WEBVTT - PTG Classic: Who's the Greatest Pirate of All Time? 0:00:02.320 --> 0:00:03.040 Guess what, mango? 0:00:03.440 --> 0:00:04.080 What's that? Will? 0:00:04.640 --> 0:00:06.920 So, a couple of weeks ago, you quoted this old 0:00:06.960 --> 0:00:09.799 deep thought by Jack Candy and it took me by surprise. 0:00:09.840 --> 0:00:10.600 Do you remember doing this? 0:00:11.280 --> 0:00:13.399 So I don't remember what we were talking about, but 0:00:13.440 --> 0:00:16.480 I definitely remember quoting Deep Thoughts, and I think it 0:00:16.560 --> 0:00:19.040 was like the face of a child can say it all, 0:00:19.280 --> 0:00:21.119 especially the mouth part of the faces. 0:00:21.400 --> 0:00:24.919 That is definitely the one that was one of my favorites, 0:00:24.920 --> 0:00:27.760 although it's hard to pick a favorite, And honestly, it 0:00:27.760 --> 0:00:29.880 had been a few years since i'd really binged on 0:00:29.960 --> 0:00:32.000 Deep Thoughts, and I feel like that's the only way 0:00:32.040 --> 0:00:34.600 to experience them, like you have to read one hundred 0:00:34.640 --> 0:00:36.760 at a time, and so I was a little bit 0:00:36.840 --> 0:00:39.199 overdue for this. And for any listeners who might not 0:00:39.280 --> 0:00:42.840 remember Deep Thoughts, they were these silly and stupid one 0:00:42.880 --> 0:00:46.160 liners that were delivered as though they were these inspirational 0:00:46.280 --> 0:00:49.520 and meaningful pieces of advice. And you know, Jack Candy 0:00:49.520 --> 0:00:51.680 had actually been writing these since the mid eighties, but 0:00:51.920 --> 0:00:54.000 I'm pretty sure you and I both discovered them when 0:00:54.040 --> 0:00:56.560 Handy would read them on Saturday Night Live. Is that 0:00:56.640 --> 0:00:57.720 is that where you first heard them? 0:00:57.840 --> 0:01:00.000 Yeah, definitely, that's when I was first exposed to them. 0:01:00.400 --> 0:01:02.560 Yeah, so this was the early nineties. I guess we 0:01:02.560 --> 0:01:05.160 were both in middle school at the time. And I 0:01:05.200 --> 0:01:08.000 thought about another one when Tristan was wearing these fancy 0:01:08.080 --> 0:01:10.319 kicks the other day. He's got lots and lots of shoes, 0:01:10.319 --> 0:01:13.039 but he had some really fancy ones on, and so 0:01:14.120 --> 0:01:17.240 I thought about this when it said before you criticize someone, 0:01:17.280 --> 0:01:20.199 you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, 0:01:20.280 --> 0:01:22.840 when you criticize them, you're a mile away from them 0:01:23.000 --> 0:01:24.320 and you're in their shoes. 0:01:25.480 --> 0:01:27.840 So stupid. I love that, but it is kind of 0:01:27.840 --> 0:01:28.319 good advice. 0:01:28.360 --> 0:01:29.920 I guess it definitely is. 0:01:30.040 --> 0:01:32.200 And actually, one of the other things I noticed is 0:01:32.240 --> 0:01:36.200 that there was more than one deep thought about pirates weirdly, 0:01:36.280 --> 0:01:40.160 but I think my favorite was pirates were always going 0:01:40.200 --> 0:01:43.800 around searching for treasure and never realized the real treasure 0:01:44.000 --> 0:01:45.960 was the fond memories they were creating. 0:01:47.880 --> 0:01:50.520 Well, I do feel like you're reading that as a 0:01:50.560 --> 0:01:52.880 sign because we've been talking about doing an episode on 0:01:52.920 --> 0:01:55.200 pirates for such a long time now. 0:01:55.320 --> 0:01:56.160 We definitely have. 0:01:56.280 --> 0:01:58.320 I mean, that's how we knew it was time to 0:01:58.400 --> 0:02:00.920 do this, because we've been keeping this list of all 0:02:00.960 --> 0:02:04.080 the pirate stereotypes, and I wanted to know what of 0:02:04.120 --> 0:02:07.960 them are actually true and you know, we're pirates, anything 0:02:08.160 --> 0:02:10.240 like the ones that we see in the movies. Did 0:02:10.280 --> 0:02:14.240 they actually say stuff like shiver me timbers or bury treasure? 