Roc Brasiliano: The Brutal Pirate That Swam With Sharks

Hinzugefügt: 2026-05-14

[00:00:03]You might be familiar with the actor and wrestler Dwayne Johnson, alias The Rock.

[00:00:08]Known for his ability to perk his eyebrow and break backs.

[00:00:13]Although he seems to put on a villainous personality for the occasional match, Johnson appears to be a nice guy in actuality, much unlike the subject of today's episode. Close to 400 years ago, there was a different rock living in the Caribbean. Also known for his villainous tendencies, but it was less of an act and more so part of his personality.

[00:00:38]This rock certainly did break backs, literally burned people alive, fought them with swords, and even jumped into the ocean and wrestled with sharks.

[00:00:48]In his free time, he got drunk in the city of Port Royal, threatening people to drink with him or chasing them around with swords.

[00:00:57]At one point, he even buried his treasure, sort of. He was one of the wildest and most brutal scoundrels of the 17th century.

[00:01:08]The French called him Rosh Braziliano, literally meaning Brazilian rock. The English called him Rocky. It was obviously not his real name. It was common for the buccaneers of this period to assume false names for a variety of reasons.

[00:01:28]For one, the so-called nom dug, names of war, were tradition among soldiers and sailors of any kind. It helped pirates avoid their families being shamed or from old enemies and employers finding them.

[00:01:45]They would often have a name pertaining to their geographic origins. Braziliano meant the Brazilian. He did spend a few years in the tropical country of Macakos and Big Bundas Auga.

[00:02:01]However, Rocky wasn't born in Brazil.

[00:02:04]His real name was Kharitson. Hailing from Kronigan, a city of the United Provinces, modernday Netherlands.

[00:02:13]This 17th century country of spice addicts and tulip lovers found itself in its golden age. Brought on by a powerful fleet giving it near limitless advantage in overseas colonialism.

[00:02:26]Dutch ships were everywhere in the world bringing home the riches of the east and west Indies both.

[00:02:34]The Dutch were late commerce to the new world arriving in the wake of the French and English corsaires that harried Spain's possessions.

[00:02:41]The Low Countries had been a part of Spain up until 1566 when the provinces rose up in revolt, spearheaded by a brotherhood of pirates called the Vo.

[00:02:52]This revolt would more or less last until 1648 with the advantage swinging back and forth like a bladed pendulum. The Hollanders sought any and all advantages to get one up on the Spanish oppressor.

[00:03:07]One of their means was to enrich themselves at the Castellians cost by interloping in their new world colonies.

[00:03:14]There were plenty of Dutch pirates, but more prominent were the smugglers that traded with New Spain, exchanging Dutch manufacture for cowhides, sugar, and even just salt.

[00:03:27]Herring formed the basis of the early modern Dutch economy, deploying massive fishing fleets in the North Sea. And these little fishes needed a lot of salt to be preserved in the long term. Salt was very expensive back home, but could be found a plenty off the coast of Venezuela.

[00:03:44]More relevant to our story were the tropical woods processed into dyes. One of them was a red dye called Brazil made from Brazil wood. That is the namesake of the country Brazil.

[00:03:58]However, the Brazilian economy was almost entirely based on sugar planting, and the newly founded Dutch West India Company wanted in on the profits. Brazil was Portuguese, not Spanish. But Portugal was under a personal union with Spain between 1580 and 1640, making the country a prime target for Dutch assault.

[00:04:19]Pete Hine, a former galley slave, launched an attack on northern Brazil in 1624, but was repelled the next year. He went on to capture the Spanish treasure fleet. The revenue generated by the capture allow the Dutch to prepare a second Brazilian expedition, capturing Panamuko in 1630, the world's largest sugar producer at this point, and Portugal's richest colony. It was a place where people drank wine in excess.

[00:04:47]Women dressed in silk while African slaves worked themselves to death in the sugar fields. After six long years of guerilla warfare in the jungle, the colony of New Holland had been carved out of flesh and blood. The struggling economy and military force was revitalized in 1637 by the institution of a new governor, Johan Moritz. Modit expanded Dutch territory, extended political and religious rights for all of his subjects, and invited a number of painters to portray the beauty of the country. With them came a small number of Dutch colonists.

[00:05:26]Rocky was still a child when he moved to New Holland together with his family. We do not know when he was born. An English document from 1666 indicates that he was born in 1640.

[00:05:39]According to Alexandriqmlin, who might have met Rocky in a later life, the pirates family were merchants.

[00:05:47]Learning new languages was crucial to the merchants trade, and young Rocky was a bit of a polygot. He swiftly picked up Portuguese and the native language, all necessary to blend in.

[00:06:01]Indeed, Iraqi may have interacted with the natives heavily. Exquin says that he was proficient with indigenous weaponry and some tribes were allied with the Dutch colonizers in opposition to the Portuguese.

