MyLine:Cover Story

Pirates rule; ninjas are hurting!

By EMMA RICHARDSON

Date published: 10/19/2004

YOUTH CORRESPONDENT

"Drink up, me hearties, yo ho!"

A certain blockbuster movie may have brought pirates to the forefront of the public's mind, but anyone who knows what's what has always known the following: Pirates rock supreme.

Blackbeard. Captain Kidd. Long John Silver. Capt. Jack Sparrow. From real to fictional, pirates are where it's at.

Originally known as buccaneers in the 17th century, these fine fellows turned to piracy and began attacking ships in the Caribbean.

Some, called privateers, attacked enemy ships in wartime and were then paid by the king for their actions.

Admittedly, there's a certain amount of charm that surrounds the roguish figure of the pirate; there's a romantic quality about them.

This is, however, not at all the case. In reality, pirates were quite the opposite--their careers on the high seas generally lasted only a few years, during which time they would amass unsightly body hair, yellow teeth, scars and scurvy.

Yet disgusting hygiene aside, pirates are still interesting figures. They stole what they wanted, lived by their own rules and had absolute freedom.

There was a strict code of "honor among thieves" (punishments ranged from lashes to marooning to immediate death), and ships were generally well-organized. Treasure was divided among the crew, and some was put aside to compensate those who had been injured in battle.

There is an old argument about pirates versus ninjas. For some reason, some people seem to be under the deluded impression that ninjas are better than pirates.

This is something that Brooke Point senior Nick Graves scoffs at: "Pirates live life by their own rules, while ninjas have a code--they're little [pansies]. Pirates take life by the [horns] and sail into the wind."

Fellow senior Conor Harris agrees.

"They just have so much more character. Ninjas are just all stealthylike. Not so much fun. Pirates--now, you can party with pirates."

It's not just crazy kids who love pirates--far from it. Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson famously portrayed the life of a pirate in his character Long John Silver--perhaps the quintessential pirate, with one leg and a parrot on his shoulder.

It's also rumored that Daniel Defoe's book "Robinson Crusoe" was based on Alexander Selkirk--a Scottish privateer who was marooned in the Pacific, but survived for four years until his rescue.

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Date published: 10/19/2004