William Brand

December 5 - On this day in 1492, Columbus discovered Hispaniola. On this same day in 1578, Drake reached Valparaiso, Chili, and from sheer joy captured a rich prize and sacked the town. On this day, Henry Carle, while in command of the ship Philip wrote that "on the Vth of December last 16[?], near Cape St. Vincent, did set upon and take St. Mary", a Portuguese ship of 180 tons burden ("and had a new gallery and was painted red besides, and had a new foremast and a new bowspritte in her, and two overloppes (...) in her XXVI great chests of sugar, one hundreth and twenty kintalls of brasill woode and a pipe and a haulfe of St. Tomas sugar, for the accompte of the poor of Zeeland.") The ship, bound for Venice, was owned in Middelburg in Dutch Zeeland (Sealand). After the ship was taken her master was "stripped and searched to his skin. And that night X of XII of his men were stripped naked on borde and pushed into pinnaces while their blood sprung oute." Apparently the Philip-crew had found nothing worthwhile for their efforts; with stripping and wounding and shoving them naked in small boats they probably hoped "to cause them to confess where every pearle, every jewell and money were stored." Carle did not have either a commission or a letter of reprisal or whatever to justify his deed. Also on this day in history, French buccaneer, Charles François d’Angennes, Marquis de Maintenon is born. As the oldest son of Louis d’Angennes de Rochefort de Salvert, Marquis de Maintenon et de Meslay, and Marie Le Clerc du Tremblay, and as oldest son, he inherited the title of Marquis de Maintenon and the castle which came with the title. He chose not to follow in the footsteps of his ancestors and sold the castle and joined the Navy in 1669. And on this day in 1715, the seventeenth-century pirate and former officer under Henry Avery, Alexander Dalzeel was hanged. Dalzeel was born in Port Patrick, Scotland, Dalzeel and went to sea as a child. By the age of 23, he was captain of his own ship with six successful voyages to his credit. Earning a reputation for dishonesty, Dalzeel arrived in Madagascar in 1685 and soon enlisted into the ranks of Captain Avery. According to pirate lore, Dalzeel participated in the capture of the treasure ship Ganj-i-Sawai, which carried The Great Mogul's daughter to her arranged marriage. Avery, who had decided to take her as his own wife, gave Dalzeel his own ship and crew within Avery's fleet. Dalzeel would continue to serve under Avery until finally leaving for the West Indies on his own. His final words to the prison chaplain… “[He] would not attend in the Chapel nor receive any public or private admonition from me [chaplain P. Lorrain] but with his dying breath declared that I was the cause of his death, and he would do me some mischief or other before he died or haunt me afterwards.” Also this same day in 1717, Edward Teach stopped the merchant sloop Margaret off the coast of Crab Island, near Anguilla. Her captain, Henry Bostock, and crew, remained Teach's prisoners for about eight hours, and were forced to watch as their sloop was ransacked. Bostock, who had been held aboard Queen Anne's Revenge, was returned unharmed to Margaret and was allowed to leave with his crew. Biddy, Robert Biddy of Liverpool, England and a sailor in the sloop Margaret of St. Christopher when boarded and taken after a single shot over the bow by Edward Teach wrote that the pirates "did not seem to want provisions" but did seize a number of live cattle and hogs as well as books [on navigation], instruments, cutlasses and firearms." Blackbeard’s vessel was "a 36-gun Dutch built guinea man, manned by a crew of 300," Margaret’s master later reported. Three men were forced to serve aboard the pirate. Biddy joined Blackbeard ("a tall sparse man with a very black beard which he wore very long") voluntarily. And finally on this day in 1719, two piraguas full of armed men under the command of Shelvoke, landed on a small island commanding the harbor mouth (Isla Mancera) supported by two powerful castles at both sides of the entrance (Niebla and Amargos), built there after 1645 to repel Dutch invaders. A governor assumed Shelvocke was a pirate and asked him to leave immediately, which was what Shelvocke did, after getting provisions from Indian plantations and farms. He had the decks packed with live cattle (including guanacos, or lama), poultry and plenty of wheat, barley, potatoes, maize – enough for four months rations.

We have so many birthdays in December, so I'll just wish everyone a happy birthday at once. Especially Stynky. Our Pub runner and code builder!

