Island of Basque Corsaries
Pilier Island, France, 1172. The monks of the Buzay Abbey decided to build a new abbey on a small plot of four hectares of the Loire River estuary. The small and isolated island offered the austerity and austerity that the Cistercians sought. But it seems that Pilier was more than fulfilling these principles, even for the Cistercians, and 33 years later they decided to move to another island called Nourmoutier, larger and more welcoming. Thus, the island was empty until the arrival of the Basque corsaries several centuries later.
The oldest news from the corsaries of the island of Pilier dates from 1545 and were expelled definitively in 1693. So several generations of Corsairs took refuge there, and most of them were Gipuzkoans. They built the fortress and the watchtower and from there they watched the boats that wanted to leave the Loire River to the high seas. The French crown sent several expeditions to clean up the island, but the strength of the Corsaries was inexpugnable in the century and a half.
They preferred zinc boats or small boats, because they were more useful on the French Atlantic coast, full of sand. The crew was composed of up to 80-100 members and had between 8 and 10 guns. They often used roams, as it allowed them to land on the beaches and paddle in the rivers. In addition, smaller packaging was cheaper.
They didn't spend much time in the water to save on food, gunpowder and other supplies. And they sailed alone or, at most, in pairs. In this way, if the spoils were obtained, the investment was recovered more quickly and had to be distributed less.
The French historian Émile Gabori (1872-1954) described the field of action of the Basque corsaries of Pilier: “On the coast of Brittany they used to act in Poitou. They went many times to the Loire and attacked everyone on the way. Every day they got some booty. They attacked the entrance of Morhiban and Breste, and destroyed Noirmoutier. They were hiding in Pilier, near Nourmoutier, where they built an observatory. (...) Until the end of the 17th century, his expulsion was not achieved.”
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