Sea shanties have taken the internet by storm. They’re catchy, they’re historical, and they may even have been sung on ships named “The Queen Esther” and “The Shield of Abraham.” That is to say, they may have been sung by Jewish pirates.
Jews settled throughout the Caribbean from the mid-17th century to the mid-19th century. Many had fled from Spain during the Inquisition, or were “conversos,” Jews who had been forced to convert to Roman Catholicism under Queen Isabella’s reign. And while the majority settled peacefully onto various islands Jamaica had a thriving Jewish population some chose a more adventurous, seafaring lifestyle.