Morgan La Scylla

Two pirates of limited intelligence were on a ship that sank in the middle of the ocean. They managed to board a dingy. On the sixth day, half dead from heat, thirst and starvation, they spotted a small object floating towards them in the water. As it drew near, they were ecstatic to find that is was an oil lamp (the kind that genies come in). They grabbed the lamp and rubbed it. Out popped a tired old genie who said, "OK, so you freed me from this stupid lamp, yadda, yadda, yadda. But hey, I've been doing this three wishes stuff for a long time now and quite frankly, I'm burned out. You pirates get only ONE wish and then I'm OUTTA here. Make it a good one." The first pirate, without hesitation or thought blurted out, "Arrgghh! I be wishin' for all the rum we can drink for the rest of our lives I say!!!" "Fine," said the genie, and turned the entire ocean into rum. "Great move ya daft git!" said the second pirate, slapping the first pirate upside the head. "NOW we're gonna have to pee in the BOAT!"

Five pirates and one woman wash up on a desert island after a shipwreck. Before long they are all getting pretty horny so they all make a deal. Each pirate will marry the woman for one week at a time, at which point the next pirate in line will marry her and so on. All the pirates get sex every five weeks and the woman gets sex as often as she wants with a different pirate each week. The situation works wonderfully for five years. When the woman suddenly dies... The first week after wasn't too bad. The second week was getting sort of bad. The third week was getting pretty bad. The fourth week was really bad. The fifth week was horrible! By the sixth week it was unbearable... So they buried her.

The captain of a tanker saw a light dead ahead. He directed his signalman to flash a signal to the light which read.... "Change course 10 degrees South." A reply was quickly flashed back..."You change course 10 degrees North." The captain was somewhat annoyed and sent another message....."I am a captain. Change course 10 degrees South." Back came the reply...."I am an able-seaman. Change course 10 degrees North.'" By now the captain was outraged and flashed the message...."I am a 240,000 ton tanker. CHANGE course 10 degrees South!! Back came the reply......."I am a LIGHTHOUSE. Change course 10 degrees North!!!!"

How do you save a spanish Governor from drowning? Take your foot off his head...

It's not how big your chest are, it's how you shake your booty...

What is the difference between bouncing on a royal naval officer and bouncing on a trampoline? You´ve got to take your boots of when bouncing on a trampoline...

How do you get a Pirate into a bath? Throw in a piece of eight into it... How do you get him out again then? Throw in a soap...

The Captain of the Mary Celeste An Extract From "The Rose Cottage" Chapter XIV by Oliver Cobb, the cousin to Benjamin's wife Sarah. In 1862, Benjamin S. Briggs married Sarah E. Cobb, daughter of Rev. Leander Cobb. He had for several years sailed the brig Sea Foam but now was in command of the three masted schooner Forest King and in this vessel Benjamin and Sarah made their honeymoon trip to Europe. Later Benjamin gave up command of the Forest king to his brother Oliver and in 1865 he was in command of the bark Arthur. His son Arthur S. was born that year at Rose Cottage, Marion, Massachusetts. The next year Mrs. Briggs and Arthur went with Capt. Briggs in the bark Arthur to Marseilles, France. On October 31, 1870, Their daughter Sophia M. was born at Rose Cottage. Capt. Benjamin had tired of the sea. Both he and his brother Oliver now had growing families and wished to live at home. In 1871, they planned to buy a hardware business in New Bedford, but when it came to making a decision they were influenced by the disastrous experience of their father and did not venture. In 1872, Capt. Briggs bought an interest in the Brig Mary Celeste. He had the cabin remodeled so as better to accommodate his family. The brig was loaded with a cargo of 1700 barrels of Alcohol for Genoa. The captain took with him his wife and two year old daughter Sophia M. Briggs. The son Arthur S, Briggs, being seven years old, was left with his grand mother at Rose Cottage so that he might go to school. I, the writer was again living at Rose Cottage. At this time the following letters were received by Mrs. Briggs from her son and daughter-in-law. These letters not only indicate the spirit in which they sailed away, but they also fix certain dates. ~^~^~^~^~^~^~^ New York, Nov. 3d, 1872 My dear Mother: Its been a long time since I have written you a letter and I should like to give you a real interesting one but I hardly know what to say except that I am well and the rest of us ditto, It is such a long time since I composed other than business epistles. It seems to me to have been a great while since I left home, but it is only over two weeks but in that time my mind has been filled with business cares and I am again launched away into the busy whirl of business life from which I have so long been laid aside. For a few days it was tedious, perplexing, and very tiresome but now I have got fairly settled down to it and it sets lightly and seems to run more smoothly and my appetite keeps good and I hope I shan't lose any flesh. It seems real homelike since Sarah and Sophia got here, and we enjoy our little quarters. On Thurs. we had a call from Willis and his wife. Took Sophia and went with them on a ride up to Central Park. Sophia behaved splendid and seem to enjoy the ride as much as any of us. It is the only time they have been away from the vessel. On account of the horse disease the horse cars have not been running on this side of the city, so we have not been able to go and make any calls as we were so far away from anyone to go on foot and to hire a private carriage would at least $10.00 a trip which we didn't feel able to pay and we couldn't carry Sophia and walk a mile or two which we should have had to do to get a ferry for Ivamacs(?) or E-port. It has been very confining for S. but when we get back I hope we can make up for it. We seem to have a very good mate and steward and I hope I shall have a pleasant voyage. We both have missed Arthur and I believe we should have sent for him if I could of thought of a good place to stow him away. Sophia calls for him occasionally and wants to see him in the Album which by the way is a favorite book of hers. She knows your picture in both albums and points and says Gamma Bis, She seems real smart, has gotten over her bad cold she had when she came and has a first rate appetite for hash and bread and butter. I think the voyage will do her lots of good. We enjoy our melodeon and have some good sings. I was in hopes that Oli might get in before I left but I'm afraid not now. We finished loading last night and shall leave on Tuesday morning if we don't get off tomorrow night, the Lord willing. Our vessel is in beautiful trim and I hope we shal have a fine passage but I have never been in her before and cant say how she'll sail. Shall want to write us in about 20 days to Genoa, care of Am. Consul and about 20 days after to Messina care of Am. Consul who will forward it to us if we don't go there. I wrote to James to pay you and A's board and rent. If he forgets call on hom also for any money that may be necessary for clothes. Please get Eben to see his skates are all right and the holes in his new thick boot heels. I hope he'll keep well as I think if he does he'll be some help as well as company for you. Love to Hannah. Sophie calls Aunt Hannah often. I wish I had a picture so she could remember the countenance as well as the name. Hoping to be with you in the spring with much love I am Yours affectionately Benj

