Darth_Pugwash
May 05, 2006, 03:19 AM
This is my A-level history coursework. I'm not looking for feedback (its already been submitted), I'm just posting it as an article. But be warned, its long!
I hope you like it. :)
And many thanks to David Cordingly's excellent book "Under The Black Flag: The Romance and Reality of Life Among the Pirates" too!
---------------------------------------------------
To what extent is the pirate myth of popular culture based upon reality?
Over the years pirates have been seen as romantic and dashing figures, prowling the Spanish Main, hiding on tropical islands and hunting for lost treasure. Everyone knows, or thinks that they know, exactly what a pirate looks and sounds like – he wears an eye patch, brightly coloured, mismatched clothes, and carries a cutlass. He talks with a heavy accent and says ‘Arr’ a lot. He has a parrot on his shoulder, and maybe he has a wooden leg, or a hook for a hand. He is a daring hero, who has thrown of the shackles of society and he lives free on the waves of the sea, plundering mountains of Spanish gold and treasure.
http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/3826/pirate6xe.png (http://imageshack.us)
This is the pirate of popular culture, whose legend has been built up by three centuries of stories, plays and films. He is made up of some truth, some half-truth and some downright making things up. In some ways, he is very much like the buccaneers of history, and in others he is nothing like them.
The single most influential thing that has influenced how we see pirates today is the book Treasure Island, which was written by Robert Louis Stevenson and first published in 1883. It has forever made pirates associated with buried treasure, tropical islands and one-legged seamen with parrots on their shoulder. The idea of buried treasure is Treasure Islands most famous, and most fictional, additions to the pirate myth. Pirates never buried their gold – they spent it on drink, gambling and women at the nearest friendly port. The treasure map and the buried gold were entirely made up by Stevenson for purposes of the story. Because of the huge popularity of Treasure Island though, the map to buried treasure has become one of the most familiar pirate props.
There is only one historical example of a pirate burying his treasure (and perhaps this is what gave Stevenson the idea). The pirate Captain William Kidd, who was executed by the British in 1701, was rumoured to have buried the gold that he plundered shortly before he was put on trial. Due to the high-profile nature of Kidd’s trial, many treasure-hunts took place, to be disappointed every time, and it is likely that the buried treasure was nothing more than a rumour. Apart from this, there are almost no examples of a pirate burying treasure at all.
Another great contribution of Treasure Island to the pirate genre is the one legged man, who has a wooden leg – the sea cook Long John Silver. This is not fictional, as it was common for sailors of the time to sustain such injuries during battle. In many cases, if their was no surgeon on board, the ships carpenter might have taken over the role, as in the case of William Philips, an 18th century sailor who had his right leg amputated aboard a ship. According to one observer the carpenter went to work “as though he were cutting a deal board in two”. However, in most cases crutches were used instead of wooden legs. It is also clear that Stevenson knew what he was doing when he cast Long John as a sea-cook, as it was standard practise aboard sailing vessels that the ships cook be chosen from disabled seamen who could not perform any other task.
Another memorable feature of Treasure Island is Long John’s parrot, Captain Flint. This started a long association of pirates and parrots which can still be seen today. It is also not fictional. Sailors would often bring parrots or occasionally monkeys back with them from the Caribbean as souvenirs of their travels. They could also be sold for a high price as they were very rare and highly valued in Europe at the time. They were also sometimes used to bribe governors or other officials.