Next year in Key West! This list is provided as a roll call throughout the year to gauge the number of attendees who are coming down to Key West to celebrate all things pyracy. The attendees will be listed by hotel, motel, rv, or tent. Attendees may be individuals or a part of any group, crew, club and reenactment encampment. The list merely reflects names and general sleeping arrangements of attendees and the list will be updated towards the end of the year with a "confirmed" status for those attendees who have secured their transportation to and from the events. There are many hotels, rv parks, and camps (both modern and historical). We would like everyone to sound off as often as they can with updates on when, where and how they will be attending in 2015. If you do not know where you will be staying, you may still be posted to this tentative list. Please send me names, tents, hotels, encampment information, etc. Groups will be listed alphabetically by crew, club or ship name. For information on hotels, rv parks, camps or other arrangements, please see the other threads in the subforum, or post your questions here. To save on space in the forum, I will also be including the names of the Crew, group or individual representatives who will attend the various meetings and gatherings, or follow up on any paperwork, or just for the rest of us to see 'who to talk to'. These are the best individuals to contact for information on each crew and group in attendance. LAST UPDATED December 25, 2014 (365 days to go) - Tentative List Crew of the Mercury: Captain Jim - Oar House Animal Iron Jon Paula Steve Mallett Wretched Excess Captn' Rosey O'Brian Iron Nick Ruthless Racheal Mr Smee Mr SteelEye Francois Lafitte Vittoria D.B. Cooper Mama B

December 4 - On this day in 1619, 38 colonists from Berkeley Parish in England disembarked in Virginia and gave thanks to God. This is considered by many to be the first Thanksgiving in the Americas.

A great many of us were planning on Fort Taylor, but life has a way of steamrolling plans. Next year in Key West! Any other pirate plans for the coming months and year?

December 3 - On this day in 1679, William Coles, Jon Baxter and Joseph Bullivant committed acts of piracy under command of Guyther when taking a Galliot-Hoy (called De Liefde of Rotterdam) bound from Bordeaux , Franceto Dordrecht, Netherland and laden with 160 tun of wine, and prunes. They were committed to the Marshalseas Prison, London. And on this day in 1775, the first official US flag (Grand Union Flag) was raised aboard naval the vessel USS Alfred.

December 2 - On this day in history, 1547, Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro died at Castilleja de la Cuesta, Castile. Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro, 1st Marquis of the Valley of Oaxaca; 1485 – December 2, 1547) was a Spanish Conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century. Cortés was part of the generation of Spanish colonizers that began the first phase of the Spanish colonization of the Americas. Born in Medellín, Spain, to a family of lesser nobility, Cortés chose to pursue a livelihood in the New World. He went to Hispaniola and later to Cuba, where he received an encomienda and, for a short time, became alcalde (magistrate) of the second Spanish town founded on the island. In 1519, he was elected captain of the third expedition to the mainland, an expedition which he partly funded. His enmity with the Governor of Cuba, Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, resulted in the recall of the expedition at the last moment, an order which Cortés ignored. Arriving on the continent, Cortés executed a successful strategy of allying with some indigenous people against others. He also used a native woman, Doña Marina, as an interpreter; she would later bear Cortés a son. When the Governor of Cuba sent emissaries to arrest Cortés, he fought them and won, using the extra troops as reinforcements. Cortés wrote letters directly to the king asking to be acknowledged for his successes instead of punished for mutiny. After he overthrew the Aztec Empire, Cortés was awarded the title of Marqués del Valle de Oaxaca, while the more prestigious title of Viceroy was given to a high-ranking nobleman, Antonio de Mendoza. In 1541 Cortés returned to Spain, where he died peacefully but embittered, six years later. Because of the controversial undertakings of Cortés and the scarcity of reliable sources of information about him, it has become difficult to assert anything definitive about his personality and motivations. Early lionizing of the conquistadors did not encourage deep examination of Cortés. Later reconsideration of the conquistadors' character in the context of modern anti-colonial sentiment also did little to expand understanding of Cortés as an individual. As a result of these historical trends, descriptions of Cortés tend to be simplistic, and either damning or idealizing. And on this day in 1677, Jacob Binckes of Koudum, Holland, and Fleetcommander in service of the Amsterdam Admiralty, died. He had fought in seabattles against the English in 1666 and in the infamous war-raid to Chatham in 1667. Binckes distinguished himself in actions against Barbary corsairs. He also worked as an admiral in 1676 until his death in Caribbean waters. He once captured Tobago and withstood an attack by a French esquadron lead by d’Estrées. Once, he ordered his captain J.E. Reyning to take a British ship, though England and Holland were not warring at that moment. Reyning played so much havoc on the poor vessel that she burst into flames, capsized and sank. Also on this day in 1717, the two ships, Ranger and Jane, under command of Maynard sailed for Williamsburg, the head of Blackbeard still hanging from the bowsprit of the Jane. And finally on this day in 1755, the second Eddystone Lighthouse was destroyed by fire.

