Today is Talk Like a Pirate Day. Do you have any pirates in your family?
My 8th-great-grandfather is the pirate John Darvil, Jr..
Today is Talk Like a Pirate Day. Do you have any pirates in your family?
My 8th-great-grandfather is the pirate John Darvil, Jr..
Gráinne Ní Mháille, Sea Queen of Connacht
I don't have much of a path to her but hey maybe she's related to other pirates ... Or you ... :)
Jan Jansen van Harlaam is my 8th Great-Grandfather. Jan was the King of the Barbary Coast Pirates. He was known at the time as Morais Rai (sp.?). He was born in Holland in the 1500's and left at some time for Morocco, leaving behind a wife and 2 children. He converted to Islam and had several concubines. This is where my ancestor is from. Jan took many White Europeans into slavery in the Arab countries of North Africa. My ancestor worked in his father Jan's Pirate Empire until he went to Holland met his wife and then immigrated to New Amsterdam.
Mary, it took me a while, but I found your ancestor! :) Jan Janszoon van Haarlem, aka Murat Reis the Younger sounds like a fascinating character.
I have other direct ancestors who were Bahamian pirates, as shown through DNA, but I am still working out the precise paths on paper. I should revisit the Bahamian Pirates project and build more profiles in it.
I have to have some connection to Thomas Walker, Capt. but don't know what it is yet. More incentive to work on Bahamian pirates!
Pirates weren't the only people profiting off ships in the Bahamas. "Wreckers" were men who swam out to wrecked ships and tried to salvage as much as they could. It was incredibly dangerous and men commonly died in the process. This speaks to the desperation of early Bahamians -- they were in such bad need of goods that they were willing to risk their lives to collect whatever they could.