Gilles de Rais, AKA Bluebeard, and Frederick I Barbarossa, were both historical figures. James Beard, of course, analyzed history.
“Redbeard” was the nickname of a (n in) famous moor pirate operating in the Mediterranean sea.
Bluebeard is of course a tale’s charachter. Sometimes said to have been inspired by Gilles de Rais, as mentionned by the previous poster, sometimes by Henry VIII, or by other historical figures. I personnally wouldn’t put much faith in these hypothesis about the origins of tales, unless some significant evidences are advanced.
I googled around, and it seems that he’s actually generally called in english “Barbarossa” (his italian nickname, I assume. Same meaning.)
Don’t forget Yellowbeard, or the drummer from ZZ Top.
I hear tell that Bippy the Beardless still walks the earth, and it’s said that his muttering can be heard on clear nights. Old Cyrus says it’s just the wind, but I dunno.
Also go here for a list of pirates.
What you’re probably looking for is the Golden Age of Piracy, where you find such notables as Captain Kidd, Blackbeard, Black Bart, Calico Jack and Anne Bonney, among many others.
Silver didn’t have an eyepatch and I can’t think of any other pirate in Treasure Island that wore one. His leg was removed at the hip but he did have a wooden leg, he makes mention of it in his tavern I think, but he uses his crutch more often because he’s more nimble with it.
Hook has both legs.
Marc
Yes, but he does have a hook, which I think was the point.
Of course the hook has a point! I wouldn’t be much of a hook if it didn’t, now, would it? 
As others have said, pirates are an historical fact.
If the pirates lived up to the visuals we see of them today may be different of course.
Many of those depicting pirates in books and movies (Disney for instance) were inspired by a book published in 1921 - “The Book of Pirates” by Howard Pyle. Good book. Great illlustrations.
You could just use the native spelling of “Pilipinas”, or the full name of “Republika ng Pilipinas”.
The Strait of Malacca is in between the Indonesian island of Sumatra and penninsular Malaysia. Interestingly the Thai government might end up digging a canal which would undercut the navigational importance of the strait and perhaps, among other things, cut down on piracy in that area of the world.
I’m a bit sceptical. Piracy has been a fact of life in Asia for all of recorded history. There is every reason to believe that those who live on the Malacca Straits have always regarded the passing parade of trading ships as a rich vein to be mined, and there is not much reason to believe attitudes have changed.
There has always been significant suspicion that Chinese and Indonesian armed forces have at the least turned a blind eye (no doubt in return for a cut) to, but more probably been directly involved in, piracy to at least some degree.
I first began reading about piracy as a modern phenomenon when I started working for the shipping industry in about 1990 and reading Lloyd’s List and other commercial shipping publications on a daily basis. At no time prior to 9/11 did I hear about it as being anything other than a matter of normal everyday thievery for the purpose of obtaining ill gotten gains.
Various organisations campaigned on behalf of the shipping industry for years for something to be done with little success.
Then after 9/11, it became clear that there was a large budget and much political will available to fight terrorism and suddenly, what do you know, every man and his dog declares that his enemies are terrorists, anti-piracy campaigners included. And suddenly anti-pirate funding flows.
As I said, I am a bit sceptical.
How many times do we have to remind people?
Nobody wants to see a movie about Gay Cowboys Eating Pudding!
I’ll get my coat…
I had a hard time believing this, but I Googled up the following:
Somalian Pirates fire on two US navy ships
The ships involved:
You’re right – one of the ships is indeed a US Navy destroyer. The Cape St. George isn’t a “destroyer”, however – it’s a guided missile cruiser. The pirates in a 30-foot boat opened up on a 567-foot cruiser.
Heh.
Sailboat
Thus proving conclusively that boating whilst stoned is bad planning personified.
:rolleyes:
A canal across a strait?
No. Across Thailand, I would assume. Look at a map, and you’ll see that Thailand is quite narrow between the Indian Ocean and the Sea of China.
No, no, no. The landlocked province of Darfur is where the Janjaweed militia are.