# What caused the "Pirate Boom" of a few years ago? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 17, 2005, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-caused-the-pirate-boom-of-a-few-years-ago/317407 "2005-08-17T08:52:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![CBCD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@CBCD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBCD)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2005, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-caused-the-pirate-boom-of-a-few-years-ago/317407/41 "2005-08-18T14:28:25Z")
> [@Miss Purl McKnittington](#): > > No, pirates decked themselves out, too. I can’t find my cite, but I remember reading that, with his sudden boom in wealth, a newly minted pirate would commission outrageously sumptuous clothing, and most likely drink up the rest of his money. They dressed plainly on ship, sure, but for a night on the town they’d hardly stop at some velvet and shiny buttons. The captain, however, would be sure to make his status on ship known, though probably not without velvet. Velvet is not an ocean-going material – it would be trashed within an hour. A British naval officer, at least, would be more likely to wear wool, which is much more forgiving. [Here](http://www.echonyc.com/~rzacks/kidd/piratelife.htm) is an explanation of how gaudy pirate dress was a flaunting of widespread sumptuary laws: ``` As for clothes, in most countries sumptuary laws still regulated what the poor could wear, forbidding the non-property owners from donning luxury items such as fur collars or wigs or silks. Where laws didn't dictate drab clothes for the poor, custom discouraged anyone not wealthy from ostentatious dressing. Pirates, on the other hand, damned the whole business and outfitted themselves in whatever insane melange of stolen finery they fancied. Prisoners observed pirates teetering ashore in ill-fitting silver-buckled pumps or cinched into tight waistcoats with gold buttons. Sailors, who often had to mend sails, were generally adept at needlework; so, while merchant men might turn a scrap of canvas into tarred trousers, pirates would take the richest striped silk of the East Indies to fashion their wardrobe. One favorite accessory was the bright colored sash draped over one shoulder, with loops to carry two or three pistols. ``` ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2005, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-caused-the-pirate-boom-of-a-few-years-ago/317407/42 "2005-08-18T14:42:07Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > I wanted a pirate wedding. I found ‘the _ultimate_ pirate outfit’. I would have looked _fabulous!_ Yar, but the wench changed her mind. Shiver me timbers an’ walk me plank! Ye know the problem with wimmin? They live on _land!_ [I found the page](http://www.authenticwardrobe.com/Pirate/pirate.html). It’s the photo at the bottom. I’m never going to get married, but I still want the outfit! ---
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2005, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-caused-the-pirate-boom-of-a-few-years-ago/317407/43 "2005-08-18T14:57:27Z")
[The First Mate’s Institute of Technology Is NOT a Party Pirate School](http://www.mcsweeneys.net/2002/12/19pirate.html). ---
**Author:** ![CBCD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@CBCD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBCD)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2005, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-caused-the-pirate-boom-of-a-few-years-ago/317407/44 "2005-08-20T18:30:03Z")
Yo ho! Attention all \*\*Maureen O’Hara/Pirate \*\* movie Fans. On Sunday, August 21st, 12:15 PM EST, TCM will be showing [The Spanish Main](http://www.turnerclassicmovies.com/ThisMonth/Article/0,,99366%7C99367%7C99369,00.html), one of several swashbucklers made by Maureen O’Hara. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-caused-the-pirate-boom-of-a-few-years-ago/317407/45 "2005-08-21T00:10:29Z")
Thanks, **CBCD**. Sometimes I think think the word “pirate” is just “parrot” gone slightly astray. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-caused-the-pirate-boom-of-a-few-years-ago/317407/46 "2005-08-21T01:08:10Z")
ARRRRRRR !!! What you landlubbers be thinking? THE pirate movie that started it all was [Cutthroat Island](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112760/) starring Geena Davis _before_ she became President of the United States. Great swashbuckling, looting, pillaging and skullduggery at every turn. I’ll forgives you this time for forgetting this movie - maybe you had a touch of scurvy. But the next pirate thread better be mentioning “Cutthroat Island” a _lot_. Otherwise we might be keel-hauling the lot of you. ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRR !!! ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-caused-the-pirate-boom-of-a-few-years-ago/317407/47 "2005-08-21T01:16:03Z")
It was definitely _Pirates of the Caribbean_ that is responsible. Pirates have always had popularity level that hasn’t really waned. But in the same way that _Jurassic Park_ became the tentpole that drew attention to dinosaurs, despite their incessant popularity already, so did _POTC_ draw more vivid attention to the Pirate-themed aspects of current pop culture that already existed. ---
