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The Brixham Pirate Festival 2017 Shot by Secret Shutter www.secretshutter.co.uK facebook: /secretshutter, Twitter: @secretshutter, Instagram: loveonlyhere

The Brixham Pirate Festival is an annual event that continues to grow in popularity each year. It's a colourful and lively event, with fantastic live music, an amazing atmosphere and it is an all round great family day out! This year the Pirate Festival commemorated the death of local pirate Sam Bellamy, known as Black Sam, who was lost at sea 300 years ago.

For some it's been a long whole year to wait with lots of hanging around killing time

It's been a long wait but the festival is finally here
A skeleton grabs his binoculars

Bright and early the pirate stall holders begin to set up shop

There's usually a number of stalls at the event ranging from food and drink, right through to dunking pirates in the stocks. There's definitely something for everyone. The first stall holders start setting up nice and early around 8.30am.

Setting up a stall
A stall holder in authentic costume by his stall

Everyone involved enters into the spirit of the festival and many of the local shops and businesses put out flags and balloons. Even pets get in in the act with many of them sporting skull and crossbones scarves.

A doggy sporting his skull and crossbones scarf
Flags and balloons signal that the Pirate Festival is coming

The first of the pirates start to arrive

Down by the harbour the pirates begin to arrive in readiness for the first of the parades which normally starts at the top of Brixham's Fore Street each day around 10.30am.

One of the first pirates to arrive
An early bird pirate down by the harbour

Pirates soon begin to assemble for the parade at 10.30am

The assembly point for each daily parade is normally at the top of Brixham's Fore Street, which is the town's main shopping centre. In the Main Street there are a number of wonderful coffee shops, pubs and convenience stores.

The crowd begins to build at the top of Fore Street ready for the parade

Crowds at the top of Fore Street

Everyone begins to assemble in readiness for the parade. Without a doubt the Pirate's festival makes for a great photo opportunity!

The Pirates festival provides a great photo opportunity for photographers

Cameras at the ready

With a huge array of vibrant costumes and a number of pirate skirmishes to photograph, the festival provides a rich opportunity for anyone looking to hone their camera skills.

Photographers at the ready, awaiting the start of the parade
Awaiting the signal

At around 10.30am The Parade Begins

A drummer from the parade

Some pirates appear focussed during the parade

A pirate walks in the parade

Some pirates appear deep in thought...

A pirate gazes ahead as he leads the crowd

But Don't be fooled...

As the parade marched the crowds began to build

Wall to wall people along the road

Meanwhile down past the old Fish Quay, the musketeers were getting ready to do an important job

Three musketeers

Getting the cannons ready

As part of the Pirate Festival, we are treated throughout the day to a number of firings of both cannons and muskets. This year at 11.00am the first of the firings began. Below is a shot of the musketeers reloading the cannons.

The musketeers get the cannons ready to fire

Musket Fire

Below is a shot of the muskets just as the muskateer, second from the right shouts fire, the fire coming from the muskateer situated second from the left can be seen.

Caught on camera, the moment the gun goes off

Once the guns have been discharged the musketeers quickly reload amongst a plume of smoke.

The musketeers quickly reload

Music throughout the day

Musical entertainment is provided throughout the day by a wide variety of live bands and folk artists. Many of these artists sing traditional pirate songs to join in with and dance along to.

Musical entertainment provided throughout the day

The Pirate Festival is about Everything Pirate

A model pirate ship
A ship shaped pirate pram

Young or old there's something for everyone at the Pirate Festival. Even Pirate babies are ferried in pirate style. Here's a baby buggy that has been converted into a ship! fantastic!

skirmishes on the golden hind and the Nao Victoria

This year two of the great highlights of the festival were the reenactments of skirmishes on a replica of the Golden Hind (Sir Francis Drake's Tudor Galleon) and a replica of the Nao Victoria (the first ship to sail around the world. Below are a few of the images from these skirmishes.

Skirmish on the Golden Hind

A pirate boat approaches the Golden Hind as a musket is discharged
Two pirates sneak below the musket fire to board the ship

Skirmish on the Nao Victoria

Cannon fire and smoke across the harbour, signals the start of the skirmish on the Nao Victoria.

Smoke and cannon fire across the harbour

The skirmish on the Nao Victoria appeared much more relaxed, there was even some time for the crew to take advantage of a photo opp.

