Laurens de Graaf
Encyclopedia
Laurens Cornelis Boudewijn de Graaf (ca. 1653, Dordrecht
, Dutch Republic
– probably 24 May 1704, Cap-Français
, Saint-Domingue
, alias Laurencillo/Lorencillo & El Griffe (Spanish); Sieur de Baldran, alias de Graff (French); or Gesel van de West (Dutch "Scourge of the West"), was a Dutch
pirate, mercenary
, and naval officer in the service of the French colony of Saint-Domingue
during the late 17th and early 18th century. Henry Morgan
, the governor of Jamaica
, characterized him as 'a great and mischievous pirate". De Graaf was described as tall, blond, mustached and handsome. The Spanish thought he was the Devil in Person.
(El Griffe was a common nickname for those of mixed African and European ancestry.) He reportedly was enslaved by Spanish slave traders when captured in what is now the Netherlands and transported to the Canary Islands
to work on a plantation.
The French historian Vassiere asserted that de Graaf married his first wife (Francois) Petronilla de Guzman in 1674 in the Canary Islands before moving on to the Caribbean. The Spanish governor of St. Augustine, Florida
attested to his marriage in a letter written to the King of Spain
in 1682, by referring to de Graaf as a "stranger who was married in the Canaries."
According to Sieur de Pouancay, the governor of Saint Domingue, de Graaf was born in Dordrecht, Holland and had been sailing "on the account" since approximately 1675 or 1676 as the captain of a French privateer crew.
, torching a partially built frigate and capturing the town. The next day, the pirates captured a merchant ship
loaded with over 120,000 pesos in silver and cargo, when it sailed unknowingly into the harbor. Though de Graaf was historically credited with this raid, it was the same year as his marriage in the Canary Islands.
In the autumn of 1679, de Graaf was reported to have captured a Spanish frigate of 24-28 guns, which he renamed the Tigre (tiger). By 1682, de Graaf had become so successful that Henry Morgan, governor of Jamaica
, sent the frigate
Norwich, under command of Peter Haywood, pirate hunting with de Graaf as his primary quarry. It is not reported if Haywood encountered de Graaf.
During a brief stop in Cuba around the same time, de Graaf was told of the Armada de Barlovento's plans to seek him out. Rather than waiting for the Barlovento, a pirate-hunting fleet, he sailed immediately in search of them. After a running gun battle that lasted hours, the Princesa struck her colors
, having lost 50 men to de Graaf's eight or nine. (In an act of kindness, de Graaf reportedly put the seriously wounded captain of the Princesa ashore with his own surgeon.) The Princess carried the payroll for Puerto Rico
and Santo Domingo
, about 120,000 pesos in silver.
After sharing out the prize, the buccaneers retired to Petit-Goâve, Saint Domingue to celebrate and refit. De Graaf made the Princesa his new flagship. His next foray was a trip to Cartagena, Colombia
with privateer Michiel Andrieszoon
. Finding little in the way of shipping, they departed for the Gulf of Honduras
. Finding two empty galleons, de Graaf decided to wait for them to be loaded with cargo. The buccaneers retired to Bonaco Island to careen. Their plans were ruined when Nicholas van Hoorn
attacked the ships and captured them empty. When Van Hoorn reached Bonaco Island and tried to join forces with de Graaf, he was turned away. Later de Graaf relented and joined forces with van Hoorn and Grandmont for an attack on Vera Cruz
.
The pirates arrived off Vera Cruz on May 17, 1683, leading with two captured Spanish ships to mislead the town. De Graaf and Yankey Willems slipped ashore with a force of men. Routing the Spanish militia from their sleep, they proceeded to remove any defenses. Van Hoorn, marching overland, joined with de Graaf and attacked the town. On the second day of plundering, the Spanish "Plate" fleet, composed of numerous warships, appeared on the horizon. Retreating with hostages to the nearby island of Los Sacrificios (the sacrificed), the pirates waited for ransoms. A brief quarrel between van Hoorn and de Graaf over the treatment of the hostages left Van Hoorn with a slash across the wrist, that would turn gangrenous and result in his death two weeks later. Finally, giving up on further plunder the pirates departed past the Spanish ships without hindrance.
