Pirate Links

Thar be pirate sites galore on the World Wide Web, and we’ve given up tryin’ to list ’em all. Here’s a smatterin’ o’ sites that have captured our fancy. If ye’ve got another and would like to swap links, give us a holler. We’ll check out yer site and consider it.

We don’t sell ads, and we don’t do banner exchanges, We aren’t, in any sense of the word, a business, so spare us the emails asking us if we want to buy your Chinese machine parts or SEO services. We don’t. And we REALLY don’t want to “partner” with you, especially if you’re a big national business chain, because we’ve learned that when a big national business says it wants to partner with you, it  usually means, “Drop your drawers and bend over! It’s time for a Jolly Rogering!” On the other hand, if you’ve got a chest of booty, we think it would be impolite of us not to at least listen.

Disclaimer: Some of the sites below contain content that may make yer eyes cross, yer ears bleed or yer hair stand on end. Parental discretion advised.

The TLAP Team on social media

The links

Kindred Souls

  • The Order of Leviathan, an organization representing elite members of the pirate community.
  • A page posted by an East Coast yacht dealer detailing some of the most famous pirate ships of the Golden Age of Piracy.
  • The work o’ fantasy and pirate artist extraordinaire’ Don “Foulbottom” Maitz, responsible fer (among other things) the look o’ Captain Morgan’s Rum – and the cover of the Pirate Guys’ first book, “Well, Blow Me Down!”.
  • Seattle Seafair Pirates – Pirate King of the Northwest since 1949!
  • The Pirate King – Rob Ossian (pronounced “Ocean”) has an amazing trove o’ nautical lore on his most excellent pirate-themed site.
  • Pirates & Privateers – The regularly updated website of of author Cindy Vallar, offering articles on the history of pirates and reviews of recent pirate books and movies. Cindy is one of those people who – if you need some specific pirate information, she knows it or knows who does and is willing to share.
  • One Tough Pirate – HIV/AIDs educator Bob Bowers definitely qualifies!
  • Bilgemunky.com – No longer active, but he’s a steadfast mate and has archived some good stuff
  • The Lady Sarah Out of Worthing – Cap’n Reg Miller’s labor o’ love, turnin’ a common garden shed into an entirely uncommon pirate ship. It’s amazing.
  • PirateJokes.net – More than 1,000 pirate jokes. And yes, we’ve heard them all …
  • The Patron Saint of Talk Like A Pirate Day: Robert Newton – the late character actor who practically created pirate talk as we know it with his unforgettable Long John Silver in the 1950 movie classic, “Treasure Island.”
  • The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster – All hail the Pastafarians for discovering the link between the decline of pirates and global warming

Pirate Performers

We recommend:

  • Tom Mason and the Blue Buccaneers- folk/pirate/Americana musician, a real favorite of Team Pirate
  • Bilge Rats and Pyrettes, our old musical compadres from the Pacific Northwest, they performed recently at the 2022 Order of Leviathan induction ceremony in St. Augustine.
  • The Bilge Pumps – A crusty crew of Texas troubadours who have been delighting audiences at fairs and festivals for more than twenty years. Their song, “Piratin’ the Seas,” is a particular favorite of Ol’ Chumbucket.
  • The Pirate Charles – A pirate band that rocks hard.
  • Alestorm, a pirate metal band that says “we like drinking rum and stealing ships.”
  • Tugboat Bromberg, an old friend from the Pacific Northwest, a crusty barnacle of a man who performs songs of the sea and piracy throughout the region.
  • The Motley Tones have been performing everything from madrigals to pub songs up and down the East Coast since coming together in 2010 at the Hampton Blackbeard Festival. Ol’ Chumbucket ran into them there a few years ago and found them to be terrific performers and just really nice folks – you know, for pirates.
  • Pyrates – Folk Done Pirate Style – formerly the UK’s No. 1 Pirate Band, relocated to The Netherlands
  • Pyrates of the Coast – Pacific Northwest Faire performers
  • Whiskey Bay Rovers – Hailing from Lafayette, LA, which is just up the road from Whiskey Bay, the Rovers specialize in drinking songs, sea shanties, ballads, and traditional Irish pub songs, much of it delivered a cappella in six part harmony.

