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Now, oftroy, I am intentionally starting a new thread rather than heading out on a wild tangent on milum's Orca thread. This is a new direction for me. Here goes:
Reading about the Orca called the Ocra on the whale thread made me remember Ocracoke. Ocracoke is where Blackbeard--the infamous pirate who had twists of burning hemp woven into his beard during attacks to make him look like a fiend--met his end. From what I read about Blackbeard, seems he took several hits before finally going down. He was full of rum.
Anyway, Ocra doesn't have anything to do with okra, but it sounds native American. Does anyone know? (The idea of Coke and okra sounds horrid, but I suppose a highly seasoned gumbo would be washed down well with Coke.)
Best regards,
WW
PS: oftroy, this question doesn't seem thread worthy, but I'm aiming to mend my tangential ways.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Dear WW: Ocracoke in Florida is rated as one of the 25 best beaches in US.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Wrong Ocracoke, wwh. The one where Blackbeard met his end was an island off the Outer Banks, N.C.. Never heard of Ocracoke in Florida!
WW
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Carpal Tunnel
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"Blackbeard met his end off Ocracoke to a British Lieutenant
named Maynard, who was sent by the then Governor Spotswood of
Virginia. Blackbeard lost his head. Lieutenant Maynard sailed
about from port to port with the head stuck on the bowsprit of his
ship, showing off his trophy. Some say Blackbeard still makes an appearence, at least in part, in the sound where
the incident took place known as "Teaches Hole". "
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Carpal Tunnel
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Teaches Hole--then it's near Ocracoke! I'd read about that head on the bowsprit, too. And Blackbeard was supposed to have had lots and lots and lots of wives! What a character!
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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I thought it was Bluebeard that had the wives. Blackbeard too? Must be something about beards - makes you harder to identify maybe, so you get away with bigamy - or was he a serial polygamist?
dxb
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Carpal Tunnel
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I don't recall the exact number of wives Blackbeard had, but it was at least nine. However, I never read of Blackbeard's having a room (or was it a closet in Bluebeard's case?) locked away that was forbidden for each wife to take a peek into. I think Blackbeard's method for ridding himself of a wife was just to sail away.
Jolly Roger regards,
WordintheWind
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Carpal Tunnel
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Blackbeard's real name was Edward Teach, and he actually came from a decent family bfore embarking on his pirating career. After his death (and it did take several blows to finally finish him) the British victors impaled his head on their bowsprit, and tradition has it that his skull wound up as a punch bowl in a Williamsburg, VA, tavern.
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Carpal Tunnel
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W'oN...
That Blackbeard's skull as a punchbowl story is a new one to me. Amazing. Who would want to drink punch out of a skull--grisly concept! His ship was the Queen Anne's Revenge. You wrote that Teach's skull was put on the bowsprit of the British ship and wwh wrote that it was put on the bowsprit of Blackbeard's ship. Wonder which one of you is correct here? I don't know--just have read that it was placed on a bowsprit. Modern sensibility would never allow for such a practice.
But back to skulls: Lord Byron kept a human skull. I wonder what other odd stories are out there about skulls? The Blackbeard skull as a punchbowl is the oddest I've ever read about!
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old hand
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old hand
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Who would want to drink punch
out of a skull--grisly concept!Where do you think the Nordic toast, "skol" comes from? Well, OK, so they didn't drink punch, so I guess you've got a point, WW! 
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