In late December 1683, de Graaf and a fleet of seven ships arrived off Cartagena, only to be confronted by a force of three large ships, the smallest being a 28 gun galliot. After a poorly commanded battle that left the Spanish San Francisco (40 guns) grounded and the other two ships captured. Laurens de Graaf took the San Francisco as his new flagship, renamed as the Fortune. The pirates then proceeded to blockade the town. January 1684 brought an English convoy that was carrying a note for de Graaf from his wife offering a Spanish pardon and commission. De Graff ignored the note, not trusting the Spanish to keep their promises.
In summer and fall of 1684 de Graaf remained in Petite Goave. He sailed in November 1684, but had little or no success in raiding the shipping lanes. He was next seen on Isla de Pinos
presiding over a gathering of buccaneers. After his departure, he was pursued off the Mosquito Coast
for a raid on Campeche. The pirates finally attacked on July 6, 1685. After a protracted battle, the Spaniards fled the town, leaving the pirates with a city devoid of plunder. The length of the battle and delay in attacking had allowed residents to move goods away. After two months in the town, the pirates, failing to secure a ransom, began to burn the town and execute prisoners. De Graaf stepped in and helped stop the violence. The pirates departed Campeche in September 1685, carrying away many prisoners for ransom.
The pirates split up and de Graaf fled from a superior fleet off the Yucatán
. After a day-long battle with two larger Spanish ships, he escaped by dumping all cargo and cannons overboard to lighten his ship. In February 1686, the Spanish staged a raid on de Graaf's plantation on Saint Dominque. As retaliation, de Graaf raided Tihosuco, where the buccaneers looted and burned. Returning to Petite Goave, de Graaf wrecked his ship while pursuing a Spanish barque
. Nonetheless, he managed to take the barque with only his ship's long boat.
In 1687, de Graaf engaged in a battle off southern Cuba with a Biscayan
frigate
and the Cuban guarda del costa (coast guard). He sank several piragua
s and took a small ship as prize. De Graaf returned to Saint Domingue, where he defended the harbor at Petite Goave from Cuban invaders. In December 1689, he took ships off Jamaica. He went on to blockade the Jamaican coast for more than six months before leaving. Proceeding to the Cayman Islands
, de Graaf there captured an English sloop
.
In January 1691 de Graaf attacked near Santo Domingo and was soundly defeated by a Spanish force three times the size of his French forces. He narrowly escaped with his life.
In March 1693, de Graff met and married his second wife, Anne Dieu-le-Veut
. According to Vaissière, the two were married in 1693 and their daughter was recorded as twelve years old in 1704.
De Graaf spent the summer of 1693 leading buccaneers against Jamaica in several raids. The English retaliated in May 1695 with an attack on Port-de-Paix
at Saint Domingue, where they sacked the town and captured de Graaf's family.
, where he was to help set up a French colony
near present-day Biloxi, Mississippi
. Some sources claim he died there; others claim locations in Alabama
.
Dordrecht
Dordrecht , colloquially Dordt, historically in English named Dort, is a city and municipality in the western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland. It is the fourth largest city of the province, having a population of 118,601 in 2009...
, Dutch Republic
Dutch Republic
The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...
– probably 24 May 1704, Cap-Français
Cap-Haïtien
Cap-Haïtien is a city of about 190,000 people on the north coast of Haiti and capital of the Department of Nord...
, Saint-Domingue
Saint-Domingue
The labour for these plantations was provided by an estimated 790,000 African slaves . Between 1764 and 1771, the average annual importation of slaves varied between 10,000-15,000; by 1786 it was about 28,000, and from 1787 onward, the colony received more than 40,000 slaves a year...
, alias Laurencillo/Lorencillo & El Griffe (Spanish); Sieur de Baldran, alias de Graff (French); or Gesel van de West (Dutch "Scourge of the West"), was a Dutch
Dutch people
The Dutch people are an ethnic group native to the Netherlands. They share a common culture and speak the Dutch language. Dutch people and their descendants are found in migrant communities worldwide, notably in Suriname, Chile, Brazil, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, and the United...
pirate, mercenary
Mercenary
A mercenary, is a person who takes part in an armed conflict based on the promise of material compensation rather than having a direct interest in, or a legal obligation to, the conflict itself. A non-conscript professional member of a regular army is not considered to be a mercenary although he...
