Nasty ramming device
Riveted ramming device. Definitely unfair and too vicious
Leaving Ye Olde Ardrossan Pirate School in 1666 with Credit passes in marauding and creating mayhem, Mathew Scott thought he had it made. Known as ‘Mad Matt’because of his crazy ways, his grades got him a position with the famous pirate captain ‘Laughing Bart Bartholemew’ on his ship ‘The Dark Demon’. Laughing Bart soon stopped laughing when ‘Crazy Matt’ cut off his head with a particularly dirty tenon saw and became captain. He changed the name of the ship to ‘The Hellfire’ and became feared throughout the seven seas.
However, as his fame and wealth grew ‘Mad Matt’ became careless. He got especially intoxicated one dark night. He had been guzzling on stolen booze and drunkenly fell over the side of his ship. Part of him was later seen hanging out of the jaws of a clearly very happy great white shark.
The frightful deck
clearer
The’ Deck Clearer,s’ balcony deck
Scott Knight , also known as Captain Hook, was one of the most sadistic, ruthless and barbaric pirates ever to have sailed under the skull and crossbones He exited the very productive Ye Olde Pirate Academy of Ardrossan in 1648 with a Credit pass in torturing prisoners. Knight sailed off from Saltcoats harbour with a group of wild buccaneers. Unsurprisingly, his early career was noted for his ferocious treatment of prisoners and quickly gained him a reputation for cruelty that has rarely been surpassed
The massive hook on the front of his ship ‘The Silver Ghost’ gave him his name and was used to ram, rip and hold fast his prey to ensure escape was impossible. After amassing a huge fortune by plundering Tortuga and the Gulf of Venezuela, Captain Hook was lured into a trap by Spanish soldiers and then captured imprisoned and then hanged.
Captain Hook is commemorated in modern Saltcoats. The famous hook from the front of his ship now sits at the mouth of the harbour where Hook first set sail all those years ago.
Select graphic below.
The appalling hook
CAPTAIN HOOK
‘The Sea Hawk’ was feared throughout the Caribbean. A Scotsman by the name of Calum McLean captained the ship. At Ye Olde Ardrossan pirate training school in 1670 he gained Credit passes in violence and aggression. He was no different as a pirate captain of the feared ‘Sea Hawk’. He was so ferocious that he earned the nickname ‘Captain Savage’. His crew only put up with his savage ways, because he was a daring and adventurous pirate captain.
He terrorised the Caribbean and made his crew rich by plundering Spanish galleons. However, in 1682 exhausted by his endless savagery his crew turned on him. They dumped him on a deserted desert island where McLean went mad with thirst .
Ross’The Deck Clearer’ Hunter was born in Ardrossan in 1640. He was always enthusiastic in his work at the local Pirate Academy. Ross attained high grades in cutlass sharpening and loading pistols in the shortest possible time. He also attained the highest skills in cannon firing. His speciality was the deck clearing cannon. This was an especially unpleasant weapon which sat on the top deck of his ship ‘The Black Hunter’. It was like a giant shotgun which could mete out appalling damage to anyone caught in its blast. He gained great enjoyment from sitting on his balcony deck and blasting at anyone sailing past.
Unfortunately for ‘The Deck Clearer’ an ambitious crew member sabotaged his deck clearer with too much gunpowder then plugged up the spout. After his deckclearer exploded, parts of the Deck Clearer were found all over the ship and sea.
