Pirate Theme Party

Ocean currents were not discovered until the sixteenth century. During that time, there was a man who served the government as a mail carrier. At some point, probably while distracted while he was thinking of a pirate party idea, he had an accident that left him disabled and unable to walk without much trouble. He wanted to continue to work for the government, but could not do it in the same capacity. Eventually, he agreed to work as a navigator of sorts for government ships. Fate had smiled upon him because he was going to contribute greatly to the science of oceanography. Once on board, he took an interest in oceanography. He started to notice that the first leg of trips from America to Europe were much shorter than trips from Europe to America. Perplexed, he took note of the matter. He started observing and noting the speed of the ship at different points of the trip, and came up with a series of charts. Meanwhile, a man by the name of Ben Franklin …… yes, THAT Ben Franklin, took notice of a conversation in a bar while contemplating his own pirate party idea. The men were quizzing each other as to why it was quicker to reach Europe than it was America. Franklin intently listened to this mystery as these men started discussing a notion that there was a river in the ocean! Franklin was a man of many skills, and an excellent scientist, so he decided to take this matter to task. With the help of the current charts that were made possible by the government navigator I spoke of earlier, Ben Franklin started to map out the Gulf Stream current. It was an astonishing discovery, and one of many contributions from the man. More on history and a pirate party idea to come.

Here is a little more scientific facts concerning ocean currents while you contemplate a pirate birthday party idea. Ocean currents exist in every ocean in the world, and play a huge role in determining the climate of any given area. Currents are not just local phenomenon, in fact, there are five giant current systems, known as gyres, that circle all the major oceans of the world. If you live next to a cold current the climate in your area will be colder than the mean average. The opposite is true for warm currents. The biology that these currents support is also largely based on whether a current is warm or cold. When people think of the tropics, or barrier reefs, they think of large schools of colorful and exotic fish, and all kinds of coral and plant life. The water is crystal clear and light blue (a great place for a pirate birthday party idea). While it is true that there is a lot of life around the reefs, if you venture further out and away from land, the ocean becomes a virtual desert of water! The clear water is a sign that there is not a lot of natural life in the warm water. In colder areas, the water is a dark blue or green. That is a sign of huge amounts of upwelling and plankton, which serve as the bottom tray of the food chain. In these areas, the sea is full of life! There is a host of biological species including plankton, bioluminescence, jelly fish, sea otters, whales, sharks, bat rays, tuna, mackerel, anchovy, squid, octopus, sea lions, salmon, dolphin, kelp, sea stars and the like. The most abundant species (other than plankton) is what is known as a brittle star. These are remarkable creatures and glow if disturbed. Tune in again to pirate birthday party idea to learn how currents were discovered. You’ll be surprised to know who discovered them!

Are you going to invite a few pirates to your pirate birthday party? Pirates did operate in the Caribbean, and many of them were from Britain, so they would have to take the Gulf Stream Highway to make your pirate birthday party. Ocean currents are caused by the unequal heating of water, and they create rivers within the ocean that can actually help a ship travel much faster than in still water. For instance, the Gulf Stream travels north up the Eastern Seaboard of the United States, which means that the water is relatively warm. That is why ocean water on the east coast of the United States is generally warmer than the water on the west coast. The California current travels south, from Alaska, and explains why ocean water in Southern California can be so cold. As for the Gulf Stream, the warm water travels north towards Canada, then makes a right turn and heads for Europe. The water is warm enough that it regulates European weather, particularly the United Kingdom. If Britain did not have the benefit of the warm Gulf Stream water, it would be much colder. The warm ocean negates the effect of the cold air and ensures that Britain has a mild climate. More to come on the history of ocean currents.

