Hippolyte Bouchard
 | This article may be a rough translation from Spanish. It may have been generated, in whole or in part, by a computer or by a translator without dual proficiency. |
Hippolyte Bouchard |
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Hippolyte de Bouchard (August 13, 1783–January 4, 1843) was a French and Argentine sailor and corsair who fought for Argentina, Chile, and Peru. In Argentina (where he is known as Hipólito Bouchard) he is remembered as a hero for having conquered California and raising the Argentine flag there, though among the Spanish settlements in California he was regarded as a pirate and therefore often referred to as the Pirate Buchar.[1]
Bouchard was known for his heated temper, which led to many incidents between him and his subordinates, to whom he meted out terrible punishment whenever they disobeyed him.
Biography
Early life
Bouchard was born in Saint-Tropez, in 1783 (according to some sources, he was born on January 15, 1780). The son of André Louis Bouchard and Thérese Brunet was baptized as Andre Paul but eventually went by the name Hippolyte. He initially worked in the French merchant fleet, then served in the French Navy in their campaigns against the English, thus starting his life at sea. After many campaigns in Egypt and Santo Domingo, the young Bouchard came to Argentina in 1809 and, in order to aid the May Revolution, became a part of the National Argentine Fleet, led by Azopardo. On March 2, 1811 he fought for the first time under the Argentine Flag by defeating the Spanish Captain Jacinto de Romarate in San Nicolás de los Arroyos, and in July and August of that year he played a major role in defending the City of Buenos Aires from a Spanish blockade. In March, 1812 Bouchard joined the Mounted Grenadiers Regiment led by José de San Martín and took part in the Battle of San Lorenzo in 1813, where he captured a Spanish flag and therefore was granted Argentine citizenship. Some months later he married Norberta Merlo.
Campaign with Guillermo Brown
In 1815 Bouchard started a naval campaign under the command of Admiral Guillermo Brown, wherein he attacked the fortress of El Callao and the Ecuadorian city of Guayaquil. On September 12, 1815 he was granted a corsair license to fight the Spanish aboard the French-built corvette Halcón, which had been bought to the Argentine State by Vicente Anastacio Echeverría. Most of the officers were French, except for the second commander, the Englishman Robert Jones, and Ramón Freire. Before weighing anchor a conflict between Bouchard and his superiors arose when the expedition's agent, Severino Prudant, promoted several sailors. Echevarría intervened and settled the conflict.
The campaign fleet was comprised of the frigate Hercules under the command of Guillermo Brown, the Santísima Trinidad under the command of his brother, Miguel Brown, the schooner Constitución under the command of Oliverio Russell, and the Halcón. The Hércules and Santísima Trinidad set sail from Montevideo on October 24; the other two ships departed five days later. The plan was for all four ships to rendezvous at Mocha Island where they would establish a plan of operation. The Brown brothers arrived at the island on the 28th of December, with the Halcón arriving the following day. Upon arrival Bouchard announced that while circumnavigating Cape Horn his ship was exposed to fourteen days of severe weather, and it was on that basis that he had concluded that the Constitución had sunk (neither the ship nor nor its crew were ever seen again). On December 31 Brown and Bouchard agreed to operate together during the first hundred days of 1816. Any plunder would be divided as follows: two parts to Brown, as the commander-in-chief, and one-and-a-half parts each for the Santísima Trinidad and the Halcón. Bouchard and Miguel Brown subsequently set course for the Peruvian coast, while the Hércules sailed to the Juan Fernández Islands in order to free a number of patriots that were being held prisoner there.
On January 10, 1816 the three vessels met again near the fortress of El Callao. The ships formed a blockade and bombarded Guayaquil and its nearby the fortification. The following day the group seized the brigantine San Pablo, which was used to transport sick and injured sailors as well as the liberated prisoners. On the 13th the frigate Gobernadora was captured, and Lt. Colonel Vicente Banegas, officer of the Republican Army of Nueva Granada, joined the fleet. Four more ships were comandeered on the 18th, including the schooner Carmen and the brig Místico a;ong with two other ships, one of which was sacked and sunk. On January 21 the Argentinian fleet again attacked the fortress, sinking the frigate Fuente Hermosa in the process. Seven days later two more vessels were captured, the frigates Candelaria and Consecuencia. The next day the expanded fleet sailed north in the search of the Guayas River. On February 7 the Argentinian contingent arrived at Puná Island, near Guayaquil. As they arrived, Guillermo Brown ordered Bouchard and his brother to stay close to the seven ships they had captured. Brown took the command of the Santísima Trinidad, with which he wanted to attack Guayaquil. The next day his attack demolished the fort of Punta de Piedras, located some five leagues from Guayaquil. However, on the 9th of February Brown failed in his attempt to take the castle of San Carlos, and was instead captured by the royalist forces. After a long negotiation, the Argentinian corsairs traded Brown for the Candelaria, three brigantines and five correspondence chests that had been taken from the Consecuencia.
