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Who Built the Pirate House of Waveland? « Russell Guerin
http://www.russguerin.com/history/pirates/who-built-the-pirate-house-.
Whatever Blanque’s plans had been in coming to Louisiana, he wasted no time in getting deeply involved as a lawyer and legislator and as a successful banker, merchant and businessman. There are numerous records of his holding sway over a group of government officials, with mentions such as, “those who always voted with Blanque.”
He lived in one of the finest houses in the French Quarter of New Orleans and married into one of the leading old families. His wife was Delphine Macarty, who later became the infamous Madame Lalaurie, the mistress of the haunted house of Royal Street.
An anomaly, Blanque apparently led two lives. The public one is as described above, an upstanding pillar of his adopted community. The other, one that required less allegiance to that community, was in the words of historian Stanley Clisby Arthur, “the man higher up in certain transactions relative to the importation of ‘black ivory’ and goods upon which custom duty was not collected.”
As early as August 11, 1804, Blanque wrote a letter to the city of New Orleans protesting the seizure of his storehouse by the custom officers. Details are not known, but the letter remains in city archives.
Besides Arthur, other historians have taken a dim view of the dealings of Jean Blanque. Dr. Robert V. Remini, the biographer of Jackson, states that Blanque owned a number of ships used by pirates. William Davis, in his book The Pirates Laffite, asserts, “New Orleans merchants, such as Jean Blanque engaged sailors who plied both sides of the law” and “was also an investor in more than one privateer, which likely led to an acquaintance with the Laffites.”
Indeed, there are a couple of mentions of a small schooner used by the Lafitte band; its name was the Blanque and may have been the boat on which Pierre Lafitte suffered a mortal injury.
Davis tells in certain terms that Blanque was once prosecuted for involvement in a matter of 27,000 pounds of coffee pirated from an American ship. He also speculates on Blanque having been the consignee of smuggled goods in an affair of “Captain Lafette’s prize British merchantman Hector, revealed later to be an impostor smuggling goods under forged ship’s papers.”
It may be difficult to reconcile how respected, financially successful men of high places could double in endeavors of ill repute, giving the lie to their supposed patriotism. Examples, however, abound. About the same time, there was General Wilkinson, who worked both for the United States and Spain. Vice-president Aaron Burr came through Louisiana attempting to form a filibuster group and was tried for treason. Barthelemy Lafon had been a successful New Orleans architect, engineer, surveyor, cartographer, and scholar before he lost his wealth and took to pirating, and his venture did take him into waters just off our coast.
Perhaps obligations to country were not yet engrained in the young republic. In the case of Blanque, such an assumption can be understood in light of his having just come to Louisiana in 1803. In addition, there are indications that he was less committed than many to the causes which he expressed outwardly. One example is in the 1812 proceedings of a committee to form a state constitution and government. Blanque was appointed to'this group, and voted against the annexation of West Florida; while there were other “nay” votes, his was suspicious if in fact he owned property and pursued an illegal trade there, namely at the Pirate House.
Another incident occurred in September 1814, when he was appointed to a committee of nine formed to cooperate with the military in defending New Orleans against the impending British invasion. Considering that he was one of the legislature’s most vocal members, it is curious that he did not sign the findings of the committee.
Later, on December 31, 1814-a mere fortnight before the battle, Blanque was accused of being part of a plan “among several members of the legislature to surrender the country to the enemy.” It was said that their belief was that the British would respect their property. Although the accuser retracted his charge of treason, there remains the question of what was the real character of the man Jean Blanque.
Returning to the legend, the owner of the Pirate House was believed to have organized pirates to defend against the British. Perhaps he did not do the organizing, but was the enabling force.
Although the legend credits the overlord of the pirates with organizing them to help in the defense of New Orleans,
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