Pirate Theme Party

Ahh, good ole King Neptune! I still remember the day when I became a shellback back in April of 1989. The Shellback Initiation Ceremony makes for a great pirate theme party idea. The tradition has lasted for centuries, and takes place onboard all U.S. Navy ships that cross the equator. Shellbacks are sailors who have previously been tested by the trials during a Shellback Initiation Ceremony. The other sailors, also known as slimy pollywogs, must endure a days worth of torture and humiliation. The pirate theme party includes the usual cast of characters, including scallywags like King Neptune and his trusted trident, Davey Jones, and the Pollywog Queen. During the ceremony, the ship even flies the famed Jolly Rogers skull and crossbones flag! Arrgggg. The Shellbacks all dress up as pirates and carry with them their famed “shellayle,” which is a piece of cut up fire hose used to discipline any slimy pollywog that has gotten out of line. The best part about the ceremony is that there is no concept of rank. Just like the pirates of old, the ship is run on a pure democracy. It doesn’t matter if you are brand new to the fleet or a salty dog of the seas, if you have never crossed the equator, you must undergo the rigor and horror of Shellback Initiation! The slimy pollywogs must pass through a gauntlet of shellbacks and make it out alive at the other end. For the entire day, the only way they can get around is on their hands and knees. Their clothes mark them as pollywogs and display whatever shellback owns the poor soul. The obstacle course is grueling, and includes tunnels of trash, a pool of dirty water, and even a stockade for the worst offenders. If properly navigated, the slimy pollywog is magically transformed into a trusted shellback, and becomes a member of the famed Sons of Neptune! This might be a bit rash for a run of the mill pirate theme party, but for those salty sailors out there, it is the law of the seven seas!

You can not consider a pirate theme party without considering ole Davey Jones. Davey Jones’s name has been thrown about for centuries, but has recently come up on the scene again with the success of the Disney trilogy, “Pirates of the Caribbean.” The character of Davey Jones has been around a lot longer than that, having been mentioned in several books from the 1700’s, including Herman Melville’s famed “Moby Dick.” The actual man never existed, and it is believed that the term Davey Jones was a reference to a boogie man of the sea. Davey Jones was supposed to be the devil of the sea, and sailors claimed to have seen him in all sorts of forms and shapes. This history would not be to far fetched. During that time, sailors were often at sea for long periods of time in tropical weather. They had notoriously bad diets that consisted of grains and meat that had been dried and salted. In these types of conditions, the human will respond adversely and that could quite possibly lead to hallucinations. The spirit of Davey Jones continues to live on at another pirate theme party. The United States Navy celebrates a ceremony called “shellback initiation” whenever their ships pass over the equator. The initiation is quite fun and covers many facets that I will write about later, but one of the main characters of the ceremony is none other than Davey Jones himself. The specter of Davey Jones at your pirate theme party seems quite spooky, but you could make it work. The second film from the Pirates of the Caribbean film featured Davey Jones as a hideously looking pirate. I am sure that it would be difficult to replicate this costume, but you may be able to find something a little less authentic, but perhaps a lot cheaper.

Looking to dress as an interesting character during your pirate birthday party? This fellow is worthy of your consideration. Samuel Bellamy, also known as Black Sam, was an unusual pirate captain. Black Sam was raised without a mother. She had died during his birth and Black Sam took to piracy at a young age. He began his career as a treasure hunter and not a pirate. He was married in Cape Cod, and then traveled to Florida to search for the treasures of the ocean. Before long he hooked up with Black Beard to do a little pirating. Unlike Black Beard, Black Sam was unusually gracious to his victims. He always made sure to take care of them. He did not kill them, and made sure that they were well cared for before stealing their vessels. That is where his nickname of “Prince of Pirates” came about. His crew was enamored with him and they called themselves the “Robin Hood Band.” Their biggest claim to fame was a raid on the Whydah Gally. The Whydah Gally was returning with loot from a massive shipment of slaves when Black Sam caught it. Unfortunately for him, his ship got caught in a storm off of Wellfleet Massachusetts. All but a handful of the crew perished, including the Prince of Pirates. Perhaps it was a fitting fate considering what the loot had paid for! So for your next pirate birthday party, consider old Black Sam when deciding on your character.