December 1 - On this day in 1718, the HMS Lyme reported the following (From page 263 of "The Last Battle"). "Soon after dawn on Thursday, December 1, lookouts on board the two British warships spotted two sloops approaching from seaward. It was Maynard, returning in triumph, with Blackbeard's head still swinging from the bowsprit of the Jane. The log of HMS Lyme recorded the event in the usual nonchalant, understated manner adopted by the Royal Navy: "Light Wind, Fair Visability, Wind WSW. This Morn. Sloops returned from ye exhibition in N. Carolina." Over two hundred sailors raced into the rigging and lined the sides of the two warships, cheering the arrival of their victorious shipmates. The battered men of Maynard's command cheered back. They had plenty to cheer about. They had survived a hard-fought battle with the pirates, they had been promised a bonus - and they expected a share of the plunder." Also on this day in 1968, Pirate Radio Modern (259) began transmitting in England.

November 30 - On this day, Captain Cook begin his third and last trip to the Pacific (South Seas).

The Call can you hear the cadence of cup-shot singers in yesteryear's echoes mingling with the thunder and carriage of that bronze captain which dared the field do songs which then were drowned in applause drift upon your daily dreams as you rehearse unused idioms for tavern parlance and seaside interchanges woolgather your fond memories and unpack your hearty voices set shod feet upon the coral paths and sandy brickworks of pirate parapets let fall the hammers of forge fires reborn and raise glasses of amber all to sisters and brethren both paroled from imprisonment apart to that revelry awaiting them in haunted halls and on sunburned decks can you hear the call to worship and supplication in the brass ordnance ringing or the camp criers in their revolutions calling ever for the fray and frolic have you woken to the phantom capons of narrow streets and sheltering trees to taste spectral meals not made and wet your lips for rum wonting stargaze no more from avenues withdrawn and windowsills too far removed stroll grass knit ground and green laid reefs of that boneyard isle let music rise upon a wind teeming with salt and tales laced with fraudulence that myth and mirth may intertwine and laughter ever fall that all may feast and drink against the coming year's stilled hibernation -William T. Pace, 11/29/14 A poem for Fort Taylor Pyrate Invasion and all pyrate gatherings.

November 29 - On this day in 1791, the Chatham Islands were sighted by the first European, William Broughton, commanding the HMS Chatham.

November 28 - On this day in 1520, Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan entered the Pacific Ocean with three ships, becoming the first European explorer to reach the Pacific from the Atlantic. And on this day in 1717 - Captain Benjamin Hornigold captured the slave ship La Concorde de Nantes, which would later become the Queen Anne's Revenge near the island of Martinique. Hornigold turned her over to one of his men —Edward Teach, later known as Blackbeard—and made him her captain. And also on this day, Ann Bonny and Mary Read were convicted of piracy.

