Lore
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Jose Gaspar, a gentleman lieutenant of the Royal Spanish Navy, became famous as the pirate Gasparilla on Florida's Gulf Coast after leading a mutinous uprising and seizing command of the Spanish war-sloop FloridaBlanca in 1783. In twelve years of piracy, he captured and destroyed thirty-six or more ships before his career ended when he attacked a U.S. Navy warship disguised as a merchantman and drowned after leaping into the sea to avoid capture. His spirit lives on each February as Ye Mystic Krewe boards the Jose Gasparilla to besiege Tampa's defenses with shot and shell, a tradition since May, 1904, then parades triumphantly through the city's streets during a week-long festival of merrymaking and pledges allegiance to a newly crowned King Gasparilla and his Queen.
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Tampa, Florida · United States
