du Val, Charles (Dieppois)

Charles du Val (Dieppois) served as navigator for a party of French buccaneers under Francois Guignet of Normandy beginning in 1685. Upon the party's arrival in the South Seas, they joined with the English buccaneers Sevan (Swan) and David (Davis) and engaged in inconsequential action against the Spanish. The parties separated a short time later and Guignet's crew joined with the English Captain Townley to form what is often called the Tres Marias buccaneers (named for the islands they used as a base). Guignet and Townley sacked Grenada in 1687, shortly before Guignet's death. Some of Guignet's former crew sailed back to France on board the Sainte Rose, while the others continued on to Amapalla. They then joined with the Dutch captain Franc Roole and sailed for California, stopping in Cabo San Lucas. After discovering that California was not an island, the crew again splintered, with most of them setting up a new base in the Galapagos Islands. Here they remained for several years, periodically ransacking the coasts of Chile and Peru. In 1693 Roole and most of the original crews departed for the Strait of Magellan and sailed the South Atlantic off the Brazilian coast. Roole eventually bought a sugar refinery in Cayenne. Charles later returned to La Rochelle.

From the description of Extrait du Journal de M. Charles (du Val) Dieppois sur son voyage de la mer de sud grossy de plusieurs particulantes et de plisieurs connoissances qui sont venues par luy en ses Camerades qui en sont revenus par le detroit de Magellan, before 1707. (Huntington Library, Art Collections & Botanical Gardens). WorldCat record id: 639983903