Whitby Pirate Day

Happy talk like a pirate day and of course my birthday, as you may remember I was traveling down to Whitby with my nieces.

After a peaceful journey to Whitby we had to get the harbour to raise the road bridge to let the heron threw, we moored up and all got out to stretch our legs. we got there early on Saturday morning so had plenty of time to cook some breakfast before we wandered around in our pirate outfits. There was lots of people in pirate hats and we said hello to all the pirates we saw. As we got closer to the beach we could hear music, there was people on the bandstand dressed as pirates singing and playing. my nieces loved it, they played the games, decorated a sword each and had their faces painted to look like they had an eye patch of course my nieces insisted on having theirs pink. We also met Captain Jack Sparrow, who is always where the party is, he posed for pictures and was helping raise money. The whole day they were raising money for the RNLI, that is where they use brilliant volunteers to help save anyone who is in trouble at sea or on the coast. They have wonderful lifeboats and helicopters that can save someone life, they do amazing work all around the country to not only rescue but to teach people about the dangers that are around the coast so that they can avoid getting into trouble and need to be rescued.

We had brilliant day and will be there next year for another Whitby pirate day, hope to see you there.

Nice Surprise

I've had a lovely surprise today. I had a visit from my nieces Sarah and Eve. It is a special day next week and they came to celebrate with me, next Wednesday is talk like a pirate day or as we call it, just pirate day and of course it's my birthday, so we decided to do something fun this weekend and go to Whitby where the pirates will be out and having fun.
We have to make sure we have enough food and water on The Heron for the trip as it will be very dangerous to run out of either. You can sail on the sea but not drink it as it contains salt, which makes you need more water, plus thousands of years of pirates going to the loo in the sea, I don't want to drink that.
Sarah is also 13 now and really wants to come on an adventure with me I've promised that if she learns to sail The Heron she can come with me on an adventure, so she is sitting on deck reading about knots, which are very important with all these ropes about. Eve is tucked up next to me here. She is 9 and wants to design clothes when she's older. She loves looking at all the pirate clothes and spends a lot of time taking photo's, so just maybe she will let me share one of her photos with you when we get back from pirate day fun.

New Name Game

When I grew up there was only sailors, the odd pirate and my brother to play with so many times we were chased from The Kitchen and told to go play on the dock. It was here that David and I invented the new name game. We would pick a passer by and would try and come up with a pirate name for them. Like Fish Slice Mary who would cut up all the fish ready for her husband to sell and her husband was Loud Mouth Fool, as that was the only thing his wife ever called him.
I loved this game and every year around this time I go to work in my pirate clothes and get all the children in the library to play the game, naming each other and more fun to name their parents. Why don't you come up with a pirate name for yourself so on Pirate day you know what everyone needs to call you.

The cat love a hat

This story happened just this week so I thought I'd tell you all about it.
These has been a ginger cat hanging round the dock for a while now. I thought he liked Dixie but of course she was far too busy as First Mate to look at him twice. Anyway the other day I came back from working at the library and my pirate hat was sitting on the dock next to my ship The Heron. I paused and flipped it over with my foot, expecting that Dixie had trapped a rat under it, but there was nothing. Frowning I called to Dixie but got no answer, that was strange as well as Dixie always greets me when I return, usually to ask where supper is. I picked up my hat and started to walk up the plank to board The Heron when the ginger cat rushed off the ship and grabbed my hat off me as he passed. He ran down the dock with my hat in his mouth when Dixie appeared from nowhere and tackled the ginger cat to the ground, snatching my hat from him she ran back up to me, handing back my hat. We both stared at the ginger cat until he was well away from the dock.
It seems as if this strange cat was after my hat all along. I have to lock my hat away now when I am not wearing it. Dixie is out right now trying to find out where this cat is and who he is working for. We may have a new adventure facing the ginger cat and his master.