[00:06:15]He also described him as a good fisherman, hunter, and soldier. If he was born in 1640, he would have been active in this lifestyle at a very young age. A child in fact, which might appear unusual, but wasn't uncommon in a time when a lot of young boys parttook in military campaigns or went to sea. The occupied Portuguese revolted against the Dutch in 1646 and calling in reinforcements from home and eventually routing the occupiers to their final stronghold at Recipe. The city managed to hold out until 1654 when it was finally captured. Rocky, now an adult, was one of the final stragglers.

[00:06:57]Having lost their sugar colony in Brazil, the Dutch began looking for new venues of producing this highly profitable crop. They looked to the Anglo French islands of the lesser Antilles. Struggling at making a living, especially after the price drop of their primary produce, tobacco. These colonists were reliant on Dutch smugglers for trade and provisions, often being sold these items on credit, giving the Dutch a significant say in what was being produced and also some uh diplomatic leverage. Being now experienced sugar planters, they decided to introduce the French and English to the techniques, architecture, and machinery necessary in producing the white gold. This would kick off the prosperous sugar trade of the Caribbean.

[00:07:44]Some of the Dutchmen had storehouses, offices, or even private residences in the French and English towns of the islands. Looking at a period image of Bridgetown, Barbados, we can find a stepped gable so iconic to Amsterdam.

[00:07:59]Barbados would become the lead producer of sugar.

[00:08:03]In 1654, Rocky moved to one of the French islands, learning to speak French as if he was a native. However, he didn't find the French especially agreeable and decided to try his luck with the English.

[00:08:19]England conquered Jamaica in 1655, turning it into a highly militarized naval base from which to conduct buccaneering raids on the Spanish. Rocky decided to learn the language and try his luck with the English buccaneers, joining one of their ships and finding that he liked it. At some point, he also learned Spanish, learning it well enough to pass for a native, a useful skill when conducting espionage and interrogation.

[00:08:48]We do not know when Rocky decided to join the Buccaneers or if he was a commander in the early days, though some writings indicate this. At some point between 1660 and 1661, he made a voyage to Campe, where his vessel was caught in a hurricane and wrecked on a nearby coast. Rocky took his survivors and marched them inland to Gulote, a pirate hideout where they hoped to acquire a new ship. Being without food or water, they were much reduced in the desert climate and were soon beset upon by a troop of a 100 Spaniards.

[00:09:24]Rock told his men that they were better soldiers and instead of surrendering should fight to the last man. The 30 often managed to repel the Spanish, firing with such accuracy that nearly every shot was able to topple a cavalryman. After an hour of fighting, the Spanish were forced to flee. The pirates had only lost two men. The dead were stripped of their valuables and the survivors executed by Musket. This engagement can be seen depicted in the background of his woodcut with a buccaneer formation firing upon a troop of cavalry. The buccaneers took the horses for themselves and rode the rest of the journey. They came upon a Spanish camp loading canoes with dyewood. They managed to take the canoes and a small manow war, killing the horses and and turning the meat into provisions.

[00:10:16]On their way home, they captured a ship ladened heavily with money and merchandise, allowing them to return to Port Royal like heroes.

[00:10:25]They spent their fortunes almost as quickly as they had made them. In just a couple of days, Rocky and his men were soon obliged again to return to sea. He decided to return to Mexico, this time the port of Campete.

[00:10:41]He and a few companions decided to scout the harbor in a small canoe, but drifted too closely and were captured. From here, they were taken to the provincial capital of Merida.

[00:10:53]According to legend, the governor sentenced them to hang. But Rocky escaped by deploying a a clever trick of deception.

[00:11:03]He wrote a letter to the governor allegedly sent from other pirates absent at sea, telling them that if Rocky or any of his prisoners were hurt, they would attack Campe and not give mercy to anyone. The letter was delivered by a slave which Rocky had befriended.

[00:11:19]Concerned by this piece of writing, the governor decided to send Rocky and his men as for sailors on the annual treasure fleet as it traveled back to Spain.

[00:11:30]Rocky was indeed held captive in Merida.

[00:11:32]However, Spanish governors did not execute captured pirates, but would instead enslave them or send him to Spain for trial.

[00:11:42]So, we can just omit the part about the letter.

[00:11:46]During the crossing, it appears as if Rocky ingratiated himself with the Spanish and by serving them as a fisherman, he amassed enough money to buy his passage back to Jamaica.

[00:11:59]Whilst we do know from Spanish accounts that he was held captive in Merida, most of the details of his Campache adventure, it comes from a book titled The Americans Rovers, first published in 1678 by Alexandrique.

[00:12:15]This author was known for inventing many legends in order to tell a good moralizing story.

[00:12:22]So parts of the chapter were likely invented or based on hearsay with some of the legends likely shared by Rocky himself.

[00:12:32]Exquin was a former buccaneer and had most likely met him. Both parttook in the sack of Panama in 1671 and he gives us a detailed description of the captain's appearance.

