The Pirates Part I

When the Templar Fleet went missing on October 13^th, 1307 there was a upsurge in piracy throughout the Mediterranean and the Atlantic coast of Europe. The Vikings were considered pirates, as were the Geneses, Venetians, Turks, Muslims and King Rene was considered a pirate. Not by his countrymen but by his enemies!

It was said that by the age of 10, Columbus started his maritime career on a pirate ship of the King of Majorca, King Rene. Today we would call them terrorists. Today we have piracy in heavy drug trafficking countries in Columbia and Latin America.

We have piracy in the Red Sea, the Somali Pirates, and also in Yemen. Where merchant ships coming into and out of the Red Sea are so vulnerable to attack that they stationed US warships to protect shipping.

I don't remember the South China Sea ever being without piracy. Their was a upsurge in piracy after the fall of Saigon when political refugee's were fleeing on anything that would float, and they were preyed upon from their own boat crews and auctioned off to the highest bidder, after being ravaged!

Conflicts between European Countries took their fights to the Caribbean, piracy in the Caribbean was the countries of Europe preying on each other. They called it piracy but it was actually the masonic fleets going after the fleets loyal to the Vatican.

The various skull and cross bones of the Jolly Rodger were flown proudly by the crews operating under letters of authorization called “Letters of Marque of reprisal”, these ships were only able to prey on countries in conflict with the country originating the letter of marque. These ships were called “Privateers”.

Portuguese ships continued to fly the Templar flag. Columbus was flying the Templar Flag on his voyages of Discovery for the Spanish Crown. Privateering was only different from piracy by the letter of marque. Privateering has been used between the 13^th and 19^th century but it's high point was between the 16^th and 18^th centuries.

Privateers were mainly English, Scottish and American ships. There was also some activity with Dutch and French ships but these were almost exclusively Masonic Vessels. The targets of these privateers were almost exclusively French, Spanish and Muslim ships.

Between the 16^th and 18^th centuries their was a complicated maze of political and religious activity in Europe which created a change in alliances and animosities between the maritime trade in the Caribbean.

Since the suppression of the Templar’s in 1307, France became exclusively aligned with the Vatican. The Merovingian families of the Holy Blood have been operating underground since the suppression in 1307 and by the 16^th and 17^th centuries France and England were almost continually at war.

This made French, Portuguese and Spanish ships the target of Privateers. The Privateers motivation was of course the capture of treasure however so many privateers would cross the line in to piracy that by the early 1500's they were required to register their seizure with the admiralty, to distinguish between what was gained through Privateering and what would be considered piracy.

Privateering became heavily regulated by the mid 1700's became a legitimate business investment. When navies of certain countries were small, privateers could place a significant dent in the countries Navy, with little cost to the country holding the letter of marque.

All of the western European countries used privateers to wreck havoc on each other with the intent of destroying their enemies trade. This practice started in Europe and eventually spread throughout the world.

After Magellan and Drake had circumnavigated the world, piracy expanded to the western shores of North and South America, across the pacific to the Philippines and on to India. The Privateers were simply following the Spanish Galleys like sharks following the schools of tuna.

The Island of Madagascar which was unruled in the 16^th century lay between the Indian trade routes and the cape leading to Europe. Madagascar became the center of Piracy off the African coast.

Meanwhile back in Europe, a hundred years after the suppression of the Templar’s, there were constant wars and conflict between the Nations of France, England and Scotland. Scotland didn't become free of oppression from England until the Battle of Bannockburn, which the Templar’s were involved in.

They were in part left relatively unharnessed by England because of the one hundred year war with France. The Stuart Dynasty became the monarch's of Scotland and with all seven of the Stuart Monarchs there was constant strife with England. The Stuarts seemed to have an unlimited supply of gold to fund their military campaigns against England.

After the Death of King James V, 7^th Monarch of the Stuart dynasty, his wife Queen Regent Mary de Guise, the second wife of King James V and mother of Mary, Queen of the Scots. Queen Mary de Guise ruled until her daughter came of age.

Under the rule of Mary, Queen of Scots, a reformation was taking place and the population of Scotland was taking opposition to the Catholic Queen. She was forced to leave Scotland in 1567, and departed for England where she was imprisoned, and executed by Queen Elizabeth I.

However Mary's son, King James VI of Scotland, succeeded Queen Elizabeth I, on the Throne of England in 1603. Although united under one crown, England and Scotland remained separate for another century.

It had now been hundreds of years since the suppression of the Templar’s and entire new countries had been created with new allegiances. The Templar fleet had become the Navy of Scotland. It's sailors became the Masonic English and Dutch Privateers who attacked the French and Spanish ships allied with the Vatican.

The Templar tradition infiltrated England and the American colonies as Masonic thought. There were two primary forms of Masonry Scottish Rite and York Rite.

It is interesting that the descendants of the Templar’s of the Lost Fleet, that became the pirates and privateers that helped in the formation of America, were also Masons. Being a secret society, it is difficult to trace genealogies, but the evidence shows that many of them were Masons.

With the Elizabethan wars between England and Spain a new era of piracy broke out in the 16^th century. Galleons carrying treasure from the New World were the targets of piracy. The privateers were called the Sea Dogs of England, the Sea Beggars of the Netherlands and the Sea Wolves of France. These privateers intercepted countless ships in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico.

This is the era of Henry Morgan, Francis Drake, Black Beard and Captain Kidd.. The Spanish dominated control of the Caribbean and the New World but they were fair game for the Masonic Privateers.

Sir Francis Drake was well respected for his circumnavigation of the world, and was probably the most famous of the Masonic Pirates. There is a passage through the Virgin Island named after Sir Francis Drake.

In 1577, Queen Elizabeth I, supplied five ships and one hundred and sixty men, under the command of Sir Francis Drake, to circumnavigate the world. This would be the second circumnavigation of the world.

This voyage was problematic for Drake, he had a mutiny off the Patagonian coast which cost him two of his ships. It was a two week voyage through the Magellan Strait. One of his ships abandoned the voyage and returned to England at this point. While still in the strait another ship was lost in a storm.

By the time Sir Francis Drake reached the Pacific he lost his entire fleet, only the Golden Hind, under his command remained. He traveled up the coast of Chili and Peru attacking Spanish Galleons as he progressed.

The Golden Hind traveled as far north as San Francisco, where he claimed the area for England and dubbed it New Albion. He departed across the Pacific for the spice islands (Indonesia), and signed trade agreements with the rulers of the islands.


Sir Francis Drake returned to England by way of the Indian Ocean, around the Cape of Good Hope and reached Plymouth England May 20^th 1580, with a cargo of treasure and spices. He was appointed Mayor of Plymouth upon his return and served the crown until 1585, when he received the command of a large fleet of ships.