dear Cecil : Ahoy, chummy. Pirates are much depicted with a parrot on their shoulder. What ’ s the footing for this ? Was there a specific pirate from history or literature that had a feathered ally ? — Craig, Phoenix Dear Cecil : What were the origins of the skull and crossbones, as seen on pirate-ship flags ? Kelly, Cypress, Texas
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Cecil replies : Concluding our bipartite colloquium on pirates :
plagiarism dates back at least to ancient Greece and continues today ; its golden old age began in the 1650s and peaked circa 1720, when around 2,000 pirates terrorized the Atlantic. But closely all our notions of their behavior come from the golden age of fictional plagiarism, which reached its zenith in 1881 with the appearance of Robert Louis Stevenson ’ s Treasure Island. Its influence on subsequent pirate fall can ’ thyroxine be overstated : Stevenson all but invented some of the genre ’ s most durable cliches — gem maps marked X ( see final week ’ s column ), the black spot as keepsake of impending sentence vand his imagination took agree so cursorily that about all subsequent works involving piracy are in some way derived therefrom. Long John Silver, the one-legged ship ’ s cook with a parrot on his shoulder, was his most fertile creation, but basically every plagiarist you ’ ve ever seen has some RLS DNA ; throw in Captain Hook and crew from James Barrie ’ south Peter Pan ( 1904 ) and that ’ s much of the pirate gene pool correctly there. so what was real and what wasn ’ t ? Clothing. Pirates did wear scarves, bandanas, hats, etc, to ward off the sunlight. Generally captain and crew alike dressed much — for example, avoiding informal clothe that might snag on a spar. But the frilled shirts, frock coats, and full-bottomed wigs popular in movies make some sense, since ( a ) occasionally there was a need to pose as legalize gentlemen of the era, ( bacillus ) a few captains obviously adopted this as their casual expression, and ( hundred ) plundered finery was distributed to the crew. Hooks, peg legs, eye patches. Seamen frequently got seriously hurt in conflict or bad weather, and amputation was the basal treatment for major limb injuries — the ship ’ sulfur surgeon ( or carpenter ) typically good sawed off the unlucky extremity ASAP and tied off or cauterized the lineage vessels. Men missing hands were much seen ; surviving the loss of a leg was relatively rare, though, and the ubiquity of peg-legged pirates is about surely the Long John Silver effect at bring. Lost eyes, and therefore patches, weren ’ t excessively unusual. Parrots. Seafarers in the tropics normally brought home alien animal as souvenirs. Parrots were peculiarly democratic because they were colorful, could be taught to speak, and were easier to care for than, say, monkeys. ( Read : they crapped everywhere but at least wouldn ’ deoxythymidine monophosphate throw it at you. ) They besides fetched a good monetary value back in London. however, one can ’ triiodothyronine imagine a sailor actually heaving at the capstan with a bird perched on him.
Piratespeak. “ Arrrr ” showed up late, credibly in movies of the 1930s. Actor Robert Newton played Silver in the 1950 version of Treasure Island, one of the better portrayals of old-school plagiarism, and reprised the function in sequels and on television ; his stress featured a potent roll R, which likely helped fix “ arrrr ” in the piratical canyon. much pirate slang, like “ avast, ” was just nautical speech of the time ; “ shiver my timbers ” predates Stevenson, but he ran with it. Skull and crossbones. This was only one of many pirate-flag insignia. Why fly a commandeer flag, anyhow ? To terrorize victims into surrendering without a fight. The earliest such flags were apparent bolshevik or bootleg sheets — red symbolizing blood and struggle, black for death. Later captains added emblems : hearts dripping blood, ardent balls, hourglasses, cutlasses, skeletons, etc. Around 1718, Captain Richard Worley flew a black flag with a white death ’ s-head and traverse femurs, a symbol of death dating to medieval times. By about 1730 this design had caught on among English, French, and spanish pirates in the West Indies and was called the “ Jolly Roger ” or “ Old Roger. ” Walking the plank. Unmentioned in historical accounts of the fortunate long time ; tossing person over the side was immediate. In one example from 1829 the perps apparently had some extra clock and/or dash, and men were indeed tied, blindfolded, weighted with stroke, and made to walk. This can ’ t have been a total anomaly ( ancient pirates may occasionally have used a run in some planklike fashion ) but it wasn ’ triiodothyronine coarse. Marooning was, however. Victims were left on little abandon islands to die slowly from starvation or exposure.
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Stevenson nailed it in one significant respect : he portrayed pirates as homicidal and barbarous. Later books ( such as Rafael Sabatini ’ randomness The Sea Hawk and Captain Blood ) and movies would romanticize them as swashbuckling adventurers. But David Cordingly, whose Under the Black Flag ( 1996 ) is credibly the best one book on things piratical, reminds us that “ pirates were not maritime versions of Robin Hood and his gay men, ” and their “ attacks were frequently accompanied by extreme ferocity, agony, and death. ” Nothing excessively gay about that, Roger. Cecil Adams send questions to Cecil via cecil @ straightdope.com.
I am broadly interested in how human activities influence the ability of wildlife to persist in the modified environments that we create.
Specifically, my research investigates how the configuration and composition of landscapes influence the movement and population dynamics of forest birds. Both natural and human-derived fragmenting of habitat can influence where birds settle, how they access the resources they need to survive and reproduce, and these factors in turn affect population demographics. Most recently, I have been studying the ability of individuals to move through and utilize forested areas which have been modified through timber harvest as they seek out resources for the breeding and postfledging phases. As well I am working in collaboration with Parks Canada scientists to examine in the influence of high density moose populations on forest bird communities in Gros Morne National Park. Many of my projects are conducted in collaboration or consultation with representatives of industry and government agencies, seeking to improve the management and sustainability of natural resource extraction.