"Rumors abounded that he had changed his name after leaving Galveston and disappeared..."

"Jean Laffite (sometimes spelled Lafitte) was a pirate and the subject of many stories of romance and adventure across the Gulf of Mexico during the early 19th century. During 1817-1820, he started a colony in Galveston and transformed the island into a hotbed of smuggling and privateering. The following guide contains resources about this iconic figure."

"In 1820, the United States Navy shut down Lafitte’s smuggling operation in Spanish Texas, which is the last known record of Lafitte."

"His exact whereabouts after that are unknown. His life and death remain as mysterious as the swamps and bayous of Barataria."

"Laffite’s legend in Lincolnton involves a possible son by Louisa, an alleged murder at a plantation, an argument with another Frenchmen also living undercover and a sword with his initials hidden in plain sight."

"But the grave was not found in the church, and so the padre inquired of some of the locals who had been there at the time of Lafitte’s burial. It is here that Stephens’ testimony, while believable, curiously lends to the possibility that Lafitte may have mysteriously vanished."

"How the French buccaneer king and other descendants of Spain’s hidden Jews took to the high seas and revenged themselves upon the kingdom that tormented their ancestors"

"Laffite had some enemies and faked his death during the 1820s in the Caribbean."

"...U.S. Naval and Army pressure were brought to bear on the pirate operations in Texas. This pressure to end his days of Piracy resulted in his subsequent sacking and burning of Galveston and his disappearance into history."

"What became of him after Galveston has been the subject of much contradictory speculation. He was reportedly killed in a sea battle, drowned in a hurricane, hanged by the Spanish, succumbed to disease in Mexico, and murdered by his own crew."

"Jean Laffite was an elegant scoundrel who, with his band of pirates, plundered British, American and Spanish vessels in the early 1800s while operating out of his stronghold at Barataria Bay, south of New Orleans."

"...Laffite suddenly picked a crew to man his favourite vessel, The Pride, burned the town, and sailed away..."

"He gathered his plunder into a beautiful brig called the Pride, a vessel of 14 good guns, well manned, and on an unnamed day, he sailed away, headed to the southeast. And there, authentic accounts of Jean Lafitte come to an end."

"As to Jean Lafitte’s fate after Galveston, one can only speculate. Some claimed he was killed out at sea while others claimed he had succumbed to disease, was captured by the Spanish, or even murdered by his own men."