Masarykova univerzita Filozofická fakulta

Katedra anglistiky a amerikanistiky

Bakalářská diplomová práce

Luk

áš Lengyel áš

2015 Lukáš Lengyel

2015 2015 Hřbet

Masaryk University Faculty of Arts

Department of English and American Studies

English Language and Literature

Lukáš Lengyel

Pirates of Colonial America and Their Cultural Heritage Bachelor’s Diploma Thesis

Supervisor: Bonita Rhoads, Ph. D.

2014

I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography.

…………………………………………….. Author’s signature

I would like to thank Ms. Bonita Rhoads for steering me away from shallow waters around cape Primary Lit, back into the deep, blue sea of secondary literature.

Contents Introduction ...... 6

1. Pirate Defined ...... 8

2. A Brief History of ...... 9

3. Why Would Somebody Become a Pirate? ...... 15

4. Pirates in Popular Culture ...... 20

a. Books ...... 21

i. of America ...... 22

ii. General History of the Pyrates ...... 24

iii. Island ...... 27

iv. One More Book ...... 34

b. Era of the Movies and ...... 35

i. Visual and Technical Execution ...... 36

ii. Inspiration ...... 38

iii. Advertisement Campaign and Popularity...... 42

c. Internet Piracy ...... 44

i. Piracy and Copyright ...... 44

ii. Bay ...... 50

4.3.4. Political Side...... 52

5. Concluding Thoughts ...... 55

Works Cited ...... 57

ENGLISH SUMMARY ...... 62

ČESKÉ RESUMÉ...... 63

Introduction

Pirates have been a theme for countless stories that have enthralled masses of people and have a significant impact on our culture. Be it books, games or movies, pirates have captured imagination of people with their adventurous and carefree lives. From bloodthirsty burglars portrayed in contemporary accounts, through adventurous and courageous crews in books and movies, pirates were during the history elevated to a symbol of resistance against politics and capitalism. Moreover, when pirates are mentioned, one cannot help but think about all the stereotypes or mythology.

Pirates are everywhere. If you look around your house, the possibility of finding a pirate-themed object is almost 100%. That particular something might be a bottle of a rum, a t-shirt, carnival costume, box of breakfast cereals, pen, a computer game, and so on. The list of items containing pirate references is almost inexhaustible, the most common design elements being the Jolly Rogers, peglegs, skulls and bones, parrots or sea monsters, because they all share a connection with pirates, as we know them. Where did these elements come from and how did they established such a solid place in our society?

The cultural impact of pirates in our world is undeniable. The thesis deal with the influence of the pirates of colonial America on the popular culture from the 18th century until present. The definition of piracy will be provided both for classical and modern sense of the world. A brief history of piracy and social situation of pirates will familiarize the reader with some of the nuances of

pirates’ lives, to create a historically accurate background, which will allow for a better comparison with pirate culture.

An analysis of particular elements in The book by Robert

Louis Stevenson, the film series Pirates of the Caribbean, or torrent database

The Pirate Bay, will provide the reader with knowledge about the sources that inspired pirate-oriented books, movies, websites or political movements. The elements, such as real-life inspirations for characters or mythology will be compared with contemporary accounts of pirate life, as provided by Alexandre

Exquemelin in his Buccaneers of America and Captain in The

General History of Pyrates (sic.) to determine the extent of influence of reality on pirate fiction.

The analysis will reveal the Treasure Island, as one of the most famous pirate fiction stories that gave birth to many pirate stereotypes and this thesis intends to uncover the origins of some of them. Treasure Island influenced later works on pirates by introducing a treasure hunt, as a part of the story. Treasure is subsequently found in most pirate stories, including Pirates of the Caribbean

(POTC) – a multi-billion dollar grossing film franchise. POTC series, with its glamorous setting and daring adventures, was an instant success and continues to influence the culture by visualizing pirates, as they were never before seen.

Moreover, the series succeeded in creating a vast mythological background to the pirate heritage that will be used, without doubt in future stories about pirates. Lastly, and internet piracy are a current phenomenon frequently appearing in media headlines. The controversies surrounding copyright laws and intellectual property is contrasted with free access to

information create a tension between self-proclaimed pirates and governments.

In a sense, modern, intellectual pirates resemble classical pirates in their

worldview and means of defying government regulation in the open seas of the

internet.

In the end, thesis should bring the reader closer to answering the

question: why are pirates so popular? How does popular culture display pirates

and how does it add to their popularity? Why do people associate themselves

with pirates and in what sense? The thesis’ conclusions about popularity of

pirates in particular works of literature, movies, websites or political movements

will be based on scholarly, as well as layman opinions or percentages from

various ranking websites, where it applies.

1. Pirate Defined

The origin of the word pirate comes from Greek peiratēs, from peiran to

attempt. The Merriam-Webster1 online dictionary defines piracy as three main

actions, i.e. the act of attacking and stealing from a ship at sea, the act of

illegally copying someone's product or invention without permission and the act

of illegally making television or radio broadcasts. According to Dawdy and Bonni

(675), piracy is “a form of morally ambiguous property seizure committed by an

organized group which can include thievery, hijacking, ,

counterfeiting, or kidnapping.” It is worth noting, that the term for sea bandits is

used also to describe individuals that commit illegal actions in the media or on

the internet. According to UNESCO report, “In its usual sense, 'internet piracy'

1 http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/piracy

refers to the activity of manufacturing unauthorized copies ('pirate copies') of protected material and dealing with such copies by way of distribution and sale”

(Panthiere 2).

2. A Brief History of Piracy

Pirates have been on the earth since the first humans started moving valuables through the waters. There are many accounts of piracy in the times of ancient Rome. Due to neglecting their naval defense responsibilities, pirates have been flourishing in the Mediterranean, robbing vessels around rich Greek and Italian coasts. One of the most famous pirate deeds of that time is kidnapping of young Julius Cæsar on his way to Bithynia, a Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor. The other famous pirate story talks about

Barbarouse, a man who thanks to nonexistent naval fleets in the Mediterranean was able to create his own pirate fleet. Thanks to his tremendous power, he was able to become a king of two countries that he, after his death, successfully left as an inheritable asset to his brother.

There are accounts of piracy all across the globe, many from China and

Asia, nowadays mostly in Africa and Asia (Rankin). The pirates that people commonly associate with popular heroes of well-known stories were a by- product of constant wars between Spain, Portugal and England over the colonies in the New World.

When Columbus reported his discovery of America in 1492 to Spain, it decided to support future expeditions. Christopher Columbus was sponsored by

Spanish King to find a western route to the Indies. When he discovered the

America in 1492 and Pope Alexander VI. granted the exclusive right to the

Caribbean and most of the New World to Spain the next year2, the problems

between England and Spain escalated.

The discovery of America and a subsequent papal bull was a bad news for

England. Their own colonial aspirations were halted by the Church, so when

Henry VIII separated English from the Catholic Church, there were no more

roadblocks to hamper English ambitions overseas and with the new model of

ships, they could finally set on a colonization of the New World.

Exploration of the Americas required much money to support the overseas

travelers. Those who went there to settle and conquer new lands needed

supplies to live, because the land was new and in the beginnings, they did not

possess any means to sustain themselves agriculturally.

It was certainly a profitable business for the merchants who owned the

ships, despite the risk of their vessel being lost at the sea or their cargo stolen

on the way there or back. Every trip was a gold mine, because ”the colonial

policy of England, like that of other European nations, decreed that colonies

should be mere feeders of the Mother Country and should never be allowed any

trade of their own, much less industry. (Chidsey 17). To put it simply, everything

that colonists might have wanted and needed for their everyday activities, from

tools, arms, metal, etc., had to be purchased at home and then transported

through the Atlantic to the colonies.

2 https://archive.org/stream/europeantreatie00paulgoog#page/n66/mode/1up

In the Caribbean, most of the slaves, weapons and materiel coming to the

New World was stored and resold to customers in the colonies. Every outbound ship was loaded with luxuries such as gold, or precious gems which were sent back to support the mother country and that is why “the West Indies, taken as a whole, were considered the richest territory, the finest prize, in the world, and were especially attractive to the hungry colonists of mainland North

America” (Chidsey 19).

Trading ships heading to and from the New World were seldom guarded, let alone armed with heavy cannons. They had to hide themselves from hungry predators that and pirates definitely were. “The theory was that since the sea belonged to nobody it belonged to everybody, and since it was not ruled by any acknowledged state or sovereign power it had no laws at all” (Chidsey

10). To conceal their true identity and scare privateers or pirates away, merchant ships used various schemes to trick their opponents into thinking that they are either a navy ship or another pirate vessel. “By painting gun ports on their hulls or putting wooden “dummy” guns on their ships to appear better armed than they actually were, merchants hoped to fool the pirates and safely get to the destination without any loss of valuable cargo” (Leeson 86). The crew certainly possessed some guns, in case anything happened at the place they were supposed to find a way, but pirates usually vastly outnumbered any merchant crew they found.

To protect their ships and capture enemy vessels, England established a national navy. Even though up to the time of the Revolution many of the vessels in the British and French navies, and all in our own, were converted

merchantmen (Chidsey 35), the situation was slowly changing since the 16th

century when Sir John Hawkins and shipwright Richard Chapman created a new

type of battleship.

