Historian Angus Konstam joins WIRED to answer the internet’s burning questions about pirates. Where did the stereotypical pirate accent come from? What did pirates do for fun? Why do we associate parrots and eyepatches with pirates? Who’s the most famous non-fictional pirate in history? Is Jack Sparrow real? Did pirates use sunscreen? Answers to these questions and many more await on Pirate Support.
0:00 Pirate Support
0:13 The pirate accent
1:01 Pirates: Why?
1:36 The Pirate Code
2:10 Pirate pleasures
2:50 Peg legs
3:12 No-no-notorious
3:53 Pirate democracy
4:54 Walk the plank/Peter Pan
5:41 He’s the pauper of the surf, the jester of Tortuga
6:30 Gay pirates
6:59 Privateer vs Pirate
8:12 A little rum and a classic film
8:38 Women were pirates
10:05 Beginning a life of piracy
10:40 SPF Arrrr
10:59 Have we found any treasure?
11:53 Pirate life expectancy
12:19 But why all the parrots
12:37 The beard sounds extremely memorable
13:04 Pirate wear
14:09 Pirate weaponry
15:21 Pirate ships
16:08 Pirates attacked slave ships
17:21 The skull and crossbones flag
17:53 When nature called
18:15 Where was home for a pirate?
19:03 Also, why all the eyepatches?
Thank you to Osprey Publishing for kind permission to use several of their images in this video. You can discover more in these great books:
Pirates 1660-1730:
Pirate: The Golden Age:
The Pirate Menace:
Director: Anna O’Donohue
Director of Photography: Mateo Notsuke
Editor: Richard Trammell
Expert: Angus Konstam
Line Producer: Joseph Buscemi
Associate Producer: Brandon White; Jasmine Breinburg
Production Manager: Peter Brunette
Production Coordinator: Rhyan Lark
Casting Producer: Nicholas Sawyer
Camera Operator: Cameron Hall
Gaffer: Jake Newell
Sound Mixer: Michael Panayiotis
Post Production Supervisor: Christian Olguin
Post Production Coordinator: Ian Bryant
Supervising Editor: Doug Larsen
Additional Editor: Paul Tael
Assistant Editor: Billy Ward
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@WashYourHands__
November 19, 2024 at 7:31 pm
how did pirates get and store drinking water and food?
@pickledpiss9522
November 19, 2024 at 7:33 pm
This man is Blackbeard reincarnated
@pickledpiss9522
November 19, 2024 at 7:33 pm
I think we’ve found the next Victor M. Sweeney
@gmonorail
November 19, 2024 at 7:35 pm
dude doesn’t come across very knowledgeable
@mythical_pizza
November 19, 2024 at 7:36 pm
I know blackbeards name is pronounced as both Teach and “Thatch” and I don’t really care which is the more correct one because saying it as he spelled it, Teach, just sounds SO stupid. It’s always thatch for me
@johndemeritt3460
November 19, 2024 at 7:38 pm
My wife reminds me that the BBC program _Time Team_ featured Dr. Phil Harding. He _always_ talks like a pirate!
As for parrots and pirates . . . when we lived in League City, Texas — a little south of Houston — parrots had gotten loose and established colonies in the high tension wire towers. We knew a woman who periodically transformed into a pirate. And whenever she did, there were parrots around.
Coincidence? _I think NOT!_
@kaikenjr
November 19, 2024 at 7:40 pm
What a pirates favorite fruit. Orrrrranges
@welhungyongmancitywok8189
November 19, 2024 at 7:43 pm
3:01 if you were lucky to get that job most peg legs were begging in the streets
@insidethepirateship
November 19, 2024 at 7:47 pm
i need a lot more of this guy talking about pirates
@Ryloe_Flores
November 19, 2024 at 7:47 pm
13:24 the grilla of the woods?
@General1Cal
November 19, 2024 at 7:51 pm
Just laughed and laughed and laughed when he busted out the tricorn lol. The statement afterwards.
@Retroxyl
November 19, 2024 at 7:57 pm
Now I really want to watch Pirates of the Carribean again and play Assassins Creed IV Black Flag. I really should do that.
@Bobbyboom413
November 19, 2024 at 8:00 pm
I read a book when I was younger that said Pirates were much smarter than people realized. 99% of them were multilingual. If you couldn’t speak English, french, and Spanish, you were kind of screwed. Many knew dutch and Portuguese on top of that.
@Adam-M-
November 19, 2024 at 8:02 pm
Wait a minute…. I have his book! 😊
@hisham_hm
November 19, 2024 at 8:03 pm
“they stole them. much better”
guys, I’m starting to suspect he’s rooting for the pirates
@jasonpmp282
November 19, 2024 at 8:03 pm
The Mythbusters did an episode about the eye patch theory and there is some validation to it if I remember correctly.
@milfenthusiast1582
November 19, 2024 at 8:08 pm
STRAW HATS ARE PIRATE CANON
@ParkRegenerated
November 19, 2024 at 8:08 pm
absolutely love this
@davebooshty299
November 19, 2024 at 8:10 pm
6:15 Blackbeards hat too he has.
@oasntet
November 19, 2024 at 8:13 pm
I wonder how many privateers attacked whoever they felt like and then stuck enemy flags on the ships the brought back to port to sell. Even if somebody at port saw through the lie, they’d have a lot of incentive to stay quiet and get their cut…
@Mazzah96
November 19, 2024 at 8:17 pm
Now, we need a ninja support.
@EatPineappeals
November 19, 2024 at 8:19 pm
this guy sounds how he looks
@vb8801
November 19, 2024 at 8:20 pm
So are we just going to gloss over when he said most pirates were teenage boys or in their early 20s….? It explains sooooo much! Even why anyone would join a pirate crew after their ship was captured. Pirates were just hormonal, impulsive children with underdeveloped brains all along 😂
@sonicgoo1121
November 19, 2024 at 8:24 pm
“They stole them. Much better.” Well someone’s a bit of a scoundrel.
@ericbruzzone2644
November 19, 2024 at 8:25 pm
On female pirates 🏴☠️ it’s worth checking the life of pirate Qing, who had a fleet of one thousand vessels so strong that the emperor hired her instead of fighting her