0:02:14.440 --> 0:02:17.720 Or did they really carry around monkeys and parrots? And 0:02:17.880 --> 0:02:20.520 my god, I hope that they did. But it's time 0:02:20.560 --> 0:02:44.240 to find out. So let's dive in. Hey, their podcast 0:02:44.240 --> 0:02:46.520 listener is welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson 0:02:46.560 --> 0:02:48.840 and as always I'm joined by my friend Mangesh hot 0:02:48.840 --> 0:02:51.360 ticketter and on the other side of the soundproof glass, 0:02:51.840 --> 0:02:54.640 I actually don't know what Tristan is doing today. 0:02:54.720 --> 0:02:55.679 I am up in New York. 0:02:55.720 --> 0:02:58.560 I'm in my hotel room in this very fancy studio, 0:02:58.639 --> 0:03:01.560 which is just myesk in my hotel room. So it 0:03:01.600 --> 0:03:04.280 may not sound as great as Tristan usually makes it sound, 0:03:04.280 --> 0:03:06.320 but Mango, I gotta know what is Tristan doing. 0:03:06.639 --> 0:03:09.000 So he did not disappoint. He showed up in a 0:03:09.040 --> 0:03:14.840 total pirate Halloween costume. He's got everything. He's got an ipatch, 0:03:14.840 --> 0:03:18.680 a bandana, tri corner hat, he's got a hoop, earrings, 0:03:18.720 --> 0:03:21.720 he's got a stuffed parrot on his shoulder, and he 0:03:21.800 --> 0:03:25.000 even has a tri corner hat for his stuffed parrots. 0:03:25.480 --> 0:03:27.280 I'm not sure how true to life that far it is, 0:03:27.560 --> 0:03:30.520 but it is a nice touch. So well done, Tristan McNeil. 0:03:31.000 --> 0:03:31.600 Oh wow. 0:03:31.639 --> 0:03:34.160 And actually, I just as we're talking, I just got 0:03:34.200 --> 0:03:37.200 a text from Ramsey's showing me a picture of Tristan. 0:03:37.280 --> 0:03:39.200 This is amazing. 0:03:39.240 --> 0:03:42.680 I mean, you could say every part of his costume 0:03:42.960 --> 0:03:45.320 is pretty much in line with the way that we 0:03:45.480 --> 0:03:47.680 conceive of pirates, because I mean, I guess this is 0:03:47.720 --> 0:03:50.280 how we're used to seeing them in books and pop culture. 0:03:50.400 --> 0:03:54.640 So thank you Tristan for furthering this stereotype of pirates. 0:03:54.640 --> 0:03:56.920 But it does make us wonder like, how much, if 0:03:56.960 --> 0:03:59.480 any of this is actually true. And I don't just 0:03:59.560 --> 0:04:02.560 mean how pirates dressed in real life, but how they 0:04:02.640 --> 0:04:03.320 acted too. 0:04:03.520 --> 0:04:03.640 Like. 0:04:04.080 --> 0:04:06.000 On the one hand, pirates we see in movies and 0:04:06.040 --> 0:04:09.600 theme parks often come off as these really these charming 0:04:09.720 --> 0:04:12.520 and kind of rough around the edges folk heros, almost 0:04:12.520 --> 0:04:14.560 like Robin Hoods of the Sea or something. 0:04:14.680 --> 0:04:14.880 Yeah. 0:04:14.880 --> 0:04:16.520 I mean, do you think about like Wesley from The 0:04:16.520 --> 0:04:19.400 Princess Bride, and he's just kind of a gentleman pirate. 0:04:19.880 --> 0:04:21.360 Yeah, that's that's exactly right. 0:04:21.400 --> 0:04:24.800 And you know, when you read these historical accounts and pirates, 0:04:24.839 --> 0:04:28.480 mostly those sound like these bloodthirsty outlaws. It's a bit 0:04:28.520 --> 0:04:31.200 of a mixed message. So with today's show, we thought 0:04:31.200 --> 0:04:32.760 it would be fun to try to make sense of 0:04:32.800 --> 0:04:35.880 the competing pirate narratives, and to do that, we'll fact 0:04:35.960 --> 0:04:38.640 check some of the biggest stereotypes we typically associate with 0:04:38.720 --> 0:04:41.800 pirates and see which ones hold water. And then a 0:04:41.800 --> 0:04:45.120 little bit later, we'll separate pirate truth from pirate fiction 0:04:45.240 --> 0:04:47.359 when we share a few of our all time favorite 0:04:47.400 --> 0:04:50.200 pirate stories. So, Meguel, you want to kick us off, 0:04:50.480 --> 0:04:53.440 like what pirate cliche do you feel like we should 0:04:53.440 --> 0:04:54.200 start with today? 