Maurycy Beniowski

Hungarian nobleman and pirate

• Born: September 20, 1746
• Birthplace: Vrbové, Hungary (now in Slovakia)
• Died: May 23, 1786
• Place of death: Madagascar

Cause of notoriety: Beniowski’s irrepressible political scheming and delusions of grandeur led him to pirating activities; he and his crew pirated international shipping in the heavily trafficked waters off Madagascar.

Active: 1772-1786

Locale: Siberia and Madagascar

Early Life

As a young man, Maurycy Beniowski (mohr-REE-cee behn-YOV-skee) married a Polish noblewoman, Susanna Henska, and trained to become a military officer, though his devout Roman Catholicism and Polish nationalism in the partition era became an issue. In 1768, he joined the rebellion against Russian rule that became known as the Bar Confederation. Captured in a military encounter on the River Prut, he was exiled first to Kazan; however, after involvement in a plot against Catherine the Great, he was condemned to lifelong exile in Siberia. There, among other exiles, he stirred up a revolt and escaped to Kamchatka, where he seized a Russian galliot. After numerous adventures, Beniowski arrived at Mauritius with his entourage in two French ships and was welcomed by the French governor Julien François Dudresnay Desroches, although he was disliked by the intendant Pierre Poivre.

Pirating Career

In 1772, Beniowski persuaded the French king Louis XV to back an armed expedition to establish a trading post and colony in the southern part of Madagascar in return for the stolen archives of Kamchatka and the title Governor General of Madagascar. Stopping off at Mauritius in September, 1773, Beniowski was refused any help by the French governor and sailed on to Madagascar. Beniowski quickly set about establishing himself at a new settlement he christened Louisbourg, profiting from the production of rice and cattle, which he supplied to Mauritius. Embroiled in political conflict with the French-led Mauritians, who increasingly viewed him as an opportunist and impostor, and consequently stripped of his French commission, Beniowski turned first to the Habsburg monarch Joseph II and then to the American politician Benjamin Franklin. Beniowski proposed the fantastic idea that Madagascar provide a base for the American army in its struggle against England. Congress, not surprisingly, rejected Beniowski’s proposal, though Beniowski himself was able to return to Madagascar after convincing European merchants settled in Baltimore to finance a voyage to that part of the world. Less than a year after his return, Beniowski was killed by French forces from Mauritius which were led by Captain Lacher de Vermond in May, 1786, and bent on destroying Louisbourg and razing Mauritiana.

Impact

Legends surrounding Maurycy Beniowski abound, many cultivated by Beniowski’s own pen. One suggests that he mustered a force of twenty thousand local men to defeat the French and was subsequently named emperor by the native Madagascans. Other legends concentrate on how the incipient colony blossomed into a hub for pirates, who were both offered rich pickings from the major sea route that went on to India and could rely on a rich stock of fresh supplies on Madagascar (including native women, many of whom were captured and became part of the pirates’ harems). The area became a marketplace for stolen goods, and lawlessness was an endemic problem.

Some time after his death, the island Mauritius was named after Beniowski, and he continued to be remembered there into the twenty-first century. The verdict of contemporary writers representative of the French establishment, however, was that Beniowski cost France millions and, to quote author Abbé Rochon (a contemporary of Beniowski who wrote about Madagascar), “brought calamities upon Madagascar.”

Bibliography

Benyowski, M. A. Memoirs and Travels. London: G. G. J. & J. Robinson, 1791. Throughout his life, Beniowski kept a careful diary of his adventures, which were published posthumously as a best-selling book in English (1790), in French (1791), and in Polish (1797). In keeping with the character of the author, the work is a self-promotional work.

Dvoichenko-Markov, Eufrosina. “Benjamin Franklin and Count M.A. Benyowski.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 99, no. 6 (1955): 405-417. This article traces Beniowski and his wife’s correspondence with Benjamin Franklin and Beniowski’s proposals to place himself and his colony in Madagascar at the service of the American republic.

Kotzebue, August von. Count Benyowski: Or, The Conspiracy of Kamchatka, a Tragi-Comedy in Five Acts. In The Beauties of Kotzebue, Containing the Most Interesting Scenes, Sentiments, Speeches and All His Admired Dramas, edited by Walley C. Oulton. London: Crosby & Letterman, 1800. Benyowski became the subject of a number of late eighteenth and early nineteenth century dramas, including this one by August von Kotzebue. Kotzebue plays up the romantic interest and is specifically concerned with Beniowski’s adventures in Siberia.

Rochon, Abbé Alexis. A Voyage to Madagascar and the East Indies. London: E. Jeffery, 1793. A critical, French-establishment interpretation of the governor general of Madagascar appears on pages 206-311, describing Beniowski as a liar, philanderer, and despot. Beniowski’s death at the hands of French forces in 1786 is seen as an opportunity for a new beginning on Madagascar.