Captain Falkenberg

Aye, we'll nail their gizzards to the mast and make them eat their own livers, by the powers! Don't worry, I'll pay ye in full. *looks up at the stars* We 'ave hours yet till dawn. Let's see ye make good on this 'ere bold statement about makin' me want to belay settin' sail in the mornin'. Ah, this 'ere be the pirate's life. Speakin' bloody murder an' torture while havin' me paws all over a bold 'n' bawdy we... lady. An' I even brought a bottle o' rum when we went outside. Now, speakin' o' fireworks displays...

Ah yes, I'd be very happy to follow yer advice regarding my crew, as it makes good sea sense to me, but they'd prob'bly depose me, this bein' the rules aboard ship an' all. As for m' payment bein' worth it... Well, I've had no complaints so far. Mind ye; I usually make sure t' set sail afore she wakes up in the mornin'... *fumbles with the lady's buttons, working his way around various weapons*

I'll just go an' shoot one in the kneecap t'morrow mornin', just so as t'remind 'em who I am. *throws another drink down the hatch* Here's to the accord, by thunder! *Leads Lady Barbossa outside and towards a nice, dark, comfortable looking spot in the shadows of some pine trees, immensely pleased with himself for landing himself both free drinks and some booty*

Ah, seein' as ye arrr interested in hearin' my suggestions, so to speak, here be my terms, handsomer you couldn't look to get: Whenever we make port in the same 'arbour, I'll be at yer service for said pleasurable company and if ye'd be willing to surrender yer booty to me, I'll be droppin' me anchor in yer port. Ye can walk my plank awhile first, if ye've a mind to do so. As for that there Black Spot; it not be the Jonah kind them strange swabs as sailed with Sparrow are always a-talkin' about, but a good, honest Black Spot as was cut from a bible or any other paper at hand to depose the cap'n, so to speak. Mutinous dogs they be. As for th' Lady as my ally; most gratefully accepted, I'm sure. If might be right, we gentlemen and ladies o'fortune should stick together more, by the powers! There be squalls on the horizon and allies is what we need. I hear tell ye're the cap'n of the Resurrection. Well, 'ere's a toast to the Resurrection and the Flying Goat an' all those who sail on 'em! As for the name of my ship; it be a long story, and I'll tell 'ee all about it, if ye like... in the mornin'. *attempts to put an arm around the lady's shoulder to escort her outside for the first of the proposed pleasurable encounters*

Belay your thwackin', woman... I mean, m'lady! Forgive my ill chosen words, sometimes I've no more sense than a seasick squid on a monday mornin'. O'course ye be a fine an' proper lady, I've never seen the likes of ye, I saw that right away as I came in, I did. As for havin' something else in mind; indeed I do, several ideas come t' mind, none of 'em sootable for mentionin' aloud with all these young nippers in this 'ere room. I'd venture to suggest takin' a gentle stroll by the beach and droppin' me anchor in yer 'arbor, so to speak, so as to pay off me debt, but as it is in your debt I be, and besides bein' a right proper gentleman, I'll be leavin' ye to decide the details of my manner o' payin', long as it be proper indecent, mutually pleasurable and take no more time than a single night, by thunder. Time be short, and I've no 100 years to spend. There be a scurvy pirate crew awaitin' for me in the mornin' with itching cutlasses and a black spot handy, if ye catch me drift.

*A melancholy look passing over his face* Aye, seems the seven seas aren't big enough for the likes of us no more. Makes ye wonder how many of us gathered here t'day will be dancin' a hornpipe in rope's end at execution dock afore another year's out... *pulls himself together, pinches the barmaid and orders another drink* Now, about this 'ere indecent propos'l. Let me tell ye about the time I served on the good ship Venus... *quickly changes his mind and the subject* Tell me, m'dear, what's a nice wench like you adoin' in a grog shop like this? An' is it just me or is it awfully stuffy in 'ere?

*quickly orders another free drink from the bar wench and gulps it down the hatch like an Englishman right afore closin' time* Well, shiver my sides an' curse me for a lubber! Seems I'm one o' those gentlemen o' fortune with aspirations for true greatness, but lacking timing! I'd sack Panama, but the great days of salty sea dogs goin' ashore to terr'rize the Spanish bastards in their own homes are long past, more be the pity, by thunder. And some other scurvy buccaneer probably beat me to it, Davy Jones take 'is stinkin' soul. As for other payments; I find it good sea sense to never accept any proposals of this 'ere kind, unless they be indecent.

