If Only the Stories Weren't False, They Would Make a Heck of a Fine Festival. Oh Yeah, They Already Do
One of the nice things about Associated Content is the section on the Home Page with
"Undiscovered articles" which are often overlooked treasures. I was
reading Susan Payton's article on Central Florida attractions and noted
her remarks about Jose Gaspar, a legend on the west coast of Florida.
Gaspar deserves more than a passing mention; even if a fraction of the
stories are true, his life was quite a tale. Unfortunately, dear old
Jose is likely a fiction drummed up by the shakers and movers of Tampa
in order to drum up business. And that's a darn shame! Because the
fables are interesting, enduring and have all the excitement of the
"good old days" when pirates roamed the seas. Romance, Pirates, Women taken Hostage, Adventure on the seas.
For
more than a century, the legend of Jose Gaspar, the "last of the
buccaneers", has conjured up visions of adventure, treasure and furious
sea battles. Jose Gaspar, a respected, Spanish naval officer who turned
pirate, stills inspires that annual Gasparilla festival in Tampa,
Florida. Examining the legend of Gasparilla (as he called
himself) is an exercise in itself. There is no single, reliable source
of information. Multiple, often conflicting, stories exist about the
pirate, his victories, and even his death. One of the more common
versions is that he was born in Spain near Seville in 1756. Gaspar was
from an upper-class family and, allegedly, possessed a cultured,
gallant personality. However, despite his aristocratic upbringing,
Gaspar was a bit of a rogue. At age 12, he kidnapped a young local girl
and held her for ransom. He was captured and the judge gave him the
choice of entering the Royal Spanish Naval Academy or going to jail. He
chose a life at sea over a stint in the not very pleasant jail. Once
in the Navy, Gaspar demonstrated great skills in tactics and weaponry.
He displayed bravery and cunning in battle. He rose through the ranks,
becoming a lieutenant, a captain, and then an admiral of the Atlantic
Fleet before becoming a naval attaché at the Court of Charles III in
1782. He was 27 years old. While at the Court, he became
romantically involved with several women, all at the same time. It was
a dangerous game, but one that matched Gaspar's love of adventure. The
game could not go on forever, especially after publicly discarding the
daughter-in-law of the King, in favor of another woman of the Court. Outraged
and spiteful, the daughter-in-law conspired with the prime minister to
frame Gaspar for stealing the Spanish crown jewels. Upon hearing news
of his imminent arrest, ordered by Charles III, Gaspar commandeered a
ship, the Floridablanca, and escaped. Swearing an oath to
revenge his treatment by Spanish officials, he resolved to plunder any
ship flying the flag of Spain. The year was 1783. Gaspar took the Floridablanca
and escaped to the Gulf coast of Florida. He established his base in
Charlotte Harbor (near modern-day Fort Myers). He adopted a new name
and the career of Gasparilla, the Pirate began. There is an
alternative version that is far less romantic: Gasper became unhappy
with the fleet, stages a mutiny and became a pirate for financial gain.
I prefer the more romantic version! Between 1783 and 1821,
Gasper the pirate roamed the waters off the west coast of Florida, as
far south as Cuba, attacking merchant ships from all countries, not
just Spain's. By some accounts, he plundered over 400 ships. His own
diary boasts of 36 victories by 1795 alone. Widely regarded as
fearless and ferocious, Gasparilla showed no mercy in battle. He
routinely, killed all passengers and crew, with the exception of
beautiful women (whom he made concubines). Occasionally, women from
wealthy families were held for ransom on Captiva Island in south-west
Florida; it is said that this is the origin of the name. His
ship roamed the west coast of Florida and down to Cuban waters in
search of prey. There where times where he did not sail alone. To
pursue a particular big prize, we would temporarily join forces with
other pirates operating in the area, including the famous Jean Laffite.
In 1821, Spain having ceded the Florida peninsula to the United
States, Gaspar, then 65, decided to retire. The United States had
undertaken a determined and unrelenting effort to destroy the pirates
that preyed in their waters. The combination of age and the aggressive
pursuit of the American Navy motivated Gasparilla into contemplating
retirement.. He said that he would divide up all of the spoils with his
crew and retire to live a life of luxury. On the day that the
spoils of many years of pirating were to be distributed, a rich British
merchant ship was seen passing near Gasparilla's hideout. Seeing a
chance for one last score, Gasparilla took off in pursuit of the fat
target. Just as the ship came within cannon range, the British ship
dropped its colors and ran up the flag of the United States! Dozens of
cannon were instantly uncovered from its deck and aimed at Gasparilla's
ship. Jose Gasper had fallen into a trap. The seemingly helpless
British ship was actually the U.S. Navy's warship - the USS Enterprise.