There are literally hundreds of other fine regional/international pirate bands and re-enactors out there. If you are a member o such a musical menagerie, let us know about them and send their internet coordinates and we’ll look into adding them to our list. And keep an eye out for them at pirate festivals and Renaissance Faires.

Pirate Songs

See our Songs page(s) for a bunch of fantastic TLAPD-specific songs by some of our fans, including the Official Talk Like A Pirate Day Song by Tom Smith and the song “Talk Like a Pirate” by Tom Mason with help from Ol’ Chumbucket.33

People who take their piracy seriously

Pirate Books

We recommend:

Our own books, naturally, including:
  • Pirattitude, our first published book, released by New American Library and featuring pirate lingo and great pirates of history and literature, plus quizzes, snarky humor and a test to determine if you have the attitude of a pirate. It’s out of print now, but it’s available for Kindle and other ebook platforms, and there are used copies available.
  • Pirate Santa – A heart-warmin’ tale about tattooed pirates in the Caribbean who save the day!Join our own Cap’n Slappy, Tal, Ninja Boy, Pirate Baby Girl and crew in one of the best children’s books ever about a Christmas pirate adventure.
  • Chrissie Warren, Pirate Hunter – Ol’ Chumbucket’s first YA novel, about a 13-year-old girl who disguises herself as a boy and signs on to a Caribbean-bound merchant ship to find and rescue her father after he’s kidnapped by pirates.
  • A L’il Pirates ABSeas,” an alphabet book by Ol’ Chumbucket and Cap’ns Slappy with whimsical illustrations by Jonathan Cook, running through the alphabet like – well – a crew of pirates!
Books for kids
Books for teens & adults
  • Born To Be Hanged, by Keith Thomson. The treue story of a little known epic pirate raid across Panama and into the Pacific, much of it told by the gentlemen rovers themselves, taken from their journals. A rip-roaring adventure by the author of “The Pirates of Pensacola” (see entry at the bottom of this section.)
  • The Book of Pirates – Our freebooter friends Jamaica Rose and Captain Michael McLeod (Christine and Michael Lampe) have written one of the great books for younger readers – say, fourth to eighth graders, but older teens and parents will also enjoy this bold mix of pirate history, recipes, craft projects and more. We always say, “Jamaica Rose knows everything there is to know about pirates, and if she doesn’t know something, she knows someone who does. And she’s alway willing to share.”
  • Captain Mary, Buccaneer, by Jean Church Symonds
  • Empire of Blue Water, by Stephan Talty. The story of Henry Morgan and the buccaneers, who took on the Spanish empire and brought it to its knees. History, told like the most riveting fiction.
  • Hook and Jill, by Andrea Jones. A romance writer’s reimagining of Wendy’s story
  • The Legend of Gasparilla by Sarah Jane Kasserman (all ages)
  • Pirates of Pensacola, by Keith Thomson. The hilarious tale of Morgan Cooke, the most boring person you can imagine, an accountant for an international conglomerate, a tiny cog in a huge machine and happy to be so – until the day his father gets out of prison with tales of a treasure map and a fortune in gold. Morgan gets dragged along in one amazing mishap after another as he learns that all those pirate stories his dad used to tell were true. At the end of the trail lies gold and the girl, or death.
  • Treasure Island: the Untold Story – Jon Amrhein Jr.’s real-life prequel to the classic Robert Louis Stevenson tale.
  • Victory in Tripoli: How America’s War with the Barbary Pirates Established the U.S. Navy and Shaped a Nation by Joshua E. London

Web books:

  • Ile de Torture – A participant-written on-line “novel” of the high seas. (Requires registration to read or post).
  • Raging Gail, the Tale of a Daring Pirate and the Crew that Sailed Under Her, by James Ryan. A serialized pirate story in blog format.
  • (And don’t forget our own serial, The Ship’s Log o’ The Festering Boil!)

