in
Speaker 1: the land, in the work, and have the whole thing
Speaker 1: chug along without any conflict. They are humans, after all.
Speaker 1: And while things seemed to work with Miisson's original group,
Speaker 1: after two and his men became part of Libertilia, conflicts
Speaker 1: started to arise. On one occasion, Libertalia was invaded by
Speaker 1: Portuguese sloops. The battle played out and Nissan's men were victorious,
Speaker 1: and they treated the defeated men who survived with kindness
Speaker 1: and hospitality until they saw two of the men who
Speaker 1: had been set free under oath not to bring any
Speaker 1: trouble into the settlement. These two men were tried for perjury,
Speaker 1: found guilty, and executed, and this caused some men to
Speaker 1: question Maissan's leadership. While Meisson and Caraccioli saw this execution
Speaker 1: as a matter of self preservation of their way of life,
Speaker 1: some of the men saw it as a contradiction of
Speaker 1: everything they'd been told about Libertalia and about its values. Eventually,
Speaker 1: Karaccioli was able to convince everyone of the necessity of
Speaker 1: the execution, but it took a lot of effort and rhetoric. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he sounds, based on this account like he was really
Speaker 1: quite a good public speaker. But he was often convincing
Speaker 1: all of the men of what should be done. But then,
Speaker 1: not long after this, there was an argument between Two's
Speaker 1: men and Misson's The nature of this argument is a
Speaker 1: little unclear, although the account says that Two's men started it.
Speaker 1: Two thought that the matter should be solved with swords,
Speaker 1: but Misson and Karraccioli wanted to negotiate some sort of accord.
Speaker 1: They did not want to set up their new little
Speaker 1: utopia as a place where you settled your disagreements by
Speaker 1: potentially killing each other. And while they sorted out the
Speaker 1: matter at hand, and they figured out how to settle
Speaker 1: this particular argument, all three of the captains came to
Speaker 1: the inclusion that it was actually time for Libertilia to
Speaker 1: have some actual laws. So everyone the entire colony was
Speaker 1: gathered so that the three commanders could explain this plan.
Speaker 1: They had to have some sort of government, and Misson
Speaker 1: Caraccioli into proposed a democratic system with laws made by
Speaker 1: the people. The men were to divide themselves into groups
Speaker 1: of ten, and from each group one representative was to
Speaker 1: be chosen who would assist in setting up the laws
Speaker 1: and the government of the settlement. Property and land were
Speaker 1: to be divided evenly, but that it would be owned
Speaker 1: by each man. It would no longer be a system
Speaker 1: of collective ownership. On the first day that the newly
Speaker 1: selected lawmakers meant, Caraccioli made a speech and proposed that
Speaker 1: there should be a Lord Conservator basically a president that
Speaker 1: would be elected and would serve for terms of three years,
Speaker 1: so he could be re elected, but every three years
Speaker 1: they would revisit that and all agreed, and of course
Speaker 1: Misson was immediately made Conservator and two was named as
Speaker 1: Conservator Admiral, and Karaccioli was Secretary of State. And for
Speaker 1: ten full days this new governing body worked to set
Speaker 1: up the laws of Libertalia. They began, under Caraccioli's office
Speaker 1: to even develop a new language for Libertalia that incorporated
Speaker 1: the various native languages of the many people who had
Speaker 1: settled there. They carefully balanced the man power that was
Speaker 1: needed to maintain their animals and their crops against their
Speaker 1: needs for naval reinforcements. Yet two was like, let's build
Speaker 1: our navy, and they were like, hey, somebody's got to
Speaker 1: feed the cows. So they kind of were figuring out
Speaker 1: some pretty advanced kind of balancing systems about what their
Speaker 1: society could handle. And Admiral too then set out to
Speaker 1: gather more members of the colony, hoping to meet with
Speaker 1: ships at sea and offer to take volunteers to bolster
Speaker 1: Libertalia's numbers. He also went and visited places he knew
Speaker 1: and sort of told people about it, and as part
Speaker 1: of his can for new citizens, which he first began
Speaker 1: by finding a settlement of his former men who had
Speaker 1: not joined up with Libertelia but had started their own camp.
