TRAVEL Island-Hopping
Born in 1688, La Buse was a legitimate French corsair fighting in the Caribbean before going rogue and hoisting the Jolly Roger. He acquired his nickname for swooping on victims like a buzzard. When the colonial powers clamped down on Caribbean piracy, La Buse relocated to East Africa and joined forces with English pirate John Taylor, jointly commanding three ships and 750 men.
In April 1721, just off Réunion, La Buse and Taylor chanced upon The Virgin of the Cape, a Portuguese galleon bound for Lisbon, carrying the Viceroy and Bishop of Goa, plus their colonial loot. Having jettisoned her cannons during a storm, the Virgin was easy prey. The pirates’ plunder, in current terms, was worth several billion euros, with La Buse's share including a two-metre-tall gold cross encrusted with jewels that took three men to carry. A year later, with European navies also cracking
