Phillip Black

Ok, I've made another incarnation of "phillipblack" on Midnight ocean. I haven't had a chance to do anything yet...maybe today on my lunch break I can get a little playtime in...I usually just play on lunchbreaks and on the weekends. Look forward to meetin ye online Gruffyn!

Sounds good, but the reason I took Sage, the doubloon ocean, is that I didn't want to have to pay a monthly fee...figured I'd just advance slowly trading doubloons for the crazy price tag of 745 pieces of eight.... If ye say I can play fer free on Midnight...how does one do that...isn't it subscription only? Cool portrait by the way!

So, I've been horribly addicted to Puzzle Pirates for the last few days...Anyone ever play this? It's hardly a realistic or historical representation of the Golden Age of Piracy, but it is fun nonetheless. I've got a pirate on the "Sage" ocean named Phillipblack if anyone plays this. I'd love to have a little company! Maybe we could even have a pyracy.com crew and ship?

Well blast me, I always be missin' the good stuff... GoF, mayhaps ye can point a wayward mate to this talked about lass...er...um...hat? :angry:

That's very true, and something to remember. Pirates were a relatively small percentage of the demographic if I'm not mistaken. So, perhaps those that turned pirate, just had a penchant or tendency to deal with the separation from home, etc. in that way...

It seems to me that most pirates had given up hope of "seeing home or family" before even turning pirate...perhaps even coming to this conclusion prior to leaving for their first voyage in the merchants or Royal navy. Still, it would be interesting to know what the effects of some prozac could have had on a pirate crew...

The last thing ye be wantin' to do is to be infringin' the copyright's o' another..for if ye do, ye'll be branded a Pirate!...

Considering the coast of Somalia is a hotbed of piracy, who in their right mind would take a cruise ship there?

William Blydes, that is quite a touching story! I guess I should have added "cat" to the poll!

Dear god Caraccioli! That is quite gruesome. That book is on my Amazon wishlist, and I'm not so sure I'm looking forward to it anymore...That really kills the idea of swashbuckling romanticized pirates. I too am interested to know what the poor fellow did to invoke their wrath so...Also, the pirate captain that ordered this torture, was he notorious? Would we recognize his name?

This line alone made me laugh out loud at work, damn ye bilgemunky! I am going to use the "multi-colored poo-flinging aviator" line in the future as well! And somehow I thought you would be partial to monkeys! Barbados Sam, I never thought of that, youare absolutley right, a monkey would be much better at pilferin'! Captain Jim, I can only say that you are a man of discriminating tastes! I'm still a parrot perch me-self. By the way Rumba, how hard is it to take care of yer parrot?

Long John Silver had his parrot, "Captain Flint", Captain Barbossa had his monkey, "Jack." What's yer preferred pet?

I'm only a novice at this stuff, but doesn't quantum mechanics suggest that by measuring something we are changing it? This is how the new quantum encryption systems work. By measuring the photon, you are affecting it and therefore creating an inconsistency in what could have been. This goes back to Schrodinger's cat as well, no? Am I way off here?

That sounds like a fine idea! I would suggest people include small reviews or maybe we could include an impromptu rating system. 1-5 jolly rogers, etc. That would certainly help newbs like meself!

Yer title be me motto! Heh, though I stole it from Bartholomew Roberts! So I obviously can't say anything negative about your title! The first paragraph starts off strong, and has a catchy first sentence making reference to the Treasure Island shanty. However, your last sentence seems a bit weak to me. Instead of "carefully thought out maneuvers," could you maybe specify what "maneuver" are? Or personally I would emphasize the inherent danger and cut-throat nature of the short life of a pirate. A sort of "violent democracy." Just my humble opinion of course! Thanks for sharing and I llok forward to reading the rest!

