I grew up n still live in Pirate Territory

[Red Cat Jenny]

I live on Long Island which sticks out from NYC between NJ and CT & is surrounded on 3 sides by water. I've always known it had a rich maritime and Pirate history, and believe me if you live here it's just in you to love the island life.

You can't stay away from the water & the shore even in the winter, and like most coastal places beaches, fishing and boats are a regular part of your life. All the supermarkets have seagulls poking around out back and basically everyone has at least some knowledge of it's history..

I am launching a site in a day or so which will feature a lot of this and have found the following excerpt which says it all...or most of it.

" In letter after letter to London, Richard Coote, Earl of Bellomont, the Colonial Governor of New York in 1699 called Long Island a "great receptacle for pirates." Rhode Island was also notorious for harboring pirates; but Governor Bellomont said that Long Island (then called Nassau Island) was worse, especially the east end of it. "The people there have many of them been pirates themselves, and naturally are not averse to the trade," he said quite unfairly. "Besides that, they are so lawless and desperate a people that I can get no honest man to venture among them and collect their excise and watch their trade." He asked the British government to give him one hundred men to send to eastern Long Island the next spring.

YAAarrrrr!!!! NOrth Tortuga! I be in th thick of it!

[Brit.Privateer]

Very interesting. I always wondered where the pirates and privateers docked up on the northern part of the North American coast. I thought that Tortuga and Port Providence were too far a distance to travel. Rhode Island makes sence as a pirate port due to the fact that it's name comes from the term given to them by the rest of Puritan New England "Rouge's Island." The Puritans did not like Rhode Islanders due to they were not Puritan, but a mix, with the first Baptists, Jews, and other religions. There was no established religion in this colony. Hopefully we will see more information soon!

[Red Cat Jenny]

Well Long islands shore line changes constantly due to the rough sea on the So Shore and the stormy N shore which has high cliffs compared to the flat ,vast beaches on the South.

There are many coves and inlets all around it and a few peninsulas and small out islands. These would be perfect for hiding, provided you escaped the rocks and surf. The winters can be brutal and we've had our share of hurricanes. There were many wrecks on our shores befor light houses were comissioned by Washingtons Congress in the 1700's.

There's a few larger rivers as well.

The pirates also became involved in the infamous rum running of the times as well as a lot of other people. Crossing the Sound to CT and back.

Me website has a map and info (to be posted) about all the history here will be up by tomorrow.

It also contains the stories about Captain Kidd's buried treasure on Gardiner's island which sits tween th twin forks on the E end. The island looks like a fish with it's head at NYC and the tail (called the twin forks) sticks out to sea.

[CrazyCholeBlack]

aye indeed. I was just reading about this area in the GAoP as well. Of course mt memory is poor but I seem to remember something about the constant shift between dutch * english in that area contributing to the pirate activity. Also, talk about a tax happy area. NY had a governer that required that all chimney's be of a fire proof brick. If your house caught on fire, you could be fined! Imagine that, being fined for sparks from someone elses house catching yours on fire!

[Red Cat Jenny]

Also, talk about a tax happy area. NY had a governer that required that all chimney's be of a fire proof brick. If your house caught on fire, you could be fined! Imagine that, being fined for sparks from someone elses house catching yours on fire!

Aye, things haven't changed much...lol

[Cheeky Actress]

The Puritans did not like Rhode Islanders due to they were not Puritan, but a mix, with the first Baptists, Jews, and other religions. There was no established religion in this colony. Hopefully we will see more information soon!

Hello Brit. Privateer,

I find the whole 'reglious freedom' issue during the early days of settling the American colonies very ironic. My very own ancestors had to flee to the south due to such clashes of relious freedoms.

It was in 1635, my ancestors Roger Williams and Stukley Wescott (sp)? were religious dissidents that were banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony by the general Court of Massachusetts and soon founded the first Baptist church in America. But it wasn't long after that, that Rhode Island was also a gathering place for the Quakers too.

There is also a recorded incident back in the 1630s that those religious dissidents fled for their lives during their migration to Rhode Island. If they were told to go...they didn't go peacefully.