Occultisms - The Mary Celeste Ship found adrift on December 4, 1872 (some accounts say December 5), by the Dei Gratia, a bark sailing from New York to Gibraltar, and considered by many one of the most intriguing and enduring mysteries in the annals of maritime history. When it was found, the Mary Celeste was sailing itself alone across the wide Atlantic. The ship was in first-class condition. Hull, masts, and sails were all sound. The cargo-barrels of alcohol were still lashed in place in the hold. There was plenty of food and water. When he examined the ship's log, the captain of the Dei Gratia found that the last entry was on November 24. That would have been 10 days earlier, when the Mary Celeste had been passing north of St. Mary's Island in the Azores — more than 400 miles west of where it was found. If it had been abandoned soon after that entry, the ship must have drifted unmanned and unsteered for a week and a half. Yet this could not have been. The Mary Celeste was found with its sails set to catch the wind coming over the starboard quarter: in other words, it was sailing on the starboard tack. The Dei Gratia had been following a similar course just behind. But throughout the 400 miles from the Azores, the Dei Gratia had been obligated to sail on the port tack. It seems impossible that the Mary Celeste could have reached the spot it did with its yards and sails set to starboard. Someone must have been working the ship for at least several days after the final log entry. No one, from the 10 people that supposedly sailed aboard the Mary Celeste, including 7 crewmen and captain Benjamin Briggs' wife and daughter, was ever found. The explanation that seemed most reasonable at the time was the official one put out by the British and American authorities. This suggested that the crew had got at the alcohol, murdered the captain and his family, and then somehow escaped to another vessel. But the story does not really stand up. There were no visible signs of a struggle on board, and if the crew had escaped, some of them would surely have turned up later. The yawl boat — a small four-oared boat carried over the main hatch — was missing, suggesting that at least some of the missing people could have left the Mary Celeste in it. Dozens of theories have been put forward since then, ranging from attacking monsters from the deep and aliens kidnapping to nature's wrath, piracy and mutiny. But no one has ever found any evidence or proof to confirm any of them. The only other evidence to what really happened may be the so called Fosdyk papers. According to an article written by a schoolmaster named Howard Linford and published in 1913 (41 years after the Mary Celeste was found) in the Strand magazine of London, a well-educated and much-traveled employee of his named Abel Fosdyk, had left some papers and notes after his death explaining not only the fate of the crew but also the curious cut ~~~~s that were found in the bows of the Mary Celeste. Fosdyk claimed that he had been a secret passenger on the ship's last voyage and the only survivor of the tragedy that overtook it. Being a close friend of the captain, Fosdyk convinced Briggs to give him secret passage because, for some undisclosed reason, he had to leave America in a hurry. During the voyage Briggs had the ship's carpenter build a special deck in the bow for his small daughter. It was the supporting struts for this deck that were slotted into the cuts in the bow planks. One day, after a lengthy argument with the mate about how well a man could swim with his clothes on, Briggs leaped into the water and started swimming around the ship, as to prove his point. Couple of men followed while the rest of the crew watched from the deck. Suddenly, one of the sailors swimming around the bow gave a yell of agony. Everyone, including the captain's wife and child, crowded onto the newly built deck which promptly collapsed under their combined weight. They all fell into the sea, where all were devoured by the sharks that had attacked the first seaman. Being the only survivor of the shark attacks because of his luck of falling on top of the shattered decking, Fosdyk clung to it as the Mary Celeste drifted away. He floated for days until he was washed up half dead on the northwest coast of Africa. The Fosdyk papers tell a neat tale. But they offer no solution to the mystery of how the ship got to where it was found. And they are wrong on details that should not have escaped an educated man. Fosdyk says the Mary Celeste weighed 600 tons. In fact, the ship weighed a third of that. Fosdyk also says that the crewmen were English, when, in fact, they were mostly Dutch. And most of all, it seems highly improbable that anyone would go swimming around a ship that, according to the Dei Gratia evidence, must have been making several knots at the time. Bizarre as it is, no better explanation than Fosdyk's has so far emerged. And after more than 120 years, it is unlikely to do so. The enigma of the ship that sailed itself seems destined to puzzle us forever (Parts of this text are excerpts from Reader's Digest's "Strange Stories, Amazing Facts"). Related books: The Mary Celeste. The Mary Celeste: An Unsolved Mystery from History. The Shadow of the Mary Celeste. The Story of the 'Mary Celeste'.

