FILM:X marks the spot, peg legs, West Country accents – is there any factual basis for these silver screen pirate cliches, asks JOE GRIFFINahead of the release of Pirates of the Caribbean 4
WITH Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tidesdue next week, it's a good time to ask two pirate experts (yes, they exist) about the old stereotypes. Meet Andrew McClelland, a comedian and history graduate who once hosted the one-man show A Somewhat Accurate History of Piracy, and Connie Kelleher, whose doctoral research is The Confederacy of Pirates in Southwest Ireland in the Early 17th Century.
BURIED TREASURE
“The pirates could have buried goods to recover them again, but not necessarily treasure,” says Kelleher. “The reality is that they were mostly dealing in cargo. Treasure would have included spices, linen, brandy or other commodities like ivory. Piracy was a commercial venture, and the pirates were looking to trade, albeit illicitly. Jewels and money were also plundered, but the whole concept of ‘x marks the spot’ for buried treasure is a myth.”
McClelland answers with a question. “If you were a pirate who had just stolen 10,000 golden doubloons would you: (a) bury it where nobody can find it, possibly including you (and bearing in mind that the average pirate died within two years of taking it up), or (b) go to Port Royal or Tortuga and spend it on drinking, whoring and fruit machines?”
WOODEN LEG
Kelleher: "The image of a pirate with his wooden leg is very much Treasure Island, but it can have a basis in fact. Most pirates were sailors first and foremost, and it was often the ex-naval or ex-merchant crew member who was injured. Individuals like deck hands, cooks or galley slaves may have had an eye patch or a wooden leg. In reality it is more about injured sailors than hobbled pirates."
McClelland: “Some pirates did have lost appendages back then – eyes, hands and legs – but it certainly wasn’t everyone. When people dress up as pirates, however, they seem to attempt to lose every appendage possible. Some pirates also had syphilis and crabs, but nobody feels it’s necessary to fake those problems, do they?”
THE ACCENT
Kelleher: “Yes, the ‘arrrr’. My studies focus on English pirates based in west Cork – some English, some Irish, some Flemish, but mostly English. Many would’ve had the Cornish-Devon accent, as they came from southwest England. King James I had outlawed privateering, so legitimate sailors were forced to turn to piracy to make a living. When they clamped down on piracy in England, the pirates moved to Ireland. The accents might have been based on that, but a pirate crew could equally be cosmopolitan, with evidence of prostitutes in ports learning different languages in order to be able to ‘trade services’ with the pirate crews.”
McClelland: "Pirates spoke in as many different accents as there were seafaring nations. The cliched pirate tongue is actually just an adaptation of the Cornish accent, however. Many 16th- and 17th-century sailors came from this area, so it became the most common of ship-board English-language accents. Cornish is also the accent of Long John Silver in Treasure Island– the most influential work of pirate fiction bar none. This salty accent obviously survives in Cornwall even today, and if you enter a pub in the region you can close your eyes and imagine you are surrounded by the fiercest of pirates. It's as if Silver himself is talking at the table next to you . . . about last night's episode of Glee."
BIRD ON SHOULDER
Kelleher: "It's for the most part a media construct capitalising on Treasure Island. It was all to do with seeing pirates as free, apolitical, different and wild. They were presented as heroes: a social attitude to non-governance. The parrot added the novelty factor."
McClelland: “It’s possible that this happened occasionally. Multicoloured parrots of the New World were highly sought-after in Europe, and a pretty penny could be made in their trade. It’s unlikely it was common on a pirate’s shoulder, however, particularly when you consider that pirate ships were often at sea and a parrot on the shoulder could just fly away.”
BLING
Kelleher: “If the pirates wanted to be accepted locally, the captain would display his position as leader to command respect. The later Golden Age pirates, the time depicted by Captain Sparrow in the movies, dressed according to fashion. Calico Jack [English pirate Jack Rackham, 1682-1720] made an effort to dress in flouncy clothes or like a gentleman. Most ordinary pirates and sailors were dirty and had only one set of clothes. The likes of rubies and pearls were for sale, not for wearing.”
McClelland: “Much like the modern rapper, the olden pirate did indeed like a bit of bling. Nothing gets across that ‘I’m nasty and yet doing well’ vibe like a sword, teeth or eyeball made out of gold.”
Pirate pantheon Five of the best
CAPTAIN BLOOD (1935)
This classic of the golden age of pirate movies inspired more than a few set-pieces in Pirates of the Caribbean, and is soon to be remade. Errol Flynn swashbuckled and Olivia de Havilland swooned.
TREASURE ISLAND (1950)
It's hard to pick a definitive Treasure Island, but we do like this one – Disney's first live-action feature – with Robert Newton as Long John Silver. ( Muppet Treasure Islandis also recommended.)
PETER PAN (1953)
Possibly the most famous pirate in movie history, Captain Hook had a ship, an eye-patch and, yes, a hook for a hand. He became the first nightmare inhabitant for a generation of kids.
PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL (2003)
This witty and lively behemoth single-handedly revived pirates in the movies, and thankfully it didn’t scrimp on the buried treasure, pillaging and plank-walking.
DODGEBALL (2004)
You wouldn’t think a broad Ben Stiller comedy about an obscure sport would feature a pirate, but Steve the Pirate (Alan Tudyk) kept the flag flying even in the face of endless ridicule.
