Thus, by becoming a prominent figure in a piratical circle, he came to
be considered a pirate, and as such came down to us in the pages of
history.
But, in fact, Lafitte never committed an act of piracy in his life; he
was a blacksmith, and knew no more about sailing a ship or even the
smallest kind of a boat than he knew about the proper construction of a
sonnet. He did not even try, like the celebrated Bonnet, to find other
people who would navigate a vessel for him, for he had no taste for the
ocean wave, and all that he had to do he did upon firm, dry land. It is
said of him that he was never at sea but twice in his life: once when he
came from France, and once when he left this country, and on neither
occasion did he sail under the "Jolly Roger," as the pirate flag was
sometimes called. For these reasons it seems scarcely right to call
Lafitte a pirate, but as he has been so generally considered in that
light, we will admit him into the bad company, the stories of whose
lives we are now telling.
The energy and business abilities of Jean Lafitte soon made themselves
felt not only in Barrataria, but in New Orleans. The privateers found
that he managed their affairs with much discretion and considerable
fairness, and, while they were willing to depend upon him, they were
obliged to obey him.
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