After three days, Bouchard informed Brown that his ship was close to sinking and thatthe officers wished to return to Buenos Aires. He then asked for a division of the booty, and received the Consecuencia, the Carmen, and 3.475 pesos as compensation (he had to leave the Halcón behind). Bouchard elected to return to Buenos Aires via Cape Horn, and it was there that new incidents with the crew arose, many of which were solved with violence, such as a duel with one of his sergeants. When an officer on the Carmen notified Bouchard that the ship was in imminent danger of foundering, Bouchard nonetheless ordered the man to continue the journey. As a result, the crew mutinied and headed to the Galápagos Islands. The Consecuencia, with Bouchard still in command, made port in Buenos Aires on June 18.
Campaign with La Argentina
For the campaign that was about to start Bouchard decided to use the frigate Consecuencia, that had taken during his last campaign. Together with Vicente Echevarría, they decided to change the ship's name and called her La Argentina. Preparing the ship was not an easy task: it was very heavy and was 100 meters long. Echevarría acquired 34 artillery pieces, and hired experienced carpenters to put them in the right place. On Bouchard's request, the Argentine State gave him 4 bronze cannons and 12 iron cannons, 128 guns, and 1700 cannonballs, but it was impossible for him to get boarding guns or sabers, even if he asked 40 cavalry sabers as a last resource. Even more difficult was finding the 180 men henneded for a crew, given the ill-tempered-man fame he had after the conflicts in the Pacific. Most of the sailors were foreigners, but some were from the provinces of Corrientes and Entre Ríos.
On June 25, with La Argentina still in the port, an incident occured on board. in the middle of a discussion, a sailor slapped a superior, which was considered an indiscipline act. When Bouchard discovered this he ordered the aggressor's arrest, that provoked his companions' protest. One of the sailors decided to attack the commander therefore capt. Sommers had to kill him. However this didn't stop the sailors, who demonstrated inside the ship until they were taken out by the marine infantry led by Sommers. This conflict killed two people and wounded four others. After that, Echevarría decided to send a letter to the government, led by the Supreme Director Juan Martín de Pueyrredón, saying that the insubordination was caused by the permanence of the frigate on the and that it would finish one it abandonded Buenos Aires. Neverthelss, the government did not allow the ship to weight anchor. Two days after, La Argentina headed to Ensenada de Barragán, which started the rumors of Bouchard's desertion. What had really happened is that the frigate had abbandoned the port because of a general order which established that the ships that were in the harbor for loading delays or other similar reasons had to leave it in order to allow warships sail better should the Spanish attempt an invasion. On June 27 Bouchard obtained the Argentine corsair patent (a letter of marque that authorized him to prey on Spanish commerce), thus starting the most adventurous stage of his life.
On July 9, 1817 the Independence's 1st anniversary, he started the journey commanding "La Argentina" from Ensenada de Barragán in order to make another corsair journey that would last two years. Bouchard planned to navigate the Atlantic to the African coast, in order to circumnavigate it through Cape of Good Hope and catch the ships of the Company of the Philippines that sailed from Spain to India. But the 19th there was a fire on the ship and the life of the people was in danger. The crew had to work for hours until being able to extinguish it. When she arrived to the Indian Ocean, the ship headed northeast to Madagascar. After two months, La Argentina anchored in Tamatave, in the east of the island.
Once in Tamatave, a British officer requested to speak with Bouchard to ask for support to stop four slave-transporting ships from leaving the island. Bouchard offered all his available troops to stop slave trading by those ships, from which three were British and one was french. After checking the british officer's thoughts he decided to prevent the ships from leaving the port. Then La Argentina took the slavers' ships' food and recruited five french sailors and left Madagascar. The ship sailed north-east in an attemp to attack spanish vessels that sailed in that zone. However the crew was affected by scurvy, thus on board works had to be concentrated on less sailors, but soon most of them were ill. On October 18 they found an American frigate that commubicated them that the ships of the Company of the Philippines had stopped trading with India three years before.
