Ode to the Pirate

We are celebrating pirates these days at the Cottage. I thought I would list some fun facts about our growling patch wearing friends!

My Favorite Pirate

* Pirates often didn't get enough vitamin C while on long voyages which resulted in them getting a disease called "crickets" that caused them to go blind in one eye. This is why pirates often are depicted wearing eye-patches.

* When a pirate said "shiver me timbers" it was actually a request for another pirate to shave an especially difficult to reach portion of his back. While pirates would allow their faces and chests to get hairy, there was a strong superstition against hairy backs. By the way, "shiver" means "shave" and "timbers" means "lower back."

The Gingham Grasshopper

* Blackbeard's peg leg was a medical necessity, he lost his leg to diabetes, but all the other pirates got wooden legs as a fashion choice. Some of the peg legs used by pirates were actually quite gaudy and covered in jewels.

* The combination to Davy Jones' Locker was right 32, left 17, right 26.

MoonDogTreasures


* The golden age of pirates was 1764-1856, but there are still pirates today. Today's pirates are not the colorful figures of the past, just boring pretenders to the throne.

* Although much is made of the fact that pirates used the phrase "arrrrrr", actual pirates actually punctuated their sentences with the letter "q." For instance, "Q, me treasure is over there, matey."

GeorgannaAndCompany

* Gilbert and Sullivan were the two most dangerous pirates to ever live. Born conjoined twins, they were finally blown apart during a vicious sea battle with a British Major General when an errant cannonball struck their shared hip. While together, they were considered to be the King of Pirates. Apart, they were forced to retire to a life in the theater, reenacting their final battle in Penzance for pennies a day.

* While it was perfectly fine to use an enemies skull as a goblet, it was considered rude to use their entire vivisected head as a puppet. Especially if you mocked them by making their own head talk in a high-pitched voice.

LilCubby

* The Jolly Roger flag, with its black background and white skull and crossbones, was designed to be scary. This flag was not used by all pirates, usually it was only flown by those sailing in the Spanish Main.

* Pirates believed that wearing pierced earrings would improve their eyesight.

* Pirates believed that having women on board their ship was bad luck. They also believed that whistling on a ship would cause the weather to turn stormy (as in ‘to whistle up a storm’).

* Pirates would take over island ports and make them a safe haven for pirates.

DogBoneArt

* Almost all pirates stole their ships because they couldn’t buy ships incase they got caught and sent to jail. Once they had taken over a ship they had to convert it for pirate life, this usually meant making more room for sailors to live on board and strengthening the decks to hold the weight of the heavy cannons.

* Ships sailing on their own often sailed close to warships or joined other convoys of ships to protect themselves from pirates. Pirates could only attack one ship at a time, so if the sailors traveled in groups there was less chance of their boat being the one that was attacked.

* Pirate Captain’s would change out of their expensive, flashy clothes if there was a chance they might be captured. This way they could pretend they where only one of the crew, and not somebody important and hopefully escape.

* Although pirates have been around since the 15th century, most pirating happened between 1690 and 1720.

TheDreamyGiraffe

* On the Caribbean island of St Thomas you will find a place called ‘Black Beard’s Castle’. It is believed that this is where the famous pirate spent many hours looking out for approaching ships.