Augustin Blanco (

fl. ''Floruit'' ( ; usually abbreviated fl. or occasionally flor.; from Latin for 'flourished') denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active. In English, the unabbreviated word may also be used as a noun indic ...

1700–1725) was a Spanish

pirate 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 ...

and ''

guarda costa ''Guarda costa'' or ''guardacosta'' ("coast guard") was the name used in the Spanish Empire during the 17th and 18th centuries for the privateers based off their overseas territories, tasked with hunting down piracy, contraband and foreign private ...

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 ...

active 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 ...

. He was noted for attacking in open boats, and for having a mixed-race crew.

History

Blanco was from

Baracoa Baracoa, whose full original name is: ''Nuestra Señora de la Asunción de Baracoa'' ("Our Lady of the Assumption of Baracoa"), is a municipality and city in Guantánamo Province near the eastern tip of Cuba. It was visited by Admiral Christopher ...

Cuba Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...

, and had been operating in the Caribbean for some time: “an old robber among these Islands about 25 years.” His crew was noted for being mixed-race, including “English, Scots, Spaniards, Mulattoes, and Negroes.” His co-Captain was an Englishman, Richard Hancock. Blanco had received commission as a ''guarda costa''

from Don Carlos Sucre y Pardo, Governor of

Santiago de Cuba Santiago de Cuba is the second-largest city in Cuba and the capital city of Santiago de Cuba Province. It lies in the southeastern area of the island, some southeast of the Cuban capital of Havana. The municipality extends over , and contains t ...

; the English complained that the Spaniards abused these commissions to attack English towns, logwood cutters, and others. In March 1725 Blanco attacked the Jamaica-bound sloop ''Snapper'' by rowing alongside in an open

periagua Periagua (from Spanish language, Spanish ''piragua'', in turn derived from the Carib language word for dugout (boat), dugout) is the term formerly used in the Caribbean and the eastern seaboard of North America for a range of small craft including ...

. Blanco threatened to attack

New Providence New Providence is the most populous island in The Bahamas, containing more than 70% of the total population. On the eastern side of the island is the national capital, national capital city of Nassau, Bahamas, Nassau; it had a population of 246 ...

and “give no quarter,” and also claimed the Spanish Governor had forced him to attack the English and take prisoners who would be used as laborers by the Spanish. He landed on

Eleuthera Eleuthera () refers both to a single island in the archipelagic state of the The Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Bahamas and to its associated group of smaller islands. Eleuthera forms a part of the Great Bahama Bank. The island of Eleuthera incor ...

where some of the sloop's crew escaped, but where Blanco looted an English settlement and took several prisoners. Bahamas Governor

George Phenney George Phenney was governor of the Bahamas, a customs collector in the southern colonies and council member. He served as governor of the Bahama islands from 1721 to 1727. After leaving the governorship, he was accused of impropriety in court marsh ...

armed two sloops with troops from his garrison and sent them after Blanco, but their search proved futile. Phenney sent letters of complaint to Governor of

Havana Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.Nassau Nassau may refer to: Places Austria * Nassau (Groß Sankt Florian), incorporated village of Groß Sankt Florian Bahamas *Nassau, The Bahamas, capital city of the Bahamas Canada *Nassau District, renamed Home District, regional division in Upp ...

but could not protect outlying islands where traders sailed to collect salt and logwood and requested the King send a warship to help secure the area from pirates.

References

Year of birth missing 18th-century pirates Pirates from New Spain Spanish privateers Spanish pirates Caribbean pirates 1725 deaths {{Pirate-stub

History

See also

References