Captain Cronan
1540 - ?
Legendary Pirate who's very name strikes fear into the heart of men. Born...no man knows...but most likely Hell itself!
Little is known of Cronan's whereabouts although he does call in at The Admiral Benbow for a bottle of Old Nick on foggy nights.
I repeat this tale by The Black Spot to put some flesh on Cronan's bones:
The Ghostly Treasure
A few years ago, we be sailin round the Cape o' Good Hope, when one o' me officers sed this be where the legendary Cap'n Cronan were last sighted.
The story be that Cronan's ship met with disaster a few weeks after 'ee had buried 'is treasure worth several million pounds. No-one knew where the hidden treasure lay.
Later that evenin'after a few grogs, me first mate said that perhaps we should 'old a seance, an see if we could contact the spirit of Cap'n Cronan.
We all sat round the table in me cabin. We put the letters o' the alphabet in a circle, an put "Ahoy", "Belay", an "Arrr" in there too. Then we turned down the lights an all placed our hooks on the upturned grog tankard in the middle o' the table.
"Be there anyone there?" I sez. The tankard moved to "Arrr".
"Are ye the ghost o' Cap'n Cronan?" I asked. The tankard moved to "Arrr" again.
"Have ye a message fer us?" The tankard moved to "Arrr".
"Cap'n Cronan were never very talkative," said the bosun.
"Cronan!" I shouted. "Will ye tell us where be yer treasure be?"
The tankard moved round the table an spelled out A-Y-E-L-A-N-D
"It be buried on an island!" said me quartermaster.
"No, he means it's in Ireland!" said me first mate.
"No, he means "Aye, it's on land" said the bosun.
"Can ye be a bit more specific, Cronan" sez I.
B-U-R-I-E-D-B-Y-C-L-I-F-F
"Aharr," sez the bosun. "It be at the foot o' a cliff."
"Perhaps 'ee means that someone called Cliff buried it" said me first mate.
"No," sez me quartermaster. "It be buried in a graveyard next to someone called Cliff."
I be startin' to lose me rag by now. "Cronan," I shouted. "Where abouts in the world is it?"
The tankard just spelled a solitary letter: C.
"Arrr, it's an island in the sea," said the bosun. "Which sea?"
"I think the C stands fer Carribean," said the quartermaster.
"Perhaps he means we can see it from here," said me first mate.
I'd had enough by this time. I remembers tellin' Cronan 'ee were lucky that people couldn't be killed twice, an I'd come lookin' fer the bastid when me time came.
Still, I learned a lesson that day. Never have a seance with an illiterate ghost.
The smoke wafted gently in the breeze across the poop deck and all seemed right in the world.
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