Alexandre Olivier Exquemelin (also spelled ''Esquemeling'', ''Exquemeling'', or ''Oexmelin'') (c. 1645–1707) was a French, Dutch or Flemish writer best known as the author of one of the most important sourcebooks of 17th-century
piracy, first published in Dutch as ''De Americaensche Zee-Roovers'', in
Amsterdam, by Jan ten Hoorn, in 1678.
Born about 1645, it is likely that Exquemelin was a native of
Honfleur
Honfleur () is a commune in the Calvados department in northwestern France. It is located on the southern bank of the estuary of the Seine across from le Havre and very close to the exit of the Pont de Normandie. The people that inhabit Honfl ...
, France, who on his return from
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 the Restoration in 1660 until about 168 ...
ing settled in
Holland, possibly because he was a
Huguenot
The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Bez ...
. In 1666 he was engaged by the
French West India Company
The French West India Company (french: Compagnie française des Indes occidentales) was a French trading company founded on 28 May 1664, some three months before the foundation of the corresponding eastern company, by Jean-Baptiste Colbert and dis ...
and went to
Tortuga, where he worked as an indentured servant for three years. There he enlisted with the
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 the Restoration in 1660 until about 168 ...
s, in particular with the band of
Henry Morgan, whose confidante he was, probably as a
barber-surgeon
The barber surgeon, one of the most common European medical practitioners of the Middle Ages, was generally charged with caring for soldiers during and after battle. In this era, surgery was seldom conducted by physicians, but instead by barbers ...
, and remained with them until 1674. Shortly afterwards he returned to Europe and settled in Amsterdam where he qualified professionally as a surgeon, his name appearing on the 1679 register of the Dutch Surgeons' Guild. However, he was later once again 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 S ...
as his name appears on the
muster-roll
The term muster means the process or event of accounting for members in a military unit. This practice of inspections led to the coining of the English idiom , meaning being sufficient. When a unit is created, it is "mustered in" and when it is d ...
as a
surgeon in the
attack on Cartagena in 1697.
The bibliographic legacy of Exquemelin's ''History of the Buccaneers of America'' is complex. It was first published in Dutch (1678), then translated into German (1679), Spanish (1681) and English (1684). The German translation is a faithful translation of the original Dutch. The Spanish translation adds new material quite freely and without acknowledgment, and mistranslates the Dutch frequently, while the English translation appears to be as much a translation of the Spanish edition, including most of its deviations from the Dutch original. The French translation of 1686 is substantially a new work with many additions, including new pirate biographies (
Daniel Montbars
Daniel Montbars (1645–1707?), better known as Montbars the Exterminator, was a 17th-century French buccaneer. For several years, he was known as one of the most violent buccaneers active against the Spanish during the mid-17th century. His reput ...
and
Alexandre Bras-de-Fer
Alexandre Bras-de-Fer was a ''flibustier'' (French buccaneer) in the latter half of the mid-17th century. He is best known for capturing a Spanish ship after being shipwrecked, though his story is possibly apocryphal.
History
Though supposedly a ...
) and complete rearrangements in some sections incorporating new material of unknown source.
Subsequent editions and translations added additional new material and whole biographies.
Following publication of the English translation in 1684,
Henry Morgan took steps to discredit the book and successfully brought a libel suit against the book's publishers William Crooke and Thomas Malthus. Morgan particularly objected to the description of the capture of the third castle at
Portobello
Portobello, Porto Bello, Porto Belo, Portabello, or Portabella may refer to:
Places Brazil
* Porto Belo
Ireland
* Portobello, Dublin
* Cathal Brugha Barracks, Dublin formerly ''Portobello Barracks''
New Zealand
* Portobello, New Zealand, on ...
in 1668 where the book said he had ordered the construction of ladders wide enough for three men to climb abreast; when they were completed he "commanded all the religious men and women whom he had taken prisoners to fix them against the walls of the castle ... these were forced, at the head of the companies to raise and apply them to the walls ... Thus many of the religious men and nuns were killed". In Morgan's
affidavit
An ( ; Medieval Latin for "he has declared under oath") is a written statement voluntarily made by an ''affiant'' or '' deponent'' under an oath or affirmation which is administered by a person who is authorized to do so by law. Such a statemen ...
he stated that he had "against evil deeds, piracies and robberies the greatest abhorrence and distrust", and that "for the kind of men called buccaneers", he "always had and still has hatred". The court found in his favour and the book was retracted; damages of £200 were paid to him. The passage about the use of nuns and monks as a
human shield was retracted from subsequent publications in England.
For a comparison of the 1678 Dutch edition and the 1686 French translation, see the 1974 translation and interpretation by the Danish author and historian Erik Kjærsgaard. For a contemporary reprinting, see Esquemeling, Alexander O., ''The Buccaneers of America. A true account of the most remarkable assaults committed of late years upon the coasts of
West Indies by the Buccaneers of
Jamaica and
Tortuga'' (both English and French), containing also
Basil Ringrose
Basil Ringrose (about 1653–1683) was an English buccaneer, navigator, geographer and author.
Early life
Ringrose was christened at St. Martin in the Field in 1653.
Career
First voyage
Ringrose crossed the Isthmus of Darien in 1680 with a g ...
’s account of the dangerous voyage and bold assaults of Captain
Bartholomew Sharp
Bartholomew Sharp (c. 1650 – 29 October 1702) was an English buccaneer and privateer. His career of piracy lasted seven years (1675–1682). In the Caribbean he took several ships, and raided the Gulf of Honduras and Portobelo. He took comman ...
and others.
[Dover Publications, Inc. New York City (reprinted 1967). ] Peter Benchley
Peter Bradford Benchley (May 8, 1940 – February 11, 2006) was an American author, screenwriter, and ocean activist. He is known for his bestselling novel '' Jaws'' and co-wrote its film adaptation with Carl Gottlieb. Several more of his works ...
, in his book
''The Island'', referred to Exquemelin at length, having used his work in his research.
References
External links
*
*
*
''De Americaensche Zee-Roovers''(selections from the original 1678 Dutch-language copy of ''The Buccaneers of America'', illustrated). From the
Library of Congress.
''De Americaensche Zee-Roovers''Full text of the 1678 Dutch edition, from Gallica.
''Die americanische see-räuber''Full text of the 1679 German translation from the Library of Congress.
''Piratas de America''Full text of the 1681 Spanish translation, from the Library of Congress.
''Histoire des avanturiers qui se sont signalez dans les Indes''"> ''Histoire des avanturiers qui se sont signalez dans les Indes''Full text of French translation of 1686, from Google Books.
*
* Life of Alexandre Exquemelin with links to further information, personal blog http://honfleurthenandnow.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/pirates-and-crocodiles.html
Spanish Version EPUB
{{DEFAULTSORT:Exquemelin, Alexandre Oliver
1640s births
1707 deaths
People from Honfleur
Indentured servants
17th-century French historians
17th-century pirates
French domestic workers
Dutch surgeons