In honor of Talk Like a Pirate day, we bring you the The Sturdy Beggar Fantastic Ship’s Bar. This postcard ca. 1940-1969 from the Durwood Barbour Collection of North Carolina Postcards reads:
“Sturdy Beggar Fantastic Ship’s Bar Located in the Charcoal Hearth Restaurant at the Holiday Inn is the South’s most beautiful Lounge. Visit the Pirate’s Cove at the junction of Highways 17 & 70 in historic New Bern, N.C.”
The Sturdy Beggar was a sloop of war ship active during the American Revolutionary War. In a September 17, 1777 letter to then Gov. Richard Caswell, Joseph Leech, a prominent figure in New Bern and a colonel in the Craven County minutemen, credited the mere presence of the Sturdy Beggar and another ship, the Pennsylvania Farmer, with momentarily saving the day from two British ships sailing near New Bern. These British ships had been sailing around the North Carolina sounds capturing various vessels. Thanks to the Sturdy Beggar being unexpectedly delayed in New Bern for maintenance reasons and the Pennsylvania Farmer arriving to port, John Leech surmised that the two British ships thought twice before coming up river where two armed ships were currently housed.
What a time capsule of barroom decor…. The Sturdy Beggar was still dispensing spirits as recently as 1976, when the Holiday Inn hosted the state Elks convention….Wonder what sea chanteys that (’60s?) jukebox spun…..