J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement About The Mary Celeste One of the first real successes of Conan Doyle's literary career was the publication of J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement in 1883. The short story was published anonymously in the prestigious Cornhill Magazine. Conan Doyle was paid almost the equivalent of a year's rent for the tale. It also stirred up some controversy. The fictional story was based on true events, the story of the Mary Celeste. On December 4, 1872 the British brigantine Dei Gratia was about 600 miles off the coast of Portugal. The lookout spotted another sail on the horizon. As the two ships grew nearer Captain Morehouse of the Dei Gratia recognized the other ship as the Mary Celeste. The Mary Celeste, under the command of Morehouse's friend Benjamin Briggs, was in trouble. Some of her sails were missing while others flapped uselessly in the wind. Most alarming of all was the fact that there was no one at the wheel. Morehouse and some of his crew boarded the Mary Celeste. They discovered that the ship was relatively undamaged. They even located the missing sails. The cargo was intact. There was plenty of food and water aboard. However there was no sign of Captain Briggs, his wife, their daughter or any member of the crew. Morehouse did note that the lifeboat was missing. However the evacuation must have been done with incredible haste. No supplies or personal belongings seemed to be missing from the ship. If Briggs and the rest did go into the lifeboat, they must not have had much more than the clothes on their backs. What could have happened to force an experienced captain to order such a speedy evacuation of a seaworthy ship? No one will ever know. No crewmember or passenger of the Mary Celeste was ever found. In J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement Conan Doyle wrote about an abandoned vessel named the Marie Celeste. In this story the ship was taken over by a black passenger. He and his fellow conspirators commandeered the ship, sailed it to Africa and murdered the passengers and crew. Conan Doyle's tale was so vivid that it raised protests from people who mistook the work of fiction for an article. Frederick Solly Flood, Her Majesty's Proctor and Attorney General at Gibraltar had been in charge of the salvage of the Mary Celeste. He stated that J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement was "a fabrication from beginning to end". He further stated that this false account might damage England's relations with foreign countries. At the same time U.S. consul Horatio J. Sprague asked Cornhill Magazine to investigate the origins of the fraudulent article. Conan Doyle was pleased that his short story was so well done that it could be mistaken as a true accounting of events. He was also delighted that hundreds of readers, who did understand the work was fictional, thought it was written by a man known for his tales of adventure. They suspected that the anonymous author was none other than Robert Louis Stevenson.

Mary Celeste Launched in 1860 under the name Amazon, the Mary Celeste started her ill fated life. In the 10 years before she was to become the Mary Celeste, the ship was involved in several accidents and went through several owners. She was sent to the New York salvage auction where she was purchased for $3,000. After extensive repairs, she was christened Mary Celeste. The new captain Benjamin Briggs, his wife, and young daughter, along with 8 crew members departed New York on November 7, 1872 bound for Genoa, Italy. The cargo consisted of 1700 barrels of raw American alcohol. On December 5, 1872, the ship Dei Gratia came upon the Mary Celeste floundering on the sea. The captain of the Dei Gratia knew Captain Briggs and was surprised to see the ship derelict as Briggs had a reputation as an excellent captain. Men from the Dei Gratia boarded the abandoned Mary Celeste to determine what was going on. The ship was found in good seaworthy condition. It appeared as though the crew had left in a great hurry. They discovered that the chronometer and sextant were missing. There was water between the decks and the Galley was in bad shape. The stove was knocked out of place and cooking utensils were strewn about. There were no lifeboats aboard the ship and everything was soaked. A rope was found hanging over the side of the ship trailing in the water. The crew from the Dei Gratia managed to get the Mary Celeste into port. When the cargo was unloaded, they found 9 of the barrels of alcohol empty. What happened to the crew of the Mary Celeste? Some feel that the cargo became unstable and that the captain decided to trail behind the ship in the lifeboat until such time that it was safe to board. However, for some reason, the ship outdistanced the lifeboat leaving the crew helpless on the sea. Another theory involves foul play. However, no evidence was ever found to prove that. Still other think that the ship was caught in the middle of a seaquake. And still others claim the crew was eaten by sharks during a swim. Whatever the reason, the story of the Mary Celeste stills fascinates people. Something about the image of a ship sailing alone, the crew and captain missing..... without a trace.

Annie of the Lighthouse North Island, lovely and windswept, is located overlooking the shipping channels at the entrance to WInyah Bay. Many years ago, when weather forecasting was based on instinct rather than technology, furious storms sometimes slammed the tiny island unexpectedly and with great force. These storms were feared by shrimpers and ship pilots for they made the shoal-riddled Bay even more treacherous to cross. Consequently, in the early 1800s, a thick stone lighthouse, featuring a great whale-oil lantern and cozy living quarters, was erected on North Island. In time, a lighthouse keeper came to live there with his small, fair-haired daughter, Annie. When supplies ran low, Annie and her father rowed across the Bay into the bustling port of Georgetown. Always, they were careful to schedule their excursions to travel with the tides and arrive back on the Island in time to light the great lantern before darkness fell. One afternoon, after a pleasant visit in town, the pair loaded their small boat and set off for home. Usually the trips were relatively easy and not unpleasant, but on this day, the lightkeeper warily took note of a brisk wind that had come up while they were in town. Soon ominous clouds gathered overhead and mercilelssly dumped rain and hail on the little boat. Relentless, the wind grew stronger and whipped up tall imposing waves. With more that a quarter of the trip still before them, the boat was swamped. Desperate, the lightkeeper tied his beloved daughter to his back and tried to swim. Overcome with shock and exhaustion, he did not remember crawling ashore. Many hours later, he awoke to find his drowned daughter still strapped to his back. From that day until this, sailors have reported stories af a sweet blonde child appearing on their boats-usually on calm, sunny days-pointing to the Bay and pleading "Go Back" Always, her entreaties precede violent, unanticipated storms. Legend as it that those who ignore her well-timed warning soon find themselves facing a watery grave.

