1659

Piracy / Video Games Links

You English haven’t had too many great pirates, so when you do, it’s all about him, isn’t it?
Morgan here, Morgan there – where the hell was this devil of a man born? 500 years from now we’ll still be talking about him.
We French are more sober – it’s normal.

As we are rational and objective people, as we do not let ourselves be impressed by dark stories of submarines, I will trust a Frenchman to find in the life of your Morgan something to make great shows.

Me? I’m in bad faith?
Come on – I’ll concede that Morgan was a great pirate.

Until 1659, your Morgan was dragging his boots and learning the trade. We find him in Tortuga, he crosses his elder L’Olonnais. He speaks French poorly – in fact, Morgan does not speak much at all. This man was not a talker.

The year of his birth as a great captain arrived – with an absolutely curious adventure – quite astonishing and a real first in the rather red history of piracy.

We are in Santo Domingo – The Spanish hold a large part of the island firmly.
Okay – French pirates have established themselves on the western side – but they are not getting through.
In general.

It was Ash Wednesday.
The night was moonless – the dogs were barking – but the dogs always bark.
Some slaves saw a troop coming, in the distance, on the road.
Most of them went home to hide: stories of looting were not their concern. Some wanted to alert the town of San Iago – they were killed.
In the town, they heard some shots.
The time to open the windows, to wonder what was going on: it was too late, the city was taken, squared off – and squared off well – it seems that the guy who led the attack was going to become a legend.

The governor, in his nightgown, was still trying to light his candle when he realized that 15 men were in his room.
He begged not to be put to death: he promised anything. 60,000 pieces of 8 ? – agreed.

In the troop of 15 guys, there was a redhead – not very tall – but particularly strong.
Soon the men reported back: all the town’s notables had promised that ransoms would be paid to let them live.
They would have to stay.
The redhead locked up the men – allowed the women and children to leave town, to go and collect the ransom.
He allowed 24 hours of looting.

One man wanted to take the church bells and melt them down – no way: if bells were taken, it would be for the church in Tortuga, which had none.
Most of the bells remained in place.
They took everything that was valuable and easily transportable.
The rest? but why do you always want all the details?

On the afternoon of Holy Thursday, the departure was ordered.
The burghers panic – promise that the ransoms will arrive.
So Morgan took them with them – they were all on their way, pirates and hostages.

On the way to the beach and the boats, the procession was overtaken.
Not by the ransom bearers.
By a troop of 1000 Spanish soldiers.
The pirates were 400.

It seems that this fight was strange.
They were fighting, it’s true – but they were negotiating at the same time.
Leave or we kill the hostages – let the hostages go and we’ll let you go – all this while taking cover from the tall trees on the island.
It took many deaths –
But the difference between soldiers and freebooters is that the freebooters did not fear death.
So the soldiers broke off the fight in exchange for the promise that the hostages would stay alive.

The pirates and hostages reached the coast.
The hostages were desperate – no one came to ransom them.
A day passed – then another day.
The more time passed, the more the hostages saw their death coming.

Morgan became a legend: on the bright side of strength, with this.
Days and days had passed – no ransom – the Spaniards in ambush, ready to shoot, the bearded, thin, weeping, desperate, pathetic notables – his troops starting to go berserk.

So he did what no hacker had ever done – and probably never will again.
They got on board.
And they let their hostages go – alive.

From this first, almost excellent experience as a raiding captain, Morgan would learn a number of lessons.
He had been surprised that the governor had been so quick to agree to his request – he understood that he had not asked enough.

He understood that he should never have released the women and children.
That torture allowed the hidden treasures to suddenly and conveniently emerge from their hiding places.
He understood that without the visible death of some of the hostages, no one would panic.
And he knew that no one would be as merciful to him as he had been to them.

Morgan the pirate was born. His only attempt at humanity and fair play having failed, he would never again feel remorse.

And then you’ll excuse me, but as a story with a moral, this one should be offered to everyone.
To save two crates of gold, a monster is allowed to be created – is this really a good idea?

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