Amaro Rodríguez-Felipe y Tejera Machado (3 May 1678 – 4 October 1747), also known as Amaro Pargo, was a Spanish privateer and merchant. He was one of the most well-known Spanish privateers during the Golden Age of Piracy. Pargo was noted for his commercial activities and for his frequent religious donations and aid to the poor. As a privateer, he targeted trade routes between Cádiz and the Caribbean, on several occasions attacking British and Dutch merchant ships, earning recognition in his time as a hero and coming to be regarded as "the Spanish equivalent of Francis Drake". He was declared a Caballero hidalgo in 1725 and obtained certification of nobility and royal arms in 1727.
For years there has been speculation as to the reason behind Rodríguez Felipe's nickname of Pargo. Traditionally, it has been believed that this pseudonym means that the raider was "fast", "elusive in battle" and "moving in the sea as the aforementioned fish", the red porgy (also called Pargo). More recent theories rooted in popular tradition have also attributed the nickname to the facial features of a corsair.
More recently, other theories have emerged; Professor Manuel de Paz at the University of La Laguna and librarian Daniel García Pulido view Rodríguez Felipe's nickname as not having to do with his face resembling a fish, but with the nickname of his family's clan.
Rodríguez Felipe was born in San Cristóbal de La Laguna, on the island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands on 3 May 1678.
He was baptized by the priest Manuel Hurtado Mendoza in the Iglesia de Los Remedios (Church of Our Lady of Los Remedios, today a cathedral in the city). His godfather was Amaro López. He was the son of Juan Rodríguez Felipe and Beatriz Tejera Machado. He had seven brothers. Three of his sisters entered the Convent of Santa Catalina de Siena in the city. His family was affluent, possessing property both in and around the city.
Amaro lived with his family in the Plaza de San Cristóbal in La Laguna (also called "Plaza Tanque de Abajo"). The family had several possessions and houses, most of them located close to the political, economic, and religious center of the city, around the current Plaza del Adelantado (then called "Plaza de Abajo").
In 1701 he boarded as second lieutenant on a ship, the Ave María, nicknamed La Chata ("The Barge"), which was boarded by pirates. This ship was a galley of the King of Spain then on the route between the Caribbean and Cadiz. He advised the captain to feign surrender in order to start a battle from which they emerged victorious. In gratitude, the captain gave Amaro his first ship. With it he began his business activities, including participation in the Atlantic slave trade in Spanish America. For this, Amaro Pargo obtained a letter of marque from King Philip V of Spain.
Amaro Pargo's participation in the Spanish treasure fleet had to have started between 1703 and 1705, and at this time he is mentioned as "captain" and "master" of the frigate Ave María y Las Ánimas. He is mentioned sailing between the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and Havana, and other vessels of their possession are cited; Nuestra Señora de Los Remedios, Santo Domingo and Santa Águeda (this last nicknamed El Gavilán). In 1737, he is mentioned as the owner of El Mercader de Canarias, captained by John Plunket, and as sharing ownership with another merchant vessel of La Laguna, Don Pedro Dujardin.
He conducted his affairs with a well-maintained fleet and also with many residences. Amaro Pargo led his own ships to America laden with wine from Malvasía (from his own vineyards) and brandy (also his), which he sold in Havana and Guyana. On the way, he attacked all ships belonging to nations at war with Spain, most of whom were British and Dutch, making off with booty which he later brought back to Spain. Pargo also fought against some of the best known pirates of his day, including Blackbeard. He also traded in other products such as various textiles and nuts. These products were brought from the Canary Islands to the Indies.
In 1712, Pargo captured the British-flagged merchant ship Saint Joseph, which operated out of Dublin and was commanded by Captain Alexander Westher. Pargo was later accused of not having acted with rigor at the time of exercising his rights as a privateer. This was because Pargo looted the ship's cargo and forced Westher to sail with Pargo's ship to the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife on pain of sinking Saint Joseph if Westher refused to do so. Nevertheless, the capture of Saint Joseph was considered legitimate because Britain was at war with Spain.
The Spanish monarch Felipe V, in a Royal Decree dated 24 October 1719 in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, authorized Amaro Pargo to build a ship in Campeche. This ship was a merchant vessel armed with 58 guns and 64 cubits long and 56 keel, with more than 16 manga. According to current studies, said ship became part of the Navy in 1723, but just a year before it had captured and looted the Dutch merchant ship Duyvelant, when it was believed to have been captained by Pargo.
This systematic looting of enemy ships sometimes escalated into battle; it is documented that once Amaro Pargo boarded a great ship from Jamaica, triggering a clash between the privateer Snapper and the captain of the ship with sabers and pistols, which ended with the captain seriously wounded and Pargo with only a cut on his fingers. He also fought against Barbary pirates in waters off the Canary Islands.
Pargo became romantically involved with the Cuban Josefa María del Valdespino, with whom he had an illegitimate son, but did not marry. This son was named Manuel de la Trinidad Rodríguez. Another illegitimate son was Juan Rodríguez Felipe, born in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and eventually buried in the parish of St. Mark in Tegueste. According to the documents of the time, Juan Rodríguez's mother was a married woman who had known Amaro's family since childhood. This offspring would, however, be raised by the mother of Amaro Pargo, Mrs. Beatriz Tejera.
Amaro Pargo founded a chaplaincy for the needy and allocated 3,000 reales for the poor in the prisons. Pargo eventually came to be the richest man in the Canary Islands. He was a character who in his day had the same reputation and popularity as that of Blackbeard and Francis Drake.
On 25 January 1725 Amaro Pargo was declared Caballero hijodalgo. In addition, Pargo obtained the actual certification of Nobility and Arms also given in Madrid on 9 January 1727 by Juan Antonio de Hoces Sarmiento, who was chronicler and king of arms of Felipe V of Spain.
Friendship with Sister Mary of Jesus
Because of his fervent Catholic beliefs, Amaro made large donations to churches, religious institutions, and the Parroquia de Nuestra Señora de Los Remedios (Parish Church of Our Lady of Los Remedios), now the Catedral de San Cristóbal de La Laguna (La Laguna Cathedral). He developed a deep friendship with Dominican nun María de León Bello y Delgado, the famed "Sister Mary of Jesus", who gave the privateer spiritual advice. After her 1731 death, Amaro paid for the extravagant sarcophagus in which her incorrupted body was placed. Amaro's initials are inscribed in the sarcophagus.
The privateer attributed many of his exploits to the miraculous intervention of the nun, including an episode in which the nun reportedly saved his life in Cuba, without her body leaving the convent; that is, by the phenomenon of bilocation.