February 2020 – The day after we visited Castillo de San Marcos, Aliyah brought us to the old town area of St. Augustine, where she’d heard there was a Pirate Museum. Any respectable journalist listens objectively to both sides of any story so as not to be biased in their reporting, and Aliyah considers herself to be quite respectable, thank you very much.
Now, full disclosure, the first thing Aliyah noticed was the extensive Mermaid Paraphernalia Section. It’s loaded down with assorted treasures that aspiring mermaids would like you to buy them. Now it should be noted that Aliyah is, in fact, an aspiring mermaid, and pirates are afraid of mermaids, so she must be respected in her own right. By pirates. QED.
After purchasing our tickets Aliyah received a Pirate Map of the museum and instructions on how to search for hidden artifacts (secret stash.) The pirate on duty showed us how to mark off the objects your little pirate (or mermaid!) found. Below is a pic of the boxes of pencils and maps. The skull & crossbones marks artifact locations throughout the museum. Hidden objects were items you would expect to find on a well equipped pirate ship, like a compass and other interesting bits and bobs. Aliyah had to keep her eyes sharp to spot each one, because they weren’t overly obvious. It was a lot more fun having to hunt a bit than if all the pirate doodads were immediately obvious.
There was a huge map of the museum over the exhibits entrance, to help landlubbers get oriented. We didn’t want to get lost on the Execution Dock!
The museum itself was built out as a ship and popular pirate hangouts, so it was really fun for all of us to explore and really get in the mood.
Savvy pirates keep up to date on the latest technological innovations. Aliyah inspected several important navigation tools and learned about their pros and cons. Pros: Durable, consistent user interface, completely wireless, and don’t need batteries
Cons: Not terribly accurate, but getting lost is part of the grand adventure, right?
Octant 
Sand Glass 
Astrolabe
We also got to see some non-navigation ‘tools’ used by pirates, privateers, buccaneers, and other riffraff of the high seas. Very pointy, businesslike tools.
By the way, who knew that privateers were pirates with PERMISSION?! For some reason that defies common logic (and common courtesy) the English Crown specifically granted permission to selected pirates, er ‘Privateers’ to shoot up >>>NON-ENGLISH<<< ships, rob them blind, and kill off any crew members who didn’t want to also become ‘privateers.’ The flaw in this plan became apparent when the British government decided that privateer services were no longer required. Then what you had was a bunch of unemployed robbers with ships and artillery. So I guess the English sort of outsmarted themselves on that one, because guess who’s ships were no longer off-limits after that?
~Essential Pirate Vocabulary~
Pirate – All the ocean going robbers.
Privateer – Government sanctioned pirates.
Buccaneer – Pirates/privateers who specialized in attacking the Spanish
in the West Indies, Central/South America in the 1600s.
Corsair – Pirates/privateers who specialized in the Mediterranean demographic. Also their ships.
The exhibit describing the pirate siege on St. Augustine was of particular interest to Aliyah, because she remembered it from our visit to the fort the day before. Still, she wasn’t impressed with mucking about in the dirt to find bits of pottery and such. We had to explain that to get to pirate treasure (gold coins, old pots and such) one has to dig deep. Or dive in the ocean, which sounds like a lot more fun to us.
It took us a bit of searching to find the first hidden cache, but once we got the hang of it, it got easier. Aliyah got a kick out of looking for the skull & crossbones, opening up drawers and boxes, and marking her map. It was also a great way to become familiar with the concept of maps, and practice using one. You can see an example of the cache marker below, between our little mermaid and her favorite granddad.
Aliyah was intrigued with seeing pirates in situ, in this case snoring away. It’s a good thing this nefarious napping neer-do-well was protected by a glass barrier, as some little explorer had her tiny nose pressed up against the glass. We wouldn’t want him to catch the coronavirus from all his visitors!
Aliyah especially enjoyed the audio scenario. She listened attentively to the entire presentation and had to be pried away when it was time to move on to the next station.
Aliyah was eager to learn about pirate treasures and booty, but especially the pieces identifiable as jewelry or money. That’s our girl!
As you might guess, acquiring all this pirate booty is not without some risk. As the gentleman below can attest.
We all got to see what a ‘bad day’ looks like when you sail the high seas on high stakes capital venture projects. This is actually what happened to our friend Thomas Tew (see below). Please don’t ask if this is his actual skeleton, lol.
Aliyah got to get a close up of what kinds of stuff can go into a big gun.
Speaking of ‘Capital,’ there was a list of pirates and crews who were executed. Aliyah was too busy admiring the gold coins to notice, but Grams took a picture just for you.
As a special treat, Aliyah got to see some of the props from “Pirates of the Caribbean” including the actual sword carried by Captain Sparrow, and the gold Cursed Coin. The Cursed Coin was designed and molded just for this movie, and it certainly looked authentic to us!
