Pirate Brethren

[BloodyBuckets]

The Pirate Brethren news and announcements

[blackjohn]

Thanks Bloody Buckets!

[blackjohn]

WHO WE ARE...

The Pirate Brethren, as a group, has been around since the mid-1990s, originally going by the name Brethren of the Bay. We share a common ancestry with Merrick's Privateers, both units springing from an ill-fated attempt to have a Pirate Camp at Jamestown's Marching Through Time event, an idea which was in itself born of the annual Adelphi Mill Pyrate Feast.

Our group is composed of experienced reenactors -- twenty years isn't unusual -- with one member having close to 40 years, not bad consider he is only 40. Many of our members do other time periods, ranging from ancient Rome to WWII 15th (Scottish) Recce, and almost everything in between. Our interest in history has lead us to seek a more accurate portrayal of pirates -- pirates as common sailors, pirates as soldiers and so on. This doesn't mean we don't want to have fun. It just means that our notion of fun, and who pirates really were, might be a different interpretation than what you are used to seeing.

If you find this historical approach to piracy appealing, we are always looking for new members. No experience is needed, just a willingness to learn, and an open mind. If you are interested, feel free to visit our site, www.piratebrethren.com, and join our mail list.

[blackjohn]

WHERE WE'VE BEEN...

The Pirate Brethren has done a small number of events over the years. As mentioned in "Who We Are," we started life as part of a group attempting to do a Pirate Camp at Jamestown's Military through the Ages in the mid to late 1990s. At the time, Jamestown wasn't friendly to pirates (maybe things have changed there now, I don't know), and we found ourselves without a camp. A decision was made to return next year as privateers. Some of us, not being interested in privateering, decided to part ways with our companions, a friendly parting, and the Brethren was formed.

Then we spent a year or so trying to figure out what to do, until one day we found ourselves with too many events, and people who wanted to give us money!!! Something generally unheard of in the reenacting world.

National Geographic filmed us for a National Geographic Explorer television program on the Whydah. They also hired us to do numerous stints as piratical entertainment to accompany the Whydah exhibit then at Explorers’ Hall.

What happened to the money, you ask? Well, we are pirates. It was divided in the proper manner, each getting his fare share.

Then for 1998 and 1999 things slowed down a bit. Or maybe we slowed down from too much drink after our previous success? In 1998 we helped provide pirate antics at BucConeer, the World Science Fiction Convention, held in Baltimore that year. The following year we did the Horatio Hornblower promo in Baltimore. Horatio Hornblower, and pirates from the Golden Age of Piracy? Yes, it was silly, but it was fun, and we got to be on the tv!

For 2000, things went well. There was the Hampton Blackbeard Festival, a very nice event, with a surprising amount of fighting for those interested in such things. And then there was... the Howard Pyle Festival!!!

(To be continued)

[Gute Morgan]

Good to trade rums with ye!

I'm with a newly formed/forming crew in the Baltimore area. We've got an interest in reenactment (although right now I think our outfits are probably more those of the stereotypical pirate than they are historically accurate) but we're also interested in doin' some singin'. We're lookin' to recruit some additional voices and instruments.

[blackjohn]

Ahoy Gute!

We'll have to do the rum for real some time!

Would you be interested in joining us on the Kalmar Nyckel on October 23rd for a three hour private pyrate cruise from Alexandria? Tickets are $60 per person. I think we have about nine spots left.

As for signing... I asked around at our meeting today, and no one seemed particularly interested. Sorry.

And if anyone out there is reading this... I'd love to have a few musicians in the group. Rev war or F&I drummers would be nice. Even ECW drummers. If you know any who live in the mid-atlantic region who might want to reenact pirate drummers, send them my way!!!

Blackjohn

[Gute Morgan]

Would you be interested in joining us on the Kalmar Nyckel on October 23rd for a three hour private pyrate cruise from Alexandria? Tickets are $60 per person. I think we have about nine spots left.

18th Century attire or 21st?

