Facing the world’s finest navy, Congress in March 23, 1776, commissioned privateers “to capture all ships and cargoes belonging to Great Britain taken on the high seas.” They include four of the founders of Mikve Israel in Philadelphia: Benjamin Sexias, the brother of the New York rabbi Gershon M. Seixas, co-owner with Isaac Moses of the Fox, a brig with eight guns. Moses also owned the Marbois, a brig of sixteen guns and a crew of eighty-five. Abe Sasportas owned Two Rachels, a brigantine of eight guns. Michael Gratz was a partner with Carter Braxton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, but no names of their vessels are known. Mendes fils Cadet of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, master of the Wilks, a sloop of ten guns and a crew of sixty, co-owned with Gideon Samson of Exeter. Moses M. Hays, a leading citizen of Boston and uncle of Judah Touro, owned Iris, a brig of eight guns. Robert Morris, the financier of the Revolution, and Moses Levy, one of the three buyers of land for the Newport synagogue, jointly owned Havannah, a schooner of six guns. Morris also owned Black Prince, a brig of twelve guns, with Isaac Moses of Philadelphia.
74. Bertram Wallace Korn, The Early Jews of New Orleans (Waltham, Mass.: American Jewish Historical Society, 1969), quoting from The Journal of Jean Lafitte (New York, 1958), 98–99.
Epilogue: Searching for the Lost Mine of Columbus
1. Calendar of State Papers, Colonial Series, America & West Indies, 1661–1668, nos. 948, 949 (March 1, 1664).
2. Jacob Andrade, A Record of the Jews in Jamaica (Kingston: Jamaica Times, 1941), 139: The same date—March 25, 1670—Cohen bought valley land, Solomon de Léon purchased nine hundred acres in the same area.
3. Frank Cundall and Joseph Pietersz, Jamaica Under the Spaniards, abstracted from the Archives of Seville (Kingston: Institute of Jamaica, 1919), 49.
FOOTNOTES
*1 A third daughter, Marina, wed the grandson of Columbus’s supporter, the Duke of Medina Sidonia; a fourth, Ana, wed her father’s successor as treasurer of the colony, Juan de Sosa Cabrera.
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*2 Approximately 10,000 from Spain, 6,000 Italians, 7,000 Germans, 5,000 Genoese, and 1,000 Knights of Malta.
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*3 A court of judges with jurisdiction over Spain’s New World colonies.
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*4 The wording of the title perhaps signifies the guardian role of the Columbus heirs over the Portugals and their founding of Villa de la Vega in 1534.
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*5 To avoid detection, many covert Jews were not circumcised until they arrived in Holland. Once there, if one died before being circumcised, it had to be done to his corpse if he was to be buried in the Jewish cemetery.
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*6 Moses was the likely designate, since he spoke Spanish and was trusted by Heyn.
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*7 This other line of the Cohen Henriques family would prove a source of confusion to later historians.
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Copyright © 2008 by Ed Kritzler
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Published in the United States by Doubleday, an imprint of The Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc.,
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kritzler, Ed (Edward), 1941–
Jewish pirates of the Caribbean: how a generation of swashbuckling Jews carved out an empire in the new world in their quest for treasure, religious freedom—and revenge / Ed Kritzler.—1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
1. Jews—Caribbean Area—History—17th century. 2. Marranos—Caribbean Area—History—17th century. 3. Buccaneers—Caribbean Area—History—17th century. 4. Pirates—Caribbean Area—History—17th century. 5. Caribbean Area—Ethnic relations—History—17th century. I. Title.
F2191.J4K75 2008
972.9'004924—dc22
2008015790
eISBN: 978-0-385-52836-8
v3.0