TalesOfTheSevenSeas

Ahoy Jack! Good to see ye here!!! I just got an update on this event and will be sending out an update on the 4th of July later today via email. We're sailing down with a working crew only. Looks like I'll be land-lubberin' this time, because I have to haul the Land Shark. I'm guessing that you and Jill want to participate in this one, right? I don't have you down on the list yet, so drop me an email if you would like me to add you to the list of pirates for this event!

Here are the first photos from the Carnaval San Francisco Parade 2004! Tales of the Seven Seas partnered with the Crew of the Dirty Rotten Oar for this event. Check back there are more photos to follow!! David aka "Cap'n Woody Puckernutt" ("Crew of the Dirty Rotten Oar") and a "friend" on the aft deck of the Land Shark, our pirate ship parade float Ace of Harbor Bay (Tales of the Seven Seas) and Maria (Oars) Dan (In back - Oars), Ace, Patt (7C's) and Gladys (7C's) before the parade. Gladys gets the baloon "cutlasses" ready for all the little pirates!! Neko cracks his whip for the crowds- Looks like he should have been cracking it behind that lagging contingent behind us, eh?!! Maria meets up with a pirate who is one of the crew of the Balcutha (berthed at the Hyde St. Pier) And following the Land Shark was the Mud Guppy, who was chased throughout the parade by a shark!!!!!!

Very cool!! Good for you and congratulations!!

Well, if you want historical accuracy, you need to have the era and geographic location defined that you're recreating and you need to specify if you're recreating pirates while at sea or on shore. They often emulated the dress of wealthy merchants, and according to Dr. David Cordingly (Author of Under the Black Flag and other books) the "Hook Look" is suprisingly close to accurate. Pirates DID wear all the foppish stuff that we wore, but they wore it when they went ashore, not at sea. There is an account of the clothing worn by Bartholomew Roberts in his final battle. He liked to dress for the occasion and wore a hat with a red feather, crimson waistcoat and had a diamond crucifix hanging around his neck. I'm guessing your event coordinator wants the 17th or 18th century and is thinking British pirates, otherwise you could show up in Roman or Chinese clothing too!! Most of the time, sailors dressed very simply and downright ratty. Check out Cindy Vallar's series of articles on what pirate life was really like: Pirates and Privateers

Ahoy mates!! Those of you in the vacinity of the San Francisco Bay Area can watch for Tales of the Seven Seas in the Carnaval San Francisco Parade, Sunday May 30th 2004 at 9:30am! Live TV broadcast is at 9:30am on KRON and in Spanish on Telemundo. We'll be easy to spot, we're the only pirates in the parade. We'll have a large contingent of about 30 pirates which includes: Ace, our Jack Sparrow look-alike juggling machetes Brotherhood of the Black Flag Swordfighters (unconfirmed) "Crew of the Dirty Rotten Oar" pirate reenactors from Napa 'The Land Shark' our pirate ship parde float ...and last but not least, "The Mud Guppy" a mini pirate boat captained by an 8 year old pirate! If you can join us, we're always happy to have more participants and loaner gear is available if you need costuming. Email me at talesofthesevenseas@hotmail.com Hope to see ye' at the parade mates!!

Too bad those kids are on the wrong side o' the map! I would recruit them to parade with us in a heartbeat!!

Oh yeah, that reminded me of another gruesome incident. It is the first story in "Captured by Pirates; 22 Stories of Murder and Mayhem on the High Seas" I'm afraid my copy of the book is out on loan so I can't quote exactly, but there is a ship taken over by pirates demanding to know where they've got their money hidden. The captain refuse to tell them until they cut off his arms, at this point, he finally tells them where the money is hidden. For his efforts, they stuff his mouth full of oakum and light it on fire. A bad way to go to be sure. I highly recommend that book. It reads like fiction then you suddenly are reminded that this stuff really happened to someone way back then. Heavy duty reading.

Here ye go mate... enough pirate torture to satisfy yer twisted deeeesires: Click for Keelhauling n' More Piratical Hobbies These are the basics. But there were individual accounts of things such as "sweating" where captives were made to run in circles around the mast while the pirates poked and prodded them with all manner of threatening objects. There were gruesome captive accounts, particularly some of the ones by sailors captured by Ladrone Chinese pirates. Now those were some tough pirates. Feet nailed to the deck and such things. One guy named L'Olonaise (may not have the correct spelling) actually ripped a guy's heart out, and chewed on it to make a point. Blackbeard shot his drinking buddies in the knees just "so they'd remember him" ...and if you want the REALLY bad stuff, research the British Navy. Pirates often became pirates because treatment aboard naval vessals was so inhumane. Best of luck with your project, I hope this helps.

Avast all pirates who are planning to be in on this event! I was just contacted by El Cerrito High School. At midnight on June 12/13, they would like us to make a raid on the high school's pirate theme grad night, capture the school principal and douse him with a bucket o' water!!! This will be quite an elaborate school function, with "Treasure Island" themed props.. complete with a 60 foot long pirate ship they are building in the auditorium for the event!! Sound like fun?!!! I'll be emailin' out details soon!!!

I dropped an email to Watsonville airport hoping to contact the pilots to send them a hello and a thank-you. There was another possible place that was mentioned to try to contact them- can someone refresh my memory please?

