Friday, January 10, 2014

Arghh! Here be Pirates!

Hey guys,
  It's Friday! I hope you all made it through the week without too much struggle. I know I'm ready for a fun weekend. For today's post I'm going to share my thoughts on something I've loved since middle school, pirates. My best friend and I have always had our "obsessions" but it wasn't until the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' movies came out that we added pirates to that list. Fueled by our love for Captain Jack Sparrow (a.k.a. Johnny Depp) we memorized the first movie, 'The Curse of the Black Pearl' and began reading books about pirates. We even named my best friend's Jack Russell Terrier Jack Sparrow. (Hey,  I never said we were conventional children).


   I remember reading a book called "Pirates!" about the famous female pirate, Mary Read, and thinking how much fun she must have had. Today, I know the reality of being a pirate is quite brutal but I still continue to be dazzled by pirates in movies and on television. I'm currently a little "obsessed" with the character Hook on the television show 'Once Upon a Time.' Yes, I know Hook is supposed to be a villain but this Hook is less of a villain and more of the tall, dark and handsome variety.

   Colin O'Donogue as Hook. Oh, c'mon, you knew I was going to add this.

  I recently began reading the famous pirate book, "Treasure Island," by Robert Louis Stevenson. I'm a little over half-way through it and enjoying the pirates' arrival to the island while wishing I could go find my own treasure. (I'm also planning to build a pirate ship and find my own crew; anyone want to join me?)

                  My copy of Treasure Island.

  I'm slowly building a list of other pirate books I need to read, in fact, I just bought myself a book called "Pirates and Privateers" by Tom Bowling from Half-Price Books. It's a short read but I learned some interesting facts from it. Here's a few interesting facts I wanted to share:

-There was a pirate named Sir Henry Morgan. He was the only pirate to be knighted and was once Acting Governor of Jamaica. He retired and supposedly drank himself to death after his pirate days. How fitting for the man who would eventually have a rum named after him. Yes, Captain Morgan rum is named after a real pirate. (Died 1688)

-Blackbeard's real name was Edward Teach. He was actually born 45 years after Morgan. His ship was named the Queen Anne's Revenge and he became a pirate only after the War of the Spanish Succession. (1680-1718)

-The two most famous female pirates were Mary Read and Anne Bonney. They were both members of John Rackham's (Calico Jack) crew. Mary Read disguised herself as a man until Anne learned the truth.   Anne had two children with Rackham and left her pirate life to marry and bear 8 more children. Mary died in prison from fever. (Mary died 1721) 

-Port Royal, Jamaica, the place in which the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' movies begin, was famous for pirate activity up until 1692 when it cracked and fell into the sea during an earthquake.

  Even though these pirates rarely got a happy ending I still find it fascinating to read about them. I hope you enjoyed reading about pirates, I'm off to go find more pirate books!

                                 Sincerely,
                                                 Erin a.k.a. Bookworm

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