Hatteras Jack The Hatteras region has been the setting for many moving legends. One of the best is the story of Hatteras Jack, a tale sure to bring a smile to anyone who has ever watched the fluid play of a bottlenose dolphin. By 1790, the story goes, most shipping had moved north from Ocracoke to the new Hatteras Inlet. Just as it is today, the channel was a twisting snake liable to convulse into new turns with every tide. Those were the days before buoys, daymarkers, or any other aids to navigation. As can be readily imagined, passage of the tortuous cut was fraught with peril. Help for distressed mariners soon came in a most unusual form. Pilots began to notice the lithe figure of a snow-white albino dolphin preceding each boat through the cut. Amazingly, the creature seemed always to follow the ever-changing channel. Soon, captains came to trust Hatteras Jack, as he was called. They would blow their foghorns just outside the inlet to summon this master of sea and sand. Legend tells us that Hatteras Jack would even appraise the draft of the incoming vessel and carry her through only when the tide was high enough for a safe passage. Once the boat was through the passage, the porpoise would invariably put on a fascinating show of tail walks, jumps, and barrel rolls, seemingly in delight at a job well done. As the federal government began to place aids to navigation in the inlet, Hatteras Jack must have felt his work was no longer needed. He was seen less and less, and finally his visits ceased altogether.

The Night The Crissie Wright Came Ashore One of the most chilling sea tales you will ever hear had its origins at Cape Lookout. Unlike many other coastal legends, this story is quite true. There are still Beaufort natives who will tell you that their grandparents saw what happened that terrible night in January of 1886. It seems that a fine three-masted schooner, the Crissie Wright, was making her way north along the North Carolina coast when bad weather threatened. The captain decided not to brave the Diamond Shoals in the deteriorating conditions, so he set course for Cape Lookout Bight. As the ship approached the harbor, the main mast brace parted. The stricken vessel drifted helplessly onto the shoals, where it lay broadside and was broached by every incoming wave. The breakers were much too high to launch any lifeboats, so the captain and crew took to the rigging. Meanwhile, most of the residents of nearby Diamond City gathered on the banks to watch the ship's plight. The whalers tried repeatedly to launch their small boats, but to no avail. The would-be rescuers built a huge bonfire on the beach, hoping some of the crew could swim to shore. It was not to be. As the horrified residents watched, the captain and several crew members were swept overboard. The night became bitterly cold. To this day, Beaufort natives still use the expression "cold as the night the Crissie Wright came ashore." The next morning, the waves subsided, and the whalers were able to reach the stranded craft. They found four men wrapped in the jib sail. Three were frozen solid, but one, the ship's cook, was alive. He died a scant year later, never having recovered from his ordeal.

The Ghost Ship of Diamond Shoals As the first light of dawn broke over the North Carolina coast one midwinter morning in 1921, coastguardsmen along the shore near the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse were astounded to see a five-masted schooner, The Carroll M. Deering, under full sail, her prow caught deep in the sand, heaving mightily against the restraining land. The men were stunned - the previous night had brought no storm, no distress signals or lights had been seen. Where then did this ship come from? Where was her crew? No sign of life, save a lean gray cat was to be found when the ship was boarded and searched. What tale could this feline tell, if only she could talk? Bunks were all made up, food left on plates and icy-cold on the stove. Everything appeared shipshape. Eventually six government departments undertook an exhaustive investigation, to no avail. For though her identity would be learned, how she became the ghost ship of Diamond Shoals and the circumstance of her vanished crew was never known. Gone were the days of pirates such as Blackbeard who, two hundred years earlier, might have accounted for her fate, so even that possibility was ruled out. Only her memory lives on --majestic snow-white canvases in full sail without captain or crew.

The Flying Dutchman Legend The legend of The Flying Dutchman is said to have started in 1641 when a Dutch ship sank off the coast of the Cape of Good Hope: Captain van der Decken was pleased. The trip to the Far East had been highly successful and at last, they were on their way home to Holland. As the ship approached the tip of Africa, the captain thought that he should make a suggestion to the Dutch East India Company (his employers) to start a settlement at the Cape on the tip of Africa, thereby providing a welcome respite to ships at sea. He was so deep in thought that he failed to notice the dark clouds looming and only when he heard the lookout scream out in terror, did he realise that they had sailed straight into a fierce storm. The captain and his crew battled for hours to get out of the storm and at one stage it looked like they would make it. Then they heard a sickening crunch - the ship had hit treacherous rocks and began to sink. As the ship plunged downwards, Captain van der Decken knew that death was approaching. He was not ready to die and screamed out a curse: "I WILL round this Cape even if I have to keep sailing until doomsday!" So, even today whenever a storm brews off the Cape of Good Hope, if you look into the eye of the storm, you will be able to see the ship and it's captain - The Flying Dutchman. Don't look too carefully, for the old folk claim that whoever sights the ship will die a terrible death. Many people have claimed to have seen The Flying Dutchman, including the crew of a German submarine boat during World War II and holidaymakers. On 11 July 1881, the Royal Navy ship, the Bacchante was rounding the tip of Africa, when they were confronted with the sight of The Flying Dutchman. The midshipman, a prince who later became King George V, recorded that the lookout man and the officer of the watch had seen the Flying Dutchman and he used these words to describe the ship: "A strange red light as of a phantom ship all aglow, in the midst of which light the mast, spars and sails of a brig 200 yards distant stood out in strong relief." It's pity that the lookout saw the Flying Dutchman, for soon after on the same trip, he accidentally fell from a mast and died. Fortunately for the English royal family, the young midshipman survived the curse.

