Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Pirate LaFleur

This amulet was recovered from a shark's gullet caught off Jamaica around 1790. The carving in petrified narwhal tusk is believed to be the work of one Henri LaFleur, buccaneer artist and madman pirate. He sailed for Captain Oliver le Bouché from 1712 to 1716, plundering booty and ravishing the Virgin Islands with the worst of them. Other carvings similar to this one turn up even today in fish bellies and shipwrecks from Madagascar to Port Hatteras. They all depict the same likeness in relief which pirologists agree (for the most part; pirologists are a disagreeable lot) is Henri LaFleur himself, much as he might have looked the day he and he alone attempted to mutiny aboard the Black Buzzard and ended up the first man hanged from a gangplank.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

AAAARRRGH. Well, I know of one pirate that's hanged LIKE a gangplank, but the last time I was hanged FROM a gangplank, I found meeself swummin' 'neath the boat, I did. Nibble me giblets, ye scungy dogs!

Jay King said...

I beg your pardon, but I most certainly will not nibble your giblets. I daresay it's most uncouth of you to propose such a thing.