Ah, man, this is a SET! The original Governors were just before my time, though a Lagoon Lockup was an early, formative set, but I can absolutely understand how someone could have latched on to this set and become a lifelong Pirates (or Governors!) fan. Eight figs isn't shabby and that baseplate... the Imperial Trading Post fan here sees a ton to like.

They're on the hunt for Miguel and Tulio.

If ever there were a set that should have been re-released as a nemesis to 21322...

LEGO would've made SO MUCH MONEY!

(...but only in denominations of 10, 20, 30, & 40 and in the form of goldy-looking plastic.)

Jang reviewed this set like last week. Frickin simulation, man.

The named figures in this set are Governor Broadside (of cause!), Captain Redbeard (or as he was known in most EU countries back then - Captain Roger) and Lieutenant DeMartinet (the soldier with the tricorne hat).

The pirate with the red striped shirt and the moustache never was clearly identifiable back then. The comic (6255) calls a similar looking pirate 'Flashfork', however he is most commonly shown with red AND blue stripes... He might also be an older version of Will, since the Dutch catalogue refered to the moustached (is that a word?) pirate as Bo'sun Will... So I'm not sure if he is named or just a 'generic pirate'.

The remaining 4 soldiers are also (quite befittingly) generic nameless soldiers (although that was very unusual for the classic Pirates line).

Oh and don't forget that this set alongside 6285 introduced the small wooden castle doors (2554)!

There also seems to be an earlier version of this set that used stickers instead of prints for all the flags. Given that some of the baseplates from pirates (as well as the cannons) exist in 2 separate versions makes me wonder if the design process for Pirates was a bit more chaotic than we know?

EDIT:
Side note: because of 1989's Pirates launch there was practically no 'main line' of Castle sets in that year, probably because Lego thought the two themes too similar. Funnily enough the largest Castle set of 1988 somewhat teased the new range with one of it's B-Models being a large sailing ship...

$66? Wish I could get it for that now.

I got this set just last month, and honestly, it doesn't quite live up to the "fortress" part of the name. It was definitely a set that relied on the raised baseplate to give it height. Overall, still a gorgeous set, and I don't regret it.

It's got white and yellow. Both colours are used on Blacktron, but not together. Separately, and with copious amounts of black added. Hence, the name, Blacktron.

@pumaman said:
"$66? Wish I could get it for that now."

$145 after inflation...

Now this is a classic set!

Classic Pirates is Awesome!! What a beautiful set and ahhh raised plates love them all

Id really like to see a redesign of this and Imperial Trading Post together in one new set as a sequel to Pirates of Barracuda Bay.

We need some Imperials/Navy for our pirates to fight!

Awesome set, such a shame that a 'complete (as in four walls, closed in) set extinct thesedays (apart from the modular buildings)

Side note, do people like the Red Coats or Blue Coats Imperials more? Going on from that, which would you rather see included if a new Naval set was made?

I was so firmly in my Dark Ages when this set came out that I never knew of its existance until about fifteen years later. Too bad, because it might have brought me out again on the spot! Add me to the crowd screaming for a Naval equivalent of 21322 -- in fact, I still don't have Pirates of Barracuda Bay partly because it doesn't have any signs of the "other faction."

Blue Coat Imperials for me, BTW; Red Coats are too firmly associated with the Army, and I think the Navy has to be the one to take on any rampaging Pirates.

Nice to see a classic set like this pop up on RSOTD. A kid at school had this and I wanted it so much—was in love with it. Sigh. Still don’t have it.

I still have this set at my parents home in their basement! I keep thinking I need to drag it out and the other Pirate sets including the Black Seas Barracuda!

Nice set, never was a huge fan of LEGO pirates when it first came out, but after getting some of these sets in a LEGO lot, it really impressed me with the details and feel of these sets for the theme they are part of.

I had a few different little pirate sets that I combined into my own mini fortress but I really wanted this one! All combined the little ones would probably be just as impressive except that they lack the massive baseplate's height. Just watched Jang's review of this the other day and relived my childhood longing. Lots of new pirates sets lately, but not so much their evil colonial overlord rivals on the high seas and baseplates.

The lower cannon looks a bit exposed - adding just a few extra white corner bricks around it really improves the look but (very) slightly impairs its turnability.