, and naval officer in the service of the French colony of Saint-Domingue
Saint-Domingue
The labour for these plantations was provided by an estimated 790,000 African slaves . Between 1764 and 1771, the average annual importation of slaves varied between 10,000-15,000; by 1786 it was about 28,000, and from 1787 onward, the colony received more than 40,000 slaves a year...
during the late 17th and early 18th century. Henry Morgan
Henry Morgan
Admiral Sir Henry Morgan was an Admiral of the Royal Navy, a privateer, and a pirate who made a name for himself during activities in the Caribbean, primarily raiding Spanish settlements...
, the governor of Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, characterized him as 'a great and mischievous pirate". De Graaf was described as tall, blond, mustached and handsome. The Spanish thought he was the Devil in Person.
Early life
Accounts of Laurens de Graaf were highly romanticized. Some historians speculated that he may have been a mulattoMulatto
Mulatto denotes a person with one white parent and one black parent, or more broadly, a person of mixed black and white ancestry. Contemporary usage of the term varies greatly, and the broader sense of the term makes its application rather subjective, as not all people of mixed white and black...
(El Griffe was a common nickname for those of mixed African and European ancestry.) He reportedly was enslaved by Spanish slave traders when captured in what is now the Netherlands and transported to the Canary Islands
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...
to work on a plantation.
The French historian Vassiere asserted that de Graaf married his first wife (Francois) Petronilla de Guzman in 1674 in the Canary Islands before moving on to the Caribbean. The Spanish governor of St. Augustine, Florida
St. Augustine, Florida
St. Augustine is a city in the northeast section of Florida and the county seat of St. Johns County, Florida, United States. Founded in 1565 by Spanish explorer and admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, it is the oldest continuously occupied European-established city and port in the continental United...
attested to his marriage in a letter written to the King of Spain
Spanish monarchy
The Monarchy of Spain, constitutionally referred to as The Crown and commonly referred to as the Spanish monarchy or Hispanic Monarchy, is a constitutional institution and an historic office of Spain...
in 1682, by referring to de Graaf as a "stranger who was married in the Canaries."
According to Sieur de Pouancay, the governor of Saint Domingue, de Graaf was born in Dordrecht, Holland and had been sailing "on the account" since approximately 1675 or 1676 as the captain of a French privateer crew.
Pirate career
At some point in the early 1670s, de Graaf escaped and turned pirate. His first reported action as a pirate captain was recorded on March 1672, when a band of pirates attacked CampecheCampeche
Campeche is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. Located in Southeast Mexico, it is bordered by the states of Yucatán to the north east, Quintana Roo to the east, and Tabasco to the south west...
, torching a partially built frigate and capturing the town. The next day, the pirates captured a merchant ship
Cargo ship
A cargo ship or freighter is any sort of ship or vessel that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year; they handle the bulk of international trade...
loaded with over 120,000 pesos in silver and cargo, when it sailed unknowingly into the harbor. Though de Graaf was historically credited with this raid, it was the same year as his marriage in the Canary Islands.
In the autumn of 1679, de Graaf was reported to have captured a Spanish frigate of 24-28 guns, which he renamed the Tigre (tiger). By 1682, de Graaf had become so successful that Henry Morgan, governor of Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, sent the frigate
Frigate
A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...
Norwich, under command of Peter Haywood, pirate hunting with de Graaf as his primary quarry. It is not reported if Haywood encountered de Graaf.
During a brief stop in Cuba around the same time, de Graaf was told of the Armada de Barlovento's plans to seek him out. Rather than waiting for the Barlovento, a pirate-hunting fleet, he sailed immediately in search of them. After a running gun battle that lasted hours, the Princesa struck her colors
Striking the colors
Striking the colors is the universally recognized indication of surrender, particularly for ships at sea. Surrender is dated from the time the ensign is struck.-In international law:# "Colors. A national flag . The colors . ....
, having lost 50 men to de Graaf's eight or nine. (In an act of kindness, de Graaf reportedly put the seriously wounded captain of the Princesa ashore with his own surgeon.) The Princess carried the payroll for Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
and Santo Domingo
Santo Domingo
Santo Domingo, known officially as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city in the Dominican Republic. Its metropolitan population was 2,084,852 in 2003, and estimated at 3,294,385 in 2010. The city is located on the Caribbean Sea, at the mouth of the Ozama River...
, about 120,000 pesos in silver.
