TalesOfTheSevenSeas

Another symbol that was used is an hour glass... this was meant to send the message "your time is running out!!" which was quite effective when put next to a jolly roger to signify death! Here is pirate Emanual Wayne's flag: And another pirate Christopher Moody's which had the red, no quarter given background, the skull and crossed bones for death, the hourglass, for time is running out which also has wings for time flying and the arm with a dagger... which kinda needs no explanation!! There are some other examples at the bottom of this page on pirate flags

PirateMod has a fabulous collection of black T-shirts where you can see traditional pirate flags on them and they are listed with the name of the pirates who flew them below each photo. They also have thier own line of goth pirates designs and funny ones, like a biker pirate shirt where there is a skull and crossed wrenches below it or a Chinese food pirate with crossed chopsticks! I don't recall seeing the crown of roses anywhere other than on the Grateful Dead's logo, but I'm gonna hunt and see what I can find.

On red flags vs. black... The red field behind a pirate's flag meant that he gave "no quarter" or would give no mercy to anyone who did not comply with his orders and put up a fight against his pirates. The black field was intimidating and the skull implied death, but there was still a chance that the pirate might choose to be merciful if your crew if he conquered your ship after you fought him. From what I've read, the usual best option was to let the pirates board, don't put up a fight and hope that you survivied it in one piece. Sometimes money and valuables were hidden beneath planks of the ship, sewn into clothing linings or even swallowed just before the pirates came on board. Unfortunately for the captives, sometimes the pirates used brutal means to extract the locations of more valuable items from their captains. There is a narrative of a captured captain being relieved of his forearms, who then breaks down and tells where the valuables are hidden on the ship. (Captured by Pirates; 22 Firsthand Accounts of Murder and Mayhem on the High Seas) There is also an interesting account of pirates in the 1200's written by Marco Polo of pirates using something called "tamarindi" which was made with sea water and produced "violent purging" that would remove any swallowed jewels in a hurry!!

Grace, I've had several magazine and newspaper articles published, and I also did one radio address. I do have a piracy research project in the works, but it is just something that I do for the love of it. The published writing is just something I do to make a little extra $$ on the side now and then. But in my work as a drafter and as an instructor/manager, technical writing and curriculum design/writing is part of my job description. I also do some just-for-fun piracy writing in a cyber novel, just because I can never get enough of piracy! I would suggest the Ojai Pirate Faire or any other pirate-theme faire as one good place to get a feel for the talk and the clothing. Much more so than a renaissance faire. You'll get an authentic feel for history when you untie your bodice at the end of the day, lemme tell ye!! :) But if you really want to get as close as you can to what it felt like- I have to say, there's nothing like being out on the water on a historic tall ship in full pirate costume. Nothing like it in the world. When feel the deck rolling under your black boots... When you're hanging on for dear life in rough water and there's nothing between you and Davey Jone's Locker but a slippery deck... When you're sneaking up on another ship with your guns loaded... When the waves are coming up over the rails and into your face.... ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!! now That's when you start to feel like a pirate!!!!!!!!

Well shiver me timbers!!! We're in the same neighborhood!! Are you interested in joining a locally-based-yet-far-reaching pirate guild?!! www.talesofthesevenseas.com

A few scenes from the upcoming movie "Pirates of the Death Star" coming soon to a galaxy far, far away.... Hey!! Wait a sec! Wasn't the eyepatch on the other eye?!!!

Fer all o' ye a-typin' with a hook where yer hand used to be... the ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRgonomic keyboard!!!!

Thanks for the Champion Attitude site- Looks like it would work, but I'm afraid we'd have to customize it right out of our price range. But basically, that is exactly what I'm looking for, but without the upcharges. By the time I put on a rounded toe, low heel and wide width, we were well over $300. But that's the idea!! Elizabeth, I'm 5'-10" tall. An Amazon pirate wench!!!

Ahoy Grace, I would recommend contacting Cindy Vallar. She is an author/researcher/librarian who has done extensive research into piracy. She teaches on-line seminars for writers that are very good and produces a piracy newsletter that is always full of facinating research. You can access a great many of her on-line articles here: Cindy Vallar's Pirates & Privateers There are specific sections on Port Royal also on food and life aboard ship Cindy is a terrific gal, very patient and helpful. I took her on-line piracy writer's seminar and gained a great deal from it. I believe my cost was about $15.