The technology finally allowed the ships to be gunned with heavy artillery,

while retaining slim and nimble proportions, making the ships able to conquer

seaside towns, ports or other ships without the need of getting off board. Sir

John Hawkins, a co-inventor of this new battleship, was appointed treasurer of

the navy in 1577, and for the next decade, he took on the job of rebuilding the

Tudor fleet using Foresight – the prototype of the new ship – as his template

(Konstam 48). Navy employed new “race-built” Elizabethan galleons in wars

against Spain and other enemies, while groups of hired privateers used them for

their business in the New World.

Because it was the time of the war, England quickly dispatched their

privateers into the uncharted waters around the Caribbean and the South

America and granting them “letters of marque3” which permitted privateers to

legally “surprise, take, sink, disperse, and destroy all the enemies ships or

vessels which shall come within [their] view”. Privateers attacked convoys, cargo

ships or anything they deemed attack-worthy and plundered them in the name

of the King or the Queen. Privateers were thus official pirates, only with admiral

or a captain on board who regulated all of their conduct according to laws. Of

course, the fact that they were government-regulated nonstandard troops meant

that whatever they took was not legally theirs until it had been brought to one

of their own ports where the vice-admiralty court libeled (officially seized) and

3 http://pirates.hegewisch.net/lommorgan.html

condemned and finally awarded to them (Chidsey 11). The resources obtained were later used to support the war effort at home and to support English colonial business in the new world. Anyone interested in causing malice to the

Spanish colonization trade routes was invited to participate in privateering. “The colonial wars — King William's, Queen Anne's, the others — made up a carnival for the American ” (Chidsey 48). It was the right time and place to go to the sea and profit on the constant struggle.

“During most of the great decade of piracy from 1716 to 1726, when the

Jolly Roger made its most frequent appearance, the maritime powers of Europe were officially at peace with one another” (Leeson 96). It might have happened to many privateers who were cruising the seas that the news of peace did not reach them yet, however many privateers blatantly disrespected the peace treaties and continued in their trade illegally, automatically making them pirates.

Captain Henry Jennings is an example of privateer gone pirate, when he and his crew found a shipwreck of a Spanish ship at the gulf of Florida, which Spaniards were unloading to put the provision into the nearby guardhouse. Jennings seized the opportunity and “landing 300 Men, they attack’d the Guard” (Johnson 28).

Jennings then loaded the treasure on his ship and sailed for Jamaica to unload his booty, meeting another unfortunate Spanish ship that he ransacked on the way there.

After the War of the Spanish Succession ended, Britain has found the waters of America infested with pirates. One of many acts of English government aimed at suppression of pirates in the colonial seas exemplifies the unbearable situation created by laying off thousands of mariners who previously

worked as privateers. Former privateers could get a job at royal navy, but they were soon to be fired. When their job was done, the only thing left to do was either become fishermen or find a job they never even tried before. They rather returned to what they did best – pillaging and stealing.

“For a long time, England simply wasn’t prepared to drop the kind of coin required to wage a serious antipiracy campaign at sea” (Leeson 199). Johnson also adds that “‘tis strange that a few Pyrates should ravage the Seas for Years, without ever being light upon, by any of our Ships of War;... it looks as if one was much more diligent in their Affairs, than the other” (Johnson 1). Only recently, when the piracy became so troublesome and so much vessels and cargo was lost to the pirates, as it was lost in the wars before, changes started happening. “Based on the contemporary reports and pirate historians’ estimates, in any one year between 1716 and 1722 roughly 1,000 to 2,000 sea bandits prowled the pirate-infested waters of the Caribbean” each year (Leeson 8). In addition to hunting enemy vessels, due to their great numbers, pirates started to attack and to seize English ships. Thus, on September 15, 1716, his Majesty

George I granted the following order, together with the list of fifteen ships that would be used to suppress the rise of English pirates in the Caribbean and North

America.

Complaint having been made to his Majesty, by great

Number of Merchants, Masters of Ships and others, as well

as by several Governors of his Majesty’s Islands and

Plantations in the West-Indies; that the Pyrates are grown so

numerous, that they infest not only the Seas near Jamaica,

but even those of the Northern Continent of America; and

that, unless some effectual Means be used, the whole Trade

from Great Britain to those Parts, will not be only obstructed,

but in imminent Danger of being lost: His Majesty has, upon

mature Deliberation in Council, been pleased, in the first

Place, to order a proper Force to be employ’d for the

suppressing the said Pyrates (Johnson 31)

This act was the first serious attempt on reducing the piracy in colonial waters, strengthening it later by also rewarding individuals for offensively resisting pirate aggression, effectively wiping the pirates off the Caribbean by the end of the century (Leeson 146).

3. Why Would Somebody Become a Pirate?

Based on figures from thirty-seven pirate ships between 1716 and 1726, the average crew had about 80 members. Several pirate crews were closer to

120, and crews of 150 to 200 were common. Captain ’s pirate crew, for example, consisted of “200 brisk Men of several Nations.” Other crews were even bigger than this. ’s crew aboard Queen Anne’s Revenge was 300- men strong (Leeson 9). Furthermore, some pirate crews were too large to fit in one ship and thus, if they happened to capture another vessel, the crew had to split and pirates established their own small fleet. On the contrary, the biggest fleets belonged to Captain , who commanded 30 ships during the attack on Panama, and Captain , commanding 40 ships

and over 1,500 men. On a side note, the most powerful pirate captain in the history was a woman named Cheng I Sao who reigned in the China Sea in the early 19th century with a fleet consisting of up to 1,800 ship and 80 thousand men (Beorh 26).

Pirates realized it was worth for them to group into societies were they could live according to their own preference. It also meant more money, because they divided the loot more or less equally thanks to the democratic system that worked on the boats. Pirate and merchant ships alike were prone to a , as the work was hard and captain’s job was to make it even harder.

“Merchant ships were organized hierarchically. On top was the captain, below him were his officers, and far below these were ordinary seamen (Leeson 15).

This hierarchy gave captain of a merchant ship the right to control every aspect of the crew’s life. From the distribution of wages to liquor allowances.

The life of a sailor was hard, the pay was small and a dissatisfied sailor was always a good prospect as a future pirate (Rankin 1). If the crew decided enough was enough and disposed of the captain and his loyal crewmembers, they could start their own business as pirates where they could govern themselves in a democratic way. “Pirates were interested in preventing captain predation, which threatened to undermine their ability to cooperate for coordinated plunder. In response, they developed democratic checks and balances” (Leeson 43). Pirates voted for the new captain. The captain’s main responsibility was finding a new plunder and if the captain proved unable to secure a prize, crew had the right do depose him and vote for a new one. “One crew went through thirteen captains in the space of a single voyage. Pirates also

wanted to ensure captainship falls on one superior for Knowledge and Boldness,

Pistol Proof, so they also removed captains who showed cowardice” (Leeson 30).

The democracy on the board extended to every aspect of crewmembers’ lives. Regarding shares of the loot. Every crew member got very much the same share of the loot, be it captain or hand. It is logical, due to captain being chosen from among the crew.

According to Johnson (26), “it was easy being a pirate in Caribbean. The

Inconveniency and Difficulty of being pursued by the Men of War, the many small Inlets, Lagoons and Harbours, on these solitary Islands and Keys, is a natural Security” and “unlike employment as a merchant sailor, which guaranteed a low, if regular, income, a single successful pirating expedition could make a sailor wealthy enough to retire” (Leeson 14).

Regarding the equal distribution of pay, Exquemelin provides a rule that was used by many contemporary pirate ships, but not all:

When a ship is robbed, nobody must plunder and keep

his loot to himself. Everything taken—money, jewels,

precious stones and goods—must be shared among them all,

without any man enjoying a penny more than his fair share.

To prevent deceit, before the booty is distributed everyone

has to swear an oath on the Bible that he has not kept for

himself so much as the value of a sixpence, whether in silk,

linen, wool, gold, silver, jewels, clothes or shot, from all the

capture. And should any man be found to have made a false

oath, he would be banished from the rovers, never more be

allowed in their company (Exquemelin 71)

Pirate societies also had a very generous social security system that compensated sailors for potential injuries, which might have happened to them during a battle. Captain Bartholomew Robert’s crew, for example, had a strict policy regarding social benefits. Point IX. from their Articles states that: “No Man to talk of breaking up their Way of Living, till each had shared a 1000 l. If in order to this, any Man should lose a Limb, or become a Cripple in their Service, he was to have 800 Dollars, out of the publick (sic.) Stock, and for lesser Hurts, proportionably (sic.)” (Johnson 232). Once a man got on the ship, he could not leave until he paid his debt to the crew, but in case something happened to him, he would be taken care of in accordance to their code. This care for an employee was nowhere to be seen on privateer ships, where crewmembers were often abused by the captain who ruled supreme due to government- regulated nature of the job.

