As I Sailed, As I Sailed
May. 24th, 2022 10:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poliphilo Yesterday was partly about pirates.
I forget how it started exactly, but first became aware of what was happening when I came across myself searching the internet for versions of my favourite folksong (of the moment)- the one about Captain Kidd and how he sailed. I sampled three and the one I liked best was by the York folk-rock ensemble Blackbeard's Tea Party- who bring such energy to everything they do. And from there- like Kidd- I sailed and I sailed.
The nastiest pirate to ply the Spanish main was a Frenchman called L'Olonnais. He was mean beyond the call of booty. When- eventually- he fell into the hands of a Floridian tribe they cut him up, burned the pieces on a bonfire and afterwards scattered the ashes to the four winds- so not a trace of the bastard remained...
The most successful and smartest pirate was the Welshman, Henry Morgan. Technically he was a privateer but if theft and murder are morally wrong I don't see it makes any difference that you have the backing of a national government (national governments being the biggest thieves and murderers going.) Unlike most of his confreres Morgan died in his bed a wealthy man, having served a term as Governor of Jamaica. He used to have a marked grave until there was an earthquake and the sea swallowed his section of the cemetery. He took exception to what Exquemellin said about him in his book about pirates and sued its London publisher for libel and won. In his deposition before the court he said that he "hated buccaneers".
A contemporary scholar of piracy says we should view pirates not as romantic rebels but as pioneering cut-throat capitalists and I ask why can't they be both?
And, no, I'm not going to get drawn into a discussion of the Depp/Heard marriage.
Finally I found myself reading Poe's "The Gold Bug'- a story about the unearthing of Captain Kidd's treasure- which handed Conan Doyle the Sherlock Holmes persona on a plate...
I forget how it started exactly, but first became aware of what was happening when I came across myself searching the internet for versions of my favourite folksong (of the moment)- the one about Captain Kidd and how he sailed. I sampled three and the one I liked best was by the York folk-rock ensemble Blackbeard's Tea Party- who bring such energy to everything they do. And from there- like Kidd- I sailed and I sailed.
The nastiest pirate to ply the Spanish main was a Frenchman called L'Olonnais. He was mean beyond the call of booty. When- eventually- he fell into the hands of a Floridian tribe they cut him up, burned the pieces on a bonfire and afterwards scattered the ashes to the four winds- so not a trace of the bastard remained...
The most successful and smartest pirate was the Welshman, Henry Morgan. Technically he was a privateer but if theft and murder are morally wrong I don't see it makes any difference that you have the backing of a national government (national governments being the biggest thieves and murderers going.) Unlike most of his confreres Morgan died in his bed a wealthy man, having served a term as Governor of Jamaica. He used to have a marked grave until there was an earthquake and the sea swallowed his section of the cemetery. He took exception to what Exquemellin said about him in his book about pirates and sued its London publisher for libel and won. In his deposition before the court he said that he "hated buccaneers".
A contemporary scholar of piracy says we should view pirates not as romantic rebels but as pioneering cut-throat capitalists and I ask why can't they be both?
And, no, I'm not going to get drawn into a discussion of the Depp/Heard marriage.
Finally I found myself reading Poe's "The Gold Bug'- a story about the unearthing of Captain Kidd's treasure- which handed Conan Doyle the Sherlock Holmes persona on a plate...
no subject
Date: 2022-05-24 12:52 pm (UTC)Because even as a former professional gossip writer and a connoisseur of celebrity gossip, there are just some places where it's too dark to go. 😀
no subject
Date: 2022-05-24 03:53 pm (UTC)