0:04:55.279 --> 0:04:57.080 Well, I was thinking about it. You know, it was 0:04:57.160 --> 0:04:59.680 international talk like a Pirate Day not too long ago, 0:05:00.040 --> 0:05:02.719 and while I did manage to slip a few rs 0:05:02.760 --> 0:05:06.440 into my conversation this year, I also, you know, I 0:05:06.440 --> 0:05:09.040 couldn't help feeling like a little bit of a phony 0:05:09.160 --> 0:05:12.839 since I actually have no idea how pirates talked, and 0:05:12.880 --> 0:05:16.600 as it turns out, nobody does. So piracy was as 0:05:16.640 --> 0:05:19.320 peaked during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, so there aren't 0:05:19.320 --> 0:05:21.840 really any audio recordings to refer to. And the witness 0:05:21.839 --> 0:05:24.400 accounts that we do have only acclude kind of a 0:05:24.480 --> 0:05:26.440 handful of quotes from actual pirates. 0:05:27.400 --> 0:05:28.960 What about writing from the pirates? 0:05:28.960 --> 0:05:30.200 I mean, it feels like there's got to be at 0:05:30.279 --> 0:05:33.760 least one pirate autobiography floating around out there, wouldn't there be? 0:05:34.160 --> 0:05:34.440 Yeah? 0:05:34.520 --> 0:05:36.719 Actually there really aren't. That There isn't much of a 0:05:36.760 --> 0:05:40.760 record of anything written by pirates themselves. Blackbeard supposedly kept 0:05:40.760 --> 0:05:43.800 a diary of all his exploits, but that's never been recovered, 0:05:43.839 --> 0:05:46.000 and so the little bit of writing we do have 0:05:46.040 --> 0:05:48.440 from actual pirates comes mostly from the ones who start 0:05:48.480 --> 0:05:51.440 out as nobility before going rogue, and since they tend 0:05:51.520 --> 0:05:54.720 to be really well educated, their speech patterns probably wouldn't 0:05:54.720 --> 0:05:56.720 have mimicked those of most pirates anyway. 0:05:57.720 --> 0:05:59.640 So, you know, you think about all the talk of 0:06:00.279 --> 0:06:03.640 salty dogs and scally wags and pirates inviting folks to 0:06:03.760 --> 0:06:07.800 shiver me timbers, whatever that actually means. But like, none 0:06:07.880 --> 0:06:10.239 of those are phrases that pirates actually used. 0:06:10.480 --> 0:06:13.479 Yeah, probably not. I mean, like I mentioned earlier, there's 0:06:13.520 --> 0:06:16.240 no real evidence one way or the other, but most 0:06:16.240 --> 0:06:19.279 scholars think English speaking pirates from the so called Golden 0:06:19.320 --> 0:06:22.960 Age of piracy probably spoke the same way merchant sailors 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:25.160 did at the time. A lot of both of the 0:06:25.320 --> 0:06:28.520 people in these groups came from a riverfront neighborhoods in London, 0:06:28.640 --> 0:06:31.400 so it's likely they spoke with similar accents and used 0:06:31.400 --> 0:06:34.400 common slang. But sadly you don't really see shiver me 0:06:34.520 --> 0:06:36.880 timbers coming up in much of that discussion. 0:06:37.160 --> 0:06:38.760 That is a real disappointment. 0:06:38.839 --> 0:06:42.520 But I'm guessing the pirate jargon were used to mostly 0:06:42.520 --> 0:06:45.159 comes from books and movies, right, stuff like Treasure Island 0:06:45.240 --> 0:06:45.880 or Peter Pan. 0:06:46.000 --> 0:06:49.039 I guess yeah, And Treasure Island in particular is the 0:06:49.040 --> 0:06:51.160 one that'll come up a lot today. A lot of 0:06:51.200 --> 0:06:54.000 the phrases we connect with pirates were first popularized by 0:06:54.040 --> 0:06:56.400 the book in eighteen eighty three, and then again in 0:06:56.480 --> 0:07:00.200 Disney's movie adaptation in the nineteen fifties. And actually the 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:03.280 movie version is also credited for our association of pirates 0:07:03.320 --> 0:07:07.880 with these gruff and vaguely Scottish accents, and that's because 0:07:07.920 --> 0:07:11.480 it starred Robert Newman as the fictional pirate Long John Silver. 