Inspirations and influences: Pirates

Yo Ho Ho Ho, a pirate's life for me.

My interest in pirates came at a young age and probably was the main reason for my love of history in general.

I was in fourth grade and my family had taken a trip by car from Minnesota to Florida (a long road trip, to be sure). As I was quite young, I do not recall many details. I just remember images of going on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney World. I was amazed beyond words.

My parents got me a hook and a pirate hat, which I had (and religiously worn in private) for many years. It was my safety blanket. Aside from the trinkets, my family visited the oldest European city in the United States which was St. Augustine. There was an old fort, and I remember people dressed up and played parts to give it a historical flavor. It was like some renaissance festival.

We visited the fort which still had old cannon on it and from the ramparts overloking the ocean, I envisioned pirates battling it out from their ships against the fort.

My mind swum in pirates. I got back to school a while later and proceeded to systematicall check out every book on pirates in the library. Some I read, some I let my imagination roll with the pics.

Movie-wise I saw Treasure Island with Robert Newton playing Long John Silver as if the role was written just for him after the Florida experience and Robert Shaw's Swashbuckler (which upon later viewing, is a bit more tongue-and-cheek (the bane of many pirate movies). I was completely hooked thanks to them.

In elementary school, my family had a Texas Instruments Home computer and it used Basic and extended Basic (which I learned to program in... too bad I didn't stick with it). No discs were used. Cassette tape transferred information. We had a text-based adventure game based on Treasure Island, so I donned my cap proudly and tried to finish the adventure.

Later in elementary school, Legos were the toys of choice. There were no Pirate Legos (they came out when I was in High school- unfortunately). But my imagination suficed and I created a ship and had some Lego astronauts play out my pirate adventures. They usually involved swashbuckling, derring-do and a beautiful woman (the astronaut in white).

Time rolled on and other influenes were hitting me as well, but musically I was introduced to music from Adam and the Ants (another Blog entry) and they put me into the pirate mood pretty heavily.

I saw Roman Polanski's Pirates and loved it. Mel Gibson's the Bounty and loved it. Piracy was flowing. My Halloween costumes were usually pirates.

Come high scool and university, my interest waned a bit. Perhaps not enough media. Maybe I was growing up and realizing that the romance of piracy was simply that. Through my studies of history, I learned that they were criminals who were despised by every country and some were brutal killers. I did not want to associate my mind with that. It is like being enamoured of the Mafia or Yakuza.

I did have (and still do) a keen fascination with pirate movies from the 1940s-1970s. Erol Flynn rocked and Maureen O'Hara was my pirate queen.

But something about pirates always intrigued me and still does today. Perhaps it was there sense of adventure. Perhaps it was the freedom they shared when they broke form society and created their own rules.

Johnny Depp revitalized a bit of the romanticism with his Jack Sparrow-- a role I would love to have played (but maybe I was more suited towards Gibbs).

I don't think I could ever been a pirate in actuality, but I think the costume suits me.

Maybe in a past life...

Anyhow, smooth sailing to ye shipmates, and Carpe diem.

Some media recommendations:

Books

Treasure Island

Captain Blood

Under the Black Flag

A General History of Pyrates

The Buccaneers of America

The Only Life that Mattered

Movies

Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy (saga soon)

Pirates

Buccaneer

Captain Blood

Black Swan

Spanish Main

Against All Flags

Sea Hawks

Treasure Island

Cutthroat Island

Video Games

Pirates of the Burning Sea (MMORPG)

Syd Meyer's Pirates!

Sea Dogs

Pirates of the Caribbean (Sea Dogs 2)

Port Royal

Pirate Hunter