There were Black pirates who used the waters off of Biscayne Bay to raid ships. The landmass along the southeast coast of Florida was very convenient for them. They could come in behind these little islands, we call them quays, and conduct their business. Black Caesar was a pirate, began around 1640, 1645, who survived a shipwreck off the coast of Florida. Managed to get ashore. Gathered up other Blacks who had been marooned or escaped slaves and put together a crew. And they first took small boats, but eventually got a ship. And then Black Caesar, as he was called, raiding along the southeast coast of Florida.

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We also have reason to believe that pirates were on the very property that Vizcaya now occupies. Legend has it that there was a freshwater stream that poured right into the ocean where Vizcaya is today. And that pirates would come to that location to get fresh water. And when white people moved to Coconut Grove in the 1880s, they found iron implements around that spot, that spring that’s now on Vizcaya’s property. And those implements had been there for over 100 years. We know that there are pirates along the coast of Southeast Florida. We know that one of them was Black Caesar. And that they were very successful until they finally got caught by the British and Mexican.