What to see in Corcubión
Corcubion, land of calm and bravery
Cultural Heritage
Cultural Heritage
The "Pirate's House"
Architectural heritage
Location
plaza de Castelao, 14
Chronology
17th century
Legal situation
private property in use
This is another of Corcubión's unique buildings. On its façade there is a coat of arms with six quarters on which the wolf's head of the Moscoso family (fourth quarter), the chessboard of the Bermúdez family (fifth quarter) and the six roeles of the Castro family (sixth quarter) can be identified (a roel is a round piece of a coat of arms, like a circle).
This house is also known as "La Casa del Pirata" (The Pirate's House), because in the 19th century the brave captain José Agramunt y Figueroa lived there. He was born in Corcubión on the 24th of February 1833, although his family was from Valencia. One of his ancestors was a well-known corsair settled in Fisterra. José Agramunt, like many of his ancestors, studied in the field of offshore navigation until he obtained the title of pilot and, later, of shipowner. In his time this man was famous for the fact that happened the night of December 26th, 1876, on board of his brigantine Liberto while sailing between Cape Gata and Roquetas (both in Almería – Andalucía), after taking a load of salt in Torrevieja (Alicante – Comunidad Valenciana) with destination to a Cantabrian port. That night, the crew under his command mutinied.
The intention of the crew was to kill the captain to get hold of the load of salt. They took advantage of the night, while he was sleeping, to enter his chambers and shoot two shots into his head. But they did not manage to end his life: the captain got up and went after them, receiving an axe blow in the back and another shot that would not finish him off either. The captain was able, in his severe condition, to round up the mutineers and lock them in the bow ranch and put the boatswain under his command. He ordered the boatswain to sail to Almería’s port, where they arrived on the morning of the 27th of December. He managed to hand over the crew members to the authorities and he was taken to hospital, where he died a few days later, on the 5th of January 1877.
One of the five crew members died as a result of a shot received by mistake on board. The rest of the mutineers spent a few days in the prison in Almería’s port and were then transferred to La Carraca prison in San Fernando (Cádiz). During the course of the trial, the boatswain died of natural causes, leaving only three crew members to judge. During the court martial that took place in San Fernando on the 28th of January 1878, two of them were sentenced to life imprisonment and the other to 14 years in prison. But the authorities appealed against this sentence and, finally, the three crew members were sentenced to death and, in addition, to pay 5000 pesetas to the captain's mother. In order to fulfil the death sentence, the crew were transferred back to Almeria’s port, where the execution was carried out on the 25th of October 1878.
All these facts can be reviewed in detail at the following link: Ver ligazón
