The Hundred Year Old Pyrate

18th Century Map of Madagascar and surrounding islands

When I think of pyrates, I envision salty, scarred men and women who are wiry, strong, and fiercely independent. They take what they need while living their best life on the high seas.

And they love rum.

I don’t imagine them growing old and retiring somewhere tropical with all of their life’s pleasures close at hand. I mean, most pyrates had VERY short careers that usually ended with them hanging from a noose. Three to five years as a freedom lovin’ pyrate was a good run.

Well, I was plunderin’ (researching) pyrate colonies and settlements down near Madagascar, and would you believe that there was a one hundred- and four-year-old pyrate who DID retire in the tropical paradise of Reunion Island? Yep, I jest you not. One hundred and four. Retired. Tropical paradise.

The tropical paradise of Reunion Island, a retirement community for pyrates in the 18th century

This ole pyrate was not a lonely, scraggly, malnourished graybeard that had been wandering for years on Reunion Island. In fact, quite the opposite.

Reunion Island was the home of a colony of pyrates that lived quite well; some of them, even luxuriously. For instance, three pyrates, John Plantain, James Adair, and Hans Burgen, together took a handsome prize, divided the loot, and then retired at Antongil Bay on Reunion. They built a fort and soon the natives called them rulers; Plantain even called himself the “King of Ranter Bay”. Plantain’s home was filled with treasures from the Orient and his wives, (local natives -Malagasy women), wore “golden chains, rings, bracelets, and diamonds…” (Honor Among Thieves by Jan Rogozinski, pp 221 – 222).

Along with self-named Pyrate King Plantain, Captain Adair, and Captain Burgen, there were dozens of “former” pyrates living quite comfortably on Madagascar. There are no official records of marriages, births, deaths, or the like, but, according to Jan Rogozinski, (who holds a Ph.D from Princeton University), there was a retired pyrate on Reunion in 1770 who was “aged one hundred and four,” ((Honor Among Thieves by Jan Rogozinski, p. 222).

104!

An old pyrate sittin’ atop his riches while he explains how it all came to pass

Now, my fellow pyrates, THAT’S exciting news! For pyrates (like myself) that are nearing the “retirement age” where we dream of a warm, tropical island with a comfortable home and no financial worries, here is PROOF that you CAN be a pyrate AND get that beach house! All you need to do is score ONE big prize, and you’re set!

Now, these days, that ONE big prize has gotta be the lottery, a REALLY fat inheritance, a million dollar bestselling novel, discovering a shipwreck full of gold…well, you get the picture. There just aren’t that many opportunities anymore for modern pyrates to take down a couple of Spanish or Mughal treasure ships.

Sigh.