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18th-century Portuguese pirate
Simon Mascarino
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Nationality
| Portuguese
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Occupation
| Pirate
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Years active
| 1701?1721
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Piratical career
|
Allegiance
| Spanish
|
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Base of operations
| Caribbean
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Commands
| Revenge
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Simon Mascarino
(
fl.
1701?1721) was a
Portuguese
pirate active in the
Caribbean
. He was also a
privateer
in service of the
Spanish
.
History
[
edit
]
Spanish
guarda costa
privateers had captured the
sloop
Revenge
from the
English
, and in early 1721 it was captained by Simon Mascarino, a “noted villain in these parts where he has been privatier and pirate above 20 years.”
[1]
He had a commission from the Governor of
St. Jago
to cruise against English ships and settlements of
Jamaica
.
[2]
After looting a Jamaican
schooner
, Mascarino’s
Revenge
was caught by the Royal Navy’s Captain Vernon of Jamaica.
[1]
Vernon wrote that Mascarino had been augmenting his crew with anyone he could find: “His crew was made up of all nations and colours.”
[2]
The
Frenchmen
of his crew were sent to the French Governor at
Santo Domingo
, who executed them.
[2]
Black and
mulatto
members of his crew were sold into slavery unless they could prove their status as freedmen, which some did.
[2]
Vernon also took aboard several Englishmen which the Spanish had been holding prisoner at
Havana
for use at hard labor. He was also able to show that the
Revenge
itself had been captured when Spain and England were at peace, proving that Mascarino had been using his privateering commission as a pretense for piracy.
[2]
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]