[00:12:43]He described him as having a masculine face, broader than it was taller, with a large nose and large eyes. His stare intensive and proud.

[00:12:54]In a 1678 book, Exquin also supplied us with a woodcut image of rock, and though it wasn't made by the author himself, but a commissioned artist, he possibly had his own sketches of the man and oversaw the production of the picture.

[00:13:10]So, we can take it to be fairly accurate.

[00:13:13]In spite of the pretty glowing description, Exqualin pulled no punches in describing Rock's violent behavior.

[00:13:22]He would always roam the streets of Port Royal with a naked cutless, and he wasn't afraid to use it should anyone invoke his.

[00:13:30]It was said that he was as loved when sober as feared when drunk, for he would run around the streets of the city, attacking anyone he saw with his sword.

[00:13:41]It does sound fairly extreme and it might certainly have been exaggerated, but it has been established that the buccaneers were so powerful in Port Royal as to basically do whatever they wanted. The governor had to move his residence to avoid the riers behavior and even as late as 1677, the English weren't strong enough to stop a fleet of pirates to come and spend their loot. Other sources also indicate the uh violence of Rock's personality.

[00:14:13]Hans Sloan, the man credited for popularizing milk chocolate, visited Jamaica in 1688.

[00:14:20]Here he described the violence of the local sharks and the dangers of bathing in the Jamaican sea. In one instance, a man was attacked by a shark and killed of Rocky. Sloan wrote the following. I was told that one Rocky, a privateeer, used to go and fight with them in the water and so did some divers, killing them with bodkins run into their bellies while they turned themselves to prey.

[00:14:47]This quote indicates that Rocky, several years after his death, was still a local legend on the island of Jamaica. It seems like a big exaggeration, but it also claims that others dived in the same way as him. And a different source, the Frenchman Labat, described how a Caribbean hunted sharks in a similar fashion. After drinking a couple glasses of rum, the carob took two bayonets, dived into the sea, and lured the shark to him. When it charged, he dove under it, stabbing it in the belly. Whether the story of Rock is true or not, it is indicative of his boldness and violent reputation.

[00:15:27]Rocky returned to Jamaica from Spain in 1663.

[00:15:31]Met by the call of alarm and beating drum.

[00:15:35]Commodore Christopher Ming, commander of the Jamaica squadron, was mustering a fleet to assault the Gulf of Mexico.

[00:15:42]Although a commissioned officer, Mings was um unconventional and had a bit of a pirate mentality, being accused of defrauding the state when he apparently hid loot from them, sharing it with his men. He had no qualms about employing and operating with the buccaneers and was always popular with the men he led. The proposition was no doubt promising to Rocky.

[00:16:07]Rocky Sabotic Griffin, a 14 gun frigot commanded by Adrian Fondan Schwart.

[00:16:14]His story is quite interesting. For a brief stint between 1650 and 1660, the English monarchy had been deposed by a Republican dictatorship.

[00:16:25]Schwar had served as a privateeer for the exiled king, hunting down Republican ships. When the monarchy was restored in 1660, he saw some further fleet action before finally being contracted for service in the Caribbean.

[00:16:40]He was supposed to serve as vice admiral to Commodore Ming. But the Griffin was separated from the main fleet and missed out on this profitable venture. Not wishing to return empty-handed, Schwart decided to assault the coast of Cuba. In March, he landed near the river Cauto.

[00:16:59]His troop was attacked by a Spanish militia near the town of Bayamo, sustaining 28 casualties.

[00:17:06]That was 1/4 of the entire crew. The rest were forced to retreat. He spent a long, miserable year scrouching for food, equipment, and prize ships in the vicinity. Making no substantial gains.

[00:17:23]It was during this time that Rocky was becoming popular with the crew. He initiated a mutiny against the captain.

[00:17:30]Not the uh brutal overthrow of the existing order so romanticized in the popular mind, but more so the type of mutiny common among buccaneers.

[00:17:41]If they would disagree on some important matter, they would simply split away, leaving the ship in the hands of its legal owner. In this case, Captain Schwart. As far as we know, the affair was civil enough. Rocky and his mal contents taking a prize bark as their ship and leaving the captain's company.

[00:18:03]It is here that the history becomes a bit uh muddled. We know that by early 1665, Iraqi was in command of a 16 gun frigot named the civilian.

[00:18:15]However, we do not know how he acquired this heavily armed ship.

[00:18:20]Exquin suggests that if departing from Captain Schwart, Iraqi and his men captured the civilian carrying her and all the money back to Jamaica.

[00:18:30]This does not appear to be the case.

[00:18:32]Jamaica was at peace with the Spanish at this point, and Governor Modifford would have noted if a pirate like Rocky would have carried an illegal prize into port.

[00:18:43]We know he would have done it because he did so when a pirate named Bernard Nicholls came home with a prize in November of 1664.

