[Contents]MAY 20th, 1925[99]May twentieth is my birthday, and Mother had made me a whole pirate outfit—pantaloon trousers, red sash, calico head scarf, a machete, rope soled shoes, and a ragged shirt.Everybody met at Uncle Will’s cabin just before dinner, and then to the pounding of a big drum we all marched down to the dining saloon, everybody dressed in full pirate costumes, with wild looking wigs and knives and cutlasses of every description.I got two knives, a jar of jam, a box of sweet crackers, a cocoanut, a fine piece of old Chiriqui Indian Pottery, and a peach of a collecting bag. “Lumpy,” the baker, made me a huge birthday cake.[100]Then after dinner Shorty took a flashlight picture of the gang against the shrouds down on the hatch deck. We really looked like a pirate crew too, with everyone in costume and apparently on a sailing ship. The steep rocky island near the north point of Chatham Bay showed in the background, and made it seem even more real.The Birthday Party.The Birthday Party.The night of the birthday party Don Dickerman wore his “Marooned man” costume. It is entirely rags and tatters and mended with bits of old string and leather. With a wig of tangled hair all knotted and a bandanna and a cutlass he looks pretty awful. John Tee Van had torn trousers, bare body, a frightful long black wig and he painted on a terrible scar across his face, and slashes of blood on his insteps. Some of the others had fine clothes of velvet with old lace, the rich pirates or those who had stolen booty from some recent captive. And the girls looked like pirates’ wives or sweethearts, except Mother who came as a[101]wild woman, my captive, all bound up with ropes and being dragged along.About the grandest birthday present one could get was given me by Don. It was his favorite sword, a real old time cutlass which perhaps was used by pirates. He called it “Fury” and got up an awfully funny card to go with it.And Dwight Franklin made me a lovely drawing of the beach at Cocos back in the old days, with a regular pirate landing on it from his ship. That picture is used at the end of my book.Cocos Island is really a wonderful place for a pirate party anyway, for real pirates were there many times, and maybe men were marooned there, or left there, and mutinies occurred. Treasure was buried there. Along the beach where ships came for fresh water, there are carvings on the rocks, ship’s names and dates, many of them old and back as far as 1813. There were names of famous whaling[102]ships, and one,The Shrew, was a real pirate ship but the date was not given with that one, probably on purpose.Don’s Birthday Card.Don’s Birthday Card.To:David Putnampirate, artist, writer adventurer and sportsman, shipmate and best friendAS BIRTHDAY GREETING & IN TOKEN OF MY ESTEEM I HEREBY PRESENTMY GOOD SWORD“FURY”WHICH HAS DONE ME FAITHFUL SERVICE & BEEN MY VERY MOST CONSTANT COMPANION ALWAYS IN CRUISING AT SEA AND ASHORE, ALSO IN HOSPITAL AND IN GAOL, IN CARNIVALS AND IN THE GOTHAM TOMBS, IN yeSKULL & BONES TAVERN yeBLACK STAR INNofPE QUOT MANOR, SHARK’S TOOTH, & YEPIRATE’S DENWHEREFORE I HAVE SET MY MARK THIS TWENTIETH DAY OF MAY 1925SAILOR’S MONUMENT BEACH CHATHAM BAY COCOS ISLEDon DickermanCORSAIR CAPTAINThere is a fine tunnel right through the rock in one place, going fully a hundred yards through a point of land to another bay quite round the corner. Don went through it in his little dugout canoe which he bought in Panama and Tamms, the third mate, went in his motor skiff with the Johnson engine.In one little bay beyond the settlement we found a hole twenty feet deep where Captain Gissler or someone else had dug for treasure. Don and Dwight went down it on a rope and only found a board and a piece of rope there.[103]
