A Conversation for Wirral Reimagined

Why?

Post 1

minorvogonpoet


Why is the ship on the rocks? You'd have thought a pirate skipper would know better.


Why?

Post 2

FWR

Old mother Redcap probably.


Why?

Post 3

FWR

We used to sing a song in the school choir:

Old Mother Redcap
Wicked old witch.
Ill gotten gains
Once made her rich.
Host of a tavern on the Mersey Sands.
Blood of the mariners
Red on her hands.

Old Mother Redcap's was an Inn dating back to 1590s, allegedly run by Poll Jones, who always wore a red head covering, but probably due to her favourite pirate ship was named the Redcap.... Or maybe the 16 gun privateer was named after Poll, who knows?

Rumours of forgotten buried treasure still abound in the area.

Fascinating accounts of the way the building was fortified to protect the privateers' plunder.

(much better stories are probably available in Yorkshire.)
smiley - cheers


Why?

Post 4

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

smiley - wow Great story! Would make a great guide entry, too...

We don't have any pirates. smiley - envy We only have stories of river pirates - and characters like Mike Fink. You owe it to us to share!

Though in the mid-19th Century oil boom, there were floating 'houses of pleasure' on the Nighthoover and Allegheny rivers...smiley - whistle


Why?

Post 5

FWR

Didn't Orson Scott Card do a Mike Fink character?
Ill have to look him up!smiley - cheers


Why?

Post 6

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

smiley - laugh He might have, dunno. But Mike Fink was a flatboat operator on the O-high-o. smiley - laugh


Why?

Post 7

FWR

Yup, Fink features in Alvin Maker saga. Blast from the past, my memory's seving me well today!

Hence, another Mr Shaw song in my head now about a knight swimming the Mersey with his charger by his side, turns out he got the name wrong but the correct family!
In thanks he founded ( the knight, not my old music teacher)the Birkenhead Priory and monks ferry, the original Ferry 'cross the Mersey!

more Wirral history from 1000 years ago!


Why?

Post 8

FWR

At Dunham once there lived a knight,
Sir Hamo was his name,
And when outnumbered in a fight
He swam his way to fame.

Surrounded near to Runcorn
He faced the cruel tide,
And lived to swim the Mersey
With his charger by his side!


Why?

Post 9

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

smiley - rofl Wonderful stuff!


Why?

Post 10

FWR

only 600 years out!

Hamo de Masci did indeed found the Priory, and it was running ferries from 1150, but the knight in question was came much later, William Massey, defeated at the Battle of Preston in 1715, swam the Mersey, allegedly in full armour with his war horse by his side, escaping to Wirral! Not bad for a 60 year old!


Why?

Post 11

FWR

another tale for PR!smiley - cheers


Why?

Post 12

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

Great! smiley - biggrin


Why?

Post 13

Paigetheoracle

The ship is on the rocks because the captain fancied a whisky of course, which landed him off course, of course


Why?

Post 14

paulh, vaccinated against the Omigod Variant

Maybe the ship was stranded when the tide went out?


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