0:07:11.920 --> 0:07:14.960 So Newman was a native of southwest England, and as 0:07:15.000 --> 0:07:19.000 such he spoke with this really distinctive regional dialect called 0:07:19.080 --> 0:07:22.400 West Country English, and some of the dialect's characteristics line 0:07:22.480 --> 0:07:25.000 up perfectly with how most of us imagined pirates to 0:07:25.040 --> 0:07:27.720 have talked. So, for example, West Country speakers tend to 0:07:27.720 --> 0:07:31.960 emphasize their rs. They also replaced the verb is with b, 0:07:32.600 --> 0:07:35.360 which is, you know, a decidedly pirate move when you 0:07:35.360 --> 0:07:38.360 think of constructions like where be the rum? Right? And 0:07:38.800 --> 0:07:41.360 if that wasn't enough, West Country speakers are even known 0:07:41.400 --> 0:07:44.760 to replace the word yes with ours sometimes huh. 0:07:44.840 --> 0:07:47.280 So our conception of pirate speech seems to be pretty 0:07:47.400 --> 0:07:49.600 arbitrary when you break it down like this, I mean, 0:07:49.640 --> 0:07:52.960 if it really does go back to just that one performance. 0:07:53.800 --> 0:07:56.280 Yeah, so Newman's role in Treasure Island wasn't his only 0:07:56.280 --> 0:07:58.240 one as a pirate. He also appeared in a couple 0:07:58.320 --> 0:08:00.800 other pirate movies in the era, and it was all 0:08:00.800 --> 0:08:03.560 of this together that started to influence other people's portrayal 0:08:03.640 --> 0:08:06.560 of pirates, until finally the West Country accent just became 0:08:06.600 --> 0:08:09.520 the standard. And while it might seem random that a 0:08:09.600 --> 0:08:13.040 Southwest English accent would become the de facto voice, there's 0:08:13.040 --> 0:08:15.640 actually more of a historical connection than you might expect. 0:08:15.720 --> 0:08:19.480 So just listen to this explanation. I found on slate. Quote. 0:08:19.520 --> 0:08:22.200 It's not entirely arbitrary that Newton should have used an 0:08:22.200 --> 0:08:25.120 exaggeration of his own dialect to play long John Silver. 0:08:25.600 --> 0:08:30.080 The West Country, the southwest corner of England, including Cornwall, Somerset, Devon, 0:08:30.240 --> 0:08:33.840 Dorset and Bristol, has a long seafaring tradition, and so 0:08:33.920 --> 0:08:36.880 many historical pirates would likely have spoken in a similar way. 0:08:37.280 --> 0:08:40.360 Both Blackbeard and Sir Francis Drake were from that area, 0:08:40.679 --> 0:08:44.400 although Sir Francis was technically a privateer. But perhaps the 0:08:44.400 --> 0:08:47.559 most famous inhabitant of the West Country is Hagrid from 0:08:47.559 --> 0:08:50.920 the Harry Potter series. Can't you just imagine Haggard saying 0:08:51.080 --> 0:08:53.079 you're a pirate Harry end quote? 0:08:53.559 --> 0:08:56.000 Yeah, I mean I can easily imagine that, And I 0:08:56.000 --> 0:08:58.640 actually can't believe that I'd never made that connection before, 0:08:58.679 --> 0:09:00.760 because Haggrid totally said like a. 0:09:00.679 --> 0:09:03.640 Pirate or other Yeah, fictional one, I guess. 0:09:03.679 --> 0:09:06.559 But uh, you know, there is some evidence that pirates 0:09:06.760 --> 0:09:09.560 really did have their own unique way of speaking, including 0:09:09.600 --> 0:09:12.480 some bits of nautical lingo that eventually found their way 0:09:12.520 --> 0:09:13.760 into popular usage. 0:09:13.800 --> 0:09:14.719 And now the. 0:09:14.679 --> 0:09:17.440 Origin of these phrases can be pretty tough to pin down, 0:09:17.480 --> 0:09:19.360 but there are at least a few that are thought 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:23.000 to have come from pirates and privateers, including you know, 0:09:23.080 --> 0:09:25.640 learn the ropes, and of course three sheets to the wind. 0:09:25.760 --> 0:09:28.080 And the first of these came from the need for 0:09:28.120 --> 0:09:31.000 sailors to understand how to use the complex system of 0:09:31.080 --> 0:09:34.480 ropes and pulleys that controlled the ship's sails, so they 0:09:34.480 --> 0:09:36.560 would literally have to learn the ropes. 