Anytime we set sail with the Royaliste, it is bound to be an adventure. But none of us forsaw the adventure that we had this weekend, as three centuries of war machines came together for a battle reenactment the likes of which may have never been seen before!! We sailed out from Sausalito and headed towards Angel Island, where we were to engage our adversaries, the canoneers of the Ft. Reynolds West Garrison. We passed the island at a distance, then looped back, closing in for the attack. The cannoneers were positioned high on the upper end of the parade ground, so the Royaliste's guns were raised and we fired a broadside as we came around the edge of the rocky coastline, raising a plume of white smoke into the air. The cannoneers returned fire and the sounds of cannon fire echoed against the island and across the bay!! Then things began to get REALLY interesting!! A group of three vintage World War II airplanes flew overhead. Apparently, they'd seen the smoke from guns and flew by for a look. We waved, but didn't know if they could see us or not as they flew by. Then someone shouted out; "Look!! They're coming back!!" Sure enough, the planes were circling and were headed right for us!!! One after another, the planes swooped down upon the pirate ship, defending the fort from their attackers and coming so close that we could see the pilots in their cockpit enclosures!! They skimmed low over the water, then rounded up and headed back at us from out of the west, flying in an impressive precision triangle formation over our sails!! Then they came at us from the north, swooping low and dipping their wings!!! They made several low passes at us before flying off to the north!!! On the island, the canoneers of the 19th century, battled the pirate ship of the 18th century, and the garrison was defended from the pirates by three airplanes of the 20th century!! WOWEEEE!!!!!!!! What a sea battle!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't know if there's ever been a battle quite like this!!! I'm going to see if I can find out who the pilots were!

I'll have to check and see which units will be out at Angel Island. It would be fun to contact them via email beforehand to enjoy a bit of camaraderie with them since we won't be on shore. We've really enjoyed working with the folks out on the island recently and have been having a "blast" with their canoneers on Saturday afternoons!!

Chinese New Year in SF is AWESOME!! One of my all-time favorite parades. Someday we may have to rig the Land Shark with Chinese junk sails, dress as Ladrone Chinese pirates and do that one!!

This is an annual event here on the bay... maybe you'd like to plan to join us next year?!!

Aye!!!! Bring yer spyglasses with ye' to Angel Island mates, for there will be much to see on the deck o' the Royaliste!! A crew o' Confederate bad boys who have let the ship get way out o' line, captive Civil War era "damsels in distress" waving their hankies to the Union boys and begging for them to come to their rescue, and what wayward crew would be complete without a few "drunken ladies of ill repute" who have tagged along from the last shore leave?!!! Aye!! All this and a ship-to-shore and Union vs Confederate sea battle too!!! C'mon out to the island and cheer for whomever you support!!

Ahoy Scupper!! Caught yer film debut last night!! Well done indeed lad!! Well done!!

Methinks t'would be great fun to borrow the Royaliste's swivel, mount it on the foredeck o' the Land Shark, float out in whatever pond that wee ship be sailing an' blast 'er 13,000 dollar balsa wood arse clean out o' the water!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ARRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *snicker* I becomes frightfully vengefull when things be grossly over-priced!!!

I'm glad the anchor was what you were looking for. I'll see what I can find in the way of a more appropriate compass. Do you want a repro or an antique or would you consider either depending upon the price?

See the previous message for anchor info. Are you seeking English? There are a lot of different types. Fill me in if I'm getting warm with these guesses: Here is a beautiful antique 18th century French compass... compass Here is a repro of an English ship's compass, my guess is that this is what you're after? repro compass A beautiful chinese one: Chinese compass Another pretty amazing Chinese compass: Chinese compass 2

Are you looking for an antique compass or a reproduction? On the anchor, are you looking for a full-sized repro, a functional anchor in the traditional style (say for use on a reenactment vessel) an authentic antique or a scale model, say for use as a decoration? If so, how large? My guess is that that you're looking for a functional repro, so here is a manufacturer in Maine. This one is for use on small crafts. Nice-looking and authentic in style. Let me know if this isn't what you're after: anchor

Ahoy! I wrote the Franklin article and I'm SO glad that you were intrigued by it! My suggestion for further info on American privateering would be to research privateering during the Civil War. There is lots of great information. And I HIGHLY recommend reading the book Ben Franklin's Privateers. It is well written, well researched and a great read!

Ahoy Cap'n Morgan, Aye, I saw it in me inbox last night! Though swamped I be at work today, I will get an email out to ye confirmin' and will add ye to the list!

Great!! We'd love to have you!! It would probably be a good idea if you had me add you to our emailing list. You can do that by going to our website below, then clicking on the "Join" button and filling in the form. (it takes about 1 minute to fill out, all info is kept private and it is kinda fun to fill out)

I'll drink to that!!!!!!!!! LONG LIVE THE ROYALISTE!!!!!!!!! Although I gotta disagree on the best place to be- there be no place better n' at the helm in my logbook! Nothin' like feelin' the sea, the wind and the ship all pourin' inta ones fingertips as she talks to ye!!! Goes right up me arms n' into me heart it does. Coursin' through me like blood. Hypnotic even. And I be the first to admit, I be truly addicted. Bedazzled and bewitched and madly in love with our faire ship I be!! I aint been the same since me first time me hands touched her helm. Changed me fer'ever she did!! ARRRRRRRRRR!!! Another toast be in ordre!! LONG LIVE THE ROYALISTE!!!!!!!!!

B.B.B.B. (Bay Brat Born n' Bred) San Francisco Bay Area, California.