Quite a number this one: Gasparilla

[Charity]

http://www.pir8clan.com/gaspar.htm

What a sicko..this is THE most horrifying story i've ever heard..my god...

Why kill when you're finished with someone, my god what a sicko...

[Madam Macaw]

What an interestin' read. Look'n forward to gett'n to the others too.

Thanks much lads!

[HarborMaster]

Sounds ,like a pirate to me! Edward Low ., John Avery and many others have ruthlessly killed maimed and tortured.., cutting off body parts and cooking them .,then making the victim eat them. All in an effort to get information from the victim about the where abouts of treasure.

The burning of people while they are alive., perhaps Raping the women then setting the ship a fire.

These piratical things are all common in our pirate history. I found Jose Gaspars story interesting and am reading the rest of the above linked website.,well done so I bookmarked it.

If you want to read about attrocities and government involvement of piracy and the downfall of Spains claim to the New World beginning in 1496 and forward ...,as well as Privateers.,Bucaneers.,and Pirates

try TERROR ON THE HIGH SEAS by David Cordingly the Hardback pictorial. I am in this book now at chapter 4 its hard to put down. Great reading there as well as pictures of artifacts, paintings, maps, and documents from maritime museums.., Its the best I have read so far...,a nice coffee table version.

HarborMaster

[Charity]

So true, others did it *blush* silly me, it was just when reading it for a moment you're shocked, some are just worse then others!

Burning of people, most notibly "whitches", it's the most horrible thing i think.

Yeah...people can do awful things to each other

[Grinning Gunner]

I assume by the sound of it that this was in and around St.Thomas?

[Charity]

All i know is what i read there, that it was in the Gulf of Mexico around 1782.

[Silver Steele]

Actually the tales of Gasparilla are questioned as whether he actually existed. Kenneth W. Mulder, a local author of the area around the Gasparilla islands, stated that there weren't any pirate colonies around there at that time. And the treasure that washes up on the shores comes from the treasure fleets that wrecked in the past. (I can only assume he is referring to one of the wrecks of 1622, 1715 and 1733. I don't at this moment remember exactly around Florida they sunk.)

Mulder also stated that the story of Jose Gaspar (Gasparilla or "Little Gaspar") actually had its roots in a 19th century real estate promotion contrived by a railroad. And that the Boca Grande area has two islands -- Gasparilla and Little Gasparilla -- named for a Spanish missionary, Friar Gaspar. The railroad people invented the saga of a marauding pirate.

Yet another author, Jack Beater (The Life and Exploits of Gasparilla, 1952)states the man did in fact exist. That he was born in 1756, served in the Spanish Navy, and then turned pirate in 1783. In another book Beater wrote he stated that "Gasparilla and Little Gasparilla islands, as well as, Captiva Island were named after Gasparilla" and "In times past the name was well taken for this verdant isle Gasparilla is said to have quartered certain of his valuable female captives for safe keeping until their ransom money could be paid."

These islands are west of Ft Meyers in Florida, I believe.

As far as I know, there is no primary source documentation which proves Gasparilla ever existed, and he is generally regarded to some piracy historians as a fictional character. Either way... its just another one of those pirate myths that make pirates infamous. And here's a site dedicated to him. http://www.josegaspar.net/

Lady B, I have read the stories of Low cutting, cooking, etc with his prisoners, but I have never read anything about John Avery being as cruel. Would you happen to have a source of this so I can read up on it?

[Captain Tito]

Yah it be quite a debate. Some think he was real as the stories say.

Some think he was totally fictional. Others even think he was real but the stories are far fetched about him. I be readin Gasparilla - Pirate Genius right now and I highly recommend it. But in the forward it does make it sound like he was just fiction. Whatever be the truth, he certainly is a legend!!

[Mission]

Didn't Foxe find evidence on a relevant chamber of commerce website that Gasparilla was fictional?

[Fox]

Welcome aboard Mission!

(Guys, welcome a buddy from another board, good fella that he is)

Yeah, one of the main things that Gaspar's detractors say about his authenticity is that there is no primary source material for him and that his legend is only maintained by the Florida tourist people to keep their festival going. However, if you go to the Tampa Bay official site (I forget the address, but Google should turn it up) state that their annual festival is based on the fictional pirate Jose Gaspar. Or words to that effect.

[corsair2k3]

Greetings,

I'll have to look to see for sure, but it's either FBC Bradlee or Gardner Allen who offhandedly cites a news story in Niles' Register attesting to the historical existence of a pirate named "Gasparilla"

I will be the first to proclaim, however, that the stories told by Panther Key John Gomez and assorted community boosters from Tampa to Naples are pure tripe.

Regards,

The Corsair

[Capt.mino]

Wow...very interesting reading.

THat guy was a real demon of the seven seas !!!

[Patrick Hand]

sounds cool...... but it (the web site) sound like part of some "bodice ripper".......