Pirates were also glad when they could acquire new members. Popular pirate fiction repeatedly portrays the infamous “pirate press.” The press was as simple as it was terrible. On taking their prey, pirates gave captives two options: join the pirate crew or die (LEESON 134). In reality, most sailors entered piracy voluntarily. The democratic environment present aboard pirate ships was, for that time, truly progressive. The experience of mulatto mariner Thomas Gerrard, whom ‘s crew captured, suggests pirates treated black sailors as freemen if they entered the pirates’ company voluntarily (LEESON 162).

Merchant vessels employed black crew members too, but they were regarded as

slaves, not equals and that was something that set apart the pirates and the

ordinary people – racial prejudices, separation, and inequality. Pirates needed

the job done and if black man could work for them, they were happy to share

with him as they would with anyone else. To add to diversity, four women are

known to have been pirates. “Pirate society was therefore energetic and

testosterone filled, probably similar to a college fraternity only with peglegs,

fewer teeth, and pistol dueling instead of wrestling to resolve disputes” (Leeson

10).

Pirates, thus “institutionalized their reputation for ferocity and insanity into

a piratical brand name through the same means Mercedes-Benz uses for this

purpose: word of mouth and advertisement” (Leeson 111). Bartholomew

Roberts, one of the famous pirate captains, had a stern opinion about piracy.

For him, it was a lifestyle without restraints, obligations or needs for self-

preservation. Similarly to punk-rockers and more extreme contemporary urban

groups, Roberts lived his life according to famous motto: “live fast, die young4”.

In an honest Service, says he, there is thin Commons, low Wages, and hard

Labour; in this, Plenty and Satiety, Pleasure and Ease, Liberty and Power; and

who would not ballance Creditor on this Side, when all the Hazard that is run for

it, at worst, is only a sour Look or two at choaking. No, A merry Life and a short

one, shall be my Motto. (Johnson 272)

The books by Exquemellin and Defoe further touted the pirates as

admirable men, describing them as heroic and capable of wondrous actions and

adventures, while they were just robbers and rapists. But this dissonance

4 http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Live+fast%2C+die+young&defid=4820204

between the hero and villain figures, set against an exotic background, far away

from their bland lives, established social networks, family responsibility or

business obligations and created a feeling of excitement, awe and jealousy for

such an adventurous life. (Foster 112)

4. Pirates in Popular Culture

In this chapter, cultural impact of the Caribbean pirates will be examined

by comparing and contrasting the works of art against historical accounts.

Ranked among the best, judged by the frequent appearance as primary sources

in many academic and fiction books5, Alexandre Exquemelin’s “The Buccaneers

of America” and ’s (allegedly ’s) General

History of the Pyrates provide the reader with accurate depictions of pirates’

lives. The conclusions about the popularity and cultural impact will be drawn

from the frequency and the extent of usage of particular pirate phenomena,

such as names, customs or events. The degree of authenticity of said

phenomena in a work of art will be discussed and backed by a scholarly or

layman opinion, such as web rankings, sales, and so on.

The first subchapter will introduce two of the historical accounts that will

be used in the comparison. Then, the thesis will move onto the subject and it

will provide a brief investigation on the origins of some of the most auspicious

matter in ’s novel Treasure Island. Some of the aspects

5 Little, Benerson. The Sea Rover's Practice: Pirate Tactics and Techniques, 1630-1730. Potomac Books, 2007. Print. Leeson, Peter T. Princeton Shorts: Secrets of Pirate Management: From the Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates. Princeton, NJ, USA: Princeton University Press, 2012. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 28 April 2015.

of Stevenson’s novel, such as names, behavior or other references will be

compared with a historical account Furthermore, popularity of Stevenson’s work

will be examined in the time of the first publishing and in the present. In later

chapters, stereotypes found to be created by Stevenson will be further

compared with Pirates of the Caribbean to assess whether the legacy of

Stevenson is still alive nowadays. Pirates of the Caribbean film series will be

scrutinized for historical references and the visuals will receive some comments.

At the end of this chapter, internet piracy and its connection to the sea bandits

will be revealed and an account on the position of piracy in our everyday life will

be revealed.

a. Books

There are currently thousands of pirate books on the market and

Goodread’s shelf named “pirates6” currently lists 3852 titles, however the list is

by no means complete. When one examines the list closely, it becomes evident

that majority of the books about pirates are fiction, followed by scholarly or

encyclopedic literature. The obvious reason why there are so few original books

is illiteracy. According to historian Peter Earle (qtd Leeson 207), “two-thirds of

ordinary foremastmen on merchant ships could at least sign their names”.

6 https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/pirates

i. Buccaneers of America

Exquemelin started his life as a Dutch and later worked for the

French West Indian Company. However, after being treated badly by the captain, Exquemelin decided to find a new job and joined Captain Henry

Morgan’s crew, whom he met on . Leeson describes Exquemelin’s book as an invaluable account of the seventeenth‐century buccaneers (Leeson 207).

The book combines elements of a journal, narrative and historical account, as it contains day-by-day notes, in addition to extensive descriptions of events, people or customs, which are all divided into chapters. The first Dutch edition appeared in 1678 shaped today’s view of pirates as fearless fighters, drunkards, rapists and free people. People found pirates entertaining, because it was something never seen before. The book was an instant success – with its descriptions of cruelty, sexuality and vulgarity “Buccaneers of America” were something entirely different from the books that circulated the 17th century market.

There were many parts that played a part of the book’s success. Set in an exotic Caribbean, bunch of full of enemy Spaniards, whom they tried to rob on so many occasions. Contrary to lands with bland society and rules, it is morally filthy, yet for the gentleman reading it, entertaining and even inspiring. A

London printer “went so far as to describe them as English national heroes” due to their deeds against the Spain (Foster 98).

Exquemelin and Henry were a product the mutinous trend that has been present in so many privateering crews in those days. Their manly characters who were actually real, not just a figment of an author’s imagination in a book

of fiction gripped the European audience. The book included twelve full-page

engravings of such masterful illustrations that added to the sensation among the

readers. “Buccaneers of America” sold over 5000 copies, was printed in 5

countries and in total of 19 editions until 1713. It is natural that each edition

contained the copper-plate engravings and because of this “frequent reuse over

decades, the images established a visual repertoire of piracy from which other

engravers borrowed” (Foster 103) and which are still used today.

The popularity and beauty of the images drew from the manly and fierce

display of buccaneers, who resemble fearless devils, with their swords draw,

ships burning in the background or containing scenes of violence that were

pirate’s bread and butter, but for the average European, they were as far as

anything. They caught the reader’s attention and drew him closer to the story.

Foster (104) describes the feeling of a French edition’s title page as following:

“the pirates’ physical threats appear more intimidating: the swords appear

imminently to slash throats and pierce breasts, and the pirates’ visages are

intent on inflicting harm and less inclined to ineffective posturing” as was usual

in the portraits of knights or monarchs. The book survived over 300 years since

its debut and is still widely available and read today as proven by the people,

who gave it very positive reviews on both Amazon7 and Goodreads8.

7 http://www.amazon.com/The-Buccaneers-America-Dover-Maritime/dp/048640966X 8 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/169961.The_Buccaneers_of_America

ii. General History of the Pyrates

The authorship of the book “A General History of the Robberies and

Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates” is disputed, because the name Captain

Charles Johnson is just a pseudonym and the original author is unknown.

However, Moore presumed it was Daniel Defoe, due to his claims of similarities

in literary style9. There are of course those who disagree with this statement

saying that the similarities are not that evident and the author could be really

anyone. According to Cordingly (qtd. Leeson 209), “two academics, P. N.

Furbank and W. R. Owens, demolished Moore’s theory in their book ‘The

Canonisation of Daniel Defoe.’ They showed that there was not a single piece of

documentary evidence to link Defoe with the General History of the Pirates,”

thus, for the purpose of this work, I will refer to Captain Charles Johnson as the

author of the book.

The book, published in Britain, 1724 was even more popular than

Exquemelin’s book, owing to the number of biographies of the most notorious

pirates of the . Similarly to Exquemelin, Johnson portrayed

the pirates as savage and cruel. Another reason for the book’s popularity might

lie in the storytelling, because one of Exquemelin’s biggest assets, the pictures

are superior in every aspect to Defoe’s engravings. To give an example, one of

the pictures portrays Blackbeard with a in one hand and another hand is

placed on his hip, with a typical monarchial posture known from the paintings of

famous generals or kings. The images fail to meet the expectations set by

9 Stevenson did not know that Defoe wrote the great history of the pirates – “the book which, with the single exception of , had more influence on his own writing than any other book of Defoe’s” (Moore 37).

Exquemelin 40 years ago, because they lack any action or spirit and are just dull and illustrative. However, in the Dutch version, which was published a year later, original images were discarded and new ones, packed with action and profanity were engraved and printed.

Captain Johnson interviewed people who had direct connection to pirates to make the book as credible as possible, thus creating kind of a fascinating narrated documentary. He himself had lain in Newgate Prison only two years after Captain Kidd had been confined there. (Moore 59). This fact adds to the credibility of his stories and thus we are able to learn about the most famous pirates and their exploits, their way of life, philosophy, government and free time.

The book contains biographies of the most notorious pirate crews that ever crossed the Caribbean. To name a few, some of the notable pirate captain include Henry Avery; Edward Teach, alias Black-Beard; Stede Bonnet;

Bartholomoew Roberts; or two female pirates, and Anne

Bonny.