Every good pirate party deserves a pirate party invitation. You need to look no further than the pirates themselves to help you with this problem. When a person decided to become or was chosen to be a pirate, they would fill out a contract of agreement. Many of the contract included guarantees of plunder and loot. They also outlined the pirates political rights within the crew. Many pirates had the authority to vote for whatever captain they saw fit. It was an attractive offer considering that the only other option for many was to be pressed into service by the British fleet. To be pressed into service means that the sailors were literally taken without their consent. They were forcibly made to serve on ships in atrocious conditions, so if the opportunity arose to escape that fate, many decided to do so. It made business sense. With pirates, life was much riskier, but the rewards promised to be much greater. In addition to this, there was no guarantee that a pirate would have a longer life with the British fleet. For sailors who had been pressed into service, many of them never saw their homeland again. So when you want to send out a pirate party invitation, why not write it up like a real pirate contract?

Still contemplating a pirate party idea? Well consider again what life was like for the characters that lived during that time. Believe it or not, ships at sea could become absolutely infested with rats! This would seem unlikely because rats normally congregate in urban centers. The ship offered rats the easy pickings of grain, and allowed them the space to breed and multiply. Today we consider rats to be nuisance, or at worse, unsanitary, but during the Golden Age of Piracy, they were the very embodiment of death! Yikes! Just a few hundred years earlier, rats were the cause of the worst plague ever to have swept the earth. They carried fleas that were infected with the bubonic plague and they created a pandemic of absolutely enormous proportions. Over one third to one half of the entire population of Eurasia succumbed to disease. There were so many dead that they piled up in the street because the cemeteries had become filled. Not a pretty picture, but that was the reality of the day. Because of this, there was a real fear of rats and the diseases they could carry. So for your next pirate party idea, try including some fake mice to make the scene, and don’t forget their place in pirate history!

Racking your brain as you try to come up with a pirate birthday party idea? In this segment, I’ll continue to examine what life was like for the average pirate. Pirates were prone to all kinds of disease and danger. Fresh food was almost non-existent during the Golden Age of piracy because no suitable methods had been developed to chill storage spaces. A lack of vitamin C will eventually lead to scurvy and the loss of teeth. That must have been difficult for the average pirate considering that much of their diet consisted of dried and salted meat. That doesn’t sound very appealing to me. If the pirates were lucky enough to find a well stocked port, they might be able to catch up on their fruit and vegetable intake, but most of them chose to consume liquor instead. The liquor wasn’t just a good pirate birthday party idea. It just so happens that the area the pirates frequented was also the largest sugar producing land in the world. Much of the sugar was used to make rum. Sugar was cheap, and rum was easy to make. Perhaps it gave them a false sense of bravery …… something they’d need when taking on the British fleet!

Want to organize a pirate birthday party? Well, first ask yourself what was it like to be a pirated? Classic Americana gives us plenty of books and films to pour over in our quest for finding the real pirate. Few venture into the historical records to see what life was really like for the average pirate. From films like Pirates of the Caribbean, we see Jack Sparrow plunder his enormous bounty while escaping his enemies like the East India Trading Company. Real pirates were not so fortunate. Many of them were the castoffs of society and needed a place to survive, and pirating provided the perfect escape for many of the. Unlike current films, they were poorly fed, and did not receive the kind of bounty found at a pirate birthday party (pun intended)! Their enclaves could have been the first forms of modern democracy. The crew often chose the own captain. They democratically elected a leader who they thought would be fearless in battle. When the crew was not fighting, the real brains behind the operation was the leader; usually the navigator. This makes sense considering that the fiercest fighter of the group was not usually the brightest. In future blogs, we’ll talk more about life as a pirate. Arrrggghh and good day!

