An Educated Man
Did you know Captain Hook was Oxford educated? Though portrayed as a villain, Captain Hook’s character originates from a pre-Disney play called Peter Pan, written by Sir James Matthew Barrie in 1904 (three years after Walt Disney was born!). Fifty years later, he passed into the public domain and was reinvented into the Captain Hook we know in Disney’s Peter Pan.
The Jolly Roger
Hook was the pirate captain of the brig Jolly Roger. The Jolly Roger, as most people know it today, is the skull and crossbones flag flown above pirate ships. What many people don’t know is that it was a very real symbol used during the golden age of piracy. This flag was flown above real pirate ships and was intended to strike fear in pirate targets.
Piracy’s Golden Age
Piracy had a Golden Age, you ask? It did. From around 1650 to 1730. Piracy was a phenomenon plaguing ancient shipping lanes and coastal communities, but it became a means by which warring governments would compensate themselves for their war efforts. Pirates were commissioned and rebranded as “Privateers” by navies around the world to track down and rob ships carrying valuable cargo. At the time, these ships often carried gold, silver and gems mined in remote lands, but they could hide any number of valuable things. Even people were kidnapped and either held for ransom or used as slaves.
Privateers were expected to divert this loot, along with the captured ships, to their patrons. There was little distinction however, between the privateer, who was seen as a noble professional, and the pirate, who was seen as a despicable criminal. The Golden Age of Piracy, it turns out, was also a golden age of rebranding! Today’s professionals in marketing would be impressed by the ingenuity of the warring chieftains.
