>document.getElementById("MsgContainer").innerHTML='\x0d\x0a\x0d\x0a\x3cmeta http-equiv\x3dContent-Type content\x3d\x22text\x2fhtml\x3b charset\x3dunicode\x22\x3e\x0d\x0a\x3cmeta name\x3dGenerator content\x3d\x22Microsoft SafeHTML\x22\x3e\x0d\x0a\x0d\x0a\x0d\x0a\x3cstyle\x3e\x0d\x0a\x3c\x2fstyle\x3e\x0d\x0a\x0d\x0a\x0d\x0a\x3cdiv\x3e\u00a0\x3c\x2fdiv\x3e\x0d\x0a\x3cdiv style\x3d\x22font\x3a10pt arial\x22\x3e----- Original Message ----- \x0d\x0a\x3cdiv style\x3d\x22background\x3a\x23e4e4e4\x3bfont-color\x3ablack\x22\x3e\x3cb\x3eFrom\x3a\x3c\x2fb\x3e \x3ca title\x3d\x22jonw\x40pwrtc.com\x22 href\x3d\x22mailto\x3ajonw\x40pwrtc.com\x22\x3ejohnw\x3c\x2fa\x3e \x3c\x2fdiv\x3e\x0d\x0a\x3cdiv\x3e\x3cb\x3eTo\x3a\x3c\x2fb\x3e \x3ca title\x3d\x22jonw46996\x40hotmail.com\x22 href\x3d\x22mailto\x3ajonw46996\x40hotmail.com\x22\x3ejonw\x3c\x2fa\x3e \x3c\x2fdiv\x3e\x0d\x0a\x3cdiv\x3e\x3cb\x3eSent\x3a\x3c\x2fb\x3e Wednesday, June 06, 2007 7\x3a57 PM\x3c\x2fdiv\x3e\x0d\x0a\x3cdiv\x3e\x3cb\x3eSubject\x3a\x3c\x2fb\x3e pirates Veracruz y Campeche\x3c\x2fdiv\x3e\x3c\x2fdiv\x3e\x0d\x0a\x3cdiv\x3e\x3cbr\x3e\x3c\x2fdiv\x3e\x0d\x0a\x3cdiv\x3e\x3cfont face\x3d\x22Comic Sans MS\x22\x3e\x0d\x0a\x3cp\x3eWhen we think of pirates around here, we usually think of Jean Lafitte and \x0d\x0ahis crew, since they operated along the Texas coast, and legends of their \x0d\x0atreasure dunes have been passed on for generations. But Lafitte and his men were \x0d\x0agentlemen compared to the pirates from the golden age of piracy, starting in the \x0d\x0alate 1600s.\x3c\x2fp\x3e\x0d\x0a\x3cp\x3eAmong the worst, from what I\x27ve read, were Laurens de Graff, a Dutchman, \x0d\x0aMichel de Grammont, a Frenchman, and Nicholas van Hoorn, also Dutch. These \x0d\x0apirates have a connection with Texas history, through the great French explorer \x0d\x0aR\u00e8ne Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle. They led raids on the Mexican coastal \x0d\x0atowns of Veracruz and Campeche that still stand as the quintessence of wanton \x0d\x0amurder, cruelty and horrific brutalities.\x3c\x2fp\x3e\x0d\x0a\x3cp\x3eThe first was the raid on Veracruz in 1683. Laurens de Graff -- described as \x0d\x0atall, handsome, with a mustache -- led 2,200 pirates on eight ships. The \x0d\x0aessential facts are these\x3a The pirate fleet under De Graff \x28nicknamed \x0d\x0a\x26quot\x3bLorenzillo\x26quot\x3b\x29, de Grammont and van Hoorn captured Veracruz on May 17, 1683. They \x0d\x0arounded up the 6,000 people and herded them into the cathedral. They were packed \x0d\x0ain so tight there was only standing room. Younger women and girls were separated \x0d\x0aand raped at will by the pirates. People were killed for sport.