[Cheeky Actress]

Red Cat Jenny,

Are you on the South shore or the North Shore of Long Island? Oyster Bay area? or Syosset county, Gurnee, South Hampton?

[Red Cat Jenny]

I be here in th center o things (the red star on th map)

Correctly the Hamlet of Nesconset (yes it's really a hamlet) Central Suffolk County, LI, NY

[Sjöröveren]

I just picked up a book that's perfect for this subject. The Island at the Center of the World by Russell Shorto. It's all about the largely forgotten Dutch history of New York, when it was New Amsterdam. Sure, everyone knows about Peter Stuyvesant and Peter Minuit, but not much else. I'm not very far into the book yet, but it has already covered quite a bit on topics discussed in this thread. New Amsterdam was known world-wide as a place where everyone was welcome, regardless of race, religion or wealth. Since the United Provinces of the Netherlands were a Republic 150 years before the United States of America were born, folks didn't care much about who you worshipped or how rich you were, just as long as you helped out with the common good.

The book jacket promises stuff about Pirates and Prostitutes, so I've got that to look forward to.

[Red Cat Jenny]

Well I know what's next on my book list then! I have been digging into my research and organizing notes both from my own learning over the years and what I've recently found.

I meant to have something together earlier, but I am writing fiction as well, which has sprawled into a 33 chapter work only half done.

I officially belong to the "sleep? what's that?" club!

When I get a bit more together the way I want it, I'll be posting it in the history of LI and NY section on me website. Hopefully by next week.

[Capt Thighbiter]

Odd... with all the Pirate history here on Long Island, I have been unable to get much interest at any venue or town to put on a pirate festival... even NYC's South Street Seaport, blocks away from Capt Kidds residence in NYC was not interested.

Thats wy The Brigands have to travel to Virginia to partake of a good ol'e fashioned pirate party!

Red Cat Jenny, ye doesn't sing by th bye do ye?

Our home base is in Brentwood - for the looks of ye map we be neighbors!

[Red Cat Jenny]

Aye we be not far.. Me late Dad lived in Brentwood in th 60's and Captained in the Fire Dept.

I am a bit further East now.

Sing? Well in the car.. in the shower.. the odd joining in of "Happy Birthday"

I couldn't understand it either (Re no groups on LI) I thought for sure There would be something in Greenport or Sag Harbor or Cold Spring.

Being new to th pub and the fact there are so many of ye out there (I had no idea!!) I was thinkin on plannin something for next spring that could turn into an annual event. There are some great locations here

[Matusalem]

Cheeky Actress wrote:

It was in 1635, my ancestors Roger Williams and Stukley Wescott (sp)? were religious dissidents that were banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony by the general Court of Massachusetts and soon founded the first Baptist church in America. But it wasn't long after that, that Rhode Island was also a gathering place for the Quakers too.

Roger Williams and his congregation were pretty much on the mainland, the Bapitist Church being on South main st. ( in front of "RISD beach") in Providence, however the pirate activity was on Aquidneck island, particularly Newport, which was a haven for pirates during GAoP (which according to my high school RI history class was pretty much like the way Tortuga was prtrayed in POTC1). The benefits of being separated from the mainland made it harder for the authorities under Lord Bellomont (then Governer of Mass bay colony) to effectively engage in any sizable crackdowns. And as you would expect, the locals kept their mouths shut. That's why Thomas Tew, Black Sam Bellamy, and Wm. Kidd sought easy refuge there. The state pier was then Gallows Point, where pirates were hung if they were caught. Aside from the Americas Cup and the mansions, Newport has always had a reputation as a seedy place, even when my father was stationed there in the Navy during the 1950s , hard to imagine touristy, bustling Thames st being a filthy hole nowadays.

A bit o' history for those Rhode Islanders, Bristol my beloved hometown, was the classic rum-runner port, if there ever was one.

Some of the decendants of these families that did ply the trade, including slave shipping during are still there. Nicest people you'll ever meet, some of which I went to school with, but it must be weird to have your family name tied to rum, slaves,and piracy in all the history books and newspapers. talk about skeletons in the closet!