Augustin Blanco (
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 ...
1700–1725) was a 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 ...
. He was noted for attacking in open boats, and for having a mixed-race crew.
History
Blanco was from
Baracoa
Baracoa, whose full original name is: ''Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de Baracoa'' (“Our Lady of the Assumption of Baracoa”), is a municipality and city in Guantánamo Province near the eastern tip of Cuba. It was visited by Admiral Christop ...
,
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...
, and had been operating in the Caribbean for some time: “an old robber among these Islands about 25 years.”
His crew was noted for being mixed-race, including “English, Scots, Spaniards, Mulattoes, and Negroes.”
His co-Captain was an Englishman, Richard Hancock.
Blanco had received commission as a ''guarda costa'' privateer from Don Carlos de Suere, Governor of
Santiago de Cuba
Santiago de Cuba is the second-largest city in Cuba and the capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province. It lies in the southeastern area of the island, some southeast of the Cuban capital of Havana.
The municipality extends over , and contains t ...
; the English complained that the Spaniards abused these commissions to attack English towns, logwood cutters, and others.
In March 1725 Blanco attacked the Jamaica-bound sloop ''Snapper'' by rowing alongside in an open
periagua
Periagua (from Spanish ''piragua'', in turn derived from the Carib language word for dugout) is the term formerly used in the Caribbean and the eastern seaboard of North America for a range of small craft including canoes and small sailing vessels ...
.
Blanco threatened to attack
New Providence
New Providence is the most populous island in the Bahamas, containing more than 70% of the total population. It is the location of the national capital city of Nassau, whose boundaries are coincident with the island; it had a population of 246 ...
and “give no quarter,” and also claimed the Spanish Governor had forced him to attack the English and take prisoners who would be used as laborers by the Spanish.
He landed on
Eleuthera
Eleuthera () refers both to a single island in the archipelagic state of The Commonwealth of the Bahamas and to its associated group of smaller islands. Eleuthera forms a part of the Great Bahama Bank. The island of Eleuthera incorporates the s ...
where some of the sloop's crew escaped, but where Blanco looted an English settlement and took several prisoners.
Bahamas Governor George Phenney armed two sloops with troops from his garrison and sent them after Blanco, but their search proved futile.
Phenney sent letters of complaint to Governor of
Havana
Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center. Don Gregorio Guazo Calderon, who responded that he had no authority over Baracoa or Santiago de Cuba. Phenny further fortified
Nassau
Nassau may refer to:
Places Bahamas
*Nassau, Bahamas, capital city of the Bahamas, on the island of New Providence
Canada
*Nassau District, renamed Home District, regional division in Upper Canada from 1788 to 1792
*Nassau Street (Winnipeg), ...
but could not protect outlying islands where traders sailed to collect salt and logwood and requested the King send a warship to help secure the area from pirates.
See also
*
Richard Frowd, another pirate noted for his mixed-race crew.
*
Richard Noland
Richard Noland ( fl. 1717-1724, last name occasionally Holland or Nowland) was an Irish pirate active in the Caribbean. He was best known for sailing with Samuel Bellamy before working for the Spanish.
History
Elected captain of Benjamin Horni ...
, who like Hancock shared Captain duties with a Spaniard, in his case
Don Benito
Don Benito () is a Spanish town and municipality in the province of Badajoz, Extremadura, near the left bank of the Guadiana river. According to the 2014 census, the municipality has a population of 37,011.
History
Don Benito dates from the 15t ...
.
*
Henry Johnson and Pedro Poleas - another English and Spanish pair who co-captained a pirate vessel.
*
Matthew Luke
Matthew Luke (died 1722, occasionally named Mateo Luque or Matteo Luca) was a pirate active in the Caribbean.
History
Luke, originally from Genoa, had been cruising the Caribbean under commission from the Spanish Governor of Puerto Rico as a ''g ...
and
Simon Mascarino
Simon Mascarino (fl. 1701–1721) was a Portuguese pirate active in the Caribbean. He was also a privateer in service of the Spanish.
History
Spanish ''guarda costa'' privateers had captured the sloop ''Revenge'' from the English, and in early ...
, two other Spanish ''guarda costa'' privateers caught by English pirate hunters
References
Year of birth missing
18th-century pirates
Spanish pirates
Caribbean pirates
1725 deaths
{{Pirate-stub