Laurens Cornelis Boudewijn de Graaf (ca. 1653, Dordrecht, Dutch Republic – probably 24 May 1704, Cap-Français, Saint-Domingue,[1] alias Laurencillo/Lorencillo & El Griffe (Spanish); Sieur de Baldran, alias de Graff (French); or Gesel van de West (Dutch "Scourge of the West"), was a Dutch pirate, mercenary, and naval officer in the service of the French colony of Saint-Domingue during the late 17th and early 18th century. Henry Morgan, the governor of Jamaica, characterized him as 'a great and mischievous pirate". De Graaf was described as tall, blond, mustached and handsome. The Spanish thought he was the Devil in Person.
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Accounts of Laurens de Graaf were highly romanticized. Some historians speculated that he may have been a mulatto (El Griffe was a common nickname for those of mixed African and European ancestry.)[1] He reportedly was enslaved by Spanish slave traders when captured in what is now the Netherlands and transported to the Canary Islands to work on a plantation.
The French historian Vassiere asserted that de Graaf married his first wife (Francois) Petronilla de Guzman in 1674 in the Canary Islands before moving on to the Caribbean. The Spanish governor of St. Augustine, Florida attested to his marriage in a letter written to the King of Spain in 1682, by referring to de Graaf as a "stranger who was married in the Canaries."
According to Sieur de Pouancay, the governor of Saint Domingue, de Graaf was born in Dordrecht, Holland and had been sailing "on the account" since approximately 1675 or 1676 as the captain of a French privateer crew.
At some point in the early 1670s, de Graaf escaped and turned pirate. His first reported action as a pirate captain was recorded on March 1672, when a band of pirates attacked Campeche, torching a partially built frigate and capturing the town. The next day, the pirates captured a merchant ship loaded with over 120,000 pesos in silver and cargo, when it sailed unknowingly into the harbor. Though de Graaf was historically credited with this raid, it was the same year as his marriage in the Canary Islands.
In the autumn of 1679, de Graaf was reported to have captured a Spanish frigate of 24-28 guns, which he renamed the Tigre (tiger). By 1682, de Graaf had become so successful that Henry Morgan, governor of Jamaica, sent the frigate Norwich, under command of Peter Haywood, pirate hunting with de Graaf as his primary quarry. It is not reported if Haywood encountered de Graaf.
During a brief stop in Cuba around the same time, de Graaf was told of the Armada de Barlovento's plans to seek him out. Rather than waiting for the Barlovento, a pirate-hunting fleet, he sailed immediately in search of them. After a running gun battle that lasted hours, the Princesa struck her colors, having lost 50 men to de Graaf's eight or nine. (In an act of kindness, de Graaf reportedly put the seriously wounded captain of the Princesa ashore with his own surgeon.) The Princess carried the payroll for Puerto Rico and Santo Domingo, about 120,000 pesos in silver.
After sharing out the prize, the buccaneers retired to Petit-Goâve, Saint Domingue to celebrate and refit. De Graaf made the Princesa his new flagship. His next foray was a trip to Cartagena, Colombia with privateer Michiel Andrieszoon. Finding little in the way of shipping, they departed for the Gulf of Honduras. Finding two empty galleons, de Graaf decided to wait for them to be loaded with cargo. The buccaneers retired to Bonaco Island to careen. Their plans were ruined when Nicholas van Hoorn attacked the ships and captured them empty. When Van Hoorn reached Bonaco Island and tried to join forces with de Graaf, he was turned away. Later de Graaf relented and joined forces with van Hoorn and Grandmont for an attack on Vera Cruz.
The pirates arrived off Vera Cruz on May 17, 1683, leading with two captured Spanish ships to mislead the town. De Graaf and Yankey Willems slipped ashore with a force of men. Routing the Spanish militia from their sleep, they proceeded to remove any defenses. Van Hoorn, marching overland, joined with de Graaf and attacked the town. On the second day of plundering, the Spanish "Plate" fleet, composed of numerous warships, appeared on the horizon. Retreating with hostages to the nearby island of Los Sacrificios (the sacrificed), the pirates waited for ransoms. A brief quarrel between van Hoorn and de Graaf over the treatment of the hostages left Van Hoorn with a slash across the wrist, that would turn gangrenous and result in his death two weeks later. Finally, giving up on further plunder the pirates departed past the Spanish ships without hindrance.
In late December 1683, de Graaf and a fleet of seven ships arrived off Cartagena, only to be confronted by a force of three large ships, the smallest being a 28 gun galliot. After a poorly commanded battle that left the Spanish San Francisco (40 guns) grounded and the other two ships captured. Laurens de Graaf took the San Francisco as his new flagship, renamed as the Fortune. The pirates then proceeded to blockade the town. January 1684 brought an English convoy that was carrying a note for de Graaf from his wife offering a Spanish pardon and commission. De Graff ignored the note, not trusting the Spanish to keep their promises.
In summer and fall of 1684 de Graaf remained in Petite Goave. He sailed in November 1684, but had little or no success in raiding the shipping lanes. He was next seen on Isla de Pinos presiding over a gathering of buccaneers. After his departure, he was pursued off the Mosquito Coast for a raid on Campeche. The pirates finally attacked on July 6, 1685. After a protracted battle, the Spaniards fled the town, leaving the pirates with a city devoid of plunder. The length of the battle and delay in attacking had allowed residents to move goods away. After two months in the town, the pirates, failing to secure a ransom, began to burn the town and execute prisoners. De Graaf stepped in and helped stop the violence. The pirates departed Campeche in September 1685, carrying away many prisoners for ransom.
The pirates split up and de Graaf fled from a superior fleet off the Yucatán. After a day-long battle with two larger Spanish ships, he escaped by dumping all cargo and cannons overboard to lighten his ship. In February 1686, the Spanish staged a raid on de Graaf's plantation on Saint Dominque. As retaliation, de Graaf raided Tihosuco, where the buccaneers looted and burned. Returning to Petite Goave, de Graaf wrecked his ship while pursuing a Spanish barque. Nonetheless, he managed to take the barque with only his ship's long boat.
In 1687, de Graaf engaged in a battle off southern Cuba with a Biscayan frigate and the Cuban guarda del costa (coast guard). He sank several piraguas and took a small ship as prize. De Graaf returned to Saint Domingue, where he defended the harbor at Petite Goave from Cuban invaders. In December 1689, he took ships off Jamaica. He went on to blockade the Jamaican coast for more than six months before leaving. Proceeding to the Cayman Islands, de Graaf there captured an English sloop.
In January 1691 de Graaf attacked near Santo Domingo and was soundly defeated by a Spanish force three times the size of his French forces. He narrowly escaped with his life.
In March 1693, de Graff met and married his second wife, Anne Dieu-le-Veut. According to Vaissière, the two were married in 1693 and their daughter was recorded as twelve years old in 1704.
De Graaf spent the summer of 1693 leading buccaneers against Jamaica in several raids. The English retaliated in May 1695 with an attack on Port-de-Paix at Saint Domingue, where they sacked the town and captured de Graaf's family.
Laurens de Graff was last known to be near Louisiana, where he was to help set up a French colony near present-day Biloxi, Mississippi. Some sources claim he died there; others claim locations in Alabama.