A fierce battle ensued, but the end was inevitable. The American cannonballs, repeatedly punctured Floridablanca's hull, while still more shattered her masts. The Floridablanca was sinking as the USS Enterprise approached to finish the job. Rather
than be captured, Jose Gasper climbed to the bow of his ship and yelled
"Gasparilla dies by his own hand, not the enemy's". He wrapped the
anchor's chain around his waist. Still holding his cutlass high in one
hand he jumped into the dark waters and instantly disappeared below the
waves. The life of Jose Gaspar - Gasparilla the Pirate - and his reign
of terror on the seas was over. The remainder of his crew were either
killed or captured. Those captured were later tried as pirates and
executed in New Orleans. Qué historia. ¡Qué drama! ¡Qué romance! All of the above adventures never happened; Jose Gaspar never existed. What
follows will earn me very few points in Tampa, but I'm afraid that the
story of Jose Gaspar is a marketing scheme designed to bolster the
fledgling economy of Tampa at the turn of the 20th century. Let's
start with some of the basics. No contemporaneous record of a Jose
Gaspar exists. The closest one comes surrounds a man named Juan (or
John) Gomez who became the "authority" for the spreading legend of
Gaspar. Born in 1778, this Gomez was said to have been a sailor
on the vessel captured by Gasparilla in 1801 that carried the Mexican
princess. Spared by the pirates, he soon became Gasparilla's protégé.
In 1805, he was given a secret mission to return to Spain and kill the
pirate's personal enemy, Prime Minister Manuel Godoy. But Gomez failed
in his mission because, once in Spain, he was forced into Napoleon's
army. The ex-pirate fought so brilliantly that Napoleon congratulated
him in person. Nevertheless, Gomez deserted and returned to his
adventurous life on the sea. In 1818, the ship on which he was
traveling was captured by none other than Gasparilla. Gomez rejoined
his old companions and shared their life until the fatal day of defeat
in 1821. That day, having stayed ashore, John Gomez escaped inland with
a few other pirates, who took along the captive women. This last detail
was most opportune because the conclusion of the legend would otherwise
have been encumbered by the presence of the pirates' concubines who
conveniently disappeared in this version. The subsequent deeds of Gomez
included diverse adventures that saw him intervene successively in the
slave trade, Seminole Wars, and even a rebellion against Spanish
authority in Cuba. Finally, the life of the old sailor ended with an
accidental drowning in 1900 in the same waters where Gasparilla was
said to have drowned years earlier. Had this actually occurred, Gomez
would have been 122 years old! Gomez was a story-teller who told and
retold of his pirate exploits and those of Jose Gaspar. As to
Gaspar's habit of collecting beautiful women who became his concubines,
Andre-Marcel d'Ans, in a comprehensive and exhaustive study of Jose in
1980 , remarked, "It is curious to note that these pirates who
kept a harem of captive women were able to stay childless for almost
forty years. Not a single account of the Gasparilla legend gave them
any descendants. This remarkable lack of children is the same as with
cartoon characters Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse." What of the "fight" between the U.S. Navy and Jose Gaspar? Never happened, either! During
the years 1783-1821, there was in fact no pirate activity on Florida's
west coast. The period was marked by the successive convulsions of the
American Revolution and the War of 1812, and sea-going traffic between
the harbors of the Gulf of Mexico was reduced to practically nothing.
This helps explain why there were no pirates in these parts.
Specifically, there is no trace of any buccaneers on the islands of
Charlotte Harbor that already bore the names Gasparilla, Sanibel, and
Captiva on maps of the eighteenth century, long before the alleged
arrival of the legendary pirate. There was pirate activity on the east
coast of Florida and southward to Cuba. The damage caused by these
outlaws ultimately resulted in a vigorous American response that
brought forth the warship USS Enterprise, among many others.
