French worked in piracy. Among them was the last Pirate of the Caribbean who had raised an important loot.
If Jack Sparrow is the most famous Pirate in the Caribbean in the world of cinema, others are much less known but have really existed. The Caribbean islands were in a strategic place between Europe, Africa and America. The pirates then knew that in this area they could attack and strip of rich merchant ships. Among them, has noted a young Frenchman.
His name was Thomas Dulain. Born in Pouliguen in Loire-Atlantique in 1704, an orphan of father, he took the sea from his 14 years, notably recounts Kevin Porcher, teacher at the University of the Antilles, in his book Under the black pavilion Posted in October 2024 at Arkhê éditions. Working on a merchant ship that traded with Martinique, it ended in 1723 by deserting without much reason. He then embarked on a Spanish corsair ship where in 1728 his brother lost his life during a brawl between French and Spanish sailors. Thomas Dubin then launched a mutiny to take control of the ship. At 23, he then found himself at the head of a crew of around twenty men.
His boat, renamed the Sans-Pitié, was well equipped with many cannons and all the necessary weapons. In a few months, Thomas Dulain made his crew grow up to 130 men, forcing captured sailors to join him. He defined them as “enemies of the human race”. To manage them, he had set up a strict regulation in particular to avoid altercations, alcohol abuses or thefts, which were then reprimanded by heavy punishment. The captain would have attacked around twenty ships over several months.
However, the pirate’s trip quickly ended. In January 1729, he took refuge on the island of the turtle, being more and more tracked by the men sent by the Governor General of the Antilles. He finally decided to run away with his ship, abandoning a majority of his men on the island, in order to return to France and negotiate his amnesty. He would have shouted when leaving: “Goodbye! Farewell, Canailles! I go to France and we are no longer pirates”.
During his journeys, Thomas Dubin would have raised a booty of 160,000 pounds, or around 189,000 euros, which, equally divided between all his crew, represented four years of salary of a French sailor for everyone. In order not to have to give up such a sum to the authorities, he would have hidden and fragmented it with receivers as well as with his relatives. This treasure would never have been found, but the pirate would still have managed to obtain the amnesty thanks to his easy family. The fate of the captain then remains fairly vague. However, he remains the last big Pirate of the Caribbean, since his accomplices had stopped a few years earlier, also managing to be amnestied.