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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 Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence by ship or boat-borne attackers upon another ship or a coastal area, typically with the goal of stealing cargo and valuable goods, or taking hostages. Those who conduct acts of piracy are call ...
, first published in Dutch as ''De Americaensche Zee-Roovers'', in
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
, by Jan ten Hoorn, in 1678.


Life

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 Hon ...
, France, who on his return from
buccaneer Buccaneers were a kind of privateer or free sailors, and pirates 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 u ...
ing settled in
Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former provinces of the Netherlands, province on the western coast of the Netherland ...
, possibly because he was a
Huguenot The Huguenots ( , ; ) are a Religious denomination, religious group of French people, French Protestants who held to the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, ...
. In 1666 he was engaged by the
French West India Company The French West India Company () was a trading company of the Kingdom of France founded in May 1664 and eventually closed in late 1674. The brainchild of King Louis XIV's First Minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert, the company was part of an ambitious ...
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 privateer or free sailors, and pirates 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 u ...
s, in particular with the band of
Henry Morgan Sir Henry Morgan (; – 25 August 1688) was a Welsh privateer, plantation owner, and, later, the lieutenant governor of Jamaica. From his base in Port Royal, Jamaica, he and those under his command raided settlements and shipping ports o ...
, whose confidante he was, probably as a barber-surgeon, 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 ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...
as his name appears on the muster-roll as a
surgeon In medicine, a surgeon is a medical doctor who performs surgery. Even though there are different traditions in different times and places, a modern surgeon is a licensed physician and received the same medical training as physicians before spec ...
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 and Alexandre Bras-de-Fer) 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 Sir Henry Morgan (; – 25 August 1688) was a Welsh privateer, plantation owner, and, later, the lieutenant governor of Jamaica. From his base in Port Royal, Jamaica, he and those under his command raided settlements and shipping ports o ...
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 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 ''deposition (law), deponent'' under an oath or affirmation which is administered by a person who is authorized to do so by la ...
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 The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...
by the Buccaneers of
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 ...
and Tortuga'' (both English and French), containing also Basil Ringrose’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 New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
(reprinted 1967).
Peter Benchley Peter Bradford Benchley (May 8, 1940 – February 11, 2006) was an American author. He is best known for his bestselling novel '' Jaws'' and co-wrote its movie adaptation with Carl Gottlieb. Several more of his works were also adapted for both ...
, 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 The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...
.
''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