The Buccaneers of America

by Alexandre Olivier Exquemelin, Alexis Brown (Translator)

A cross between genuine privateers, commissioned to defend a country's colonies and trade, and outright pirates, buccaneers were largely English, French, and Dutch adventurers who plied the waters among the Caribbean Islands and along the coasts of Central America, Venezuela, and Colombia more than 300 years ago. The activities of these bands of plundering sea rovers reached a peak in the second half of the seventeenth century, when this remarkable eyewitness account was first published (1678).
Alexander Exquemelin, thought to be a Frenchman who enlisted with the buccaneers for a time, chronicles the bold feats of these raiders as they ravaged shipping and terrorized Caribbean settlements. Exquemelin provides fascinating details of the French presence in Hispaniola (now comprising the island nations of Haiti and the Dominican Republic) describes the features of that country and its inhabitants, and comments at length on the origin of the buccaneers, vividly recounting their rules of conduct and way of life. These bold plunderers come across as shrewd strategists, crack shots, fine navigators, wild debauchers, and greedy adventurers who frequently engaged in vicious acts of cruelty. Among the figures in his rogues' gallery, none stands out more than the infamous Henry Morgan, whose exploits culminated in the seizure and burning of Panama City.
A bestseller in its own time, The Buccaneers of America will fascinate any modern reader intrigued by piracy and by the often sordid history of European conflicts in the Caribbean and on the Spanish Main.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Pirates, Adventure, Nautical, Classics, 17th Century

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1678

About the author

Alexandre Olivier Exquemelin (also spelled Esquemeling, Exquemeling, or Oexmelin) was a French writer best known as the author of one of the most important sourcebooks of 17th century piracy, first published in Dutch as De Americaensche Zee-Roovers, in Amsterdam, by Jan ten Hoorn, in 1678.

Born about 1645, it is likely that Exquemelin was a native of Harfleur, France, who on his return from buccaneering settled in Holland, possibly because he was a Huguenot. In 1666 he was engaged by the French West India Company and went to Tortuga, where he stayed for three years. There he enlisted with the buccaneers, in particular with the band of Henry Morgan, 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 as his name appears on the muster-roll as a surgeon in the attack on Cartagena in 1697.

- Source: Wikipedia

Reviews

[Ian · Rating 2 out of 5]

There seems to be some confusion about the author’s name in this case. In this edition he is listed as John Esquemeling, but most editions list him as Alexandre-Olivier Exquemelin. By his own account, he originally travelled to the Americas as an indentured servant, being sold on twice before eventually purchasing his freedom. Finding himself free but penniless, he threw in his lot with the pirates of the Caribbean - the real ones. He eventually settled in Amsterdam, where this book was published in 1678. According to GR the original title was "De Americaensche Zee-Roovers", first translated into English in 1684.

I found this account dull and uninspired. Esquemeling states early on that “I…assure my reader that I shall give him no stories upon trust, or hearsay, but only those enterprises to which I myself was an eyewitness.” I know that type of statement immediately sets off alarm bells with historians. In fairness, no-one seems to dispute that the author was a pirate, but the text itself provides very little sense of a first-hand testimony. Much of it consists of repetitive accounts of assaults on the cities of Central America, each of which can be summarised as “The pirates gathered a fleet…they assaulted the city…the Spaniards resisted but were overcome…the city was sacked.” We also get lurid descriptions of grotesque tortures inflicted by the pirates on civilians who fell into their hands, to persuade them to say where they had hidden their money and jewels. It was tough luck if you didn’t have any money or jewels.

Other than the above, Esquemeling largely confirms the stereotype that the pirates of the Spanish Main rapidly dissipated their ill-gotten gains on “drink and debauchery”. Judging from this book, the long-term economic effect of Caribbean piracy was a transfer of wealth from the Spanish colonists of Central America to the region’s bar and brothel keepers.

A disappointingly lifeless account.