Another book which has had a considerable influence on the pirate legend is Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie. It was originally a play first performed in 1904 but later became a book, published in 1911. Its two outstanding contributions to the pirate of popular culture are the hook-hand, and the punishment of walking the plank, both of which are completely fictional. They have both however, become key elements of today’s popular image of the pirate. The metal hook in place of a hand was made famous by Captain Hook, Peter Pan’s nemesis, and Captain Hook was going to dispose of Peter and his group by forcing them to walk of a plank that extended over the side of his ship. Actual pirate punishments, such as keel-hauling, which is often referred to but almost never carried out by the stereotypical pirate, were far more brutal. When a sailor was keel-hauled, he was tied to a rope which ran underneath the ship from front to back or side to side, and dragged under the hull, often two or three times. This was generally a death-sentence, though occasionally a man would survive. Peter Pan, along with The Pirates of Penzance, is also one of the more famous works that contributed to the view that pirates are sometimes seen from today, which is as lovable buffoons rather than criminals, which is how they were viewed during their ‘time in the sun’.
One of the most striking and key differences between the Caribbean pirates of history and those seen in many films, for example the recent Disney film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, is the size of the ships that they used. The popular film pirate is most often seen sailing in huge ships, galleons and ships-of-the-line, of the type that would have been used by the Navies of powerful European countries. In reality pirates preferred small, fast ships, that could appear and escape again very quickly, and were easy to maintain. The most common type of ship used by pirates in the Golden Age of Piracy was the sloop, a small and fast ship, with either one or two masts. Sloops usually measured 60-70 feet long, around 15-20 feet wide, and weighed up to 80 tons. Between 1710 and 1730 55% of pirate attacks were made in sloops and 45% were made in ‘ships’ – which in the 1800s was a precise term for any sailing vessel with three masts and square-rigged sails, larger than a sloop and usually weighing 100-200 tons. Most warships at the time were ‘ships’ however the ships used by pirates were more oftenly stolen and re-fitted merchant vessels rather than captured Navy ones.
Because of the size of the ships that they used, most pirates were overmatched against even smaller sized naval ships. A sixth rate ship of the Royal Navy, the smallest rated vessels in the Navy, would have up to 30 guns and 200 men, comparable to a large pirate ship. As a result of this, the usual prey of the pirate was merchant ships (which would often run with very small crews to save on wages) rather than spectacular battles with military vessels. When a military vessel did arrive, a pirate ship would usually turn away and attempt to out-run it or hide in shallow waters where more heavily armed ships could not sail. There were obviously some exceptions to this, in the cases of famous pirates such as Francis Drake or Henry Morgan. However, despite this, when we think of pirates, we think of massive Spanish Galleons and epic battles at sea, when clearly this was not the case. However the Hollywood swash-buckling movies of he 1930s and 1940s, such as The Black Pirate or Captain Blood starring Errol Flynn, have launched the current vision of the massive pirate ship that has become prevalent today
Contrary to what we have seen in many Hollywood films, the Captain of a pirate ship usually did not have complete command. The Captain was elected by the crew and could be deposed, sometimes violently, at any time. For example Bart Roberts was elected to be captain after the crew of a trading ship successfully mutinied. Unlike vessels in the various Navies of the time, the crew usually played a large part in deciding the ships next course of action. The exceptions to this came when a particularly well known pirate, such as Henry Morgan, was in command, due to the respect and fame that they had.
Indeed, many pirate crews operated by a surprisingly concise set of rules, and many pirate ships were run by a limited form of democracy. This ‘pirates code’ was designed to prevent arguments over the division of plunder, discipline and how duties were allocated among the crew. The charter of rules that was used by Bart Roberts has survived in full to today, and it even includes a form of insurance against injury. It reads: “Every man who shall become a cripple or lose a limb in the service shall have eighth hundred pieces of eight from the common stock, and for less hurts proportionately”. This particular aspect of piracy, although it seems more the stuff of chivalry than piracy, has only very rarely surfaced in popular culture. The film ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ is the best example, which mentions the ‘pirates code’ several times. However it is clear where the writers of the movie got the idea from.
