The corsairs of Saint-Malo were state-licensed privateers who made the city one of the…

The corsairs of Saint-Malo were state-licensed privateers who made the city one of the wealthiest ports in France during the 17th and 18th centuries. Unlike pirates, they carried official letters from the French king authorising them to attack enemy ships, though the line between legal plunder and outright piracy was conveniently blurred when it came to dividing the spoils. The two most famous were René Duguay-Trouin, who captured Rio de Janeiro in 1711 with a fleet of seventeen ships, and Robert Surcouf, who terrorised British trade routes off India and whose statue on the ramparts still points defiantly out to sea toward England.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​