0:09:36.960 --> 0:09:39.840 And so was three sheets to the wind just as literal? 0:09:40.120 --> 0:09:42.240 Or was that a term for being super drunk like 0:09:42.280 --> 0:09:43.160 how we use it today? 0:09:43.920 --> 0:09:46.880 This one was actually pretty literal too, And actually the 0:09:46.960 --> 0:09:50.360 original phrase pirates used was three sheets in the wind, 0:09:50.480 --> 0:09:52.880 not to it. And so you might guess that the 0:09:52.880 --> 0:09:55.480 sheets in question were the sails on a ship, but 0:09:56.040 --> 0:09:58.880 actually they were the ropes that controlled those sails. So 0:09:59.280 --> 0:10:03.360 apparently if three or more ropes became loose, the sales 0:10:03.400 --> 0:10:06.040 would start flapping, and then the crew can lose control 0:10:06.080 --> 0:10:08.840 of where the ship's headed. So if somebody's really drunk, 0:10:08.840 --> 0:10:10.880 they're just as out of control as a ship with 0:10:11.000 --> 0:10:12.319 three sheets in the wind. 0:10:13.960 --> 0:10:16.000 So another question I was eager to answer is whether 0:10:16.080 --> 0:10:19.240 or not pirates really hid buried treasure. And while it 0:10:19.280 --> 0:10:22.240 does seem like this happened on occasion, it was definitely 0:10:22.400 --> 0:10:25.440 not a widespread practice. In fact, I could only find 0:10:25.440 --> 0:10:28.760 a couple historical accounts of pirates actually burying their loot, 0:10:29.320 --> 0:10:32.000 and even in those cases, the pirates only hit it 0:10:32.040 --> 0:10:34.080 for a short period while they waited for the heat 0:10:34.120 --> 0:10:36.880 from their latest heist to die down. In fact, pirate 0:10:36.920 --> 0:10:40.240 treasure never stayed buried for long, and they certainly didn't 0:10:40.280 --> 0:10:42.760 circulate a bunch of treasure maps with big red x's 0:10:42.840 --> 0:10:45.079 on them for people to go looking for it. And 0:10:45.160 --> 0:10:48.720 that's partly because pirates didn't really deal in treasure chests 0:10:48.800 --> 0:10:51.240 full of gold or pieces of eight or whatever you 0:10:51.320 --> 0:10:54.720 like to imagine like. Instead, when pirates looted ships, they 0:10:54.880 --> 0:10:57.720 were stealing things like coffee and sugar and tea and 0:10:57.800 --> 0:11:00.920 textiles like whatever those ships were care and then they 0:11:00.960 --> 0:11:03.440 would sell those spoils on the black market, and that's 0:11:03.480 --> 0:11:05.520 how they'd end up with the pirate gold we associate 0:11:05.559 --> 0:11:08.880 with them. But even then, once pirates had all this 0:11:09.000 --> 0:11:12.360 gold in hand, they weren't super frugal or forward thinking 0:11:12.440 --> 0:11:15.560 enough to invest it. Instead, you know, according to this 0:11:15.640 --> 0:11:19.840 maritime historian named David Cordingly, pirates typically blew their loot 0:11:19.920 --> 0:11:22.439 on drinking gambling and women as soon as they got 0:11:22.480 --> 0:11:22.840 to port. 0:11:23.960 --> 0:11:25.840 Yeah, I mean, I'd say that fits with the pirate 0:11:25.920 --> 0:11:28.840 lifestyle a lot more than squirreling away your money. 0:11:28.880 --> 0:11:29.800 And you know, I mean I. 0:11:29.880 --> 0:11:33.560 Think about this, burying treasure would effectively be like putting 0:11:33.640 --> 0:11:36.280 your money in a bank, and I don't know banking. 0:11:36.320 --> 0:11:39.040 Does it strike me as this very piratey thing to do? 0:11:39.200 --> 0:11:42.240 But exactly anyway, I mean, this idea of buried treasure 0:11:42.400 --> 0:11:44.439 had to come from somewhere, though, So do you think 0:11:44.480 --> 0:11:46.680 it just spun out of those few scattered accounts that 0:11:46.720 --> 0:11:47.200 you found? 