A PIRATE battle and treasure hunt are among the swashbuckling entertainment taking place on New Brighton next month.

The Mersey Pirate Muster will be staged outside Fort Perch Rock on Sunday, August 7.

There will also be a chance for visitors to join the Mersey Pirate Navy and an attempt to break the current world record for the most Pirates in One Place, which stands at 8,500.

Other attractions on the day include Pirate entertainment and a Pirate Parade.

More than 40,000 people attended the event on Liverpool’s waterfront last year to see ship battles and booming cannons.

Looking ahead to this year's spectacular, co-creator Cathy Roberts told the Globe today: "It's going to be bigger and we’re very, excited because we’re staging it in our spiritual home.

“It’s a great free family event and one of the big features of it is that we ask everybody to come dressed as pirates.

“This area, particularly the coast, was so prolific with pirates, particularly in the 18th Century.

“In particular, there was a gentleman known as Fortunatus Wright, who is a huge hero and was written about in his day.

“He was like the David Beckham of his day. He was a huge adventurer, a great, great ‘Boys Own’ hero, a privateer, and nobody knows about him. We’re going to change that.

“He lived in Wallasey and sailed from Wallasey and we’re going to make sure that he’s recognised.

“We’re also bringing together the legend of the Black Rock Mermaid. That’s one of the oldest sea legends, it’s told all over the world and was first recorded in the 18th Century.

“The legend has always believed to be centered on the Black Rock, which we now know as Perch Rock.”

“We ask all young pirates if they’d care to sign up to our Mersey Pirate navy. Younger visitors will also be to take part in a 16-clue treasure hunt.”

The young pirate recruits will Captain Muster, aka Liverpool-based storyteller Paul Miller.

Cathy continued “We’re going to have a world record attempt of the most pirates in one place. We’ve just heard that the current record stands at 8,500. We don’t know whether we can beat that, but we’re going to aim for that.”

A range of events is planned throughout the year, to encourage the public to embrace Wirral’s maritime heritage.

The August 7 event runs from 11am-5pm. More details are from merseypiratemuster.com (see website in related links section below this article).

If you want to join the Mersey Pirate Navy, email merseypiratemuster@googlemail.com