What lured you to pyracy?

[blackjohn]

Sure I love the movies, but they don't show the whole story of pirates

Amen to that brother.

And then there is Lionel Wafer, and his silver penis sheath!

[Captain Jacob Badger]

Hmmm....bin 'ere before......three things.....the sea, me boat an' the freedom it brings.

[Evil Tiny]

I were pressed by Wm. Kidd after years of workin' with actors as well as fer Arms dealers and Tavern keepers. We keeps it historical with fictional characters (the best pyrates were the ones ye never heard of).

Like the true Gentlemen of Fortune we are, we be whatever we is paid ta be. Beside, what other profession is there where ye kin be "invited" ta consume alcohol, tobacco and discharge firearms whilst threatin' the locals and "pilfer, pillage and plunder yer weasely black guts out"?

Very hard to say "no" to.

[Bloody Joshua]

lol...let me start by saying it is a truly long story but i will do my best to keep it short...

my grandfather(who was by far the hardest man i ever met and was the only person i ever met who got his eye stabbed out over a poker game) read me treasure island as a child. before he started the story he told me it was the best story he had ever read and the day he finished looked at me and said "told you so". after that he would tell me random stories he had read or heardabout pirates. if it was anyone i would say it was him that shaped me into the man i am today. I was twelve when he died but in those twelve years he taught me everything form how to drink to what it took to truly be a tough son of a bitch. To me at least he was truly the worlds last true badass.

[lady snow]

i'm not exactly sure how i found this site, but it had to do with someone posting about captain jack sparrow stealing their kid at the pa ren faire and have been here ever since! fyne bunch o'pyrates i found here too!

[DeadcrowIsland]

Sure I love the movies, but they don't show the whole story of pirates

Amen to that brother.

And then there is Lionel Wafer, and his silver penis sheath!

Long Schlong Silver

[Pew]

Ocracoke Island, NC got me inta pyracy . . . . Livin' 'ere on the Chesapeake makes it easy for boarding parties. . . .

[Nelson Cooke]

An Actual Pirate Compelled Me

I grew up in a small coastal town in New England that for me was whatever the opposite of fun is. However, as anyone who's looked out at it knows, however, the ocean offers boundless possibilities. There was a somewhat famous pirate in the early 19th Century named William Thompson. He spelled Thompson (the alias my family was using at the time was Thomson without a P), but I knew pirates weren't known for their literacy, so I just figured he'd misspelled it. Thompson disappeared in around 1825, but being eight, you can look out to sea and believe there's a pretty good chance your pirate ancestor's mast might appear on the horizon one morning, or that his proxy might show up and say, "Kid, we need you to go on an adventure to get gold."

This was basically the premise of my first published book, Pirates of Pensacola--a landlubbing accountant's life is anything but exciting until his estranged pirate father shows up after twenty-some years in jail and says, "Let�s hit the sea, lad, there�s treasure to be got." So there you have it.

Incidentally, a common misnomer about pirates is they buried treasure. Think about it. You swing through cannon fire and onto an enemy deck full of dark smoke with rapiers whining all about. You somehow manage to persevere and get away with a bunch of gold. Why in the hell would you drop anchor at some island and stick it in a hole? William Thompson did bury treasure though. And maybe someday I'll find it.

[Cap'n Pete Straw]

Following my love of black powder weapons, and my son's happenstance coincidental (serendipidous?) love of All Things Pirate, I was looking on the internet for some information on flintlocks. At the time I did not own any, and was in the market.

Google brought up a Black Poweder Flintlock thread under "Plunder" on this site. I explored around a bit, and got hooked. The area of "Pirates" has always been an interest of mine, and I have been colecting/creating 17th and 18th centruy gear for quite a long while, but it's when I found all of YOU people that it all came together....

... I realized that if I was insane, there were many other insane people out there with whom I could commandeer a ship and take to the seas.

[Teh_Sil]

Hopefully this hasn't been discussed before. I did check the backpages. *nervous*

I'm quite curious- what got everyone here interested in the nature and lore/history of piracy? What really sparked your heart and made you decide that this was something you were interested in?

For me, it was when my dad was producing a short movie about pirates. We travelled to the Virgin Islands and the Isle of Saint Lucia. Not only did I reap the benefits of raiding the fake jewels... I got to spend a great deal of time aboard the ship used in the movie, the HMS Rose (a replica, to be honest). Seeing the movie and being on set got me interested. This had to be around ten years ago, when I was but a wee lass of seven. It was then I started dressing up as a pirate every Halloween, and focused the games of 'pretend' my friends and I indulged in to revolve around pirates.

Your stories?

[Pirate Seika]

can't really put me finger (the good one.. that i still be usin) on the exact time in me life... but i've been a scallywag at heart me whole life... just kinda took to it natural like... i became an all out pirate about 20 yrs ago at various faires... and now.. me Cap'n John and I traverse the globe lookin for adventure on the high seas as a livin.... sometimes good other times not..

but... yo ho yo ho a pirate's life for me....

[Asukaru]

Honestly? Girl Scouts. During my High School years I was in a troop that competed annually at an event called GAM that focused mainly on maritime know how. Learning knots, code flags, belltime, and marlinspike peaked my interest in the nautical and then came Pirates of the Caribbean and that was the end of that.

It also helped that 3 years later when I finally crossed over at Halloween Haunt I was cast as a Wench in the Pirate themed maze.

