It is wonderfully fitting that SIREN should be published in America in 2005, because it is exactly two hundred years ago, in 1805, that Jean Laffite, the youngest of at least three Laffite brothers (now spelt Lafitte), sailed up the Mississippi with a shipload of goods to sell in the rich, colorful and extravagant city of New Orleans.

No one knew where he came from, but he and his older brother Pierre set up shops in the city and grew wealthy by selling imported merchandise. Next they obtained letters of marque as privateers from the Republic of Cartagena (see the map), built warehouses on the islands of Lake Barataria and began raiding Spanish ships for their treasure and cargo, which included slaves. Thus the Laffites and their horde of bandits amassed a fortune by smuggling a huge range of contraband into the Territory of Orleans, which in 1804 had become US territory after the Louisiana Purchase from Napoleon.
         The notables of New Orleans favored the easier-going life they had enjoyed under the former French and Spanish administrations, and the new governor, William Claiborne, found his Legislature less than keen about prosecuting the Laffites, who had friends and customers among the influential families, some of whom even owned ships that operated out of Barataria, commanded by pirates like Dominique You (who, research tells us, may have been another brother, Alexandre Laffite) and ‘Uncle’ Renato Beluche.
         In 1813 the Territory became the state of Louisiana. By this time the US was at war with England, and the fear grew that British fleets would come marauding down the eastern seaboard to capture New Orleans, the great southern port through which all the produce of the West issued to the world. The unthinkable happened—an English army devastated Washington itself, and New Orleans became their next target. And who should hold the back door to the city but Jean Laffite and his thousand Baratarians?
         At once wooed by the British, who paid him a secret visit, and hounded by Governor Claiborne, who had at last been allocated some troops to send out against him, Jean Laffite famously decided to join forces with the defenders of New Orleans. Quite how this happened, and why, is one of the mysteries in the life of this enigmatic man. I hope you’ll enjoy exploring it with me in SIREN.