[Sauerkirsche · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hinsichtlich der Geschichte der Piraterie sehr interessant. Es werden einige berühmte Namen genannt wie Captain Henry Morgan (ich frage mich warum nach einer derart brutalen, menschenverachtenden Person eine Rumsorte bzw. überhaupt etwas benannt wurde). Mir war vorher nicht bewusst, dass ganze Städte auf den Karibikinseln und Mittelamerikas ständig von Piraten überfallen, geplündert und abgebrannt wurden. Auch dass Europäer aus gutem Hause in der Neuen Welt in die Sklaverei verkauft werden konnten und sich teilweise nur durch Piraterie frei kaufen konnten, war mir unbekannt.
Diese Piratenstreifzüge hatten allerdings nichts abenteuerlich-romantisches an sich, wie bspw. in Fluch der Karibik, sondern waren einfach nur im höchsten Grade menschenverachtend und gewalttätig.
Einige Anekdoten und Geschichten waren wirklich spannend, wie sich einige Seeräuber aus den ausweglosesten Situationen herauswinden konnten, hat schon Spaß gemacht beim Lesen.
Die meisten Raubzüge und Plünderungen gleichen sich aber sehr und wurden nach dem dritten Überfall etwas ermüdend. Die Beschreibungen der Flora, Fauna und Eingeborenen mancher Karibikinseln war ein schöner Zusatz. Der Großteil drehte sich jedoch um die Raubzüge, die mir dann doch etwas zu eintönig waren.
Festzuhalten ist, dass so ziemlich jeder an jedem Grausamkeiten verübt hat. Spanier an Franzosen und umgekehrt, Spanier an Eingeboreren und umgekehrt. Exquemelin beschäftigt sich überraschend viel mit der Kultur der Eingeboreren und prangert den Umgang der christlichen Missionare (zurecht) aufs Übelste an.
Insgesamt ein interessanter, historischer Tatsachenbericht aus erster Hand. Zumindest wird das angenommen, denn ganz zweifelsfrei ist die Person des Alexandre Exquemelin wohl nicht festzumachen.

[Redsteve · Rating 4 out of 5]

The publisher was sued by Captain Henry Morgan (Yes, THAT Captain Morgan) for his portrayal in this book.

[Carlos Magdaleno Herrero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Esta pequeña joya cuenta las peripecias de un francés que fue al Caribe a traficar con esclavos en el siglo XVII y acabó siendo esclavo de los piratas de la zona, para luego acabar convirtiéndose en cirujano de los mismos piratas.
La obra fue publicada en Holanda y traducida del flamenco al castellano unos años después. Por lo tanto tiene ese encanto de estar leyendo algo en la forma propia que se narraba hace más de trescientos años.
Está considerada como la obra más descriptiva de los bucaneros-piratas que hubo por El Caribe y alrededores, y que básicamente eran súbditos franceses e ingleses que se dedicaban a expoliar y arrasar las riquezas y vidas de los mismos de su católica majestad española.
Describe de una forma muy detallada tanto la geografía, fauna, flora, costumbres de la zona, así como la implacable crueldad de estos piratas que poco cuartel concedían.

[E · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting! Exquemelin offers a really revealing contemporary history of the buccaneers. It's totally engrossing, horrifying, and sometimes even funny. It digresses almost immediately into anecdotes about plants and wildlife, but I love those narrow glimpses of life in the Caribbean. I love that I now know that the frigate bird pummels other seabirds until they vomit (a prepared meal!) and that the ink derived from genipa fruit disappears after 9 days

Exquemelin's slow descent into first-person is pretty amusing. Evidently they didn't have great editors in the 17th century.

The terrible:

The buccaneers found nobody in the village but a poor ignorant simpleton. They asked him where the folks had fled. He said he did not know - he had not inquired. They asked whether he knew of any plantations; he said he must have been on twenty in his lifetime. Then they demanded whether he knew where to find the gold and silver of the churches.

Yes, he replied, and brought them to the church sacristy, saying he had seen all the gold and silver there, but he did not know where it was now. When they could get no more answers out of him, they tied him up and beat him. Then the simple fellow began to shout, 'Let me go! I will show you my house and my goods and my money!'

This made the rovers think they were dealing with a rich man who had pretending to be a fool. They unbound him, and he brought them to a hovel, where he had buried a few earthenware dishes, plates and other trash, together with three piece of eight. They asked him his name. 'I am Don Sebastian Sanchez,' he said, 'brother of the governor of Maracaibo.' Then they began to torture him anew, tying him up and beating him til the blood ran down his body. He cried out that if they would let him go, he would take them to his sugar-mill, where they would find all his wealth and his slaves, but when they untied him he was unable to walk. They flung him on a horse, but in the forest he told them that he had no sugar-mill, nor anything in the world, and that he lived on the charity of the hospital. This was true, as they afterwards discovered.