0:11:48.040 --> 0:11:49.840 I mean, that's why I thought at first, But it 0:11:49.880 --> 0:11:52.080 turns out this is another case that's rooted less in 0:11:52.160 --> 0:11:55.240 history and more in treasure Island. So in the book, 0:11:55.320 --> 0:11:57.520 long John Silver is on the hunt for a stash 0:11:57.559 --> 0:12:00.000 of hidden gold, and of course a secret treasure map 0:12:00.200 --> 0:12:02.640 is the key to finding it. But what's funny is 0:12:02.679 --> 0:12:06.400 that Robert Lewis Stevenson didn't actually invent this idea, and 0:12:06.440 --> 0:12:08.600 he didn't base it on real life either. Instead, he 0:12:08.640 --> 0:12:12.320 flat out stole the idea from another seventeenth century author, 0:12:12.679 --> 0:12:14.080 Edgar Allan Poe. 0:12:14.679 --> 0:12:14.920 Poe. 0:12:15.160 --> 0:12:18.959 Really, yeah, So it comes from Poe's short story the Goldbug, 0:12:19.400 --> 0:12:22.720 and the main characters hunt down Captain Kidd's treasure using 0:12:22.760 --> 0:12:25.520 a cipher that's based on how frequently certain letters appeared 0:12:25.520 --> 0:12:26.760 in the English language. 0:12:26.400 --> 0:12:26.960 In this story. 0:12:27.480 --> 0:12:30.360 And this is pretty much the same premise as in 0:12:30.440 --> 0:12:34.160 Treasure Island, except Stevenson substituted a map in place of 0:12:34.200 --> 0:12:37.640 the cipher, and the author later copped this too. Like 0:12:38.000 --> 0:12:40.480 in his preface to the book, he said, quote, the 0:12:40.559 --> 0:12:43.120 map was the chief part of my plot. For that 0:12:43.360 --> 0:12:45.520 I broke into the gallery of mister Poe. 0:12:46.600 --> 0:12:49.079 All right, Well, a pattern is definitely starting to emerge 0:12:49.080 --> 0:12:52.080 here because I actually have another pirate stereotype that we 0:12:52.080 --> 0:12:55.160 can at least partly thank Treasure Island for. And that's 0:12:55.200 --> 0:12:58.440 the idea that pirates made people walk the plank. Not 0:12:58.559 --> 0:13:01.000 to be fair, plank walking did exist among pirates to 0:13:01.080 --> 0:13:03.720 some degree, but most historians will tell you that it 0:13:03.760 --> 0:13:07.040 was a pretty rare form of punishment. Now, the most 0:13:07.080 --> 0:13:10.800 recognizable example of the practice occurred in the mid eighteen hundreds, 0:13:10.840 --> 0:13:13.480 I think, and this was when an eyewitness reported that 0:13:13.559 --> 0:13:16.440 a British ship captain had been abducted by pirates. In 0:13:16.520 --> 0:13:19.640 that quote, a plank was run on the starboard side 0:13:19.640 --> 0:13:22.920 of their schooner, upon which they made Captain Smith walk, 0:13:23.240 --> 0:13:25.720 and as he approached the end, they tilted the plank 0:13:26.000 --> 0:13:28.640 when he dropped into the sea. Now beyond that, we 0:13:28.679 --> 0:13:31.760 know that some Caribbean pirates also force captured sailors to 0:13:31.800 --> 0:13:34.160 walk the plank, and there are even some accounts of 0:13:34.200 --> 0:13:37.360 Mediterranean pirates taking part in something similar back in the 0:13:37.440 --> 0:13:40.440 days of ancient Rome. In this case, the pirates would 0:13:40.440 --> 0:13:43.760 suspend a ladder out over the ocean and then mockingly 0:13:43.800 --> 0:13:46.440 invite prisoners to crawl out on it and swim back 0:13:46.440 --> 0:13:47.240 home to freedom. 0:13:47.520 --> 0:13:50.880 Oh that seems pretty cruel. But yeah, I'm curious. How 0:13:50.880 --> 0:13:52.640 does Treasure Island fit into all of this? 0:13:53.040 --> 0:13:55.600 Basically, Robert Lewis Stevenson and a few other writers of 0:13:55.600 --> 0:13:58.520 his era are mostly responsible for making plank walking, you know, 0:13:58.600 --> 0:14:02.160 more ubiquitous than it really was, and their stories presented 0:14:02.200 --> 0:14:04.640 as kind of the go to form of punishment that 0:14:04.720 --> 0:14:08.600 pirates used, and this idea was only enforced by popular 0:14:08.640 --> 0:14:12.520 illustrations and paintings from this same time period. Now all 0:14:12.520 --> 0:14:15.160 of that really cemented. Plank walking is one of the 0:14:15.240 --> 0:14:18.880 visual icons of piracy, and the interesting thing about this 0:14:18.920 --> 0:14:21.760 misplaced attention is that it actually makes some pirates seem 0:14:21.840 --> 0:14:25.000 less cruel than they really were, because if pirates really 0:14:25.040 --> 0:14:27.440 wanted to do away with a mutinous crew member or 0:14:27.480 --> 0:14:30.720 a troublesome captive, I mean, they had far worse methods 0:14:30.760 --> 0:14:34.200 than simply forcing somebody overboard. And you know, some of 0:14:34.200 --> 0:14:37.720 the more common practices included marooning someone onto an island, 0:14:37.720 --> 0:14:41.400 which almost always resulted in a slow death for the victim. 