November 27 - On this day in history the 'Great Storm of 1703' began to subside, but not before exacting a heavy toll. Winstanley's tower (known as the first Eddystone Lighthouse) was almost completed erased from existence. Winstanley himself was on the lighthouse, completing additions to the structure. No trace was found of him, or of the other five men in the lighthouse. In the English Channel, fierce winds and high seas had swamped some vessels outright and drove others onto the Goodwin Sands, an extensive sand bank situated along the southeast coast of England and the traditional anchorage for ships waiting either for passage up the Thames estuary to London or for favorable winds to take them out into the Channel and the Atlantic Ocean. The Royal Navy was badly affected, losing thirteen ships, including the entire Channel Squadron, and upwards of fifteen hundred seamen drowned. - The third rate Restoration was wrecked on the Goodwin Sands; of the ship's company of 387 not one was saved. - The third rate Northumberland was lost on the Goodwin Sands; all 220 men, including 24 marines were killed. - The third rate (battleship) Stirling Castle was wrecked on the Goodwin Sands. Seventy men, including four marine officers, were saved, but 206 men were drowned. - The fourth rate Mary was wrecked on the Goodwin Sands. The captain and the purser were ashore, but Rear Admiral Beaumont and 268 other men were drowned. Only one man, whose name was Thomas Atkins, was saved. His escape was very remarkable - having first seen the rear admiral get onto a piece of her quarter-deck when the ship was breaking up, and then get washed off again, Atkins was tossed by a wave into the Stirling Castle, which sank soon after. From the Stirling Castle he was swept into a boat by a wave, and was rescued. - The fifth rate Mortar-bomb was wrecked on the Goodwin Sands and her entire company of 65 were lost. - The sixth rate advice boat Eagle was lost on the coast of Sussex, but her ship's company of 45 were all saved. - The third rate Resolution was lost at Pevensey on the coast of Sussex; all her ship's company of 221 were saved. - The fifth rate Litchfield Prize was wrecked on the coast of Sussex; all 108 on board were saved. - The fourth rate Newcastle was lost at Spithead. The carpenter and 39 men were saved, and the other 193 were drowned. - The fifth rate fire-ship Vesuvius was lost at Spithead; all 48 of her ship's company were saved. - The fourth rate Reserve was lost by foundering off Yarmouth. The captain, the surgeon, the clerk, and 44 men were saved; the other 175 members of the crew were drowned. - The second rate Vanguard was sunk in Chatham harbour. She was not manned and had no armament fitted; the following year she was raised for rebuilding. - The fourth rate York was lost at Harwich; all but four of her men were saved. Lamb (1991) claimed 10,000 seamen were lost in one night, a far higher figure, about 1/3 of all the seamen in the British Navy. HMS Shrewsbury narrowly escaped a similar fate. Over 40 merchant ships were lost. The Great Storm also coincided with the increase in English journalism, and was the first weather event to be a news story on a national scale. Special issue broadsheets were produced detailing damage to property and stories of people who had been killed. Daniel Defoe produced his full-length book, The Storm, published in July 1704, in response to the calamity, calling it "the tempest that destroyed woods and forests all over England." He wrote: "No pen could describe it, nor tongue express it, nor thought conceive it unless by one in the extremity of it." Coastal towns such as Portsmouth "looked as if the enemy had sackt them and were most miserably torn to pieces." Winds of up to 80mph destroyed more than 400 windmills. Defoe reported in some the sails turned so fast that the friction caused the wooden wheels to overheat and catch fire.

November 26 - On this day in history, the Southern part of England was hit by one of the most sever natural disasters of all time. Called 'The Great Storm of 1703', observers at the time recorded barometric readings as low as 973 millibars (measured by William Derham in south Essex), but it has been suggested that the storm may have deepened to 950 millibars over the Midlands. In London, approximately 2,000 massive chimney stacks were blown down. The lead roofing was blown off Westminster Abbey and Queen Anne had to shelter in a cellar at St. James's Palace to avoid collapsing chimneys and part of the roof. On the Thames, around 700 ships were heaped together in the Pool of London, the section downstream from London Bridge. HMS Vanguard was wrecked at Chatham. Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell's HMS Association was blown from Harwich to Gothenburg in Sweden before way could be made back to England. Pinnacles were blown from the top of King’s College Chapel, in Cambridge. There was extensive and prolonged flooding in the West Country, particularly around Bristol. Hundreds of people drowned in flooding on the Somerset Levels, along with thousands of sheep and cattle, and one ship was found 15 miles inland. At Wells, Bishop Richard Kidder was killed when two chimneystacks in the palace fell on the bishop and his wife, asleep in bed. This same storm blew in part of the great west window in Wells Cathedral. Major damage occurred to the south-west tower of Llandaff Cathedral at Cardiff. At sea, many ships (many returning from helping the King of Spain fight the French in the War of the Spanish Succession) were wrecked, including on the Goodwin Sands, HMS Stirling Castle, HMS Northumberland, HMS Mary, and HMS Restoration, with about 1,500 seamen killed particularly on the Goodwins. Between 8,000 and 15,000 lives were lost overall. A ship torn from its moorings in the Helford River in Cornwall was blown for 200 miles before grounding eight hours later on the Isle of Wight. The number of oak trees lost in the New Forest alone was 4,000. The storm of 1703 caught a convoy of 130 merchant ships and their Man of War escorts, the "Dolphin", the "Cumberland", the "Coventry", the "Looe", the "Hastings" and the "Hector" sheltering at Milford Haven. By 3pm the next afternoon losses included 30 vessels.

