The continued story of the Pirates of Oakland
We have this song which we call Pirates of Oakland. It’s about people who live on anchor out boats in the Oakland Estuary. They are referred to as pirates because they steal things off of other boats. In other words, they commit acts of Piracy.
Little do they know that underneath the docks surrounding Alaska Basin (aka Encinal Basin) there is a favorite napping spot for a ten foot, seven gill cow shark named Benjamin. Calamity ensues. (see “why would a shark be in Alaska Basin?” below.)
This piracy on the Oakland Estuary has not received a lot of attention either in the media or with OPD. Until now. Enter NBC News.
Boaters deal with ‘modern-day pirates’ in the East Bay
Read the full article by Marianne Favro here: https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/east-bay/pirates-oakland-estuary/3305821/
Listen to the song
There are two versions, the band version we’d play live and the club mix.
Club mix of Pirates of Oakland
Band of Pirates in Oakland
Why would a shark be in Alaska Basin?
Seven gill cow sharks spend part of the year in the SF Bay and spawn in the San Leandro Bay area. As the cow sharks prefer deep water, do they choose to swim through the deep water in the harbor? Instead of going through the shallow water under the Bayfarm bridge to get to the San Leandro Bay?
If they do swim through the harbor, would they also hang out there sometimes to rest up? Normally they spend their quiet time in the deep water under the piers next to San Francisco. So if they did hang out in the harbor, it would probably be underneath docks in quiet deep water places like Alaska Basin.
The premise of the song is the Pirates steal from boats and then drop anchor in the Basin and start partying, which catches the attention of one of those cow sharks. If that cow shark was in a deranged state, and hungry, they might take taster bites out of mammals that fall into the water while intoxicated.
Because Math.