Again they took him and bound him, hanging stones from his neck and his feet. They burned palm leaves under his face, making it so sooty with smoke he did not look like a man, and they beat him violently. He died after half an hour of these torments. They cut the rope and dragged his body into the woods, where they left him lying.

The funny:

Some writers assert that the food the Indians take to their dead is carried off by the devil, but I do not consider this to be true. I have often helped myself to these offerings, as the fruit they put on the grave is always the ripest and most delicious they can find.

The 1969 Penguin translation is impeccable although the book would have benefited from footnotes rather than bracketed interjections in the text itself.

[N.N. Heaven · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very dry reading. While I tried to get through it, I ended up stopping at 47%.

[ferrigno · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cronache?

Sottotitolo: "Cronache di un medico pirata".
La retorica con cui il libro è presentato dagli editori ("...partecipando in prima persona ad alcune delle loro imprese più note") è ingannevole. "Sappiamo ben poco di Alexandre Exquemelin", però non si esita a credere alla leggenda del medico che partecipa in prima persona.
Se cè qualcosa che manca a questo libro, è proprio l'immediatezza del testo diaristico, del vissuto, della notizia di prima mano.
Per quanto posso ricavarne dalla lettura, questo libro potrebbe benissimo essere il risultato di accurate ricerche bibliografiche.
Per immergesi nel mondo dei pirati è molto meglio "L'isola del tesoro" di Stevenson.

[John Valesano · Rating 4 out of 5]

A biographical work of pirates, especially Captain Henry Morgan, written by a pirate himself who witnessed and participated in their crimes. It gives accounts of the brutality and disregard for human life that they perpetrated on both the Spanish ships and common innocent people in their port towns. Even though the pirates were very democratic and law abiding amongst themselves, they were anything but when it came to their victims. They were lawless thugs, that unfortunately were romanticized and glorified by future generations. All said though, it gives you an impartial look into the heyday of piracy in the Atlantic Ocean.

[Leanne Ritchie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disturbing non fiction account of the lives of pirates in the Carribean, including Henry Morgan's sacking of Panama. Coupled with Marcus Reddiker's The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea and Peter Leeson's the Invisible Hook, and if you can ignore the brutality of it all, it's a fascinating look at the foundations of the self-organizing, democratic labour movement that would later develop in North America. Let no man be pressed into service.

[Kagan McLeod · Rating 5 out of 5]

Repetitive with the looting and pillaging, and peppered with lengthy descriptions of new world fauna and fruit. But as far as first-hand accounts of piracy in its golden age, this is one of the oldest and best.

[Ken Angle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Looking out of the portals of El Moro @ viejo San Juan whispers of fortunes and empires. The books adds fact to the popular fables. Fills in some of the blanks of history.

[Phillip Fuller · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has been listed as source material for the many pirate books I read as a kid and I see why they all used this text. Alexander Oliver Exquemelin spent his life among the buccaneers and knew first hand what a pirates life was like. Many of the facts I read before in previous readings of the junior America heritage Pirates of the Spanish Main among others but I also got some insights into the natives of this region. There was also observations on wild life and the way indentured servants were treated less humanely than slaves. I learned for a fact that pirates did not bury treasure because most of their pieces of eight went to taverns and the brothels of the ports they were based in. One buccaneer spent most of his loot just to see a woman naked! Buccaneers of America is an essential text for studying the history of piracy in this period of time.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's good a historical document rife with detail and description. It's a little repetitive, and though it's about 230 pages, it's dense and a bit of a slow read.

[Sergio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesante. Para tomárselo con calma.

