Saturday, April 21, 2012

Battle of Jersey - the pirate version

Strange that Jersey's pirate history is not visibly celebrated but we do wax lyrical about the 18th century British Colonial, Imperialist and bloodthirsty past.

Here the pirates put the current case for globalisation.

See also the interview with Shaxson on Treasure Islands (including Jersey) in a previous posting on this blogsite....when the author was washed ashore here in 2011.
Posted by at

3 comments:

  1. AnonymousApril 23, 2012 at 10:07 AM

    Hi Tom,

    I will be exposing the pirates of the not so good ship SoJinc. and their incompetent
    minions, this friday @ 10AM in the banditstrates court.

    cyril

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousApril 25, 2012 at 9:30 AM

      Tom, where can I discover more about the pirate history of Jersey? I find it fascinating that such a colourful historical period, and one given a more modern pop culture relevance by the recent Johnny Depp Pirates of the Caribbean films, seems to have been forgotten about.

      I read somewhere a while ago online about a band of pirates based on Sark, and their bloodthirsty story would have made for a hollywood blockbuster on its own.

      This topic is exactly the kind of thing which stimulates young minds when it comes to historical awareness. When I was at school local history was a minimal topic at best, a religious bloke got his head chopped off at Elizabeth castle, there was vague mention of shipbuilding, THE BATTLE OF JERSEY, and and a little bit about the German occupation. And that was it.

      Our perception as pupils was that Jersey's history was bland, boring, uninspiring, of little interest or consequence. Nothing much happened here apart from THE BATTLE OF JERSEY and the Occupation. Yet that is not the truth of the matter. Jersey's history is a rich and colorful seam waiting to be fully mined. Why it has not yet remains a very strange question.

      Delete
  2. Tom GruchyApril 25, 2012 at 11:17 AM

    Am I asking myself questions I wonder?
    Of course there are a few books that deal with Jersey's pirate/smuggling/privateering past and these are in the local section of the public reference library on open shelf.
    The more intense history is under preparation here at Gruchy's mansion. If you want to know more than the library has to offer get in touch but you should be warned that insomnia and my version of history is not compatible.

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)