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The latest chapter in my sea-born fascination, includes, but is not limited to: Under the Black Flag: The Romance and the Reality of Life among the Pirates, In the Heart of the Sea: The Tragedy of the Whaleship Essex, 2182 Kilohertz ,The Outlaw Sea: A World of Freedom, Chaos, and Crime, a re-read of Hem’s The Old Man and the Sea along with the fine music of both Maritime and the Shipping News.
New to my literary mix are the stories of bad-ass pirates and gifted pirating. A fascinating genre onto itself. Many of the sharp stories pit nomadic buccaneers against their sea fairing rivals – the privateers, who were essentially state sponsored pirates. The parallels are striking in their relevance to this modern age of terrorism and terrorists – state sponsored or otherwise.
‘Under a Black Flag’ shatters many of the Disney created pirate myths and delivers a more unwholesome picture of the pirating life, a life spent bullying other ships and destroying enemies in a manner that would make Al- Zawahiri blush today. With all the make-up and perfume that the entertainment engine puts on old school pirate stories, one can’t help but wonder what hyper-romantic imagery will be created in the future to depict the likes of an Osama Bin Laden or a George Bush. But don’t get me wrong…I thought Pirates of The Caribbean was a dope movie. And I hope they make many more like it. There certainly are enough good stories from the golden age of pirates to deliver about 50 quality sequels.
Of course, all this reading at some point turns into scouring the internet for more reading and information, especially more olde tyme images. Here are some dorky links: Swashbuckler’s Cove: good historical background on pirates. A design discussion on the significance of the death heads symbol. A breakdown of the different pirate flags flown by various pirates. An extensive image gallery of all things pirate. And for the fashion inclined, the special night-out-on-the-town…skulls and dreamers t-shirts and your everyday wear around the house pirate-mod t-shirts.