Last Saturday night, in an undisclosed harbor in Northern Virginia, the most infamous pirates of all times (or perhaps their ghosts) met for a special 300-year reunion onboard the Spooner’s Revenge (under Captain Lysander Spooner) in honor of Jack Rackam.
With the notable exception of Blackbeard (who couldn't remember when the reunion was—it happens when you are a few hundred years old), the most infamous pirates were all present: François L’Olonais (also known as Bane of the Spaniards), Bartholomew Roberts (also known as Black Bart), and of course Jack Rackam (also known as Calico Jack).
Anne Bonny (Rackam’s girlfriend) and Mary Read (who might have been Roberts’s wife but we don’t really know) were also aboard. Others such as William Kidd, Howell Davis, and Edward Low made the trip, but didn’t want to be recognized for fear of British Navy spies.
Many crew members also showed up. Rackam, in a gesture that normally would have defied the rules accepted on pirate ships, brought two aunties of his with him and even introduced his own mother and sister to everyone (old age must have sweetened his character).
Following the ancestral democratic institutions governing pirate ships, the crew voted to elect the most frightening pirate of all times. To everyone’s surprise, neither L’Olonais, Rackam, nor Roberts won, but Thomas Anstis did, Roberts’s faithful second in command.
But in celebration of years of adventure and success (and a book that he allegedly wrote), Rackam’s men gave him a prize: a coin from one of the treasures they stole in 1716 (or there about, nobody really remembers the exact date). What a nice gesture, after all these years!
Rum (and I mean really good rum) was in short supply and disappeared quickly. And so did everyone at the end, vanishing without a trace...
Two thumbs up, well done!
Posted by: runescape money | May 05, 2009 at 03:25 AM
Is that Lipsey looking like Jack Sparrow, with the bandana and red sash? :)
Posted by: Steve Horwitz | May 05, 2009 at 09:29 AM
Steve,
Yes that is the infamous Peter Lipsey.
This was the first time I have been dressed up in costume since the Halloween party of 1986 and the infamous first-date for Mr and Mrs Horwitz. I'd love to get some photos of that --- Selgin as Menger, Boudreaux as Yeager, Wayne Gabel as pumpkin head, and Steve Horwitz as Curley.
I was dressed as a clown, a few years earlier I went to a college Halloween party dressed as a Smurf. I am thinking of bringing that look back.
Pete
Posted by: Peter Boettke | May 05, 2009 at 10:00 AM
Oh I have pictures from that party. One of my trips down there this fall, I'll bring them. I have a great shot of Dave as whatever the hell he was - a Miss Peach character or something. I have a good one of Boudreaux as Yeager and one of Tyler also.
It was also, of course, the same weekend as the infamous Friday afternoon High-Coppin seminar on the Pure Food and Drug Act, and the, uh, rather messy events that followed it. Quite a 48 hours in the lore of the GMU program in those days!
Posted by: Steve Horwitz | May 05, 2009 at 10:09 AM
Leeson, please don't ever write a book on the economics of streaking.
Posted by: Bob Murphy | May 05, 2009 at 01:58 PM
Murphy wins the thread! :)
Posted by: Steve Horwitz | May 05, 2009 at 02:14 PM
Leeson... Seriously, eat a sandwich. You can afford it now.
Posted by: Anti French League | May 10, 2009 at 05:47 AM