Anyone searching online for Jacquotte Delahaye may get more results for historical reenactment costuming and RPG characters than any real information. Known as ‘Back from the Dead Red,’ Jacquotte Delahaye’s existence has been called into doubt by several scholars, but her story is one that puts a strong female spin on the “Golden Age of Piracy.” So far, no primary source material has confirmed the details of her life that surfaced after her supposed death. Léon Treich, a French writer of fiction, wrote the most comprehensive account of her exploits. As someone from Tampa, a city where every January we honor a famous pirate for whom there is also no evidence of existence, I though it would be fitting to celebrate Jacquotte Delahaye for this years Gasparilla Festival.

At the start of the ‘Golden Age of Piracy’ (1650-1720), Jacquotte Delahaye was already twenty. Jacquotte’s father was French and her mother was Haitian, though some scholars hypothesize that one of them must have been Spanish. Delahaye had worked as a barmaid and a lady’s maid before beginning her pirating career in order to support her disabled younger brother after their mother died in childbirth and their father was murdered in a Spanish raid of Saint Domingue by the British Navy. Unlike many other female pirates, Delahaye’s career did not seem to depend on her relationships with male pirates.

She was ruthless and successful in battle, given to violent excess and earning the nickname ‘The Lash.’ This nickname would quickly be eclipsed by a new moniker: ‘Back from the Dead Red’ after she faked her death in battle and rose again, with a male alias and in men’s clothes. The name ‘Back from the Dead Red’ also encompasses Delahaye’s most telling characteristic: bright red hair. At 26, she captured Fort de la Roche on the island of Tortuga back from the Spanish, after which she was appointed advisor to its governor.. This exploit is considered by many to be her greatest accomplishment. Seven years later she was killed in a shoot-out with the Spanish.

Delahaye is also said to have operated with Anne Dieu-le-Veut, another female pirate who showed up in the Caribbean after Delahaye’s death. Whether or not the two women existed at the same time, scholars have indicated that Delahaye’s life corresponds closely with that of Dieu-le-Veut. Was Delahaye Treich’s fictional overlay for Dieu-le-Veut? Or should we find her reported death in 1663 unbelievable, since we know she had already faked her death once before?

References

1. Duncombe, Laura Snook (2017) Pirate Women:  The Princesses, Prostitutes, and Privateers Who Ruled the Seven Seas.  on Google books:  https://www.google.com/books/edition/Pirate_Women/zA90DQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0
2. Foster, S. (2020, March 1). Brave and Bold? Believe It!New Moon Girls,27(4), 16. 
3. Gasparilla Pirate Festival (2020) Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gasparilla_Pirate_Festival
4. Jacquotte Delahaye (2020) Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacquotte_Delahaye
5. Jacquotte Delahaye AKA ‘Back from the Dead Red’ (2020) Sagas of She.  http://sagasofshe.co.uk/jacquotte-delahaye-aka-back-from-the-dead-red/
6. Klausmann, Ulrike. (1997) “Jacquotte Delahay.” Women Pirates and the politics of the Jolly Roger. Black Rose Books.
7. The Lady Is a Pirate. (2017).In These Times,41(5), 38.  
8. Viehe, F. W. (2011). The Underworld Never Seemed So Fair: Women as Pirates, G’hals, Mafiosas and Gangsteristas.International Journal of the Humanities,9(3), 65–93. 
9. Were there female pirates? (n.d.) Royal Museums Greenwich. https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/were-there-female-pirates
10. Wigington, Patti (2019) The Fascinating History of Female Pirates.  ThoughtCo.  https://www.thoughtco.com/female-pirates-history-4177454