La Buse

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La Buse ( French. The buzzard ; * 1680 or 1690 in Calais , northern France; † July 7, 1730 in Saint-Paul on Réunion ), real name Olivier Le Vasseur or Levasseur , was a French pirate who lived in India from 1720 Ocean stopped to escape the French and British navies in the Atlantic.

His name has also been listed as La Bouche , Louis Labous , La Bouse , La Bouche , La Buze, or Louis de Boure .

Life

La Buse in the Caribbean

The only source from this period comes from Charles Johnson (probably a pseudonym of Daniel Defoe ), who mentions him several times in his book History of the Most Famous Pirates , published from 1720 onwards.

“La Buse” and “Hornigold” helped Samuel Bellamy, known as “Black Sam”, to get started with piracy in 1716 . In the English sources it is mentioned that "La Buse" cooperated with Benjamin Hornigold and Sam Bellamy in 1716 as captain of the sloop "Postillon".

He belonged together with the pirates Blackbeard , Charles Vane , Sam Bellamy , Paulsgrave Williams , Stede Bonnet , Benjamin Hornigold , Henry Jennings , Calico Jack Rackham , Mary Read , Anne Bonny to the "Flying Gang" of the "Republic of Pirates" in Providence the Bahamas .

Due to the increasing pirate hunt from several nations, most of the captains decided to flee the Caribbean. Le Vasseur is said to have then crossed with pirate captains Thomas Cocklyn and Howell Davis in the Gulf of Guinea, where they captured several ships.

C. Johnson later mentions him again on Mayotte , where he is said to have been shipwrecked with his ship Indian Queen . There the captain Edward England is said to have taken him on board, whereupon they decided to carry out a campaign in the Indian Sea together with the captain John Taylor . Back at the Mascarens , Taylor and Le Vasseur are said to have decided to expose England, with which they had fallen out, to Mauritius . The two pirates first set sail for the island of Bourbon (today: Réunion), where they arrived on April 20, 1720.

Taylor was with 280 sailors and 38 guns on board the former Cassandra , an English pinch of the battles of Anjouan, which he had renamed Fantasy , and La Buse with 200 sailors and 36 guns on board the Victory .

The capture of the Nossa Senhora do Cabo e São Pedro

From this date onwards, Johnson's narratives correspond to the historical records of various European archives.

On April 26, 1720, Taylor and La Buse reached the Bay of Saint-Denis , where they spotted a ship under repair, the Nossa Senhora do Cabo e São Pedro .

This ship of 800 tons and 72 guns was damaged by storms on the crossing from India to Portugal. The Vice-King of Portuguese India and Count of Ericeira Luís Carlos Inácio Xavier de Meneses and the Archbishop of Goa Dom Sebastião de Andrade Pessanha traveled with a large load of diamonds, jewelry, gold and silver bars as well as pearls, fine fabrics, Spices, furniture and precious stones, which historians estimate at a current value of up to 5 billion euros. Religious items from Goa Cathedral are also said to have been on board, including the Goa Golden Cross, which is said to have weighed more than a hundred kilograms, so that three men were required to reload it.

The ship was attacked by the two pirates and after a tough battle the crew was overwhelmed and the ship was captured. The people of Saint-Denis could only helplessly watch the battle from the bank. The surviving crew was abandoned on land and the Count of Ericeira was also left behind after paying a ransom of 2000 piasters , which was advanced by the governor of the island of Bourbon, Joseph Beauvollier de Courchant .

Taylor took command of the Portuguese Prize, and they set course for the Bay of Saint Paul , where a few days later they were able to capture the Ville d'Ostende , a merchant ship of the Ostend Company . Then they decided to set course for the island of Sainte-Marie near Madagascar . The Ville d'Ostende sailed ahead with a caper crew, which was, however, overwhelmed by the regular crew, under which she sailed on to Mozambique and Goa.

After repairing the Nossa Senhora do Cabo e São Pedro, Taylor and La Buse circumnavigated the southern tip of Madagascar and captured La Duchesse de Noailles , which was anchored - probably in the bay of Saint-Augustin . Then they set course for the Bay of Delagoa (today: Maputo) , where they captured the fortress and kidnapped the Dutch hydrographer Jacob de Bucquoy . They then sailed to the island of Mozambique and Madagascar, where the two pirates fell out and parted.

