Phillip Black

Has anyone tried "Doorly's Rum?" It looks like a nice smooth dark rum. Thanks for the tip on Gold Pyrat XO Rummy! I think I'll pick up a bottle tonight seein' as I'm going to the liquor store anyway for Captain Morgan be on sale!

Let's not get political about this!

I speak Japanese. I took about 4 years of it in college, studied abroad, and then worked there for 2 years. I work for a Japanese company now and still use it. Like anything, without constant use it degrades. My wife is Japanese, though we only speak English unless her family or friends are around, so I have some practice for speaking/listening. However, my reading/writing has seriously worsened from lack of use. I originally took Italian in high school, but it just didn't click with me. So, if you don't seem to enjoy a language at first, I would suggest trying a different one. I'm now thinking of moving on to French next...

Aye, ye be right there Durty Mick! Being a pirate, I not be givin' a care to the scent of no air freshener, but I do need to be flyin' me jolly roger on me ship! Twas me reason for inquirin'. It would seem Hot Topic be sold out of the air freshener, so I'll be havin' to find another way to raise me jolly roger on me ship!

I don't know how informative this is, but while visiting Shirahama (in Wakayama) I took a tour of a "pirate" cave that if my memory serves me was called "Bear Cave" or something. Anyway, supposedly the pirates used it as a base of operations and a place to keep their stores. It also had the marvelous quality of reverberating the sounds of the crashing waves from the sea-side to make an eerie heavy breathing/growling sound that earned it it's name. I don't know if you could find it with a search on the web, but it was a really cool place. Typical of the Japanese though, you had to pay to take an elevator down into the cave!

Hot Topic eh? There is one near my house, I'll have to go check it out. Thanks!

A friend of mine was given, some years ago, an air freshener for his car that had a skull and crossbones with the words: "I'm a Pirate and this is my ship" written below the jolly roger. I've been looking for the same one for some time now, but can only find the standard Jolly Roger type(without words)...Has anyone seen the one I am referring to? Anyone know where to find one?

It's me pleasure!

For a quick fix, I would try the local library for sound effects CDs. They tend to carry a wide variety of them, then make a CD of the effects you want and put it on loop! Also, there are some bands like the Toucan Pirates and other that use "pirate" sound effects in thir songs, if that is more your speed. If you have Port Royal (PC Game) it has all the sound effects in the game files as Mp3s..also Sid Meier's Pirates has some, but I think they are in .wav format.

No problem! I was ecstatic to find that the site even has ringtones, and then very disappointed to discover my phone isn't capable of using them! Anyway, I'm glad you enjoyed them, and good luck on your paper!

I'm guessing you've got "On-Demand." I saw this too, or I should say the first half of it. I couldn't get past the cheese-factor. However, Tim Curry does play a pirate type pretty well. I always liked Muppet's Treasure Island, and would suggst that one for the family. But, you probably know that already!

Wow, interesting find! And at the bargain price of $8,800.00 too!

Go here and try to find yer socks afterwards (They'll be knocked off...) Somebody else started a thread somewhere about it, maybe in this forum... I'm looking forwad to both games, but my comp will need a new graphics card, and then I have to convince the wife that it is a good thing for me to spend x dollars a month to be permanently attached to the computer...

Smoke from cannons, which rotate as firing Yikes! Gattling cannons? Great find though! They really have quite a project going on down there. The sheer logistics of it are impressive! I can't wait!

I'm a big fan of the Monkey Island series and couldn't get the Scumm Bar theme out of my head the other day, so what did I do? I searched for a place to download it! Here is what I found. I don't know if this has been mentioned before, but you can download all the music from the Monkey Island series of games (legally) from this here site: http://www.scummbar.com/ Just go to Downloads on the left side and enjoy!

Cheers to that! I don't consider it dissenting, but just clarifying! That is true, one book could no doubt be easily shared among the crew and even read aloud. Afterall, it's not like they had much of a choice in the matter, living together on a ship in close quarters! And, considering the literacy rate was so high, books couldn't have been too rare I guess.

I am shocked at the high rate of literacy among seamen. I never thought it would be that high...Thanks for that info! Just about every book that I've read, including Captain Johnson's General History, makes allusions to privateering being a gateway to piracy. Put quite simply, the pay on board a privateer was so much better than standard merchant service, that when a war ended or a truce was called a sailor had to take a significant pay-cut, or become self-employed, as it were... Sir Eric, I think you are dead on about the use of the word terrorist. It's such a poorly defined word that it leaves a lot of room to be used subjectively or with bias as you said. BlackJohn, I find the ideas of sailors reading to be an intriguing one, but were books cheap enough and readily available enough for the common sailor to own one? Wasn't this during the same age that books were chained to the shelves in libraries much like our computers are today?

Much obliged there Skull pyrate Carter! I do be appreciatin' the smaller size. But, seein' as I spent some time to make me current sig...it'd be a shame to abandon it wholely. I think I'll be switchin' back and forth between the two as befits me fickle nature! I do appreciate yer efforts, and I don't mean no offense...so hopefully no harm done?

AARRGGGH! Too many Mmorpgs! Pirates of the Burning Sea and now Pirates of the Caribbean Online...I'll be broke! Especially after I'll no doubt have to upgrade my vid card for these new games. They aren't telling us a whole lot about it yet, either...Thanks for the heads up though!

I don't know about percentages, but there seems to be plenty of references and stories of not just pirates flying false flags. It was a kind of cat and mouse game it seems. I think you are French, so I'll fly a French flag and hopefully you'll pass me by, etc. Howell Davis used to regularly fly the Union Jack along with a pirate flag, unless he was going into port. Then, he would try to pass himself off as a RN pirate hunter!

These are good points! No doubt the average sailor was just looking for what was in it for him, and the pirate life looked better. Captain Johnson's General History lists rosters of crew, with ages, that were tried and convicted/acquitted for piracy, and they match up very nicely to what Rediker reported(no doubt at least one of his sources...). However, what does the age factor mean? My assumption is that sailors who chose to be pirates seemed to be mostly older and at the end of their useful life as a sailor. Perhaps after years of hard labor as a sailor and nothing to show for it, it was a last desperate attempt to get rich quick? Afterall, you have to play the lottery to win it!

Arrgh! I don't be wantin' to be trouble to no one...I do appreciate the sig ye be makin' me Skull pyrate Carter..but until I can get it down to a size that's still readable and small...I'll just make do with this one I whipped up. I be thinkin' they be havin' a point seein' as i dont have a pic of meself in garb or such thing...

Patrick Hand, I certainly be catchin' yer drift! So, no needs to be gentle about it! This be me first sig and all, so it may take me some time to find exactly what be workin' for me! In the interest of readability and download speeds, I reduced the sig Skull pyrate Carter gave me by a mere 20% and it reduced the file size from 101kb to just 27kb. It also made it a little more subtle, whaddya think?

Aye! Raise yer mug with me in a toast to yer craft and drink to yer hearts content for the ale be paid from my pocket today!

Tis a beauty of a sig! If ever the wind shall cause our paths to cross, I owe ye a drink at the least! I hope ye don't mind that I credited ye below the sig...wouldn't be proper not to afterall! But if ye don't be wantin' more work, mums the word! Oh, and incidentally, I think ye have opened up a can o' worms for me by introducin' me to that there pirates xxx movie! Oh...how am I going to justify that one to the wife?