Despite this however, pirates remained a very cruel lot, who lived a harsh life. The pirate of popular culture, with his treasure-chests full of gold doubloons, is often imagined retiring from the sea to some tropical island, to live off his hordes of gold. This particular romantic image is very far removed from reality – almost all pirates did not live long enough to retire, and still fewer had enough money to live off of. Even famous pirates such as Blackbeard, Bart Roberts, Captain Kidd, and ‘Calico’ Jack Rackham were killed or executed before they could even think about retirement. However, there are exceptions, for example Henry Morgan, who, after a greatly successful career, retired to Jamaica in 1674 to spend the rest of his days enjoying his wealth and fame – he is perhaps the only pirate (or privateer) to truly live the dream that seems so common when we imagine laughing captains such as Long John Silver.
The stereotypical pirate that we imagine today is almost always white, however historically this was not the case. A considerable number of black men served aboard pirate vessels, sometimes as members of the crew, however more oftenly they were treated as slaves. A man who was on board a ship attacked by Bart Roberts reported that up to 100 of his 400 strong crew were black. However in a lot of cases blacks were simply treated as a commodity to be bought and sold. Female pirates would be completely unheard of if it were not for the unique story of Anne Bonny and Mary Read. When was the last time that you saw a female pirate in a popular pirate story? It is unlikely that you thought of one, because they are just as rare in our pirate-based entertainment as they were in reality, and this is historically correct. Many pirate movies though, for example the Pirates of the Carribean, do star females in action-orientated roles, though they may not appear as actual pirates. Historically cases such as this would be rare to say the least, due to attitudes towards women at the time. One similarity between the imaginary pirate and the real pirate, which may well be simple co-incidence, is their nationality – during the Golden Age of Piracy over 50% of pirates were British, and many of them had seen service in the Royal Navy.
The distinctive costume and appearance of the pirate is surprisingly close to reality. Pirate crewmen would wear short jackets, with a checkered shirt and long trousers. They would also wear bandanas to keep sweat off their face. Pirate captains and other higher-ranking buccaneers would sometimes be seen wearing brightly coloured and fashionable clothes captured from aristocrats, though often these would quickly become worn out and scruffy-looking from their use on a ship. The pirate Bart Roberts became famous for the way he dressed, and would not look out of place on stage or in a pantomime. When he was killed in 1722 he was reportedly wearing “a rich crimson damask waistcoat and breeches, a red feather in his hat, and a gold chain round his neck, with a diamond cross hanging to it”.
The fearsome appearance of Blackbeard, perhaps the most famous real pirate, is also, surprisingly, based in reality. Lieutenant Maynard, who killed Blackbeard aboard his ship (a sloop) in 1718, said “he went by the name of Blackbeard, because he let his beard grow, and tied it up in black ribbons”, and Henry Bostock, whose ship was attacked by Blackbeard in 1717 described him as “a giant man with a very black beard which he wore very long”. There are also reports of him lighting slow-burning matches and hiding them under his hat or in his beard, before he went into battle, to make himself seem even more fearsome.
There is even a historical precedent for eye patches. On board sailing ships, especially in the Caribbean, the contrast in the amount of light above and below deck was very sharp, and it could take the eye several minutes to adjust when moving from the deck to below deck. To resolve this problem many sailors would cover one eye while above deck, so that when they went below deck that eye was already adjusted to low light conditions. They would switch the patch from one eye to the other depending on where they were, so they would not have to be temporarily blinded when moving between decks.
The ear-rings that can be seen on many film pirates today also is historical – many sailors in the 17th and 18th centuries believed that wearing a gold ear-ring could stop you from getting sea-sick.
