Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Montbars

MONTBARS (mom-barr), surnamed the “Exterminator,” buccaneer, b. in Languedoc, France, about 1645. Nothing is known of his death. He belonged to a wealthy family, and in his youth received a good education, but embarked with his uncle, a captain in the royal navy of France, when the war against Spain began in 1667, and sailed to the West Indies. Near Santo Domingo their ship went down, together with two Spanish vessels which they were fighting, and the death of his uncle augmented his hatred of the Spaniards. He joined the buccaneers of Tortugas, and soon was one of their chiefs. With his companions he attacked the coasts of Mexico, Honduras, the Spanish main, Cuba, and Porto Rico, taking forts and destroying cities, and never giving quarter, although he did not murder defenceless persons in cold blood like other buccaneers. He set fire to Porto Cabello, San Pedro, Gibraltar, Maracaibo, and other important cities, whose commerce he wholly destroyed. He was probably lost at sea during one of his expeditions. He is the hero of several dramas and of a romance entitled “Montbars, l'Exterminateur; ou le dernier des flibustiers” (Paris, 1807). See also Alexander O. Œmelin's “Histoire des aventuriers ou flibustiers” (Lyons, 1775).