[00:18:51]Nicholls was nonetheless allowed to keep it. This ship was the civilian. The civilian named after being constructed in the Spanish port of Sevilla belonged to Jose de Alaron and was captained by Sebastian Crespo. Nicholas seized the civilian near Portoello in 1664 and took her to Jamaica. Interestingly, Kresper actually went there to obtain redress for the capture. During his stay between 1664 and 1666, he mentions the civilian as now being commanded by Rocky. So, what happened? There isn't much known about Bernard Nicholls. It has been suggested that he was a Dutchman himself. And maybe he was one of Captain Schwart's crewmen and that he was elected commander of the bark, not Rocky. Whether he was independent of Schwart or not, Rocky might have been one of his leading crewmen or even an officer. If Rocky parttook in the capture of the civilian, he might have been given command of her as a reward.

[00:19:55]or if Rocky hadn't been part of Nicholls's crew, he might have simply purchased the civilian when it was an auction.

[00:20:02]Either way, he was now in command of a well-armed ship and would soon put it to good use.

[00:20:14]Dutch merchants had been responsible for setting up the English plantation economy and now they're able to reap the profits carrying boatloads of musketeo to be refined in Amsterdam into white sugar.

[00:20:27]Both the merchants and planters were happy with this arrangement but the government in London was not since they were missing out on the juicy revenue.

[00:20:37]In 1651, Oliver Cromwell instituted the Navigation Acts, banning the colonies from trading with anyone but the home country. The Dutch resorted to smuggling and relations between the two nations soured. The next year, trade conflict erupted into an all-out war. And in 1655, the sequel was released. Because on this channel, we love extreme violence conducted over economic policy.

[00:21:06]The new governor of Jamaica, Thomas Modifford, was ironically a Barbadian sugar planter that had espoused free trade instead of restriction.

[00:21:16]He had also tried cracking down on the buccaneers in order to sponsor free trade. But now that Jamaica was threatened, realized how much he needed those swashbuckling scoundrels to defend the island.

[00:21:29]Commissions were freely given and a fleet assembled under the deputy governor, Colonel Edward Morgan, a relative of the more famous Henry Morgan. The fleet consisted of nine vessels. One of them was the six gun Olive Branch commanded by a dude literally named John Outlaw.

[00:21:48]Not only is that the best pirate name of all time, but the discrepancy of a ship named the Olive Branch, a symbol of peace commanded by a guy that named with that profession is just hilarious. Anyway, among the fleet we find the 16 gun civilian commanded by Khar Kharson, the anglicized real name of Rock Brasiliano.

[00:22:12]It is of course noteworthy that he remained loyal to the English even in this conflict against his own countrymen. Money might have been his one and true allegiance.

[00:22:24]In April of 1665, the fleet departed with the following mission to fall upon the Dutch fleet trading at St. Christophers. Capture Ustasia, Sabah, and Kurasau. And on their homeward voyage, visit the French and English buccaneers at Hispanola and Tortuga.

[00:22:44]It was a long journey ahead as they had to beat upwind and when trying to buy supplies from the Spanish in Hispanola, they were refused.

[00:22:52]The flotillaa reached Monserat by July 7, acquiring smaller canoes needed for their landing, picking up a prevailing wind and coming within sight of St. Eustaceius.

[00:23:03]Morgan himself led a landing force of 350 men, surprising and overwhelming the small Dutch garrison. However, Morgan was known for his weight, bordering on morbidly obese, and the tropical heat and excitement of battle led him to suffer a heart attack. Command was passed on to Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Morgan, a cousin of Henry Morgan and later a close associate of him. The buccaneers took 910 slaves and significant plunder, renamed the island New Donkirk, and deported 250 residents to Barbados.

[00:23:42]Despite the success of this raid, the death of the colonel eroded any will for a continued campaign. A small contingent of 70 men occupied the nearby island of Sabah, after which the flotillaa split up. Rocky teamed up with a certain captain Sam Sherlaw and returned to his familiar hunting grounds in Cuba.

[00:24:04]Here he discovered the fate of his former captain Schwart. The griffin had been captured and turned into a Spanish manar and she gave the civilian chase.

[00:24:14]The pirates managed to escape.

[00:24:16]He reported this incident to the admiral to court of Port Royal. The written declaration referred to him as Garrett Garrettson, alias Rocky, confirming that Rock was indeed Garrett Garrettson. The deposition is also interesting in that Rocky did not sign it, indicating that he might have been illiterate.

[00:24:36]You might be curious about the nickname Rocky. If you aren't, too bad. I'm going to discuss it anyway. It appears to be an anglicized form of Rocky, a dimminitive of the Dutch name Rockus.

[00:24:50]Perhaps Rockus was his real first name and an alias or the other way around. In French, he was called Rosh and in Danish Rocky, indicating that the English Rocky didn't necessarily refer to anything about stones or rocks.

[00:25:15]Can you smell what The Rock is cooking?

[00:25:18]That would be the Spanish.

