Blog Post 1

Pirates: Separating fact from fiction

Everyone knows and loves pirates. They're a staple of historical

figures besides cowboys although their reign was rather short lived.

They've been featured in everything from classic novels, a football

team, iconic film characters and Halloween costumes. As I've read

between our two assigned books "Under the Black Flag" and "Buccaneers and Pirates" everything

I've ever known about them is more fiction than fact. Although there are similarities between the two

books "Under" is more of an historic piece with well researched information on well-known pirates

like Henry Morgan. "Buccaneers" on the other hand is told more from the authors point of view

detailing all the glamorous things, like everyone growing up, you associate with pirates from plank

walking to treasure chest full of dabloons. "I had a great desire to become what might be called a

marine Robin Hood. I would take from the rich and give to the poor" (Stockton). It was what

everyone who saw Captain Jack Sparrow pictured a pirate's life would be, on the contrary it was more

of the opposite. While the typical pirate clothing was true, the lifestyle tended to be more of the

opposite. One can trace the classic pirate dream back to Long John Silver in Robert Louis Stevenson's

"Treasure Island". After reading simply the intro of "Under the Black Pearl" I learned that pirates

were similar to Captain Leandro Barbosa than Captain Jack Sparrow. Cordingly wrote, "Piracy, like

rape, depended on the use of force or the threat or force, and pirate attacks were frequently

accompanied by extreme violence, torture and death" (Cordingly). After reading the intro, its almost

as if your childhood dream is shattered and a pirates life is more in tune of being a disgusting villain

than a swashbuckling hero.


Cordingly, David (1/30/2017). Under the Black Flag (p. 4). Kindle Edition

Stockton, Franklin Richard (1/30/2017). Buccaneers and Pirates (p. 5). Kindle Edition