Speaker 1: He spoke really passionately about Libertilia and its government built
Speaker 1: around fairness and equality, but also he was clear to
Speaker 1: say that the settlement was also willing to work with
Speaker 1: other governments, saying, quote, if you will go to America
Speaker 1: or Europe and show the advantage which may accrue to
Speaker 1: the English by fixing a colony here out of the
Speaker 1: love we bear our country, and to wipe away the
Speaker 1: odious appellation of pirates, with pleasure, we will submit to
Speaker 1: any who shall come with a commission from a lawful government.
Speaker 1: But it is ridiculous to think we will become subjects
Speaker 1: of greater rogues than ourselves. But while he was visiting
Speaker 1: with his friends and potential recruits to their small paradise,
Speaker 1: he was surprised when Misson himself found him and told
Speaker 1: him that everything they had built had been lost. Maison
Speaker 1: told too that the native peoples had attacked the settlement,
Speaker 1: killed Correzzioli and many others, and that only he and
Speaker 1: forty five other men had managed to escape aboard the Bijoux. Yeah,
Speaker 1: this was at a point when two was kind of stranded.
Speaker 1: There had been a big storm and the Victoire had
Speaker 1: actually capsized and many of the crew were killed, but
Speaker 1: they were able to get the ship, and Two thought
Speaker 1: that they should head to America and make a fresh start,
Speaker 1: And there was even discussion that, like, hey, we know
Speaker 1: how to do this now, let's make another settlement. But
Speaker 1: Missul was so devastated at having lost all of his
Speaker 1: work that he just had no heart for another attempt.
Speaker 1: So Misson took the Victoire and set out with a
Speaker 1: plan that he would meet to again on the Guinea
Speaker 1: coast to regroup, But that meeting never happened. The Victoire
Speaker 1: sank during a storm and Masson went down with a ship.
Speaker 1: So it has come up on the show before, but
Speaker 1: just to recap since the nineteen thirties, the history of
Speaker 1: the lives and bloody exploits of the most noted pirates
Speaker 1: sometimes the general history of Pirates. You'll see it listed
Speaker 1: in a number of different ways because on some republications
Speaker 1: it has gotten new titles. Has been attributed to journalists,
Speaker 1: spy and novelist Daniel Dafoe, and that attribution came about
Speaker 1: through the work of John Robert Moore, who was a
Speaker 1: Dafoe biographer, and it has been pretty widely accepted as
Speaker 1: truth at this point. Yeah, there are some other candidates
Speaker 1: that people name, including Nathaniel Miss who was a sailor
Speaker 1: and a publisher, but it's so frequently associated with Daniel
Speaker 1: Dafoe that a lot of times that is who the
Speaker 1: author is listed as in the library or wherever, with
Speaker 1: like no little asterisk or anything. Yeah, there are definitely
Speaker 1: versions that don't really even talk about how it came
Speaker 1: to be that it gets that attribution. So, remembering that
Speaker 1: Dafoe's most famous works were novels like Robinson Crusoe and
Speaker 1: maul Flanders. With little evidence to back up, he to
Speaker 1: back up what's it containing it? This account and a
Speaker 1: general history of the robberies and murderers of the most
Speaker 1: notorious pirates is pretty much believed to be fictional. I
Speaker 1: mean it's we've talked about this book in a bunch
Speaker 1: of different episodes and it's all. They all involve people
Speaker 1: we know were real and were involved in piracy, but
Speaker 1: the details a lot of times are very questionable. And
Speaker 1: an introduction to the modern printing of this work, Maximilian
Speaker 1: Enovac wrote that the account of the crew and the
Speaker 1: captain that founded the Libertalia as one of the quote
Speaker 1: most remarkable and neglected works of fiction among the Foe's work.
Speaker 1: But there were, as we said, Tracy mentioned, there were definitely,
Speaker 1: in many cases, real people that these stories pulled in,
Speaker 1: and we don't there's not a good way to verify
Speaker 1: or not. It's not like people that were living a
Speaker 1: privateering life were keeping great records, which is probably why
Speaker 1: some of these fanciful stories grew to fill the void
Speaker 1: of people that wanted to know about them. But there
Speaker 1: were a few pirate settlements in the seventeenth and eighteenth century,
Speaker 1: so the idea of Libertanlia is not entirely outside the
Speaker 1: bounds of possibility, and Madagascar, as Tracy mentioned at the
Speaker 1: top of the show, was a popular destination for pirates
Speaker 1: looking for at times a bit of freedom and peace
Speaker 1: and sometimes it take a break from things and also
Speaker 1: to attack other ships. Well yeah, I mean you can't
Speaker 1: live by rest alone. No, there was a lot of
Speaker 1: piratical action happening in that area. Ranters Bay in Madagascar
Speaker 1: was founded by pirate John Plantaine in seventeen twenty, although
Speaker 1: he had more of a kingdom in mind than a democracy.
