I can brag that I have partied with Blackbeard on the beaches of Ocracoke Island. In fact, I attended THREE parties that Blackbeard hosted on Ocracoke. Bonfires on the beach, fresh meat roasting on the boucan, RUM!, laughter…best of all, the delicious taste of pyrate freedom! ARRR!
Okay, it was a virtual experience via the Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag video game by Ubisoft. And, yea, I played the game three times. It was a pyrate geek nerdgasm moment for me EVERY time that I sat on those beaches on Ocracoke with Blackbeard.
(Sidenote: If you’re a pyrate video gamer and you haven’t played AC: Black Flag, you are missing major pyrate fun. It’s a ten-year-old game that many, including your own Bootstrap Ginny, still fire up and play frequently.)
Partying with pyrates during the Golden Age of Pyracy must have been quite an intense experience. We don’t have lots of stories from this era about pyrate debauchery on the beach, but we do have one infamous account that gives us some details. To my eternal delight, it involves Blackbeard. Blackbeard hosting a party. On the beach. On Ocracoke Island. (Now you know why I geeked so hard on AC: Black Flag’s inclusion of this event.)
Fall 1718. Blackbeard, like many pyrates, has abandoned the pyrate colony on New Providence Island, (Nassau). The Caribbean pyrates (pyrates everywhere, actually) are desperately trying to stay a few steps ahead of the low end of a hangman’s noose.
After Blackbeard’s successful and daring blockade of Charles Towne in May 1718, my favorite pyrate began the work of establishing a new pyrate lair on Ocracoke Island. He took great care and made careful arrangements that he thought would lengthen his career and keep the hangman’s noose at bay.
In October 1718, Blackbeard espied Charles Vane (and friends) just off the coast. Vane had refused the royal pardon and was still pyrating hard. He was on the run, though, and apparently thought that Blackbeard’s new lair might offer some respite.
Blackbeard gave his old Flying Gang brethren a warm welcome and decided their arrival was reason enough to have a party. Not just any party, mind you, this party lasted for a full week! There are varying accounts of what happened during that time. It has even been dubbed the “Ocracoke Orgy” by modern “reporters”. Orgy or not, (probably not), the party is rumored to have been so rowdy that the locals became VERY concerned that the pyrates were riling themselves up to a proper pyrate pillage and plunder, (how’s THAT for alliteration!?)
Besides Blackbeard and Vane, it’s believed that Calico Jack Rackham and Israel Hands were also in attendance. The beach was alight with bonfires, rum was flowing freely, and the food must have seemed endless. For the pyrates, it probably felt a lot like the good ole days in Nassau. Some accounts claim that LOTS of women were also partying with the pyrates and participating in varying degrees of drunken debauchery-influenced activities. Musicians are also said to have kept the partiers reveling with dancing and singing.
It’s doubtful that there were LOTS of women, (or any, for that matter), as we all know that women were not welcome members of a pyrate crew. (Notable exceptions: Mary Read and Anne Bonny.) There may have been music, but it would have been crew members playing it. The point being that it was still very dangerous to be a pyrate, thus hiring (LOTS of) women and musicians to attend a big ole pyrate rave on the beach for a long week was akin to waving a red flag to the authorities with a “PYRATES HERE!” message attached to it. In the autumn of 1718 Blackbeard was undoubtedly a happy pyrate with plenty to celebrate, but he had not completely lost his mind.
(Sidenote: While Anne Bonny and Calico Jack Rackham were lovers and did pyrate together, Anne was most likely never a member of Charles Vane’s crew. Sadly, she was probably not at Ocracoke for the party.)
You can imagine that the pyrates reminisced about the “golden days”. They probably spoke of the future of pyrating in the colonies or on the other side of the world in the Indian Ocean. That week on the beach with Blackbeard, Vane, and Rackham must have been…memorable, at the very least.
Unfortunately, the end came soon for the partygoers. The party ended and they again all took to the sea. Alas, Blackbeard would be killed just a month or so later. Vane would hang soon thereafter. Rackham managed to avoid the noose for a couple of years, but he was eventually caught and hanged in Port Royal.
But, that’s a rather grim note to end this plundering upon. So, let’s not! It’s almost summer (in the northern hemisphere), so let’s make a list, gather our supplies, and have a pyrate party! Here’s what you need:
- RUM! (And lots of it!)
- Bonfire on the beach. (If you don’t have a beach, try a lake. Or pond. If you have none of those, get yourself a barrel of water and place it near the fire. After a bit of rum, it will do just fine.)
- Food! Grill or smoke some meat, roast some coconuts and pineapples, and maybe some fresh vegetables as well.
- Games: Most likely, there were pyrate games going on that week in Ocracoke. Try your hand at a dice game, (there are many varieties that coalesce with rum intake!)
- Sing: It doesn’t matter if you CAN sing or if you have musicians. SHANTIES!
- Dance: Drink enough rum and dancing will happen. Trust me.
And, if you’re so inclined, you could make plans and attend the Blackbeard’s Pirate Jamboree in Ocracoke! Yes, it’s a real thing! Go here: Blackbeard’s Pirate Jamboree on Ocracoke Island | Ocracoke NC | Facebook and make plans!
Next time Drake’s Magic MIrror… Until then, keep plunderin’!
Virginia Chandler 