[Contents]MAY 20th, 1925[99]May twentieth is my birthday, and Mother had made me a whole pirate outfit—pantaloon trousers, red sash, calico head scarf, a machete, rope soled shoes, and a ragged shirt.Everybody met at Uncle Will’s cabin just before dinner, and then to the pounding of a big drum we all marched down to the dining saloon, everybody dressed in full pirate costumes, with wild looking wigs and knives and cutlasses of every description.I got two knives, a jar of jam, a box of sweet crackers, a cocoanut, a fine piece of old Chiriqui Indian Pottery, and a peach of a collecting bag. “Lumpy,” the baker, made me a huge birthday cake.[100]Then after dinner Shorty took a flashlight picture of the gang against the shrouds down on the hatch deck. We really looked like a pirate crew too, with everyone in costume and apparently on a sailing ship. The steep rocky island near the north point of Chatham Bay showed in the background, and made it seem even more real.The Birthday Party.The Birthday Party.The night of the birthday party Don Dickerman wore his “Marooned man” costume. It is entirely rags and tatters and mended with bits of old string and leather. With a wig of tangled hair all knotted and a bandanna and a cutlass he looks pretty awful. John Tee Van had torn trousers, bare body, a frightful long black wig and he painted on a terrible scar across his face, and slashes of blood on his insteps. Some of the others had fine clothes of velvet with old lace, the rich pirates or those who had stolen booty from some recent captive. And the girls looked like pirates’ wives or sweethearts, except Mother who came as a[101]wild woman, my captive, all bound up with ropes and being dragged along.About the grandest birthday present one could get was given me by Don. It was his favorite sword, a real old time cutlass which perhaps was used by pirates. He called it “Fury” and got up an awfully funny card to go with it.And Dwight Franklin made me a lovely drawing of the beach at Cocos back in the old days, with a regular pirate landing on it from his ship. That picture is used at the end of my book.Cocos Island is really a wonderful place for a pirate party anyway, for real pirates were there many times, and maybe men were marooned there, or left there, and mutinies occurred. Treasure was buried there. Along the beach where ships came for fresh water, there are carvings on the rocks, ship’s names and dates, many of them old and back as far as 1813. There were names of famous whaling[102]ships, and one,The Shrew, was a real pirate ship but the date was not given with that one, probably on purpose.Don’s Birthday Card.Don’s Birthday Card.To:David Putnampirate, artist, writer adventurer and sportsman, shipmate and best friendAS BIRTHDAY GREETING & IN TOKEN OF MY ESTEEM I HEREBY PRESENTMY GOOD SWORD“FURY”WHICH HAS DONE ME FAITHFUL SERVICE & BEEN MY VERY MOST CONSTANT COMPANION ALWAYS IN CRUISING AT SEA AND ASHORE, ALSO IN HOSPITAL AND IN GAOL, IN CARNIVALS AND IN THE GOTHAM TOMBS, IN yeSKULL & BONES TAVERN yeBLACK STAR INNofPE QUOT MANOR, SHARK’S TOOTH, & YEPIRATE’S DENWHEREFORE I HAVE SET MY MARK THIS TWENTIETH DAY OF MAY 1925SAILOR’S MONUMENT BEACH CHATHAM BAY COCOS ISLEDon DickermanCORSAIR CAPTAINThere is a fine tunnel right through the rock in one place, going fully a hundred yards through a point of land to another bay quite round the corner. Don went through it in his little dugout canoe which he bought in Panama and Tamms, the third mate, went in his motor skiff with the Johnson engine.In one little bay beyond the settlement we found a hole twenty feet deep where Captain Gissler or someone else had dug for treasure. Don and Dwight went down it on a rope and only found a board and a piece of rope there.[103]
MAY 20th, 1925
[99]May twentieth is my birthday, and Mother had made me a whole pirate outfit—pantaloon trousers, red sash, calico head scarf, a machete, rope soled shoes, and a ragged shirt.Everybody met at Uncle Will’s cabin just before dinner, and then to the pounding of a big drum we all marched down to the dining saloon, everybody dressed in full pirate costumes, with wild looking wigs and knives and cutlasses of every description.I got two knives, a jar of jam, a box of sweet crackers, a cocoanut, a fine piece of old Chiriqui Indian Pottery, and a peach of a collecting bag. “Lumpy,” the baker, made me a huge birthday cake.