'X' marks the spot - Where to find real pirate treasure

Isle of Chance Treasure Map

We know as soon as we are old enough to pick up a book or watch TV that any pirate worth his grog buries his loot in the golden sand of an idyllic island. Then he makes a map to remind him where his cache is hidden marking the location with a huge  'X'.





Pirate treasure is always hard to find and the scurvy sea going villains are always fighting each other for their share of the loot but what if pirate treasure was real; where would you find it?

The answer is on the silver screen.

The pirates we have come to know and love are essentially the creations of Robert Louis Stevenson and J.M. Barrie. Stevenson's characters are historical and real while Barrie's are magical and charming. Despite these differences the essential elements of their different stories have been remodelled and re-worked time after time to provide a plethora of plot lines over the years.

The essential elements of a pirate story are:

• Lots of hidden pirate gold
• A blood thirsty baddie 
• Lots of swash buckling and walking the plank
• A survey crew full of treachery
• A damsel in distress
• A hero to kill the baddie and save the damsel

The first pirate story in cinemas was a film called The Pirate's Gold in 1908 directed by D. W. Griffith. It was only 16 minutes long but it started an industry that is still going strong today. In 1912 the first screen version of Treasure Island was made and for the next 14 years years Hollywood film makers produced about one pirate film a year. The first female pirate films appeared amazingly early on before the formula above became really entrenched. In 1916 Lillian Gish starred as Daphne the Pirate and Gladys Hulette appeared in the lead role in a film called Prudence the Pirate!

As Hollywood moved towards its 'Golden Age'  Paramount Studios produced a film called The Black Pirate in 1926. The whole film is available on You Tube and is certainly worth a quick look if you have the time. It stared Douglas Fairbanks and was the first film to set out what would become the model of many pirate stories to come.

The story begins when Fairbanks' character is captured and left to die on an island by a band of marauding pirates who blow up his ship. He swears vengeance on them but to achieve his aim first he must pretend to be a pirate and takes the name, "The Black Pirate."

After much swashing and buckling the Black Pirate kills his adversary, the captain of the pirates but the captain's sidekick and second in command sneers at our hero's achievement saying there is more to being a pirate than a few sword tricks. So to prove his worth Fairbanks says he will capture the next ship of prey single-handed, which he does.

But the villainous pirates want to blow the ship up along with its crew and passengers one of whom the Black Pirate just happens to have fallen in love with and to make matters worse Fairbanks' new love interest is claimed by the second in command as his prize and plans to have his wicked way with her.

Desperate to save his new love from this deplorable fate the Black Pirate finds a way to save her saying that she is a princess and therefore more valuable if she remains "spotless and unharmed” a 1920's euphemism for remaining virgo intacta.

But when Fairbanks is caught, trying to release her, he is exposed as a traitor and the scurvy crew force him to walk the plank. But that is not the end of our gallant hero as he returns with a loyal band of followers to do battle with the villains and save the day. The story ends with Black Pirate being revealed as a Duke, and the "Princess" he loves is of course a noble Lady so there will be no class issues when they marry; and so the elements of the now familiar pirate romance came together to form a formula that would be repeated down the years in countless films and books.

In 1935 Hollywood went a step further transforming the pirate’s greedy, mean-spirited image to that of a fully fledged hero in the film Captain Blood starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland. It was based on the 1922 novel of the same name by Rafael Sabatini and tells the tale of an enslaved doctor and a group of prisoners who escape their island prison to become pirates in the West Indies. Flynn's performance made him a major Hollywood star and established him as the natural successor to Douglas Fairbanks. The story was the perfect, if temporary antidote, to the pain of the Great Depression showing the lithe Flynn as the archetypal, unvanquished American man fighting against oppression.

Prudence the pirate becomes
 "Prudence Spitfire Stevens"

In the years that followed and especially through the 1940s and 50s the pirate hero ruled the waves in films like The Sea Hawk starring Errol Flynn in 1940, The Black Swan starring Tyrone Power in 1942, the Princess and the Pirate, a comedy starring Bob Hope and Virginia Mayo in 1944. The formula proved a rich vein for Hollywood well into the 1950s with films like The Buccaneer's Girl, Anne of the Indies, The Crimson Pirate starring Burt Lancaster and the extraordinary Against All Flags in 1952 again starring Errol Flynn as Brian Hawke and Maureen O'Hara as Prudence "Spitfire Stevens" in a remake of the 1916 film Prudence the Pirate.




The darker side of pirating was revived with Robert Newton’s portrayal of Long John Silver in Disney's version of Treasure Island. Newton’s portrayal of Silver like Stevenson’s book became the standard for screen portrayals of historical pirates. Newton also played Blackbeard in 1952 and Long John Silver again in the 1954. The exaggerated West Country accent Newton used to portray these characters is credited with popularising the stereotypical "pirate voice” and Newton has become the "patron saint" of the annual International ‘Talk Like a Pirate Day’ held on 19th September every year.


But the most successful adaptation of the genre is without doubt Pirates of the Caribbean, a series of fantasy swashbuckler films produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and based on Walt Disney's theme park ride of the same name. The film series started in 2003 with Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, which grossed US$654 million worldwide. The latest film in the series, subtitled Dead Men Tell No Tales, is set to be released on May 26, 2017.

