Raveneau de Lussan (born c. 1663 in Paris) was a French

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 ...

. He belonged to a noble but impoverished family, and embraced a military career at the age of 14. In 1679 he embarked for

Santo Domingo Santo Domingo, formerly known as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city of the Dominican Republic and the List of metropolitan areas in the Caribbean, largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean by population. the Distrito Na ...

in search of fortune, but was unsuccessful, and joined the buccaneers under Laurens de Graaf, sailing from

Petit-Goâve Petit-Goâve () is a coastal List of communes of Haiti, commune in the Léogâne Arrondissement in the Ouest (department), Ouest Departments of Haiti, department of Haiti. It is located southwest of Port-au-Prince. The town has a population of a ...

, 22 November 1684. He soon left de Graaf at the head of a band of his own, and in 1685 pillaged the town of

El Realejo El Realejo is a municipality in the Chinandega department of Nicaragua. History The town of El Realejo was constructed in 1532, during the first years of Spanish colonization. During this period it served as Nicaragua's principal port, and rema ...

. In 1686 his band took part in the capture of

Grenada Grenada is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean Sea. The southernmost of the Windward Islands, Grenada is directly south of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and about north of Trinidad and Tobago, Trinidad and the So ...

, and, not finding the booty they expected, set fire to the city. After this Lussan separated from the English pirates, but he joined them again for the purpose of attacking

Guayaquil Guayaquil (), officially Santiago de Guayaquil, is the largest city in Ecuador and also the nation's economic capital and main port. The city is the capital (political), capital of Guayas Province and the seat of Guayaquil Canton. The city is ...

, which they took with much booty. Lussan and a part of his followers then sailed for

Tehuantepec Tehuantepec (, in full, Santo Domingo Tehuantepec) is a city and municipality in the southeast of the Mexican state of Oaxaca. It is part of the Tehuantepec District in the west of the Istmo Region. The area was important in pre-Hispanic per ...

, which they captured, and went as far north as

Acapulco Acapulco de Juárez (), commonly called Acapulco ( , ; ), is a city and Port of Acapulco, major seaport in the Political divisions of Mexico, state of Guerrero on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, south of Mexico City. Located on a deep, semicirc ...

. They returned to Mapala, a port north of El Realejo, and deliberated on the route they should take to reach the

Antilles The Antilles is an archipelago bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the south and west, the Gulf of Mexico to the northwest, and the Atlantic Ocean to the north and east. The Antillean islands are divided into two smaller groupings: the Greater An ...

. It was agreed to march to Nueva Segovia, a town situated on the

Coco River The Wangki river in Miskitu or Río Coco, in Spanish, formerly known as the Río Segovia, Cape River, or Yara River, is a river located on the border of northern Nicaragua and southern Honduras. It is the longest river that runs entirely within t ...

, which empties into the Atlantic. Of this expedition

Voltaire François-Marie Arouet (; 21 November 169430 May 1778), known by his ''Pen name, nom de plume'' Voltaire (, ; ), was a French Age of Enlightenment, Enlightenment writer, philosopher (''philosophe''), satirist, and historian. Famous for his wit ...

said: "The retreat of the ten thousand will always be more celebrated, but is not to be compared to it." Lussan formed four companies, of seventy men each, and made them swear to observe the severest discipline. On 2 January 1688, after praying together, and sinking their boats for fear they might fall into the power of the Spaniards, they began their march, and in ten days, during which they were almost constantly engaged in fighting superior numbers, they reached Nueva Segovia. One evening, in a defile surrounded by rocks of great height on which the Spaniards had intrenched themselves, the buccaneers sought hopelessly for a way of escape. Lussan proposed that, leaving eighty men to guard the sick, they should get in the rear of the mountains and then surprise the enemy. His advice was at first rejected, but was adopted when their case became desperate. They found a path which led behind the mountains, and, favored by a thick fog, they forced the intrenchments of the Spaniards and put them to flight. After this victory they chanted a

Te Deum The ( or , ; from its incipit, ) is a Latin Christian hymn traditionally ascribed to a date before AD 500, but perhaps with antecedents that place it much earlier. It is central to the Ambrosian hymnal, which spread throughout the Latin ...

. They then descended the Yara on the wretched boats of the country, and came in sight 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 ...

on 9 February. Lussan embarked on an English lugger on 14 February, and reached Santo Domingo on 6 April. He had marched nearly 1,000 miles, constantly harassed by the Spaniards, although the distance from the point where he started to that which he wished to reach was but 240 miles in a straight line. Lussan published ''Journal du voyage fait à la mer du Sud avec les flibustiers de l'Amérique'' (Paris, 1688, 1690, 1705). It was dedicated to the minister of the navy, who, in common with most Frenchmen of the time, appeared to consider the exploits of Lussan worthy of approval. Although the work is confused, it contains curious and interesting details on the productions and manners of the natives of the countries he visited.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lussan, Raveneau de 1660s births Year of death unknown French pirates