I just ordered from them less then three months back.

November 25 - On this day in 1500, Governor Francisco De Bobadilla of Santo Domingo captured Columbus on charges and accusations of mismanagement.

November 24 - On this day in 1642, Abel Janzoon Tasman discovered Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania). And on this day in 1718, Captain Brand, unaware of Edward Teach's death, sent two canoes down Pamlico River to Ocracoke Inlet, to see if Edward 'Blackbeard' Teach and his men could be seen. They returned two days later and reported on what had already transpired with the death of Teach.

You could also take pictures of all your blanket trade goods during the event and post them to the online market here. You never know what people outside the event might be looking for.

November 23 - On this day in 1718, a force made up of Captain Brand, Colonel Moore, Captain JeremiahVail, and a number of North Carolinians arrived within 3 miles of Bath, North Carolina searching for Edward 'Blackbeard' Teach. Moore went into the town to see if Teach was there, reporting back that he was not, but that the pirate was expected at "every minute", as the force was yet unaware of Teach's death the day before.

November 22nd - On this day in history in 1684, French Buccaneer, Raveneau de Lussan, joins other buccaneers under Laurens de Graaf, sailing from Petit-Goâve to try the sweet trade. Also on this day in 1718, Edward 'Blackbeard' Teach is killed at Ocracoke, a Province of Carolina, having been shot no fewer than five times and cut about twenty.

We've come full circle, but with new materials available all the time, I think we should continue this thread, so if you've been following everything this last year, you're going to see repeats. November 21 - On this day in 1724, the pirate ship 'Revenge' attacked the British ship 'Sarah'. Most of the crew was set adrift, though some deemed useful were given the option of joining John Gow's crew. Over the next few months, John Gow attacked several other ships. Also on this day in 1996, Intersal Inc., a private research firm, discovered the wreck believed to be the 'Queen Anne’s Revenge'. It was located by Intersal's director of operations, Mike Daniel, who used historical research provided by Intersal's president, Phil Masters and archaeologist David Moore. The vessel is in the Atlantic Ocean in shallow water offshore from Fort Macon State Park (34°41′44″N 76°41′20″W), Atlantic BEach, North Carolina. Several of the cannons and more than 16,000 artifacts have been recovered.

Bram Stoker's Dracula. Is it any wonder that I loved some of the 'sailing' details mentioned in the chapter about Dracula's arrival to the British Isles?

November 19 - On this day in 1620, the Mayflower reached Cape Cod and began exploring the coast. November 20 - And lest we forget that pyracy continues... On this day in 2008, the UN Security Council adopted a resolution, proposed by Britain, introducing tougher sanctions against Somalia over the country's failure to prevent a surge in sea piracy.

November 18 - On this day in 1497, the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama reached the Cape of Good Hope. And on this day in 1720, John 'Calico JAck' Rackam was hanged in Port Royal. Rackam's body was then gibbeted on display on a very small islet at a main entrance to Port Royal now known as Rackham's Cay.

November 17 - In November of 1718, Spotswood had obtained valuable information on Edward Teach's whereabouts, and he planned to send his forces across the border into North Carolina to capture him. He gained the support of two men keen to discredit North Carolina's Governor—Edward Moseley and Colonel Maurice Moore. He also wrote to the Lords of Trade, suggesting that the Crown might benefit financially from Teach's capture. Spotswood personally financed the operation, possibly believing that Teach had fabulous treasures hidden away. He ordered Captains Gordon and Brand of HMS Pearl and HMS Lyme to travel overland to Bath. Lieutenant Robert Maynard of HMS Pearl was given command of two commandeered sloops, to approach the town from the sea. An extra incentive for Teach's capture was the offer of a reward from the Assembly of Virginia, over and above any that might be received from the Crown. Maynard took command of the two armed sloops on this day in 1718. He was given 57 men—33 from HMS Pearl and 24 from HMS Lyme. Maynard and the detachment from HMS Pearl took the larger of the two vessels and named her Jane; the rest took Ranger, commanded by one of Maynard's officers, a Mister Hyde. Some from the two ships' civilian crews remained aboard. They sailed from Kecoughtan, along the James River, on 17 November in pursuit of Edward Teach.