Pirate arrrrt, video and animations

  • Pirates of the Great Salt Lake, a terrific independent feature film that never got the theatrical releases it deserved. Check for it on streaming video services.
Pirate Fun & Games
  • Adventure Quest – Popular MMORPG site celebrates TLAPD every September by putting players aboard Captain Rhubarb’s pirate ship with special challenges and prizes!
  • Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag takes the popular XBox game to the high seas. I’ts not necessary to have played any of the other Assassin’s Creed games to enjoy it.
  • First released in 1990, the Monkey Island games are still favorites of many fans. A new version, Return to Monkey Island,  was released just last year on International Talk Like a Pirate Day! Once again, fans of Monkey Island can enjoy the puzzles and adventures as pirate-wannabee Guybrush Threepwood tries to outsmart pirate LeChuck.
  • Pirate 101 – a free, online game suitable for the whole family. Create your pirate and sail your custom ship on extraordinary adventures.
  • Pirates Outlaws is a single-player card game in which a player navigates dangerous seas, building a deck and combos to become a master pirate. It’s 99 cents on Google Play, more on Steam.
  • Pirates of the Burning Sea – A popular MMORPG of adventure on the high seas that, sadly, went offline in 2018. In January 2019 Vision Online Games announced it was taking over the game’s operation. As of this writing the site shows a “Coming Soon” banner. (The game also features Ol’ Chumbucket and Cap’n Slappy as non-playing characters, so if you notice us, stop by and say “Ahoy!”)
  • Pirate’s Booty – a puzzle game
  • Sea of Thieves is a first-person action-adventure game published by Microsoft Studios. In the game, players explore an open world via a pirate ship. The game is described as a “shared world adventure game”, which means groups of players will encounter each other regularly during their adventures, sometimes forming alliances, sometimes going head-to-head. It is also available on Steam.

Pirate Festivals

SPECIAL NOTE: It’s been a difficult time for pirate festivals, as COVID clutched the world in it’s icy talons and threatened to squeeze all the fun out of it. The pirate world is starting to shake off the pandemic lethargy (We just found a new Latin phrase, taedium vitae, fancy talk for “world weariness.” Like it?) but the calendar is still in flux and some of our favorite old events may never come back.. We’ll update as often as we can to keep you in the know. And you let us know if you’ve got an event coming up that you want people to be excited about.

