What lured you to pyracy?

[CrazyCholeBlack]

Honestly, dumb luck.

I was looking for a new time period to be interested in. I knew I wanted a local group since I was tired of learning and never *doing*, I knew I wanted the group to be on the "historically picky" side since that's the way I am and I knew that I didn't want to have to wear hoops skirts, which eliminated Elizabethan and ACW. Turns out the GAoP fits the bill perfectly.

Now you're all stuck with me!

[Capt. Sterling]

Oi Chole, mind sharing that local GAoP group's name and possible contact info? Would they be willing to try and put together a more historical event in the WI, IL neck of the woods?

[CrazyCholeBlack]

Would, but I don't have your number

[Capt. Sterling]

**blink, blink** sorry blond moment....

[Rats]

1974 POTC ride at disney land!!!

I can still remember the smell of the wood and water and also looking up during the ship battle!!!

After that mom got me interested in Revwar because it was "kinda the same hats and stuff"

I remember the Blackbeards ghost movie on Sunday disney...

Mom was also hooked on the classic movies on channel 18.... They would have The Marx Brothers, Abbot & Costello, Hope and Crosby.... But also had the classics like Zorro, Robin Hood, Captain Blood, The Scarlet Pirate and The Black Swan...

[theM.A.dDogge]

Always had a thing fer redheads....can't help it....just do...first girls i "noticed"...when i first started noticin girls....were Maureen O'hara and Daphne from SCOBBIE-DOO ...still like scobbie-doo...but folowed my Maureen O'hara anywhere... such as aboard the BLACK SWAN...while with the SPANISH MAIN...or even when she was being chased by SINBAD THE SAILOR...or being courted on by the QUIET MAN....well that last one had no pirates but i did learn to drynk like MICHALEEN OGE FLYNN... gotta watch the film...i even started walkin like JOHN WAYNE... cause he always got the red head!... im better now.

give me a sword...odd lokin gun...sash...and a cool hat...so i can chase redheads...an im yer man

my wife still won't let me watch SCOOBIE-DOO by meself.....

[SilasTalbot]

Sort of a long segue of a few years, having worked as an actor and fight director for some time - but with more of a Shakespearean focus. I was hired to play "Jack Sparrow" for a corporate event, and then a few months later began doing RevWar-era privateer stuff on board a tall ship in Boston Harbor. The experience of being on board the ship totally hooked me...the snowball was rolling down the hill, out of control by then. But the seed was definitely planted when I was a kid...I remember building one of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" model kits, watching "Treasure Island" and "Blackbeard's Ghost". I suppose even the summer stock production of "Pirates of Penzance" that I did 17 years ago enters into the picture.

If all goes well, we will have another tall ship involved this year. There we'll focus on Boston pyratical history, portraying characters like Samuel Bellamy, William Fly, Edward Low...and I'll get to put into practice much more of the true GAoP history that I've picked up from the Pyracy Pub. The feedback and input I've gotten from everyone here has been invaluable.

[Hester]

What first sparked my interest in "piracy"?

Probably the punk fashions of Vivienne Westwood (particularly as worn by Adam Ant):

... followed closely by Kevin Kline as Gilbert & Sullivan's Pirate King:

And that early spark was kept alive by Matthew Modine in Cutthroat Island:

... then fanned to a flame by Captain Jack:

Cheers, Hester

[BILLY BONES]

Yikes! and other piratical expressions.

I was born on the California coast, and every weekend, my dad would take his lavish yacht (16' CrisCraft) to Catalina, with me hanging on watching pilot whales bump the boat.

When we weren't going there, I was hangin' at the Long Beach Marina feeling ill from the fishy smell combined with gas fumes. Ah, the good life.

I was fortunate to live where we did, because I got to be one of the first kids to ride Pirates of the Caribbean. Hell, I was always playing pirate anyway. As I recall, I must have gone on that ride 5 times a month. I could do all the voices and knew all the lines.

I can remember three Halloweens when I wasn't a pirate (in my life, and I'm 54). One of those years, I was Poseidon or Neptune, depending on your orientation.

Then, I discovered rum, and I don't remember much else. Working at a flintlock store for 13 years, the movie industry for 30, Knott's Berry Farm (I actually created the first Halloween Haunt), working on POTC, and a bunch of pirate related stuff in there about sums it up.

[Kenneth]

For me it was Pippi Longstocking waiting for her "Pirate" dad to come home...! Old re runs on sunday morning after Popeye, I would faithfully watch The Adventures Of Long John Silver. Goonies had me playing Pirate all over the house, then Walter Matthau in "Pirates" and I was hooked...Of course the dread Pirate Roberts in Princess Bride was a bonus.

[Morgan Dreadlocke]

Another Long Beacher checkin' in. Spent many a summer at the LB model boat shop makin' ships that was always a bit more piratey than the instructors be likin'. Prolly crossed the path 'o Billy Bones though neither of us would be knowin' it. Sneakin' in ta the Marine Stadium ta watch the drag boats every Memorial day an collectin' starfish ta boil up an sell ta the tourists might be the plantin' 'o the seeds. They got a good waterin' durin' a 2 year tour of East Anglia. A few years playin' in the SCA but too much polytics and brownnosin' fer me tastes. Decided ta build me own ship about a year ago and stumbled through the pub lookin' fer plans and information. No real intent ta go piratey at the time but hey, if yous gonna build a pirate ship might as well do the rest right too.

