And now, friends, it be time fer yer pirate fact o' the day:
Today I'll be givin' ye the one thing what most amazes me about the pirates in me readin' so far (aye, and I've four new books te read friends!). The most amazin' thing be the odds against which our pirates so often fought and prevailed. Fer example:
The french pirate captain L'Olonnais brought his fleet o' ships (fer he had a few ships sailin' with him at the time) inte Lake Maracaibo, off the Gulf o' Venezuela. Thar they headed fer Gibraltar, te plunder what they could. The Spaniards o' Gibraltar had been forewarned o' the pirates approach and were lyin' in wait fer 'em. They had raised a force o' 800 men te fight the pirates. Upon takin' te shore, the force o' 380 pirates found their pathways were blocked and were forced te make their way by the marshes, where the Spanairds fired upon 'em from under cover o' the trees and such. When reachin' solid ground, the pirates were fired upon still more, now by six cannons! Tryin' te get through the forest and out o' the line o' fire, the pirates tried te find another way, but were blocked by trees the Spanairds had felled te create a blockade. Upon seein' this situation, L'Olonnais formulated a plan - the pirates would pretend te retreat and tempt the Spaniards out from behind their cover. And, friends, the plan worked! No sooner had the pirate force turned away than the Spaniards came rushin' out te capture 'em. With this, the pirates turned and fought most fiercly. They were so fearsome they put the Spanairds, what were not killed, te flight fer fear o' their lives. After the pirates followed the Spanairds a while and killed all what they come across, the remainder o' the Spaniards surrendered te the pirate forces under condition they be granted quarter and their lives spared. After this success, the pirates returned te the site o' the battle te bury their dead and found some 500 Spanish dead (and, mind ye, the pirates had also captured some 150 male Spanish prisoners and 500 women, children and slaves), while their own forces lost only 40 dead and 30 wounded (most o' whom died later from disease and fever). Can ye believe it, friends? A force o' 380 up against a force o' 800 and they lose only 70 total compared te 500 fer the Spanish. Amazin'! And this were the way o' many pirate battles friends, fer the boys were crack shots with pistols and fearsome with the cutlass - and they fought like a force twice their size.
i told her i do agree! so we had a rather lengthy conversation about johnny in all of his splendor and his movies, until the editor of the paper told me it was a school paper not a johnny depp paper. 
oh well....
Truth be told, I have fer many years now found yer Mr Depp te be rather nice te look at.
and i call meself a fan....
