Showing posts with label pirates. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pirates. Show all posts

Friday, May 31, 2019

Living Heritage Podcast Ep153 Thrill of the Dark: Katie Crane on Fairies, Coffins, and Pirates



Learning the stories of a place is one thing that tourists seek out when they travel.  But what if some of those stories deal with darker themes? Towns and tourism operators are coming to see the value of what is known in the industry as “Dark Tourism.”

In this podcast, Folklore MA candidate Katie Crane talks to us about her studies in the field, escape rooms, pirate lore, coffin hardware, and her recent participation in “The Thrill of the Dark: Heritages of Fear Fascination and Fantasy” Conference in Birmingham, UK.

Katie Crane is a graduate student in the Public Sector program of Memorial University’s Department of Folklore. She has worked for the Logy Bay-Middle Cove-Outer Cove Museum, the Historic Sites Association of Newfoundland and Labrador, and for Admiralty House Communications Museum. Her academic research interests include public folklore, museums, heritage interpretation, legends, linguistics, and language revitalization.



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The Living Heritage Podcast is about people who are engaged in the heritage and culture sector, from museum professionals and archivists, to tradition bearers and craftspeople - all those who keep history alive at the community level. The show is a partnership between HeritageNL and CHMR Radio. Past episodes are hosted on Libsyn, and you can subscribe via iTunes, or Stitcher. Theme music is Rythme Gitan by Latché Swing.

Thursday, March 23, 2017

Barbary Pirates, Sallee Rovers, and the Legend of Turk's Gut. #FolkloreThursday



The community of Marysvale, Conception Bay, was originally known as Turk's Gut. The exact origin of the name is lost in the mists of time. But many legends have sprung up over the centuries to account for it, and most of them agree on the name being linked to the seventeenth-century history of piracy in the waters of Conception Bay. One of the earliest and shortest accounts comes to us from the Most Rev. Michael Francis Howley, in his “Newfoundland Name-Lore” column in the Newfoundland Quarterly, March, 1907. He writes,

Near Brigus we have Turk's Gut. In explaining the name of St. Barbes, I mentioned that in early days our seas were infested by pirates from Barbary. These terrible corsairs, who did much damage around our coasts, were called by the old English settlers by the generic name of Turks, and the names above mentioned record the memory of some adventure, or landing by them in these harbours.

By 1949, the legend had expanded slightly. In that year’s Christmas Annual, writer LEF English noted,

The Sallee Rovers... were supposed to have their lairs on the Barbary Coast in Africa. The vessels were partly manned by Turks, but many renegade French and English took service with these organized robbers. Some of their ships operated in Newfoundland waters as shown by the records. We see then that pirates actually did visit Newfoundland and that the possibility of treasure trove on lonely headlands or in sheltered bays is after all not so remote. There still exist some relics of those old sea rovers, for instance the name Turk's Gut near Brigus recalls a legend that the Sallee raiders once had there a quiet rendezvous. Spanish doubloons and pieces of eight still hold a fascination, and there is no doubt that he who goes treasure hunting in Newfoundland will find at least enough hair raising stories to reward his efforts, and maybe, maybe, will uncover the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Writer and publisher PJ Wakeham expanded the story for inclusion in his New Land Magazine in 1962, and again in 1968. Wakeham spins a bloodthirsty yarn, likely based more on his own imagination than on historical fact. In his version the pirate not only gains a name, Isstovatison, but also gains a captive, Madame LaBlonc, the wife of a French naval officer. Isstovatison’s ship is wrecked, a treasure is recovered and buried, and the ship’s cannons are used to fortify the pirate’s lair. All is well till Admiral LaBlonc sails to Newfoundland to save his wife from the Turk’s clutches:

Realizing that his end was at hand, the infuriated pirate turned and thrust a heavy cutlass into the breast of Madame LaBlonc, and putting a loaded pistol to his own head, he blew his brains out before he could be restrained. When Admiral LaBlonc entered the pirate’s hide-out, he found his wife badly wounded and beside her body lay the crumpled body of the Pirate of Turk’s Gut. Despite the best of medical care, Madame LaBlonc died that afternoon onboard her husband’s ship just as the shadows of night were closing in over Conception Bay.

Do you know a different version of the legend of Turk's Gut? I'd love to hear from you if you do! Email me at ich@heritagefoundation.ca or comment below!

- Dale Jarvis