Such a Day, Rum all out:—Our Company somewhat

sober:—A damn’d Confusion amongst us!—Rogues a

plotting;—great Talk of Separation.—So I look’d sharp for a

Prize;—such a Day took one, with a great deal of Liquor on

Board, so kept the Company hot, damned hot, then all

Things went well again.

Thus it was these Wretches passed their Lives, with very

little Pleasure or Satisfaction, in the Possession of what they

violently take away from others, and sure to pay for it at last,

by an ignominious Death (Johnson 89)

In his book, Johnson shows a clear stance of disapproval of pirate actions, but even though the book is slightly biased, it does not take the action, adventure or immorality from the book away. Quite the contrary. For example,

Blackbeard was depicted as the prototype of cruel pirate. His tyranny extended not only to his enemies, but also to his crew and wife. We learn from Johnson, that: “ashore at a Plantation, where his [Blackbeard’s] Wife lived, with whom after he had lain all Night, it was his Custom to invite five or six of his brutal

Companions to come ashore, and he would force her to prostitute herself to them all, one after another, before his Face” (Johnson 75). The sexual aspect is also evident in stories about and Mary Read, female pirates who operated in the Caribbean under the pretense that they were men. Both of them left their life in Europe, full of responsibilities and social obligations for the adventure at sea. Sexuality played a major role in book’s popularity – Read and

Bonny depicted were as beautiful and dangerous women pirates (Foster 110), so different from women at home. Masculine and savage pirates, sexually attractive female pirates, exotic locations, rum, violence – Captain Johnson’s History has it all.

On the other hand, Exquemelin’s Buccaneers, while also having a great story, lots of action and daring adventures, the narration was often slowed down by information not relevant to an average reader. To give an example, from

Tuesday, 30 August to Wednesday, October 12, from the page 283 to 286

(Exquemelin), there is no reading of any action, because nothing had happened

and Exquemelin only reported on weather. After those 3 pages, the only thing

worth noting, before another 2 pages of weather reports, was a short note on

one sailor drowning after falling overboard. I presume that kind of storytelling to

be not so gripping for people without particular interest in meteorology, but the

journal is a mariner’s account so some notes on weather is expected. Moreover,

as well as sexual volatility, also, sexuality played a major role in books’

popularity – Read and Bonny were depicted as beautiful and dangerous women

pirates (Foster 110), who ceratinly appealed to the male audience. Compared to

Captain Charles Johnson’s narrative style, the book was certainly inferior and

that factor must have been the real reason why people believed Defoe’s book to

be better, thus the bigger sales and popularity. Even though “History” is not a

first person account, its depictions are so vivid that the scholars (Leeson 210)

and laymen10 alike praise it as an accurate and well-written account of pirate

life.

iii. Treasure Island

The story of the book revolves around 15 year old , who

accidentally stumbles upon a found in Billy Bone’s pirate chest11.

Jim shares the map with his companions with whom he embark on a ship in

Bristol with a hired crew on a treasure hunt. Shortly after the departure for

Skeleton Island, Jim finds out, by accident, that the majority of people they

10 https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2942.A_General_History_of_the_Pyrates 11 Jimmy finds the map in a dead man’s chest, which appears in chant that he often sings – "Fifteen men on the dead man's chest—Yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!" – after Billy dies and that is the point where Jim’s adventure begins.

hired are, same as Billy Bones was, former members of ’s crew and are planning to steal the map and recover treasure they say is rightfully theirs.

Jim also finds out that , the cook, is their leader.

When they get to the island, a planned mutiny finally happens and Jim’s companions are forced to hide in the stockade on the island, while Jim is with

Silver and the mutineers. After Jim lands on an island with part of the mutineers, two of them are killed in an outrage they cause after refusing to join the rest.

This alarms Jim’s companions and they are forced to leave the ship and find shelter in an abandoned stockade on the island. After the fight for the map is over and Silver seizes it, they find out that the treasure was taken by Ben Gunn, former crewmember marooned on the island. Jim’s companions shoot two more pirates who tried to kill Jim and Silver and then they leave the island with the treasure.

Parts of the book were first published in 1881-1882 in the children’s magazine Young Folks. The pace of the story, as well as a sense of imminent danger created atmosphere which was backed by real accounts to support historical feeling of the story by giving his characters convincing background.

“Whenever a reader picks it [the book] up, England ‘about 1760’ appears, only to fade during the voyage to be supplanted by an exotic island populated by desperate men in mortal conflict with each other over a fabulous treasure. No romantic adolescent could demand more” (Hardesty 102).

When popular success came, critics on both sides of the Atlantic remarked on the influence apparent in what Conan Doyle called “the direct, eminently practical and Defoe-like narratives of Treasure Island and Kidnapped” (Moore

36). Letters Stevenson (qtd. Moore 37), wrote to his family list more of the sources he used in his book. “T. I. came out of Kingsley’s At Last, where I got the Dead Man’s Chest – and that was the seed – and out of the great Captain

Johnson’s History of Notorious Pirates.” In addition, RLS had more inspiration than these two. The idea to include a typical treasure map, where X marks the spot came from Edgar Allan Poe and Washington Irving, who used maps in their works before. The idea to develop the historical background in such precise manner came from James Fenimore Cooper, which the author states in the preface named “To the Hesitating Purchaser”.

To give an example of the credibility of historical background, one can see that RLS points to certain historical events to create a time frame for his story.

Israel Hands was a under captain Teach (Blackbeard) and was crippled for life by a bullet wound when Teach shot him as a drunken whim.

Stevenson’s Hands was also crippled from a drunken brawl with a shipmate. Also

Ben Gunn comes from Johnson’s History. “He was an ex-pirate who lived on the shore of Africa under the name of Benjamin Gun” (Moore 52).

Another influence of Johnson can be seen in the names of the crew. The name of the pirate leader is Captain Silver, after the master gunner of all

England under King William and Queen Anne. Silver is also called Long John, after “Long Ben” Avery, one of the most notorious pirates. Also, Long John’s one-legged counterpart from Johnson’s history was a pirate serving under the black flag of Captain England, similarly to Long John’s former employer (Moore

54).

Captain Flint, who was inspired by the infamous Blackbeard shares with

him some personality traits. Blackbeard too tries to escape with the treasure,

leaving his company behind. From Johnson’s history, reader is able to observe

Blackbeard’s barbarous character. At the beginning of his chapter, reader is

acknowledged that “Teach began now to think of breaking up the Company, and

securing the Money and the best of the Effects for himself, and some others of

his Companions he had most Friendship for, and to cheat the rest” (Johnson

74), and are later introduced to yet another betrayals on Blackbeard’s side,

revealing the full extent of his chaotic personality.

According to Moore (39), Stevenson was influenced also by Defoe’s

Robinson Crusoe, citing multiple examples that pointed to him as an inspiration

of some of Stevenson’s ideas. Ben Gunn is comparable to Crusoe, who was

inspired by , a Scottish sailor marooned on an uninhabited

Island for four years, or Long John Silver is similar to captain Dampier.

Stevenson borrowed a concept of treasure map from Poe and Irving to add

more sense of space into his work. The treasure map 12of Skeleton Island is

drawn in a great detail, containing hills, swamps, rivers or the old stockade and

writings and descriptions. The map, dated to August, 1750 is signed by Captain

Flint (the initials J. F. stand for John Flint) in addition to a note saying that it was

given to Billy Bones in 1754. Every major geographical feature is labeled to

make the island more believable, and the reader can find names such as

Spyglass Hill, Foremast and Mizzenmast hills or Cape of ye Woods. Hardesty

(100) found out that every movement of Jim throughout the whole part of the

12 http://www.kellscraft.com/treasureislandmap.html

book that takes place on the island can be traced systematically according to the map. For better reference and for an interested reader, Stevenson included a compass and a linear scale in English miles to make tracing Jim easier.

Additionally, the map contains an X that is omnipresent in current pirate culture. In Treasure Island, it marks the place where Flint had hidden the bulk of the treasure. The X, however, is not what one would expect from a pirate map – the X is too small compared to many modern treasure maps, where X, as the main, distinctive feature to denote the importance of the place, must be large enough to catch the attention immediately. If Captain Flint’s X were not painted in a red ink, one would have to search the map carefully, to find that it is in fact a treasure map.

Where treasure map is, treasure is bound to be there somewhere. The idea to include a treasure as a final point of the whole adventure also came from

Captain Johnson. In his book, Johnson tells us about Blackbeard that

The Night before he was killed, he set up and drank till

the Morning, with some of his own Men, and the Master of a

Merchant-Man, and having had Intelligence of the two

Sloops coming to attack him, as has been before observed;

one of his Men asked him, in Case any thing should happen

to him in the Engagement with the Sloops, whether his Wife

knew where he had buried his Money? He answered, that no

Body but himself and the Devil, knew where it was, and the

longest Liver should take all (Johnson 88)

Stevenson was also inspired by more elusive things from Johnson’s history such as the seamship ability proved by young Jim and is the same as in Johnson’s “History” (Moore 53).

