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| There he is! Feet planted firmly on the deck of his ship, hands resting on his hips and the wind blowing his sun-kissed hair away from the strong bones of his tanned face! A powerful chest plays peek-a-boo with the unlaced white linen shirt that is billowing from a many colored scarf knotted casually around his lean waist. His eyes are glowing as he looks at the woman opposite him - she feels his gaze like a caress across her soul! He's been called many things, pirate, buccaneer, privateer, savage, and Captain! But she knows with absolute certainty that she will call him "mine", for it is her destiny to love a man whose life is already dedicated to a much harsher mistress - the sea! | |||||||||||
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This scenario is very familiar to romance lovers - the pirate hero has graced the cover of enough novels to fill the tropical seas over which he roams. So what is the appeal of this plundering man, and what is the true story behind the myth? Were there actually handsome and compelling noblemen forced to take to the waves to avoid an unjust accusation/death sentence/life of poverty (and whatever other plot mechanism writers can come up with to put their hero firmly at the helm of his own ship)?
The answer is probably both yes and no! A nice decisive opinion... In fairness, there are more "no's" than "yes's" in the myth of the pirate hero. No, there weren't many handsome noblemen who escaped whatever devastating traumatic events lay in wait for them on shore - and no, their treatment of women was quite a long way away from that depicted by your favorite romance writer. Perhaps one of the few who might in any way fit the description would be the notorious Sir Henry Morgan. |
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History tells us that Henry Morgan was born in Monmouthshire, Wales, around 1635. As the son of a renowned local family he naturally followed his father's footsteps into the military, sailing to Barbados as a junior officer in an expedition sent by Oliver Cromwell. During the Civil War
in England, Morgan's uncles had fought on opposing sides, and after the restoration of the Monarchy, Charles II sent his supporter, Edward Morgan, out to Jamaica as Lieutenant Governor. Henry was thus able to become well established in the Caribbean. He courted and wed his cousin, Mary Elizabeth and remained faithful to her until his death. They had no children. Morgan's military background proved extremely useful, especially when he was recalled to London to answer charges of piracy. Luckily, King Charles recognized a leader when he saw one, knighted Morgan and sent him off to defend Jamaica as Governor. Thus piracy can sometimes provide its own rewards. (I note that Morgan had his own burdens to bear; his beloved wife Elizabeth became mentally unstable at the young age of 27. Morgan himself died from an unpleasant combination of alcoholism and dropsy in 1688.)
Now in reality, of course, Errol Flynn was about as far from a pirate as George Clooney is from a neurosurgeon! The real "Terror of the High Seas" must have stunk to high heaven (no allowances were made for any kind of personal hygiene), and probably shared his clothing and most, if not all, of his body hair with an assortment of unwanted vermin. His swaggering gait arose because much of the time he was so drunk he couldn't get his land legs back, and the rest of the time his lower extremities were seriously deformed by scurvy! He would have been a criminal prior to signing on with a pirate ship, and would have had no compunction about doing what was necessary to survive - up to and including murder. If he had more than two or three teeth he was lucky, and about one in five was missing one or another body part. The most fearsome of all, Blackbeard, was said to terrify his opponents by going into battle with lighted matches in his beard! Why bother? He probably could have breathed on them and killed the lot!! The pirate took his women by force (gee, I wonder why?) and was responsible for decimating several Caribbean colonies with an assortment of unpleasant sexually transmitted forms of venereal disease. How the heck did he end up as a popular hero for romance novels?