[Rhiannon D'Averc · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exquemelin is ever-informative, and keeps a quite unbiased account of his time with the buccaneers, often separating them as "the buccaneers" but sometimes slipping into "us". Although he doesn't cover the whole story - how could he? He was only retelling what he saw - this glimpse into the exploits of Morgan and L'Ollonais is at times thrilling, educative, and even laugh-out-loud funny. It has sections taken from letters by important figures of the time, quotes in both French and Spanish, and lots of detail into the lives of the native American Indians, often stuff that's really interesting. It's very harsh towards the Spanish since he hated them, kind to the French since he was one, and also kind to the English since that's who he spent his time with. The chapters are short and concise, allowing you to dip in and out whenever you want. Altogether, a great read.

[Tom Oman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing first hand account, one of the only such records of pirate life. I see that others complained of the dry writing but I found it quite enjoyable and imaginative. Being written in 1678 the author has an economy of words and uses clever expressions in a sort of Shakespearean style that is almost poetic. Highly recommended.

[Maria Stancheva · Rating 1 out of 5]

Много изнервяща и скучна. Едно и също се повтаря през 2-3 страници и така до края.
Едвам я прочетох и въпреки че трябва да отдам заслуженото на автора, че е бил очевидец и участник в събитията, този факт не успя да ме накара да му дам повече от 1 звезда за писателски умения.

[Anton Creemers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Niet zozeer een verhaal dan wel een bundel gebeurtenissen maar des te boeiender als 'first hand account' in het eveneens boeiend 17de Eeuws Neederlandsch

P.s. Werner Herzog of Oliver Stone maak hier een film.van 🙏🙏🙏🙏

[E Owen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and rare contemporary source for Buccaneers and early Caribbean piracy.

[MichaelR · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very detailed and gruesome first-person account of pirate / buccaneer life in the Caribbean circa late 1600. Originally published in 1678, so a fascinating account of this time in history.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

"On Sunday, June 12th, the work of careening our ship going in due order, we came to cleanse our hold, and here on a sudden, both myself and several others were struck totally blind with the filth and nastiness of the said place. Yet soon after we recovered our sight again without any other help than the benefit of the fresh and open air, which dissipated those malignant vapours that had oppressed our eyes."

My edition of this book contained the following sections:
- 1966 introduction by Percy G. Adams
- 1893 introduction by Henry Powell
- Buccaneers of America by Alexandre Exquemelin (whose name was somehow Anglicized to John Esquemeling in the original English translation)
- and finally, Basil Ringrose's account of "The Dangerous Voyage and Bold Assaults of Captain Bartholomew Sharp and Others"

If you are interested in pirates and prepared to dig through the now-antiquated language, there is wealth of fascinating information here! Exquemelin's half of the volume was particularly exciting - his accounts of the reckless audacity/insane luck of the infamous Sir Henry Morgan are probably the standout portions of the book. Ringrose's half suffered from his workmanlike determination to chronicle the weather, wind direction, and ship's latitude on a daily basis, but there are anecdotal gems scattered throughout. (The quote above, for example.) These men documented the good, the bad, and the ugly - the treasure-lust, the violence and torture, the thrilling battles, the tedium of long sea voyages, the discovery of strange flora and fauna, the oppression of Native peoples, the joy of reuniting with lost comrades or of sighting a verdant island. It's a classic for a reason - absolutely required reading for anyone with an interest in the Age of Sail.

[Clara Mazzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Che libro grandioso! Adoro qualsiasi tipo di avventura e questo resconto della vita dei pirati dei Caraibi a cavallo del Seicento mi ha stregata fin dalle prime pagine. Non tanto per la sua struttura (un po’ ripetitiva, come del resto lo era anche la loro vita) quanto per il fascino che esercita su di me la figura del pirata. E francamente, dopo aver letto delle molteplici torture che hanno perpetrato anche sui più poveri pur di estorcere loro del denaro, mi sono anche stupita di come potessi restare affascinata da loro – o come siano riusciti i romanzieri o i cineasti a farne delle figure affascinanti. E poi mi si è accesa una lampadina: è la ricerca di una vita “libera”, indipendente, al di fuori degli schemi ma coerente con la nuova struttura che si erano dati, una struttura poi che era molto “corretta”, coerente, a modo suo. Per esempio, mi affascinava tutta la faccenda della spartizione del bottino: chi ha perso una mano ha diritto a tot risarcimento; chi ha perso un occhio ha diritto ad un altro compenso; chi ha perso entrambe le gambe; chi ha ucciso più uomini e insomma c’era una certa giustizia – vista da loro punto di vista!
La parte più divertente del libro è stata comunque e soprattutto il leggere, impresa dopo impresa, della inettitudine degli Spagnoli, che seppure erano perfettamente consapevoli sia della presenza rapace dei pirati che delle loro strategie d’attacco e di predazione, non hanno mai cambiato sistema e hanno sempre perso miserevolmente, tanto che alla fine c’era da ridere.
A me è piaciuto moltissimo, ma lo consiglio ad appassionati sull’argomento, nel senso che si tratta di un testo del Seicento, e quindi di non immediata lettura per chi non è allenato in testi non proprio recenti, scritti in maniera “antiqua”.