The Tragedy of Goody Hallett The discovery of the pirate ship Whidah has shed light into the activities of pirate Captain "Black Sam" Bellamy and his ill-fated band of buccaneers. The loss of the ship and most of her crew in the winter of 1717 produced a number of legends about buried gold, the sounds of death, and ghostly apparitions on foggy nights at the Cape's outer shore. Josef Berger, who wrote the 1930's classic Cape Cod Pilot, told the story of the simple Eastham farm girl whose fate was linked with the wreck of the Whidah. Her name was "Goody" Hallett. How good "Goody" Hallett was is a matter of some speculation. It seems that she made the acquaintance of Captain Bellamy when he visited Eastham some years before he and his ship were done in by a northeaster. While he stayed the warm months at the Crosby Tavern, Bellamy met and sweet-talked sixteen year old Maria Hallett. The handsome pirate's tales of wealth and adventure impressed the wide-eyed Cape lass and there was talk of love. He convinced her that he would return and marry her once he cleared up some business in the Caribbean. As September brought its chilly evenings, he sailed away without her. Some months after his departure, Maria Hallett gave birth to a child that died the same night. The event caused such a scandal in the small town that the selectmen threw the poor girl in jail. While in prison she became so distraught that she lost her mind. Escaping frequently, she wandered the dunes of the Atlantic shore looking seaward for her lost lover. Eastham ceased its attempts to confine the girl and she was eventually cast out of town with the stipulation that she never return. She was reduced to scratching out a living doing menial jobs and lived in a lonely shack near the shore at South Wellfleet. As years passed, Maria became a shell of her once beautiful self and residents began to refer to her as a witch who sold her soul to the Devil. They called her "Goody" and told stories of seeing her in the dunes on cold windy nights screaming curses into the storm on the head of Captain Sam Bellamy, the man who betrayed her. As for Captain Bellamy, he had long forgotten Maria and his pleasant summer in Eastham. He developed quite a reputation for himself and, with his band of brigands, he terrorized ships in the Caribbean. But it may have been the memory of warm Eastham nights that caused him to bring his ship back to New England. Or perhaps it was because the price on his head was high enough for him to decide to seek plunder in different waters. At any rate, he arrived off the coast of Cape Cod in the winter of 1717 only to fall victim to a massive storm. Despite all the efforts of the crew, the Whidah struck the bar off South Wellfleet and went to pieces. As men screamed their last in the raging surf, people along the beach saw "Goody" Hallett standing on the high bluffs shrieking her thanks to the Devil for vengeance. In the aftermath of the wreck, the story grew that "Goody" Hallett somehow managed to retrieve and conceal a chest of pirate gold from the ship. Because Sam Bellamy's body was never recovered it was also rumored that he escaped the sinking ship and was ashore in search of his lost treasure. The legend developed that the buried gold is still somewhere in Wellfleet because "Goody" Hallett forgot where she buried it, taking the secret to her grave. For many years after the Whidah wreck, local residents reported picking up gold coins along the Atlantic beach after great storms. Was there a buried treasure? No one really knows. Perhaps the secret did die with "Goody" Hallett and the remainder of the treasure lies waiting for someone to stumble on it.

The Tale of Headless Hattie Legend has it that Blackbeard was one of the most feared pirates to ever sail the seas. He also had an eye for beauty. Thus, he married Hattie – a vibrant redheaded woman who lived in Salter Path, NC. After being away for nearly two years, word came that Blackbeard’s ship was within sight. Hattie traveled by boat to greet her husband and found him with another woman. Known for her temper, Hattie flew into a rage and attacked Blackbeard. He pulled her away and held her at arms length with his left hand. With his right, he took his saber and with one stroke, threw her overboard. Since then, there have been many reports of Hattie, covered in seaweed wandering the coast.

The Ghostly Pirate About four years ago, Sam was in a very serious accident and his leg was broken in four places. After eight surgeries, he ended up with a plate and 28 screws in his leg for several months. After the plate and screws were removed, the doctors found that Sam had developed a bad bone infection. To stop the infection and save his leg, the doctor decided to put a catheter in Sam's chest so that large amounts of medication could be put directly into his bloodstream over a long period of time. This is fairly routine and is usually done under local anesthetic. Up to this point Sam had been very positive about the situation; however, the idea of having a catheter inserted in his chest bothered him quite a bit. (Because he can't visualize things, unfamiliar situations really unnerve him.) He tried to put on a brave front, but as the day for the procedure approached I could tell he was pretty nervous and no one was able to reassure him. The morning before he was scheduled to go into the hospital, Sam came to me, looking slightly bewildered. He asked me if it was possible to have a dream without being asleep. Apparently he had had some kind of unusual experience and was at a loss as to how to describe it. So I told him to just tell me what had happened and I would try to explain it to him. I might add that when Sam describes something he tells you exactly what he experienced, in great detail, but, of course, without any imagination. He has almost a photographic memory for physical detail. Sam told me that he had gone to bed the night before and could not get the upcoming medical procedure off his mind. Usually he falls asleep almost instantly and sleeps like a log, but this time he couldn't get to sleep because he was so worried. After lying awake staring at the ceiling and watching the hands on the clock, he suddenly realized there was someone standing in the middle of the room. At this point I asked Sam if he was sure he had not gone to sleep. He was completely positive that he was awake, because when he sat up in bed to get a better look at the "intruder" he knocked a heavy book off his nightstand and bruised the back of his hand. The figure was quite solid, and although it was night and the room was dark, it appeared to be standing in sunlight. The person in his room, Sam said, was a pirate. At this point I asked why he thought it was a pirate, and Sam described a strongly built middle-aged man, with a tricorner hat, a bandana beneath this, a slightly greying beard, the typical "pirate" coat "with lots of gold buttons", slightly dirty ruffled shirt, earring, a sword, and one leg. I had to agree this sounded like a pirate. The pirate did not have a pegleg as one might expect; rather, Sam said, he leaned on a crutch which looked like it was made from a tree branch whittled into smoothness. Sam said the pirate wore a large gold ring on his right hand, but he could not make out what the ring looked like other than that it was gold. He also had a scar down one side of his face. At first the figure just stood "looking friendly" while Sam stared, but after a minute or two the "pirate" spoke to Sam. Sam said his voice was "nice, friendly and very deep and he talked like he came from England." According to Sam, the pirate smiled at him and said, "Arrrr, matey, don't be afraid." (When I laughed at the "Arrrr," Sam was obviously offended and insisted that was exactly what the pirate said.) The pirate then nodded (Sam gave an emphatic nod to show me) and said: "I come to tell ye not to worry about the doctoring tomorrow. Everything'll go right, ye'll see. Ye won't even be awake fer it. Ye'll be all right, mate." He smiled and winked at Sam and slowly faded out. After this, Sam said, he suddenly felt much better about everything; he lay back down, felt his pet cat jump on the bed and lie down beside him, and then fell asleep. Not knowing what else to say, I told Sam that it might have been a friendly spirit or guardian angel who wanted to make him feel better. Sam was satisfied by this answer, and seemed much less worried about the medical procedure, which did indeed go well. Interestingly, at the last minute the doctor and anesthesiologist opted to put Sam completely "under" rather than using local anesthetic. Sam announced to me afterwards that "The pirate was right." The infection was eventually stopped, and Sam recovered without further incident. I have no idea what or who visited Sam. As far as I know there are no pirates in our family tree, but we do have a grave robber and a horse thief among our ancestors, so a pirate wouldn't surprise me at all.

