Louisiana: The Notorious Pirate Who Saved America
The Preamble
Sharon McMahon
4.9 • 15.3K Ratings
🗓️ 6 October 2021
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this solo episode, Sharon shares the story of Jean Lafitte. Jean was a Louisiana blacksmith, and when the United States passed the Embargo Act in the early 1800s, Jean and his brother turned to smuggling goods to make a living. The smuggling escalated to full-on piracy and the brothers were instrumental in getting goods to U.S. citizens and helping the US Navy. Sharon goes into detail about Jean’s role in the War of 1812 and the importance of the Louisiana Purchase.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello friends so happy to welcome you to this episode which is about somebody who |
| 0:09.8 | maybe saved America maybe maybe? Maybe? |
| 0:13.0 | I'll let you decide by the end of the episode, |
| 0:16.0 | but this person was a pirate from Louisiana. |
| 0:20.0 | And if you are from Louisiana, |
| 0:22.0 | I bet you can guess who we are about to talk about |
| 0:27.0 | John LaBeat. So let's do it. Let's dive into the Pirate Who Saved America. |
| 0:37.2 | I'm Sharon McMahon and welcome to the Sharon Says So |
| 0:40.9 | podcast. |
| 0:43.0 | So if you visit the Louisiana tourism website, |
| 0:48.3 | you will be greeted with this message. |
| 0:51.8 | Come explore the heart of the Barataria Basin where the dark bayou waters |
| 0:59.2 | hide silent alligators alongside the secrets of notorious pirate Jean Lafite. |
| 1:09.7 | Okay, so pirates in America are not just Captain Jack Sparrow. |
| 1:16.6 | We're not just talking Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland. |
| 1:21.9 | Pirates are a real and actually you're going to find out an important part of US history. |
| 1:31.0 | So let's talk about one of the most famous pirates in US history Jean Lafite. |
| 1:38.0 | Now his origin story is a little unclear. Turns out they did not keep careful records when he was born. |
| 1:46.4 | There is a journal that somebody claims that he wrote. |
| 1:51.2 | One of those things where it's like, can this be authenticated? |
| 1:54.6 | Er, not sure. |
| 1:56.5 | And so there are a few different origin stories, including various stories about where |
... |
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