Tag Archive for eighteenth century

Retro: Jose Gasper, Florida’s Last Pirate

from Treasure Book

This treasure story is given to us through the efforts of Florida’s pirate “Gasparillia”.

If you should do a search on the internet for Jose Gaspar you’ll find several websites devoted to his pirate legend and about the parades and celebrations each year around Tampa Florida.

My spin isn’t the usual romantic version of the pirate’s career found in books and on other websites, and it certainly won’t win me any love… from the people in the Tampa area where he is the local hero.

I believe the pirates of the eighteenth century were a bunch of cowards similar to the terrorist of today who are not heroes… the way some democrats try to make them out to be.

When I sifted the information, I had, and considered it in the context of the time that the events occurred… painting these sea rogues as heroes doesn’t ring true. If there are heroes in this story it is the United States Navy, who cleaned the oceans for civilized travel and fought brilliantly against the original terrorist, North African Arabs.

Our Florida pirate “Jose Gaspar enters history’s scene in Spain where he was born in the year 1756 and started adult life with a career in the Spanish Navy, serving aboard the warship Floridablanca. . . . Go to web site