However, the elimination of piracy by the American navy was actually
undertaken after 1821, in the years following the U. S. takeover of
Florida. Darn it, another myth shattered. The marketing begins. . . The
legend of Gasparilla cannot be fully appreciated without an examination
of Tampa society and business in the late 1800's. There were two
primary magnates in early Tampa. One of these was Vincente Martinez
Ybor, who controlled the cigar industry then centered in Key West; the
other Henry B. Plant, who was responsible for the railroads coming to
the west coast of Florida. Mr. Plant's business plan was simple. He
built railroads which caused cities to grow and real estate to be made
more valuable. He build opulent palace-hotels along the railroad,
including the beautiful Plant Hotel that now houses the University of
Tampa. After Tampa, Plant extended his railroad south to
Charlotte Harbor and build another beautiful hotel in the village of
Punta Gorda. The very first written version of the legend came
in an advertising brochure of the Charlotte Harbor and Northern
Railroad Company. The leaflet was given to visitors who used the Plant
System and the Boca Grande Hotel. Boca Grande is the principal town of
Gasparilla Island, and therefore, in theory it was the old haunt of the
king of the pirates. "Taking the best of everything when a capture was
made, he chose the best of the islands in Charlotte Harbor, for his own
secret haunts," declared the leaflet. In fact, at the beginning of the
twentieth century Gasparilla Island became "the winter home of the
bluebloods." As early as its first transcription, the legend
took its basic form. However, around the core of the story swirled a
variety of episodes that were not always compatible with each other.
Indeed, the anonymous author of the original written account admitted
this. "While it is almost impossible to obtain exact
information concerning this outlaw, owing to the numerous and
conflicting accounts, the writer has tried to put into readable form a
few of these stories concerning Gasparilla, and has only used such
accounts where two or more sources agreed." The leaflet
circulated a little after 1900 and it provided the inspiration for the
promoters of Tampa's first Gasparilla festival in 1904. The
transfer of the legend from Charlotte Harbor to Tampa came at the very
moment of the collapse of the Plant System that connected Charlotte
Harbor to Tampa. After Henry B. Plant's death in 1899, his team managed
the Plant System for three years. Then after 1902 his empire was broken
up and sold. Meanwhile, with the end of the pioneer era, the class of
businessmen located in Tampa strengthened itself, becoming the city's
new elite. By the turn of the 20th century, Tampa's new business class had consolidated itself into a caste and ruled the city. With
Tampa's appropriation of the Gasparilla legend, the myth lost somewhat
the strong territorial character that had tied it to Charlotte Harbor.
Away from the area where the legendary story occurred, the main
emphasis shifted to a symbolic interpretation of the mythical facts
that impressed the Tampa group which adopted the legend. And into this mix, the festival of Gasparilla was started in 1904. And we have partied ever since. In
1904, the story of the swashbuckling Gasparilla was unearthed and his
memory revived when the society editor of the Tampa Tribune was
planning the city's first May festival. At the suggestion of one of the
civic leaders of the day, she decided to develop a theme for the affair
based on the legend of Gasparilla. Secret meetings gave birth
to the first "Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla," whose forty members
planned to surprise the populace with a mock pirate attack on Tampa.
Masked and fully-costumed, the first krewe arrived on horseback and
"captured the city" during the Festival Parade. The first
invasion was so successful and well-received by the people of Tampa
that a city-wide demand was voiced to make the Mystic Krewe
organization permanent and to replicate the carnival each year. Tampa
has upheld its tradition by celebrating Gasparilla every year with only
ten exceptions since that infamous first invasion. Today, Ye Mystic
Krewe numbers over 700 of the city's most prominent men, who uphold
their mascot Gaspar as a "hearty old swashbuckler with courtly manners
and possibly - just possibly - prankful habits." In 1954 the
Krewe commissioned the building of the world's only fully rigged pirate
ship to be built in modern times. Named the Jose Gasparilla, the ship
is a replica of a West Indiaman used in the 18th century, 165' long by
35' across the beam, with 3 steel masts standing 100' tall. The ship
would approach Tampa, amid pleasure boats of all shapes and sizes, fire
its guns and the city's Mayor would promptly surrender the City. The
original parades were sponsored by the original Krewe. The theme was
always the same: the doctors, lawyers and executives of Tampa would don
costumes and amid floats and much shooting of cannon, would meander in
a parade, with much heavy drinking tossing of beads to the common folk
who lined the route. In 1970 a new Krewe was formed, the
Knights of Sant' Yago, which, in addition to participating in the
original daytime parade, organized an evening illuminated parade in
Ybor City. The cannons boom, the beer flows, the liquor spills, all in
all a wonderful time is had by all! Over the past fifteen or
twenty years, in an attempt to promote diversity, additional Krewes
have been added, for a total of about 50 at this time. It is
not all fun and games. Each of the Krewes perform charitable events
throughout the year, but the main point of it all is to riot with
decorum. Jose would be so very proud.
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