Speaker 1: And Il Saint Marie, which is four miles east of
Speaker 1: the island of Madagascar, is also believed to have been
Speaker 1: inhabited by pirates for almost a century and a much
Speaker 1: looser sort of setup than Maisson's purported settlement. So there's
Speaker 1: a pirate cemetery on that island that continues to be
Speaker 1: a tourist attraction. And in two thousand and one, author
Speaker 1: Kevin Rushby published a book called Hunting Pirate Heaven, which
Speaker 1: was part along and part investigative journalism, and he himself
Speaker 1: was basically traveling the roots of privateers, seeking out the
Speaker 1: sites of the various legendary utopias that have been part
Speaker 1: of pirate lore, and he didn't find Libertilia, and no
Speaker 1: one else has any hard evidence or record of it either.
Speaker 1: It does live on in popular culture, though it has
Speaker 1: shown up in lots of books and movies and video games,
Speaker 1: including Uncharted for and Fallout four. I haven't played Uncharted for,
Speaker 1: but in Fallout for, it's kind of a cobbled together
Speaker 1: raider settlement off the coast of Massachusetts. Yeah, it's not.
Speaker 1: It's not so much of the utopia hugfest. No, it's
Speaker 1: definitely not a hugfest. If you go there, people shooting you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: uh yeah. William Burrows wrote about it at one point.
Speaker 1: It's shown up. It's one of those like handy uh
Speaker 1: kind of touchstones that people pull in when they're talking
Speaker 1: about piracy and privateering to give it a feel of authenticity,
Speaker 1: even though that that feel may be based on something
Speaker 1: completely fictional. But it's a fascinating idea. I do think
Speaker 1: it's interesting to examine why someone would want to write,
Speaker 1: presuming it's fiction, to write a story that is so
Speaker 1: sort of progressive in this idea of all men being
Speaker 1: equal and like so anti slavery. It's an interesting thing
Speaker 1: that that would be framed along with the idea of
Speaker 1: piracy and freedom from government, and we're going to go
Speaker 1: this ship into attacking us so that we can then
Speaker 1: fight back and take their stuff. Right. Like I said,
Speaker 1: there's some moral flexibility baked into the whole thing. But
Speaker 1: that does become an interesting thing to look at, like,
Speaker 1: why would that be such an appealing piece of fiction
Speaker 1: at a time that we don't often think of as
Speaker 1: being really rooted in all men being equal. It's fascinating
Speaker 1: and it's a fun read. It's a little bit tricky
Speaker 1: to get through it because the language is clunky to
Speaker 1: our modern ear. There's some you know, fast and loose
Speaker 1: use of capitalization and yeah, so things you're like, wait,
Speaker 1: is that a proper net? Oh no, it's not. He
Speaker 1: just likes the word prize. Okay, So yeah, there's stuff
Speaker 1: like that to contend with. But it is a really
Speaker 1: fun read. Yeah. Well, having read chunks of the book
Speaker 1: for research of various episodes of the podcast, it does
Speaker 1: tend to be a fun read, if not necessarily an
Speaker 1: historically accurate one. There's part of me, there is a
Speaker 1: doofy part of me that wants in my heart for
Speaker 1: some piece of evidence to appear to prove that everything
Speaker 1: in the general history is actually accurate and true, because
Speaker 1: it would be mind blowing if that were the case. Yeah, like, oh,
Speaker 1: here is all of my notes, like my big file,
Speaker 1: my binder full newspaper clippings, et cetera, that I used
Speaker 1: to research this book. Yet No, I don't think. Oh,
Speaker 1: it'd be great, wouldn't it be hilarious? Thanks so much
Speaker 1: for joining us on this Saturday. If you'd like to
Speaker 1: send us a note, our email addresses History Podcast at
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Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.