User:Beodizia/Neel Cuyper

Neel Cuyper (c. 1655–1695) was a Dutch

Biography
Neel Cuyper was born c. 1655 in the town of Oudewater in the Dutch Republic.

Cuyper became a seafarer, pretending to be a man in order to work on Dutch merchant ships. When one of the ships she worked on was boarded by pirates off the coast of Barbados, Cuyper managed to join the pirate crew due to being an experienced sailor.

After sailing with the pirates for some time, Cuyper was exposed as a woman. The crew did not tolerate women onboard and she was as such disembarked in the town of Basse Terre on Tortuga. Cuyper was allowed to keep her share of the loot earnt on raids with the pirates.

In order to survive on Tortuga, Cuyper turned to prostitution. While her career was "busy", it did not last long due to catching an unknown sexually transmitted infection. She then turned to another business venture; using her savings as well as charmed sponsors, Cuyper founded a resort at Labadee on the northern coast of Hispaniola. Cuyper's resort included lodgings, a chapel and a bar and was predominantly a haven for pirates and other maritime criminals due to vast stores of alcohol and large staff of prostitutes. The establishment earnt Cuyper the nickname "The Queen of Labadee Bay". She also earnt the nickname "Santa Rubia" ("red saint").

Cuyper's resort was attacked by a combined British and Spanish force in 1695, during which it was destroyed and Cuyper was killed.