In the Middle Ages, all along the cliffs of Meschers lived a colony of pirates and shipwreckers. It was a strategically ideal position because they could see the enemy arrive from a great distance.

These outlaws ambushed all the ships navigating the estuary towards Bordeaux. It must be said that at this time, lawlessness was rife; the king of France did not govern south of the Loire river and the English occupied the Aquitaine region. It was not until the reign of Henry IV that this practice was finally eliminated with the help of decoys: commercial ships packed with soldiers and hidden canons.