A Regency Pirate for Talk Like a Pirate Day! by Regan Walker

Since this is “Talk Like a Pirate Day” I thought to share with you the story of a real life pirate, who is also a character in my novel, Wind Raven.

With the end of the War of 1812 and the Napoleonic wars in 1814, an unprecedented wave of piracy swept the American seaboard and the Caribbean when some of the hundreds of captains who were privateers in the wars began preying upon the growing numbers of merchant vessels. Although some of these pirates, like Jean Laffite, were American, the majority came from farther south and Latin America.

 

Roberto Cofresi was one of them. Born on June 17, 1791 in Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico as Roberto Cofresí y Ramírez de Arellano, he became Puerto Rico's most famous pirate, better known as “El Pirata Cofresí.” Cofresí's father is believed to have been Austrian, Franz Von Kupferschein, who changed his surname to Cofresí because it was easier for the people of Puerto Rico to pronounce. Just as I have portrayed him in my latest novel, Wind Raven, Cofresi was tall, blond and blue-eyed and wore dangling silver and diamond earrings any woman would covet.

Cofresí was educated at a private school under Professor Don Ignacio Venero. He learned catechism and geography, his favorite subject, as well as literature and arithmetic. In his book “Cofresi, Historia y Genealogia de un Pirata,” Enriquez Ramirez Brau writes that at an early age, Cofresi sailed the waters of Mona Passage against the advice of his older brothers, who tried to make him give up his maritime adventures. 

There are many legends about why Cofresi turned to piracy. Some believe it was his desire for independence from the Spanish regime (he is remembered as sometimes giving his prize ships to Simon Bolivar to help the cause of independence in Venezuela and Latin America). Some say Cofresi’s sister was raped by a group of sailors and others say he was slapped in the face by an English captain. Perhaps it was for all those reasons.  

 

He began attacking ships in 1818, when he was twenty-seven, going after any merchant ships sailing under flags other than Royal Spain. His first ship was named El Mosquito ("the Mosquito"). 

  

Wielding his hatchet, Cofresi would be the first to jump aboard the ships he seized. His audacity, commanding voice and his own acts encouraged his men, who followed him blindly. Later, he sailed a fast schooner named the Ana after his wife, Juana Creitoff. (In my story his ship is called the Retribución.) 

In response to his acts of piracy, Spain looked the other way, even encouraging piracy against other nations—at least until 1824, when Captain John Slout of the U.S. Navy and his schooner USS Grampus engaged Cofresi in a fierce battle. 

 Cofresi was captured and bowing to pressure from its allies, Spain executed him. Cofresi’s wife died a year later leaving their 5-year-old daughter Maria an orphan.

 

Cofresi was famous for his generosity, sharing his booty with the poor, becoming a kind of Puerto Rican Robin Hood, idolized and admired by those who benefited. The Puerto Ricans protected him and he had many spies who worked for him as well. In Ponce, it was a rural schoolteacher; in Mayaguez, a canteen waitress; and in Arecibo, the parish priest kept him informed of the civil guard and military activities.

It was said that after the boarding of one ship, he severely punished his crew for not showing proper respect for the elderly and the women and children on board. He also looked out for children, often saving young ones taken from a ship and giving them to the care of Catholic priests with money for their care.

Contrasted with this, other writers say he was merciless and arrogant and never took prisoners. According to these reports, he scuttled the ships and killed the crews or let them drown. Some even say he nailed hostages to the deck of El Mosquito, and he once captured a Danish ship and killed all aboard. (In my story it is an English ship.)

Some biographers have said he was a revolutionary, a patriot and a pioneer of Puerto Rico’s independence movement. Perhaps it is so for he flew the flag of the Free Republic of Puerto Rico, not that of Spain’s.

Today there is a monument to Cofresí in Boquerón Bay in Cabo Rojo, and the town of Cofresí, west of Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic, is named after him. Many poems, songs and books have been written about him for he is now consigned to legend.

 

Today there is a monument to Cofresí in Boquerón Bay in Cabo Rojo, and the town of Cofresí, west of Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic, is named after him. Many poems, songs and books have been written about him for he is now consigned to legend.