The Jolly Roger, the skull-and-cross-bones flag often seen in pirate films also has its roots in reality. However, unlike what we have seen in many pirate films and books, historically there was not one consistent Jolly Roger, but hundreds. The term Jolly Roger came into use in the 18th century by English sailors referring to pirate flags, however when they said Jolly Roger, they were referring to any flag flown by a pirate vessel, not just the skull and crossbones design that has become dominant today. Many pirate vessels had their own version of the Jolly Roger. The only consistent thing was that they were usually coloured either black or red, and had some sort of fearsome symbol on them, such a skull, skeleton or a sword.
http://img53.imageshack.us/img53/5586/jrblackbeard4wf.gif (http://imageshack.us)
http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/6333/jrengland4qr.gif (http://imageshack.us)
http://img53.imageshack.us/img53/1979/jrmoody8zs.gif (http://imageshack.us)
The over the top pirate accent which is now connected to pirates is not completely a fabrication either – it is thought to be a heavily exaggerated version of the West Country English accent that many British sailors of the time picked up in ports such as Plymouth. In this case though, the stereotypical pirate of popular culture is only very distantly related to his historical counterpart. This theory however is suspicious at best – why after all do regular British sailors not have the pirate accent too? It is also hard to believe that the accent would become so dominant when sailors could come from anywhere in Europe or the Caribbean, however there are noticeable similarities, for example the slightly exaggerated ‘arr’ sound.
Today, when we think of a pirate, we think of tropical islands, and the Spanish Main, and we tend to forget that pirates operated as far back as the time of the Roman Empire, and as far away as the South China Sea (especially the Strait of Malacca), today. While it is true that the Golden Age of Piracy took place in the Caribbean, there have been pirates all over the world, and there are still pirates on the seas today. In 2003, according to the International Maritime Bureau, there were over 200 pirate attacks which resulted in 16 deaths and over 50 injuries. However, these have become eclipsed by the Caribbean buccaneer of the 18th century, who has emerged as the dominant face of piracy in today’s society.
The image of the pirate that has become so dominant in popular culture today is actually surprisingly close to the historical pirates that roamed the Caribbean in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. From the flags to the peg-legs and even the eye-patches, there are a lot of similarities however there are also a wide range of exaggerations, glamorisations and misconceptions that have arisen from three hundred years of stories, plays, books, films and other forms of entertainment – the maps to buried treasure, and walking the plank, for example. These things have come together to form the modern image of a pirate and sometimes it is hard to tell what is true to life and what isn’t, so that the real pirates have become ‘lost in the noise’ to a certain extent.
I hope you like it. :)
And many thanks to David Cordingly's excellent book "Under The Black Flag: The Romance and Reality of Life Among the Pirates" too!
---------------------------------------------------
To what extent is the pirate myth of popular culture based upon reality?
Over the years pirates have been seen as romantic and dashing figures, prowling the Spanish Main, hiding on tropical islands and hunting for lost treasure. Everyone knows, or thinks that they know, exactly what a pirate looks and sounds like – he wears an eye patch, brightly coloured, mismatched clothes, and carries a cutlass. He talks with a heavy accent and says ‘Arr’ a lot. He has a parrot on his shoulder, and maybe he has a wooden leg, or a hook for a hand. He is a daring hero, who has thrown of the shackles of society and he lives free on the waves of the sea, plundering mountains of Spanish gold and treasure.
http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/3826/pirate6xe.png (http://imageshack.us)
This is the pirate of popular culture, whose legend has been built up by three centuries of stories, plays and films. He is made up of some truth, some half-truth and some downright making things up. In some ways, he is very much like the buccaneers of history, and in others he is nothing like them.
The single most influential thing that has influenced how we see pirates today is the book Treasure Island, which was written by Robert Louis Stevenson and first published in 1883. It has forever made pirates associated with buried treasure, tropical islands and one-legged seamen with parrots on their shoulder. The idea of buried treasure is Treasure Islands most famous, and most fictional, additions to the pirate myth. Pirates never buried their gold – they spent it on drink, gambling and women at the nearest friendly port. The treasure map and the buried gold were entirely made up by Stevenson for purposes of the story. Because of the huge popularity of Treasure Island though, the map to buried treasure has become one of the most familiar pirate props.