[00:25:21]Rocky had developed a severe hatred of them, something which uh did not combine well with his violent tendencies.

[00:25:30]Exquimling claims that if a prisoner did not reveal the location of treasure, he would torture them to death. For provisioning his ships, Rocky would raid Spanish pig farms. And if they did not tell him where their herds were, he would put them on a barbecue and roast them. Apparently, they could not hear his name without shivering.

[00:25:53]We have no contemporary accounts of Kharatson's cruelty. However, in 1666, he partnered with fellow Dutchman David Martin, sailing together near Cuba and Yucatan.

[00:26:06]The governor of Yucatan wrote the following of Martin's behavior. He is a great scoundrel who has done much damage in this province, not to mention the great harshness he has inflicted on the prisoners, which is contrary to the laws of war. If Martin behaved in this manner, it is unlikely that Rocky was any better. But neither were the Spanish armies of the 17th century, nor the buccaneers in general, who were known for their excessive cruelty. Rocky would later partake in the battle of Portoella in 1668 when the buccaneers were documented as roasting a woman alive. Her buttocks being burned to the bone.

[00:26:49]Portoelloo. What an adventure. Although Modifford had been skeptical of supporting peaceime privateeering, rumors of a Spanish attack on Jamaica in 1668 obliged him to summon Henry Morgan and his buccaneers.

[00:27:04]Morgan recruited Jamaicans and Frenchmen for an expedition to Cuba with Rocky signing on as a volunteer.

[00:27:12]At this point, he appears to have lost the civilian. We do not know what happened since he did not command a new ship. It is unlikely that he sold her or had made significant profit. Perhaps she was lost in a storm or had simply deteriorated.

[00:27:29]Some have suggested that he spent the remainder of 66 in retirement. And it seems likely that he got married and had a child at this point, a son. Either way, when Morgan beat the drum, he was quick and eager to sign a board. Morgan landed his troops on the southern coast, marching inland to conquer the city of Puerto Principe. After defeating the Spanish defenders and killing the governor, the settlement was held for ransom.

[00:27:58]However, in profits proved uh meager and most of the army deserted Morgan. He now proposed to assault the town of Portoella located on the southern coast of the Panama Ismos. Portoella was well defended since the Spanish would gather silver there before shipping it onwards to Europe.

[00:28:17]Morgan attempted to surprise the city, rowing there by canoe at night, but his men were spotted by a scouting vessel.

[00:28:25]And although the scouts were captured, the city was forewarned when a skirmish erupted between the buccaneers and soldiers in a block house. Portoella was defended by three large castles, and Morgan began his assault by attacking one of them, San Heronimo. After the castle refused to surrender, Morgan and his men swarmed the gates, and within half an hour, everyone inside had been killed or subdued. In the dungeons were discovered captured Englishmen. And upon discovering their maltreatment, the buccaneers were inspired to pay the Spanish back in full. They proceeded next to the city itself, spreading terror by firing at everything alive, men and women, animals. So capturing the city without a fight, most of the Dennis fled into the central citadel of Castle Triana. Since the castle was located right in the center of town, the buccaneers climbed the buildings surrounding the castle and used them as a vantage point for firing onto the battlements.

[00:29:29]They attempted to burn the gates with their fireballs. Uh, think Molotov cocktails, but the Spanish repelled them by throwing down stones. Morgan then rallied a group of captives, including the mayor, two friars, several women, and nuns, using them as a meat shield for the forloren hope. As they advanced on the walls with torches, ladders, and axes, the defending governor fired on the meat shield nonetheless, wounding two friars and killing an Englishman, but not preventing them from breaching the gates. With the garrison distracted, another party scaled the walls with ladders, planting a red flag on the rampards and rushing inside. 45 defenders out of 80 fell and the rest were wounded. The final castle surrendered without a fight and Portoelloo had been conquered.

[00:30:21]In a correspondence with the president of Panama, Morgan managed to obtain a ransom of 100,000 pesos, a significant hall with each man receiving a significant share.

[00:30:38]On the way back home, Morgan and his men encountered a Brigantine commanded by 10 Frenchmen who had once sailed under France Lolan.

[00:30:47]This dreaded pirate had recently perished and the Frenchman sailed with Morgan to Jamaica where they decided to sell the Brigantine on auction.

[00:30:56]Rocky not being content with the Portortoella spoils decided to jointly purchase the Brigantine with his crewmen including Jel de Lat and John Arasmus reigning. Both of them fellow Dutchmen.

[00:31:08]Owing to his experience, Rock was elected as captain. Lukat becoming a second in command and draining is significant for the journal he left behind, giving a vivid description of his uh less than pleasant time serving on the rock and his heated personality.

[00:31:24]Their first task was to go to the Cayman Islands where they rescued some of Alan's former crewmen.