The Kitchen

I have told you a little about my dad but hardly anything about my mother. She is not a pirate but she grew up with them. My mothers family have always owned a pub called The Kitchen and generations of children grew up playing under the bar and listening to the pirate stories of Adventure and danger.
When my mother was older she joined my grandma serving and working the bar that's where she met my dad. My dad loved The Kitchen pub and would always love his father telling the crew "our next Adventure is  to The Kitchen" so when he would ask my mother to sail off with him he was serious, but my mother would smile and serve another customer.
One day my grandma sat my mother down and said "Fran, you cannot live your whole life in this pub, you need to go out in the world and see it".
By this time my dad had his own ship and named it Kitchen Adventure in the hopes my mother would go from one kitchen to another, he was over joyed when she said yes.
My mother told me that she finally said yes as my dad was the first one to ask her after she had decided to travel, but I think she always saw that my dad was the toughest, bravest pirate in the whole sea and he would show her a real adventure, and he did.

Into the Cave

Once I heard the scream every part of me wanted to run away, but I was surrounded by pirates and if I wanted to be one of them I needed to hold my nerve. The three women with me all reached for their weapons, each has a different sword. I had a small pistol which had belonged to my mother, I held onto it with both hands and I got courage from it. The others were feeling braver too and together we moved into the cave.
A few steps inside was the pirate who screamed, we checked her and she was alive but out cold, I was told to stay with her and to firs my gun if I spotted any of the Sirens. I sat for some time with only the light from outside for company, suddenly the pirate I was watching started to wake up.
"Are you alright?" I asked
she nodded and looked at me with frown "Where am I?" she asked
"Your safe, the others will kill the Sirens and return soon"
"Siren" she corrected "there is only one"
"are you sure?" I demanded, her features changed into an old woman's as she reached out to touch me. I pulled back and fired my gun, I was pushed backwards by the explosion and landed with a thud outside the cave. Minutes later the other pirates joined me asking what I had seen. I told them and they were worried for their crew mate. As they talked about what they would do next, their words sounded like they were getting further away and I felt like I was falling into a very deep hole.
I was out cold for two weeks in all, I missed the others finding the dead Siren, my shot had killed it and I missed my dad's crew killing a baby Kraken that the Siren had been raising as her own child. My dad missed that fight too as he sat by my bunk day and night to chase off Davy Jones if he tried to take me away.
When I woke I was home with my mother and brother and they were all happy to see me. My mother took another two years before she let me go out on KAS again. I only have one thing to remind me of that day and that is a white streak in my hair where the Siren touched me. I keep it as a proud mark of my first fight with a monster.

Sirens

The first time I went on an adventure that involved a sea monster I was 13. My parents had 2 ships then, one for living on and one for working, my dad called it insurance, if the ship was lost during a battle at least his family and home was still safe. My dad's ship was named Kitchen Adventure, this was like another famous Pirate ship, Adventure Galley as a galley is also the name of a ships kitchen and also a tribute to my mother who worked in a pub kitchen when my dad met her, but that was another tale.
I was so excited to be setting sail on KAS (Kitchen Adventure Ship) that I hardly slept the night before, I could hear my dad being told all the things he could and couldn't do by my mother. I smiled as I pictured him nodding away while secretly planning to ignore everything my mother said. As soon as we set sail my dad called me into his quarters and there was the four female crew that had been waiting for us.
"we are going to fight a great monster this time" he said "but we need all your help to get there" he looked at me and smiled. "this monster is guarded by creatures known as Siren's, do you know what they are Sailboat?"
It was the first time he had used my pirate name and I was so happy I nearly missed the question "they call to ships singing or just saying nice things to lure them onto the rocks, legend said they use magic to make themselves look beautiful and really they are ugly"
Dad nodded "correct, women are not effected by this charm so I need you five to go ahead and get rid of the Sirens before we follow to take out the monster"
"Sir, why not just block the men's ears?" one of the women asked
"as they will still be able to see the illusion, I can't trust myself under magic and I have a beatiful woman at home, so I can't trust the crew not to fall for the magic"
the woman nodded "get some rest we'll set you with maps and supplies tomorrow and Sailboat?"
"yes dad, I mean Captain"
"you will be navigating so try and read up on your studies ok"
"yes, sir"
I was really excited to be going on a raid against a real monster but I fell asleep quickly as the sea air drifted round my bunk.
Next day we set off in a small boat with KAS anchored well away from the Siren's. It took us 2 days to find where the Sirens were hiding and as we approached I was very scarred. The lead pirate told us to wait as she scouted the entrance, moments later she screamed.
Please come back next week for more on my Sirens tale.