There is only one historical example of a pirate burying his treasure (and perhaps this is what gave Stevenson the idea). The pirate Captain William Kidd, who was executed by the British in 1701, was rumoured to have buried the gold that he plundered shortly before he was put on trial. Due to the high-profile nature of Kidd’s trial, many treasure-hunts took place, to be disappointed every time, and it is likely that the buried treasure was nothing more than a rumour. Apart from this, there are almost no examples of a pirate burying treasure at all.
Another great contribution of Treasure Island to the pirate genre is the one legged man, who has a wooden leg – the sea cook Long John Silver. This is not fictional, as it was common for sailors of the time to sustain such injuries during battle. In many cases, if their was no surgeon on board, the ships carpenter might have taken over the role, as in the case of William Philips, an 18th century sailor who had his right leg amputated aboard a ship. According to one observer the carpenter went to work “as though he were cutting a deal board in two”. However, in most cases crutches were used instead of wooden legs. It is also clear that Stevenson knew what he was doing when he cast Long John as a sea-cook, as it was standard practise aboard sailing vessels that the ships cook be chosen from disabled seamen who could not perform any other task.
Another memorable feature of Treasure Island is Long John’s parrot, Captain Flint. This started a long association of pirates and parrots which can still be seen today. It is also not fictional. Sailors would often bring parrots or occasionally monkeys back with them from the Caribbean as souvenirs of their travels. They could also be sold for a high price as they were very rare and highly valued in Europe at the time. They were also sometimes used to bribe governors or other officials.
Another book which has had a considerable influence on the pirate legend is Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie. It was originally a play first performed in 1904 but later became a book, published in 1911. Its two outstanding contributions to the pirate of popular culture are the hook-hand, and the punishment of walking the plank, both of which are completely fictional. They have both however, become key elements of today’s popular image of the pirate. The metal hook in place of a hand was made famous by Captain Hook, Peter Pan’s nemesis, and Captain Hook was going to dispose of Peter and his group by forcing them to walk of a plank that extended over the side of his ship. Actual pirate punishments, such as keel-hauling, which is often referred to but almost never carried out by the stereotypical pirate, were far more brutal. When a sailor was keel-hauled, he was tied to a rope which ran underneath the ship from front to back or side to side, and dragged under the hull, often two or three times. This was generally a death-sentence, though occasionally a man would survive. Peter Pan, along with The Pirates of Penzance, is also one of the more famous works that contributed to the view that pirates are sometimes seen from today, which is as lovable buffoons rather than criminals, which is how they were viewed during their ‘time in the sun’.
One of the most striking and key differences between the Caribbean pirates of history and those seen in many films, for example the recent Disney film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, is the size of the ships that they used. The popular film pirate is most often seen sailing in huge ships, galleons and ships-of-the-line, of the type that would have been used by the Navies of powerful European countries. In reality pirates preferred small, fast ships, that could appear and escape again very quickly, and were easy to maintain. The most common type of ship used by pirates in the Golden Age of Piracy was the sloop, a small and fast ship, with either one or two masts. Sloops usually measured 60-70 feet long, around 15-20 feet wide, and weighed up to 80 tons. Between 1710 and 1730 55% of pirate attacks were made in sloops and 45% were made in ‘ships’ – which in the 1800s was a precise term for any sailing vessel with three masts and square-rigged sails, larger than a sloop and usually weighing 100-200 tons. Most warships at the time were ‘ships’ however the ships used by pirates were more oftenly stolen and re-fitted merchant vessels rather than captured Navy ones.