That's a possibility. May I ask within my crew?

[Guest Guest]

Gute, that would be 1680 to 1724 attire.

Sure, ask the entire crew. I need to do a new head count to see exactly how many space we have left, and I'll try to send out an email today/tonight with more info.

Blackjohn

[Guest Guest]

ARRGH! I hear tell this Black John has a plan to take the Kalmar Nykle at its port in Alexandria. Where 'es off to with her from there is what I wonder.

I hav come across this Black John and his crue before, it may well be many a day more than 3 hours till she be seen again. But I doubt if even they would try to cross a man the likes of her Captain. Now thar be a pirate!

[blackjohn]

That be true, that be true... from there we're Tortuga bound... exceptin' that there be one small problem, named the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.

If yer interested in joining our little venture, write to me askin' fer details.

In all seriousness, I have a great respect and admiration for her Cap, and that's one of the reasons I'm hesitant to call myself captain, because that man has worked hard for the title. I'd sail with that man to hell and back, such is my admiration for him.

Blackjohn

ps - I'd be qualified as navigator, seein' as how I make the stinkin' nautical charts fer a livin'

[blackjohn]

pps - I'm not sure how much experience Cap has with land battles... I'll have to ask him next time I see him. As for me, I spent alot of time in the lines, serving as grunt, coporal, sergeant, ensign, and maybe even as lieutenant once. Well do I know the taste of blackpowder...

[blackjohn]

THE HOWARD PYLE FESTIVAL...

I've done a lot of reenacting over the years, and I've seen and done more than my fair share of cool stuff... went to an evening ball at the Governor's Palace in Williamsburg, stood guard over George Washington's tomb, drank 173 year old rum recovered from a shipwreck, marched in Clinton's second inaugural parade, fired a Boys anti-tank rifle from an Bren gun carrier at a Nazi armored car while mocks bombs were exploding in a field next to us and allied fighters flew overhead, and then there was marching along a dusty road and looking up to see Mel Gibson no more than ten feet away, riding by on horseback, with the American flag streaming behind him, silhouetted in the sun...

Those were just brief moments, some with fleeting glimpses of that feeling of “being there.” With Howard Pyle, it was more than a fleeting glimpse. That feeling lasted a good hour or two. From the moment the Kalmar Nyckel cleared the bay and we were in open ocean til the time we pirates climbed over her side, sat ourselves down in the boat for the long haul to shore, and rode a breaking wave onto the beach to a cheering crowd, it was like stepping back in time.

Add to that not one, but two, battles with the Crown’s Forces, on the beach mind you, and what more could one ask for!?!?

Sadly, the second Howard Pyle Festival didn’t come off as nicely as the first. Maybe the problems could have been fixed if a third Howard Pyle Festival was held. One was planned, but Delaware State Parks cancelled. Why? Who can say? And what was once an event with tremendous potential is now lost to us...

[blackjohn]

WHERE YOU'LL FIND US...

If all goes as planned, here's our list of "raids" for the next year, as agreed upon at our last meeting:

August 19, 2005. Capital Cove Marina on Bolling Air Force Base. Pirate demo for the Pentagon Yacht Club.

August 21, 2003. The Brethren Practices Sword Fighting at Palmetto’s and Poppet’s.

September 25-26, 2004. Maryland Ren Fest Pirate Invasion Weekend.

October 23, 2004. The Brethren’s Private Pirate Cruise from Alexandria, Virginia.

January 2005 (last weekend?). Pyrate Feast at Adelphi Mill.

Mid-April 2005. Marietta Mansion. Marching through Time.

April, 2005 (1st weekend). Pirates at Rippon Landing, Virginia.

Mid-May, 2005. North Carolina Blackbeard Festival.

June, 2005 (1st weekend?). Hampton Blackbeard Festival.

September 22-25, 2005. The Bath Tri-Centennial Maritime Festival.

Blackjohn

[blackjohn]

WHO WE WANT...

We want you. All of you! We want everyone to join us in a big happy brotherhood of piracy where we make our own rules and everyone is treated as equals!