  • Gasparilla (Fla.) Pirate Fest – January – February, now with a special alcohol-free children’s festival in addition to the take-no-prisoners adult festival.
  • 2nd Annual Mermaids and Pirates and Seafood Oh My festival. From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Feb 25, at Riverwalk Park, in Port Orange, FL. This annual event features mermaids from Paradise Mermaids, pirates, seafood trucks and vendors, crafters and artisans, plus music by DJ Pozzyvibes. Fun family event that is free to attend. Come dressed up as your favorite pirate or mermiad and join the fun.
  • Pirates of the Pontchartrain – April 7, 8,9,  just across the lake from New Orleans at the site of the Louisiana Renaissance Festival, 46468 River Road, Hammond LA 70401. Admission is $15 for anyone older than 5. The event includes music and other entertainment of a piratey nature.
  • PirateFest – April 15, Greenville, N.C. Swashbucklers of all ages will converge on the banks of the Tar River in Uptown Greenville. Eight city blocks will be filled with buccaneers for a full slate of entertainment and events for young and old.
  • The Brixham (England) Pirate Festival – April 29, 30 and May 1 in Brixham, a coastal town in the county of Devon in Southwest England. This is one of the big days on the pirate calendar, and those of us who haven’t attended all have it on our bucket lists. Admission is free, and the festival includes live music, street entertainment, a pirate marketplace, living history and re-enactment. It’s one of the largest pirate festivals on the planet.
  • Pirates Invade Yorktown – April 29-30 in Yorktown, Virginia. Travel back to the Golden Age of Piracy at Riverwalk Landing and the Watermen’s Museum for Pirates Invade Yorktown! Pirate and maritime history demonstrations, sea shanties, a town-wide treasure hunt, exciting cannon demonstrations and more! Enroll your kids in Pirate school, witness a pirate trial, visit pirate camps at Riverwalk Landing and the Watermen’s Museum, plus food vendors, pirate-themed shopping, and live performances throughout the day. April 29-30, 2023. No charge for admission.
  • Corpus Christi (Tex.) Buccaneer Days – May 4–14. This event is more about the rodeo, but there is plenty of pirate fun to be had as well.
  • Louisiana Pirate Festival, Lake Charles, LA, (formerly Contraband Days) May 4-14. Music, carnival rides, food and – of course – PIRATES!
  • Billy Bowlegs Pirate Festival – May 19-22, Fort Walton Beach, Florida. Ol’ Chumbucket says it’s not the best pirate festival he’s ever been to, but the people are friendly and if you’re on the Florida Panhandle it’s worth stopping by to give it a look.
  • Tennessee Pirate Fest – The last two weekends of May – May 20-21, 27-28-29, Entertainment includes original pirate tunes by the inimitable Tom Mason and the Blue Buccaneers.
  • Castertowne Pirate Invasion, May 20-21 at the DeSoto National Memorial Park, Bradenton, FL. The event will feature live mermaids, steel and powder demonstrations, encampments, and more. The event will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Organizers recommend visitors bring snacks and drinks.
  • Hampton, Virginia, Blackbeard Festival – June 3 and 4 in downtown Hampton. It’s easy to find, just look for the flood of pirates heading down to the waterfront. Ol’ Chumbucket assures us  the Blackbeard Festival is THE best pirate festival east of the MIssissippi, and the crew that runs it are just great folks. If there’s ANY chance to go, you definitely should make a point of it.
  • The Alki Beach Pirate Landing –  Seattle: June 24 (although that date’s not yet set in stone)
    The famed and ferocious Seafair Pirates will once again storm the beach at Alki in West Seattle, bringing their own brand of mayhem as they kick off the city’s annual Seafair event. Families crowd the Puget Sound shoreline to watch with delight and horror (horrified delight?) as the buccaneers land.
  • The Cape Cod Pirate Festival – June 3, 4, 10, 11at the Yarmouth Fairgrounds in West Yarmouth, MA. Food, a pirate market, entertainment, demonstrations and a pub sing are just a few of the events planned.
  • Northern California Pirate Festival, Vallejo – NO WORD YET ON WHEN OR IF THE FESTIVAL IS RETURNING
  • Rusty Scupper Pirate Daze, Westport, WA. June 23, 24,25 in Westport, WA. A small town, a BIG bay and an absolute horde of pirates. Who could ask for anything more. And in 2023, Ol’ Chumbucket and Mad Sally will be there to join in the fun!
  • Pirates Invasion Long Beach – July 8,9, at “the old location,” at the old location Pirate Island Light House behind Long Beach Aquarium, in the Long Beach Harbor. Billed as “the biggest pirate event in the West,” it draws some of the top pirate entertainers and performers on the West Coast.
  • Ontario Pirate Festival – Aug. 5, 6, 7 at Marden Park, 7368 Wellington County Road 30, Guelph, Ontario. Visit the pirate village of Dry Bluffs – a glorious day out for the whole family. There’s food and ale; merchants and crafters, and more entertainment than you can possibly imagine.
  • Rock Hall (MD) Pirate Fantasy Weekend – Aug. 11, 12, 13. Billed as “a town-wide, family-themed party you won’t forget. Pirate garb encouraged and plenty of activities for the whole family.
  • Beaufort (N.C.) Pirate Invasion – Sept. 22-24. The event reenacts the 1747 Spanish Attack on Beaufort, and commemorates Blackbeard and his ship the Queen Anne’s Revenge, which lies just off Beaufort Inlet.
  • Tybee Island (Georgia) Pirate Festival – Oct. 5-8. We hear nothing but good things about this event.
  • Cedar Key (FL) Pirate Invasion – Nov. 3, 4, 5. Ol’ Chumbucket and Mad Sally assure us that of all the pirate festivals they’ve attended and all the fine folks they’ve  met from coast to coast, they’ve never felt more welcomed than they did on the small island on Florida’s Gulf Coast. So there’s that. Oh, and there’s a pirate battle on the sand.