0:14:41.680 --> 0:14:45.280 Then there was the especially grizzly punishment called keel hauling, 0:14:45.320 --> 0:14:47.520 and this was when the victim was tied naked to 0:14:47.600 --> 0:14:52.360 a rope, thrown overboard, and then just tragically dragged beneath 0:14:52.400 --> 0:14:54.800 the entire length of the ship while barnacles cut up 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:55.120 their skin. 0:14:55.160 --> 0:14:56.560 It's pretty gross to read about. 0:14:56.640 --> 0:14:59.680 Yeah, it feels horrible. In fact, I want to get 0:14:59.680 --> 0:15:03.160 as an happier note asap. So I'm just gonna come 0:15:03.240 --> 0:15:05.680 right out and tell you that pirates almost certainly kept 0:15:05.720 --> 0:15:11.280 parrots as pets. Good and so this is another pirate 0:15:11.320 --> 0:15:14.480 trope that was popularized by Treasuer Island. Long John Silver 0:15:14.600 --> 0:15:16.320 was the first fictional pirate to walk around with a 0:15:16.320 --> 0:15:19.480 parrot on his shoulder, But in this case, Stevenson was 0:15:19.560 --> 0:15:22.880 really drawing from history So to give a little background 0:15:22.880 --> 0:15:24.760 when we talk about the Golden Age of piracy, which 0:15:24.800 --> 0:15:28.080 I still find such a funny phrase to say that, 0:15:28.600 --> 0:15:30.760 you know, we're really referring to this period from about 0:15:30.800 --> 0:15:34.480 the mid sixteen hundreds to around seventeen thirty. And in 0:15:34.520 --> 0:15:37.400 that time, the recent discoveries of the Americas in Australia 0:15:37.440 --> 0:15:40.240 had created a boom and exploration, so for the first 0:15:40.280 --> 0:15:42.720 time in history and multiple nations were shipping tons and 0:15:42.800 --> 0:15:46.800 tons of money and valuable goods all across this largely 0:15:47.120 --> 0:15:51.080 uncharted and unprotected oceans, and of course this made them 0:15:51.160 --> 0:15:54.560 easy picking for enterprising pirates, hence the term Golden Age. 0:15:54.800 --> 0:15:57.240 But in order to rob ships of their precious cargo, 0:15:57.600 --> 0:15:59.880 pirates had to go where the ships went, which meant 0:16:00.080 --> 0:16:02.440 taking to trade routes that mostly led to the Caribbean 0:16:02.600 --> 0:16:05.800 or West Africa or the various coasts along the Indian Ocean. 0:16:06.280 --> 0:16:09.400 And this required long voyages that lasted weeks or months 0:16:09.440 --> 0:16:11.760 at a time and often took the pirates to these 0:16:11.800 --> 0:16:17.160 exotic lands populated by unusual animals like parrots and also monkeys. 0:16:17.880 --> 0:16:19.360 So let's get to the important part. 0:16:19.400 --> 0:16:22.160 Please tell me that the monkey thing is true, because 0:16:22.680 --> 0:16:24.960 the world is kind of a rough place right now, 0:16:25.000 --> 0:16:27.560 And I feel like it would make me feel better 0:16:27.640 --> 0:16:29.640 to know that a pirate captain could have had a 0:16:29.640 --> 0:16:32.680 parrot on one shoulder and a monkey on the other one. 0:16:32.880 --> 0:16:37.040 So there isn't much documentation about that specific combination, but 0:16:37.840 --> 0:16:41.640 pirates with monkeys certainly weren't uncommon. Parrots were the more 0:16:41.720 --> 0:16:45.080 practical pet though. Parrots would eat things that were already 0:16:45.120 --> 0:16:47.120 on board, so you think about like fruits or seeds 0:16:47.240 --> 0:16:49.600 or nuts, and they didn't really need that much to 0:16:49.640 --> 0:16:52.600 sustain them. Plus they could be taught all these kind 0:16:52.600 --> 0:16:55.160 of neat tricks like how to talk. And you know, 0:16:55.240 --> 0:16:57.600 there's no better way for a pirate to start up 0:16:57.640 --> 0:16:59.760 a conversation at port than by introducing people to the 0:17:00.000 --> 0:17:02.520 talking bird that he, you know, picked up well at sea. 0:17:02.920 --> 0:17:03.880 Well that's a good point. 