Note, I'm restricting my question to just 1690-1725, the period I specialize in

I always find this kind of question hard to answer. By lawful, do you mean that the government powers of Europe didn't have much of any control/influence on how things were run in that port? If so, then look at St. Mary's in Madagascar, the logwood cutters of Belize, and the Bahamas. The Bahamas in particular lacked any authority from government officials after 1706 and up to 1718. There was tiny efforts there by a Mr. Thomas Walker to restore authority, but by 1716 even Walker was powerless because a large flood of pirates that weren't local Bahamians flooded into Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas, on the island of New Providence. Also, Benjamin Hornigold kind of went in and declared he was looking out for the pirates in the Bahamas in 1715 - of course that was before the new large flood of mostly new non-local pirates arrived. The pirates flooded in after a bunch of crews organized to try and get silver and riches from the wrecks that resulted from the Spanish Treasure Fleet of 1715 wrecking off the coast of Florida. A lot of these men were just maritime opportunists who engaged in wrecking (as in, salvaging from wrecked vessels) and occasional reprisals against to Spanish whose guarda costas were themselves in the gray area between legally commissioned vessels and pirates (and regularly attacking British vessels). They weren't expecting the colonial governments to all of a sudden to declare them hostis humani generis, or enemies of mankind, and got stuck (and which is why a lot of them took the royal pardon when it came).

But, was there a settlement that featured tons of pirates that was pretty much in complete anarchy? That's much harder to answer. These places mostly populated by pirates had systems to keep order. The Belize logwood cutters, many of them ex-sailors and ex-pirates (often being pirates again when the Spanish tried to drive them out - Spain claiming they owned the land in Belize), had companies and an elected king (oxymoron, I know). The St. Mary's base in Madagascar had established suppliers such as Adam Baldridge. The pirates worked with merchants in New York and other colonies who not only liked the plunder (especially hard currency that was frequently in short supply in the colones) but Madagascar was a place to obtain cheap slaves, a fraction of the cost it would be to import them from the Royal Africa Company monopoly on the western coast of Africa. Pirates in St. Mary's were not just pirates, they were slave brokers and participated in the conflicts between tribes on Madagascar. They could become their own leaders of native people there. On the other hand, plenty of these pirates that raided the Indian Ocean from Madagascar expected to be welcomed home with open arms in the colonies, and a number did. A number of the pirates even had wives waiting at home who exchanged letters while these men raided the Indian vessels with so many riches onboard (the New York traders provided a mail service to Madagascar). For Nassau on New Providence, while some traders went directly to Nassau (where some managed to do business, but others found themselves raided by pirates while in port), a good of amount of Nassau's supplies came from pirates on Harbour Island. A small group of about 50 pirates set up a base on the north side of the island, away from the main civilian town on the island. This group was heavily made up of local Bahamians or pirates who had developed strong ties to them. These pirate Bahamians often purchased supplies from colonial traders and resold it at a marked up prices to the pirates on Nassau. Harbour Island conveniently had more treacherous reefs and shallows and one small entrance to the almost landlocked harbor, making attack very difficult (especially with the several forts /batteries built on the island). At Nassau, plenty of vagrant peoples who made money providing sexual services and alcohol to the pirates lived in makeshift tents or shelters made of thrown together scrap wood and palm leaves, though how stable their businesses were is hard to document (they were a vagrant sort that often didn't last long in the Bahamas because they other moved on or weren't accustomed to the tropics and died of epidemics - all of that makes it hard to find written accounts from their own hands in the historical record). The Harbour Island pirates and civilians on the other hand were made up of close knit families that had histories of living on Harbour Island and Eleuthera (the island Harbour Island is basically a part of more or less). They were acclimatized and more immune to tropical diseases. Their numbers grew more naturally through child birth rather than relying on a large regular supplies of new settlers. Even before the government got burned out on Nassau by the Spanish, these Bahamians were used to being independent and just looking out for themselves (not caring much about the government on New Providence unless Nassau's actions directly impacted them over on Harbour Island).

Hope that somewhat answers your question.