Because of the size of the ships that they used, most pirates were overmatched against even smaller sized naval ships. A sixth rate ship of the Royal Navy, the smallest rated vessels in the Navy, would have up to 30 guns and 200 men, comparable to a large pirate ship. As a result of this, the usual prey of the pirate was merchant ships (which would often run with very small crews to save on wages) rather than spectacular battles with military vessels. When a military vessel did arrive, a pirate ship would usually turn away and attempt to out-run it or hide in shallow waters where more heavily armed ships could not sail. There were obviously some exceptions to this, in the cases of famous pirates such as Francis Drake or Henry Morgan. However, despite this, when we think of pirates, we think of massive Spanish Galleons and epic battles at sea, when clearly this was not the case. However the Hollywood swash-buckling movies of he 1930s and 1940s, such as The Black Pirate or Captain Blood starring Errol Flynn, have launched the current vision of the massive pirate ship that has become prevalent today
Contrary to what we have seen in many Hollywood films, the Captain of a pirate ship usually did not have complete command. The Captain was elected by the crew and could be deposed, sometimes violently, at any time. For example Bart Roberts was elected to be captain after the crew of a trading ship successfully mutinied. Unlike vessels in the various Navies of the time, the crew usually played a large part in deciding the ships next course of action. The exceptions to this came when a particularly well known pirate, such as Henry Morgan, was in command, due to the respect and fame that they had.
Indeed, many pirate crews operated by a surprisingly concise set of rules, and many pirate ships were run by a limited form of democracy. This ‘pirates code’ was designed to prevent arguments over the division of plunder, discipline and how duties were allocated among the crew. The charter of rules that was used by Bart Roberts has survived in full to today, and it even includes a form of insurance against injury. It reads: “Every man who shall become a cripple or lose a limb in the service shall have eighth hundred pieces of eight from the common stock, and for less hurts proportionately”. This particular aspect of piracy, although it seems more the stuff of chivalry than piracy, has only very rarely surfaced in popular culture. The film ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ is the best example, which mentions the ‘pirates code’ several times. However it is clear where the writers of the movie got the idea from.
Despite this however, pirates remained a very cruel lot, who lived a harsh life. The pirate of popular culture, with his treasure-chests full of gold doubloons, is often imagined retiring from the sea to some tropical island, to live off his hordes of gold. This particular romantic image is very far removed from reality – almost all pirates did not live long enough to retire, and still fewer had enough money to live off of. Even famous pirates such as Blackbeard, Bart Roberts, Captain Kidd, and ‘Calico’ Jack Rackham were killed or executed before they could even think about retirement. However, there are exceptions, for example Henry Morgan, who, after a greatly successful career, retired to Jamaica in 1674 to spend the rest of his days enjoying his wealth and fame – he is perhaps the only pirate (or privateer) to truly live the dream that seems so common when we imagine laughing captains such as Long John Silver.
The stereotypical pirate that we imagine today is almost always white, however historically this was not the case. A considerable number of black men served aboard pirate vessels, sometimes as members of the crew, however more oftenly they were treated as slaves. A man who was on board a ship attacked by Bart Roberts reported that up to 100 of his 400 strong crew were black. However in a lot of cases blacks were simply treated as a commodity to be bought and sold. Female pirates would be completely unheard of if it were not for the unique story of Anne Bonny and Mary Read. When was the last time that you saw a female pirate in a popular pirate story? It is unlikely that you thought of one, because they are just as rare in our pirate-based entertainment as they were in reality, and this is historically correct. Many pirate movies though, for example the Pirates of the Carribean, do star females in action-orientated roles, though they may not appear as actual pirates. Historically cases such as this would be rare to say the least, due to attitudes towards women at the time. One similarity between the imaginary pirate and the real pirate, which may well be simple co-incidence, is their nationality – during the Golden Age of Piracy over 50% of pirates were British, and many of them had seen service in the Royal Navy.
The distinctive costume and appearance of the pirate is surprisingly close to reality. Pirate crewmen would wear short jackets, with a checkered shirt and long trousers. They would also wear bandanas to keep sweat off their face. Pirate captains and other higher-ranking buccaneers would sometimes be seen wearing brightly coloured and fashionable clothes captured from aristocrats, though often these would quickly become worn out and scruffy-looking from their use on a ship. The pirate Bart Roberts became famous for the way he dressed, and would not look out of place on stage or in a pantomime. When he was killed in 1722 he was reportedly wearing “a rich crimson damask waistcoat and breeches, a red feather in his hat, and a gold chain round his neck, with a diamond cross hanging to it”.