More Infamous Flags

Pirate Flags For more than two centuries a black flag with a white skull and crossbones (Jolly Roger) has been the symbol for pirates throught-out the western world. In popular fiction all pirates flew the jolly roger. However, this special flag was used only by British and British-American pirates from about 1700 to 1725. Other pirates attacked either under their own ruler's flag or under the flag of the official issuing their privateering commission. By flying a national flag, pirates made a symbolic statement (often false) that the attack was legal under that country's laws. Some nations sponsored piracy and lived off pirate booty, including Barbary states, the Knights of Malta, and 17th-century England. In law, corsairs operating from one of these havens had to fly its flag. This showed that the raiders recognized and paid taxes to the ruler's law courts. The pirate flag, or Jolly Roger as it was also known was designed to strike fear into victims and encourage a hasty surrender. It probably traces its origins to the plain black flag that a ship would fly to warn another to surrender at once, or else it would be replaced by the red flag, or Jolie Rouge in French, meaning no quarter given (no mercy would be given to the crew). Many showed skulls and crossbones or skeletons, meant to warn of death if the victim did not surrender. Many of these symbols were probably borrowed from gravestones of the time. A few of the flags also contain an hour glass, meaning that time is running out for the victim to surrender peacefully. The pirates wanted to project fearlessness in the face of death, and some flags pictured the captain toasting, dancing with, or literally conquering the skeletal dead. Hearts to were often pierced to symbolize "no mercy". While they were hunting, many pirates either flew no flag or used one that was meant to fool their intended victim. Normally their battle flag was raised only when they were close enough to attack. On one occasion the famous pirate Bartholomew Roberts was able to deceive the shipping off the island of Martinique by flying Dutch flags and making signals normally used by Dutch ships arriving from the Guinea coast of Africa with black slaves. This ruse enabled him to capture fourteen French sloops which came out to meet him with large sums of money on board for trading in slaves. Naval warships also used these tricks. In 1815 American ships thus trapped the 'Hamidou Reis' by flying the British flag. Some pirates, such as Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard, kept a collection of flags on board and simply raised whatever was most convenient in any given situation.

Jolly Roger Symbols Explained The Jolly Roger, Old Roger, or just plain Skull and Crossbones is the definitive symbol of the pyrate. Although no one knows for certain, it is believed that the name derives from joli rouge, which means "Pretty Red" in French. This was taken to describe the blood red flags flown by particularly harsh pyrates. No matter where the name came from, the essential use of this banner was to strike fear into the hearts of the crew under pyrate attack. While pyrates often flew "false colours" of any given country, inevitably they used "truer" colours to communicate and threaten potential victims. Around 1700 the first such flag was flown by Emmanuel Wynne as he plundered the Caribbean. In general, a white flag was flown when pyrates were in chase of a potential victim. In some cases the victim would "strike his colours", or take down the king's flag and submit to the bandits. If the victims refused, the black and white flag was raised to indicate the intentions of the pyrates. In the event that a ship was particularly evasive, or a pyrate was particularly brutal, the red flag was raised to indicate that no quarter would be given once the ship was captured. In short no lives would be spared. The flags contained symbols designed to indicate a certain message. Of course, the skull was a sign of death in general, but a skeleton, often with horns, was to indicate a tormented death. On the otherhand, a dart or spear was used to indicate a violent death in contrast to the bleeding heart denoting a slow and painful death. A raised fist or hand clutching a dagger or cutlass was to indicate a general willingness to kill and the hourglass gave a threat that time was running out or that capture was inevitable. Curiously, Blackbeard managed to incorporate practically every one of these main symbols into his flag. Jack Rackham (Calico Jack) used a graceful set of crossed swords in place of bones to boast ironically of his willingness to fight. Similarly, Thomas Tew took the image of the sword before that of death. In his flag, no symbol of death is present, but the message is no less clear regarding the fate of any who opposed his advance. Sir Thomas Tew seemed to think it more polite to suggest violence without that nasty death image. These images were, of course, interpretive, but well known in the golden age of pyracy. A flag could be a simple variation like Henry Every's (page top) skull at a profile, or it could be all inclusive like Stede Bonnet's rather bland jumble of images. As was the case often, a flag could be altered or customized to fit a particular need. In the case of Bartholomew Roberts (Black Bart) his "principle" colours showed him toasting death with an ambiguous glass of drink or an hourglass (pun intended for sure!). After a long hard time of pyratin' Black Bart came to hate the islands of Barbados and Martinique. To show his vendetta he crafted another flag showing him astride two skulls and the letters "ABH" and "AMH". The letters were to indicate "A Barbadian's Head" and "A Martinician's Head". While it is unclear if Bart ever got his Barbadian, in 1720 he hung the governor of Martinique from his yardarm.

