Photo from open sources
If you think “Jewish pirates” is a joke like “Jewish Cossacks,” then you are deeply mistaken. Jewish piracy in its classic form: with a black flag on the mast and the taking of ships boarding has existed since ancient times.
Hebrew pirates
For a long time, Jews were exclusively land people. Salt Lake 67h18km. they reverently called the sea, although dead. In 142g. BC. the Jews conquered the three ports of Joppa (Yafo), Ashdod and Gaza, and Ancient Judea became a “sea power.” Among Jews appeared professional sailors, merchants and, of course, pirates.
In ancient times, there is practically no difference between a pirate and a merchant existed. Having met a merchant ship at sea, the merchant wondered negotiate an exchange of goods with a colleague, or is it easier to rob? All merchants in combination were also robbers: Phoenicians, Arabs, and Novgorod nibblers – these were still those highway robbers.
In the first century AD, piracy among Jews was so widespread that the ruler of Judea Antigonus II openly accused that the Jewish maritime “special brigades” work under his direct patronage.
The ancient historian Josephus Flavius (37-100 AD) claimed that one of the reasons Pompey’s attack on Judea was to force “peaceful Jewish merchants “engage in trade, not robbery. Joppa (Jaffa) was destroyed by Pompey, but the Jews rebuilt the city, and the Roman emperor had more than once to take Joppa by storm and burn the Jewish robber fleet to sea roads between Egypt, Syria and Phenicia have become, well, at least a little safer.
In 67g. AD Vespasian (future Roman emperor) to finally end this nest of piracy, took the city by storm, destroyed, and in his place he put a fortress with a strong garrison to put an end to Jewish piracy in the Mediterranean once and forever and ever.
Exiles
1492 historians marked not only as the year of discovery by Columbus America, but also the adoption by the Spanish king of the so-called Granada Edict. According to him, all Jews living in Spain were supposed to three months or go to Catholicism, or leave kingdom. Judaists who risked staying lost protection of the law – they could be robbed and killed with impunity.
Forced escape has become a national disaster for the Spanish Jews. They were not only expelled, but simultaneously robbed: most You had to sell your acquired property for a song or just throw in place.
Those who were baptized, soon realized that they did not win nothing. The Inquisition watched the “new Christians” suspecting them of pretense. Marranes trials (so called in Spain) baptized Jews) were commonplace. The sentence was execution or exile, and always with confiscation of property.
Portugal became the first refuge of the exiles, but soon their asked from there. The next stop was the Ottoman Empire. Exiled, robbed, burning with hatred of Spain and Portugal Jewish mariners offered their services to terrify Europeans to the Berber (Muslim) pirates, and they were accepted.
Under the green flag of Islam
In the robber Muslim fleet, ships appeared on which Jewish religious observances were observed; Saturday was declared non-working day (Shabbat!). Jewish pirate ships huddled in large teams led by the most successful captains. Under the leadership of Sinan Rais expelled from Spain (aka Isaac bin Sinan) 6.000 Jewish pirates swam and fought. On the flagship mast a flag waving with a hexagonal star.
Photo from open source Sinan Pasha captured Tunisia, Tripoli, Libya, in In 1538, the Spanish fleet sent against him defeated. In 1552 Turkish sultan appointed pirate Isaac admiral and commander Turkish fleet.
In the Caribbean
Those who were attracted to distant lands rushed overseas to just Open New World. There were a lot of such people. Before the beginning XVIII century in the capital of pirate Jamaica Kingston more than a quarter the population was made up of Jews from Spain and Portugal. The Jamaican Parliament did not even meet on Saturdays due to the constant lack of quorum on this day.
Jewish settlers did not shy away from anything related to piracy. They financed expeditions, acted as intermediaries during the negotiations on the ransom of the hostages, they acted as informants the pirates, in short, did the same thing as the overwhelming population pirate islands. But there were among the Caribbean Jews and simple hard workers plowing on the sea routes.
Photo from open source In the Caribbean, merchant ships chased ships with the “talking” names “Shield of Abraham”, “Prophet Samuel”, “Jerusalem”, “Queen Esther”, etc. In the Jewish cemeteries of Jamaica, Barbados, Curacao there are many graves decorated except for the hexagonal David’s stars also have a skull with bones explaining the dull, what did this son of Abraham earn for his living.
Gentlemen of Fortune in Yermolks
Moses Cohen Henriques was the “author” of the largest in history colonies of a pirate enterprise. In 1628 he was in company with Dutch privateer Pete Hain on a flotilla of 25 ships attacked the Spanish Silver Caravan. Production totaled 92 tons silver worth 11,509,524 guilders.
Swimming under the leadership of Morgan, he rose to the position of adviser famous pirate and then assembled his team from compatriots. He had four frigates equipped exclusively by Jews and six from other religious concessions. One of the islands off the coast of Brazil, Henriques chose in as a base where Jewish sailors practiced their religion.
Henriques was not the only Jew terrorizing at sea the Spaniards. In Jamaica and Tortug legends about captains David Abarbanele and Moses Voklane. Special dislike caribbean jewish pirates experienced the Spaniards, and many had reasons for this.
So Joakov Curiel until 1492 was a successful naval officer of the Spanish Navy, and after 1492 became a refugee and an outcast. On the the money he had taken out, he bought a ship and began to take revenge. Soon already three the ship under his command drove the Spaniards throughout the Caribbean to the sea. To say that the Spaniards hated him is not to say nothing.
Shmuel Falaji, rabbi and son of a rabbi. Having fled from Spain and becoming a pirate, remained a respected rabbi and ambassador of Morocco to Holland. (How all this combined in it – ask what easier)
Gulf of Mexico Storm
The last big Jewish pirate is Jean Lafite, whose grandfather burned down in Spain at the stake of the Inquisition for his commitment to Judaism. At the beginning of the XIX century Lafite led the flotilla of 10 ships literally terrified sailors sailing in Gulf of Mexico. During the Anglo-American War of 1812-1815 New Orleans authorities called on pirate Jean Lafite with his fleet and army to defend the city, promising to forgive him for this former sins.
Lafite accepted the offer, his people and guns played a prominent role in the battle for New Orleans. Americans kept their promise by writing off Lafetu “mistakes of youth”, however violent nature took its toll. Having settled on an island near Yucatan Lafet and leaving 2 ships from all flotilla, he continued to indulge in robbery to the very death in a boarding battle in 1826.
The people are a jack of all trades
In our minds, Jews are represented as a people, least of all prone to militancy on the battlefield. Common to jews occupations by trade, finance, science, art are considered. But how shows history, among them were personalities prone to adventures not just trading and financial. And by the way, the legendary Bear The Jap was also not baptized, but circumcised.
Time