La Argentina now headed to the Philippines, she resisted many storms in the Sunda Strait, That divides Java and Sumatra, and connects the Java Sea with the Indian Ocean. On November 7 Bouchard decided to land in the island of Java in order to let the sick recover easely. After leaving the island, La Argentina continued with the journey to the Philippines. This part of the sea was very dangerous, due to the Malayan pirates and the crew's condition. The ships used by this pirates had cannons in the prow and in the stern and had one sail and many oars. However, the pirates were not seen until the morning of December 7, when the watchman saw four small ships. The combat delayed until midday when the biggest ship tried to approach the to vessel. Bouchard decided not to use his cannons and preffered hand-to-hand combat. Once defeated the enemies, he ordered to take the ship while the others fled. The commander convened a war council to judge the prisoners, sentencing all of them to the capital punishment, except the youngest.
The execution type was uncommon: the prisoners returned to their ship, which's mast had been demolished and was consequently bombed until it sunk.
After abandoning Makassar Strait, La Argentina crossed the Celebes Sea and landed in the island of Joló. Then she resupplied and headed to Manila, in order to set a blockade. Before arriving they found an english frigate that went to the same city, and the commander wanted to investigate whether it had supplies for the Spanish or not. Bouchard wanted to hide his origin, but the frigate's captain understood why he was there and warned the Spanish authorities. On January 31, 1818 La Argentina was near the port. The city had a wall and a fort with powerful artillery. Bouchard started to take nearby ships, but stayed away from the Spanish artillery. For the next two months he captured 16 ships with intimidating cannon shots and a quick boarding. The inhabitants of the city started to despair because the price of food had raised two and even three times. The governor ordered to prepare two vessels and and a war corvette to defeat the corsair. The expedition was deliberately posposed and when it finally started La Argentina had already left. Bouchard sailed away on March 30 because he couldn't capture big ships in that sea.
On November 20, 1818 Bouchard raided the Presidio of Monterey in Monterey, California. He hired Sir Peter Corney to captain the Santa Rosa, whose crew had mutinied. Bouchard sailed to the Sandwich Islands (now Hawaii) to find new crew members, after much of his crew died from scurvy. Soon thereafter, Bouchard's forces approached the coast off of Mission Santa Bárbara and threatened the nearby town. The padres armed and trained 150 of their neophyte charges to prepare for attack. With their help, the soldiers at El Presidio de Santa Bárbara confronted Bouchard, who sailed out of the harbor without attacking.[2]
On December 14, 1818 the privateer brought the La Argentina and the Santa Rosa to within sight of Mission San Juan Capistrano and sent forth an envoy with a demand for provisions. The garrison soldiers were aware that Bouchard had recently conducted raids on the settlements at Monterey and Santa Barbara, so the demand was rebuffed and threats of reprisals against the privateer band were made. In response, Bouchard ordered an assault on the Mission, sending some 140 men and a trio of cannon to take the needed supplies by force. The Mission guards engaged the attackers but were overwhelmed, and the privateers left several damaged buildings in their wake, including the Governor's house, the King's stores, and the barracks. The raids earned Bouchard a reputation as "California's only pirate" among the Spaniards.[3]
In Argentina, Bouchard is honored as a patriot and several places (among these a major avenue in Buenos Aires) are named after him.
Notes
References
- Jones, Roger W. (1997). California from the Conquistadores to the Legends of Laguna. Rockledge Enterprises, Laguna Hills, CA.
- Leffingwell, Randy (2005). California Missions and Presidios. Voyageur Press, Inc., Stillwater, MN. 0-89658-492-5.
- Yenne, Bill (2004). The Missions of California. Advantage Publshers Group, San Diego, CA. 1-59223-319-8.
Further reading
- Bartolomé Mitre (1909), Páginas de Historia, Buenos Aires: La Nación
- Cichero, Daniel E. (1999), El corsario del plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina. ISBN 950-07-1560-0
- De Marco, Miguel Ángel (2002), Corsarios Argentinos, Buenos Aires, Argentina. ISBN 950-49-0944-2
- Departamento de Estudios Históricos Navales de la Armada Argentina (1987), Historia marítima argentina: Tomo V, Buenos Aires, Argentina. ISBN 950-9257-05-2
- Gregory, Kristiana. The Stowaway: A Tale of California Pirates. Scholastic Trade, 1995. ISBN 0-590-48822-8
- Pitt, Leonard. Decline of the Californios : A Social History of the Spanish-Speaking Californians, 1846-1890. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1970. ISBN 0-520-01637-8
External links
- The California State Military Museum - Spanish and Mexican California: Hippolyte de Bouchard and His Attacks on the California Missions
- The Day Pirates Sacked the Mission article at the Mission San Juan Capistrano official website — URL accessed on December 2, 2005.
- Hipólito (Hypolite) Bouchard and the Raid of 1818 article at the Monterey County Historical Society official website — URL accessed on December 2, 2005.
- Hippolyte de Bouchard - Pirate
- Todo-Argentina.net - Biographical summary (in Spanish).