Since Gasparilla is coming up I thought that I’d post something about the history of Jose Gaspar or as he referred to himself “Gasparilla” and how he became the inspiration for a South Tampa festival.

The Legend
Gasparilla is named for Jose Gaspar, sometimes called “last of the buccaneers”. He was was born into an upper class family in Spain near Seville in 1756. Legend has it that as a youth he kidnapped a girl and then joined the Spanish Royal Navy to avoid punishment. He later rose to the rank of Admiral and became an advisor to King Charles III.

He became involved in romantic exploits with various members of the Court, including the daughter-in-law of the King. This lead to false charges of theft being brought against him and he responded by commandeering the Floridablanca, his Navy ship, and fleeing to Spanish Florida in 1783.

Gasparilla patrolled the coast of Florida and the Caribbean for the next 38 years attacking ships and killing the passengers. Captiva Island in Florida was reportedly one of his bases.

In 1821 At the age of 65, Gaspar had decided to retire, but was lured into one last conquest as he saw a British ship sail nearby. It turned out to be a trap and the ship was a US Naval vessel - the USS Enterprise. Seeing no way of escaping, Gasparilla reportedly wrapped the chain from the anchor around himself and jumped to his death into the Gulf of Mexico.

The Festival
The event evolved from a May Festival in 1903. The following year it would feature an invasion by Gasparilla which was announced by the Morning Tribune:

“After a century of obscurity and retirement in this His Royal Majesty’s dominion, it has been deemed expedient and desirable by His Royal Majesty that the Royal Court of Gasparilla shall once again, as of yore visit our beloved friends in the fair and prosperous city of Tampa.

Tis long ago since our gracious forefathers of honored memory held court in your beloved city, and mayhap in these many changes of generations our beloved friends have become ignorant of the details of our Royal history.”

The next year the festival was moved to February in 1911 the tradition of invading into Tampa Bay was started. The celebration was also traditionally on Mondays until 1988 when it was moved to Saturday.

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