At the end of our journey through the pirating world, Aliyah turned in her treasure map, showed the Officer of the Watch her results, and received a gemstone as a reward for a job well done. Her coterie also received gemstones as our share of the booty, but she tucked away our gemstones in her bag for safekeeping. Heh.
A Few Famous Pirates
Grams checked out the museum website and found some more info on famous pirates for inspiration.
- Captain Robert Searles (mid 1600s – ?) – As you remember from the Castillo de San Marcos post, St. Augustine was sacked in 1668. That was the kick in the pants Spain needed to rebuild the fort as a tougher-than-cannons masonry structure that NEVER fell again. The pirate responsible for said sacking was one Captain Robert Searles, who burned the old wooden fort to the ground, along with most of the town. This distinguished gentleman had various run-ins with the law and with other pirates, but wound up getting killed by a logger of all things. Lesson learned: be polite to loggers.
- Sir Francis Drake (1540-1596) – A famous privateer who was actually knighted by the English crown. Seriously. He tore up St. Augustine in 1586 for the crime of being a Spanish colony. His main claim to fame was circumnavigating the globe (1577-1580 – it took a while.)
- Calico Jack (1682-1720) – A flamboyant dresser and pirate captain. His flag was appropriated by Jack Sparrow, a Not Real Pirate who was also a fancy dresser. Calico Jack had TWO women pirates in his crew, Mary Read, and Anne Bonny. His ship was captured and he was hung in Gallows Point, Jamaica. The ladies got stays of execution on account of being in a family way. Read died of fever, probably because medical personnel didn’t wash their hands (or much of anything) back then. Bonny survived, exited stage left and was never heard from again.
- Thomas Tew (died 1695) – Tried out privateering, but switched to unsanctioned piracy as more profitable. He died by a cannon ball to the tummy, and his actual treasure chest is on display in the Pirate Museum, along with his pistol and cutlass. It is said to be the ONLY pirate treasure chest extant in the entire world. So cool!
- Black Bart (Bartholomew Roberts, 1682-1722) – Captured 470 ships, making him the most prolific pirate ever recorded. He wrote the “Articles of Piracy” on how to run a successful pirating enterprise. This treatise was well accepted in the pirate community, and process improvement applies to career criminals as well as anyone else.
- Blackbeard (Edward Teach, 1680-1718) – Not to be confused with Black Bart, Blackbeard only operated for three short years before he himself was shortened from the neck up. He terrorized the east coast before his surgical ‘reconfiguration’ off the North Caroline coast, courtesy of the British Navy.
Famous ~Not~ Real Pirates
- Captain Jack Sparrow – Hunky swashbuckler of the Carribean, way too adorable to inspire fear or even mild loathing. His sword and cursed coin are on display in the museum, along with some interesting movie trivia. BTW, we learned that a swash is basically a swagger, move with a splashing sound, etc. (Mirriam-Webster) We still aren’t sure how you buckle one.
- Captain Mayhem – This fearsome robber of the seas entertains budding pirates at museum birthday parties and presumably corrupts their little minds with thoughts of ill gotten gains and do-it-yourself execution methods.
- Pirates of Penzance – Gilbert & Sullivan comic operetta about pirates and police and orphans, all of whom take turns capturing each other at various points along the plot line. If you have a little list, it should really not be missed.
For those who interested in the educational resources available, the Pirate Museum has a couple cool downloads for you:
1. Glossary of Pirate Terms and Phrases – better brush up before you go!
2. Pirates! A Curriculum-based Educational Adventure in Pirate & Florida History
The Pirate Museum has set up a whole curriculum for kids that encompasses history, geography, sociology, art, vocabulary, science, and math. Aliyah is especially interested in art, vocabulary, and math, so we might start on those and let you all know how she fares.
Aliyah’s Review
Aliyah just had to call mom and dad right after we left the museum, to tell them about her pirate treasure. She liked the map, finding the hidden loot, and getting gemstones at the end. There was nothing about this museum she didn’t like! Two little thumbs up!
About The Pirate & Treasure Museum
Website: thepiratemuseum.com
Address: 12 South Castillo Drive
St. Augustine, FL 32084
Phone: (877) GO-PLUNDER
(877) 467-5863
Email: info@thepiratemuseum.com
References
- Encyclopaedia Britannica.com, ‘Piracy/International Law’, https://www.britannica.com/topic/piracy-international-law
- Encylopaedia Britannica, ‘Swashbuckling Sisters: 6 Lady Pirates’, https://www.britannica.com/list/6-lady-pirates
- Mirriam-Webster, definition of ‘swash’, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/swash
- Pirate Museum, ‘Pirates, A Curriculum-Based Educational Adventure In Pirate and Florida History’, http://thepiratemuseum.com/images/stories/pdf/curriculum.pdf
- Pirate Museum, ‘Glossary of Pirate Terms and Phrases’, http://thepiratemuseum.com/images/stories/pdf/glossary22112.pdf
- The Phrase Finder, ‘Say goodnight Gracie’, http://phrases.org.uk/meanings/311200.html