After sharing out the prize, the buccaneers retired to Petit-Goâve, Saint Domingue to celebrate and refit. De Graaf made the Princesa his new flagship. His next foray was a trip to Cartagena, Colombia
Cartagena, Colombia
Cartagena de Indias , is a large Caribbean beach resort city on the northern coast of Colombia in the Caribbean Coast Region and capital of Bolívar Department...
with privateer Michiel Andrieszoon
Michiel Andrieszoon
Michiel Andrieszoon was a Dutch buccaneer who served as lieutenant to Captain Laurens de Graaf. He commanded the le Tigre which was manned by a 300-man crew and armed with between 30-36 guns and, in 1683, was one of the leaders of the raid on Veracruz...
. Finding little in the way of shipping, they departed for the Gulf of Honduras
Gulf of Honduras
The Gulf or Bay of Honduras is a large inlet of the Caribbean Sea, indenting the coasts of Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras. From north to south, it runs for approximately 200 km from Dangriga, Belize, to La Ceiba, Honduras....
. Finding two empty galleons, de Graaf decided to wait for them to be loaded with cargo. The buccaneers retired to Bonaco Island to careen. Their plans were ruined when Nicholas van Hoorn
Nicholas van Hoorn
The pirate Nicholas van Hoorn was born in Holland and died near Vera Cruz, Mexico. Nikolaas or Klaas was engaged in the Dutch merchant service from about 1655 until 1659, and then bought a vessel with his savings. With a band of reckless men whom he had enlisted, he became a terror to the...
attacked the ships and captured them empty. When Van Hoorn reached Bonaco Island and tried to join forces with de Graaf, he was turned away. Later de Graaf relented and joined forces with van Hoorn and Grandmont for an attack on Vera Cruz
Veracruz, Veracruz
Veracruz, officially known as Heroica Veracruz, is a major port city and municipality on the Gulf of Mexico in the Mexican state of Veracruz. The city is located in the central part of the state. It is located along Federal Highway 140 from the state capital Xalapa, and is the state's most...
.
The pirates arrived off Vera Cruz on May 17, 1683, leading with two captured Spanish ships to mislead the town. De Graaf and Yankey Willems slipped ashore with a force of men. Routing the Spanish militia from their sleep, they proceeded to remove any defenses. Van Hoorn, marching overland, joined with de Graaf and attacked the town. On the second day of plundering, the Spanish "Plate" fleet, composed of numerous warships, appeared on the horizon. Retreating with hostages to the nearby island of Los Sacrificios (the sacrificed), the pirates waited for ransoms. A brief quarrel between van Hoorn and de Graaf over the treatment of the hostages left Van Hoorn with a slash across the wrist, that would turn gangrenous and result in his death two weeks later. Finally, giving up on further plunder the pirates departed past the Spanish ships without hindrance.
In late December 1683, de Graaf and a fleet of seven ships arrived off Cartagena, only to be confronted by a force of three large ships, the smallest being a 28 gun galliot. After a poorly commanded battle that left the Spanish San Francisco (40 guns) grounded and the other two ships captured. Laurens de Graaf took the San Francisco as his new flagship, renamed as the Fortune. The pirates then proceeded to blockade the town. January 1684 brought an English convoy that was carrying a note for de Graaf from his wife offering a Spanish pardon and commission. De Graff ignored the note, not trusting the Spanish to keep their promises.
In summer and fall of 1684 de Graaf remained in Petite Goave. He sailed in November 1684, but had little or no success in raiding the shipping lanes. He was next seen on Isla de Pinos
Isle of Youth
Isla de la Juventud is the second-largest Cuban island and the seventh-largest island in the West Indies . The island has an area and is 100 km south of the island of Cuba, across the Gulf of Batabanó...
presiding over a gathering of buccaneers. After his departure, he was pursued off the Mosquito Coast
Mosquito Coast
The Caribbean Mosquito Coast historically consisted of an area along the Atlantic coast of present-day Nicaragua and Honduras, and part of the Western Caribbean Zone. It was named after the local Miskito Indians and long dominated by British interests...
for a raid on Campeche. The pirates finally attacked on July 6, 1685. After a protracted battle, the Spaniards fled the town, leaving the pirates with a city devoid of plunder. The length of the battle and delay in attacking had allowed residents to move goods away. After two months in the town, the pirates, failing to secure a ransom, began to burn the town and execute prisoners. De Graaf stepped in and helped stop the violence. The pirates departed Campeche in September 1685, carrying away many prisoners for ransom.