0:17:03.920 --> 0:17:06.040 And still you think after a while it might be 0:17:06.119 --> 0:17:08.399 kind of risky to walk around with a big, bright 0:17:08.520 --> 0:17:10.640 bird on your shoulder. I mean, it seems like that's 0:17:10.640 --> 0:17:12.400 a tough way to keep a low profile. 0:17:12.960 --> 0:17:17.040 Yeah, but it's also good branding. I don't think that 0:17:17.080 --> 0:17:20.160 many pirates actually kept their parrots for that long. According 0:17:20.160 --> 0:17:23.760 to this historian, Angus Constam, author of the history of pirates, 0:17:23.880 --> 0:17:27.000 he writes, back home, people would pay good money for 0:17:27.040 --> 0:17:30.359 parrots and other exotic creatures, and sailors could easily buy 0:17:30.400 --> 0:17:33.720 them in Caribbean ports. Some were kept, but most were 0:17:33.760 --> 0:17:36.239 sold when the ship reached home. So really they were 0:17:36.240 --> 0:17:37.720 selling them as soon as they got to port. 0:17:38.160 --> 0:17:40.040 Well that makes sense, So it's still it's nice to 0:17:40.040 --> 0:17:43.520 know that pirates really did keep parrots, even if only. 0:17:43.280 --> 0:17:44.359 For a little while. 0:17:44.400 --> 0:17:46.160 But all right, well, I know there are a couple 0:17:46.240 --> 0:17:48.000 more pirate myths that we want to take a look at. 0:17:48.040 --> 0:18:08.160 But before we do, let's take a quick break. You're 0:18:08.160 --> 0:18:09.800 listening to Part Time Genius, and we're talking about the 0:18:09.840 --> 0:18:11.480 facts and fiction that fuel. 0:18:11.200 --> 0:18:13.840 The modern view of pirates. All right, mego. 0:18:13.920 --> 0:18:15.760 So one of the more interesting topics that I looked 0:18:15.800 --> 0:18:18.679 into this week were the big gold ear rings that 0:18:18.760 --> 0:18:21.399 pirates wore. And the question here wasn't whether or not 0:18:21.520 --> 0:18:24.480 pirates really wore them. I think, you know, most historians 0:18:24.480 --> 0:18:26.840 agree that many of them did. But why did they 0:18:26.880 --> 0:18:27.600 wear them? 0:18:28.119 --> 0:18:30.440 So the story I'd always heard is that the earrings 0:18:30.480 --> 0:18:33.119 were away for pirates to pay for their burials, like 0:18:33.880 --> 0:18:36.119 if a pirate happened to die on land instead of 0:18:36.200 --> 0:18:39.240 at sea, the gold from their earrings could cover the costs, 0:18:39.280 --> 0:18:42.480 and obviously, even for a pirate, that would be preferable 0:18:42.560 --> 0:18:45.400 to just being put in this mass grave or left 0:18:45.400 --> 0:18:46.360 out for the crows to eat. 0:18:46.400 --> 0:18:47.800 I'm guessing yeah. 0:18:47.800 --> 0:18:50.440 I mean, there is some evidence that supports this idea. 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:53.400 But those earrings and other kinds of jewelry weren't just 0:18:53.520 --> 0:18:55.920 a failsafe for pirate burial. I mean they were also 0:18:56.040 --> 0:18:59.720 symbols of rebellion against the seventeenth and eighteenth century laws 0:18:59.760 --> 0:19:02.760 that we're really meant to control what people could wear 0:19:02.920 --> 0:19:05.879 or do in their private lives. So in England, just 0:19:05.920 --> 0:19:09.000 for example, men weren't allowed to wear jewelry, and certain 0:19:09.040 --> 0:19:11.920 colors were off limits for commoners to wear, and if 0:19:11.960 --> 0:19:15.000 somebody didn't conform to those rules, they could be heavily 0:19:15.080 --> 0:19:18.680