Abraham Blauvelt
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Abraham Blauvelt was a Dutch privateer, pirate and explorer of
Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...
in the 1630s, after whom both the Bluefield River and the neighboring town of
Bluefields Bluefields is the capital of the South Caribbean Autonomous Region in Nicaragua. It was also the capital of the former Kingdom of Mosquitia, and later the Zelaya Department, which was divided into North and South Caribbean Coast Autonomous Reg ...
,
Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...
were named. One of the last of the Dutch corsairs of the mid-17th century, Abraham Blauvelt was first recorded exploring the coasts of present-day Honduras and Nicaragua in service of the
Dutch West India Company The Dutch West India Company () was a Dutch chartered company that was founded in 1621 and went defunct in 1792. Among its founders were Reynier Pauw, Willem Usselincx (1567–1647), and Jessé de Forest (1576–1624). On 3 June 1621, it was gra ...
. He later traveled to England in an effort to gain support to establish a colony in Nicaragua near the city where Bluefields, Nicaragua presently stands. Around 1640 Blauvelt became a
privateer A privateer is a private person or vessel which engages in commerce raiding 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 o ...
serving the
Swedish East India Company The Swedish East India Company (; SOIC) was founded in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1731 for the purpose of conducting trade with India, China and the Far East. The venture was inspired by the success of the Dutch East India Company and the British Ea ...
and in 1644 he commanded his own ship successfully raiding Spanish shipping from a base in southwest
Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...
, today known as
Bluefields, Jamaica Bluefields is a settlement in Westmoreland Parish on the Caribbean island of Jamaica. It contains a major beach, Bluefields Beach. In Spanish Jamaica, Bluefields was known as Oristan. The town was named after Abraham Blauvelt, a Dutch- ...
, and selling the cargo and prizes to the Dutch colony of
New Amsterdam New Amsterdam (, ) was a 17th-century Dutch Empire, Dutch settlement established at the southern tip of Manhattan Island that served as the seat of the colonial government in New Netherland. The initial trading ''Factory (trading post), fac ...
(
New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...
). After peace between Spain and the Netherlands was reached with the signing of the
Peace of Westphalia The Peace of Westphalia (, ) is the collective name for two peace treaties signed in October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Osnabrück and Münster. They ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) and brought peace to the Holy Roman Empire ...
in 1648, Blauvelt, unable to stay in New Amsterdam, instead sailed to
Newport, Rhode Island Newport is a seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Rhode Island, United States. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, and nort ...
in early 1649 to sell his remaining cargo. However the colonial governor seized one of Blauvelt's prizes and with his crew arguing over their shares, the local colonists, fearing that Rhode Island acquire a reputation of trading with pirates, forced Blauvelt to leave the colony. For the next several years Blauvelt commanded a French ship called ''La Garse'', later living among the natives of
Cape Gracias a Dios Cabo Gracias a Dios is a cape located in the middle of the east coast of Central America, within what is variously called the Mosquito Coast and La Mosquitia. It is the point where the Rio Coco flows into the Caribbean, and is the border betwe ...
near the border of Honduras and Nicaragua, until the early 1660s when he was recruited for
Christopher Myngs Vice Admiral Sir Christopher Myngs (sometimes spelled ''Mings'', 1625–1666) was an English naval officer and privateer, most notably in the Colony of Jamaica. Life The date of Myngs's birth is uncertain, but is probably somewhere between 1 ...
' sacking of the Spanish colony of Campeche in 1663. However, nothing more is known about his activities after this time.


Legacy

Blauvelt is best remembered as a Jewish pirate who fought to defend the honor of the Jewish people, raiding only Spanish ships as revenge for the exile of his people from Spain. His name was immortalized by Terebelo Distillery, which released a namesake New York Bourbon Whiskey to honor him and his legacy.


References


External links


Pirate's Cove: Abraham Blauvelt
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blauvelt, Abraham 17th-century births 17th-century Dutch explorers 17th-century pirates 1663 deaths Dutch explorers of North America Dutch Sephardi Jews Pirates from the Dutch Republic Dutch privateers Explorers of Central America Dutch people of the Eighty Years' War (United Provinces) Sailors on ships of the Dutch West India Company Year of birth uncertain 17th-century Dutch criminals