< PreviousFrom the EditorAs we worked on this edition of Coast Monthly, we noticed a common thread among people featured in these pages. Almost everyone we interviewed had developed a fascination for pirates at a young age. While some people frown on the celebration of people who might have pillaged and plundered for a living, it’s hard to deny the pirate mystique, especially in these parts where shops and even affluent waterfront subdivisions are named for famous buccaneers. Whether we like them or not, pirates of the past conjure images of adventure on the high seas, the hope of hidden treasure, a sea-savvy resourcefulness and healthy disrespect for authority that some coastal Texans find appealing. It was that youthful fascination with pirates so many people talked about in in-terviews that inspired this month’s cover image. Read more about cover model Finn Mignerey on Page 29.No one who grew up on the upper Texas Coast could escape the stories of Jean Laf-fite. There’s even an island society devoted to brothers Jean and Pierre Laffite and their contemporaries. Some historians ar-gue Jean Laffite wasn’t a pirate at all, but a privateer. A pirate is any person, acting on their own, who uses the sea to commit theft, according to pundits. A privateer commits acts of robbery or violence under the rules of a government. Which was Jean Laffite, a man shrouded in myth and mystery? Correspondent Marsha Can-right explores the question on Page 16. We have these stories and much more. So, weigh anchor and enjoy.LAURA ELDERCoast Monthly EditorPirate fascinationSPECIAL THANKSCoast Monthly would like to extend our sincerest thanks to downtown island shop The Admiralty on The Strand, a store offering gifts, home décor, jewelry and marine models. The Admiralty, 2221 Strand, loaned us a model of the USS Constitution, a wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the U.S. Navy, named by President George Washington after the Constitution of the United States of America. See the model on Page 28. The Admiralty, steeped in maritime history, is home to The Admiralty Marine Model Gallery.10 COASTMONTHLY.COM / OCTOBER 2015Residential & CommercialMae SpicerOwner409-682-11759185 Jamaica BeachGalveston, Texas 77554maeespicer@aol.comwww.dixieislepropertycare.comDixie IslePest Control2413 Market St. 832-689-4127market25abc@gmail.comYou’re Invited!UNIQUE2413 MARKETGALVESTON, TXWide Variety ofUnique and SpecialAntiquesBooksJewelryJazz Up yourIsland StyleCONSISTENTLY RANKED AMONG THE TOP TWO PRODUCERS ON GALVESTON ISLAND FOR DOLLAR VOLUME & NUMBER OF CLOSED TRANSACTIONS• Honored 5 times by the Houston Business Journal for Closed Transactions• Honored by H Texas Magazine• Honored by Heritage Texas Properties as 2013 & 2014 Top Producer• Nationally recognized as Real Trends 2014 Top 250 Real Estate Professional for Closed TransactionsSUE JOHNSON, brokerSUE JOHNSON | Broker Associate | 409.682.9050 | sue@heritagetexas.com | heritagetexas.comwww.suejohnsongalveston.com®409.682.9050PIRATES BEACH WEST4202 RUM BAY | $1,500,000SEA ISLE22012 SAN LUIS PASS RD. | $279,900SEA ISLE22209 MATAGORDA | $299,000SEA ISLE4210 LIBERTY | $279,000ISLA DEL SOL4217 ISLA DEL SOL | $315,000JAMAICA BEACH 16610 JAMAICA BEACH RD. | $319,900PIRATES BEACH 13822 PIRATES BEACH BLVD. | $339,900IN TOWN5901 AVENUE T | $385,000PIRATES BEACH 4011 WARCHEST | $449,000SEA ISLE4215 SAN JACINTO | $210,000ISLA DEL SOL 22515 BAY POINT | $234,900PIRATES BEACH 4210 CAMPECHE | $569,000INDIAN BEACH 18318 E DE VACA | $649,000PIRATES BEACH 4102 MAISON ROUGE | $649,000PIRATES BEACH 4022 MUTINY CT | $649,900BEACHSIDE VILLAGE11610 BEACHSIDE | $1,095,000FeedbackWe asked readers to send us photos of nautical-themed tattoos. Here are a few of them. Read more about sailors and nautical ink on Page 44.Photos provided by Nick SalazarPhotos provided by Chano ZunigaPhoto provided by Rosalind RichardPhoto provided by Shannon CharrierPhoto provided by Christina StevensPhoto provided by Bridget HunsuckerPhoto provided by Lana LanderPhoto provided by Bruce BlankenshipPhoto provided by Casey MillerPhotos provided by David Bean12 COASTMONTHLY.COM / OCTOBER 2015I-45I-451764Exit 132004NWSEWe Carry a Full line ofMillion DollarRustic$300with the purchaseof any Tempur-PedicIN STORE CREDIT10% OFFALL Poly FurnitureFREE AssemblyFREE Delivery*To Galveston County5301 Gulf Freeway, LaMarque • 409-986-7600(I45 South, Exit 13) www.RusticFurnitureLand.comHouston’s Largest Poly Furniture Dealer!SeveralColors to ChooseFrom!LifetimeGuaranteeNever to Fade!Houston’s Largest Poly Furniture Dealer!Photo by Irene AmietIsland organization helps us shed light on the myth and the manJEAN LAFFITEPIRATE OR PRIVATEER?By Marsha CanrightFeaturesMore than 6 feet tall, wavy-haired, literate and wily, Jean Laffite, the romantic privateer of the Gulf Coast, was already a legend when he sailed into Galveston Bay 198 years ago.A sailor, a smuggler, a spy, a command-er of men and ships, and an undisputed hero of the 1815 Battle of New Orleans, Laffite at age 37 had two decades of ad-venturous living in his wake.