What did pirates eat? Anything they could get their hands on. Although fresh produce was scarce on long sea voyages, pirates didn’t usually spend as long at sea as the average sailor on a naval ship or merchantman. They would normally sail out from their base to seize there pray and return with their booty, where they could purchase fresh provisions. When no friendly port was available, food could be obtained by foraging on one of the many islands or even from plundering. After the fall of the pirate nest Nassau in 1718 and with the increasing pressure on pirates from the Royal Navy, their bases no longer existed and the sea rovers probably had to go for longer periods without fresh food.
The Pyrate Chronicles
The Pyrate Chronicles website serves two purposes. Firstly, it presents the historical background to the books series. Secondly, it provides detailed information on the Golden Age of Piracy in general. The Pyrate Chronicles book series tells the story of a group of pirates who find themselves on a desperate journey to return to familiar lands after inadvertently sailing into a mysterious mist. It is pirate fanstasy set to a historical background. This website is a work in progress, constantly being added to.
Topgallant Jack
The Cornish duo Topgallant Jack are singers of shanties, sea songs and Cornish songs. Their aim is to entertain by singing and keeping alive songs from the past and by writing and performing new material too. They arrange some of the traditional tunes in a slightly different way, whilst retaining the original flavour and meaning of the song.
The Three Ravens
It didn’t take long for things to settle down once again, and soon most were dancing to an upbeat, out-of-tune rendition of The Twa Corbies.
The song in the story should really be called The Three Ravens as The Twa Corbies was a later Scottish version. The Three Ravens is an English folk ballad, printed in the song book Melismata compiled by Thomas Ravenscroft and published in 1611, but it is perhaps older than that.
The original version is about three ravenous ravens who have come across the body of a slain knight. They are prevented from feasting on the corpse by the knight’s two loyal hounds who are guarding their dead master. The knight’s hawk also circles above the body to drive off any carrion birds. The pregnant doe is a metaphor for his lover, who is carrying his child. She kisses his wounds and takes him away to be buried.…
Storm Seeker
Founded in 2013, this pirate band from Neuss and Düsseldorf in Germany plays hard hitting metal with both male and female vocals intertwined with the unusual sounds of hurdy-gurdy, accordion, and flutes, but they are also know to play some acoustic tunes. Their songs tell about pirates and life at sea sometimes sprinkled with a hint of pirate humour. Although hailing from Germany, their lyrics are in English.
Alestorm
Alestorm are a Scottish heavy metal band formed in Perth, Scotland in 2007. Their music is characterised by a pirate theme, and as a result, they have been dubbed a “pirate metal” band by many critics and their fanbase. The band refer to themselves as “True Scottish Pirate Metal” and are identifiable by the pirate-themed lyrics in their songs. Alestorm’s music utilizes the upbeat epic style of Scottish folk metal and power metal. Album recordings feature heavy use of real trumpets, trombones, accordion synths, fiddle, tin whistle, violins, vibraslaps, brass, keytars, played to singalong choruses to convey a pirate sea shanty feel.