[100]Then after dinner Shorty took a flashlight picture of the gang against the shrouds down on the hatch deck. We really looked like a pirate crew too, with everyone in costume and apparently on a sailing ship. The steep rocky island near the north point of Chatham Bay showed in the background, and made it seem even more real.The Birthday Party.The Birthday Party.The night of the birthday party Don Dickerman wore his “Marooned man” costume. It is entirely rags and tatters and mended with bits of old string and leather. With a wig of tangled hair all knotted and a bandanna and a cutlass he looks pretty awful. John Tee Van had torn trousers, bare body, a frightful long black wig and he painted on a terrible scar across his face, and slashes of blood on his insteps. Some of the others had fine clothes of velvet with old lace, the rich pirates or those who had stolen booty from some recent captive. And the girls looked like pirates’ wives or sweethearts, except Mother who came as a[101]wild woman, my captive, all bound up with ropes and being dragged along.About the grandest birthday present one could get was given me by Don. It was his favorite sword, a real old time cutlass which perhaps was used by pirates. He called it “Fury” and got up an awfully funny card to go with it.And Dwight Franklin made me a lovely drawing of the beach at Cocos back in the old days, with a regular pirate landing on it from his ship. That picture is used at the end of my book.Cocos Island is really a wonderful place for a pirate party anyway, for real pirates were there many times, and maybe men were marooned there, or left there, and mutinies occurred. Treasure was buried there. Along the beach where ships came for fresh water, there are carvings on the rocks, ship’s names and dates, many of them old and back as far as 1813. There were names of famous whaling[102]ships, and one,The Shrew, was a real pirate ship but the date was not given with that one, probably on purpose.Don’s Birthday Card.Don’s Birthday Card.To:David Putnampirate, artist, writer adventurer and sportsman, shipmate and best friendAS BIRTHDAY GREETING & IN TOKEN OF MY ESTEEM I HEREBY PRESENTMY GOOD SWORD“FURY”WHICH HAS DONE ME FAITHFUL SERVICE & BEEN MY VERY MOST CONSTANT COMPANION ALWAYS IN CRUISING AT SEA AND ASHORE, ALSO IN HOSPITAL AND IN GAOL, IN CARNIVALS AND IN THE GOTHAM TOMBS, IN yeSKULL & BONES TAVERN yeBLACK STAR INNofPE QUOT MANOR, SHARK’S TOOTH, & YEPIRATE’S DENWHEREFORE I HAVE SET MY MARK THIS TWENTIETH DAY OF MAY 1925SAILOR’S MONUMENT BEACH CHATHAM BAY COCOS ISLEDon DickermanCORSAIR CAPTAINThere is a fine tunnel right through the rock in one place, going fully a hundred yards through a point of land to another bay quite round the corner. Don went through it in his little dugout canoe which he bought in Panama and Tamms, the third mate, went in his motor skiff with the Johnson engine.In one little bay beyond the settlement we found a hole twenty feet deep where Captain Gissler or someone else had dug for treasure. Don and Dwight went down it on a rope and only found a board and a piece of rope there.[103]
[99]
May twentieth is my birthday, and Mother had made me a whole pirate outfit—pantaloon trousers, red sash, calico head scarf, a machete, rope soled shoes, and a ragged shirt.
Everybody met at Uncle Will’s cabin just before dinner, and then to the pounding of a big drum we all marched down to the dining saloon, everybody dressed in full pirate costumes, with wild looking wigs and knives and cutlasses of every description.
I got two knives, a jar of jam, a box of sweet crackers, a cocoanut, a fine piece of old Chiriqui Indian Pottery, and a peach of a collecting bag. “Lumpy,” the baker, made me a huge birthday cake.[100]
Then after dinner Shorty took a flashlight picture of the gang against the shrouds down on the hatch deck. We really looked like a pirate crew too, with everyone in costume and apparently on a sailing ship. The steep rocky island near the north point of Chatham Bay showed in the background, and made it seem even more real.
