The island of Ile Sainte-Marie (St Mary’s Island) is a tiny and beautiful island off the coast of Madagascar and boasts a very special little graveyard. Looking at Ile Sainte-Marie today, it seems a haven for wildlife, being renowned for humpback whale watching and loved by divers for its beautiful (shark free!) lagoon with substantial coral growth. However, Sainte-Marie wasn’t always such an idyllic landscape, but was a haven for pirates in the 17th and 18th centuries. The first known pirate to take up residence was Adam Baldridge – who fled from a murder charge and turned to piracy – in 1691, and countless others followed in his footsteps until the last pirate resident, John Pro, in 1719. Sainte-Marie was ideal for habitation, with great swathes of native fruit trees (ideal for making rum!) and enough resources to support an approximate 1000 pirates over a 100 year period. In a map of 1733, the island was named quite simply ‘the island of pirates’.[1]