There were several. One of the best known is Port Royal, where Henry Morgan was stationed. Port Royal actually utilized privateers of French and English origin as protection against the Spanish, and it's economy was inextricably tied to money brought in by privateers.

It wasn't until the 1720's, when privateering had essentially ended and piracy was on the rise, that Port Royal began to attempt to reduce it's illegitimate population. So, for at least 60 years, Port Royal was a safe haven for pirates and privateers.

Contemporary stories mention pirates gambling off fortunes of thousands of Reals, and of entire streets of brothels. There is no doubt Port Royal is exactly the kind of city your looking for.

St.Mary's, New Haven, and to an extent, Tortuga also served as bases for heavy privateer or pirate activity.

Hello everyone,

Unfortunately, we have already had to remove a number of poor quality responses in this thread as they consisted of just names of locations with no additional information. Please, before you attempt answer the question, keep in mind our rules concerning in-depth and comprehensive responses. Answers that do not meet the standards we ask for will be removed.

Additionally, it is unfair to the OP to further derail this thread with off topic conversation, so if anyone has further questions or concerns, I would ask that they be directed to modmail, or a META thread. Thank you!

This might sound crazy, but the American Settlement in Shanghai between its unofficial founding in 1848 by a Bishop Boone and his American Episcopal Church Mission and its official disappearance in 1863 when it was amalgamated with the British Settlement into the International Settlement (which existed all the way up until 1943) could be called a "pirate town."

First, lawlessness. The combination of the extra-territoriality that westerners enjoyed and the fact that the Americans did not have not a jail or prison meant offending Americans often went unpunished by both China and the US. The reason for the creation of the International Settlement may in fact be as simple as just the Americans wanting to be able to use the jail in the British consulate.

Second, brothels. Stella Dong, in her book Shanghai, 1842-1949: The Rise and Fall of a Decadent City, recounts that within the vice-filled city of Shanghai, "most of the brothels catering to foreigners were found in Hongkew," the area within the American Settlement could be found. The reason there were so many brothels in the city that came to be called by some "the Whore of Asia" is likely the fact that, according to Daniel Brook in A History of Future Cities, the "foreign population...was over 90 percent male in the mid-nineteenth century." I think it was Stella Dong who only sort of jokingly stated that maybe Shanghai's chief export was not tea, silk, or Coolie laborers but Gonorrhea, carried back by the many British and American sailors who visited Shanghai to their respective metropoles.

Third, pirates. In an article entitled "INTERESTING FROM CHINA" in the October 12, 1857 New York Times, the writer, a correspondent onboard the US navy frigate San Jacinto (which at the time was at Shanghai), relates that "it will no doubt be a matter of surprise to you to hear of foreigners being engaged in piracy. We see here Americans, English, French, Portuguese, and others engaged in a work whose penalty is death."

There is a town on the central Dalmatian coast of Croatia called Omiš. During the late Middle Ages, when the area was dominated by Venezia and Ragusa, Omiš was called Alissa. It straddled the narrow mouth of the Cetina River near its outlet to the Adriatic, where massive mountains plunge directly into the water.

The Corsairs of Almissa became infamous for attacking Venetian and other trading ships in the Adriatic sea. The Corsairs sailed fast and light and would make a beeline back to Almissa's narrow waterway, which was easily protected.

The Corsairs of Almissa formed an agreement with the highlanders who farmed in the hills above, a group that called itself the Poljička Republika, or Poljica Principality. They provided overwatch and support for the corsairs.

As a result, Omiš became a true pirate town. Protected by mountains, hard to find when sailing by, and actively guarded by both land and sea, trading powers had a hard time finding and stopping the dreaded Corsairs of Almissa. Instead, they bought them out as privateers.

Dalmatia became a fiercely independent place through medieval times. Buffered by the Ottomans, the Venetians, and the Hungarians, they played powers off each other quite well and maintained more independence than most of the Balkans during that era. Part of it was their stubborn piratical ways.

BTW: modern Omiš is still very beautiful. Here's a photo I took.

Info about the Corsairs of Alissa is hard to find online. Google it to learn more, or read Robin Harris' lovely tome Dubrovnik: A History.