Pirate Excursions & Experiences

  • Drunken Pirate Tours – Offers “a hysterical history tour learning local history, folklore and legends with history tours and haunted pub crawls/ghost tours” on Florida’s Gulf Coast.
  • Pirate Adventures on the Chesapeake – Join a merry band of pirates on the mighty ship Sea Gypsy for swashbuckling family outings, birthday parties, field trips, and exciting adventures. Season begins April 22.
  • Pirate’s Dinner Adventures – A “dinner show attraction that puts you and your family right in the middle of all of the swashbuckling action.” Orlando, Fla., and Buena Park, Calif.

    Pirate gear & garb

    Here’s the Good Stuff – not cheap, but worth every penny. If you want the mass-produced Halloween stuff, check out Walmart, or the Spirit Halloween Store in a vacant Kmart building near you.

  • Blades

    These are craftsman working at the upper end of the sword market. These aren’t inexpensive, but you’ll wear them with pride.

  • Sword and the Stone – Tony Swatton, weapon-maker to the stars (For example, he made the blades for Captain Jack Sparrow and Will Turner, perhaps you’ve heard of them?), and a mate o’ Cap’n Slappy’s.
  • Baltimore Knife and Sword – Top-quality weaponry, favored for stage combat for decades.
  • Rogue Steel – Quality custom swords and other blades suitable for stage combat. Maker of Cap’n Slappy’s blade wth the signature “S” guard.

    Garb & Goodies

  • DressLikeAPirate.Com – Clothing-quality pirate and wench costumes, garb & accessories; Shayna helped dress Team Pirate & friends for “Wench Swap,” back in the day.
  • Captain Jack’s Pirate Hats – Hand-craft pirate headwear and other pirate trinkets from master hatter, our friend the MacKay.
  • Pirate Fashion – Our old pal Tiger Lee offers a wide variety of gear and garb for whatever level of pirate you aspire to.  It’s the Gasparilla SUper Store!
  • Michael Elledge is an artist who makes well-crafted, non-firing replicas of historic cannon and their carriages. They’re things of beauty!
  • Museum Replicas – Period clothing and weapons, they supplied props for the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Quality stuff.
  • The Pirates’ Lair – offers authentic restored antique 100 – 150 year old pirate chests, sea chests with a pirate theme and decor; and vintage nautical furniture from restored WWII Liberty Ship wooden hatch covers to U.S. Navy-issued nautical dinnerware and tableware.
  • Jezebel’s Booty Bag – Free .pdf knitting pattern for a capacious, felted, doubleknit pirate bag, designed by our erstwhile Webwench.

    Everything Else

We Recommend

  • Ye Olde Tattoo Shoppe/Lake Arrowhead – Our good friends, offering tattoos, body jewelry and one hell of a TLAPD parrrrty. Tell ’em Cap’n Slappy (who sports a good deal of their ink) sent ye!
  • The Marie Curie Cancer Care – this UK charity has been using TLAPD almost since the beginning to raise funds to help cancer patients receive home care.
  • Davy Jones’ Locker – More about science than pirates, but a fine piratical look at sea-floor mapping and coastl GIS by our mate Deepsea Dawn Wright, now chief scientist at ESRI, which makes ARC-GIS mapping software (pirates would’ve killed for it!) If ye’re interested in mapping, check them out.
Miscellany
  • Arrr.Net – Every joke you’ve ever heard of (and some you haven’t) with “arrr” in the punchline.
  • Avast! – Lean, mean, effective anti-virus software protects yer computer against the bad kind of pirates. And if yer wiley, you might get a pirate-talk Easter Egg on Sept. 19…
  • Classic-Pirates.com – Dedicated to the original pirate LEGO sets.
  • Feathered Friends Forever – Where would a pirate be without his parrot? Feathered Friends Forever works to improve the lives of companion birds and promotes avian welfare through humane education, rescue, and by providing a temporary and/or permanent safe haven for abandoned birds. Throw ’em some doubloons!
  • PiratesPassions – An on-line social-network and dating site for … pirates!