Étienne de Montauban (

fl. ''Floruit'' (; abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for "they flourished") denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indicatin ...

1691-1695) was a French ''flibustier'' (

buccaneer Buccaneers were a kind of privateers or free sailors particular to the Caribbean Sea during the 17th and 18th centuries. First established on northern Hispaniola as early as 1625, their heyday was from Stuart Restoration, the Restoration in 16 ...

privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

, and pirate active in the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

and off the west African coast. Frequently referred to as Sieur de Montauban (last name occasionally Montauband), he wrote an account of his later voyages including surviving a shipwreck.

History

Born in 1660, Montauban visited the African coast as early as 1676, “having begun to use the Seas at the Age of Sixteen.” In 1690 he sailed under fellow French corsair

Mathurin Desmarestz Mathurin Desmarestz (1653-1700, last name also Demarais) was a French pirate and buccaneer active in the Caribbean, the Pacific, and the Indian Ocean. History Born Isaac Veyret (or Vereil) in 1653, son of Isaac Veyret and Esther Pennaud, Mathurin ...

in the Caribbean. Desmarestz gave Montauban his ship ''La Machine'' after they captured a Spanish frigate, which Desmarestz kept and renamed ''La Ballestrelle''. French language original, as reprinted in ''Le Diable Volant : Une histoire de la flibuste : de la mer des Antilles à l'océan Indien (1688-1700)'' / ('The Flying Devil : A History of the Filibusters : From the Antilles to the Indian Ocean (1688-1700)'). Montauban captained ''La Machine'' off

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

in 1691 after parting with Desmarestz, where he forced some French sailors into piracy, and the same year he captured an English fort when he returned to Africa's

Guinea Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...

coast. He kept ''La Machine'' through 1694 before switching to the 200-ton, 34-gun ''Trois Frères'' (''Three Brothers''). That February he sailed for the coast of

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

, raiding off

Caracas Caracas (, ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas, abbreviated as CCS, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the ...

. He then intercepted an English convoy bound for London, capturing its escort ''Loup (Wolf)'' and two of the cargo ships. After capturing yet another English vessel he put into

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

in September to sell off his prizes and captured cargo. While in port his crew behaved riotously: “All the Nights they spent in such Divertisements as pleased them best, and the Days in running up and down the Town in Masquerade, causing themselves to be carried in Chairs, with lighted Flambeaux's at Noon Day; of which Debauches some died, while Four of my Crew fairly deserted me.” In a hurry to depart again to preserve what crew and treasure he had left – “I thought it advisable for me to be gone from thence as soon as I could, that I might keep the rest together” – he sailed out in February 1695. Again Montauban returned to Africa. Cruising first the

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then the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...

then

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, several vessels eluded him or fought off the ''Trois Frères''. He managed to take an English vessel off

Cape Lopez Cape Lopez () is a headland on the coast of Gabon, west central Africa. The westernmost point of Gabon, it separates the Gulf of Guinea from the South Atlantic Ocean. Cape Lopez is the northernmost point of a low, wooded island between two mouths ...

first, then a second prize before

careening Careening (also known as "heaving down") is a method of gaining access to the hull of a sailing vessel without the use of a dry dock. It is used for cleaning or repairing the hull. Before ship's hulls were protected from marine growth by fasteni ...

the ''Trois Frères''. Off

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he engaged a 54-gun English man-of-war which battered the ''Trois Frères'' and began a boarding action. Montauban's pirates used excellent marksmanship with

musket A musket is a muzzle-loaded long gun that appeared as a smoothbore weapon in the early 16th century, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus, capable of penetrating plate armour. By the mid-16th century, this type of musket gradually d ...

-fire to defeat the English. Before he could board the prize the English ship's Captain set fire to its

gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). ...

stores, causing an enormous explosion which destroyed both ships. Montauban was badly injured and thrown free but managed to cling to wreckage before some of his surviving sailors picked him up in a small boat. Nearly starved, they sailed to the African coast where they met natives with whom Montauban was familiar. After convincing them of his identity (“it was impossible for me to perswade any of them that I was Captain Montauban, so much was I disfigured”), he met a local prince who fed and clothed Montauban and his men, eventually escorting them to Cape Lopez where they secured passage to

Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estimate). ...

Charles de Courbon, comte de Blénac Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was " ...

brought him and the few surviving members of his crew to

Martinique Martinique ( , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago: or ) is an island and an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of the French Republic, Martinique is located in th ...

in 1696. From there Montauban returned to France. Two years later he published an account of his African voyage, and wrote that “I do not know whether I have bid the Sea adieu.” Some sources report that he died in 1700, others that he continued to captain French privateer ships as late as 1708.

History

See also

References

Further reading