December 12, 1773 - Robert Surcouf
A French privateer whose career encompassed both celebrated naval aggression and the trafficking of enslaved people, Surcouf operated across two distinct but equally consequential registers of harm. His capture of more than forty prizes during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars made him a significant disruptor of British commercial shipping in the Indian Ocean, yet his parallel engagement in the illegal slave trade — conducted before he held any legal authority for it — points to the opportunism that defined his broader career. The fortune he ultimately accumulated drew from both activities without clear distinction between them.
From Wikipedia
Robert Surcouf (French pronunciation: [ʁɔbɛʁ syʁkuf]; 12 December 1773 – 8 July 1827) was a French privateer, businessman and slave trader who operated in the Indian Ocean from 1789 to 1808 during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Capturing over 40 prizes, he later amassed a large fortune from a variety of commercial activities, such as ship-owning, privateering, slave trading and owning land.
Surcouf started his maritime career as an officer on the ships Aurore, Courrier d'Afrique and Navigateur. Having risen to the rank of captain, he illegally engaged in slave trading onboard the slave ship Créole. Surcouf then captained the merchantman Émilie, on which he engaged in commerce raiding despite lacking a letter of marque. He preyed on British shipping, capturing several merchantmen including the East Indiaman Triton, before returning to the Isle de France where his prizes were confiscated. Surcouf then returned to France, where he obtained prize money from the government. Returning to the Indian Ocean, Surcouf captained the privateers Clarisse and Confiance, raiding British, American, and Portuguese shipping.
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