Help me learn piracy.

[SilverWolf]

With your help I think I can become more of a pirate over here.Perhaps if some of you would brief me I can learn from you.I know zero about pirates but wish to learn.

[Mad Matt]

Just hang out and read alot of the other threads around here. Pick up a book or two; rent Peter Pan; have fun with it!

[SilverWolf]

I have tried to read some of the post but they do not make any sense to me.

[Patrick Hand]

but they do not make any sense to me.

Some of the post are continuing jokes and banter between people that know each other through the pub..... so it can get confusing..... if you are looking for historical topics on Pyracy, then look in Capt. Twill. (but once again there are people that know each other) But... this dosen't mean that we get "exclusive" or say that someone else can't reply.... but Capt. Twill is a good place to start... most of the other threads will be on the "fringe" of history..... This thread.... Beyond Pyracy is about everything not covered by the other threads...... and "the Way to a Pyrate Heart" was sopose to be about food and drink..... but has become a fun (slightly risque) place to post....

Awh heck....... just join in.... you'll figure it out quick enough.......

[Mad Matt]

OK. "Argh" as its current common useage it meant to be an affirmative response. i.e. Anyone want t' pillage this woman? The appropriate reponse could be "ARGH!"

[SilverWolf]

This is a whole new world to me my friends.It's like learning something while reading it in a native tongue.My questions may be very elementary to you who have been pirates for a long time.Just as if you were to try and learn my language by trying to read it and learn it through your native English vocabulary.

It's not that I do not know how to read and understand English,it's that I've never heard or seen this kind of place before about pirates.

[Silkie McDonough]

No, that's Aye!

"Do you want a Rum?" "Yes!" American English.

"Do you want a Rum?" "Aye!" Pirate lingo.

[Mad Matt]

Being too much of a manly man again, am I?

[Silkie McDonough]

Being too much of a manly man again, am I? 

Aye Matt, you are!

Arrgh is simply a sound used (some say over used) to sound ...well ...piratey. I guess it is an interjection.

I'd suggest a few pirate movies. Like "Treasure Island" that's a good one to start with.

[SilverWolf]

When did pirates first come to be?I've viewed some of the photographs of your members.From the looks of the clothing it has to be the colonial era is that not so?

[Mad Matt]

Don't know. Different circumstances call for different gutteral utterances. Damn those manly men!

[Patrick Hand]

I've never heard or seen this kind of place before about pirates.

OK.... Imagine that the only thing that was know about the Lokota was what you could find in a museam or in a few books written about them..... But there are many movies showing them (and most of those movies are very wrong) That is the same problem with Pyrates.... we have a bunch of movies and paintings that show something that looks "cool" but is not accurate....

In the Pyracy Pub, there are some people who do the movie, or painting version of Pyracy, and there are some who try to find out what pyrates were realy like..... sometimes both groups missunderstand each other..... But both groups do have a "love" for the time period.

The Pyracy Pub is a place where everyone can discuss all versions of pyracy.... the Hollywood version, and the historical version.

If you are interested in eaither version, there are many differnet threads here discussing anything about everything pyratical.....

It sometimes just takes some time to figure out what what we are typing about....... (and catch some ot the jokes...)

But we are nice people, and will try to help if you have any questions......

[HarborMaster]

Pirates came inta bein'., the first time someone built something that would float...., someone tried ta steal it. Wallah the first pirate. ..there have been pirates ever since and there is pirates even today., tho pirates today ., take whatever they can., be it manufactoring cheaply made goods with big name es on the product to music and or software., Pirati'n is a dirty business as it were. I think your going after the colonial topic., is only but one period in time., and colonial is about 100 years late at that., but pirates arent one time period...., pirates have been around a long time., just remember what happened to Noah...., they all made fun of 'im..., then after he got is Ark built...., they tried ta take it from eem they did. Thems was pirates that done that it was.

[Captain Jim-sib]

via Silver Wolf:

When did pirates first come to be?

Forget not the Phoenician pirates of the Hellenistic Period

[SilverWolf]

I can by imagining along the lines of your point Patrick however,I was born a Lakota Sioux.So my knowledge of my people is very accurate because our history is handed down from generation to generation.So when I speak of something from the historical view it is all factual.

I think you've explained this community very well for me.As far as how everyone interacts with each other in postings jokes and sharing views on piracy.What I'm gathering from most of the answers to my questions here is that.You really do not know because the facts you have about piracy is someone elses version of pirates be it,reading a book,watching a movie ect..

I have many questions about pirates and that is why I started this thread.To read first hand from you who have a love of pirates.So far it seems most of what goes on here is just based on the love of piracy and your all trying to share what you learned from each others point of view on piracy as well as interacting with each other.

[Silkie McDonough]

When did pirates first come to be?I've viewed some of the photographs of your members.From the looks of the clothing it has to be the colonial era is that not so?

This site focuses on the "Golden Age of Piracy" (GAoP) From approximately 1680 to 1730. When I first became interested in piracy (strictly from an entertainment standpoint) I did a web search and came up with several sites. The biggest difficulty is, as has been stated previously, separating fact from fiction. I was directed to so much information when I started that it was overwhelming.

I found this site to be helpful and simple enough for the beginner ...I don't vouch for its authenticity but ...it helped me gain a bit of knowledge of the GAoP.

http://www.piratesinfo.com/detail/detail.p...p?article_id=91

Try "No Quarter Given" an excellent source of information.

http://noquartergiven.net/

There are additional sites that I have heard mentioned often here in 'Captain Twill'.