Below is another one of our pirate recipes for you. Check out our ebook because we will soon offer you a host of pirate recipes!
Ingredients:
1 oz tamarind
2 tbsp. water
1 tbsp. vinegar
1 lb. fish fillets, cut in pieces
1 medium onion finely chopped
1 piece ginger (I inch), crushed
2 cloves garlic minced
salt to taste
4 pieces bay leaves
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. hot pepper chopped
1 inch piece cinnamon
peel of 1/2 lime thinly pared
2 tbsp. vegetable oil
11/2c. water
Directions:
1 Soak tamarind in 2 tbsp. water and vinegar for 15 minutes.
2. Squeeze with finger tips to loosen pulp, fibres and seeds.
3. Strain through a fine sieve, keeping liquid and pulp and discarding fibres and seeds.
4. Rinse fish in lime juice and water; pat dry.
5. Saute fish in I tbsp. hot oil and leave aside.
6. Heat remaining oil in a large frying pan. Saute onion, ginger and garlic for a few minutes.
7. Add tamarind sauce, salt, bay leaves, peppers, (black and hot), lime rind, cinnamon and water and bring to the boil.
8. Continue to boil for 5 minutes more.
9. Reduce heat and add fish.
10. Simmer uncovered for 20 minutes or more until sauce has thickened and fish is tender. Serve with rice; makes
6 servings.
If preferred, sauce can be thickened with a little flour or corn flour.

You’ll probably want to schedule your pirate birthday party during good weather. Today, with the advent of the internet and satellite television, you can get your local weather and forecasts that are usually good for a week. I wonder if Black Beard would be jealous. The primary concern for any captain of a ship is firstly fire. Fire is the sailor’s worst enemy because there is no place to escape. The second biggest concern for the captain is the weather. As long as there have been ships and navigators, sailors have studied the skies to hopefully escape the hazards of a storm. In the Golden Age of piracy, most pirates operated in the tropics. In the tropics, weather can suddenly overwhelm and overtake a vessel. Sudden thunderstorms, squalls, lightening and water spouts were all dangers to the pirates. Pirates tried especially hard to steer away from islands during the night. Why, you might ask? Because during the day, the land of the island heats up quickly & becomes much hotter than the ocean water. At night, all that heat is released and travels upward. The combination of rising air, plus the high humidity work to create huge areas of instability in the atmosphere. This results in cumulonimbus clouds, which are the type of clouds that the worst possible weather comes from. So when you plan your next pirate birthday party, check the horizon to see if you’ll be the victim of an unwanted guest

What is a better pirate party idea than a good dish? Pirates were on the ocean quite a bit, and their local hangouts were ports, so seafood was prevalent in their diets. What would taste more like a pirate dish than a nice and healthy serving of shark?!?! Below is a pirate party idea that will certainly whet your appetite! Give it a go, and coming soon, we will list a host of wonderful dishes in our ebook! Check it out.

SHARK AND PEPPER SAUCE

Ingredients:
1 lb. Shark cut in serving pieces
2 tbsp. minced chive & thyme
1 tsp. minced garlic
lime juice .
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper sauce
flour seasoned with salt & pepper
oil for frying

Directions:
1. Wash shark with lime juice a few times to remove any fresh odour.
2. Season fish well with chive, thyme, garlic, onion, salt and pepper sauce.
3. Coat fish in seasoned flour and fry a few pieces at a time in hot oil
4. Shake pan to prevent sticking and cook on both sides for 12 - 15 minutes according to thickness
5. Drain thoroughly and place on kitchen paper to absorb any fat.
6. Serve with hops and pepper sauce.

When you plan a pirate theme party, you will need several tools. You will need the proper costume, decorations, food, music, pirate party invitations, and lighting. That is a simple enough order for anyone to fill, and is nothing compared to the tools that the pirates used in order to navigate. If a pirate wanted to accept a pirate party invitation, he would have to navigate a course to the proper location. Luckily for pirates, the art of ocean navigation had come a long way from their ancient pirate descendants. In the early sixteenth century, the British government offered financial reward for people to come up with ideas for new types of navigation equipment. Two items in particular made safe and accurate ocean navigation possible. First, there was the sextant. A sextant is a too of measurement, and is used to gauge the ships latitude, or the ships position in relation to the equator. The second invention was the chronometer. The marine chronometer addressed the pirates primary concern; determining his longitude The combination of these two inventions, plus the addition of more accurate nautical charts made ship navigation easy and accurate. No longer would pirates have to guess their position or use rudimentary tools. The history of piracy would be changed forever.