Not only setting and historical accuracy makes the story, the book also needs a good and believable antagonist and that is when Long John’s personality comes into play. He is a charming and jolly war veteran who owns an inn situated in Bristol’s port. Long John has a wife, a bank account, yet his visage and behavior hint that he is a fearless and adventurous man. Long John is missing a leg, carries a crutch and has a parrot over his shoulder. One can see the stereotypical image of a pirate in Long John that made it into so many movies and books. The parrot has memorized one line in particular that also has a strong connection with pirates.

"Come away, Hawkins," he would say; "come and have

a yarn with John. Nobody more welcome than yourself, my

son. Sit you down and hear the news. Here's Cap'n Flint—I

calls my parrot Cap'n Flint, after the famous buccaneer—

here's Cap'n Flint predicting success to our v'yage. Wasn't

you, cap'n?"

And the parrot would say, with great rapidity, "Pieces of

eight! Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight!" till you wondered that

it was not out of breath, or till John threw his handkerchief

over the cage. (Stevenson ch. 10)

Pieces of eight are also associated with pirates, and Both Johnson and

Defoe used the term in their books. Eight real coins were one of the targets for

sea bandits, as it was the first global currency and large amounts were shipped regularly from American colonies to Spain and vice-versa.

The story is also gripping thanks to author’s narration style. “The bond between reader and narrator is actually created by our jointly experiencing Jim’s terrors and forebodings” (Hardesty 98). The story is observed from the first person perspective of Jim, the main character, so that the author can catch the reader’s attention by situating him in the midst of the adventure.

Moreover, Long John serves a role-model purpose, aimed at the primary audience. Young Jim admires Long John, because of his attractive and bold personality, which not only helps him win Jim’s favor and admiration, but young readers also find him very interesting, for he is a character “around which the fantasies of boyish play coalesce” (Deane 694). And not only young men, but also admires the pirates, Captain Flint in particular.

It is intriguing that over 100 years since the London printer of Johnson’s history claimed pirates to be national heroes, people still admired them. Squire shares his opinion on Captain Flint and it turns out he secretly admires him and according to him, “Blackbeard was a child to Flint. The Spaniards were so prodigiously afraid of him that, I tell you, sir, I was sometimes proud he was an

Englishman” (Stevenson ch. 6). Deane also supports this theory of admiration by saying that “the appeal of the pirate extends to the national self-image, so that the satisfaction the young men take in England’s “terrible” naval power is undiminished by its association with the lawless violence of piracy. And just as

Englishness becomes implicated in piracy, the pirates cease to function as the wicked counterweights of all that is decent and Christian” (Deane 695).

The popularity of “Treasure Island” can be seen in the use of the book in

schools. The notes of a primary school teacher focus on children’s excitement

and interest in compulsory readings of Treasure Island in his classroom, in 1932.

Bryant contrives a series of assignments in which each pupil should participate

to show one’s interest in the book. Children are expected, for example, to

construct a pirate ship or make a drawing. At the end of the course, teacher

collected all the works and gave out credits to his pupils, though the most

satisfying reward for them was the possibility to read such an interesting and

fun book (Bryant). Children not only used to read the original book, but its

converted version - a classical comic, with vocabulary appropriated to the needs

and capabilities of younger students (Emans).

The number of movie adaptations also speak about popularity of the book,

more than 200 years after the first edition has been published. There are over

50 films based directly on Stevenson’s book, first appearing in 1908, produced

by Vitagraph, of which no copy exists anymore. The variety of stories is

immense, ranging from precise adaptations to parodies, this list 13provides an

undeniable account on the book’s popularity among the masses.

iv. One More Book

To name at least one additional pirate fiction that has influenced current

culture and to bridge the time gap between the Treasure Island and Pirates of

the Caribbean, “Peter and Wendy” by James Matthew Barrie, published as a

novel in 1911, shortly after the appearance of the first Treasure Island film,

13 http://www.robert-louis-stevenson.org/richard-dury-archive/films-rls-treasure-island.html

comes to mind. The story does not involve treasure or map, but the pirates are

as menacing as ever. and his crew wish they had a mother like

little Wendy, whom they try to kidnap from Peter and his friends, the fairies in a

magical land known as Neverland. Hook’s appearance is well-known and used by

people at Halloween costume parties or such – a typical high-class attire topped

with a tricone and a hook connected to the end of his crippled hand. The

book also served as an inspiration and source of information for many

adaptations in every media, ranging from books to computer games and thus

the cultural legacy of Barrie’s portrayal of pirates established a solid place in our

culture.

b. Era of the Movies and Pirates of the Caribbean

There are over 300 movies14 about pirates but some of them might be

more famous than the others due to bigger budget or advertising campaigns,

while some of them might be more famous thanks to their qualities. According

to various sources (), Pirates of the Caribbean (POTC) series rank amongst the

best and the most15 popular16 pirate movies ever. POTC has it all – complex

story, glorious settings, well-crafted ships, dirty and rough pirates, as well as

powerful and mythical enemies, and the omnipresent and wicked navy.

14 http://www.thepirateking.com/movies/index.htm 15 http://www.stuff.tv/news/25-best-pirate-movies-ever 16 http://www.imdb.com/list/ls050682417/

i. Visual and Technical Execution

One of the main reasons people go to see movies nowadays, besides the story, are visuals. In an attempt to draw in as many customers as possible, film crews try their best to top the previous movies and deliver the best visual experience possible. The POTC films are visually attractive, owing to the professional art crew working according to historical accounts. Disney delivered a stunning visual treat that will certainly become an inspiration for future pirate films. The unprecedented qualities of set design, property design, costumes, make-up and many other aspects created a believable environment of the 18th century Caribbean directly to the screen. McNamara has interviewed the production designer Rich Heinrich couple of weeks before the third part’s premiere to share his feelings about the franchise’s success and Heinrich’s reaction sums the situation well: “That willingness to sweat the small stuff paid off” (McNamara).

Director Gore Verbinski never wanted a blue screen extravaganza

(McNamara) so he used real items instead. He wanted to show historical accuracy on believable settings. If you compare POTC with, for example, The

Hobbit trilogy, there is a clear difference in the credibility of the surroundings – the visuals are also one of the qualities that are appreciated by movie fans. For example, Casey (2007), in her critique of the movie praises the visuals by saying that “where ‘At World's End’ fails, it fails not out of mediocrity but overambition.

It's a big movie, a classic story with modern storytelling, filled with unlikely situations, superb special effects and one of the greatest climaxes I’ve seen lately.”

Sometime during the “World’s End,” at the pirate meeting, one can see the

pirates sitting around a beautiful wooden table that has been crafted out of the

best materials to look as much believably antique, sturdy and as convincing as

possible. It is even possible for it to be crafted for potential buyers, as Chery

Carasik from the POTC crew explains: ‘We can do it, but it's going to cost you

between $30,000 and $35,000,’ she estimates (McNamara). Even more work

went into the lightning and in an attempt for it to look as authentic as possible,

extreme measures had to be taken. According to Heinrichs, when talking about

the “Brethen of the Coast” meeting in the Shipwreck Cove scene, “The lighting's

always tricky for these period films. You don't want it to look fake, but you have

to see,” and thus he instructed set decorator to make three thousand candles to

adequately light the scene (McNamara).

Of course, there have to be ships in a pirate movie and for the scenes on

the Shipwreck Island, 6 full-scale models were used. “There are ships for every

sort of pirate, the prows of which cut through the darkness, bedecked with

women and dragons, with gilt and barnacles. In the middle of it all is a great

and splendid wreck, the meeting place of the pirate lords and home to Capt.

Teague Sparrow, keeper of the Pirates Code” (McNamara).

In an interview led by Knopper, Director Gore Verbinski has been asked

how he managed to avoid obvious pirate clichés from the past decades, such as

striped t-shirts seen in black and white movies or the typical “arrr” introduced by

Robert Newton in 1952 movie “Blackbeard the Pirate17.” His answer was: “to me,

it was responding not only with humor but lack of personal hygiene – dirty

17 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044426/

fingernails, rotten teeth. There's a certain propensity to rot that I really enjoyed, like the movie had stink on it. Certainly, the extras took that seriously. They walked on film and it was ripe – like, ‘whoa’” (Knopper).

Costumes design reflected the typical pirates as found on the copperplate engravings of Exquemelin’s history. The way typical pirates, or at least captains, used to dress is very similar to Captain Hook’s high-class attire. In A.C. Crispin’s book, “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Price of Freedom,” the reader is acknowledged that “pirates loved to be mistaken for gentry, no matter what their country of origin. It was one reason that they tended to dress expensively—if somewhat flamboyantly—when they went out in public” and it certainly was so (Crispin ch. 2). Thus, we can find number of extravagant and gaudy pirates throughout the series.