[00:31:31]When restocking up provisions at the island of Palma, the privateeers spotted another Brigantine coming towards them, larger and better armed. Being more heavily crewed, it came straight at them and Rock fired a warning shot to recall all of his men. There was no wind and the Spaniards approached with their oars. However, Rock took the initiative, maneuvering us to get the ship side by side and managing to board them first.

[00:31:59]The bloody melee lasted an entire hour, leaving only 12 out of the 60 Spaniards alive, most of them heavily wounded.

[00:32:08]A boy was found hanging over the ship's railing, and Rock promised him quarter if he would come back aboard. When the boy did, he intended to kill him anyway, had raining not stopped him.

[00:32:21]The buccaneers were emboldened by their bloody victory and wrote a letter to the governor of nearby Kartahena asking him to send them bearded men with more policy and courage indicating that most of the Spaniards were young and inexperienced.

[00:32:37]3 days later they cited three heavily armed ships bearing down on them and they decided to show their heels.

[00:32:45]Jel de Lat stayed aboard Rock's ship, even though he was a close friend of Arasmus reigning. We do not know if Rock considered Lat anything but a subordinate. Perhaps he had a strange notion of friendship, for in one of his usual fits of rage, perhaps provoked by disagreement, perhaps by drink. He beat Lat on the shoulder with his cutless.

[00:33:08]When Reigning learned of this attack, he called it unacceptable, ordered two cutlesses brought up, and challenged Rocky to a duel. The Brazilian could not refuse.

[00:33:20]Both men laid down a sum of money for the surgeon in case they were wounded and had to be treated. The crew then formed a circle around them to make a sort of arena. And at the word of command, Rocky and Railing circled each other like sharks. They attacked simultaneously. Raining taking a blow to his stomach. Blood began to flow. He chopped away part of Rocky's chin, taking a blow at the knee, and striking at Rock's forehead. The Brazilian began to waver. Perhaps blood was flowing into his eyes, and Raining took the initiative. He struck Rocky in the arm and cut his hairline close to the eyes.

[00:33:59]Forced back into the form, Rocky had to surrender. Reigning had won, but there would be no positive feeling between them. Rocky went into the cockpit to be mended, but told the surgeon not to treat his opponent.

[00:34:15]Raining had to go below himself and threatened to take the medicine chest and surgical instruments and throw it overboard, finally making Rocky relent.

[00:34:25]Still, he was thinking of vengeance.

[00:34:27]When the Brigantines anchored at the Cayman Islands, Rock began looking for a Spanish rapier to try his luck again.

[00:34:36]When Raining heard of this, he sent word to Rocky that he would be waiting for him with a pair of loaded pistols.

[00:34:44]It was quite clear that the concert ship wasn't working out, and the companions decided to split. Lat going with raining.

[00:34:53]In spring of 1669, Lukat and Rocky had teamed up again, this time sailing with Joseph Bradley of the 70 ton 14 gun frigot Mayflower. The trio sailed into the Gulf of Mexico, intending to capture targets near Laguna de Terminos.

[00:35:10]At this point, we know that Braziliano's crew consisted of 40 men, 34 of them Dutchmen, six English. For two or three weeks, they hovered near the port of Campetche without any luck.

[00:35:24]Iraqi lost two men during attempted landing at the town of Lerma before Bradley managed to capture a boat full of flour.

[00:35:31]Satisfied by this uh meager prize, the buccaneers returned to Laguna de Terminos, remaining there for the next two months, cleaning and repairing their ships.

[00:35:42]Lukat and his crew busy themselves cutting logwood, loading up this precious dye stuff in their ship. When the ships had been mended, Bradley and Braziliano returned to Campiche, prowling along the coastline for prizes.

[00:35:57]Rocky managed to capture a number of fishermen, torturing them to reveal the arrival of a new governor. In truth, it was an auditor for the provincial administration.

[00:36:07]Still, he would make a valuable prisoner should Rock be able to take him.

[00:36:13]Instead, the Spaniards decided to sort on the 18th of December, 1669, sending out three heavily armed ships, running the intruders off and breaking the blockade. Braziliano was caught in a stiff northerner, forcing him to sail northeast. He managed to round the tip of Yucatan, but was shipwrecked at a strip of barrier sand called Shhulu Beach. Sorry to all the Mayans out there if I mispronounced it.

[00:36:41]One of his prisoners managed to escape, taking news of the misfortune to the provincial capital of Merida, where Rocky had previously been held captive.

[00:36:50]A cavalry troop was sent out, and they discovered Barasiliano and his men burying heavy items recovered from the shipwreck. As the horsemen approached, Iraqi and his men managed to escape in a boat, leaving two men behind to be captured. They were forced to dig up the captain's treasure. It included an old bronze cannon bearing the arms of Philip II dead in 1598, two bronze swivel guns, and some 60 iron cannonballs. There's a real buried treasure for you. Now, I'm I'm going to go I'm going to go a bit off script here to sort of talk about the uh buried treasure and the reasons why Rocky probably did it. So he was they found him bearing, you know, heavy items, cannons and swivel guns and cannonballs.

