It is September 19th, Talk Like a Pirate Day!
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Talk Like a Pirate, ya lubber, or Shove Off!
International Talk Like a Pirate Day!
From Tim Collier:
Ah, well. Designing pirates for work, and sketched this out as a possible flag for the undead pirate, Razig.
The term “Jolly Roger” is actually from the French, “Jolie Rouge,” or “pretty red (flag)”. At the dawn of the Golden Age of Piracy, there weren’t any skull-and-crossbones banners, so pirates generally flew a solid red flag — the flag for “No Quarter” — no mercy asked, none granted. After a while, captains began to customize their happy red flags with skulls, hourglasses, bleeding hearts, swords, severed heads… Edward Teach (Blackbeard) went so far as to fly a flag depicting himself and Death drinking a toast. And most of the flags, for the sake of visibility, became black. Tadaaah! 
This image, although free to use as a wallpaper, is ©2006 Tim Collier. There are shirts and stuff here, and I might even see about printing up some real flags soon… 
So please be kind and respect the copyright, OK? Thankee!
19th Century Spanish Pirate Benito de Soto
Benito De Soto
“Benito Soto Aboal (April 22, 1805, Pontevedra – January 25, 1830, Gibraltar) was a Galician pirate, and captain of the Burla Negra (“Black Joke”).
“Benito de Soto was the most notorious of the last generation of pirates to plunder shipping in the Atlantic, one of those arising from the ending of the Napoleonic Wars.
“De Soto served on an Argentinian slave ship before leading a mutiny off the coast of Angola in 1827. When 18 of the crew declined to participate they were cast adrift off in an open boat.
“Having renamed the vessel the Burla Negra, de Soto crossed the Atlantic, where he sold stolen cargo of slaves in the Caribbean, and then sailed south, attacking English, American, Spanish and Portuguese ships along the South American coast. From 1830 the Burla Negra also ventured eastwards into the Atlantic to intercept vessels returning from India and the Far East.
“He proved to be one of the most bloodthirsty pirates of any age, murdering crews who fell into his hands and sinking their ships.
The most infamous episode in de Soto’s career came on 19 February 1828, when the Burla Negra happened upon the Morning Star en route from Ceylon to England. After killing some of the passengers and crew with cannon fire, de Soto murdered the captain and took possession of the ship.
“Many of the captured crew were killed, while women passengers were raped before being locked in the hold with the rest of the survivors. De Soto then scuttled the ship, thinking to leave no evidence of the attack, but the imprisoned survivors managed to escape and prevent the Morning Star from sinking until a passing merchant vessel rescued them the following day.
“De Soto’s crimes caught up with him after the Burla Negra struck a reef and was wrecked off Cadiz. He and his men headed for Gibraltar, but they were recognized and taken for trial. De Soto was hanged. His head was then stuck on a pike as a warning to others.”
–wikipedia.com
More info here: http://www.thepirateking.com/books/books_piratesownbook_de_soto.htm
Living the Pirate Code
PRESS RELEASE For Immediate Release “Living the Pirate Code” Book Launch Coincides with Talk Like a Pirate Day on September 19!
(Mikazuki Publishing News) Sep 4th 2013 – “Living the Pirate Code: The World’s Greatest Pirates” is the newest book published by international book publisher Mikazuki Publishing House. “Living the Pirate Code”(ISBN-13:978-1937981013) is a historical non-fiction that revolves around notorious pirates, their way of life, their battles, and their adventures for gold. Interesting characters are featured such as Mrs.Cheng, a female pirate in China that lead 70,000 pirates is discussed in detail as is Stede Bonnet the world’s first aristocratic pirate.
The popularity of pirates has risen in recent years with the creation of films and toys that sell to pirate lifestyle aficionados. This has caused a rise in the amount of pirate festivals that are being held in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Attendees to pirate festivals range from a few hundred to larger ones that attract thousands of pirate lovers. International Talk Like a Pirate Day is an important annual event for pirate fans held on September 19th and it was originally started by two individuals from America’s Pacific northwest, although it is not an officially recognized holiday.
On September 19th of every year, individuals only speak using pirate lingo. This has spurred many websites on the internet that focused on pirate fans, to have to create an English to Pirate Talk translator for mastering pirate vernacular and social networking sites such as Facebook allow users to set their default language to Pirate English. “Living the Pirate Code”(ISBN-13:978-1937981013) has a retail price of $7.99. For more information visit www.MikazukiPublishingHouse.com
Rachel Wall, 18th Century American pirate:
Rachel Wall was born in 1760, in Carlisle: A town in the Province of Pennsylvania. Her birth-given name was Rachel Schmidt. She lived on a small farm just outside Carlisle, but was never happy there, because she preferred the waterfront.
When she was a young woman, she was attacked by a group of girls down by the docks, but a man named George Wall came to her rescue, and they fell in love and married.
George then went to sea on a fishing boat shortly after the couple moved to Boston, so Rachel found work as a servant girl. When George came back, he brought with him 5 sailors and their lovers, and persuaded Rachel to join them.
After 1 week, they had all spent their money, and set sail on the boat once again. George suggested that the party become pirates. The party also got another boat.
Rachel and the crew worked off of the Isle of Shoals, near New Hampshire.
Rachel and her crew had a clever ploy: After a storm, Rachel would stand on deck and yell out for help. When passers-by came to assist her, their goods would be stolen and then they would be killed by Rachel’s crew.
Between 1781 and 1782, the crew captured 12 boats, killed 24 sailors, and stole $6,000 in cash.
Eventually, after the crew was washed out into sea by accident, Rachel returned to Boston to be a servant girl. But she still did enjoy sneaking into harboured boats and stealing things from inside.
Her final robbery was when she saw a young woman named Margaret Bender, wearing a bonnet which Rachel coveted. She attempted to steal the bonnet, and rip out Margaret’s tongue.
But she was caught and arrested. She was tried for robbery on September 10, 1789 but requested that she be tried as a pirate, maintaining that she had never killed anybody.
But she was found guilty of robbery, and sentenced to be hanged on October 8, 1789. Her death marked the last occasion a woman was hung in Massachusetts.
Alvilda Synardus, medieval pirate queen:
18th Century painting of Alvilda in contemporary dress
She was allegedly was the daughter of Synardus, the king of Gotland, born in 1321. Though if anyone paid attention to the root of her name they would find she was around a lot longer than that.
It is said her parents kept her locked in her
room, and set two poisonous snakes to keep away all but the most ardent of suitors.
The most persisant and brave fellow turned out to be Prince Alf of Denmark, and though he passed the test Alvilda’s parents were none too happy about the match. Deciding she no intention of staying with some stuffy Prince, Alvilda took advantage of her parents’ irresolution and her husband’s trust and just hightailed it out of there.
“She were a vision o’ loveliness…’er brown ‘air blowin’ in th’ wind, ‘er pretty eyes snappin’ fire left an’ right. ‘er shirt were open sae much I could see th’ swell o’ ‘er breasts, an’ I swear I woulda ‘ad ‘er right then an’ there, ‘cept’n she ‘ad tha’ big ol’ whip in one ‘and, an’ a dagger in th’ other. I were lucky tae get away wit’ me life, but it were worth it fer one look at ‘er, me matey.” – Dogface Royson, Sailor
She joined a crew of cross-dressing women, but had barely got started in a career in terrorizing the Baltic coast when they came across a crew of pirates that had lost their Captain.
They were so impressed by her capable skills that they voted unanimously to elect her as their new leader. With these fresh reinforcements beneath her ruthless guidance, this formidable woman became such a nuisance to the merchant trade that her husband, now King Alf of Denmark, was compelled to bring the troublesome pirates to justice. Alvilda and her crew fought back terribly, but in the gulf of Finland they were bested at last.
King Alf and his men boarded the pirates’ ship, where hand-to-hand fighting ensued. After sustaining heavy casualties, Alvilda’s crew succumbed and she herself was taken captive. With her beauty concealed by a face covering helmet, she was taken prisoner, and it was only when this helmet was removed that King Alf realized who the scourge of the seas had been. According to royal law, pirates were to burn at the stake. She was imprisoned, but escaped, burning her husband on the same stake before dawn.
On a whim all her own, she sided with the English in the 1345 invasion of Brittany. Seeking to enter the fray herself, she purchased and prepared three ships with money from the sale of her worldly possessions. She was a ruthless mistress of the sea and on land, and no ship nor town near the coast of Normandy was safe from her. With flame and sword, she was a fearsome sight to behold, as she burned whole Norman villages to the ground. She worked her crews hard, and quickly earned the reputation well deserved.
Nancy Magill
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