I don't know much about torture of their own crew, but some of the worse pirates like Edward Low did some pretty nasty stuff to captured prizes' crew. I believe Low's specialty was cutting ears off, and once forced a captain to eat his own ears... I also found these, but I don't know how authentic it is: Keelhaul - to drag someone by rope under the ship from one side to the other, across the keel. The victim could easily drown, and certainly be cut to ribbons by barnacles and sea growth on the ship's hull. Kissing the gunner's daughter - to be tied over one of the ship's cannons and flogged. "They caught him stealing, and now he's going to kiss the gunner's daugher." Kiss the wooden lady - minor punishment where an offender is made to face a mast, his arms wrapped around it, and his wrists are tied on the other side. Shipmates might be encouraged to kick him in the arse as they go by. "He fell asleep on watch and the captain made him kiss the wooden lady." Hope that helps!

Wow! You never cease to amaze Foxe! Great and informative site by the way. You finally cleared up some of the Captain Johnson/Defoe controversy for me. I especially liked your section on Pirate Ranks too!

ehhhh, thank you for putting so much stock in my opinion! However, either topic is good, but why not just choose the broader topic of Hollywood mis-portrayals of pirates? Your original idea was the most intriguing to me, how social structures onboard pirate ships are portrayed in Hollywood and how they were in reality... Foxe would probably tell you that trying to portray pirates as anything more than "bad guys" would be a fool's quest!...but I could be wrong, I am still new here!

I like the idea! i wonder if you might post it for us when you're done? However, I'm sure there are a lot of other inconsistencies also, as others on this board will no doubt inform you of. Of course when we see "Pirates of the Caribbean" we expect a certain amount of fiction and fantasy, but I wonder how a film like "Master and Commander" would stack up in the realism department. I mean, if Star Wars portrayed combat in space realistically, it never would have been a hit. And Sir Eric is right, there is nothing wrong with proving your own thesis wrong, as long as you can justify your conclusion!

No problem! I'm not trying to be snide! I just don't have the experience with "source" documents that some here seem to have, and while I respect that knowledge, I hate being trumped by it! I would agree with you though, that the majority of period references probably give little reference to democratic societies. I could be wrong, but it would seem that most period document writers wouldn't be all that familiar with a democratic system in the first place, seeing as most governments were still monarchies...Also, (mind you this is with little to no experience with period sources, and hence only a guess) I would doubt that the writers would spend much time on analyzing the social nuances of pirate organization and would focus more on cataloging the damning actions of the crew and captain. As for Edward England, I'm not around my books and can't check...poor memory! I need to read more books and drink less rum. On a side note, Bilgemunky and Gentlemen of Fortune, your sites are wonderful! Thank you!

Skull pyrate Carter! Don't be discouraged! You just started out with the hardest part of Japanese! It's like teaching yourself math and starting with calculus! Besides, you only need to know about 1000 to be passable, 2000 to read the newspaper...

Being new to the genre, I am not as knowledgeable as some here. However, if you are looking for support of your argument, Marcus Rediker and Frank Sherry would be good places to start, and of course there is Captain Johnson's General History. As far as "source" sources (which everyone is so crazy about here) I have no idea. It would probably be pretty rare to find source documentation on democracy aboard pirate ships. You have to agree with Hurricane, Blackbeard answered to no one. Hell, he shot his own crewmen on occasion just to remind them who was in charge...

According to Captain Johnson's General History, Bartholomew Roberts was elected by his crew. Also, Edward England was voted out by his own crew for being too soft and kind to captured prizes. That's just what I could come up with on the top of my head. It doesn't necessarily indicate democracy, but it disproves that all pirates were ruled by a dictator captain. Also, Stede Bonnet was rather unique in my opinion. I seriously doubt many pirates purchased their own ships and hired crews. Unless you consider privateers as pirates. Certainly many privateers probably turned pirate when peace broke out. I still believe Stede Bonnet was having a mid-life crisis.

Le sigh...I called the online store, and they no longer carry it. I called the stores in my area, and all are sold out of it...Guess, I don't get one... Thanks for your help anyway!

William, thank ye for the links, and the pic, but tis a slightly different thing than what I be lookin' for. Though, I may be havin' to settle for it iffen the Hot Topic one no longer be available. Rumba Rue, thanks for the advice! I will try giving them a call. It doesn't show up on their website, but i can't believe that they would just not carry it anymore, at least I hope not! I'll give it a go and let ye know!