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Pirate Induction Ritual?


capnwilliam

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Do any of ye Piratical Historians know whether there was any sort of ritual attendant "jinin' " a period piratical crew? I read somewhere that signing the articles was often done while placing one's hands on a Bible, human skull, or crossed pistols, or while seated on a cannon. <_<

Do any of your contemporary crews have any such ritual?

Capt. William

"The fight's not over while there's a shot in the locker!"

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I believe there are several examples of initiation ceremonies in Hiram V. Noodlewhacker's "Rites and Rituals of the Old Pyrate Brotherhood" :P

Some time ago Corsair and I were discussing an initiation ritual he'd found that involved looking in a mirror, but there didn't seem to be much more than that to it, and no signs of what the significance might have been. They went in the cabin, looked in the mirror and signed articles.

Foxe

"With this Fore-Staff he fansies he does Wonders, when, God knows, it amounts to no more but only to solve that simple Question, Where are we? Which every chi'd in London can tell you." - Ned Ward The Wooden World Dissected, 1707


ETFox.co.uk

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Foxe,

I was going to add something here, but I couldn't get past Hiram V. Noodlewhacker. My apologies.

Actually, that sounds like a tome I would be interested in reading.

Capt. William Bones

Then he rapped on the door with a bit of stick like a handspike that he carried, and when my father appeared, called roughly for a glass of rum. This, when it was brought to him, he drank slowly, like a connoisseur, lingering on the taste, and still looking about him at the cliffs and up at our signboard.

"This is a handy cove," says he, at length; " and a pleasant sittyated grog-shop. Much company, mate?"

My father told him no, very little company, the more was the pity.

"Well, then," said he, "this is the berth for me."

Proprietor of Flags of Fortune.

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Unfortunately copies of Noodlewhacker's excellent reference work are extremely rare, and copyright issues make reprints unlikely for the next 8,000 years.

It is rumoured that even the Library of Congress do not have a copy of Noodlewhacker. Four copies were held in the great library at Alexandria before it was burned, and a further four were lost when the deluge swept the Municipal and State Library of Atlantis Services Building. My own copy is one of only three still known to survive, and was given to me by Noodlewhacker himself, a close personal friend (It is inscribed To Ed, The Ritest and Rittest Pirate there is, Hiram). Noodlewhacker owns one copy, the third is kept under lock and key at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.

Foxe

"With this Fore-Staff he fansies he does Wonders, when, God knows, it amounts to no more but only to solve that simple Question, Where are we? Which every chi'd in London can tell you." - Ned Ward The Wooden World Dissected, 1707


ETFox.co.uk

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hmm... My crew didnt have any.... bummer...

In all honesty from my very limited experience... I cant recall any kind of strange or ritual thing i had read about... however due to the scarcity i dont believe i shall ever get a chance to read mr. noodlewhacker's work. The only thing i can think of is that it was like taking a job. You signed a contract and such.

But why is the rum gone?

Save a horse ride a cowboy!

Take me away and take me farther, suround me now and hold me like holy

My toes are getting pruney

Also my head is round that window is square....

My name is Micheal J Kabous and i eat babies!

Your toast has been burned and no amount of scraping will remove the black stuff

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  • 2 weeks later...

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