Capt. Iron Faith Cutler

If you ever get down to New Mexico, there's some floating around down here!

Arr! Broke up with me boyfriend late last year and been sailing the single waters e'er since. I've not been trying too hard, though. Been too busy to bother much with the boys. But if some handsome pirate wants to come sweep me off the deck...

Congratulations on your first house! I know the feeling...very exciting! Best of luck getting settled in. I'm raising a tankard of rum in your general direction. Cheers!

Nothing shows up for me, either. Just says, "user posted image."

Squid Monks. There's a 1 in 1,500,000 chance that anyone will get the reference.

Cool! I like that pic of Barbossa on the right...nice one. If I ever get my camera/scanner situation sorted out again, I'll post pics of my pirate-theme bathroom. I've never had so much fun painting and decorating a room as that one.

That's impressive! The beadwork is a nice touch.

I watched the boy, but he would not return my gaze. In the dim light the ship's walls glowed a dull red and smelled of salt and battle. The carpenter came running back, hands flailing, face as white as the skull on our colors. "Cap'n, cap'n," he sputtered. "What is it? Spit it out, lad!" I "There's a hole clear through the hull below," he managed "A hole? Clear through?" "Aye. The size of two cannonballs." "This ship is sinking?" "No, cap'n," he said with wonderment,"It's not. No water comes in but I can see clear into the sea below."

I'm in the depends-on-the-guy camp. Some work well with the long hair, others don't. I have only one rule when it comes to dating and hair: no mullets.

Anybody have recommendations for places to stay in Ventura? Ojai looks a bit pricey and I don't have any camping equipment. I always prefer funky and unusual (but clean) places to corporate chains.

Ooo, I'd really like to come out there for this. But there's no Amtrak station in Ojai. How far is it from LA? I could take the train into Ventura. How is Ojai for hotels? Iron Faith

Tandy Leather is a good place. There's probably a store that's local to you, check online or check the white pages. They have a large round brass reenactor's belt buckle that would work well.

I heard a low moan. There in the corner, where I swear I had looked before but seen nought, was a child no older than my own cabin boy. His face was an ashen grey and his eyes were small blackened pools like the dark center of a flintlock barrel. My crew turned slowly to follow my gaze. "Who are ye, son?" I asked. He looked through me and did not answer or move. "Are ye deaf, boy? Who is yer captain?"

Most people choose hospitals, but some prefer to use a midwife at home. Sorry...couldn't help but play up the pun on the misspell. To answer your actual question, I make berth along the Rio Grande in New Mexico. Sailing the desert seas...

It floated nearer, unmanned with darkened decks. The sails were slack as no wind dared bluster. The men watched it with hollow eyes and even the bravest of them shivered a little as the night air turned a sour cold. "Ready the hooks," I said, my own breath catching in my throat. The men did not move. "Prepare to board, you dogs!" My voice boomed across the deck. The reverie broken, the men gave a low cheer and gathered their wits, cutlasses and locks.

Cordingly's book is a great historical crash course in piracy. Well-written and well-researched and I really enjoyed finding out where history differs from the popular fiction. Pretty cool stuff. Iron Faith

"What be we lookin' fer, cap'n?" my first mate ask as he scurried to my side. "A red ship," I answered. My mate turned his head toward the mast. "Lookout!" he boomed to a man in the riggings. "Aye?" came the reply. "What see ye upon the water?" "Nothin' but black and still!" I growled in my throat at the slit-eyed look my first mate gave me.

I felt the metal and wood of my flintlock beneath my grasping fingers. I always kept it primed and ready. Swiveling in the dark I shot at where the figure had stood. But the in the flash of gunpowder, it was no more. "Capn'! Cap'n," I heard my first mate call, "What are ye firin' at? Ye near left a hole in me sorry head!"

Indonesia Orders Pirates, Sea Terrorists Shot on Sight 1 hour, 48 minutes ago Add Oddly Enough - Reuters to My Yahoo! JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's naval chief has ordered his commanders to shoot dead armed terrorists or pirates operating in key waterways including the busy Strait of Malacca, which carries a third of world trade. Navy Chief of Staff, Bernard Kent Sondakh, would also meet soon with his counterparts from Malaysia and Singapore to seek ways to increase joint patrols in the Strait, officials said on Friday. The Malacca Strait is a 500-mile channel through which about 50,000 commercial vessels pass each year, including ships ferrying 80 percent of Japan's oil needs. "In the future, every thief or terrorist at sea has to be shot dead and this should be publicized by the mass media to teach a lesson," Sondakh said in a statement. The United States and Singapore have voiced alarm at the risk of pirates linked to terror groups attacking tankers or other vessels in the Strait, and called for tougher security measures. But Muslim-majority nations Indonesia and Malaysia, on either side of the waterway, have rejected suggestions foreign forces might be used. Sondakh said his tough order applied especially to the Strait of Malacca, where piracy is a constant menace to vessels. He complained pirates and hijackers caught at sea by the Indonesian navy were serving only light jail terms and then returning to their ways. "Those who use weapons have to be shot dead. Don't take them alive, unless they surrender and ask for mercy," he said. "From now on we will show to the world that the Indonesian Navy alone is capable of safeguarding the Malacca Strait, and don't try and accuse us of violating human rights again." Navy deputy spokesman Colonel Sumantri said no schedule was available for Sondakh's meeting with his Malaysian or Singaporean counterparts. "We have been doing coordinated patrols for some time with Malaysia and Singapore there. What we are going to discuss later is how to increase those patrols," Sumantri said. He had no further details. The United States is expected to start talks soon with Asian nations on a Regional Maritime Security Initiative, an as yet ill-defined plan whose focus will be to boost cooperation. Singapore has repeatedly warned of the potential link between pirates and militant networks such as Jemaah Islamiah, blamed for the deadly 2002 bomb blasts on the island of Bali and linked to Osama bin Laden (news - web sites)'s al Qaeda. The Bali blasts killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists.

I pushed open the door of the cabin and at my back came a frightful cold wind. Swirling around it snuffed the fire out of the candles and sent the ship into a rank blackness as the moon was swallowed by a thick fog. I heard the banshee whistle of a canonball in the distance, but ne'er heard it touch neither wood nor water.

Were it the drink in me gullet casting ghosts across me eyes? I thought I spied adrift in the distance a ship cast red with the glowering moonlight coming silent as the deep toward us.

Some pyrates might want to keelhaul me for saying this, but Cutthroat Island was ranker than decades-old salt pork. Vast quantities of rum is required for viewing just to make it through. Good for a groaner. Iron Faith

No worries, Grendle, I got it! And I'm naught but a humble pyrate... Iron Faith

Good advice, dream wench. Natural fibers are definitely the way to go. I always go for cotton, linen and wool and damn anything polyester to the depths. Not on my fair pirate skin, I say! I've found that Goodwill has gotten pretty dang pricey, at least around here, so I don't bother with them much anymore. So I head for the local "independents" like Thrift Town and Family Thrift Center - good plundering to be had. Iron Faith

Aye, one piece at a time. But those thrift stores sure make the ol' pocketbook stretch farther. Eventually maybe I'll get around to one of those thingamajigs with all the ropes and sails, but in the meantime I'll live vicariously through the Royaliste.