Back again Mateys! Trying to come up with a unique pirate party idea? What about a woman pirate. During the Golden Age of piracy, only two women were ever known to serve the flag of the Jolly Roger. One of those women was the notorious Ann Bonny. Bonny was the illegitimate daughter of her lawyer father, and the family maid. This caused quite a scandal back in the 1700’s, so the father, daughter, and maid all fled to South Carolina to start a new life. Apparently, Ann was not your typical southern belle. She was completely out of control, and caroused and shot weapons as well as any boy. She fell in love with a sailor and soon left for the Caribbean. Once there, she and her husband had a falling out, and Ann left with a well known pirate, Calico Jack. They sailed around pirating and looting as they saw fit. They were eventually captured by the British, but not before a fierce fight. It is said that while the majority of Calico Jacks crew remained below decks while the fighting ensued, Ann Bonny was on the top deck, giving out all she had to the British Navy. They were taken to Jamaica to be tried and executed, but Bonny escaped the hangman’s noose by claiming that she was pregnant. Looks like she was able to escape one last time! So the next time you need a pirate party idea, look no further than the character and escapades of Ann Bonny.

Ahoy Mateys! Whenever you write a pirate party invitation, don’t forget the women who made pirating so famous. Mary Read was a woman who walked the path less taken …. or should I say plank! From her earliest years, Mary was raised as a boy. She took to the role quite well and ended up in the Flemish Army of all places. She served with honor, all the while posing as a man. That would soon change as Mary fell in love with one of her fellow soldiers who didn’t know about her true identity. At first he was taken aback, but as soon as Mary revealed herself, he was quick to fall in love. They kept their relationship a secret until after the war. When they finally did reveal their love, all the fellow soldiers threw them a lavish wedding! Sadly, Mary’s bliss would only last a short while. Mary decided to take a new direction in life, and of all things, she chose to become a pirate. She was as good as any other pirate. At one point she fell in love with another sailor, but this time, the object of her affection did not return the interest. Mary was still determined to have him, so when her love interest was challenged to a duel by another pirate, she promptly murdered his rival! I don’t think Mary Read would need a pirate party invitation to show up! It seems like she’d be at the party even if she had to crash it! Ironically, Mary Read also served with the only other known female Caribbean pirate, the lovely Ms. Ann Bonny. Bonny even had a love interest with another sailor. Incredibly that interest was none other that Mary Read! She had assumed that Read was a man and was quickly overcome. No one knows if the relationship developed or not. The next time you send out your pirate party invitation, make sure to drop one in the mailbox for Mary Read.

The blockbuster trilogy Pirates of the Caribbean has inspired many to host a pirate birthday party. The charismatic Jack Sparrow provides audiences with not only great costume ideas, but also how to best portray a pirate. Captain Sparrow is a very exciting character who uses his wit and charm to squirm out of trouble with other pirates and the East India Trading Company. The East India Trading Company is the perfect villain for these films, and their true history would suggest that they were, in fact, villains to many people. Because of this, the characters and costumes used in the film would also make great ideas for a pirate birthday party. The existence of the East India Trading Company was absolutely critical to the success pirates enjoyed during the Golden Age. The company was the first ever to issue public stock, and they were given virtually exclusive trading rights in India. What started out as a business venture eventually turned to political and social oppression. The company first issued stock in the year 1600 and did not leave India until after World War II. During this time, the British tried to impose their own political and cultural institutions on the Indian peoples. That is why you find such a large portion of Indian people today who can speak English quite well. Gandhi himself attended British schools and was an excellent student. The country boasted several religions, but the two primary religions were Hindu and Islam. When the country finally won its independence, the people were divided by their religion. This led to a tragic civil war that was incredibly brutal. Eventually the two sides compromised, but Gandhi was assassinated for his decision. India broke up into two countries. The Hindus would reside in the west and retain the name of India, and the Muslims moved east to what is now known as Afghanistan. There have been many troubles in the years that followed the succession, and all of it could have been avoided had the East India Company been initially denied their power. The East India Trading Company will make a great villain for your next pirate birthday party.