As to what are pirates here ...sometimes I think those of us who participate don't even know! Basically it is entertainment. Historical or not it is something that the majority of us pursue for the sheer pleasure that it brings.

[oderlesseye]

A pirate Indian? Right on..Yer garb should be interesting. :)

[SilverWolf]

Intertainment is the main focus so far here.That much I've understood clearly.I tried the first link but,it is a broken link that does not work.I also tried the second link and it seemed to go along the lines with what goes on here.How to act like a pirate seemed to be the theme.With a gathered collection of places to go to learn how to act like a pirate.

I can see why someone would want to be interested in piracy but,I'm not able to gather any facts on actual pirates in history.

So far all I've heard is that pirates were just common thieves bent on robbing and stealing.Either at sea or land.So the romance in my eyes here is though there are no stated facts about pirates,it's just fun to act like one right?

[Rumba Rue]

Incorrect! There's LOTS of factual historical accounts in plenty of books on the market, found in museums, forts, and libraries and there's plenty of resources abound.

Just as you re-create your ancestor's dances and lore, we re-create the lore that has been passed down to us. It's just done in different ways, but the ends are the same.

Some go all out as you do and follow literally everything 'by the book', (course that depends on what book...), and there are others who simply want to have fun and do so.

That's why Renaissance Faires and Pirate Faires throughout areas of the USA exist. If there was no interest there wouldn't be anyone.

There is certianly an interest in Indian Pow-Wows, well it's the same with us.

[oderlesseye]

click the link at the bottom of my post for actual history..

and read post in captain twill as well. lots of facts there as well.

[SilverWolf]

Pilamaya orderlesseye,I will go there next.

Just as you re-create your ancestor's dances and lore

Your dead wrong about that.We do NOT recreate the dances and customes of the people.We perform and live them as we do in private away from the publics eye.Though I understand what your saying and how your comparing the two.

We have our pow wows even if no one outside of our people attended.In fact we've always practice them in our personal lives and among the people first and foremost.

I am learning from this topic and will continue to research on my own as well as with your help.

There's LOTS of factual historical accounts in plenty of books on the market

Name a few so I can look into it personally then.

[oderlesseye]

Under the Black Flag by David Cordingly was a good read for me.

search Amozon for pirate books and you'll find hundreds of books

on the subject of Piracy.

[SilverWolf]

I went to the page you sent me to oderlesseye and it was very informative.I'll note that title and see what I can dig up from it.

I would like to also thank those who've made an attempt to help me better understand.I am learning slowly but,with some hard effort on my part I will prevail and come to understand more.

[Blackfoot]

Greetings SilverWolf. Welcome to the pub. You have many good questions.

What it boils down to is not dressing up and going to renaissance faires for us. What it comes to is what is in our hearts and our love of history during those times mentioned earlier in this thread. Were pirates murderous thieves back then? In a way. However, They were people trying to make ends meets living in a society which uplifted the rich and pissed on the poor. They got fed up and did what they had to do to survive. Can I hear an AMEN ?

We all know you don't do the Pow Wows for show. We do know it is your life and in your heart. Only this, is just a small portion of a huge and grounded culture you were fortunate to have been born and raised into.

I have always had a love for American Indians and many friends I have had in the past were from the Shoshone Tribe. Unfortunatly, in everyday society where I was raised, I was never brought up in a specific culture or educated in my ancestory. Nothing to grasp onto. However, I love my history. It is in my heart and in my culture.

Again, welcome aboard!

[Captain Bob]

Welcome to the pub, SilverWolf!

[My own theory: guaranteed to be contradicted or at least "not exactly"-ed no more than a handful of posts after this one. ]

I think that some of the confusion over what constitutes a pirate arises from the fact that, starting sometime in the 19th century, pirates became 'commercial'. That is to say, they were convenient bad guys in plays and novels. There is, of course, the romanticised perception that at least some pirates were throwing off the shackles of oppression and "sticking it to The Man". Captain Blood (starring Errol Flynn) is a perfect cinematic example of this mind-set. Throw in Captain Hook from Peter Pan and Long John Silver and it gets hard to sort the wheat from the chaff, especially since most of us were first made aware of pirates through movies, plays and books that were definitely not documentaries. I would be very surprised to learn that any of us here at the pub learned what they know about pirates and piracy as part of their cultural heritage. We've all had to go look it up.

In fact, I suspect that pirates were more like seafaring outlaw bikers. They lived a life rife with malnutrition, long hours, dangerous work, little opportunity for social interaction outside their own crew, and the prospect of an early and unpleasant death. They may have had many of these problems before they came to piracy, but at least as pirates, they had a little more control over their own fate, as unpleasant as it might be. Sure, other folks might come to a bad end, but if you were a pirate, you were certainly more likely to have your bad end documented, much more so than an ordinary drunken sailor who fell off the pier and drowned while staggering back to his ship.

Still, as has been said before, some of us are hard core historians, presenting as accurate a picture of piracy as possible, right down to (but not including) the scurvy. Others are just having fun dressing up like pirates and waving swords around. I myself am somewhere between the two extremes. I didn't want to wait to graduate from Pirate University (good old P.U!) with a degree in piracy, so I started doing a little research and put my own costume together. I assumed that folks who know more than I about the subject would be happy to teach me the difference between fictional pirates and factual ones. So far I've been right.

~~Cap'n Bob