I thought I would share this interesting pirate tale with you. The story goes that in 1720 a man named James Wilson and his pregnant wife were travelling aboard a ship to Londonderry, New Hampshire.
Sunbury News 10 May 1902 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article70067814
During the trip the ship was overtaken by pirates. Once the valuables and the men aboard were secured, the pirate chief came across Mrs. Wilson lying in the cabin having just given birth to a baby girl.
The pirate then requested the honour of naming the child in return for leaving the ship, and all aboard, unharmed.
Really, did Mrs. Wilson have a choice!?
The name Mary was given by an unexpectedly emotional pirate, and the ship and all aboard were left undamaged, as was promised.
The pirate captain did return though, bearing a roll of silk to be used for the infant Mary’s future wedding dress.
In 1740 Mary, who was known as Ocean Mary, married Thomas Wallace and the dress she wore was made of the pirate’s silk.
After I found this article I had a quick look at the interweb for some other information but with very little hope that this was anything other than a romantic tale.
Brace yourself, because, unlike most of the unusual stories I find, interestingly it appears Ocean Mary really did exist.
According to Henniker history she is buried in the cemetery at Henniker with pieces of the wedding dress being on display locally.
What a family tale that would be!
Buried words and Bushwa. 
Silly I know since there were still a good few Pirate Capains around at that time but I’d love to think it was Bartholemew Roberts who did this deed. I seem to remember he was a prisoner who became a pirate with reluctance and worked his way up which means he must have been thought well of by the men. If any of Mary’s family are s ill around this must be one tale that’s told time and again.
Maybe it was Black Bart. I hadn’t thought of that.
Now you have given me a chance to add a Horrible Histories clip to this post! Thanks for that 😉
What a lovely snippet of history! I wonder if Dickens had heard of this story when he wrote Great Expectations? Not quite the same, I know, but still…. And perhaps this is where the image of the fearsome, but honourable, pirate comes from?
It is an interesting story isn’t it, I wonder exactly how much of it is true and how much is dramatized though? Certainly an fascinating thing to have in your family history regardless .
lol – Always that pinch of salt, but still, why would the victims want to idealize a pirate? I prefer to think it’s all true…. 😉
I would like to think so too. Perhaps more of a handful than a pinch?
lmao – but too much salt is bad for you. 😉
A very romantic pirate story…
Are you planning to write a book with a compilation of your bits & pieces of history. I’d read it! I love these odd snippets of the past.
It is an fantastical tale isn’t it.
Meeka/Acflory suggested the same thing a while ago, I am not sure what format would work for that kind of thing.
Very glad to hear I would have at least two readers though 😀
One cool story… I believe every word of it! 😉
I wonder how much of it was true. Since it is such a long-lasting tale there must be a few grains of truth-salt in there, I’m just not sure how many.
I loved the dramatization in this article, “There were tears in the pirate’s eyes….”. I can’t imagine that any woman, having just given birth, and on a ship recently overrun by pirates, would be making note of those kinds of details!
The biggest suprise to me was that, after giving back all the valuables on the ship in return for naming the baby, the pirate captain came up with such a relatively everyday name… Would have expected something much more dramatic.
Maybe she should have been Pearl ?(The Black Pearl, arrrrrgh….)
I guess that everyday name is meant to make us feel for the pirate and his own long-lost Mary. *cue far away stare, mournful music, and cut to montage of romantic scenes* 😉
LOL! Black Pearl… love it.
I wonder if it was a boy would he have been called (Jolly) Rodger? 🙂
Yo ho ho and a bottle of Bacardi.
😀
Fascinating
Travel was a little more interesting back in those days wasn’t it. 🙂
Certainly was!
It’s taken me a while to work though posts that went up while I was on holidays but I’m glad I caught this one… it’s a storyline I’m sure could be included in a Pirates of the Carribean film – the next one is probably already scripted and being filmed so maybe POTC 10…
On our holidays, the G.O. & I tried the pirate life… we unusually found a great cache of shells while walking on the inaptly named Shelly Beach which normally yields only stones… too many to carry, we stashed our shell treasure in a marked spot in a rock cavern. Returning the next day we were unable to locate the shells nor the hiding place. Hmmm, I’m glad we didn’t try that with real treasure…
I’m glad you are bothering to catch up 🙂 Thanks!
I wonder if that is what has happened to all the pirate treasure over history. It was stashed safely in a nearby cave and was never seen again. Maybe it was some kind of wormhole cave, it is always there only the entrance chooses to appear at the appropriate time (a bit like the door of Howl’s Moving Castle). If you had done a bit of investigating you never know what you might have found! 😉