However, we also want to try to be authentic... and we know being authentic, or trying to be authentic, is not everyone’s bowl of punch. So...

1. Are you interested in learning?

2. Do you have a sense of adventure?

3. Are you willing to get dirty in the name of fun?

4. Do you have a flair for the dramatic?

5. Are you a re-enactor, or interested in becoming one?

6. Do you live in the mid-Atlantic region of the east coast of the USA?

7. Are you interested in pirates, from the historical point of view?

8. Do you have nothing better to do than to spend your money on things that most people would raise an eyebrow at?

9. Are you trained in the use of black powder firearms?

10. Do you own a sword?

11. Are you interested in learning how to really use it?

12. Do you believe authenticity can be fun?

13. Are you willing to interact with the public while dressed in historical attire, and either entertain them or educate them?

If you can say yes to most or all of these questions, then please consider joining our merry band of adventurers.

Blackjohn

[blackjohn]

WHAT WE ARE WORKING ON...

Of late there has been much talk of cartridge boxes on our list. One of the crew is going to attempt to replicate the box found on the Whydah.

http://www.piratebrethren.com/whydah/cartridgebox.html

Blackjohn

[blackjohn]

How We Are Organized

The Pirate Brethren is loosely organized. We are not a guild of some type, nor are we affiliated with the SCA or other such organizations. We don't have officers, except for the "captain." We don't have annual dues.

Most of our information is exchanged via our email list. This is where you can find us arguing about pirate trivia, e.g., the accuracy of striped stockings.

There are no expectations placed on members. Only one thing is asked, that each of us tries to have kit that is authentic to our period - roughly 1680 to 1724.

Blackjohn

[blackjohn]

The captain has been thinking of a new coat, and he's been doing some research...

Coat Details

Coat Pattern

Blackjohn

[blenderwench]

aye Black John! See ya at the MD Renn Fest on Pyrate Weekend!

[blackjohn]

Righto! I'll be the quiet one, dressed as a pirate.

Blackjohn

[blackjohn]

Coats... aye, those we tifs... these be gifs...

Coat Details

Coat Pattern

Blackjohn

[kass]

And if anyone out there is reading this... I'd love to have a few musicians in the group. Rev war or F&I drummers would be nice. Even ECW drummers. If you know any who live in the mid-atlantic region who might want to reenact pirate drummers, send them my way!!!

Blackjohn

John, me own harty,

Didja know that my Bob is a drummer? I mean, it was his major in college. He doesn't currently have a drum appropriate to our period, but perhaps that isn't an unconquerable dearth. We're pirates after all!

He also plays recorder, tin whistle, guitar... and ask Marko about his singin'.

Kass

[blackjohn]

Avast! I didn't know that! Your Bob (I'm using the Blackadder pronunciation) is one helluva fellow!

We need musicians. If he's interested, we'll double his beer rations!!!

Blackjohn

[blackjohn]

Oh, and I WILL ask Marko about Bob's singing. And... MR and Mrs BALLS will be joining us on the 23rd!

Btw, more and more people are sending in money for tickets. Hopefully we'll have this ship packed with pirates of the worse kind before long.

Blackjohn

[JoshuaRed]

Hey Black John!

As I've mentioned before, I'm moving down to the Phila. area in about a month...once settled I would love nothing more than to get involved with your fine brotherhood.

My reenacting experience is nil, but I've been a fanatical student of piracy, seafaring life and life in early Colonial America for going on 10 years. I'm dying to get in to reenacting, so if you might have me, I'd be a quick learner.

Perhaps we could get together for a double rum somewhere in Del. this fall and discuss further? My treat.

[blackjohn]

Rum... funny you should mention rum... I'm drinking some 8 year old rum right now.

Sir, we of the Pirate Brethren would be more than happy to have you sign articles with us. I suggest you join our mail list (but be forwarned, last month we had over 500 messages, and most were on topic) and join us at our next event.

Blackjohn