Reconciling the Impossible: the Historical Facts and the Misfortunes of Alonso Ramirez

Title page of Infortunios de A. Ramirez (1690)
Copyright © Hispanic Society of America

I hope that those who usually follow my work in French will forgive me, but the subject of this blog post, as well as the study it introduces, really requires the use of the lingua franca of our time...

Long considered a pure fiction, the Infortunios de Alonso Ramírez, a small work published in Mexico in 1690, chronicles the misfortunes of a Spaniard who was held captive by a gang of English pirates traveling in the Asiatic seas for about two years. Over the past twenty years, this work has been the subject of several studies, which tend to demonstrate that it is a partially true story. Accordingly, some scholars posited that its author was a prisoner aboard the Cygnet, a ship on which the famous William Dampier served, as well as in the same capacity aboard a second pirate ship called The Good Hope. However, Ramírez's account is replete with so many half-truths and lies that it is difficult, if not almost impossible, to arrive at any certainty, and this reduces its historical importance. But reading the scholars who have examined the Infortunios so far, one could believe the opposite and consider it a valuable testimony for the study of 17th-century piracy. In fact, this erroneous perception comes directly from their failure to paint a relatively complete and fair picture of the adventures of the historical pirates they assimilated to those of Ramírez's account, an essential point in order to draw reasonable hypotheses about his Infortunios. This text will attempt to fill that gap. The exercise will be done not only using the unavoidable narratives of Dampier and documents from the Archivo General de Indias relating to the Philippines, but above all using other ones coming mainly from the archives of the defunct Dutch East India Company, which were not very accessible or little used until now. In doing so, new (and better) foundations will be laid for the future study of the historicity of Ramírez's "Misfortunes", which will be, in any case, particularly difficult. It will also be an opportunity, in the light of the same sources, to reassess the voyage of the Cygnet in Asia, as well as the less known one of Captain John Eaton's company, to which some of the pirates of the Good Hope had belonged.

You can access this study here:

• Roving in Troubled Waters: The Fairy Tale of Alonso Ramirez as an Alternative Narrative to Dampier's New Voyage?

Be aware that this is my own translation of the original text that I first wrote in French. One of my acquaintances was kind enough to review it, pointing out the most important mistakes. The result is certainly not perfect, and further editing would have been required. I therefore pray the reader to be indulgent. However, any suggestions for enhancing or correcting this paper will be greatly appreciated. And as always, any comments or questions regarding the contents are welcome. Good reading and... discoveries!