[Pirate Seika]

gotta love us pirates!!!!

[Matusalem]

just the mere fact that you can get stuff FOR FREE!

...an watch yer victims agonize

..cause we're pyrates, an we enjoy what we do for a livin

[Captain Jim]

For me Pyracy has always just sort of "been there". My first vessel was an Optimist pram (10 feet loa) at age 8. Circumnavigated Egmont Key at age 10 (5 miles across Tampa Bay: the parents were not amused.) Regularly careened (camped) on Anna Maria Island until it was outlawed when I was 13. Threw in with a crusty old doctor (Dr. Payne, a urologist no less) at the Yacht Club and raised hell during races by boarding other boats during the races, taking ice, beer, rum and willing wenches. I have so many stories with that scallywag. All the while the history stalked my steps. Turned down a berth on a ship in Key West once because the owner was this crazy treasure hunter, Mel Fisher. Talk about missing the boat. But always the history was there, calling me. Then I found this place. Like-minded pyrates. Then, Pirates in Paradise. Paradise, indeed.

[Sir Beachem Quick]

The three muskateers (stop laughing) 1970's is where the romance of it began for me being a natural at going against the grain I just segwayed right into piracy. Personaly for me it's more about the spirit than the fine detail. Oh . . . and who doesn't love getting all kitted up. My entire life has been pironic.

[LadyBarbossa]

Aye... it was discussed. But the thread is long gone by now I'm sure.

As I said before... it was "The Goonies". The thrill of a treasure hunt and One Eyed Willie was too strong. Which that soon led me to read "Treasure Island" and "Blackbeard's Ghost" (the book, not the Disney movie). It snowballed from there... then slacked off until a few years ago when I began to fancy it once more just before PotC.

~Lady B

[William Brand]

My interest is purely philosophical.

In a pig's eye. I love the sea, which stems from my youth, for I spent more time near the oceans of the world then. Now, I am landlocked in high desert country and I do not own so much as a raft.

[Pirate Seika]

ya bein landlocked sucks... i try to get down to the seaside as often as possible.. luckily Cap'n John and i live in the fine harbour of Hamilton... one of Canada's busiest ship building ports in it's day...

Hamilton Ship Building

[Matusalem]

Forgive my sarcastic answer in the beginning post.

For me, spent several years in few places along the eastern seaboard,divorced parents:

1. Mom: owned waterfront property on Narraganssett bay, was blown away when I first saw a squqre-rigged vessel from my back yard. I owned a dow (12 ft rowboat, Sunfish, 14 ft Vanguard with 2 sails) and would sail over to campfire across the bay on Prudence Island. Bristol boasts itself as the oldest 4th July parade in the US. The Revolutionary War reenactors(including Fife&drum bands) pretty much take over the town. I used to snorkel with friends and find ship artifacts.

2. Dad (navy enlisted sonar-man) lives in Baltimore, sails and thinks "nautical" the way I do. .

3. I spent 3 years as carpenter/Boatbuider in R.I. , fabricating solid Teak bow-sprits , floors, etc. on Shannon 38/43/50 ft sailing Yachts.

4. Went to prep school in R.I. where we had a class called "Rhode Island History", learned that Newport was rich in pirate history....pls note that above (1) our home was dead across from the HMS Gaspee burning site.

5. Blown a way when I first saw the Civil War movie "Glory" and would spend and outrageos amount of time in Gettysburg and Antietam battlefelds, so reenactment has always interested me when I was down in Baltimore.

6. First saw Pirates of the Caribbean ride in Orlando, in 1979...was blown away by the flume ride and the moving sunset sky in the village. (POTC, Space Mountain, 20,00 Leagues..all-time favorite rides then)

7. went to University of Bridgeport, Ct in the late 80's/early 90's,where the HMS Rose was docked right at the edge of the campus, this was the same ship used in the film "Master & Commander" .

8. Mom moved from R.I. to SW florida...and when I visit, SW Florida is boring (but nice sunsets on the Gulf) , so when I stumbled upon Pirates in Paradisein Key West , I had to get involved. It is so easy for me to get to Key West by ferry.

Anyway, that sums me up. Ren-faire is ok (been to festivals in Carver but I'm a history buff) , I promise I wont bother ye all any more.

[Pirate Seika]

i'd hardly say SW Florida is boring... one of my favorite places to be...

[Matusalem]

i'd hardly say SW Florida is boring... one of my favorite places to be...

Pirate Seika , I take that back. I do enjoy being there...providing I can be amongst my own age group. The retiree set is not my cup of tea. I have no problem going to the pier in Venice or somehwere in Naples or Sarasota. Anna maria island is a gorgeous place!...as is Sanibel Island.

[Boots MacGee]

6. First saw Pirates of the Caribbean ride in Orlando, in 1979...was blown away by the flume ride and the moving sunset sky in the village.  (POTC, Space Mountain, 20,00 Leagues..all-time favorite rides then)

that's the same year I rode it for the first time

[Capt. Sterling]

Can't remember ever not being interested in tall ships and the sea... grew up on Forester, Kent, Northcote Parkingson. Pirates have always fallen in with that as well...

[Pirate Seika]

Sarasota.. and Anna Maria r the Cap'n and i's haunts...

down there as much as possible.. Sanibel is beautiful as well.. but the toll costs for the new causeway they're buildin arrr piracy at it's best.. $6.00 to drive across now....

lol