The messages may not have made it to England or other faraway places, but they did make it though a two-year voyage in Buzzards Bay, and thanks to Tropical Storm Irene, were returned to land for pick-up!

On Monday, August 29, a plastic tube containing four pirate-related messages written by two Centerville children and two Sagamore Beach children was discoverd on Stoney Point Dike in Wareham, apparently having washed ashore during Tropical Storm Irene's visit.

Wareham Week was able to track down the father of two of the children who says the children cast the capsule in August 2009.

"We had a tradition where every year, we would do a pirate day," explained Larry Palmer, father of now 9-year-old Dylan and 7-year-old Alexandra Palmer of Sagamore Beach.

The family along with cousins Gabrielle and Jack Fredericks of Centerville, now ages 8 and 7, had embarked on the Alligator Reef, their grandparents' 32-foot Grand Banks Classic boat, for a pirate-themed adventure.

It was serious business.

"You couldn't get on the boat unless you were dressed up," Palmer said. "Everybody had a pirate name."

Though their parents had decided the children weren't yet old enough to watch the popular Pirates of the Caribbean movies, Dylan and Alexandra knew all the characters, having taken a ride on the Disney World attraction. Naturally, that's where their pirate names came from.

Dylan was Jack Sparrow and Alexandra was Elizabeth Swann. As for the Fredericks, Gabrielle was Polly Wogger and Jack was Crab Rangoon.

"I couldn't call [my son] Dylan," Palmer recalled. "I had to call him Jack Sparrow!"

The first year of the pirate day tradition the families went on a treasure hunt.

"As we went along the day, they'd have to go to different places along Cape Cod" looking for "X's," Palmer said. The "treasure" - candy and other goodies - was left on Washburn Island in Falmouth.

The families had pirate days for four years straight until 2009 - the year the children cast the notes into Buzzards Bay.

The children wrote various pirate notes on bright yellow construction paper, placed them between plastic, and duct-taped the plastic together before loading the messages into the container.

"My name is Gabrielle. I am 6. I am a pirate. Argh!" wrote Gabrielle -- that is, Polly Wogger.

The families then dropped the capsule into waters off of Old Silver Beach in Buzzards Bay as the tide was going out.

The notes were a bit soggy, but still perfectly revealed the children's fondness for pirates.

"My name is Jack Spero. I am 7 yers old. I am a piret," wrote Dylan/Jack Sparrow.

Palmer said he knew the capsule had to have ended up somewhere.

"Ever since that day, two years ago now ... we never heard anything about it," he said.

Though the notes didn't travel very far, Palmer said he and the children were very excited to hear that the messages were found.

"It gave me chills," Palmer said.

The discovery brought back memories of summer fun.

"We had a piece of wood and we put it off the back of the boat. ... They always made me walk the plank," Palmer remembered. "Those pirate days were amazing."