The pirate settlement was founded by Adam Baldrige. He was an English pirate who fled to the small island from Jamaica where he was wanted for murder. Baldrige subdued the local tribes and forced them to pay him in cattle, food and women. He had control of the island in a year and he then formed a partnership with a rich merchant in New York. Baldrige would then acquire plundered loot from the pirates and sell them to his merchant. In return the pirates would get their basic supplies such as rum, tools and ammunition. It was a good deal for the pirates and the island flourished. Baldridge built himself a mansion and a fort and even had his own harem.
Baldrige eventually overstepped his reach when he entered into the slave trade. He tried to sell some of the local natives which caused the local tribes to rise up against him. They burned his home and his warehouse and forced him to flee in 1697. It was his departure from the island that caused the pirate colony to begin to fall into decline as there was no longer a link to get supplies.
But the small island in the bay at its height was home to many fearsome pirates including Robert Culliford, Olivier Levasseur, Henry Every, Abraham Samuel and Thomas Tew. One of the most famous pirates to live on the island was also rumored to have to been buried there, the infamous Captain William Kidd. It was often said and believed that William Kidd was buried on the island in a large black tomb. Stories said that the Captain was buried upright as a sign of dishonor. This story was disproven as Kidd was actually buried in England.
However, the pirate story of Captain Kidd does live on at Ile Sainte Marie because near the entrance to the Bay of Pirates, lies the wreckage of his ship, the Adventure Galley. The ship was docked when Kidd was captured and after his death the ship was left to simply rot into the ocean. After his capture, Captain Kidd swore that he had a large treasure and that if his life was spared he would show where he buried his treasure. This led many to believe that the when the Adventure Galley sunk at Sainte Marie that it was empty. Some suggested that his treasure was even buried on Sainte Marie.
Others have come up with a new story. Underwater explorer Barry Clifford has been exploring the wreckage around the island for years and it was while he was in the area of the Adventure Galley that he found a silver ingot worth tens of thousands of dollars. Clifford now believes that Kidd may have sold his treasure prior to capture and returned to Sainte Marie with a ship loaded with two tons of gold and silver ingot. Only time and future discoveries will tell if Clifford is right and that a large fortune still waits at the bottom of the ocean.
The Adventure Galley was not the only famous ship to meet its end near Saint Marie. Not far off from the Adventure Galley lies the Fiery Dragon. The Fiery Dragon was believed to have sunk in 1721 and that it was filled with treasure when it met its end. The ship belonged to the British pirate William “Billy One-Hand” Condon who was known for plundering ships and having a substantial treasure to his name. Among the wreckage of the Fiery Dragon has been found a 13th or 14th century statue of Christ and some ancient Chinese porcelain which is considered to be almost priceless.
The pirate island operated until about 1733 when the numerous attempts by the French to regain control of the island finally succeeded. It brought about the end of an era of buccaneering and piracy that had flourished on the island and been the bane of the East India trade routes. The French maintained control of the island until 1960 when they turned it over to Madagascar. Today the island has become a very popular tourist destination for both treasure hunters and pirate enthusiasts.