Legends of the Jolly Roger One legend has it that the Jolly Roger obtained its appellation from the French name for the red flag, the "Jolie Rouge." And so it may be, for the flag was first used by a French order of militant monks known as the "Poor Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon" - commonly known as the Knights Templar. The Templars, were pious men. They gave up all their worldly possessions when they entered the Order, only carrying money on special occasions when they traveled alone, turning over whatever money that remained upon reaching their destination. They were ferocious warriors; pitching themselves into the midst of their enemies, astride charging warhorses, against incredible odds. Contemporaries had this to say of Templars: The Templars are most excellent soldiers. They wear white mantles with a red cross, and when they go to war a standard of two colors called balzaus is borne before them. They go in silence. Their first attack is the most terrible. In going, they are the first. In returning, the last. They await the orders of their Master. When they think fit to make war and the trumpet has sounded, they sing in chorus the Psalm of David, "Not unto us, O Lord" kneeling on the blood and necks of the enemy, unless they have forced the troops of the enemy to retire altogether, or utterly broken them to pieces. Should any of them for any reason turn his back to the enemy, or come forth alive [from a defeat], or bear arms against the Christians, he is severely punished; the white mantle with the red cross, which is the sign of his knighthood, is taken away with ignominy, he is cast from the society of brethren, and eats his food on the floor without a napkin for the space of one year. If the dogs molest him, he does not dare to drive them away. But at the end of the year, if the Master and brethren think his penance to have been sufficient, they restore him the belt of his former knighthood. These Templars live under a strict religious rule, obeying humbly, having no private property, eating sparingly, dressing meanly, and dwelling in tents.1 "The warriors are gentler than lambs and fiercer than lions, wedding the mildness of the monk with the valor of the knight, so that it is difficult to decide which to call them: men to adorn the Temple of Solomon with weapons instead of gems, with shields instead of crowns of gold, with saddles and bridles instead of candelabra: eager for victory -- not fame; for battle not for pomp; who abhor wasteful speech, unnecessary action, unmeasured laughter, gossip and chatter, as they despise all vain things: who, in spite of their being many, live in one house according to one rule, with one soul and one heart." -- St. Bernard of Clairvaux "in turn lions of war and lambs at the hearth; rough knights on the battlefield, pious monks in the chapel; formidable to the enemies of Christ, gentleness itself towards His friends." -Jacques de Vitry Being men of principle; their rules of conduct were strict. They were willing to die for their beliefs, and so were feared on the battlefield and respected in life. Such was their reputation, that in battle, there were instances where the enemy would turn and run at the very sight of Templars entering the field. Their Rule of Order stated that breaking rank was worthy of losing ones habit. They neither asked nor gave quarter; the were expected to fight until death stayed their sword arm. Retreat from an enemy would not be countenanced unless the odds were greater than three to one against them and they were forbidden to ransom themselves if captured. They fought like men possessed, either prevailing in their cause, or suffering death under the banner of Gol'gotha - the place of the skull - where their Christ died. Templars were not to succumb to the temptation of thinking that they killed in a spirit of hate and fury, nor that they seized booty in a spirit of greed. For the Templars did not hate men, but men's wrongdoing. They were dedicated to the protection of travelers and pilgrims of all religions, though they themselves were Christians, in fact many Templars were of Palestinian birth, spoke perfect Arabic, and were familiar with every religious sect, cult, and magical doctrine, including that of the Islamic Assassins. The Grand Master Philip of Nablus (1167 A.D.) was a Syrian.2 They were great statesmen, politically adept economic traders, and they were allied with the great sailor-fraternity that had created a worldwide trading empire in Phoenician times. They became immensely powerful - had the largest fleet and the most successful banking system in Europe. But they could not sustain their grip on the Holy Land. Their losses3 were too great, and they were eventually driven off the Levant by Saladin, their Moslem adversary, in 1291. They continued to fight for their cause in the only manner they could - on the high seas. The best known Templar pirate ship was the Falcon, "the greatest that had been built at that time."4 She was in the harbor when the fortress of Acre fell "and rescued many 'ladies and damsels and great treasure and many important people'4 by evacuating them to 'Atlit." After the orderly navel evacuation of 'Atlit, the Templars retreated to their Mediterranean island bases on Cyprus, Rhodes and Sicily. Until their dissolution, they, together with the Order of St. John, continued as the foremost maritime powers in the Mediterranean, continuing to effectively wage war on Moslem shipping. The Templars were still very powerful but in the eyes of European monarchs and the Church, the Templars raison d'tre had ceased with the loss of the Holy Lands. Jealousy and covetousness reigned. Phillip IV, who was deeply in dept to the Order, had seen their treasures stored in Paris, and designed to make it his own. On Friday morning October 13th 1307 - and the reason for which Friday the 13th has become known as an unlucky day - King Phillip IV together with Avignonese Pope Clement V, ruthlessly suppressed the Order throughout Europe, with false accusations, arrests, torture and executions. (Timeline) Though they were offered communted sentences and comfortable lives if they would renounce their Order and plead guilty to the charges, for some mysterious reason, they preferred to remain true to their principles and received their punishment. A large number of Templars escaped that day to an uncertain future, and found refuge abroad. On the eve of the arrests, the entire Templar fleet mysteriously vanished from the port of La Rochelle carrying with it a vast fortune, the fate of which remains a mystery down to this day. Just as a terrorist to one is a freedom fighter to another, so it was with the Templars and their fleet. Wanted by the Pope and all the crowns of Europe, they came to be viewed, by the "comfortable folks" on the mainland, as pirates. After being driven out of the Holy Land as well as Europe, but still formidable at sea, the refugee Templars found sanctuary in Scotland, where Templar graves bear witness to them having lived and died there in the fourteenth century. King Robert the Bruce had no interest in persecuting the Order, in spite of a papal bull ordering him to do precisely that. To the contrary, he took advantage of their fugitive status, offering them asylum in return for their help in his war for independence against King Edward II of England. Templars have been suggested as the source of mounted soldiers who assisted Robert the Bruce's Scots Guard at the battle of Bannockburn, as the Scots did not have a mounted force. As the Scots Guard continued through the years, two of the prominent families involved in its history were the Sinclairs and the Stuarts. Both families trace their lineage back to members of the Knights Templar, as well as to prominent figures of the New Testament. Hugues de Payns the first Grand Master of the Templars was married to a Sinclair. There is also evidence that the Templar fleet traveled to North America in 1398 (almost 100 years before Columbus) with the Sinclairs, and settled there at least temporarily. Connections are made between the tower ruins along the eastern coast of the United States, objects discovered in the Oak Island "Money Pit", and the Templar Order. The Sinclairs (or Saint-Clairs) castle near Edinburgh, was situated next to Rosslyn chapel, which was constructed by the Sinclairs according to the floorplan of Solomon's original temple. Engraved in the masonry around the chapel are maize and aloe plants, which grew only in North America. Throughout Scotland, as well as within Rosslyn Chapel, there are carvings and tombstones dating back to the 15th, 16th, and 17th century using combinations of Templar imagery (skull and crossbones, Templar swords, Templar crosses) and Masonic symbols (compass and square). The Stuart royal house became one of Freemasonry's biggest supporters during their reign of Scotland and England. Some also suggest that the rituals used in modern Freemasonry have their origins in the ancient texts discovered by the Templars in the ruins of Solomon's Temple while excavating to build their stables. Recent archaeological digs in the area have supported this theory by finding serveral Templar artifacts buried beneath the temple. In the 1950's, a scroll made entirely of copper was discovered in the caves near Qumran. When translated with the other "Dead Sea Scrolls", this "Copper Scroll", as it has become known, was identified as a treasure map listing various precious metals, religious artifacts, and writings supposedly buried beneath the temple in Jerusalem. By the 17th and 18th centuries, the skull and crossbones was a symbol with a powerful reputation but identified with no official organization. The Templars had long since gone underground and evolved into other organizations. The symbol was usurped and came to be associated with the pirates of which we are more familiar. They changed the flag to suit their needs replacing the crossbones with swords, adding hourglasses or other symbols. 1. Anonymous Pilgrim V.2, tr. A. Stewart, Anonymous Pilgrims, I-VII (11th and 12th centuries), Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society 6, London, 1894 p 29-30. 2. A History of Secret Societies, Arkon Daraul, 1962, Citadel Press, NY 3. At Harim in 1164 they had sixty dead from a contingent of sixty-seven; in the space of a little over two months in 1187 they lost 290 knights at the Springs of Cresson and at Hattin; in 1237, while besieging Darbsak, the Templars of Baghras were heavily defeated by Aleppan troops, leaving them with only twenty survivors from a force of 120 knights; at La Forbie, in October 1244, they emerged with only thirty-three knights from the 300 they had contributed to the army; less than six years later, at Mansurah, the Grand Master told Joinville that 280 of his knights had been killed. It is natural to see such losses in human terms, but at the same time it should not be forgotten that each of these knights represented a large financial investment. In 1267 the cost of maintaining a knight for the defence of Acre for a year was ninety livres tournois. As a good estimate of the average annual income of the French monarcy at the time of Louis IX's first crusade is approximately 250,000 livres tournois, this means that even if each knight killed at La Forbie represents only a year's investment of Templar resources, the total loss was still little short of a ninth of the annual Capetian income. - Barber, Malcolm, "The New Knighthood", p232 4. Ramon Muntaner, Cronica Catalana, p. 368-9, also the Chronicle of Muntaner tr Goodenough p466-9. 5. Principle - guiding sense of the requirements and obligations of right conduct: a man of principle. Paraphrasing the crusade historian William of Tyre, "Accepting that 'mistakes tend to creep into lengthy communications' [Prov 10:19], we invite our reader to correct errors in the spirit of kindness." - CC LXIII, p 101.

