Gustav Skytte

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Gustav Adolf Skytte of Duderhoff, (1637-1663), was a Swedish nobleman and pirate. Born as the child of Jacob Skytte and Anna Bjelkenstjerna, he became a pirate at the age of twenty and plundered ships at the Baltic sea together with his noble accomplises.

In 1657, Skytte hired a Dutch ship together with some of his friends. Out on the sea, the noblemen murdered the captain and took over the ship, which they used as a pirate ship, attacking ships at the Baltic sea. One of his colleagues was his brother-in-law Gustaf Drake, the husband of his sister Anna Christina. They pursued this secret business from a base in Blekinge.

In 1663, their pirate activity was exposed. Gustaf Drake and Anna Christina left the country, but Skytte was arrested and put on trial. He was judged guilty of piracy and was executed in Jönköing, after which his mother was said to have ”died of grief ”. He was said to have died regretting his crimes.