26. The Flail of Spain
Francois L’Olonnais (1630 – 1669), birth name Jean-David Nau, was one of history’s most feared pirates, with a reputation for brutality that stood out in age and within a profession where brutality was the norm. He had a particular bone to pick with the Spanish, and his relentless pursuit of that vendetta earned him the nickname “The Flail of Spain“.
L’Olonnais was born in dire poverty in France – so dire that his family sold him into indentured servitude as a child. It was in that capacity that he arrived in the Caribbean at age fifteen, and spent the next ten years of his life toiling on Spanish plantations, performing back-breaking menial work in harsh conditions. He endured mistreatment and sundry humiliations, and by the end of his term of indentured servitude in 1660, L’Olonnais had developed a burning hatred of Spain and all things Spanish.