James Plaintain (fl. 1720–1728, John or James, last name also Plantain) was a pirate active in the Indian Ocean. He is best known for using his pirate wealth to found a short-lived kingdom in Madagascar.
History
Plantain was English, born in Jamaica, and served as a sailor aboard Edward England's pirate flotilla (having once served on Edward Condon's Dragon) which captured the East India Company ship Cassandra from Captain James Macrae in 1720. After looting the ship, the collected pirates sailed to Madagascar, divided their plunder, and sailed their separate ways.
He organized the locals to make war against their neighbors, using firearms to swing the battles his way. He kept himself and his allies supplied by trading with passing ships, offering food, water, supplies, and slaves taken as captives in wars against his neighbors in exchange for guns, gunpowder and shot, clothes, and other goods. He demanded the granddaughter of a neighboring king as his wife; the king refused, setting off a series of wars and counter-raids, from which Plantain eventually emerged victorious. England himself was reportedly present, haggard, and nearing death; he had been deposed from command by Taylor on the grounds of being too kind to the Cassandras captain.
Having made too many enemies on Madagascar, Plantain took his favored wife and moved to India in 1728, serving in the Maratha Navy under Admiral Kanhoji Angre. When he left to fight various battles, he sometimes buried his wealth for safe keeping but dug it up when he returned; despite this, rumors of Plantain's buried treasure persisted.
See also
- Adam Baldridge, Edward Welch, and Abraham Samuel, two other ex-pirates who established trading posts on or near Madagascar.
- John Leadstone, an ex-pirate nicknamed "Old Captain Crackers" who established a trading post on the west coast of Africa.