Arr, curse me luck! What I meant to say was; I'll be putting up a blockade of Charleston harbor! There be some ransom money for the pickin', methinks. *Quickly swallows his free rum, before she changes her mind*

*grins with glee at the joy of swaggerin' into a new port where the wenches don't know him yet and the outraged husbands haven't managed to find him* So, would y'like a drink, m'dear? *feels his pockets* Ah, it would seem I'm a little short on d'bloons... If you just pay this round I'll be makin' it up t'ye tomorrow night. I'll be hangin' the guv'nor of Martinique on his own yard-arm and pickin' his pockets first thing tomorrow mornin'. As for the Dutchman (the other one), there have been several sightings in the 1970s, 80s, etc, up until 2002 when two fishermen ran into a ghost ship near the Cape. They just haven't been published very widely. Mainly in local newspapers. That's the Cape of Good Hope, by the way, not Cape Horn. Ghost ships are seen all over the world, and the FD being the most famous one, people tend to call them all by that name. I have, however, focused on sightings around the Cape of Good Hope, because that has been the Dutchman's haunt for as long as the legend's been around. Interesting enough, when I contributed to another book recently (about the history of Rotterdam's sea port) I did some research into a ghost ship that is sometimes seen around Cape Horn, and apparently that's another Dutchman; Olivier van Noort, the first Dutchman who managed to sail around the world, in 1598-1601. Seems Dutchmen had some sort of special talent for ending up cursed immortals. Typical!

I loved this one (and it's title song). Now if only they'd bother releasing it on R2 DVD (Europe). Which they won't.

Thankee... As for the references; many of them(the most recent ones and one from the 1950s) are semi-first hand accounts, taken from letters from eyewitnesses that were passed on to me by the editor of a Cape Town newspaper. The older ones are collected from books, old newspapers, etc. I also spoke to some old sailors who knew some of the people involved in old sightings.

Ah well, without access to the right documents it was pure speculation anyway. As for the tavern 'the three horse shoes', which Mary was supposed to have run, it was actually a brewery (the two things usually existed under one roof), that's been around since at least 1534. The name 'The three horse shoes' was first used for it in 1628, which means reports of Mary opening this tavern/brewery are incorrect. If she ran it at all, she must have taken over from a previous owner or maybe just worked there. The brewery built a big factory on another site in 1880, remains of which are still around. The original site (roughly) is now a neighborhood called 'the three horse shoes', after the old brewery. Strangely enough the brewers never tried to make anything of the link with Mary Read (strange, because breweries around here are often keen to promote their own history), preferring to use the three musketeers on their bottles for some reason. In 1982 they merged with some really big company and the old name is no longer being used. Here be a cur'osity for you:

But is Blackbeard shooting Hands in the leg mentioned anywhere else except in Johnson? The problem with Johnson's book is that it's responsible for the best pirate lore (bless his kind heart, whoever he was), but might be somewhat unreliable as a historical source. I wish he was, though, as he claims Mary Read used to run a tavern a mere stone's throw from where I live... As for his previous history not being mentioned: I don't know the precise details of Hands' involvement in the trial against the corrupt governors (the archives being on the other side of the planet), but maybe there's a possibility that going back to piracy after supposedly being pardoned would be such a naughty thing to do in the eyes of the authorities that the prisoner 'forgot' to mention it? This is no more than speculation, of course.

Well, good luck with that! Getting the right people interested in your ideas can take years, as many of my less fortunate writer friends often complain. Just keep working on it, and resort to some networking and butt kissing if all else fails! Oh, and it's no surprise that you haven't heard of my book, as it's in Dutch! As for Pirettes, I hadn't seen that yet. Regardless of whether it has a decent script, I'd watch it with a big grin on my face for the simple yet alluring combination of fine wenches and piracy!

My source is a picture of the death sentence for Roberts' crew members that's sometimes reprinted in various books. Pirates! by Angus Konstam, page 30, for instance. I think going back to piracy would actually have made sense for Hands. Beats being a beggar...