Swashed and Buckled

American public school teaches that Christopher Columbus and other “explorers” were benevolent “discoverers”, sailing the seas on behalf of their sovereigns, in search of knowledge and resources. As a young students we learned cute rhymes like, “In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue”.   Around Thanksgiving half our class donned tea stained fringed frocks and feather headbands and the other half buckled hats and loafers. We sat at the lunchroom table simulating the peaceful breaking of bread and cooperation between the indigenous people and European colonizers. While it is historically accurate that the settlers of Plymouth Rock celebrated the successful harvest of 1621 with members of the Wampanoag tribe, it is untrue that the “explorers” of the Americas treated the native peoples or their land with respect. Explorers invaded land, stole resources such as precious metals and jewels, massacred entire indigenous populations, and sold millions more into slavery. T...

When I hear the word “pirate”, my mind immediately conjures an image of a middle-age bearded man drunkenly hobbling around on a peg leg as a pet parrot squawks, perched atop his shoulder. This stereotype has been repeated so often in literature and media you can almost smell the stale sailor stench and hear the gravelly voice bellow, “Arr shiver me timbers”. Unlike a fictional representation like Jack Sparrow, pirates of the Golden Age spoke with the lingo professional mariners.   Although a few aspects of this image are anchored in small grains of truth, the reality of pirate life greatly differs from the picture portrayed by centuries of books, plays, and eventually cinema. Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island , originally published in Young Folks magazine in 1881 and later in 1883 as a book, forever shaped the way the world views pirates. The protagonist pirate captain, Long John Silver, sails the seas with his pet parrot, Captain Flint. It is a myth that pirates trav...

Like many children in the last century, the Disney movie Peter Pan introduced me to pirates. I sat beside my little sister, unaware of the popcorn I was losing into the couch, mesmerized by a dauntless boy taking on the villainous Captain Hook, the vengeful but educated leader of the Jolly Roger pirate ship.  Hook attended Elton College prior to acquiring his sea legs. Although "a common feature of many pirate films... is the portrayal of the pirate captain as an aristocrat, or as an educated man of some standing in society", (Cordingly, David) most pirates were not of aristocracy. They were more likely to be criminals, former members of the Royal Navy, or merchant seamen who surrendered to the pirates who captured them (Cordingly, David). Dressed in a long red coat, leather buckle shoes, and an ostentatious feathered hat, Hook did not look the part of a weathered mariner. Pirates of this time often wore " short blue jackets, over a checked shirt, and ... long ca...

As an aquaphile I am mesmerized by sea and tide. As a traveler I am enlivened by new sights, sounds, and smells. As an adventurer I am awakened by free fall, new heights, and daring challenges. As a student I am at a landlocked desk cataloging my musings and day dreams in this blog.