Talk like a pirate—talk like a Jew?

Tomorrow is Talk Like A Pirate Day, which means it’s time to resurrect one of our most popular articles—the story of Jean Lafitte—Sephardic Jewish pirate of the Caribbean.

Here’s an excerpt from Adam Wills’ fascinating article:

Lafitte ... establish[ed] a pirate kingdom in the swamps of New Orleans, and led more than 1,000 men during the War of 1812. After being run out of New Orleans in 1817, Lafitte re-established his kingdom on the island of Galveston, Texas, which was known as Campeche. During Mexico’s fight for independence, revolutionaries encouraged Lafitte to attack Spanish ships and keep the booty.

But in the 1958 film “The Buccaneer,” starring Yul Brynner as Lafitte, any mention of the pirate’s Jewish heritage was stripped away.

Yaaaaaargh!

Here’s our original Jewish pirates story.