I'll be damned! This is the only surviving pirate graveyard
If you ever get the idea of watching whales come to the surface, there is no better place than the island of Nusi Buraha off the east coast of Madagascar. It is said to be an extremely idyllic corner. However, three hundred years ago, woe was to the traveler who approached the island (it was then called Saint-Marie) within cannon shot. He would have been stripped to the skin in no time, and at best sent out to sea in a boat.
Legend has it that in the XVIII century, the pirate state of Libertalia flourished here. Scientists doubt this, but there were definitely plenty of sea thugs here. This is evidenced by the only extant pirate cemetery.
Located directly in the path of merchant ships traveling from the East Indies to Europe, Sainte-Marie was an ideal base for looting. Pirate colonization of the island began with the fact that the fugitive criminal Adam Baldridge in 1685 established a base here and began to patrol the coastal waters. By the beginning of the 18th century, when the gentlemen of fortune began to be actively smoked out of the Caribbean, many of them moved to the Indian Ocean.
So a real pirate city grew up on Saint-Marie. Over a thousand corsairs called this place their home. Most of them were old-age bandits who lived out their days here. It was rumored that the commune had the beginnings of a state: a kind of constitution and a common treasury. The pirate idyll, however, did not last long. The French, who had descended on Madagascar, quickly established their own order.
A reminder of those times is the pirate cemetery, perhaps the only one in the world that has been preserved in good condition. At low tide, it can be reached by a narrow stone path, and at high tide you will have to use a canoe, which will be provided for a reasonable fee by the Magalisians-the indigenous inhabitants of the island.
Violent tropical downpours have washed away the inscriptions from the tombstones for centuries, but some of the three dozen slabs still bear names, nicknames, and dates.
Here lies a female pirate. When her husband died, she became the captain of the ship herself.
In this grave, according to the inscription, is buried a pirate who was killed by his comrades for stealing. "A request to passers-by-pray for his soul," is inscribed on the tombstone.
A large black tomb stands out in the center of the cemetery. Locals claim that this is the resting place of the legendary Captain William Kidd. If you tell them that Kidd was executed in London, the natives will put forward another version: after learning about the death of the storm of the seas, his comrades put a monument on St. Marie.
The pirate past of the island still reminds us of itself. A few years ago, archaeologist John de Brie discovered a map from 1733, where this land was called "Pirate Island". With the help of this map, it was possible to identify the remains of three sunken ships.
And in 2015, a metal ingot weighing 50 kilograms was found off the coast. There were mysterious symbols on it, and hot minds were already pricking up their picks, thinking that this was an indication of Captain Kidd's treasure, which had not yet been discovered. But then it turned out that it was just a fragment of a port facility.
Keywords: Africa | Pirates | Island | Madagascar | History | Monuments | Cemetery | Tombstones