It goes without saying, that in movies where every proper fight is a manfight, excellent swordsmanship is an essential skill for every actor to ensure the authenticity and quality of the scene. For this purpose, Bob Anderson was invited by the crew to oversee the proper training of all the actors. “An 80-year- old Englishman with impressive swashbuckling was brought in for four weeks during shooting to lend his wisdom to the cast and crew. Only the two sword fights involving Depp and Bloom took five months to prepare” (Day).

ii. Inspiration

Defoe, Exquemelin and real pirates inspired Director Gore Verbinski, but he took only what he needed from the accounts, and created a completely new

universe where ghosts hunt pirates, the sea monsters are bigger than expected

and pirates from around the world meet up and try to save the world. Bulk of

Gore’s inspiration lied in the names and that is the reason why one can meet

familiar figures from history in POTC. Other than names, POTC headed their own

way when creating the series. For them, nothing was too mystical and to add

more content, director Gore Verbinski stated in the Curse of the DVD

extra, that he accepted any idea to be included in films, ranging from myths

about sea monsters to the existence of old gods walking among humans. The

story is laden with background information and it all adds to the complexity of

the story, full of relations between the characters that one might eventually get

lost in. The mythology and story background of POTC is truly immense. With

2648 pages, and to grow more numerous after the next movie appears on the

big screen, the unofficial Pirates of the Caribbean Wiki website offers information

on every character that appeared in the movies or in the video games, as well as

legendary characters, places, events and anything related to the franchise18.

Due to limited scope of this thesis, only some elements of POTC will be

examined. Captain Morgan’s name appears in many pirate stories, be it in

movies, literature or in computer games. Morgan is also portrayed on a rum

bottle label, bearing the brand name Captain Morgan. In The Curse of the Black

Pearl, Henry Morgan is mentioned as being one of the pirates who supposedly

created the Brethren Court's Pirate's Code, along with Bartolomeu Português.

Another feature that is inherently associated with pirates and has not been

mentioned yet is the flag. As early as 1724 images of pirate flags with skull and

18 http://pirates.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

bones appear in Johnson’s General History. The first recorded account of the

Jolly Roger is on the French pirate Emanuel Wynne’s ship in 1700. A witness described it as “a Sable Flag with a White Death’s Head and Crossed Bones in the Fly” (Leeson 91). This explains why Jolly Roger cannot be found in

Exquemelin’s Buccaneers of America, however, a red flag symbolizing mutiny or pirates makes its appearance. The red flags originated with buccaneers who flew red flags, when they wanted to communicate with another ship that they will simply murder anyone on board who would try to resist the upcoming pillaging.

According to Leeson, given that merchant ships couldn’t avoid this fate in most cases, the Jolly Roger operated to save merchant sailor lives, not take them

(Leeson 101). An account from Johnson’s history seems to agree with this statement. One day, the French:

who having got a Sight of Mr. Roberts, and supposing

him to be one of these prohibited Traders, chased with all

the Sail they could make, to come up with him; but their

Hopes which had brought them very nigh, too late deceived

them, for on the hoisting of Jolly Roger, (the Name they give

their black Flag,) their French Hearts failed, and they both

surrendered without any, or at least very little Resistance.

Surely part of the fear motivating this surrender was the knowledge that, as pirates, Roberts’s men could and would slaughter the French crews for resisting them (Johnson 250).

The inspiration for Jolly Rogers in Pirates of The Caribbean franchise came from real pirates. Some of the Jolly Rogers used in the movies or games are

identical with those of the real pirates, but some are new, such as Blackbeard’s,

whose flag is different than the usual ones. It has too much detail and texture

that it seems unreal, for the real flags were simple, created on board with only

one intent – intimidation – and not fashion.

The ideas for mythological phenomena came mostly from old nautical

myths. , an undead captain of never existed,

however the term was used among sailors since the 18th century19. Davy Jones

was a name describing the devil and being in Davy Jones’ Locker meant being

dead. In POTC, all souls that are indebted to him are marked with a Black Spot –

a death warrant which has its origin in Stevenson’s Treasure Island. Black spot

makes two appearances in the book, when it is delivered to Billy Bones at the

beginning and to Long John towards the end of the story.

Probably the most famous marine mythological creature – Kraken – has its

origins in Norwegian legends. The Kraken is an enormous octopus-like monster

that is controlled by Davy Jones and is used to pursue and capture those

marked with the Black Spot. Kraken also appears in many marine stories,

including 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne or Herman Melville’s

Moby Dick.

Last but not least, the treasure map, or rather the lack of it. When creating

POTC, producers came up with an innovative idea not to include a treasure map

in the series. However, , in a conversation with Joshamee Gibbs,

his first mate in The Curse of the Black Pearl reveals the mystery behind his

compass: “Gibbs: ‘How can we sail to an island that nobody can find, with a

19 http://pirates.hegewisch.net/Nautical_Myths.html

compass that doesn't work?’

Sparrow: ‘Aye, the compass doesn't point north, but we're not trying to find north, are we?’” Thus, it turns out that there is no need for a treasure map, because if the owner desires something, Jack’s compass is able to locate it, be it treasure, ship, person or an island.

iii. Advertisement Campaign and Popularity

In addition to the actual movies, the series owes the advertisement campaign and casting to its immense success. With a massive budget and

Disney as one of the production companies, POTC series was allowed to create a massive campaign featuring posters, social media involvement, TV spots and more. With high profile names such as Johnny Depp, Keira Knightley, and

Geoffrey Rush, the franchise was bound for success. The extent of the advertisement campaign shall be demonstrated on the fourth instalment of the series, named “,” directed by Rob Marshall, who replaced Gore

Verbinsky after three successful movies.

The first teaser poster for the movie followed the same pattern that had been laid out with the previous movies by showing a skull adorned with pirate decorations, which was known to virtually all of the series’ fans (Thilk 2011).

The franchise's Facebook page, with more than 5,4 million likes, offered movie tickets and show times by zip code. It also has several apps: “Skull Creator” let visitors decorate a skull-and-crossbones with hair, jewelry and wounds; “Pirate

Yourself” was a photo uploader feature; “Get Yer Pirate Name” was a name

generator; and a “Battle Galleons” game invited users to “blast [their] opponent

out of the water” (Lacy).

In addition to these, movie trailer appeared during the Superbowl XLV

20which further spread the information to more than 100 million viewers21. With

a price tag of $3 million per 30 seconds commercial during the main event, the

rough $6 million invested by Disney for one commercial turned into good profit.

The film franchise has grossed 3.72 billion dollars in total, while “On Stranger

Tides” itself grossed over $1 billion. To compare, production costs for the entire

series, so far, have been around $900 million22.

There are also those, who did not like some of the POTC movies, like

Chocano, who thinks that “"Dead Man's Chest" sags under the weight of its own

running time, which clocks in at about 2 1/2 hours. People chase one another

around, turn, and chase one another the other way. At half the running time, it

would have made for an amusing time-killer; as it is – no matter how clever,

energetic and beautifully designed – it borders on waste”. There are others who

think that the plot is so complex and multi-layered, that an average spectator

might eventually lose interest in the story however, the commercial success

proves that the general opinion of the movie is a total opposite. Certainly, a

strong ad campaign and well-known actors and director, the art and costumes

designers contributed to the feast for the eye, which this series definitely is and

added to the hype surrounding the movies. Even though the IMDb rating of the

movies has been on a decline since the first movie (8,1; 7,3; 7,1; and 6,7 out of

20 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DuI_PwM5dQ 21 http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2011/02/07/super-bowl-xlv-poised-to-break-viewing-records- ties-1987-with-highest-overnight-ratings-ever/81684/ 22 http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/franchise/Pirates-of-the-Caribbean

10; in order of release), the revenue serves as a good benchmark for the series’ quality.

c. Internet Piracy

This chapter will go through some attitudes and behaviors of people involved in the internet piracy and determine which factors influenced them in their actions. Additionally, the attempts of industry to counter piracy will be examined and compared to the Golden Era’s attacks. In the end, political side of piracy will be analyzed to provide additional reasoning to why people engage in piratical behavior, what does the piracy in a modern sense mean and what is the connection between a person on the internet and pirate on the sea.

i. Piracy and Copyright

The term pirate has been used for denoting a thief of an intellectual property since the 17th century. When Thomas Dekker published his Wonderful

Year in 1603, he made a wish to the muses, so that they would “Banish these Word-pirates, (you sacred mistresses of learning) into the gulfe (sic.) of Barbarism” (Dekker, Preface), he could not have known the extent his words will have on the future world.

Traditional definitions, particularly as embodied in national criminal codes, generally view piracy in the context of acts intentionally committed with the goal of obtaining a commercial advantage of some kind. Infringement of intellectual property rights occurs when the prohibited act, whether of unauthorized

copying, distribution or public performance, occurs. (Panthiere 2) This definition is aimed primarily at the distributors of copyright-infringement content, however, piracy has been also connected with users who download illegal content for their own use.

After observing the pirating society, or examining the studies on piracy, one can tell that the younger generation is keener to pirate the web content, because they grew up together with the new generation of computer programs and accessible internet that made it exceptionally easy. Moreover, due to popularity of computer games, which adults are generally less inclined to play, younger people quickly learned how to get their hands on a cheap alternative to the originals. With a price tag ranging from anywhere between 5 to 80 euros in case of new AAA titles, which tend to be the most appalling, most parents refuse to buy games for their children all the time. Of course, they could buy them one or two games throughout the year, but for a kid who spends most of his free time at the computer, that might not be enough.