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| However, there are many others for whom the appeal of the pirate is alluring and undeniable. He makes his own rules on board his ship - he is tantamount to an absolute monarch within his environment, although almost all pirate ships were noted for their democratic approach to captain and crew alike. Fairness and justice were particularly crucial - mutinies occurred regularly on ships where the crew felt themselves mistreated. He is brave, courageous and of course, strong, also young - probably not much more than thirty, (no retirement plans available for this job, just a quick trip to Davy Jones' Locker). The sheer effort involved in sailing a pirate ship ensured that many pirate officers were in good shape - days of endless physical exercise and limited dietary choices sort of guarantee a great body - and of course a perfect tan! Our hero is usually quite intelligent - again, not an impossibility due to the requirements of the job. The captain had to be familiar with navigational principles and mathematical concepts in order to find his way around the Carribean with the primitive tools of the time, a compass, an astrolabe and charts that may or may not have been accurate. We must not forget that after many weeks at sea, he's going to be damn grateful to see a woman - we must include appreciation amongst his attributes as a hero. (This assumes that he hasn't been driven to sea by the betrayal of some little nymphet back home!) But above all, he's going to sweep us off our feet - right or wrong - he's going to take the decision out of our hands! He's going to whisk us off to new and sensual worlds of adventure without us thinking about whether this is the right thing to do, should we wait for a few more weeks until the weather gets better, should we leave a note for our father/brother/cruel guardian, have we shaved our legs, etc. etc.! We are going to helplessly succumb to his strong arms and passionate lips, and we're going to enjoy every minute of it! |
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| For the truth of the matter is, we don't care about the reality of the pirate - we care about the romance of the pirate. If we wanted reality, we'd be reading reference books and history books, and informative though they are, they are no subsitute for the heart-stopping moment when our dashing Pirate Hero takes his woman into his arms and kisses the daylights out of her! Sure they were uncouth, sure they smelled awful, and sure, most of them were probably criminals through and through, but in our fictional romances, they are men of valor, courage and passion - in other words, an ideal hero!
Are you puzzled by some of the terminology used in your favorite Pirate romance? Look no futher - we have the solution. This article continues with Ahoy Mates! A few useful definitions to improve your pirate-speaking abilities!
I am indebted to the following sites for some of the above information, | |||||||||||
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Morgan was featured in a very famous Pirate romance, "The Black Swan". Rafael Sabatini, the author, loved the excitement and adventure of a life under the Jolly Roger, and placed not only this novel, but his famous "Captain Blood" and "The Sea Hawk" on board pirate ships. The movies that were made of these tales, featuring a perfectly cast Errol Flynn and a wonderfully romantic Tyrone Power, brought the passion of the pirate right into the movie theaters and rendered a generation of female fans helpless at the thought of being swept away by one of these dangerously handsome men!
Well, his role in literature was established unequivocally by Robert Louis Stevenson who created "Long John Silver" for his stirring tale "Treasure Island" in 1881. Dastardly villain, yet kind to young Jim Hawkins, Silver planted the first pirate boots of literary fame on the decks of a novel. J.M. Barrie grabbed the piratical notion for "Peter Pan" and created the terrifying villain Captain Hook. This was followed in the early 1900's by a series of very popular books from the pen of the above-mentioned Rafael Sabatini. Rafael loved a cracklingly good adventure, and his readers were never disappointed. Besides "The Black Swan" and the "Sea Hawk", Sabatini wrote "Scaramouche", and several sequels to his successful "Captain Blood". It was left to Hollywood to grab these gems, which they did, making several silent versions of these films featuring a very appealing Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. But it took a major studio decision in 1935 to slap a pair of tight pants and leather boots on Errol Flynn, give him a cutlass - and voila! The swashbuckling hero that stole hearts had arrived. From that point on, actors were scrambling to pirate the hearts of their fans - everyone from Yul Brynner (The Buccaneer, 1958) to Tommy Lee Jones (Nate and Hayes, 1983) had a turn before the mast! Once music was added (a la Gilbert and Sullivan, The Pirates of Penzance) and the entire movie choreographed (The Pirate, Gene Kelly and Judy Garland, 1948) there was no stopping the romantic appeal of a pirate!
Since then pirates have featured prominently as heroes in books by many of our favorite authors. Among others, Catherine Coulter introduced us to Rafael Carstairs, informal privateer, in "Calypso Magic", and took us sailing with corsairs across the Mediterranean in "Devil's Daughter" and "Devil's Embrace". Susan Wiggs took us to sea with Captain Ryan Calhoun in "The Charm School" (although Ryan was not, strictly speaking, a pirate himself). Jayne Ann Krentz updated the myth by creating a modern day buccaneer in "The Pirate" and almost every popular writer has had a crack at this sub-genre at one time or another. But why? What special fascination does this man hold for readers? In spite of his apparent mass appeal, I found many who didn't subscribe to his brand of romance. While researching this article, I asked around and was surprised by the responses I received! Several readers told me that they find it hard to separate the pirate hero from the pirate of their youth (the patch, the scarf and earrings thing), while others believed that the very nature of the pirate turned him into a harsh and demanding leader with little sensitivity to recommend him to a heroine. It is true he must be a firm disciplinarian and very much an alpha leader - the lives of his crew depended in large part upon his leadership skills. Some readers are quite put off by such domineering characteristics.