La Buse stayed in the following years on the island of Sainte Marie. Shortly afterwards, the King of France and the Governor of the Isle of Bourbon offered an amnesty to all privateers if they gave up piracy and settled on the Isle of Bourbon. La Buse is said to have accepted this amnesty, albeit not in full, because he preferred to remain on the island of Sainte-Marie and not to relocate to Bourbon, even if he no longer carried out pirate attacks.

The end of "La Buse"

Grave of the pirate La Buse in the sailors' cemetery of St. Paul

Around 1729, “La Buse” worked as a pilot in the Bay of Antongil in Madagascar, where he offered his services to the passing ships. Here he boarded the ship La Méduse of the East Indian company , which wanted to dock in the port. The ship's captain, Dhermitte, recognized him and took him prisoner. With iron on his feet, he was transferred to the island of Bourbon (today: Réunion) to be sentenced. There he refused to testify to the new governor, Pierre-Benoît Dumas.

After a speedy trial , he was sentenced to death by hanging . The sentence was to be carried out on July 7, 1730. At 5:05 p.m. that day, the pirate was executed in Saint Paul on Réunion . La Buse is buried in the seaman's cemetery on the southern outskirts of Saint Paul on Réunion. This is a symbolic grave, because the cemetery was only created in 1788, 58 years after the pirate's death.

Immediately before his execution, La Buse is said to have called out to the crowd: “You want the treasure? You can have it! Look for him, I have hidden the greatest treasure in the world somewhere. ”These last words were taken from the creator of the manga One Piece .

The legend of the pirate treasure

Alleged cryptogram by Olivier Le Vasseur

The treasure of “La Buse”, especially the valuable cargo from the Nossa Senhora do Cabo e São Pedro , was never found.

The most diverse hypotheses suspect this treasure on the Seychelles , on La Réunion, Mauritius, Mayotte, Rodrigues and on the Malagasy island of Sainte Marie .

After his trial in St. Denis, while crossing the bridge of the stream of the “Ravine à Malheur”, he is said to have mentioned to his guards: “With what I hid here, I could buy this whole island” . Before his death, he is said to have thrown a cryptogram into the crowd in front of the scaffold with the words “Mes trésors à qui saura comprendre!” (“My dear, the one who understands this”) .

From 1923 onwards, references and documents appeared that could be related to Le Vasseur's treasure. In an interview with the Milwaukee Journal on July 15, 1934, the writer and curator of the French National Library, Charles de la Roncière, stated that he had been consulted to examine a cryptogram which he dated to the 17th century. This cryptogram belonged to a young lady, whose name he kept secret (today it is certain that it was Mrs. Savy from the Seychelles, who in 1923 found some stones with symbols matching the cryptogram on her private property on the island of Mahé). This document could not be deciphered, but it caused a real hunt for the treasure of "La Buse", which continues to this day.

In 1949 Reginald Cruise-Wilkins began his search for the treasure on Mahé. Except for a few unspectacular finds such as the remains of pistols and swords and a few coins, his expensive search methods did not reveal anything. The far more well-thought-out searchers Jacques and Edward could not find the treasure either, but they found a chest, and again some remains and bones. They had planned the inland and the forest of the island.

literature

Web links

References and comments

  1. ↑ british-history.ac.uk at: 1716, Dec. 14. Antigua. 425. iii. 425. iii. Deposition of Abijah Savage, Commander of the sloop Bonetta of Antigua. Antigua, 30th Nov., 1716. On 9th Nov. between St. Thomas and St. Cruix he was overhauled and plundered by two pirate sloops, who also took a French ship and six sail of small vessels, keeping the French ship etc. One , called the Mary Anne, was commanded by Samuel Bellamy who declared himself to be an Englishman born in London, and the other, the Postillion, by Louis de Boure a Frenchman, who had his sloop chiefly navigated with men of that Nation. Each sloop was mounted with 8 guns, and had betwixt 80 or 90 men. The Mary Anne was chiefly navigated with Englishmen. Deponent was detained at St. Cruix. The pirates only wanted provisions and a ship to make a voyage. Gives names of some of the pirates etc. Signed, Habbjah Savage. Same endorsement. Copy. 2 pp
  2. ↑ Collectif, Pirates , p. 163 Pirates, terror on the high seas from the Caribbean to the South China Sea , JG Press inc., 1998, ISBN 1-57215-264-8
personal data
SURNAME Buse, La
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Buzzard, The; Le Vasseur, Olivier (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION pirate
DATE OF BIRTH 1680 or 1690
PLACE OF BIRTH Calais , France
DATE OF DEATH July 7, 1730
Place of death Saint Paul on Réunion