{{short description|French buccaneer}} '''Jean Fantin''' (fl. 1681–1689) was a French pirate active in the Caribbean and off the coast of Africa. He is best known for having his ship stolen by William Kidd and Robert Culliford.
==History==
The ship ''Le Trompeuse'' (The Trickster) passed through several pirate and privateer hands in its career, including Laurens de Graaf, Pierre le Pain, and eventually Jean Hamlin. In 1681 Jean Fantin was aboard when Le Pain put ''Trompeuse'' into Jamaica.<ref name="Gasser">{{cite journal|last1=Gasser|first1=Jacques|title=De la mer des Antilles à l'océan Indien (From the Caribbean Sea to the Indian Ocean)|journal=Bulletin du Cercle généalogique de Bourbon (Bulletin of the Bourbon Genealogical Circle)|date=1992–1993|volume=38-41|url=http://membre.oricom.ca/yarl/livre/3F/0402gasser.html|accessdate=31 August 2017}} French language original, as reprinted in ''Le Diable Volant : Une histoire de la flibuste : de la mer des Antilles à l'océan Indien (1688-1700)'' / ('The Flying Devil : A History of the Filibusters : From the Antilles to the Indian Ocean (1688-1700)').</ref> By 1684 he had switched ships, serving under Dutch buccaneer Jan “Yankee” Willems. Alongside Jacob Evertson they were active off Panama, Venezuela, and Honduras in the intervening years, absorbing some of Jean Hamlin's former crew as well. Willems dropped Fantin and others off at Roatan in early 1688<ref name="Gasser" /> and may have died shortly afterwards.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Marley|first1=David|title=Pirates of the Americas|date=2010|publisher=ABC-CLIO|location=Santa Barbara CA|isbn=9781598842012|page=830|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bU6ML_VnXTwC|accessdate=25 August 2017|language=en}}</ref>
Some of Willems’ crew continued on to serve under George Peterson. Fantin and a few others were instead picked up from Roatan by Jean Charpin<ref>One source ([http://www.cindyvallar.com/piratelexicon.html Vallar]) says Fantin and Charpin were the same person; Gasser et al. do not agree.</ref> aboard the frigate ''Sainte Rose'', a former Spanish ship which had also been part of de Graaf's flotilla.<ref name="Gasser" /> Also aboard were William Kidd and Robert Culliford, picked up at Île-à-Vache, two of the few Englishmen among an almost entirely French crew.<ref name="The Pirate Hunter">{{cite book|last1=Zacks|first1=Richard|title=The Pirate Hunter: The True Story of Captain Kidd|date=2003|publisher=Hachette Books|location=New York|isbn=9781401398187|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TbqZAAAAQBAJ|accessdate=31 August 2017|language=en}}</ref> There in early 1689 they captured a heavily laden Dutch ship under a privateering commission. Charpin sailed back to New England to sell off their cargo and resupply.<ref name="The Pirate Hunter" /> The crew deposed Charpin from command and elected Fantin as captain.<ref name="Gasser" />
They sailed to the west coast of Africa, joining up with the ship ''Le Hasardeux'' of French buccaneer Jean-Baptiste du Casse at the Cape Verde Islands. Du Casse led them back toward the Caribbean; en route they caught a lone Spanish frigate which had sailed from Havana.<ref name="The Pirate Hunter" /> Du Casse wanted its treasure but his privateering commission only allowed him to attack the Dutch. Fantin had no commission and so he took the ''Sainte Rose'' to capture the Spanish ship, transferring to it afterwards.<ref name="The Pirate Hunter" />
Du Casse led a raid on the Dutch colony at Surinam but was repulsed with heavy losses.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Stedman|first1=John Gabriel|title=Narrative of a Five Years' Expedition, Against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam: In Guiana, on the Wild Coast of South America; from the Year 1772, to 1777: Elucidating the History of that Country, and Describing Its Productions ... with an Account of the Indians of Guiana, & Negroes of Guinea.|date=1796|publisher=J. Johnson, & J. Edwards|location=London|page=[https://archive.org/details/narrativeoffivey_01sted/page/n96 49]|url=https://archive.org/details/narrativeoffivey_01sted|accessdate=31 August 2017|language=en}}</ref> He attacked Berbice nearby but was stopped and departed with little gain.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bel|first1=Martijn van den|last2=Hulsman|first2=Lodewijk|last3=Wagenaar|first3=Lodewijk|title=The Voyages of Adriaan van Berkel to Guiana: Amerindian-Dutch Relationships in 17th-Century Guyana|date=2014|publisher=Sidestone Press|location=Leiden|isbn=9789088902635|page=10|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QzOUBQAAQBAJ|accessdate=31 August 2017|language=en}}</ref> Some of du Casse's crew began to argue over division of the treasure from the Spanish frigate. England and France declared war in the meantime and so du Casse turned his attention to English colonies, attacking St. Christopher in the summer of 1689.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Cabell|first1=Craig|last2=Thomas|first2=Graham A.|last3=Richards|first3=Allan|title=Captain Kidd: The Hunt for the Truth|date=2010|publisher=Casemate Publishers|location=Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK|isbn=9781844159611|page=5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uZX3xvnKFSwC|accessdate=31 August 2017|language=en}}</ref> Fantin, reinforced with fresh troops from Martinique, joined du Casse for the land assault. While he was ashore Kidd, Culliford, and the other Englishmen surprised and murdered the few French sailors left aboard and sailed off in the ship, which they took to Nevis and renamed the ''Blessed William''.<ref name="The Pirate Hunter" />
After the attack on St. Christopher the buccaneers went their separate ways, Fantin leaving with 70 men aboard a brigantine, while Charpin's former quartermaster Mathurin Desmarestz bought a ship of his own and sailed with many of the remaining French.<ref name="Gasser" /> Little is recorded of Fantin's later activities, though the fates of two of his ships are known. The ''Sainte Rose'' ended up beached during du Casse's expedition,<ref name="The Pirate Hunter" /> and the ex-Spanish ''Blessed William'' – stolen from Fantin by Kidd and Culliford – was in turn stolen from Kidd by Culliford, who grew weary of privateering and land attacks with little reward and turned to outright piracy.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Harris|first1=Graham|title=Treasure and Intrigue: The Legacy of Captain Kidd|date=2002|publisher=Dundurn|location=Oxford UK|isbn=9781554880331|page=141|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O3w46iqYw1YC|accessdate=31 August 2017|language=en}}</ref>
==See also== *King William's War, the conflict that reignited privateering between the English and French.
==References== {{reflist}}
{{pirates}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fantin, Jean}} Category:Year of birth unknown Category:Year of death unknown Category:French pirates Category:17th-century pirates Category:17th-century French criminals Category:Caribbean pirates