“Laffite is popularly called the most ro-mantic figure in American history,” said R. Dale Olson, author of the scholarly essay, “French Pirates and Privateers in Texas.”The mythical exploits of the dashing captain were circulating even before the 1826 publication of “The Memoirs of Laf-fite,” a small book reprinted many times in what would be considered a best-selling romance today.In its racy-for-the-day language, Laffite is portrayed as a swashbuckling pirate, oozing glamour and gallantry, a favorite of the ladies and up to his chest in Spanish gold.By all accounts, “Laffite was elegant, fashionable, suave, highly intelligent and gentlemanly, though he was ferocious against enemies,” Olson said.But what do we know of the real man apart from the powerful myth?Olson and colleague Jeffrey P. Mod-zelewski are men with a serious intel-lectual interest in the study of the Texas privateers, and in knowing the histori-cal facts about the real Laffite. They’re members of The Laffite Society in Galves-ton; Olson was one of the founders and Modzelewski is a past president. The mission of the organization is to educate and disseminate information about Laf-fite’s history, the chronological era and the places he lived. For starters, there were two Laffites: Jean and his brother Pierre.“Jean apparently had the looks, the personality and the charisma — he was attractive to both women and men — and thus he eclipsed his older brother in popu-larity,” Modzelewski said.Both were a product of their times, as we all are to some degree, he said.Born in the late 18th century of French parentage, the Laffites rose to prominence 16 COASTMONTHLY.COM / OCTOBER 2015 6502 Stewart Rd. Galveston, Texas 77551 T: 409.744.7000 ChunkyFunkyMonkey.com Exceptional Window Fashions & Design Custom Shutters, Blinds, Draperies & Fine Flooring Quality Upholstery Exclusive Wallpaper & Fabrics Turn-Key Prices on Stanley Furniture Skilled Design Services Home Renovation & RemodelsHunter Douglas Priority Dealer Featuresin the early 1800s, a slippery era of shifting political alliances with laws that were subject to wide interpretation.“They were catapulted into historical superstardom because their lives coincided with an important epoch in world history,” Modzelewski said.The United States, still a new nation, was beginning to emerge and expand while colonial powers such as Great Britain, France and Spain were losing their grip on empires.As the century turned, Jean Laffite was living and working as a sailor in Santo Domingo, the French colony now known as Haiti.Early in the 1800s he began living with his brother Pierre in New Orleans, where the two owned a blacksmith shop, possibly a front for their stolen goods.In fact, both Laffites may have been living in New Orleans when the French colony joined the United States after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Around 1806, the Laffites had established a smugglers’ settlement, called Barataria, on Grand Terre Island in the Gulf of Mexico about 50 miles from New Orleans. They likely divided time between their headquarters and New Orleans. Business was good. The cargoes of captured ships were brought to Barataria and held until the goods could be sold at auction closer to New Orleans.The Laffites gained expertise, manpower, weapons and knowl-edge of the bayous and waterways, which made it possible in 1815 for them to assist Americans in winning the Battle of New Orleans.Their assistance may have been self serving, but there’s no question the brothers provided critical military support to Gen. Andrew Jackson, as the United States battled Great Britain for control of the Mississippi River at the close of the War of 1812.Their service was so important to the American cause that U.S. President James Madison expunged all records of criminal activ-ity of the Laffite brothers. They might have lived out their days as honored men in New Orleans, but they chose another path.The group at Barataria continued to prey on trade ships, includ-ing vessels having friendly relationships with the United States, and finally the government asked, then ordered the Laffites to leave. They arrived in Galveston in 1817 seeking a new base of opera-tions. Galveston was to be the closing chapter for Jean and Pierre. They both died within three years after the duo was forced to leave in 1820, again for their raids on shipping.Most researchers and biographers believe that Jean Laffite was injured in a battle, and buried at sea, as reported in newspapers at the time. Pierre died off the coast of Mexico and is buried in a small village in the Yucatán. Both died in their early 40s.“Laffite was elegant, fashionable, suave, highly intelligent and gentlemanly, though he was ferocious against enemies.” – R. Dale Olson18 COASTMONTHLY.COM / OCTOBER 2015 Monday - Saturday 9 am to 5:30pm Sunday 10 am to 4 pm 2014 - 45th Street 409.763.4713 You’re invited to our CHRISTMAS OPEN HOUSE Saturday, October 24 9:00 am - 5:30 pm SynergyNext >