[00:37:39]These were items which, you know, if you lost your ship and only had a canoe or something, you couldn't exactly bring it with you, but these were very valuable items. So Rock and his men were probably intending to bury them so they could return to Jamaica or capture a bigger ship and then come back to the burial site and dig up this stuff and, you know, sell it or use it again. But the Spanish stopped them.

[00:38:06]If the story about Rock and his duel with Reigning is to be believed, it is ironic that Rocky and his men were rescued from their predicament by Captain Lukat.

[00:38:17]They were transferred over to Bradley's Mayflower, returning to Jamaica. The pirate island was currently in a state of panic.

[00:38:26]The governor had wanted to recall all of the buccaneers, but recent assaults by Spanish corsaires had obliged him to summon them once more. Henry Morgan, the great chieftain of the pirates, was granted a title of admiral and a commission to attack the Spanish.

[00:38:42]Assembling a fleet at Ilia, Bradley and his Mayflower decided to join it. By all accounts, Rocky was aboard a frigot.

[00:38:52]The fleet departed in December of 1670, occupying the island of Santa Catalina after a token resistance.

[00:39:00]From then, Morgan gave Bradley command of an advanced flotilla, ascending it and 470 men to take the castle of San Lorenzo, guarding the entrance to the river Chagress.

[00:39:13]Morgan's plan was to go up the river and march on Panama, located on the Pacific coast of the Darian Ismos.

[00:39:20]It was one of the richest settlements in the region as it served as a depot for the silver excavated in Peru.

[00:39:28]The castle of Chagaras was strategically situated on a mountain peninsula overlooking the Chagas harbor. With the east separated by a small river, the castle could only be assaulted from the west, allowing the garrison to focus on a narrow line of fire. Their lookout spotted Bradley and his men as they were landing troops in the harbor four miles to the north blowing trumpets and beating drums.

[00:39:52]As the invaders disappeared into the undergrowth, the commander of the castle, Don Pedro de Elite, ordered a subordinate to set up an ambush. The privateeers managed to avoid it by mostly hugging the beach, hacking their way through the undergrowth, and climbing the steep incline. At 2:00 in the afternoon, Bradley and his men reached the castle. The vegetation before it had been cleared to give the defenders a wide field of fire, and the castle itself stood behind a deep gully forming a natural ditch. The walls of the castle consisted of a doubled row of wooden palisades packed in between with sand and dirt and covered by a roof of reed and palm leaves.

[00:40:36]There were 300 men in the garrison armed with cannons, matchlock musketss, bows and arrows, whilst the privateeers had flintlock musketss, pistols, cutlesses, and various grenades.

[00:40:48]Bradley was a veteran and thought it would be easy taking the castle. He launched an immediate attack.

[00:40:56]He divided his troop into three squadrons.

[00:40:59]One was to take cover and fire continually upon the rampards.

[00:41:03]The second would assault the castle. The third sat behind as a reserve.

[00:41:09]As soon as the asalants entered the open ground, the Spanish fired upon them with surprising accuracy.

[00:41:16]The defenders suffered a few casualties, but according to one eyewitness. One could not see the campaign for the dead bodies of the enemy.

[00:41:25]Bradley and his men were soon forced to retreat. An hour later, Bradley and his men made a second attack, but were unable to reach even the ravine. And when they turned their backs and fled, the Spaniards danced on the earth and walls of the fort, shouting insults and chanting, "Victoria! Victoria!

[00:41:43]Victoria!"

[00:41:45]Bradley remained determined to take the castle. He called in the reserve and at sundown he divided his force into two separate squadrons, launching separate attacks on two different sections of the palisade, splitting the enemy's focus.

[00:42:00]Since the castle now had a falling sun behind it, the defenders struggled at spotting the attacking pirates. Whilst they themselves were highlighted as easily targeted silhouettes, those that weren't picked off had to keep down their heads, allowing Bradley and his men to close in.

[00:42:18]They got down into the gully and crept up the slopes, lighting and throwing grenades onto the dried rooftop. It soon caught fire and started collapsing.

[00:42:29]Burning debris fell into a magazine, blowing it up. Fire soon spread across the entire castle.

[00:42:36]One of the big repellents was a large bronze cannon, loaded with scaring ammunition and inflicting heavy casualties on the attackers.

[00:42:45]By fire or accident, the cannon exploded, tearing a huge hole in the rampards that allowed the buccaneers to enter. A well- aimed grenade destroyed the powder reserve, and many of the defenders were severely burned by the fire and explosions.

[00:43:01]By midnight, survivors began trickling down to the waterfront, escaping in canoes.

[00:43:07]Though many lay dead or dying, the fighting calmed into a strange lull, allowing both sides uh some manner of rest.

[00:43:17]At dawn, the attack resumed. The privateeers charged into the brereech once, twice, driven back by a cannon loaded with musket balls. On the third assault, a French contingent went in with pistol and cutless, breaking the defenders and crying out, "Victa!

