Demeure de Corsaire (Corsair House)

There are no signs saying "pirate lair this way" when you enter the Hôtel Magon in the heart of Saint-Malo. The elegant and fine furnishings on the main floor and the attentive staff seem a world away from the swash-buckling ways of the French pirates known as Corsairs that ruled the seas around St. Malo in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Yet this very building, now listed as an official Monument Historique (Historic Monument), was constructed in 1725 as the residence of François-Auguste Magon de la Lande, renowned Corsair of the King and director of the French East India Company. The corsairs were privateers authorized by the French Crown to attack and plunder the merchant and trade ships of France's enemies, many of which were returning to Europe from the Americas. The Magon house was used in part to store a bounty of these stolen goods.

A classic 18th century built home, with beautiful furniture and the everyday knick-knacks you would typically associate with the period: snuff boxes, elegant candle holders, and the classic monocle chains strewed across mahogany embossed writing desks. Though it all appears to be the belongings of a fine gentleman of the 18th century, it is in fact all stolen, by pirates. Pillage the high seas by day, live like kings by night. This was meant to be a hidden pirate lair, and the disguise is a good one.

The pièce de résistance comes as you enter the basement. As you descend down old narrow stairs, the lighting fades and you’re suddenly in an empty room. This room once housed the spoils of pirate battles against the English and Portuguese. The portholes along the wooden wall were smuggling tunnels, for which corsair ships would open their gunports and could dock directly aside the house, and smuggle in illegal contraband and the plunders of war.

Hôtel Magon may seem like a typical house museum at the corner of the fortified St. Malo, but it is, in fact, an intricate veil of deceit and juicy history in the heyday of maritime warfare.