Normally, you will host your pirate theme party at your home, regardless of its location, but wouldn’t it be nice to host a pirate theme party at an authentic pirate port of call? Pirates worked for no government and usually banded together at “friendly” locations. During the Golden Age of Piracy, those ports were usually located in the Caribbean. Today they constitute some major tourist havens, but some are politically unstable. Cuba forever changed its identity as a tourist location when Fidel Castro led a revolution and installed a communist government. Gone were the mafia run casinos and brothels. Haiti was a prime location for pirates during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, but today it is so unstable that it is dangerous to simply exist. The United States had to pull out its embassy because American lives were in serious jeopardy. Pirate ports of call have existed virtually since the invention of long sailing ships. During the reign of the Roman Empire, many Cilician pirates roamed the waters. They operated right under the nose of the mightiest empire the world had ever seen. Cilician pirates had strongholds on the coasts of Liguria and Illyria because the Roman Empire did not patrol those waters. Now that would be a great location for a pirate theme party. By the time the Cilician pirates came on the scene, Rome’s navy was not as powerful as it once had been. They only patrolled the waters of the Tyrrhenian and Adriatic seas. In fact, the Romans regularly contracted out their shipping needs, giving a new meaning to the term “outsourcing.” During that time, ships were not outfitted like the classical pirate ships. Cannons had not been invented yet, and neither had guns, but they enjoyed success none the less. Who knows what riches they got their hands on!!!

There is no getting around it. The Golden Age of Piracy was driven by a market that was …… shall we say …… a bit on the dark side. Before you consider your next pirate theme party, you should know the economics that financed the real pirate adventures of the 1700’s. Europe, at that time, controlled the world. The birth of a nation was at hand. America was a new player on the scene, but make no mistake about it, Spain, Portugal and England were the real world powers. The East India Trading Company was the first of its kind, and it ruled with an iron fist! The biggest market at the time …… slaves. Human cargo. What a horrible time to live. Lives were being bargained for dollars. At that time, a man’s wealth was judged by the number of slaves that he held. In America, contrary to popular belief, there were relatively few slaves as compared to Brazil and the Caribbean, yet history has shown the impact of the American slave trade. To this day, there are racial tensions that remain due to the business of slave trading of the eighteenth century. In fact, the first and only successful slave rebellion occurred on the island of Haiti. Today, Haiti is considered one of the most dangerous places to live in the world. When you consider your next pirate theme party, you should also take into the account the lives that drove the pirate economy. That economy ultimately was driven by sugar. Spices & sugar were considered rare commodities in Europe in the eighteenth century. When the New Word was “discovered,” it was soon learned that the islands of the Caribbean were the perfect place to grow sugar canes. The sugar cane industry was a brutal business, and people were needed to grow and harvest the crop. Many poor souls were lost in the sugar cane fields of the Caribbean, and most of them were slaves that were brought in, without their consent, from the countries of Africa. Warm bodies were needed to harvest the crop. New methods were created to make cheap alcohol through the use of sugar. That alcohol was rum ….. it was the drink that drove the pirate economy. The large sugar crops enabled the alcohol market to flourish and many profiteers took advantage of this opportunity. It was no pirate theme party. The life of a slave working in the sugar cane fields of the Caribbean and South America was short. The work was so brutal that a person’s life expectancy was cut in half. This fact was not lost on the slaves that serviced this economy, and there were many rebellions that took place because of the horrible working conditions. The modern state of Haiti was established on a slave revolt that took place in the eighteenth century. When you consider your next pirate theme party, you should remember this. The economy of that time was driven by a threefold process. First, there was the demand for sugar in Europe. Sugar was grown only in the areas of the southern United States, the Caribbean, and South America, and slaves were needed to grow and harvest those fields. The need for workers made the world powers look for cheap manpower in the area of Africa. The rulers of Africa were more than willing to sell their own people into slavery, and this completed the second part of the transaction. Finally, the sugar was eventually turned into rum. It was a cheap way to make alcohol, and there was a huge demand for a good drink in Europe, so the three fold process was complete. Europe demanded sugar and alcohol, slaves were necessary to process the business demands, and every white person benefited. Once again ….. what a horrible time to live. Just remember, the next time you plan your next pirate theme party, there were people who sacrificed everything to gain success during that time period. Any pirate theme party you plan in the future should take this history into consideration. Good bye for now. Arrrgggghhh. Later Mateys!!!!