In the early 1990s screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio conceived a supernatural spin on the now classic pirate genre after completing work on Disney’s Aladdin, but there was no interest in their new take on the pirate story then. The pirate story had had its day and no one was interested. Elliott and Rossio had to wait almost ten years before Disney called them back to liven up a pirate film they were working on and so the pirate story with the a dark and supernatural twist was born.

In June 2002 Gore Verbinski was signed to direct the first film The Curse of the Black Pearl. The film's stars Johnny Depp and Geoffrey Rush were signed the following month with Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightly following shortly afterwards. Shooting for The Curse of the Black Pearl began on October 9, 2002 and was in the can by March, 2003. Before its release, many film executives and journalists said it would be a flop but the public appetite for pirates was back and The Curse of the Black Pearl was a massive critical and commercial success.

To date Pirates of the Caribbean is the most successful Hollywood franchise ever and has made in excess of $1 billion – and that is real pirate treasure.

What a well dressed pirate should wear

Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow
Pirates of the Caribbean

Anyone wanting to be recognised as a pirate today turns to 17th and 18th fashion to get the look. Even modern day, hi-tech pirates like Pirate Bay turn to history when it comes to promoting their activities.

The Pirate Bay logo shows a galleon sporting the Jolly Roger motif made up of two crossed bones and a tape cassette for the skull.

The first accounts of pirate flags like this date to the sixteenth century. The origin of the name 'Jolly Roger' is unclear but the use of a black flag with skull, crossbones, and hourglass is attributed to pirate captain Emanuel Wynn in 1700 based on an account by Captain John Cranby of HMS Poole now in the London Public Record Office.



The picture of John Sunde, one of Pirate Bay’s founders shows him as a smiling rogue wearing the type of hat Napoleon wore (a chapeau bras) adorned with the skull and cross-bones motif. He is wearing an eye patch and stripy t-shirt making him instantly recognisable as what he wants you to think he is, a lovable cheeky rogue (but he's not so lovable if he's messing with your copyright - he's a pirate alright!).

John Sunde, co-founder of Pirate Bay

So the typical pirate gear includes:

• Bright mis-matched colours and stripes
• Scarf/bandanna - to keep the sweat out of the pirate's eyes
• A cocked/tri-cornered hat - made of anything form silk to leather
• A frock coat or doublet - perhaps the most expensive item of clothing often decorated with gold embroidery and ornate braids
• Breeches - knee length trousers 
• Knitted caps called Monmouth caps
• Waistcoats - flamboyantly decorated like their coats
• Drawers - tight fitting to allow for the difficult tasks of a pirate
• Stockings - made from wool or silk for land use
• Shirts - with puffed sleeves, ruffles and lace

The origin of the look comes from the first major literary work to popularise the subject of pirates "A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates" published in 1724 by Captain Charles Johnson.

The book contains the stories of Blackbeard and Calico Jack the two men who provide the backbone for the modern pirate stereotype. Since then the image of this 18th century seagoing villain has been enhanced and modified by 19th century creations such as J.M Barrie’s Captain Hook in Peter Pan and Robert Louis Stevenson’s Long John Silver.

Drawing for the Costume of Captain Hook
 for J.M. Barrie's play, Peter Pan

Captain Hook is shown dressed as a 17th century gentleman with a long decorated frock coat, a billowing ruffled shirt, stockings and buckled shoes almost like a cavalier.

Hook is battle scarred like Silver, a key feature of any man who wishes to be feared. Hook lost his hand to Peter Pan in a battle long ago when Peter cut it off and threw it overboard for the Tick-Tock crocodile to eat; an act that Hook will never forgive.

Illustration from 1911 edition
Treasure Island

Stevenson's Long John Silver is shown in a battered naval uniform in the 1911 edition of the book. He is shown wearing the frock coat and cocked hat of a lieutenant dating to about 1750 in keeping with Silver's claims to have served in the Royal Navy and to have lost his leg under "the immortal Hawke". His parrot, Captain Flint can be seen sitting on his shoulder as he moves around on his wooden leg using crutches.

The other vital piece of pirate clothing is the eye patch. Although there are no first-hand accounts stating that pirates wore eye patches there is no question that wearing a patch to keep one eye dark-adapted to nip from the top deck to below deck prevents the wearer from being temporally blinded by the change of light. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End was the first movie in the series to portray a pirate with an eye patch.

Mackenzie Crook as Ragetti in
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

The TV show Myth Busters tested the dark adaption hypothesis in their pirate special in 2007 and determined that it was a plausible explanation for the idea that pirates wore eye patches and pointed to at least one military manual for pilots that supported the idea saying that,  "Even though a bright light may shine in one eye, the other will retain its dark adaptation, if it is protected from the light. This is a useful bit of information, because a flyer can preserve dark adaptation in one eye by simply closing it." Even the FAA recommends that "a pilot should close one eye when using a light to preserve some degree of night vision."

The pirate's reputation for ostentatiousness when it came to clothing comes from the sixteenth century when these sea-born outlaws took the opportunity to flout the Elizabethan Sumptuary Laws which were designed to reduce the importation of foreign luxuries and support the English cloth industry. Their effect was to enforce class and income divisions by dictating what the common man could wear. To show their contempt for this imposition on their personal freedom pirates chose cloth of crimson, violet, purple and deep blue all colours reserved for royalty and the upper echelons of society.

Jason Isaacs as Captain Hook
in crimson velvet

This trailer for the film Captain Sabertooth employs the full set of pirate stereotypes but then it is for children.