It’s common knowledge that Golden Age pirates were big on personal freedoms, democracy, and equality.
Today I’ll be talking about the legendary pirate utopia called Libertatia. I’d like to
take a moment to explain that there is no solid evidence Libertatia actually existed, but that
doesn’t mean that it didn’t exist either. We DO know that pirates took over Nassau in the Bahamas,
and formed a pirate republic there. We ALSO know that pirates operated from Port Royal, Jamaica.
Both of these places have physical evidence that pirates were present but mainly we’re
verifying the stories based on information from written accounts. Madagascar DOES have evidence
of pirates being on the island, but there isn’t much written to prove Libertatia’s existence.
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Libertatia was said to have been created by a man named James Misson, a Frenchman. While he was on
leave in Rome he met a priest named Caraccili, a free-thinker who preached “every Man was born
free, and had as much Right to what would support him, as to the Air he respired.” Misson and his
crew decided to become pirates and set out looking for a “life of liberty.” Sailing down
the west coast of Africa the pirates captured a slave ship and the pirates freed the men and
welcomed them into the crew. Misson remarked that “the Trading for those of our own Species, cou'd
never be agreeable to the Eyes of divine Justice: That no Man had Power of Liberty of another.”
According to legend Misson and his crew sailed to Madagascar, an island on the east coast of Africa
that was already being used as a base for pirates operating in the Indian Ocean. These pirates were
in an ideal position to intercept East India Company trading ships and plunder them for
their goods which they could sell at a huge profit in ports like New York City and Boston.
The pirates are know to have been based in several locations including St Mary’s island
and Fort Dauphin. It was reported that Libertatia was founded roughly 13 miles
east-south-east of the nearest town in a protected bay with fresh water and fertile
soil. The story goes on to say that pirate Thomas Tew met James Misson and returned to
Libertatia where Tew was amazed to see a settlement governed by direct democracy.
The people of Libertatia spoke of the “natural rights to share of the earth as is necessary”
and viewed everything to be shared. They said that “treasure and cattle should be equally divided.”
Historian Marcus Rediker described the pirates of Libertatia by saying “These pirates who settled in
Libertatia would be ‘vigilant Guardians of the People's Rights and Liberties’;
they would stand as ‘Barriers against the Rich and Powerful’ of their day. By waging war on behalf of
‘the Oppressed’ against the ‘Oppressors,’ they would see that justice was equally distributed.”
The pirates were anti-monarchy, anti-slavery, and opposed to institutional religion. It was said the
locals practiced polygamy and that the massive pirate families lived in large walled compounds.
Some pirates who settled Libertatia worked as farmers while others continued to plunder
shipping. These pirates turned their profits over to the common treasury.
The pirates were reported to have dressed in native clothing and married local women.
It’s a fact that lots of pirates did live and die on Madagascar
and there is a local cemetery with a graveyard full of headstones marking their resting places.
Libertatia was said to have had a white flag, which may have been inspired by legendary pirate
Oliver “La Buse” Levasseur, who was known to have spent a great deal of time on and around
Madagascar. Their motto was reported to have been “for God and liberty” and they called themselves
Liberi. It seems the “Liberi” were simply looking for somewhere to live a free life
and weren’t dreaming of unlimited wealth. The spread of ideas like this would have been viewed
as outright dangerous by governments of the time and, if Libertatia existed in reality,
this may be why written records of it are so scarce.
While the information about Libertatia is very limited we do know what happened to the pirates
who were based at St Mary’s Island. A man named Adam Baldridge, who had fortified the island
and lived a luxurious life with a harem of native women, was in control there. In 1697 Baldridge was
forced out during an uprising by native people. Many pirates were killed in this uprising as well.
The reason for the natives attacking the pirates was said to have been a result of discovering that
Baldridge had sold a group of people as slaves. If Libertatia was only 13 miles away it’s HIGHLY
LIKELY that the Liberi were driven away by the native people due to Baldridge’s actions.
As I mentioned earlier, Libertatia may or may not have existed. In my eyes, it most certainly did in
one form or another. The pirates that formed the republic on Nassau mentioned that they would “Make
it a second Madagascar” and a republic is what they were looking for form. Most modern scholars
view Libertatia as a work of fiction, but keep in mind that scholars also viewed the wreck of
Sam Bellamy’s Whydah Gally as fictional until it was found and proven to exist. The same can
be said of the wreck of the Queen Anne’s revenge which was only confirmed in 2011. As I mentioned
there is a good reason for documentation of Libertatia to be missing as the ideas the
Liberi had would have been in direct conflict with the status quo of the time period.
Regardless if it existed in reality the pirates of Nassau had heard the story of a settlement
where all had freedom to live life as they saw fit and, myth or not, those pirates took
that story and went on to create something real! While we will likely never prove the existence
of Libertatia the story of it gives us a great insight in to the ideals these people had, their
desires for freedom and self-government, and their detest for the the horrible practice of slavery.
I hope you all enjoyed this weeks episode. If you’re enjoying these videos please
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