Pirate Historian Rates 8 Pirate Battles In Movies And TV | How Real Is It? | Insider
315,274
Published 2024-03-12
Simon breaks down the accuracy of pirate battle tactics used during the golden age of piracy, such as the use of the flintlock pistol and the rope-swinging skills to capture a ship in "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" (2003), with Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, and Keira Knightley; the realism of the Jolly Roger flag and the depiction of the real-life pirates Edward "Blackbeard" Teach, John "Calico Jack" Rackham, and Anne Bonny in "Black Sails" S1E1 and S3E10 (2014 and 2016); and the battle tactics used by pirate captains in "House of the Dragon" E2 and E3 (2022). She debunks common pirate tropes, such as buried treasure, treasure maps, and the stereotypical accent used by Long John Silver in "Treasure Island" (1950); the punishment of walking the plank in "Peter Pan" (1953); and swordsmanship and the use of the cutlass, as well as the relationship between the pirates Stede Bonnet and Blackbeard, in "Our Flag Means Death" S2E4 and S2E5 (2023), starring Taika Waititi. Simon also looks at the realism of Jack Sparrow and his compass in "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales" (2017) and the plausibility of pirate bounties and privateers in "One Piece" S1E5 (2023).
Simon is a historian who focuses on the golden age of piracy within the Caribbean and along the coast of North America. She has written several books on pirates, including her latest book, "The Pirates' Code: Laws and Life Aboard Ship." She is also a professor of history at Santa Monica College.
You can follow Rebecca here:
rebecca-simon.com/
"The Pirates' Code: Laws and Life Aboard Ship":
press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/P/bo…
MORE HOW REAL IS IT? VIDEOS:
Iraq War Veteran Rates 10 Iraq War Battles In Movies & TV Shows | How Real Is It? | Insider
• Iraq War Veteran Rates 10 Iraq War Ba...
Warfare Historians Rate 51 Military Battles In Movies And TV | How Real Is It? | Insider
• Warfare Historians Rate 51 Military B...
Snake Expert Rates 9 Snake Attacks In Movies | How Real Is It? | Insider
• Snake Expert Rates 9 Snake Attacks In...
------------------------------------------------------
#pirates #movie #insider
Insider's mission is to inform and inspire.
Visit our homepage for the top stories of the day: www.businessinsider.com/
Insider on Facebook: www.facebook.com/insider
Insider on Instagram: www.instagram.com/insider
Insider on Twitter: twitter.com/thisisinsider
Insider on Snapchat: www.snapchat.com/discover/Insider/2708030621
Insider on TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@insider
Pirate Historian Rates 8 Pirate Battles In Movies And TV | How Real Is It? | Insider
All Comments (21)
-
Felt cute, might put some sparklers in my beard later
-
5:11 "no Pirate in their right mind" - Aye but this is Captain Jack Sparrow we're talking about.
-
If the 8 year old me knew that 'pirate historian' was actually a thing, I would have taken a completely different career path. :(
-
“In a world without gold, we could’ve been heroes!” -Blackbeard, AC black flag
-
It doesn't seem like a great idea to show the House of the Dragon to a historian of the golden age of piracy. There is clearly not much overlap there.
-
6:15 her way to load a flintlock pistol would be a huge surprise for both parties.
-
black pearl may have 2 gun decks.. but she has has only 32 guns in total... probably not heavier than 12 pounders! a well defended east india man, but not a man of war AT ALL!
-
$2.75 - Apple in Dominica $3.15 - Cherry in Haiti $2.55 - Pecan in St. Kitts These are the pie rates of the Caribbean.
-
4:38 That arrow is pointing to the HMS Dauntless. The Interceptor is the ship that is docked.
-
For the pirates of the Caribbean - the Interceptor was the small docked ship, the big one you pointed an arrow at was the Dauntless, which I think was meant as a ship of the line.
-
Assassins Creed: Black Flag , prob the most fun I've had in a game after Halo series.
-
Loading a flintlock is backwards in her directions. Im aware its a bit specific but. Always gunpowder 1st. Then wad and den .......
-
0:56 'Sparklers and candles' in Blackbeards beard? Really? I've always read that it was slow burning cannon fuses.
-
I should probably politely note in real life, pirate ship battles are very rare things. Most of the time a ship surrenders without a fight because the crew is outnumbered. A fight usually means something went wrong. Maynards fight with Blackbeard is the most classical idea of a pirate fight but its basically the only one. Jonathan Barnets encounter with John Rackam can barely be considered a fight, over in a minute after one volley. Bartholomew Roberts died early from grapeshot when fighting HMS Swallow. Also ship sizes tended to go up in the Indian Ocean, Henry Everys Fancy was larger then say, Stede Bonnets Revenge. Being on the open ocean allows for bigger ships.
-
Nassau definitely had a fleet of priate ships protecting it. Black Sails has a fictional battle where Nassau gets assulted, which is shown here. But Nassau 100% would have been protected as shown here by a fleet of every ship in the bay with Hornigold as the admiral. Yes Teach, Rackham and Bonny never assulted the pirate capitol but if they had this should be fairly accurate.
-
-" Pirates didn't use swords, they use this " -Pulls out a sword
-
The Cornish accent isn't too inappropriate, a lot of sailors of that period would come from southern England, and have an accent somewhat like that.
-
Zheng Yi Sao was the most infamous pirate out there, I listened into one of those history podcasts. She commanded 1,800 ships and over something like 60,000 people. Maybe Bartholomew Roberts was the most infamous pirate in the Atlantic Ocean or the Mediterranean Sea.
-
Black Sails is arguably the most realistic piece of media involving piracy and naval warfare
-
I really wanted to see the Muppet Treasure Island on here.