[Shipwreck John]

I would have to say it was mostly of my own doing. As a child I became facinated with Pirates and dinosours. The fascination faded for a bit, then around the Potc 1 era....(not really much of a Potc maniac) I became more involved with it. My eventual turn on was of course this forum, and my fishing habits. As I would go fishing, I would fantasize about bieng a buccaneer in a dingy, so as the story goes , the name Shipwreck came from a fishing experience. I actually was caught out at low tide in my chenoe and almost got stuck or "shipwrecked" I managed to get in ,but on the next trip It almost happened again, so my name kind of stuck. My biggest influence would have to be Robert Newton.Treasure Island with Robert Newton is the first Pirate movie I ever owned, so it was a big influence

[Rumba Rue]

Aside from Erroll Flynn, I'd have to say when I met Christine Lampe (though at the time her last name was Markel) and her beau Micheal Lampe when I was still working the S. Renaissance Pleasure Faire in San Bernadino in another lifetime - upteen years ago.

She tweeked my interest and when I finally left the Renaissance era behind, and joined up with the pirate group Christine was part of...well the rest is history.

Nowadays, Christine Lampe is better known as Jamaica Rose the head of No Quarter Given (No Quarter Given)

[capnwilliam]

Reading Treasure Island as I boy when we'd go to the seashore in Ocean City, New Jersey: and imagining that I was THERE...rather than just...here.

Capt. William

[Black Anne Rose]

I believe my interest, or maybe my obsession was a born handycap

As a little kid I used to play "piraatje", or "little pirate" (the first oneis dutchnamed :huh:and then later on, i began looking in history books and the art of that time really got to me. my whole room is baroque at the moment, and i draw/design dresses, mostly with a baroque print. it'd be cool, if i ever wander around in my own design! but anyways, the pirate spirit has always been there, but i must say, it really got to me when POTC came out. I started to write pirate stories and i got awhole bunch of them now, and one im writing here in the pub! so thats what got me in the PUB, but the piratism has always been running in my veins

[Captain Pantbeard]

The character of the pirate is more vibrant and rich with colour than anybody else in any historical period. The image of a pirate combines the warm romanticism of swashbuckling and bounty hunting with the absurdity of wooden legs and parrots on shoulders. It's wonderful.

I've always found pirates - both factual and fictional - to be quite fascinating when confronted with the subject. To that end, I'm using it as a basis for the novel that I've been pestered to write for nearly ten years now.

As the internet is a great research tool, I've stumbled upon this place and, I must say, I like the cut of your jib.

[Silkie McDonough]

Pure entertainment.

The adventure of it all. Peter-pan and Captain Hook to PotC3. Earl Flynn. Heck even as a kid I marched with the "Buccaneer's".

The first time I went to the ocean I was drawn but once back home the call was hard to hear (12 yo & in Pittsburgh.)

For years that all sat dormant. Then a friend introduced me to the pub and finally took me to my first event and the rest is historic reenactment.

[BriarRose Kildare]

What first sparked my interest in "piracy"?

Probably the punk fashions of Vivienne Westwood (particularly as worn by Adam Ant):

.

I can only agree with Hester that my interest truly peaked with the style of Adam Ant. In high school I created my own style by dressing like him and playing the part of a pirate.

But my true interest and love began as a young child. First with Peter Pan, Black Beard's Ghost and of course Sinbad. Peter Pan will always be the story most close to me own heart. And one day I hope to ride aboard that magical ship.

[blackbonie]

my interest was started with the disney ride. dont hate.lol. the movies have fueled my interest but it was there before they came out.

[Maggie Crowe]

Off and on throughout my life, as long as I can remember. Probably the first influence was Treasure Island, then later the PotC ride at Disneyland (my second favorite after the Jungle Cruise ).

Later, I got involved with Renn-Faires, and pirates had the most fun and wore the most comfortable clothing

Finally, when PotC1 came out on DVD, my 2-year-old became our little pyrate. He's been a pirate every year for Halloween since then (trick-arrrrr-treat), has quite the child-friendly armory, and the coolest garb (lucky for him Mommy sews). My husband fell right into the role, so we're now a family of pyrates :)

[Pew]

A trip to the Outer Banks. Stories of Blackbeard and being at Ocracoke Inlet. Always loved the local Renn-fest as well. Never met many pirates there though. I then found the pub and Diego, William and Dorian.

[Bartholomew Roberts]

To be perfectly honest, it was the Pirates of the Caribbean movies that did it for me. I saw the first one a few times, and then decided to do research on Pirates to see what they were really like.

As soon as I read about Black Bart, I fell in love with the subject.

[HarborMaster]

Your interest in piracy (Pyracy?), What started ye off?

What starts one off indeed mate?

The money.,obviously I am in it for the money.

[Silent]

The Goonies

[Manglin' Maggi Maloney]

I began liking pirates as a child watching quite a few pirate movies. I'de come home from school, and the local tv station would accomodate my curiosity and love very frequently, with offerings like Against All Flags, Magic Island, The Black Swan, The Boy and the Pirates, The Buccaneer, Return To Treasure Island, Captain Blood, Captain Kidd, Long John Silver, Sinbad the Sailor and too many more to list. I also got hooked on the Horatio Hornblower book series at about 13, so pirate lore was pretty well embedded thinking by the time i was in high school.

Then the advent of movies like Yellow Beard, Ice Pirates, Hook and The Princess Bride, and of course PotC, it was an inevitable slide into a world i had idolized as a kiddo. Pirate stuff is very simply fun!

I'm hoping to get a set of pirate garb done for at least my 6-year old and myself, possibly her father too, and then do the one thing i have always wanted to do; go to a Renaissance Festival in period clothes! I'm not new to pirate fun, just new to being able to make the garb and join in on the fun dressed as i should be!