The fearsome appearance of Blackbeard, perhaps the most famous real pirate, is also, surprisingly, based in reality. Lieutenant Maynard, who killed Blackbeard aboard his ship (a sloop) in 1718, said “he went by the name of Blackbeard, because he let his beard grow, and tied it up in black ribbons”, and Henry Bostock, whose ship was attacked by Blackbeard in 1717 described him as “a giant man with a very black beard which he wore very long”. There are also reports of him lighting slow-burning matches and hiding them under his hat or in his beard, before he went into battle, to make himself seem even more fearsome.
There is even a historical precedent for eye patches. On board sailing ships, especially in the Caribbean, the contrast in the amount of light above and below deck was very sharp, and it could take the eye several minutes to adjust when moving from the deck to below deck. To resolve this problem many sailors would cover one eye while above deck, so that when they went below deck that eye was already adjusted to low light conditions. They would switch the patch from one eye to the other depending on where they were, so they would not have to be temporarily blinded when moving between decks.
The ear-rings that can be seen on many film pirates today also is historical – many sailors in the 17th and 18th centuries believed that wearing a gold ear-ring could stop you from getting sea-sick.
The Jolly Roger, the skull-and-cross-bones flag often seen in pirate films also has its roots in reality. However, unlike what we have seen in many pirate films and books, historically there was not one consistent Jolly Roger, but hundreds. The term Jolly Roger came into use in the 18th century by English sailors referring to pirate flags, however when they said Jolly Roger, they were referring to any flag flown by a pirate vessel, not just the skull and crossbones design that has become dominant today. Many pirate vessels had their own version of the Jolly Roger. The only consistent thing was that they were usually coloured either black or red, and had some sort of fearsome symbol on them, such a skull, skeleton or a sword.
http://img53.imageshack.us/img53/5586/jrblackbeard4wf.gif (http://imageshack.us)
http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/6333/jrengland4qr.gif (http://imageshack.us)
http://img53.imageshack.us/img53/1979/jrmoody8zs.gif (http://imageshack.us)
The over the top pirate accent which is now connected to pirates is not completely a fabrication either – it is thought to be a heavily exaggerated version of the West Country English accent that many British sailors of the time picked up in ports such as Plymouth. In this case though, the stereotypical pirate of popular culture is only very distantly related to his historical counterpart. This theory however is suspicious at best – why after all do regular British sailors not have the pirate accent too? It is also hard to believe that the accent would become so dominant when sailors could come from anywhere in Europe or the Caribbean, however there are noticeable similarities, for example the slightly exaggerated ‘arr’ sound.
Today, when we think of a pirate, we think of tropical islands, and the Spanish Main, and we tend to forget that pirates operated as far back as the time of the Roman Empire, and as far away as the South China Sea (especially the Strait of Malacca), today. While it is true that the Golden Age of Piracy took place in the Caribbean, there have been pirates all over the world, and there are still pirates on the seas today. In 2003, according to the International Maritime Bureau, there were over 200 pirate attacks which resulted in 16 deaths and over 50 injuries. However, these have become eclipsed by the Caribbean buccaneer of the 18th century, who has emerged as the dominant face of piracy in today’s society.
The image of the pirate that has become so dominant in popular culture today is actually surprisingly close to the historical pirates that roamed the Caribbean in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. From the flags to the peg-legs and even the eye-patches, there are a lot of similarities however there are also a wide range of exaggerations, glamorisations and misconceptions that have arisen from three hundred years of stories, plays, books, films and other forms of entertainment – the maps to buried treasure, and walking the plank, for example. These things have come together to form the modern image of a pirate and sometimes it is hard to tell what is true to life and what isn’t, so that the real pirates have become ‘lost in the noise’ to a certain extent.