Crew pose for a photoshoot among themselves before battle begins
Crew pose for the onlooking photographers

However As The Crew Posed, The pirates said "we are boarding your ship"

Pirates pull up to the Nao Victoria in readiness for boarding

Oh no you're not!!

The crew fire at the pirates

Oh yes we are!!

Pirates board the ship

Oh no You're not!!

A crew member blasts his gun

Boom! too late the pirates jump aboard

A pirate leaps onto the ship

Soon it's all over but check out the lady on the bottom left

Time for a photo opp as a victorious pirate wields his axe

If all of that excitement isn't enough??

If pirates, skirmishes, music and stalls still aren't enough then there's always lots of really great street entertainment. The following three girls provided some great shows throughout the day including hoops, fire hoops, fire eating and more...

That's not Fire Eating??

Call this this fire eating??

Now that's what's called fire eating (ouch!)

Look closely and you can almost see the fire reflected in her eyes
Another lady playing with fire

Now for something slightly less dangerous

A hoop lady gathers her hoops
The lady rolls the hoop behind her back

If that's still too energetic then you can always listen to the street music

A recorder player
Striped tops match the canopy

After all that fire eating, music, singing and a pasty or two, what you really need is...

A pirate lady stops for refreshments

A nice lady at a Rum Bar Selling Pirate's Grog

Pirate's Grog

But what happens to naughty pirates after they have drunk too much??

For naughty pirates there's always the stocks. There's no rotten eggs, fruit or veg to throw at them but there's always a wet sponge. Here's how the naughty pirates got on. These guys were great sports!

A water soaked sponge doesn't look very inviting

And it's a miss!

The fist sponge misses its target

The first sponge misses its target but don't look too smug yet!

Ha Ha missed!

Boom! What a shot!

This time it was a direct hit! Ouchy!

Did the Pirates survive??

Relieved after a soaking

They certainly survived the soaking, but if they were ever naughty again then their fate was made clear...

Take that you dirty rat!

And if all else fails

No Pirates Festival would be complete without Brixham's own Captain Blackheart

Captain Blackheart
Captain Blackheart

But wait! There's a new kid on the block. Meet Highwayman!

Highwayman
Highwayman meets captain blackheart
When Highwayman meets Captain Blackheart

Here's another Pirate who's on a mission

Our pirate below has a job to do. He's bodyguard to a very special person!

A pirate with an important job

Apparently our cute cuddly toy has his own Pugwash captain fan page a VIP for sure!

There were certainly lots of happy people at the festival and the atmosphere was amazing!!

Three friends having fun

In fact there was even a touch of romance in the air!

A couple by the harbour
Calm by the harbour

On Sunday it almost looked as if it was game over

On Sunday the weather was very poor with lots of rain, which might have hampered your average Festival. But not the Brixham Pirate Festival, because...

No Sun! No Problem, we've got an umbrella for that!

Not daunted by the weather the Festival carried on in grand old style.

Jack Sparrow was a popular character, here's a few of them

Jack Sparrow look alikes

The Pirate Costumes were amazing!!

Great street style with the festival reflected in her sunglasses
This photo grid may grow as more images are added so please check back soon
Pirates gather around the Rum Bar
A pirate in full costume

Oh dear it was all over too Soon!

As quickly as it arrived it seemed to be over so soon and everyone started to head home after all of the fun.

Heading home
Heading home

As the sun Sets on the festival for another year...

The fun might be over for now, but don't forget that Brixham is a beautiful town in a stunning part of South Devon. So although there may no longer be any fab costumes to photograph, you can always grab yourself some fantastic pics of the amazing scenery.

The lady to the right takes a snap of the sunset

Oh and don't forget to spare a thought for these guys who do a sterling job of keeping everyone safe and tidy!

We look forward to seeing you all next year! Or Else!!

Photo Credits

All photos by Karyn Easton (Secret Shutter Photography)

Web: www.secretshutter.co.uk

Email: smile@secretshutter.co.uk

Facebook Page: secretshutter

Twitter @secretshutter

Instagram: loveonlyhere

Please note all images copyright Karyn Easton and produced on behalf of the Pirate Festival Committee

Created By
Karyn Easton The Secret Shutter
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Credits:

Karyn Easton Secret Shutter Photography www.secretshutter.co.uk Email: smile@secretshutter.co.uk Facebook: secretshutter Twitter: @secretshutter Instagram: loveonlyhere