WHILE DOING research on Jamaican history at Kingston's National Institute in 1967, American author Edward Kritzler stumbled upon an interesting article that suggested many of the pirates in 17th century Jamaica were Jews.

Forty-one years later, Kritzler expounds on that information in his new book, Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean. In it, he not only sheds light on the illegal exploits of these Hebrew hellraisers but examines their relationship with Italian explorer Christopher Columbus.

'Jewish Pirates' is set mainly in the late 1400s, the 1500s and the 1600s and reveals 'little-known' facts about Jews in the Caribbean. Kritzler said he discovered the dark side of Jewish immigrants in Jamaica through an entry in British pirate William Jackson's 1642 journal.

Jackson wrote that he found the capital city (Spanish Town at the time) deserted except for "diverse Portuguese of the Hebrew nation, who came unto us seeking asylum, and promised to show us where the Spaniards hid their gold."

Haven for pirates

Kritzler found out from Jamaican Jewish leaders that many Jews had fled to the Caribbean with Columbus to escape persecution in Europe, which began with the Spanish Inquisition in 1480. Many of them settled in Jamaica which became an haven for pirates during the 16th century.

Columbus first set foot in Jamaica in 1494.

Kritzler details the exploits of Jewish pirates, their link with Columbus and their origins in the Caribbean and Latin American countries such as Mexico and Peru.

San Francisco Chronicle writer Steve Weinberg gave Kritzler's book the thumbs-up. "Having set the stage with historical context, Kritzler shares various sagas of individual Jews, who took to the sea as pirates, or masterminded the pirate operations from land. The narrative comes across as disconnected at times, but the material is so rich that the book is never boring," Weinberg wrote.

Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean is distributed by Doubleday Books.

Jamaican Jewish facts

The Jewish community observed 350 years of Jewish presence in Jamaica in 2006.

The first Jews in Jamaica settled in Spanish Town, then Port Royal. Most were merchants.

Jacob and Joshua de Cordova, founders of The Gleaner Company, were Jewish.

Island Records founder Chris Blackwell is Jewish. His family, the Lindos from Portugal, settled in Jamaica during the 17th century.