The pirates split up and de Graaf fled from a superior fleet off the Yucatán
Yucatán
Yucatán officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Yucatán is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 106 municipalities and its capital city is Mérida....
. After a day-long battle with two larger Spanish ships, he escaped by dumping all cargo and cannons overboard to lighten his ship. In February 1686, the Spanish staged a raid on de Graaf's plantation on Saint Dominque. As retaliation, de Graaf raided Tihosuco, where the buccaneers looted and burned. Returning to Petite Goave, de Graaf wrecked his ship while pursuing a Spanish barque
Barque
A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts.- History of the term :The word barque appears to have come from the Greek word baris, a term for an Egyptian boat. This entered Latin as barca, which gave rise to the Italian barca, Spanish barco, and the French barge and...
. Nonetheless, he managed to take the barque with only his ship's long boat.
In 1687, de Graaf engaged in a battle off southern Cuba with a Biscayan
Biscayan
Biscayan, sometimes Bizkaian , is a dialect of the Basque language spoken mainly in Biscay, one of the provinces of the Basque Country of Spain....
frigate
Frigate
A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...
and the Cuban guarda del costa (coast guard). He sank several piragua
Piragua
Piragua may refer to:*Piragua , a Puerto Rican frozen treat shaped like a pyramid*"Piragua" and "Piragua ", songs from the musical In the Heights*Pirogue, or piragua, a small, flat-bottomed boat...
s and took a small ship as prize. De Graaf returned to Saint Domingue, where he defended the harbor at Petite Goave from Cuban invaders. In December 1689, he took ships off Jamaica. He went on to blockade the Jamaican coast for more than six months before leaving. Proceeding to the Cayman Islands
Cayman Islands
The Cayman Islands is a British Overseas Territory and overseas territory of the European Union located in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, and Little Cayman, located south of Cuba and northwest of Jamaica...
, de Graaf there captured an English sloop
Sloop
A sloop is a sail boat with a fore-and-aft rig and a single mast farther forward than the mast of a cutter....
.
In January 1691 de Graaf attacked near Santo Domingo and was soundly defeated by a Spanish force three times the size of his French forces. He narrowly escaped with his life.
In March 1693, de Graff met and married his second wife, Anne Dieu-le-Veut
Anne Dieu-le-Veut
Anne Dieu-Le-Veut also called Marie-Anne or Marianne was a French Pirate, a so called Buccaneer, and together with Jaquotte Delahaye one of very few female ones....
. According to Vaissière, the two were married in 1693 and their daughter was recorded as twelve years old in 1704.
De Graaf spent the summer of 1693 leading buccaneers against Jamaica in several raids. The English retaliated in May 1695 with an attack on Port-de-Paix
Port-de-Paix
Port-de-Paix is a city and the capital of the département of Nord-Ouest in Haïti on the Atlantic coast. It has a population of 250,000 ....
at Saint Domingue, where they sacked the town and captured de Graaf's family.
Disappearance
Laurens de Graff was last known to be near LouisianaLouisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, where he was to help set up a French colony
French colonial empires
The French colonial empire was the set of territories outside Europe that were under French rule primarily from the 17th century to the late 1960s. In the 19th and 20th centuries, the colonial empire of France was the second-largest in the world behind the British Empire. The French colonial empire...
near present-day Biloxi, Mississippi
Biloxi, Mississippi
Biloxi is a city in Harrison County, Mississippi, in the United States. The 2010 census recorded the population as 44,054. Along with Gulfport, Biloxi is a county seat of Harrison County....
. Some sources claim he died there; others claim locations in Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
.
Other reading
- "Laurens de Graff", Pirates Hold
- David F. Marley, Pirates and Privateers of the Americas
- Bibiano Torres Ramirez, La Armada de Barlovento
- Alex Ritsema (2008), Pirates and Privateers from the Low Countries, Lulu.com, ISBN 978-1-4092-0171-7
- Calendar of State PapersState papersThe term State papers is used in British and Irish contexts to refer exclusively to government archives and records. Such papers used to be kept separate from non-governmental papers, with state papers kept in the State Paper Office and general public records kept in the Public Records Office...
, Colonial Series