[Ion · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alexandre Olivier Exquemelin, a Frenchman and a buccaneer (such as the French pirates in the Caribbean were called), was a barber-surgeon in Henry Morgan's crew and a confidante of the famous pirate captain, until 1674.
From such a position, he wrote "The Buccaneers of America or The Pirates of Panama - A True Account of the Famous Adventures and Daring Deeds of Sir Henry Morgan and Other Notorious Freebooters of the Spanish Main". This account became one of the few very rich primary sources we have on the pirates of the era, specially of Francis Lolonois, a French buccanner, and of Sir Henry Morgan, an English privateer, turned pirate.
If you are really interested in the true facts about the pirates in the Caribbean, this book is highly recommended, even if it is at times a little tedious.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Murder, torture, and disfigurement have never been so dry.
This is a source text, not literature, so don't expect it to win a Pulitzer, but it is interesting. Although it reads like a registry, rather than a narrative account, there is no shortage of heart-eating, village burning, nose and ear removal, and other feats of morally questionable badassery. As an example, you'll learn how a member of Captain Morgan's crew was shot with an arrow, pulled it out of the other side of his body, wrapped it in gunpowder and shot it back at his assailant with a musket, setting fire to their whole tower. If you like that kind of thing, and you're interested in history, this book is worth the time it takes to read it.

[Bethany · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have no reason to think this isn’t a true account of wha tit was to be a buccaneer. And I obviously don’t know what it was like to be alive in the 1600s. But I’m of the impression that writing was rare and especially of this caliber. They speculate in the intro that he ended up a doctor, but yeah. I feel like it was a contrived fiction trying to accomplish some sort of propaganda or mass fear. The details are interesting, especially regarding the flora, fauna and natives. The buccaneers themselves are really more terrorists, motivated by a lack of food. And they did some really atrocious things.

[John Valett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic read into a forgotten life of Buccaneers on the island of Hispaniola. The author does an incredible job of painting a world around him and describe the flora, fauna, and people that inhabit that world. His accounts of Captain Morgan and his various attacks along the Spanish Main was enthralling.

[Velta Gūtmane · Rating 2 out of 5]

Esmu nolēmusi, ka man nav jāizlasa visas grāmatas kuras sāku lasīt. Šī grāmata mani neinteresēja un beidzu lasīt pie 65 lapas puses.

Grāmatā ir plaši izklāstīta ekosistēma , kurā kuģo pirāti. Tomēr mazāk aizraujoši pirātu piedzīvojumi.

Neesmu pārliecināta, vai man patīk šī tematika. Vairāk sliecos, ka nē. Tomēr viss arī atkarīgs kā ir uzrakstīta grāmata.

[Austin Holly · Rating 5 out of 5]

"It is a matter of common observation that success spurs on the soldier to enhance his glory, the merchant to increase his riches, and the artist to augment his knowledge."

"For nothing brings about more enmity between two peoples than their being unable to understand each other - for it is impossible for an ordinary man to love or esteem someone if he cannot understand him."

[Bradford · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s a worthwhile read to get a unique, first-hand account of the early Caribbean pirates. Can’t help but feel like the French got more credit than they deserved, and the Spaniards can’t possibly be that incompetent. I also feel like his casualty reckoning has to be off.

[Rickeclectic · Rating 3 out of 5]

Published in 1678. I hesitated to call it non-fiction as I think some of it is hearsay or fabulous, but an interesting early account of piracy in the Americas. Much of the information seems factual and likely accurate. A history book, not a fantasy book.