VILLAINS FROM THE SEA

The walled city of Campeche, Mexico, is the legacy of 200 years of pirate attacks in the Mundo Maya.

Text by Beatriz Martí / Illustrations by Carlos Matehuala

At three o'clock in the morning on July 6, 1685, the San Francisco church bells began to ring. This was the signal for the entire town to assemble to hear important news. Men, women and children all ran to the main square and into the church to hear what the parish priest had to tell them.

    But this time the priest wasn't there. When practically the whole population was inside the church, doors were slammed shut to stop anyone from getting out of the precincts. Then they realized what had happened: yet again Campeche was the victim of a pirate attack. From that moment, the town's new owners devoted themselves to sacking it: house by house, business by business and, above all, church by church. The pirates had already emptied San Francisco, but there were many other rich churches.

    Leading the attack was the French pirate Laurent de Graff. An experienced sailor and thief, he frequently used this method: approaching silently at night, taking the principal church and then holding the entire town prisoner inside it. However, this wasn't de Graff's only method, as he sometimes attacked during the day. This savagery left the coastal cities very vulnerable, as if Lorencillo (as De Graff was called), or anyone else of the same mind, could come and do with them as they pleased.

    Today piracy is a popular theme for children's books, but, during the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries, it was a highly profitable business thanks to Spanish domination of the Americas. But pirates weren't common thieves, nor vagabonds with eye patches and wooden legs: pirate ship captains were often fully paid-up members of the sailing club, seamen with skill and experience in ocean navigation and warlike tendencies. They were usually organized by countries that were enemies of Spain and the Papal Bull, a decree which had granted Spain almost the entire Americas, leaving out other great powers like England, France and Holland. England, in particular, gave tacit royal approval to pirate attacks, for a share of the booty.

    In the case of Campeche, the loot usually consisted of gold, jewels, silver, fine woods, feathers, wax, cotton and dyewood or palo de tinte (a tree found in nearby jungles that once played an important role in the European textile industry on account of the orange-red dye it yielded), which left the New World aboard vast galleons bound for Spain. Out there, in the middle of the Atlantic, the pirates lurked.

    Attacks also occurred at night, crews were taken by surprise as they slept, subjugated and usually abandoned while the pirates hauled up their anchors and made off with their loot and ship. After the successful raid and voyage back home, the pirates gave their king (or queen as sometimes was the case) a percentage, either as a return on their investment or as a form of taxation. The grateful ruler often bestowed titles on the pirates, who rubbed shoulders with royalty for the simple reason that they looted and sacked in the royal name.

    In addition to Spanish galleons, pirates began to attack the ports of the Americas; on the Pacific coast, Acapulco and Huatulco; Veracruz and Tampico on the Gulf of Mexico and Santo Domingo, Havana and Cartagena in the Caribbean. Nearly all of these places were undefended, far from major cities, and were barely supported by the colonial authorities.

    Campeche, a port in the Mexican state of the same name on the Gulf of Mexico, was a favorite with pirates. It had grown wealthy from the export of dyewood and other precious woods and the cultivation of tobacco on nearby plantations. The streets were lined with churches and fine houses built by prosperous merchants, making the city a worthwhile prize for any pirate. As an added bonus, the port's defenses were weak.

    Pirate attacks on Campeche and similar cities began in the 1500s and continued into the 18th century. There were several bloody raids, during which pirates killed many men and imprisoned large numbers of women and children, but on other occasions the attacks were fended off. Campeche spent decades in terror as it became wealthier and even more irresistible to buccaneers, until Spain finally agreed to fortify the city.

    In 1686, the first stone was laid in what would come to be a walled city and construction ended in 1704, effectively ending pirate attacks. A 2-meter-thick wall was built in the shape of an irregular polygon, two sides, 6 meters high, looked out to sea; and six more sides, 7.9 meters high, faced inland. Every corner of the polygon was protected by a bastion, each with 16 cannons.

    From this time on, everything changed. The walls held back the attacks but piracy itself was on the wane. Pirates did, however, leave their mark on Campeche, in its walled architecture, bastions and forts; in local customs, for example that of the men going to market while their women and children stay at home; and in its oral history of unexaggerated bloody attacks.

    Today's history of Campeche is very different, but vestiges of the walled city easily bring to mind people woken in the early hours of the morning when dozens of pirate ships neared the coast and prepared to attack. This was a time when piracy was the citizens of Campeche's worst nightmare and in no way a suitable theme for children's stories.