Dumb Pirate Questions

Factual Questions
1

Arrr, I’m a dum pirate and I’ve gots a question for ye. [sub]just kidding[/sub]
Is it “fifteen men with a dead man’s chest” or “fifteen men on a dead man’s chest” If its on, why are they sitting on his chest? What type of chest is it, treasure or body?

2

According to this: http://sailorsongs.com/yo_ho_ho_and_a_bottle_of_rum____.htm

It was written in the 1880s by Robert Louis Stevenson and it contains both lines - 15 men ON a dead man’s chest and 15 men OF a dead man’s chest.

Which clears nothing up.

Neither do the lyrics which have plenty of descriptions of anatomy (torn asunder) so chest could be “torso” but they also talk about chests full of treasure.

3

Hm, a few more links makes that first one look like it has a typo and the line really is “15 men on a dead’s man chest” (not “of”).

But they don’t clear up the rest too well. Lyrics from song inspired by “Treasure Island”, so perhaps not totally penned by RLS himself.

4

If i remember correctly the song goes something like this, " Fifteen men on a Deadman’s chest, Yo Ho Ho and a bottle of Rum. Drink and the Devil have done for the rest, Yo Ho Ho and a bottle of Rum." As to the meaning of the words i haven’t a clue. Tho someone else will surely be posting a more accurate answer soonly.

5

The “Deadman’s Chest” or “Dead Chest” is allegedly a small island forming part of the British Virgin Islands. But I don’t know if that name is attested before or only after Stevenson wrote Treasure Island.

6

Another pirate related question while this is here…

The typical comedy pirate accent is some sort of twisted northern-european accent, but what about in other languages? How do people in, say, France, or Spain, talk if they want to talk like a stereotypical pirate? Is it the same accent, just with words of their own language?

7

Ooooh, I was wondering the same thing today with respect to Dutch, as I was trying to get some Dutch colleagues to understand International Talk Like a Pirate Day. I mean, every English speaker knows that typical pirate talk involves a bunch of cheesy stagey sea-doggy early modern English cliches, but is there a Dutch equivalent?

The Dutch certainly had pirates (“vrijbuiters”, freebooters) in the old days, so what did they sound like? Did they say “Arrrrr”?

8

Might as well get the “Deadman’s Chest” issue out of the way while we wait for the European and other non-Anglophone pirates to show up:

9

More specifically, it’s a highly exaggerated and butchered version of the English southwestern dialects, that region being where two of England’s most important ports, Bristol and Plymouth, were located. Two sample audio files of the dialects, one from Bristol, and one from Devon (warning: mp3).