Yes, the famed pirate Jean Lafitte operated his own pirate settlement island right by New Orleans. On an island along the coast named Barataria, he smuggled goods from the Caribbean into the U.S. and vice-versa when the U.S. government enforced the Embargo Act of 1807.

It grew to be quite large, demanding much of Jean Lafitte's time in just running the operation. Many people flocked to find work there, and even lived there.

Eventually this settlement of gulf pirates was taken out, but the 'Lafittes' as they were called were known in the area, especially in New Orleans and the Caribbean colonies, and pirates operating out of Barataria.

Hi All. Really enjoyed the answers to this one. I'm the author of SHADOW DIVERS. I have a new book coming out June 16 called PIRATE HUNTERS. It's a true adventure of two divers who go in search of a legendary pirate ship and the singular captain who sailed her. The ship and its crew spent time in Port Royal, Jamaica.

Port Royal really was built for pirates. The town had a well-protected harbor, corrupt politicians and townsfolk, and a set of ethics that seemed passed down from Sodom and Gomorrah. Pockets bulging with stolen treasure, a pirate could buy anything on Port Royal’s crooked, wharf-side streets, but what he bought was almost always women and booze.

At one point, one of every four buildings in Port Royal was either a whorehouse or drinking establishment. In a town of fewer than three thousand inhabitants, one brothel alone employed twenty-three prostitutes. One of them, Mary Carleton, was said to be “as common as a barber’s chair: no sooner was one out but another one was in.”

Pirate cash didn’t last long in Port Royal. According to one historian of the time, “Wine and women drained their wealth to such a degree that, in a little time, some of them became reduced to beggary. They have been known to spend 2 or 3,000 pieces of eight in one night and one gave a strumpet 500 to see her naked.”

The pirates drank like frat boys, and they wanted you to join in. Often, they’d buy a 105-gallon container of wine, put it in the street, and force passersby to imbibe. Even their parrots drank. One visitor described a scene in which the parrots of Port Royal “gather to drink from the large stocks of ale with just as much alacrity as the drunks that frequent the taverns that serve it.”

Honest men were helpless in Port Royal. One clergyman wrote: “This town is the Sodom of the new World and since the majority of its population consists of pirates, cut-throats, whores and some of the vilest persons in the whole of the world, I felt my permanence there was of no use.”

That man left. But the pirates stayed.

Kororareka (modern day Russell) in New Zealand was known as "the hellhole of the pacific" (source) we studied it my final year of high school. It was a port town, with whaling and fishing businesses being the predominant source of income and thus the predominant source of shenanigans were caused by the aformentioned sailors, alongisde "deserters and escaped convicts from Australia" (source). Brothels were plentiful and the Maori women, alongside Europeans were popular amongst the sailors. Violence was common, drunks roamed the street and it really wasn't a well to do place. The town had such a bad reputation that Lord Hobson was reluctant to make it the nations capital (source). A "judgmental visitor described Kororāreka as a "Gomorrah, the scourge of the Pacific, which should be struck down by the ravages of disease for its depravity" ([source] (http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/culture/missionaries/kororareka)). The trading in muskets was also so prevalent in Kororareka that it played a part in the beginnings of the "Musket Wars" between the native Maori and European Settlers (source). I tried to track down an image to help out here too, a modern one would do justice as anyone that has been to Russell nowadays wouldn't be able to tell it had such wild roots. Hope this gave an insight into a different style of "pirate" town but an equally rowdy one nonetheless.

The town of Deadwood, in modern day South Dakota, doesn't fit your pirate designation, but existed outside US law because it was founded on land ceded to the Indians. It was settled illegally because of a gold strike.

Deadwood has appeared in many fictional treatments, and I'll just point you toward the excellent and mostly historically reasonably accurate HBO TV series of that name if you want to know more.

Offshoot question: Is there any historical evidence for Marcus Rediker's so called "Libertalia"?

Read about/google search Port Royal - Jamaica. Used to be a pirate town a big earthquake destroyed a large part in 1692.