The tough part about finding pirates in your family, is that before they became part of popular culture, piracy was something that most families would have preferred be forgotten. I got lucky and found one of my ancestors who had been plundered by pirates, by looking in the index of a book on piracy. This book was specific to the New England coast and specific to the time when my ancestors lived there. I also discoveded that another ancestor owned a ship that was abandoned after a wreck. The ship was later repaired and used as a pirate slaver. This too, I discovered by checking my piracy books in the back index for familial surnames. Privateering may be another form of piracy to check on. A lot of that went on during the American Civil War. One of my favorite places to browse for info on American privateering and piracy is the American Memory Collection at the Library of Congress. There is an amazing variety of great info there. Try inputing surnames and words like pirate, pirates, pyrate, pyrates, privateer etc. I hit the genealogical jackpot big time on the LOC collections not long ago. I discovered letters in the George Washington Collection that had been written by my ancestors, a husband and wife, who were both active participants in the American Revolution. They have scanned thousands of documents and they are all cataloged. I transcribed my ancestor's documents, and discovered some long-forgotten information. My Gr-gr-gr-gr-great grandfather was involved on a spy mission when the US was attempting to take Nova Scotia in the 1780's. Prior to that in 1775, he was captured at sea when he was serving under Benedict Arnold on his Canadian raid and imprisoned. In addition to the secret letters from the 1780's spy mission, there was a heart-wrenching letter written by my maternal ancestor on the 1775 capture, in which she solicited the help of George Washington in obtaining the release of her husband and those of several other women from the same town, whose husbands were imprisoned. I soon realized she'd written that letter only two days after the death of her daughter. I went to Washington DC and saw the forgotten letters at the LOC and her wedding dress at the DAR Museum. It is great that through the internet more historical documents are being put up on line!!!

Here are my favorite sources for books. When there is a book or manuscript I want, I generally search these three places and compare values and pricing- www.abebooks.com - Abe Books is a massive hub of booksellers. You can find everything from junk novels to antique books and even rare manuscripts. It is also a great place to comparison shop book prices to know how high to place a bid on Ebay. Ebay Caution, highly addictive. www.half.com - A subsidiary of Ebay, half.com allows you to make direct purchases from independent sellers. It's like Ebay, but with no bidding.

For me husband's birthday, I did my homework on pricing an antique copy of the N.C. Wyeth illustrated version of Robt. Lewis Stevenson's "Treasure Island" I wanted to buy a first edition, but for one in good condition, the prices were just a bit more than I could justify. So I searched until I found a second edition in excellent shape. When the book arrived, it was beautiful. Minimal aging despite it's years, just enough to give it character, with bright and vibrant illustrations. I opened the cover... I turned to the copyright page... I nearly fainted when I saw it.... I double checked for the tell tale printing errors of the first edition.... And let out a big "YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!" in the middle of the parking lot, much to the surprise of my students! They had sent me a first edition by mistake!!!!! (yes, I admit it, this present for my husband was horribly self motivated, but I made up for it on father's day... he got a Harper's Ferry flintlock)

Cap'n Elizabeth- Size 9-1/2 feet? Why thems be weeeeeeeeeeeeee li'l tootsies in me book! I be sportin' gunboats of size 11! ARRRRRRRRRR!! ...and fer all ye' men who don't know yer shoe size from a hole in the ground, a women's size 11 be equivalent to a men's 9.

Agreed! I didn't let it ruin the weekend, I ended up making some good contacts. Honestly, it was very sad to listen to all the griping, negativity, political intrigue and catty-ness. At one point, the girl in the next booth leaned over to me and said. "You know, the more I listen to this, the better a pirate guild is starting to sound!!" I knew then and there that keeping it fun and light-hearted was going to be the name of the game for us.

That's right, t'was a long night an none o' yez are safe!!! Quartermaster!!!!!! Toss a bucket o' sea water over over the lot of 'em and send em all to me cabin!!!

But when ye' sail with Cap'n Gary, even when the weather is bad, the company is good and the Italian Restaurant down the road serves up a mean plate o' gemelli!!!!!!!!!

I'm always anxious to learn from other pirates involved in groups, troops or guilds. It helps me in making decisions about Tales of the Seven Seas. What techniques have worked for you in recruiting new members? Which events were the most successful in promoting your group? Which events had the best pirate turn outs? Do you partner with other groups? What does you group do? (skits, meet & greet, sea battles, parades etc) What do you do to promote your group? Got any other advice you'd like to share? What was your biggest mistake? What was the best thing you did?

