Michel de Grammont - Hardi shipwreck 1686

[QuartermasterD]

Greetings, everyone. This is my first post. I usually just read, but I finally had a question, or perhaps even noticed an error in recorded history.

After moving to Gainesville and discovering the city of St. Augustine, I became infatuated with the history of Florida and now I always find myself reading about it. As such, I recently came across the story of the failed 1686 attack on St. Augustine by the French pirates Nicolas Brigaut and Michel de Grammont. I frequent the north beach at the inlet because of it's amazing history and relative quietness (girlfriend HATES the walk though), so I was excited to learn of another historic event that happened there. As the story goes, on April 30th, Grammont sent Brigaut to the inlet to gather intelligence on the city while he waited some miles to the south. A storm grounded Brigaut's ship on a sandbar and he was subsequently captured by Spanish soldiers. Meanwhile, Grammont's ship was caught in the same storm and is reported to have sank somewhere off the shore of St. Augustine with all hands lost.

This is the story that you'll most likely read (wikipedia) or have heard. However, I was interested in learning more details about this incident so I looked in a book - sometimes I find actual dialogue from historic events and it's so fascinating. So I looked and I did find a few more details of this event, but one thing that struck me as interesting was the report that Grammont did sail Matanzas inlet to look for Brigaut, and he was driven north by the same storm, but he didn't wreck as he apparently "touched" South Carolina in July and then sailed for West Africa. Along the way he even reportedly captured a Dutch vessel off the Azores and then shortly after sank in a storm with all hands lost.

This is according to David Marley's book, Pirates of the Americas - Volume 1. You can find this section in the preview of the book (pg. 161). He does list references but it's kind of a vague format with no in-text citations.

Anyway, I was excited to think that there was a French pirate ship somewhere off the coast of St. Augustine, but it looks like this may not be the case. I'm interested in hearing what anyone else has to say on this particular matter.

Cheers!

 

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[MPH200]

I asked Barry Clifford about this a few years back




Michael: I have never heard anything about that ship being found or anyone looking for it, if she carried a lot of treasure then many would have searched for it!


WHYDAH DIVER[


QUOTE=MPH200]I just finished The Lost Fleet, a great book on Las Aves, thanks Barry. My question is, has Chevalier de Grammonts lost ship ever been found or is there any active search for it?

"His target was St. Augustine. In April 1686 they stood into the Atlantic and came to anchor south of St. Augustine under Spanish colors. Brigaut, sailing a small Spanish vessel they had captured, went on ahead to scout out the attack. De Grammont and the other vessel waited, but Brigaut did not return. At last de Grammont decided to go himself, no doubt hoping to discover what had become of his consort. As it turned out, Brigaut's ship had been lost in a storm, and de Grammont sailed right into the same foul weather. The gales drove him north along the coast. He was never heard from again."

 

[QuartermasterD]

I don't think there's reason to believe it had any substantial treasure. It was a 52-gun ship, formerly the Saint Nicholas.

I found another book, St. Augustine Pirates and Privateers by Theodore Corbett, stating the following:

Grammont knew nothing of Brigaut's demise, and he headed up the coast in his ships to the inlet at St. Augustine's harbor. From there, he hoped to blockade and starve St. Augustine into surrender. When the townspeople heard of his presence, they barricaded themselves into the Castillo. The citizens believed the pirates were waiting to seize ships carrying the situado from Havana. Grammont's ships stayed in the area searching for Brigaut's men. The blockade was maintained for 16 days but finally abandoned as Grammont gave up hope of finding Brigaut's men and sailed north to take on provisions. Somewhere off the coast of Guale, Grammont and his hands were reportedly lost in a storm.

According to this account, Grammont's ship was lost off the coast of modern-day Georgia, if I interpret that correctly.

In all likelihood, David Marley's account of Grammont's ship sinking off the Azores is most accurate. I tried to find his contact info to inquire more on the subject, but he appears to be a hard man to track down.

 

[ARC]

Well...

Unfortunately he never made it.

 

[ARC]

Brigaut was captured by the Spanish after he grounded his shipped and subsequently executed...

Brigaut hoped Grammont would rescue him and the crew...

But a rescue never happened...

Grammont's ship AND Brigaut's vessel were BOTH sunk in a storm... and all lost.

 

[ARC]

I am not sure that wreck would contain much of anything due to the simple fact he struggled for years prior to his demise.

But hey... ya never know.