[00:43:35]Victto!

[00:43:36]The Castellan rallied the last men standing and it was their final stand.

[00:43:42]All of them slain.

[00:43:44]The buccaneers had won but at a massive expense.

[00:43:48]30 of their own had been killed and 76 wounded. Among them Bradley himself.

[00:43:54]In the following days, he would perish.

[00:43:59]Rocky himself appears to have been wounded, but he recovered sufficiently enough to participate in Morgan's march on Panama. To summarize the attack, the buccaneers won the field with next to no casualties.

[00:44:12]But the Spanish set fire to the city, destroying it and depriving Morgan of most of his loot. The men received next to no shares, and Morgan returned home with only three ships from his original fleet of some 30 sail.

[00:44:30]We do not know for certain what happened to Rock Brasiliano. We do know that he got married at some point, perhaps in the 1660s, maybe in 1666 or 1667, or maybe after the Panama campaign, and he had at least one child, a son. The son was described in passing by William Dampier, the Buccaneer Scholar. I heard of a monstrous green turtle once taken at Port Royal in the Bay of Campe that was 4t deep from the back to the belly and the belly 6 foot broad. Captain Rock's son of about 9 or 10 years of age went in it as in a boat on board his father's ship about a quarter of a mile from the shore. The leaves of fat afforded 8 gallons of oil.

[00:45:15]The segment comes from a wider description of Caribbean turtles and wasn't meant to give any description or insight into Rocky or his family.

[00:45:25]However, it contains plenty of implications.

[00:45:28]For one, since Dampier mentions Rocky so casually in passing, he presupposes that the reader is familiar with him, indicating the captain's reputation and fame.

[00:45:39]Dampier also says that Rock was in command of his own ship again and that he was sailing in Campete.

[00:45:46]So what was Rocky doing in Campete?

[00:45:49]After the peace with Spain in 1670, buccaneers had to find new employment or risk hanging.

[00:45:56]Some took up turtle fishing, others smuggling, and a lot of them, including Dampier went to Campe to cut logwood.

[00:46:05]We know that Rocky was intimately familiar with Campete and he likely went there on a hybrid trip to catch turtle, buy and trade with the logwood coders and maybe even the Spanish or cut log himself like his old associate lat.

[00:46:20]Knowing when this incident took place could tell us when Rocky was active as a captain. Dampier's book was published in 1697 but talks about events in the early to mid 1680s.

[00:46:32]However, he first entered the Caribbean in 1676 when he operated as a logwood cutter in Campete, the same hunting ground as Rocky.

[00:46:43]Perhaps he had heard of the turtle.

[00:46:45][ __ ] turtles. Man, I hate saying turtles. Perhaps he had heard of the turtle story in Campe or Jamaica. This means that Rocky's son was about 10 years old, at least in 1676, meaning that he would have been born in 1666 or 7, which is coincidentally the time gap when we have no documentation of him. So, it is likely that he got married in ' 66 or 67 and was briefly settled before returning to buccaneering in ' 68 with the Portoelloo campaign.

[00:47:19]Even though some buccaneers turned away from violence after 1671, others decided to continue. Some were sailing still out of Jamaica, which wasn't really able to stop them from breaking the law until the early 1680s.

[00:47:34]Many of them sailed to the French colony of Stomag, Pettiguav specifically. Here they were given new privateeering commissions since France and Spain were still at war, allowing the Bakies to continue their piracy beneath a legal veneer.

[00:47:49]During this time, Zang had close connections with the now Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica, Henry Morgan. He would recommend his former privateeers to the French governor and in turn receive a cut of the profits. It isn't unfeasible that he recommended old Rocky being one of his Panama veterans.

[00:48:09]By the late 1670s, Rocky appears to have been among the Pentiguav pirates.

[00:48:15]We know this from a letter written by the governor of St. Thomas, a Danish colony. The governor wrote of the rampant piracy in the Caribbean using Rocky as an example. He writes how Rocky in 1680 or 1681 arrived in the Dutch colony of Kurasau with a French commission from Petty Guav.

[00:48:36]The Spaniards residing there made great requests for Rocky to be handed over to them and taken to trial, but Governor Lee refused.

[00:48:46]Instead, he took justice in his own hands, executing Rocky by hanging.

[00:48:52]What happened to his wife and children are uncertain, but his reputation exceeded him. So, ended the tale of another unscrupulous and brutal buccaneer.

[00:49:04]If you're interested in more pirate biographies, check out this episode on Henry Morgan. If you want me to make more pirate biographies, let me know by commenting and giving this video a like.

[00:49:16]Owing to the dark subjects being discussed, it is likely that this video will be shadowbanned or even demonetized.

[00:49:24]So, the best way to support me is by becoming a channel member or Patreon supporter. Members also get early ad free access to all of my content. Enjoy.