@Brickchap said:
Side note, do people like the Red Coats or Blue Coats Imperials more? Going on from that, which would you rather see included if a new Naval set was made?]]

I prefer to mix both types - the Red Coats are the Royal Marines while the Blue Coats are the Royal Navy. Granted this classification means that I would need to replace all the shako-wearing Blue Coats in the Imperial Soldiers sets with their more scarce Redcoat Imperial Guard equivalents. I do like using Blue Coat Imperials wearing tricornes as crewmen on Imperial ships (as in 6274).

Got this and the Town container ship for Christmas one year. BEST Christmas ever!
My LEGO city was then taken over by a Governor who acted like a banana republic dictator. And had the forces to enforce his will. The soldiers looked cool and menacing once I put space helmets on them.

Regarding the Blue Coats/Red Coats thing:
I'm not exactly sure how I felt about the difference as a kid, despite wondering if the 'blue ones' would be called Blue Coats at all. 'Red Coats' (or more specific 'Rotröcke') was the official name used for the sub-theme in the Lego catalogues in Germany from 1992-1994 (the one 1995 set was put under the Pirates tab for unclear reasons...). The blue coated Imperial Soldiers were given the awkward name 'Kolonialbeamte' which roughly translates to 'Colonial Officials' and was likely Lego's try to avoid the word 'soldier'.

What Lego's designers were actually inspired by is most likely French (Imperial Soldiers/Blue Coats) and British (Imperial Guards/Red Coats) royal troops. The only reason they might have had in introducing the newer red ones (novelty factor aside) was probably an early plan to introduce a third faction (like Castle's Black Knights were added to Lion Knights/Black Falcons) and that plan was never fleshed out due to the Imperial Soldiers being phased out almost immediately in 1993.

At least it made a little bit more sense historically, to add them than to suddenly travel back in time to fight Spanish Conquistadors like Redbeard did in 1996 :D

What is also weird is that their leaders (Governor Broadside and Admiral Woodhouse) were considered one and the same character in some countries (Woodhouse is also called 'Governor Broadside' in most languages of LEGO Racers 1).

Great set! Love raised baseplates so much!

This is definetly a classic. First wave of Pirates was amazing. Aside from this and the Barracuda I also find 6235, 6257 quite beatiful and funny. I was lucky to build the 6257 from my spares later on.

My favorite set EVER! This came out when I was four years old and lived in Florida, which has a lot of coastal forts that I got to visit over the years. For a time in my young life, my dream job was to be the governor of my own island. Also, I was in to everything yellow, so this set was a big, big deal. I finally received it as a gift from my parents in 1991, the last year of release. A few years ago, I managed to buy an 80%-complete "B" copy with instructions, box, and lots of random castle pieces for only $90 or so. Supplementing it with some of the parts I already have means that my four-year-old son has the joy of playing with his own Eldorado Fortress while my near-pristine version awaits inside the box for the day when we build a grand harbor including every Bluecoat set and a few pirates thrown in. Eldorado is truly one for the generations.

Only 506 pieces? Man, a set in this particular style would never be made today. The big raised baseplate makes up the bulk of the thing, which may be a good or a bad thing depending on who you ask, but which we all know that LEGO has stopped using for quite a while now.
If this set was remade today, it would probably have 1500+ pieces, and cost around 200$. I guess most AFOLs wouldn't care how expensive it was, but if you want Pirates back as a fully fledged theme and not just a bunch of occasional big D2C sets, you gotta have some sets that are going to be affordable for kids to buy. Like this set was back in the day.

Also, I have a theory that this set is based on a real yellow fort in Christiansted, St. Croix, a former Danish colony. https://www.gotostcroix.com/st-croix-blog/tour-two-historic-forts/

Could not afford this as a kid, but I always preferred the soldiers over the pirates and saved up and bought 6265 instead. I have it now on display with all the bluecoat sets and a few redcoat sets.

As several have already mentioned a modern version of this as a follow up to B-bay would be a dream come true :D

Glad my brother once bought this, and now lets me keep it :-)

I wish for a remake, Barracuda Bay style. That set was so awesome in 2020, still one of my most prized LEGO possessions.