by Edward Ellis, Special Correspondent
Years ago, during school outings about New Bern history, we were shown the massive brick home off East Front Street called “Blackbeard’s House.” Blackbeard! We gloried as children in the rumors that Governor Tryon had traded with pirates; even that there were tunnels under the Palace leading to the river where the governor consorted with the sea-going, black-flag-flying, skull-and-crossbones-loving bandits, all of which proved later to be false. The house, it turned out, wasn’t even standing during Blackbeard’s lifetime.
But who cares? We loved pirates! And the naming of sports teams, the success of movies like Pirates of the Caribbean, the fifty-some-year-old Disney ride of the same name, and the always popular Halloween get-ups prove that many of us still do.
Those mateys yearning to channel their inner swashbuckler may wish to know that September 19 is now International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Begun over twenty years ago as a joke by a couple of guys on the West Coast, Talk Like a Pirate Day has recently taken off. It’s swept the country and spread overseas. It’s spawned websites, a Wikipedia entry, and video guidance on how to speak pirate-ese. Even how to text like a pirate, m8t. Avast!
With the so-called “Golden Age of Piracy” running from 1650 to 1730, New Bern would have missed most of the action. Nevertheless, the coastal waterways with their close ties to the Caribbean islands have seen a fair share of seafaring smugglers, scalawags, and ne’er-do-wells, and spawned many a tale of pirates, shipwrecks, and treasure.
Though Blackbeard died when the town was only eight years old, folks still like to believe he visited. There’s been more than a little speculation tying him to Beard’s Creek. And there’s a spit of land in Slocum Creek some miles below the city called Money Island, long reported to be the burial place of buccaneer loot.
So, on September 19, man yer bandana like Keith Richard’s Captain Teague. Hoist the Jolly Roger. Growl and scowl. Slur yer words. Say aye, blimey, and shiver me timbers. Call the so-and-so who cuts you off in traffic a “bilge rat.” Consume copious quantities of grog. Dance like you mean it. Celebrate, me hearties! Even if it is a Monday! ‘Cause real pirates don’t work Tuesdays! Arrggh!