Early life , the city where Amaro Pargo was born Rodríguez Felipe was born in San Cristóbal de La Laguna, on the island of
Tenerife in the
Canary Islands on 3May 1678. He was baptized by the priest Manuel Hurtado Mendoza in the
Iglesia de Los Remedios (Church of Our Lady of Los Remedios, today a
cathedral in the city). His godfather was Amaro López. He was the son of Juan Rodríguez Felipe and Beatriz Tejera Machado. He had seven brothers. Amaro lived with his family in the
Plaza de San Cristóbal in La Laguna (also called "
Plaza Tanque de Abajo"). The family had several possessions and houses, most of them located close to the political, economic, and religious center of the city, around the current Plaza del Adelantado (then called "
Plaza de Abajo"). He advised the captain to feign surrender in order to start a battle from which they emerged victorious. In gratitude, the captain gave Amaro his first ship. With it he began his business activities, including participation in the
Atlantic slave trade in
Spanish America. For this, Amaro Pargo obtained a
letter of marque from King
Philip V of Spain. He also traded in other products such as various textiles and nuts. These products were brought from the Canary Islands to the
Indies. with the Indies (in red). Amaro Pargo used the route that crossed the Atlantic and went to the
Caribbean. In 1712, Pargo captured the British-flagged merchant ship
Saint Joseph, which operated out of
Dublin and was commanded by Captain Alexander Westher. Pargo was later accused of not having acted with rigor at the time of exercising his rights as a privateer. This was because Pargo looted the ship's cargo and forced Westher to sail with Pargo's ship to the
port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife on pain of sinking
Saint Joseph if Westher refused to do so. Nevertheless, the capture of
Saint Joseph was considered legitimate because Britain was
at war with Spain. He was a character who in his day had the same reputation and popularity as that of
Blackbeard and
Francis Drake.
Access to the nobility On 25 January 1725 Amaro Pargo was declared
Caballero hijodalgo. In addition, Pargo obtained the actual certification of Nobility and Arms also given in
Madrid on 9January 1727 by Juan Antonio de Hoces Sarmiento, who was chronicler and king of arms of
Felipe V of Spain. The privateer attributed many of his exploits to the miraculous intervention of the nun, including an episode in which the nun reportedly saved his life in
Cuba, without her body leaving the convent; that is, by the phenomenon of
bilocation. Those searching for romance have over the centuries wanted to see deeper meaning in the friendship between the privateer and the nun who was 25 years his elder. Balbina Rivero, author of
Amaro Pargo, el pirata de Tenerife, suggests that interpretation in his book.
Death and inheritance Amaro died 4 October 1747 in his hometown. According to chronicles, his funeral was "very solemn" and the funeral procession transferring his body to his burial site made eight stops on the street, slowed down by the crowd that accompanied the procession. He was buried in the family tomb in the
Santo Domingo de Guzmán Convent in LaLaguna. The family shield is engraved in the marble headstone, and under it a skull with two crossbones winks his right eye. His estate at his death was substantial, and his natural son Manuel de la Trinidad Rodríguez appeared in LaLaguna demanding his part, but the rest of his heirs rejected his claims. == Treasure of Amaro Pargo ==