Following William’s work, it looks like the most questioned group of people involved in research as subjects are students, being divided only into younger and older. “As a result of the overemphasis on student samples, little research exploring demographic factors – particularly differences in age-related online behavior – appears to have been carried out” (Williams 297). This illustrates that the problem of piracy and illegal behavior on the internet is primarily an issue of moneyless people. It is not a surprise though, when looking at the prices of most computer games, movies, music or software, in the age, where thousands of various products of entertainment industry are just a few clicks away, children

and young people are tempted the most to abuse the downloading software to

its full extent. Hsu and Shiue’s (qtd. in Williams 293) study of consumers’

willingness to pay (WTP) for non-pirated computer software mentioned earlier

showed that average WTPs for software products were much lower than

suggested retail prices, indicating that users did not value authorized software

products as high as market price and same goes for music, movies, games, etc.

One of the factors that influences people into pirating computer games is

that buying games always carries a risk. Depending on a customer’s computer,

the game may or may not work properly. In case it does not work, the option to

return the goods to a shop might not be possible in some shops due to anti-

piracy precautions taken by the game’s developer. When installing, or registering

a game for online play, the user usually has to register (prior to actually trying

whether the game works) with a unique code found in a CD case or delivered

online. For Steam, once the code has been claimed, the game is locked for

specific user and cannot be returned23. However, this policy varies from country

to country and, for example, EU customers “have the right to withdraw from a

purchase transaction for digital content without charge and without giving any

reason for a duration of fourteen days.” Nevertheless, it is far more secure to at

least pirate the game first, try it and then buy it. This kind behavior often seen

by the torrent files uploaders who include a phrase similar to “remember guys, if

you like the game, buy and seed it so other people can enjoy it too :-)” in their

23 https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=8360-wejc-2625#refund

torrent descriptions24, thus supporting the developers while sharing a pirated

copy with other users.

In the situation where offered products are not bought, because the

consumer’s WTP is low, business might stagnate and even go bankrupt.

According to UNESCO report25 (Panthiere 11), wherever piracy flourishes, it is

virtually impossible for local software, film, and music industries to compete, to

grow, or, in emerging economies, to develop at all. However, with good

business model, the industry can still flourish, because for many users it is

impossible to adapt and pay vast amounts of money for legal products. It is up

to companies to introduce an educative system that will allow people to pay

what they think the product is worth, as a beginning. From then on, people are

hooked and marketing can take over to raise profit further.

“The consumer electronics industry is copyright-dependent and as the

technologies get better, consumers will be able to download anything, legally or

not. Digital literacy education for all ages must include simple information on the

complexities of downloading culture” (Williams 298). Thus according to Williams,

a successful open-minded and educative model can challenge illegal

downloading without any need of criminalizing the users, who only seek

information or entertainment. Many companies and umbrella corporations are

trying to oust pirates out of the internet by using legal threats or, in a better

case, by introducing fair business models to render piracy obsolete with

affordable and accessible products.

24 https://thepiratebay.se/torrent/9104718/Minecraft_1.7.2_Cracked_[Full_Installer]_[Online]_[Server _List]_ 25 http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/files/28696/11513329261panethiere_en.pdf/panethiere_en.pdf

RIAA is a trade association that represents the music companies that

create, manufacture and/or distribute approximately 85% of all legitimate

recorded music produced and sold in the United States26. RIAA is very concerned

about the future of the music industry and is associated with TPB trials as one of

the aggrieved parties. In addition to court trials, RIAA tries to alleviate the

problem of piracy by taking effective countermeasures. Another copyright

organization, Motion Picture Association of America has lawsuit and education

model similar to RIAA and it also offers solutions for the end-users on how to

get to their favorite movie content without violating the law.

Music Matters US27 is a website created by the RIAA to support the legal

music marketplaces, where users can find more than 43 million song to

download directly to their PC’s. This way of tackling the problem with piracy

seems to work, because RIAA reports that “prior to the lawsuits, only 35 percent

of people knew file-sharing was illegal, but after the initiation of the end-user

legal campaign, that number quickly rocketed to more than 70 percent. In 2003

and 2004, we saw double digit growth in the numbers of people using peer-to-

peer (p2p) sharing to download music illegally. If awareness of the copyright

laws and an appreciation of the consequences of getting caught for breaking the

law had not had an effect, p2p growth rates would likely have continued

unabated, and would have seriously undermined the potential for a legal digital

marketplace. Instead, according to NPD – a market research company –

between 2006 and 2009, the percent of Internet users downloading music

illegally declined from 19 to 14 percent, while the percentage engaging in legal

26 http://riaa.com/media/62E1541D-F034-C071-D34C-85BCF42242B8.pdf 27 http://www.whymusicmatters.com/

music downloading grew from 16 to 20 percent. Where there was virtually no

legal digital market in 2003, today the legal digital market exceeds $3 billion

annually and boasts more than 400 licensed music services worldwide” (RIAA28).

However, this drop in piracy might not be connected only with threats of legal

actions, as RIAA wants to believe. Internet is not the same sea as Caribbean

used to be, where threats were more direct and pirates could not hide in

unreachable, waters. The real reason behind the decrease in

number of pirates might lie in introduction of streaming services, which provide

almost every movie, music or books for a fixed monthly rate. This is the

equivalent of 18th century English government giving people practicing piracy a

chance to get a good job, though that never happened.

Even though RIAA declared that the profit has gone up for the music

industry, they are still not content with the current state of affairs. “There

continues to be paralyzing levels of illegal downloading that require a variety of

approaches and the help of partners like Internet service providers (ISPs). That’s

why we send copyright notices to educate and notify downloaders in advance

that they are breaking the law and could face more serious consequences”

(RIAA29). Only future will tell, what next step will the industry take, but reprisals

of users is definitely not the way if they do not want to anger numerous pirate

communities around the world.

28 http://riaa.com/physicalpiracy.php?content_selector=piracy-online-why-we-do-what-we-do 29 http://riaa.com/physicalpiracy.php?content_selector=piracy-online-why-we-do-what-we-do

ii. The Pirate Bay

The first international law concerning protection of intellectual property

was signed in Berne, Switzerland, in 1886. The so-called Berne Convention for

the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works 30states that the intellectual

property of residents of the signatory countries are to be protected in the same

way as copyrighted material at home. Since then, many international copyright

laws has been passed, however not many created such controversies as US

domestic laws the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act

(PIPA). These proposed acts were designed to extend the U.S. jurisdiction

outside of U.S. to help enforce their copyright laws in any country in the world.

TPB founders, Gottfrid Svartholm, and have been

a target for the entertainment industry for a long time. Their peer-to-peer

sharing website serves as a middleman between the people seeking shared

content and the ones sharing. Contrary to most small-scale internet pirates, the

Swedish trio never covered up their identities, but they openly and often

satirically 31advocated for the freedom of sharing and free internet and refused

any accusations that the authorities wanted to impose on them.

The 2009 trial, in which they were found guilty of promoting copyright-

infringement related content on their website sparked a number of protests

worldwide from the affiliated pirate groups and communities and stirred up the

debates about intellectual property or freedom of universal sharing. Recently,

several people in the Pirate Bay court case were charged with conflict of

interest, when it was discovered that they had close ties with companies

30 http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Convention_for_the_Protection_of_Literary_and_Artistic_Works 31 http://indianfusion.aglasem.com/50408/hilarious-pirate-bays-legal-responses-will-make-rolf/)

promoting protection of intellectual property and Svartholm is about to go to a

series of appeal hearings because the court has acknowledged that the case had

a political undertone, thus making Svarholm a political prisoner32.

According to Schmidt (qtd. in Dahlberg 272), the piracy is innately political

and pirates are a kind of partisans. Partisan movements try to establish new

order in a warring country and engage in a fighting and political activity. The

Pirate Bay and the pirate movement can be contrasted with this view, so as they

both want to alleviate and change current copyright laws that they interpret as

being oppressive and being against the basic rights of freedom. TPB and pirate

movements have political aspects that they fight for via their websites and

philosophy. As their symbol of resistance, Pirate Bay has chosen a pirate ship,

with audio cassette with crossed bones embedded on the sail to represent their

fight against the law.

Lobbyism and lawmaking process go hand in hand and what really

concerns the pirate movements is that the governments will become an

elongated arms for the industry. As Dahlberg (272) put it:

Parallel to this politicization of the Swedish pirate

movement, its opponents [– the movie, music and game

industries –] have increasingly lobbied for the criminalization

of file sharing, both through language use (they no longer

talk of ‘file sharing’ but of ‘illegal file sharing,’ intending to

imply that all file sharing is illegal) and through spectacular

prosecutions against file sharers and file-sharing services.

32 https://www.facebook.com/FreeAnakata/photos/a.463784793671486.101592.445864132130219/840 598782656750/?type=1

This new situation has created a political-juridical multifront

war in which the courtroom has become a political arena and

the legal system has been drawn into a political conflict.

4.3.4. Political Side

As mentioned earlier, internet piracy is not only about illegal downloading.

Pirates have inspired number of support groups engaged in international politics

either directly or indirectly. One support group of political activists is called

Anonymous. Anonymous are hacktivists that operate on the internet and whose

members identify themselves on public protests by wearing a Guy Fawkes mask.

