Miscellany: Mediohombre

It's International Talk Like a Pirate Day, and I thought it'd be fun to feature a real-life pirate hunter here at Shangrila Towers - the legendary Blas de Lezo y Olavarrieta, or "Mediohombre":



Blas de Lezo was one-armed, one-eyed, and one-legged - injuries that were all sustained during countless battles and sieges for the Spanish navy. Despite being a "half man," he crushed pirates across the Spanish Main and the Barbary Coast (and threatened Genoa when it failed to pay the Spanish Crown - even "civilized" sailors acted like pirates in those days).

Blas de Lezo would be immortalized by his spirited defense of Cartagena de Indias, where his forces fended off an assault from a British force that outnumbered him by at least five to one. To this day, his statues adorn the city of Cartagena, Colombia: