"Cutthroat Island" released 1995

Okay, I know it wasn't a milestone in movie-making, but it certainly is nowhere near the worst movie I've ever seen.  I really enjoyed Cutthroat Island, released December 22, 1995 with Geena Davis, Matthew Modine and Frank Langella.  It was exciting and fun.  And I'm not just saying that because I like pirate movies, but not all pirate movies are as entertaining as this one was.

Still, it was one of the biggest box-office bombs of all time.  Problems making the movie were rampant and it sounds as it if was a miracle the film was even completed. 

But I love it!

Book review - "Pirate Women" by Laura Sook Duncombe

The introduction to Pirate Women: The Princess, Prostitutes and Privateers who Ruled the Seven Seas, author Laura Sook Duncombe makes it clear there were plenty of women pirates throughout history but their stories have been suppressed and ignored because of men!  So is this a book regaling the exploits of female pirates who have been ignored by history or does the author have a chip on her shoulder and wants to make a point?  To me, the answer is both.  She even cites pirate historian extraordinaire David Cordingly who expressed doubt that Anne Bonny and Mary Read could have lived aboard a pirate ship.  Duncombe writes:

“When even a historian covering women sailors refuses to acknowledge that women pirates existed, there is a problem in the field.”

Laura honey, Cordingly isn’t doubting their existence. He (and many others) find it difficult that Bonny and Read could have kept their identities secret from so many men in the cramped, overcrowded decks of pirate ships. 

If an author discussing female pirate history misunderstands a simple statement, what else was taken wrong?

It is clear that Duncombe has done her research and reports on obscure women pirates but does her readers a disservice by frequently digressing to figures who are fictional or who’s existences are not verifiable.  Probably a quarter of the women she writes about are only legends.  Why waste our time on fairy tales if you’re wanting to defend the existence of real women pirates?

Beyond that, Duncombe’s definition of ‘female pirate’ is broad in the sense as it pertains to women who did not very nice things when a ship is involved.  One example is her telling of Jeanne de Montfort who raised an army to reclaim a duchy for her son.  Since she used a ship to “steal” the duchy that means she’s a pirate, right?  When you have to justify your definition and ask the question, perhaps this wasn’t a great example to use for illustrating women pirates.

As I mentioned earlier, Duncombe does give examples of women pirates who for whatever reason have been lost in history.  Whether these omissions are deliberate sabotage by men or not, she does not make any conclusions but the book reads as if  the author has an axe to grind. 

Pirate Paradise destroyed by earthquake 1692

On the morning of June 7, 1692, the  pirate haven of Port Royal, Jamaica (or Sin City, as it had been referred to) was destroyed by a series of earthquakes.  Later, a tsunami washed was left of the city into the ocean. The sandy soil became liquefied during the quakes and buildings sank into the ground.
People who weren't killed in the earthquake or tsunami died from diseases and injuries.  Port Royal was never rebuilt.

Captain Morgan must have stayed here!





http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/earthquake-destroys-jamaican-pirate-haven

The Privateer's Cross available November 16!

My story "The Privateer's Cross" will be released from JMS Books on November 16!

Henry meets Cole in a spooky cemetery for a quick hook-up during Mardi Gras in New Orleans.  During their encounter, Henry finds a beautiful crucifix in a pile of dirt.  Suddenly, they are being followed by the ghost of a pirate, wanting his treasure returned.  Unfortunately there is nowhere to hide even among the thousands of people in town for the celebrations.  What must Henry and Cole do to escape the fate that the ghost has in mind for them?

Excerpt:

A familiar figure crossed the intersection ahead of them.  Henry recognized the tattoos and beefy arms, which now held onto a limp body draped over John’s shoulder. 

“Don’t ask,” Henry cut off Cole’s obvious question.  “You don’t want to know.” 

They passed by a narrow opening between two buildings.  A tall, handsome man in a pirate outfit stepped from the shadows and onto the sidewalk.

“Soumets-toi á moi.”

Cole jumped with a cry of surprise at the sudden appearance. 

Henry heard Cole shout and spun around.  “What’s the matter?  Are you all right?”

“That pirate scared me.

“What pirate?”

“The  one standing right…”  Cole broke off as he looked back down the street, but Henry saw no one.  Cole paled.  He ran back to the opening.  “There was a guy standing right here.”  His voice shook as he pointed to a spot on the sidewalk.

“What did he look like?”

“Cute.”

Henry was beginning to see a trend in Cole’s paranormal sightings but decided not to mention his  thoughts.

“He was dressed as a pirate, I think.”  Cole said.  “Kinda like the guy on the float last night.  I think it was the same guy on the float and the one in the mirror this morning.  Now I’m certain I’ve seen him before somewhere but I can’t remember.” 

“I wonder if this has anything to do with the crucifix we found,” Henry mused.  “Come on.”

They wandered through the abandoned streets to Decatur Street, where the Jean Lafitte National Historic Park and French Quarter Visitor Center stood.  The museum employee, whose name tag identified her as Ann, seemed to be pleased and surprised to find someone up and around as early as she was.  She gave them a big smile.

“This is one of the largest museums dedicated to preserving the history of one of New Orleans’s roguish sons, Jean Lafitte,” she announced, the pride obvious in her voice.  She motioned to a portrait on a nearby wall. 

Cole grabbed Henry’s arm.  “I think that’s him!”

“What?”  Henry and Ann said simultaneously.

“That’s who?”  Henry asked further.

“I think that’s the guy I keep seeing.”  Cole paused for a second.

The Pirates Laffite: The Treacherous World of the Corsairs of the Gulf by William C. Davis

From the preface of his book The Pirates Laffite, William C. Davis seems determined to diminish the role privateer/pirate jean Lafitte played in the Battle of New Orleans during the War of 1812 against the British.

In my research of pirates, I never found anything to suggest that his role was pivotal. What makes him noteworthy is that he demonstrated uncharacteristic politicism and cast his lot with the United States. He, his brother and some of their men joined General Andrew Jackson’s army in repelling the British front advancing on New Orleans from the Gulf of Mexico. But as Davis points out, Jean and his brother Pierre had loyalty to no one but themselves. They were both opportunists and decided that an American victory would be most advantageous to them as opposed to a British one.

He does show the important the Brothers Lafitte were to General Jackson’s army as they battled the British forces in the fields between New Orleans and the Gulf. For several years, the Lafittes had been smuggling goods, mainly slaves, into the city by way of the numerous bayous to circumvent inspectors and customs. They knew the area very well due to their creative methods to bypass the rules.

Everyone knew about it but no one was complaining except Governor Claiborne. Smuggled goods could be bought at much cheaper prices than on the open market. Sometimes that meant making a trip to Barataria, the Lafittes’ pirate cove on the southern Louisiana coast.

After the war, the pirates who signed with the American forces received pardons but Jean and Pierre were ill-suited for the domestic life. It wasn’t long before they established a base of operations on Galveston Island from which they re-launched their privateering and smuggling activities.

For a time, Pierre and Jean were spies for Spain, keeping an eye on and reporting the movements of insurgents in Spanish settlements in the New World. Again, the Lafittes felt their role was much more important than it actually was. Spain realized their intelligence wasn’t worth the trouble and the brothers loyalty was rather fluid. They clearly demonstrated their own self-promotion, meaning they followed the money. Pierre was notoriously poor at handling money and was constantly in debt. Although, Jean’s debts weren’t as substantial, he liked to live the high life whenever possible in New Orleans.

Despite the little importance the Lafittes played in America’s pre-Civil War expansion, they are colorful characters and although legend has eclipsed fact over the past 200 years, they are interesting men to get to know. Davis’ book, exhaustively researched, gets tedious to read at times, based on the sheer volume of information he relays. Still it’s a fascinating work on two of New Orleans’ more (in)famous sons.

Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton

I’ve read and enjoyed Michael Crichton’s novels The Andromeda Strain and Jurassic Park, which were very technical and meticulously researched. Since I am unfamiliar with his historical fiction, I can’t make an accurate comparison to his earlier works but Pirate Latitudes is as good a pirate novel as any out there.

Unfortunately Crichton left us too early, succumbing to cancer in November 2008 and Pirate Latitudes was published posthumously last year. In some ways, it seems uncharacteristic of him. For one reason, the writing changes about halfway through the novel. For the better. It’s as if Crichton started editing the book starting from the end and working forward but didn’t finish. The first half lacks the impact and sophistication of the second.

In Jurassic Park and The Andromeda Strain, Crichton introduced some interesting concepts such as creating dinosaurs from DNA extracted from fossilized mosquitoes or an extremely lethal organism from outer space. That level of originality isn’t found in Pirate Latitudes.

With that said, it is a very exciting and thrilling high-seas adventure. The story is set in the Caribbean in the mid-1600’s, during the golden age of piracy. Port Royal, Jamaica was in its hey-day then as a bustling seaport, popular with pirates. It was an English outpost far from the opulence and safety of the court of King Charles, so its governor had to rely on pirates and privateers for commodities, resources and protection which came mainly from raiding Spanish settlements and ships around the Caribbean. Although England and Spain were technically at peace, citizens of the two countries still viewed each other as sworn enemies.

Captain Charles Hunt has received information that a Spanish treasure galleon is anchored at the island of Mantanceros under the protection of a fort on the eastern side. The west side of the island is mountainous, too rough and impenetrable for a ground force to carry out an attack. But Hunt believes it can be done and he recruits a strange group of experts in various fields to help with the assault. During the adventure, they encounter attacks by Spaniards, a hurricane and a mysterious creature from the deep.

Crichton doesn’t gloss over or romanticize any of the details of life aboard sailing vessels in the mid-seventeenth century. Violence, death and deplorable living conditions were the norm and Crichton pulls no punches. Pirate Latitudes is bloody, gritty and unapologetically real. It’s a great pirate story, sure to please any fan of historical novels.

Come and be a Pirate!

Saturday night, Fuzzy and I attended the Crimson Pirates' CD release party in Suffern, NY just south of the New York Renaissance Faire in Tuxedo. Ireland's 32 hosted the venue which became crowded quickly as the crush of fans filled the small room to capacity and raised the temperature to sauna levels. The restaurant seemed unprepared for the onslaught of hungry patrons since it took 30 minutes to get a club sandwich!

None of this mattered since the Crimson Pirates treated us to three sets of wonderful music. They sang songs from their new release, 'Come and be a Pirate', as well as our favorites from the previous four CD's. They announced at the beginning of the show that the third set would be entirely requests. The Crimsons found out the consquences and fun of singing a final set when the band and the audience are well-lubricated.

Robin's Corsair-esque version of "Pump Shanty" will not be forgotten any time soon. Singing from hand-written lyrics on the back of a crumpled sheet of paper (and still not getting the words right) and Kelly's exhuberant tambourining during short periods of scrutinizing her own heiroglyphics, Robin left her audience in stitches.

But I digress. Back to the new stuff. Ann's rendition of the title song, 'Come and Be a Pirate' sung to the tune of 'Bell-bottomed Trousers' is a bouncy and fun song that's sure to be a favorite sing-a-long tune very soon. (kinda like 'Bell-bottomed Trousers'!)

Don's new lyrics to 'Wild Rover' are hysterical.

My favorite: "Bow to Stern".

After the show which ended just before midnight, Fuzzy and I remained behind to chat with Robin, Dan, Ann, Don and Kelly along with a handful of other devoted fans. As usual in our conversation with such good friends, the time flew past and before we realized it, it was nearly 1:30am!

I am so looking forward to attending the New York Renaissance Faire this year! Having friends such as these, the four-hour drive through Baltimore, Wilmington (construction zones), around Philly and near NYC is but a small insigificant price to pay to spend time with them!

P.S. Thanks for the snog, Barley!

Pirate Ghosts: Tales of Hauntings at Sea

This compilation of horror shorts written by such literary giants as H. P. Lovecraft, Robert Bloch and Washington Irving promises the reader ‘with bloodcurdling buccaneers, spectral ships, uncanny experiences under the Jolly Roger and eerie spirits from a historic past that refuses to stay dead’. Pretty high expectations, huh?

The anthology could have been renamed Caribbean Magic Ghosts with some Piracy Themes Thrown in the Mix. Few had pirates as main characters and just as many did not even contain any manner of sea rovers.

This is not to say that the anthology, compiled by Frank McSherry, Jr., Charles G. Waugh and Martin H. Greenberg isn’t an entertaining read. The short stories contain some great horror themes and effectively scare the reader.

H. P. Lovecraft’s The Terrible Old Man is one such story that eschews the piracy theme but is as creepy as Robert Bloch’s The Red Swimmer, a great story of revenge on a bloodthirsty pirate.

The lengthiest short, Henry S. Whitehead’s Seven Turns in a Hangman’s Rope is a tedious read as he lays on one subordinate clause after another, extending sentences into paragraphs. The detail in which he describes the depth of the white witch’s knowledge and experience into voodoo and obeah was unnecessary, gauging its lack of impact on any of the climatic scenes.

August Derlith’s The Blue Spectacles, Carl Jacobi’s The Digging at Pistol Key and John Masefield’s Anty Bligh, along with the tales of Irving, Lovecraft and Bloch are just plain spooky fun. These are wonderful tales of vengeful ghosts, macabre magic (and a pirate or two) all thrown in with eerie tropical settings. Since I recently reviewed a biography of Jean Lafitte by Jack C. Ramsay Jr., I was pleased to see the dashing pirate appear in The Blue Spectacles. It and Irving’s story were the only two with pirate ghosts.

Clark Ashton Smith’s A Vintage from Atlantis is a short read that contains some of the best pirates in the book, but tended to get preachy. Before I Wake by Henry Kuttner is a slow-moving tale of a young boy haunted by dreams of sailing to magical places. Pirates are mentioned as part of his fantasy while the story clutches the island magic obeah tightly to its breast.

Lady Eleanor Smith’s No Ships Pass could probably be the forerunner of the Twilight Zone-esque ‘you are here now and there is no way back’ theme. Again short on pirates, but a great story.

Pirate Ghosts is a must read for lovers of the horror genre but not for the pirate aficionado or fan. The Caribbean magic has interwoven a spell among the pages and presides over the stories, and gives us a nice tropical scare.

Jean Lafitte: Prince of Pirates by Jack C. Ramsay, Jr.

In all the pirate books I’ve read, Jean Lafitte is mentioned mainly in reference to his helping the U.S. and future President Andrew Jackson in the Battle of New Orleans in 1815 against the British. The one event, although heroic, does not begin to attest to the person of Jean Lafitte.

Ramsay’s biography of the famed pirate is an easy read and chronicles Lafitte’s achievements before and after the famed battle. Lafitte and his older brother Pierre played large roles in the history of early New Orleans and her politics during the transition of Louisiana from territory to statehood.

The Lafittes had a base on Barataria, between New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico, from where they operated a very successful smuggling business. Jean Lafitte’s knowledge of the marshes and bayous surrounding the island and New Orleans gave him a strategic advantage in confounding would-be officials or enemies from ruining his paradise. The British had hoped to woo Lafitte to their side against the U.S., but being loyal to his French roots, he sided with the Americans.

His support in the decisive battle helped the Americans from allowing the enemy to gain a foothold on their continent.

Sometime afterward, the United States began cracking down on pirates and privateers operating in her waters and the Lafittes retreated to Galveston Island which was under Spanish control at that time. They meddled in the affairs of Mexican insurgents while giving the façade of cooperating and giving intelligence to the government of Spain. Lafitte also issued letters of marquee from his ‘country’, making Galveston a nest of privateers the world hadn’t seen since the pirate colony on Madagascar.

A loophole in U.S. law allowed Jean Lafitte to turn a huge profit by smuggling slaves into Louisiana. Ramsay mentions that future Alamo hero Jim Bowie and his brother were up to their necks in the illegal slave trade. Apparently many unfortunate souls met their death at the wrong end of the knife Bowie crafted and bears his name.

Although there is mystery shrouding Lafitte’s death as well as his origin, Ramsay’s sources all agree that Jean was charming, friendly and very handsome. He had an easy-going disposition that even disarmed his enemies.

Ramsay also paints the picture of a gentleman pirate, where other historians depict Lafitte as one of the most bloodthirsty sea-rovers, worse than Blackbeard. Ramsay disputes those claims with historical records, journals and an extensive library of research on the man.

My only criticism of the book is that Ramsay threw in a few sentences here and there that only illustrate the extent of his research but did not reflect on the subject of Lafitte.

These are just hiccups in a great read about one of the most mysterious anti-heroes in American history. Ramsay writes a wonderful piece of work, giving Lafitte an unbiased and deserved portrayal.

Terror of the Spanish Main by Albert Marrin

Marrin’s non-fiction work on the pirate Sir Henry Morgan and his Buccaneers is a children’s book but it is well-researched and documented with copious references and bibliography.

It seems to be geared mainly for the teenaged crowd, who are more likely to enjoy the “gross-out” factor as Marrin describes various tortures inflicted upon the Spanish captives and the buccaneers’ victims. Younger audiences may enjoy it as well as it is rich with pictures and written sound effects like “KABOOM!”.

For older readers, however, these aspects tend to detract rather than add to the historical facts in the story. Marrin’s abundant use of clichés, such as “hard nut to crack” or “shaken a hornets’ nest” become tedious (but remember it was not written for adults!).

Nearly one half of the book is devoted to the social climate and politics of the Western Hemisphere during the seventeenth century. For the remainder of the tome, Marrin relies heavily on three earlier works on Morgan, including the extraordinary account “The Buccaneers of America” by John Exquemeling.

Some of Marrin’s facts differed significantly from the other works of piratical history I have read. For example, Marrin dubs the pilot or helmsman of the pirate ship as the “sea artist”, a term I have never seen before. He also maintains that the golden earrings worn by the pirates were that their comrades could identify one another during the heart of mano a mano clashes. He makes no mention of earrings being worn because of superstition.

On the surface, “Terror of the Spanish Main” is a good historical resource for those wanting (or needing) a quick Readers’ Digest synopsis of Sir Henry Morgan. It is excellent for a homework project. For the pirate aficionados and enthusiasts, this book should be passed over for the more informative and detailed works listed in the bibliography.