Author Francisco Ortea wrote of him, “For his boldness and courage, he was worthy of a better occupation and fate.”

I do agree.

 

If you want to read a Regency romance that features Cofresi as a character, true to all we know about him, pick up a copy of Wind Raven book 3 in the Agents of the Crown series!

On Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and iBooks.

London 1817

Ordered by the Prince Regent into the Caribbean, English sea captain and former privateer Jean Nicholas Powell has no time for women onboard the Wind Raven, especially not Tara McConnell. The impudent American forced herself aboard, and so she’ll get more than she bargained for: Instead of a direct sail to Baltimore, she’ll join their quest to investigate a rampaging pirate, the infamous Roberto Cofresi.

But the hoyden thinks she can crew with his men, and though he bans her from the rigging, Nick is captivated watching her lithe, luscious movements on deck. 

Facing high seas, storms, cutthroats and the endless unknown, he must protect his ship, his passenger, his crew. But on this voyage, with this woman, there is a greater danger: to his heart.

See the Trailer on YouTube!

See the book on my Website with thevideo trailer and Barbara Vey interview!

Love on the High Seas!

I love the sea and the ships that sail upon it. I also love a romance with a sea captain hero. So, in writing my Regencies, it was inevitable one or more would be set on a ship. Two of my romances are set, at least in part, on a schooner of the period: Wind Raven, the third in my Agents of the Crown trilogy, and To Tame the Wind, the prequel to the trilogy, a Georgian romance.

When I began to do the research for these stories—the part set on the ship—I had no idea what was involved.

Since I’m committed to making my stories historically authentic, I dove into all the ship terminology, pouring over my new 4-inch thick Sailor’s Word Book until late at night. But I realized just having the vocabulary was not enough. I wanted to be able to describe a storm at sea as huge waves crashed onto the deck and a battle that had shot bringing the sails down around the characters. For To Tame the Wind, I had to describe battles raging in the English Channel. And I wanted to do it all while getting the ship terminology correct. So, I did hundreds of hours of research and studied diagrams of schooners and sail configurations until I was seeing them in my dreams

But even that was not enough. I had to get the feel of the ship. I decided it was essential to take a ride on an actual schooner.

The schooner pictured below, as painted by artist William Lowe, is the Californian, a reproduction of a topsail schooner of the period that, fortunately for me, is berthed in San Diego where I live. It is the type of schooner Capt. Jean Nicholas Powell sails in Wind Raven and his father, Capt. Simon Powell sails in To Tame the Wind. And this is the ship I experienced under sail.

It was thrilling to hear the sails luffing, feel the wind on my face as the ship’s bow cut through the waves and the deck moving beneath my feet. (And, yes, it does move a lot.)

While on board, I soon exhausted the knowledge of the docent, at least as to the Georgian and Regency era ships. However, I found a jewel in the gunner, who became my technical consultant, and now my good friend. She led me through the things my research could not tell me. Even a simple question like whether the quarterdeck should be raised. You’d be surprised at how complicated the answer is.

Some schooners were flush-decked, that is everything on the main deck is on one level, like the Wind Raven and the Fairwinds in my stories, so that you could walk from the bow to the stern without going up or down any ladders. The ship still has a “quarterdeck”; it’s just not raised.

If you compound this kind of issue many times over with everything from windows in the captain’s cabin (side windows existed in larger schooners such as in my stories), to what the captain might read (it’s in Wind Raven), to how a fast schooner can avoid the guns of a larger brig-sloop (it’s in To Tame the Wind), you begin to get a picture of the depth of research required to “get it right.” But the end result, I believe, is a story that puts you on the ships and gives you exciting tales of love on the high seas.

 

One reviewer said after finishing Wind Raven: 

“... it had me feeling the spray of the ocean in my face, my hair and clothing plastered to my body, the chill of my blood when you know, just know that you’re time is up and you’re done for.”  

Want to sail with my characters? Take a look at the storyboard pictures for To Tame the Wind on the Pinterest board. And check out the books on my website.