John Derdrake

By Crusader1307

While much of John Derdrake's life is unknown and heavily speculated at – He is credited as being one of the first Pirates to employ the ''time honored'' Pirate means of punishment and death known as ''Walking The Plank''. Despite being a staple of Pirate Lore (and movies of course) – the actual act of ''Walking The Plank'' was NOT practiced all that regular. John however, made it one of His ''specialties''. Born in the early 16th Century AD – Derdrake would seek out a life at Sea, leaving His native Demark and shipping out as a Ship's Carpenter. After around a year at Sea, John found out that His parent had died and left Him a ''tidy sum''. With the money, John bought His first Ship and decided to become an Independent Merchant Man. Plying The Baltic Seas, John ran afoul of more than His share of Pirates and Raiders. It dawned on Him that ''this means'' of employment was far more lucrative. He quickly became a Raider and known as ''Jack of The Baltic''. John's Vessel The ''Sudden Death'' made quite a profit for itself – specializing in attacking Imperial Russian Merchant Ships. After ''several years'' of making His fortune – The Imperial Navy had had it's fill. A small Squadron was sent out of St. Petersburg with the express mission to either take or sink John. Several tales exists regarding His ''defiant death'' – but of what is known is that Derdrake and His crew were blasted to the bottom of The Baltic.