Pirate Traits

All pirates need a gimic, that is one thing that makes them stand out, back in the high pirate seas a pirate Captain called Blackbeard would put cannon fuses into his beard and light them. When faced with a Captain like that you would hand over your ship without drawing a sword. Now in my parents day it wasn't about scaring people, it was about getting your crew to stay and work for you. My father was Reliant Red, he was a great man who helped anyone he could. He made a living from chasing sea monsters for fishermen, there was money in that and he learnt pretty quickly that monster's hate Red. So thats all he wore and that bought in money and kept his crew working.
I don't have a crew, well except first mate Dixie and I don't rob ships so finding a gimic was hard. My red sails showed who my father was and bought me respect from other ships so that wasn't it. It took me years to find it and I have already mentioned what it is, can you guess?
My cat was my unique pirate thing, no pirate in history was know for a cat as first mate and it is very useful in fighting monsters to have a friend so small and quiet

Dixie

The latest cat on The Heron is Dixie, she is very energetic and loves a good fight, she has always been this way since she was a kitten. The story of Dixie joining The Heron is one I still don't have all the answers to. My previous cat Daryl had grown too old for adventures and took to living on land, we had many an evening where I would sit on the dock telling stories and he would purr along happily, it was during one of these evenings that my story was interrupted by several dogs barking. I turned and saw three big dogs running around the top of the deck. I first thought they were chasing each other but as I walked closer a small black ball of fluff seemed to be chasing them.

This was Dixie and I used my best captain voice and yelled "stop that, right now" the dogs obeyed, well they were dock dogs they knew an order when they hear it, but Dixie hissed at me. I was amazed, this tiny kitten no bigger than my hand was ready to fight me. I scowled, "those be fighting noises" I growled and I'm sure Dixie gave me a nod "be here tomorrow night and we'll duel" I replied not thinking for a moment that she would return but she did.

Next night I was wearing my full Captain outfit and stood on The Heron, Dixie strided up the dock and regarded me with her cat stare. "I don't want to fight you, I want you to join me crew" she looked at me, then nodded and walked off, I was down hearted, as I had high hopes we would have great adventures together.

You of course will guess that she did return, but it was a long month later before she did, she was a lot bigger and at first I didn't recognise her, but those eyes glared at me and I nodded and she climbed aboard. I often think about that month and where she went, she has never told me what happened, in fact she very rarely speaks at all, at the start she told me her name and since she warns me of danger but that is all. I guess she is saving stories for the dock when she's grown tired of the sea.

Introduction

My name is Sailboat Sally, by day I work in a library. In the library I'm just Sally. I organise books and read them when I get the chance but my favourite thing to do is to tell the children my adventures. When they first come to the library they believe my tales but as they grow up they see them as just stories and slowly they drift away to let younger people listen to them. What they don't know is that my stories are real. I come from a long line of pirates and many of my tales are family legends but every so often I sneak in a story of my own, those are the stories I love.
I'm called Sailboat Sally as it was my first toy I loved as a child. A beautiful wooden boat with red sails, everywhere I went I brought the toy and my parents crew would say "Where's your sail boat Sally?" to which I would show them and smile. In my games I went all over in that boat, in fact it still sits in my study at home. As soon as I was old enough I bought a boat of my own, it is called The Heron and it has red sails and always a ship cat aboard.
So I suppose that's my introduction, Sailboat Sally and my boat Heron have many adventures some of which I hope to put here and I hope you read along.