**Author:** ![andrewdt85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71e660/32.png) [@andrewdt85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrewdt85)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-caused-the-pirate-boom-of-a-few-years-ago/317407/48 "2005-08-21T01:44:36Z")
Have none of ye seen Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story? [This guy](http://www.movie-montage.com/images/upload/816.jpg) who dresses, talks, and acts like a pirate all the time?! He’s a product of all the aforementioned brainwashing. Also, Bosda linked to stories of _actual_ modern-day pirates, not the pirates of centuries ago, and that got me thinking- besides the drug-dealers? in Six Days, Seven Nights, have there been any movies that actually contain modern-day pirates realistic pirates (not that that movie was too realistic)? I think it’s time for someone to make one… ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-caused-the-pirate-boom-of-a-few-years-ago/317407/49 "2005-08-21T02:00:58Z")
> [@MagicEyes](#): > > Yummy! Pirate coats are very sexy. With a little gold earring and the right pair of [boots,](http://caboots.com/product/PC2A4CHOCPEBB) that pirate look is just irresistible. Don’t forget the[Puffy Shirt!](http://photos1.blogger.com/img/13/2366/640/puffyshirt.2.jpg) Why are pirates _ever_ cool? Aren’t pirates just yesterday’s terrorists? In two or three hundred years, will Osama be reduced to a cultural icon that warms our hearts and sells our products? “I drive a BelchFire 3000 because it has room for all 72 virgins, yet sips gas like a sparrow drinks the morning dew. Oh, and Death to America!” ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-caused-the-pirate-boom-of-a-few-years-ago/317407/50 "2005-08-21T06:41:25Z")
> [@andrewdt85](#): > > Also, Bosda linked to stories of _actual_ modern-day pirates, not the pirates of centuries ago, and that got me thinking- besides the drug-dealers? in Six Days, Seven Nights, have there been any movies that actually contain modern-day pirates realistic pirates (not that that movie was too realistic)? I think it’s time for someone to make one… There were realistic modern-day pirates in _The Life Aquatic_. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-caused-the-pirate-boom-of-a-few-years-ago/317407/51 "2005-08-21T13:29:16Z")
> [@andrewdt85](#): > > Have none of ye seen Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story? > > [This guy](http://www.movie-montage.com/images/upload/816.jpg) who dresses, talks, and acts like a pirate all the time?! He’s a product of all the aforementioned brainwashing. > > Also, Bosda linked to stories of _actual_ modern-day pirates, not the pirates of centuries ago, and that got me thinking- besides the drug-dealers? in Six Days, Seven Nights, have there been any movies that actually contain modern-day pirates realistic pirates (not that that movie was too realistic)? I think it’s time for someone to make one… Yeeesss…set in the Caribbean. A yacht is siezed, & the family on board terrorized. Can’t recall the name. ---
**Author:** ![CBCD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9fc348/32.png) [@CBCD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CBCD)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-caused-the-pirate-boom-of-a-few-years-ago/317407/52 "2005-08-21T16:26:59Z")
Is a ‘Pirate Boom’ like an ‘Algae Bloom’? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-caused-the-pirate-boom-of-a-few-years-ago/317407/53 "2005-08-21T16:37:27Z")
> [@Bosda Di'Chi of Tricor](#): > > Yeeesss…set in the Caribbean. A yacht is siezed, & the family on board terrorized. > Can’t recall the name. [_The Island_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080934/)? ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-caused-the-pirate-boom-of-a-few-years-ago/317407/54 "2005-08-21T18:04:40Z")
I remember a TV movie from 1980 called [Desperate Voyage](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080613/) that was about modern-day pirates (well you only get to see 2 of them). ---
**Author:** ![andrewdt85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/71e660/32.png) [@andrewdt85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andrewdt85)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-caused-the-pirate-boom-of-a-few-years-ago/317407/55 "2005-08-21T20:39:56Z")
Both of those presentations sound kind of cinematic and unrealistic and maybe hokey- I was thinking a gritty drama like City of God, with realism and all that. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2005, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-caused-the-pirate-boom-of-a-few-years-ago/317407/56 "2005-08-21T22:44:10Z")
> [@Johnny L.A.](#): > > [_The Island_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080934/)? Just so. Good call, **Johnny**! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-caused-the-pirate-boom-of-a-few-years-ago/317407/57 "2005-08-23T00:54:28Z")
An update on the Somali pirate situation. [http://www.angolapress-angop.ao/noticia-e.asp?ID=367894](http://www.angolapress-angop.ao/noticia-e.asp?ID=367894) And why it’s a tragedy. [http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/africa/08/22/somalia.children.reut/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/africa/08/22/somalia.children.reut/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-caused-the-pirate-boom-of-a-few-years-ago/317407/58 "2005-08-23T00:57:06Z")
“That’s a _very_ interesting shirt you’re wearing…” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-caused-the-pirate-boom-of-a-few-years-ago/317407.md?page=2)