The Birthday Party.The Birthday Party.
The Birthday Party.
The night of the birthday party Don Dickerman wore his “Marooned man” costume. It is entirely rags and tatters and mended with bits of old string and leather. With a wig of tangled hair all knotted and a bandanna and a cutlass he looks pretty awful. John Tee Van had torn trousers, bare body, a frightful long black wig and he painted on a terrible scar across his face, and slashes of blood on his insteps. Some of the others had fine clothes of velvet with old lace, the rich pirates or those who had stolen booty from some recent captive. And the girls looked like pirates’ wives or sweethearts, except Mother who came as a[101]wild woman, my captive, all bound up with ropes and being dragged along.
About the grandest birthday present one could get was given me by Don. It was his favorite sword, a real old time cutlass which perhaps was used by pirates. He called it “Fury” and got up an awfully funny card to go with it.
And Dwight Franklin made me a lovely drawing of the beach at Cocos back in the old days, with a regular pirate landing on it from his ship. That picture is used at the end of my book.
Cocos Island is really a wonderful place for a pirate party anyway, for real pirates were there many times, and maybe men were marooned there, or left there, and mutinies occurred. Treasure was buried there. Along the beach where ships came for fresh water, there are carvings on the rocks, ship’s names and dates, many of them old and back as far as 1813. There were names of famous whaling[102]ships, and one,The Shrew, was a real pirate ship but the date was not given with that one, probably on purpose.
Don’s Birthday Card.Don’s Birthday Card.To:David Putnampirate, artist, writer adventurer and sportsman, shipmate and best friendAS BIRTHDAY GREETING & IN TOKEN OF MY ESTEEM I HEREBY PRESENTMY GOOD SWORD“FURY”WHICH HAS DONE ME FAITHFUL SERVICE & BEEN MY VERY MOST CONSTANT COMPANION ALWAYS IN CRUISING AT SEA AND ASHORE, ALSO IN HOSPITAL AND IN GAOL, IN CARNIVALS AND IN THE GOTHAM TOMBS, IN yeSKULL & BONES TAVERN yeBLACK STAR INNofPE QUOT MANOR, SHARK’S TOOTH, & YEPIRATE’S DENWHEREFORE I HAVE SET MY MARK THIS TWENTIETH DAY OF MAY 1925SAILOR’S MONUMENT BEACH CHATHAM BAY COCOS ISLEDon DickermanCORSAIR CAPTAIN
Don’s Birthday Card.
To:David Putnampirate, artist, writer adventurer and sportsman, shipmate and best friend
AS BIRTHDAY GREETING & IN TOKEN OF MY ESTEEM I HEREBY PRESENTMY GOOD SWORD“FURY”WHICH HAS DONE ME FAITHFUL SERVICE & BEEN MY VERY MOST CONSTANT COMPANION ALWAYS IN CRUISING AT SEA AND ASHORE, ALSO IN HOSPITAL AND IN GAOL, IN CARNIVALS AND IN THE GOTHAM TOMBS, IN yeSKULL & BONES TAVERN yeBLACK STAR INNofPE QUOT MANOR, SHARK’S TOOTH, & YEPIRATE’S DEN
WHEREFORE I HAVE SET MY MARK THIS TWENTIETH DAY OF MAY 1925
SAILOR’S MONUMENT BEACH CHATHAM BAY COCOS ISLE
Don DickermanCORSAIR CAPTAIN
There is a fine tunnel right through the rock in one place, going fully a hundred yards through a point of land to another bay quite round the corner. Don went through it in his little dugout canoe which he bought in Panama and Tamms, the third mate, went in his motor skiff with the Johnson engine.
In one little bay beyond the settlement we found a hole twenty feet deep where Captain Gissler or someone else had dug for treasure. Don and Dwight went down it on a rope and only found a board and a piece of rope there.
[103]