\x3c\x2fp\x3e\x0d\x0a\x3cp\x3eThe townspeople packed in the cathedral were kept there for four days, \x0d\x0awithout food and water\x3b 300 died, with many of the dead standing up since there \x0d\x0awas no room to fall. The pirates held Veracruz for two weeks. This was the most \x0d\x0anotorious raid in the so-called golden age of piracy. No one knows how many \x0d\x0apeople were killed or how many enslaved. No one counted the victims. The only \x0d\x0apositive note was that two of the pirate leaders -- De Graff and van Hoorn -- \x0d\x0aargued over a division of spoils. De Graff was in no mood to share and he struck \x0d\x0avan Hoorn with his cutlass\x3b van Hoorn died of gangrene two weeks later.\x3c\x2fp\x3e\x0d\x0a\x3cp\x3eFor the pirates, the success of the raid on Veracruz may have led to the \x0d\x0asecond raid on Campeche on July 6, 1685. But there is some intriguing evidence \x0d\x0athat the pirates may have been acting in concert with the French to create a \x0d\x0adiversion while La Salle set up his settlement on Matagorda Bay.\x3c\x2fp\x3e\x0d\x0a\x3cp\x3eLa Salle\x27s fleet had stopped in Haiti, at the pirate headquarters of Petit \x0d\x0aGo\u00e2ve, where La Salle apparently met de Graff. The pirate leader showed La Salle \x0d\x0asome of the plunder he had taken at Veracruz. The evidence points to an alliance \x0d\x0abetween La Salle and the notorious pirates.\x3c\x2fp\x3e\x0d\x0a\x3cp\x3eAccording to \x26quot\x3bFrench Thorn\x26quot\x3b by Robert S. Weddle, de Graff and de Grammont led \x0d\x0aa pirate force of less than half the force that captured Veracruz two years \x0d\x0aearlier in an attack on Campeche. As they had done at Veracruz, the pirates \x0d\x0aterrorized the town in an orgy of murder and rape that continued for two months. \x0d\x0aThey withdrew when a Spanish fleet was sighted. One pirate ship ran aground and \x0d\x0asome of the pirates were captured. Before they were hanged, they told the \x0d\x0aSpanish of La Salle\x27s settlement on the Texas coast.\x3c\x2fp\x3e\x0d\x0a\x3cp\x3eIf the pirates\x27 motive had been to divert the Spanish from what the French \x0d\x0awere up to with La Salle\x27s expedition, it backfired in a big way, wrote Weddle. \x0d\x0aThe French presence alarmed the Spanish. An expedition to find and destroy the \x0d\x0aFrench settlement was led by Alonso de Le\u00f3n. He crossed a river he called the \x0d\x0aNueces and reached the site of La Salle\x27s Fort St. Louis, on Garcitas Creek, off \x0d\x0aMatagorda Bay. Around the deserted fort, they found skeletons in rotted clothing \x0d\x0aand a still growing vegetable garden. La Salle\x27s ill-fated settlers had been \x0d\x0adecimated by smallpox and the rest of the survivors wiped out by the fierce \x0d\x0aKarankawa Indians. La Salle, who had left to search for the Mississippi, was \x0d\x0akilled by his men.\x3c\x2fp\x3e\x0d\x0a\x3cp\x3eDe Graff disappeared somewhere near Biloxi, Miss., in the 1690s. In 1686, the \x0d\x0ayear after the rape of Campeche, de Grammont on board his flagship \x26quot\x3bHardi\x26quot\x3b \x0d\x0asailed into a Caribbean storm and was never seen again. These pirates were the \x0d\x0areal thing, the lowest of the low, the worst of the worst. Even Disney couldn\x27t \x0d\x0aromanticize these guys.\x3c\x2fp\x3e\x3c\x2ffont\x3e\x3c\x2fdiv\x3e\x0d\x0a';</SCRIPT>