Captain Houston At Horse Creek Emily Lagow Bell, wrote, "My Pioneer Days In Florida," a book about her life here from 1876-1898. She writes of a visit with a Captain Houston at Horse Creek. He told her of the sounds that would awakened his family in the night. The sounds were of horses running, and their hoofs sounded like they would have heavy shoes on. There was also the sound of the clanking of heavy chains. Next it would sound as if boats would come to the shore and it would sound like a regiment of soldiers disembarking. He said the family would rush out from their house, and then there would be no sounds. When everything was quiet, they would hear it all over again. This only happened at certain times of the year, she was told. During this same trip, there was a visit with a Mr. Stone, who had lived on the end of Merritt's Island since 1868. Mr. Stone knew Captain Drake, who was a pirate on the high seas. Stone said that about a mile from him was a place where no one could live in any peace. This was on account of the sounds like someone was pelting the house with rocks. In addition there was a tree there, that was always shaking like an aspen. He said there had been an old black women who had live there in 1858, but she was the only one that ever could.

The Ghostly Lovers of Fripp Island Beach According to the legend, the famous pirate Blackbeard kidnapped a girl from Charleston and brought her to his lair on Fripp Island. When she resisted him, Blackbeard killed the man to whom the girl had been betrothed. The pirate brought the girl her sweetheart’s severed hand, which still wore the engagement ring. The horrified girl rushed into surf to drown in the ocean currents. Their love prevailed over Blackbeard’s wickedness, none the less. In the light of each full moon, the ghosts of the lovers stroll arm in arm along the beach to this very day.