A pirates wedding dreams come true!

This week the American Public House Review takes us on the most personal of journeys, as we head to Baltimore once again for a story of true love, promises, and lots of really good ale at the Cat’s Eye Pub.  (What, did you think the principal creative force behind a website dedicated solely to great taverns throughout the world would have his wedding reception at the Holiday Inn?)

Now I have only been to the Cat’s Eye Pub in the Fell’s Point section of Baltimore once, and that was on assignment to take the photo of the taps you see in the article.  But what I could clearly see in that short span of time was that this place suffers from an excess of personality and character.  Being a city and a center of commerce for the area, many places in Baltimore’s more popular destinations, like Fell’s Point, can be crowded with tourists and conventioneers.  That may also be true of the Cat’s Eye, but you can hardly notice them under the hooting and hollering of the regular set of Scallywags that call this wonderful place home.

So quite some years back, two nice folks came to Baltimore to be wed.  And to celebrate this momentous event, they chose to head to a place the groom describes as “a bit of Bourbon Street or the Barbary Coast”.  Calico Jack Rackham himself would be jealous of such a wedding reception!

Posted by: Dave McBride

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You’ll find the good captain in the tavern

So, you’ve come seeking adventure and salty old pirates, aye?  Sure, you’ve come to the proper place…

Those immortal words are from Disneyland’s Pirates of the Caribbean and serve as a welcome warning to those who have arrived for what lies ahead.  This week we take you back to the city the British used to refer to as America’s “Nest of Pirates”, Baltimore.

In Fells Point, Baltimore’s immersive old port section, the history seems to come up through the cobblestone in the streets.  Walk along its roads and you could swear you hear the whispers of privateers conspiring to raid a British merchant vessel coming from one of the numerous taverns.  Has the brash Captain Thomas Boyle come back to add to his tally of sunken British ships? 

Captain Boyle was perhaps America’s most famous and feared privateer captain. He commanded the clipper Chasseur, a ship born and bred in Baltimore, the city that boasted America’s largest privateer fleet during the War of 1812.   With it he wreaked havoc upon British commerce.  During the war, while taking many prizes along the coast of Great Britain, he even sent ashore a proclamation to the crown that declared a blockade of the entire conutry…by only his ship!  Yes, we can imagine the good Captain taking great pride in his own sense of humor.  Soon Fells Point and all of Baltimore would refer to the Chasseur as the “Pride of Baltimore”. 

Now I can’t say this for certain, but Captain Boyle, or at least the large majority of those who served under him, probably enjoyed a mug or two of grog after a long voyage.  If he were around today, I would point the good captain in the direction of the Wharf Rat.  It is  certainly a place where a group of privateers could grab a few pints and make the rafters roar.

Posted by: David McBride @ American Public House Review