Hacktivism is a form of digital political activism 33concerned with human rights,

freedom of speech, unrestricted access to information and sharing, similar in

program to pirate movements, or pirate political parties. As seen in Dawdy and

Bonni’s work, “today’s pirate philosophy is a moral philosophy through and

through. An extreme form of the commitments seen more mundanely in various

open-source and free-software circles, it has to do centrally with convictions

about freedom, rights, duties, obligations” (Johns qtd. in Dawdy and Bonni 677)

As a powerful ally of all internet pirates fighting for the same cause,

Anonymous earned their fame by conducting distributed denial-of-service

(DDOS) attacks on various copyright-oriented websites and their affiliates or

supporters. In a retaliating attack against the RIAA and MPAA, members of

Anonymous attacked their websites by flooding their bandwidth with a large

number of IP packets, effectively shutting the sites down. The operation was

33 http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1987481/digital-activism

called “Payback Is a Bitch” and an issued press release 34declares that the

reason behind the attack were political: “Anonymous is tired of corporate

interests controlling the internet and silencing the people’s rights to spread

information, but more importantly, the right to SHARE with one another. The

RIAA and the MPAA feign to aid the artists and their cause; yet they do no such

thing. In their eyes is not hope, only dollar signs. Anonymous will not stand this

any longer”.

Another ally to pirates around the world is Pirate Parties International as an

umbrella organization representing 42 pirate parties worldwide. One such party,

named “Pirátská Strana” (Pirate Party) also exist in the Czech Republic. The

party was formed in 2009 and aspired to enter the European Parliament in the

2014 elections, but failed to gain a seat by acquiring only 4.78% votes out of

the needed 5%.35

Czech Pirate Party’s program revolves around the usual internet privacy,

free access to information, copyright laws, but they are also concerned with

regulation of psychotropic substances, prevention of piracy, education or health

care36. The members of the party share a common worldview, where freedom in

every aspect of people’s lives in our modern, globalized society is the basic right.

Their slogan “internet je naše moře” (Internet is our sea) is a direct reference to

the historical meaning of the word piracy. According to Dawdy and Bonni (695):

a pirate heterotopia, whether a ship, a haven, an

information network or a party, reflects real ideals diverse

people have about political economies at the same time that

34 http://techcrunch.com/2010/09/19/riaa-attack/ 35 http://volby.cz/pls/ep2014/ep11?xjazyk=CZ 36 http://www.pirati.cz/program/start

it encourages piratical behavior, be that pillaging, sharing, or

revelry. At the root of the pirate fantasy meme then, resides

a desire to reverse the overwhelming forces of globalization

and the tyranny

Eric Schmidt and Jared Cohen (qtd. in Dahlberg 275) have recently suggested that this group of people constitutes a new interconnected estate. “It is a place where any person with access to the internet has the power to effect change and it allows for a natural balancing between the interests of governments, industry and common people without any governmental regulation” (Dahlberg 275).

The situation with internet piracy is thus very similar to the piracy of the

Golden Age. On one hand, people during the colonization were inclined to take on pirating either because of unfavorable living conditions during the periods of peace or because of abusive behavior of authorities on privateering ships.

Mariners realized that there were almost no jobs suited for them, other than pirating to support their life and they decided to use any means necessary to secure the resources, which nobody wanted or could not give them. On the other hand, modern-day internet pirates also use any means necessary to get to the products, information or ideas they want or need. “Pirate cultures are organizations of social bandits, who appear on the scene as folk heroes when contradictions and inequalities built into a political economy peak to the breaking point” (Dawdy and Bonni 673). If there is no party that can provide resources for them, some engage in a lawless activity to acquire the means or some try to fight the perceived inequality by grouping into progressive movements and

joining protests, hacking attacks and so on. As Williams stated, “internet is a free medium, not regulated by any government. Since pirates, as a rule, operate on the open sea, it may seem natural that this liquid form of digital information attracts information pirates of various kinds” (Williams 265).

Moreover, it seems like the internet is the last safe haven for adventurous souls who seek to do something out of the ordinary, maybe steal some CDs, maybe save the world, but are not bloodthirsty enough to get on a boat or hire an armed crew to make a cut on the world. And as Pyle in his Book of Pirates put it: “every boy would rather be a pirate captain than a member of parliament” (Preface xiii).

5. Concluding Thoughts

This thesis set sail to find the common ancestor of the pirate culture and

its source of trivia, while trying to discover the answer to the question about

pirates’ immense popularity among the people. The findings indicate that the

origin for most of the cliché one associates with pirates are two historical

books: a secondhand account of pirates by Captain Charles Johnson, named

“General History of Pyrates (sic.),” and the firsthand experience provided by

Alexandre Exquemelin in his Buccaneers of America. These two are the proto-

sources, from which many authors of pirate fiction, as well as various pirate

movements borrowed their themes. By recreating the borrowed elements to

their own liking, the authors created new clichés, which, in turn were borrowed

by yet another authors and used in their own works of art, thus distancing

themselves from the original, but retaining a degree of authenticity, so that one can easily associate given element with pirates and piracy. This statement holds true also for internet piracy, where the associations might not always be that clear on the first sight, but is still present.

Treasure Island is very close to being a historical fiction, instead of a novel, due to incredible detail and depth that Stevenson put to his work.

Thanks to gripping story and stunning historical background, Stevenson’s novel still serves as an inspiration for many pirate stories. On the other hand, the retreat from the old and overused can be seen as a natural progress for POTC, who got what they needed from historical accounts to make a skeleton of the story, such as names or locations, on which they afterwards layered innovative story full of mythology and otherworldly phenomena that gave birth to one of the most successful film franchises ever. The case of internet piracy and The

Pirate Bay required a short incursion into the world of copyright laws to try to understand the extent and reasons for this illegal behavior. At the end of the reasoning, it turned out that the reasons behind intellectual piracy are political, similarly to the Golden Era, and being a pirate means having an opinion and wanting to do something with it. Be it good, or bad.

Due to limited scope, this essay could not possibly account for all the pirate phenomena and determine their origin and legacy, thus some research in this area could be beneficial for the sake of cultural studies. However, it would be more interesting to see how contemporary pirate societies, such as the

Anonymous function and try to determine which of their traits will most likely make it into popular culture.

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ENGLISH SUMMARY

The aim of this thesis is to reveal and examine some connections between the real pirates’ clichés and their fictional counterparts’ ones. For the purpose of comparing particular pirate clichés or phenomena books by

Alexandre Exquemelin and Captain Charles Johnson be used to measure how far, or how close to reality the subject is. Exquemelin’s book is a firsthand account, while Johnson’s is secondhand, but authentic nonetheless.

Before the actual comparison, the particular phenomena first must be found, so at least a basic knowledge of pirates is needed, thus a brief history of piracy is provided in the first chapter, with a short account on how and why pirates came to be in the next one. Later chapters are dedicated to analysis. The counterparts from fiction and reality are compared and contrasted to the other piece. This way, it can be determined whether the author got his inspiration from a real source, or was inspired by a work of fiction.

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson and Pirates of the Caribbean are analyzed mostly this way and that enables the reader to see that while

Treasure Island is vastly influenced by real pirates, POTC does not stick to traditions and instead creates new ones to complement their vision of the story.

In the last part internet pirates and Pirate Bay are looked at from a viewpoint that enables the reader to see that the real reason behind being an internet pirate is politics and the craving to engage in them.

ČESKÉ RESUMÉ

Cílem této práce je odhalit a prozkoumat některá pojítka mezi reálnými piráty a jejich knižními protějšky. Jako pomoc při určování toho, jestli je jistý klišé nebo fenomén blízko, nebo vzdálen od reality, budou k porovnání použité dvě knihy, a to od Kapitána Johnsona a Alexandre Exquemelina. Exquemelinova kniha je záznamem z první ruky, zatímco Johnsonova je pouze z ruky druhé.

Avšak to na kvalitě knihy nikterak neuvývá.

Před samotnou analýzou se v první a druhé kapitole čtenář podívá na stručnou histórii pirátství a taktéž nahlédne na pirátskou loď, aby se přiučil tomu, jak to tam chodí, protože najít ony fenomény může být někdy obtížnější.

Další kapitoly už však budou věnované samotné analýze. Protějšky z okruhů fikce a historie jsou podrobeny porovnávání a kontrastování, protože touto metodou se lze dozvěděd, jestli se autor inspiroval u reálných pirátů, nebo nikoliv.

Ostrov pokladů od Roberta Louise Stevensona a Piráti z Karibiku jsou zkoumány nejvíce touto metodou a to pomáhá odhalit, že zatímto Stevenson se u reálných pirátů inspiroval hodně, Piráti z Karibiku o ně takový zájem neměli, no vzali si z nich co potřebovali a jeli si svou vlastní cestou. V posledné části této práce se čtenář dostane do takovéhu pohledu na věc, že internetové pirátství nabere i jiný rozměr, než jenom tradiční stahování věcí zdarma. Za internetovým pirátstvím se totiž skrývá politika a také tajná touha jednotlivce po zapojení se do ní.