It's really too bad that one bad apple with a nasty comment can ruin things. I've had both good and bad experiences with "Rennies". One lady encouraged me to follow my "crazy idea" and start Tales of the Seven Seas. She mentored me through the early days when I was getting started and she got us off to a very strong start early on. On the other hand... one time at a renaissance symposium, I had a guy walk up to me as I was packing up my booth that had info on our pirate guild at the end of the weekend. He sneered down his nose at me and said, "You know, if your guys really met my guys, my guys would have cut your guy's heads off on the spot. So how can your people and my people attend the same events?" (translation: get lost, we don't want you) It was that guy and a few other terribly arrogant people that helped me make a couple of good decisions about what kind of pirate guild Tales of the Seven Seas was going to be- fun and flexible. We don't do any single period of history and we welcome both historically accurate pirates and 'storybook' pirates. That's something I've been very glad that I've stuck too, despite occasional pressure from people that don't quite get what we're about.

Yes I think I saw just about everyone and everything there!! I enjoyed every second of it. I wish we'd been able to do an encampment, but trying to bring it all from CA would have been a nightmare. It was enough managing travel in this day and age with a suitcase loaded with flintlocks, swords, whips, knives and shackles!! You look familiar to me too, but I can't quite remember where I saw you. Did your kids get some treasure coins from me? I was passing them out the and tried to get one to all of them!! Actually, we are fairly new. September is when we celebrate our first anniversary of Tales of the Seven Seas. But we hit the waves full sail from day one and we're a very active group. I have to say, it took off like gangbusters and keeps gaining momentum! We've been very fortunate to have some terrific and enthusiastic people join up with us and it's grown into far more than my highest hopes for it were a year ago. We're planning to return to Hampton again next year, we'll definitely have to hook up!!

Here are a couple of the more interesting final bids from Ebay... The compass used by Johnny Depp and featured prominently in the movie, went for $1,025 Johnny Depps pants went for $1,325 So now ye' ladies know the price o' gettin' in Johnny's britches!!!

On the Ebay renaissance boots... I'm afraid the Ebay renaissance boots are not wide width. I bought my husband a pair because I was so happy with mine. We even got them a size larger than what he normally wears, but I'm afraid that they are simply too narrow and with the diabetes troubles he can't wear them. So they are now a part of our guilds stock of loaner gear. If the auction goes for cheap it works great, but near the time of the renaissance fair it goes higher than they sell for outright. When that happens you can buy them direct from two seller on-line at Midnight Fashions and also at Hot Sexy Wear both sell them on Ebay as well as direct order. On the thrift store shopping... I've bought boatloads of stuff at the thrift stores, but primarily to suppliment the guilds stock of loaner gear and it's all been pretty basic stuff. I'm amazed you found a broccade calf-length coat in one! I regularly make sweeps of the ones in the mountains, the ones in downtown Santa Cruz and the ones in San Jose. I cover about a 30 mile radius between home and job and have never found a treasure like that! I therefore bow humbly before you and relinquish my title of Supreme Bargain Shopping Goddess!!! Do you have photos of some of your finds?

That's awesome... which ship were you on or near?

CHALLENGE?!!!!!!!!!!! DID YE' SAY WE BEEN CHALLENGED CAP'N GARY?!!!!!!!! I SAY WE MAKE PIRATE MUNKEE STEW!!!!!!! ARRRRRRRRRR!!! Jest a-pullin' yer leg Pirate Munkee! We're very glad to have you crewin' with Tales of the Seven Seas and we're looking forward to ye sailin' on your first voyage with us in August! And as far as tie-dyed pirate flags go... iffn' I know arrrrrrrrr cap'n no matter what ruse he's a-flyin' at the top of his main, when the Royaliste makes her voice known, 'tis a roar that is hear all across the bay! Every head turns to see her and thar be only one flag a-flyin' at the top o' her mains'l..... (portrait of arrrrrrrr Cap'n from a recent excursion)

I'm glad I could help!! Be sure to post about how the Pirata gathering goes! It sounds like a fun, hoist yer grog, raise yer voice, piratical good time!

The Seattle Seafair Pirates do the Astoria Oregon Regatta Festival Parade. Perhaps you could contact them and see if they could use a pirate on their crew? Click Here for Info A group of singing pirates called "Captain Bogg and Salty" has an event going called "Festival de Piratas" at Conan's Pub at 39th and Hawthorne (they do not specify which town in OR this is in) Here is their website: Bob and Salty Info