Raveneau de Lussan

Raveneau de Lussan was a French buccaneer born around 1663 in Paris to a noble but impoverished family. At age 14, he embarked on a military career and later sought fortune in Santo Domingo in 1679, though unsuccessfully. By November 22, 1684, he joined the buccaneers under Laurens de Graaf, sailing from Petit-Goâve. He soon led his own band, pillaging El Realejo in 1685. In 1686, his group participated in capturing Grenada but burned the city when they found little booty. Lussan later rejoined English pirates to attack Guayaquil, securing significant plunder. His expedition then reached Tehuantepec and Acapulco before returning to Mapala. In January 1688, Lussan led his followers on a march to Nueva Segovia, situated on the Coco River, after sinking their boats to avoid Spanish capture. Voltaire compared their retreat to that of the Ten Thousand but deemed it even more remarkable. Lussan organized four companies of seventy men each, enforcing strict discipline. After ten days of constant fighting against superior forces, they reached Nueva Segovia. Trapped in a defile, Lussan proposed a strategic maneuver to outflank the Spanish, which ultimately succeeded after initial rejection. They celebrated with a Te Deum and later descended the Yara River, sighting Cape Gracias a Dios on February 9. On February 14, Lussan boarded an English lugger and arrived in Santo Domingo by April 6, having marched nearly 1,000 miles despite a direct distance of only 240 miles. Lussan published his *Journal du voyage fait à la mer du Sud avec ...