Long before the Mayflower carried its passengers to America, ships were leaving a port on the coast of Brittany for the New World. One of them was commanded by Jacques Cartier. The port was Saint-Malo.
Fortunes from the Sea
In 1534, Jacques Cartier sailed from Saint-Malo across the Atlantic on the first of his voyages to what is now Canada. But exploration was only part of Saint-Malo’s extraordinary maritime history. For centuries, ships left this walled city for the Americas, the East Indies, and ports throughout Europe, bringing wealth back to a city whose fortunes were tied to the sea.
During times of war, some Saint-Malo sailors found another way to make a fortune. They went after enemy ships. These men were called corsairs. Saint-Malo became known as the Corsair City.
Hunting Ships for King and Country
Saint-Malo was almost perfectly positioned for corsairs. The fortified city faced the English Channel, one of Europe’s busiest maritime routes, where merchant ships passed carrying valuable cargo. Its sailors already knew the sea and the international trading routes, and they knew what those ships carried.
Saint-Malo corsairs sailed out in fast vessels looking for enemy merchant ships. When they found one, they gave chase, pulled alongside, and boarded it. Fighting could be hand-to-hand, with pistols, muskets, sabers, and even grenades. The object wasn’t to sink the ship. A captured vessel was valuable, and so was its cargo — sugar, spices, tea, textiles, silver, and other goods that could bring considerable profits back to Saint-Malo.
The more I learned about Saint-Malo corsairs, the more they reminded me of stories I’d heard before...
Pirates.
I grew up in North Carolina, where Blackbeard and the pirates who sailed our coast were part of our history. Men in fast ships chasing merchant vessels, boarding them and taking their cargo sounded awfully familiar.
Were corsairs simply French pirates?
Pirates With Permission
There was one important difference. Pirates were outlaws. Corsairs operated with the authority of the king.
A French corsair carried a lettre de marque, or letter of marque, authorizing him to attack enemy merchant ships during wartime. They could bring the captured ship and its cargo back to port and sell them, with the Crown receiving a share of the profits. The British had them, too. They called them privateers.
The distinction may seem rather fine when both were chasing ships, boarding them and taking their cargo, but legally it was enormous. A pirate could be prosecuted. A corsair could return to Saint-Malo a hero — and possibly a very wealthy one.
One of those men remains among the most celebrated names in Saint-Malo—Robert Surcouf.
The Boy Who Went to Sea
Robert Surcouf was born in Saint-Malo in the 1770’s into an established Malouin family of sailors and merchants. Since birth, the sea was in his blood. Generations of his family had been sailors, merchants, and corsairs, and Surcouf followed them to sea when he was only thirteen. By twenty, he was a corsair captain.
Surcouf made his name thousands of miles from Saint-Malo – in the Indian Ocean, where he became known for hunting British ships and taking on vessels much larger than his own.
His most celebrated victory came in 1800, when Surcouf, commanding La Confiance, went after the British Kent. His ship carried 18 guns; the Kent carried about 40 and far more men. That didn’t seem to concern Surcouf. He maneuvered alongside the British ship, his men boarded, and after fierce fighting they captured it. He returned to Saint-Malo a wealthy man, and one of France’s most celebrated corsairs.
A Saint-Malo Story Worth Sharing
Corsairs are only one part of Saint-Malo’s story. There are explorers and wartime stories, the extraordinary tides and fortifications, and even the Saint-Malo connection to the book and screen adaptation of All the Light We Cannot See.
Fortunately, Brendan Hart was my guide.
Saint-Malo Guided Tours
Sharing the history of his adopted home is Brendan’s passion. On his walking tour, he doesn’t simply point out buildings and recite dates. He knows the stories behind them, and his deep knowledge of the area and local insight help you imagine the people and events that shaped Saint-Malo.
For me, the corsairs were one of those unexpected connections that made his history lesson so interesting. His stories took me all the way back to North Carolina and the tales of Blackbeard and pirates I grew up with — familiar stories showing up in a place where I never expected to find them.
Many thanks to Brendan for a wonderful tour and for the follow-up information he sent me about the corsairs that helped me put this story together.
If your travels take you to Brittany, put Saint-Malo on your list — and take one of Brendan’s Saint-Malo Guided Tours. I barely scratched the surface here. He knows the stories, the characters, and the history that bring this remarkable old port to life.
3 Responses
I loved reading this. I was a student for the summer in St Malo when I was 16. It was a great summer of exploring the area. I remember our trips to Quimper and the lace market, and going to Mont St Michel. I would love to come back to visit again.
The wonderful novel “All the Light We Cannot See”
by Anthony Doerr was set in Saint -Malo during the war.
His descriptions of the fortified city were so intriguing! When we saw a cruise itinerary that included Saint-Malo it helped us make the decision to join!
Looking down in to the old city from the dark granite ramparts was like looking in to a diorama.
Thank you Deborah I found this post really interesting. I have heard that the words corsair and privateer but never really understood these compared to pirates. Even though my own visit to St Malo was brief, it was so atmospheric that it has stayed with me as a favourite.