If you search the Internets for Jewish pirates, as we are keen to do for obvious reasons, you might run into David Abrabanel. The 17th-century Dutchman hailed from a rabbinic dynasty and joined British privateers after his family was murdered by the Spanish. Under the name "Captain Davis", he roamed the seas on his flagship, New Jerusalem. He even discovered Easter Island! Yes, that Easter Island. Discovered by a Jewish pirate. Sounds too good to be true, right?

Right. Abrabanel's story turns out to be complete bullshit, despite its appearance on numerous websites. It doesn't take much to debunk it; Easter Island was discovered by goyishe Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen. Yes, there is connection to a Davis: Roggeveen was searching for "Davis Land", a phantom island spotted by, well, a pirate named Davis. But that Davis was not Jewish or Dutch at all. He was Edward Davis, an English buccaneer. So it looks like someone took an ounce of truth and spun it around until it became gospel.

It gets stranger than that. Apparently, the story of Abrabanel comes from... an Israeli children's book, "Captain Davis, the Jewish Buccaneer". It's complete fiction, with the picture adorning this profile coming from its cover. (This supposed Jewish pirate looks a lot like the rather goyishe Errol Flynn, no?... But check out those lapels!)

So how did an obscure children's story turn into something accepted as truth? Well, that's the Internet for you. One thing for sure: there is no way Easter Island could have been discovered by a Jew.

Passover Island FTW!

Verdict: Not a Jew. (Real Captain Davis)