Yo, Ho, Ho
Sail with me and I will make your fortune,
Whether it be women or gold.
A tall ship riding upon the gulf stream water;
The hurricane has blown me so far from home.I fly the flag of sovereign Carthagena,
All the Spanish boats fair game.
The days are hot and the nights are filled with singing,
Women in the moonlight dancing away.Down in Côte Blanche Bay.
(Zachary Richard, Côte Blanche Bay)
Graham Neilson, a former commander in the Royal Navy is about to set sail on his latest project. His very own pirate ship. Yo, ho, ho.
Barbary pirates from the 17th century have inspired a former Royal Navy commander to spend 12 years converting an Arctic trawler into a £6 million replica pirate ship, which is now set for its maiden voyage.
Graham Neilson bought the 60-year-old fishing vessel in 1995 and has since worked "tirelessly" on the project with a team of 15 enthusiasts.
He used 400-year-old designs discovered in museums and libraries in France and Spain to build the 150ft long craft called Pelican.
The ship, which is moored in Weymouth, Dorset, has undergone successful sea trials this summer and is due to make its maiden voyage to the Caribbean later this month.
Mr Neilson, 72, from West Bexington, Dorset, said: "She is a beautiful specimen and it is difficult to express how happy we were when she was finally at sea and proven.
"I think she has fulfilled all our hopes, both with her performance and in terms of the spectacle she provides. I believe she is possibly the most interesting sailing vessel of the last decade."
The ship is patterned after the 'Xebec' style ships the pirates used.
Arab pirate ships were notoriously difficult to catch. The French attempted to make their own Xebec fleet but still couldn’t catch the Arabs. So what was so unique about the Xebec design?
“They added square sails to the middle mast,” says Graham. “That, combined with a triangular, lateen sail on the fore mast, gave the boat both lift and thrust.”
The designs, it seems, were lost in time. Until they were discovered by Philip Goode, a sail designer who had been researching Xebec ships in French and Spanish libraries.
Having joined forces with Graham, Philip went to work on a model Xebec ship, to test how effective it would be. To their surprise, the model ship went faster than any other they had seen.
After the maiden voyage to the Caribbean, Mr. Neilson plans to use the ship for sail-training. No word on if Spanish boats will be fair game.
History, World news | Gaius Wednesday, 5 September , 2007
By mockinbird, Wednesday, 5 September , 2007 @ 3:47 pm
AArrrrrggghhhhh!!
Wilst dere be some saucy wenches aboard?
Sail Training! Millions For sail training, and no
Wenchin’ and Groggin’?
By Sylvia, Thursday, 6 September , 2007 @ 9:55 am
Do the cannons work? There *are* still pirates and that looks like a ripe plum!