Was the novel "Treasure Island" by Robert Louis Stevenson the book that started all the images associated with

Question

pirates? Like the taling parrot, the pirate with the wooden leg, the hook, etc.?

Or was all this imagery already known before Stevenson wrote this book?

crap. i meant "talking" parrot...

Answer 1

There are available tales dating back even before the story got popular. Tales of pirates with a wooden leg and a hook to replace the limbs severed in battles were carved into the people's minds by authorities to create the frightening image of a pirate.
Long before time, pirates only turned to looting because they were fishermans or sailors pressured by the local authority and had no choice but to cut a living by the trade. They had a code to live with, but standards changed with time I guess.
I am not very sure about the parrot tho', but I guess someone must have thought living the captain alone could be quite a sad scene and had decided to create a companion for him. I suppose it turned out pretty well. :)

Answer 2

Yes. before the book, pirates didn't even really exist. Sure, there were occasional "boat thieves" or "marine scoundrals" (Later to be known as scalliwags), but pirates didn't really exist. They didn't dress like trasitional pirates, they didn't have talking parrots, and they didn't even use crappy pistols. They were still big on high tech musketeer stuff in the early days.

Once that novel came out, there was a simultaneous and cumulative idea that formed in the minds of the countless sea smugglers, and thusly pirates were born, and they tread the seas to this day, making innocents walk planks into herds of sharks, pillaging passing sailing vessels, and poking each other's eyes out at badass pool games so they can impress the ladies they capture and rape with a "real" eye patch.

Because fake eye patches are cheezy and meaningless.

Answer 3

I think pirates were popular or infamous before the book was written.

Yet another account attributes the Buccaneers for the name. However, it is clear that buccaneers sailed as privateers for England and as such sailed under a national flag and not the Jolly Roger (at least not always). Buccaneers would often raise a red flag along with their national flag when calling on a ship to surrender. The red flag, simply put, meant that no quarter would be given if a ship offered resistance. This flag was called joli rouge and would have easily been corrupted into English as the Jolly Roger. The name transferred when the flag switched from red to black.

But a quick search of the Oxford English Dictionary reveals that as early as 1724, Old Roger was a British term for the Devil and as early as 1540 a "roger" was a begging vagabond. Roger was a corruption of "rogue". So it might be that it was just slang for the vagrants of the sea or a "jolly roger". Finally by 1785, Francis Grose defines Jolly Roger as a pirate flag in his work A Classical of the Vulgar Tongue.

The skull and cross bones, or deaths head has been used as a cap badge among European armies since the 1600s. The first use of the same ensign on a flag dates from the early 1700s so the design was probably borrowed. The most common Jolly Roger is the Skull and cross bones, usually with the bones crossing under the skull but sometimes with the skull superimposed on top of the bones. Some claim the earliest reported Jolly Roger however had a full "anatomy" holding an hour glass in one hand and spear piercing a heart in the other supposedly symbolizing that the time for deliberation was short and if you chose to fight you would be killed. This was the jack of John Quelch.

Answer 4

The imagery was there before the book. Pirates, being seamen, had to be and where organized. You can't make to many mistakes at sea and those that you do make can kill you even today. Back in the sixteen and seventeen's that was even more true. A pirate ship was a democracy.The formation of a pirate ships officers was made by the Committee of the Forecastle which was all the crew except the already elected officers. Odd as it may seem the captain of a pirate ship was elected for his fighting skill, his ability to locate plunder and his luck. The quartermaster had to be able to navigate, steer the ship and write to be appointed to his office. Once elected the officers word was law until they failed in the eyes of the crew and were voted out. Since the a seaman was used to giving instant obiedience to orders because they understood that under emergency situations they had to they expected officers to act in a certain way. Thus the captain could and did order floogings and other punishments. Crew men where rated as per the articles. Able bodied, gunner, carpenter, tinker, etc. The ratings where the same as used by the fleets or ships that they had deserted from. The difference was that on a pirate the seaman was treated as a man. For instance the British East India Company routinely shipped out with an undermanned ships and less than enough food to feed them for the entire one way voyage. The owners of the company assumed that disease and accident would diminish the crew to a level that wouldn't need more food than was supplied. They were right. And what food that was supplied was god awful.
The Articles assured each member of the crew a monetary reward for the loss of of any body part or function. The one I remember is for the loss of of a right arm above the elbow = 200 pieces of eight and six able bodied slaves. It goes down or equals that amount for other body parts. Right hand little finger was a english pound. Not only that injured men who choose to could remain on board rather than being tossed on to the beach without a shilling as happened in most cases in the honest world.
The flag they flew depended on the Captain. Most were blood red with symbols offering no quarter and indicating that the pursued had no more time. Dancing skeletons waving swords and holding hourglasses was Calico Jack's favourite. But then he had a special relationship with a changing group of first mates. Thomas English, who took the Grand Mongul's treasure ship had a black flag with a skeleton holding a noose and hourglass over crossed swords.
Life was hard in those days every where. This was particulafly true at sea. A seaman knew he was going to die, whether coaster or deep water, so if he shipped out for a master who treated him like a dog, fed him worse than pig and whipped him if he complained or deserted. Hell, there was a offence on the books called dumb insolence. This meant if the officer or captain didn't like the way a seaman looked he could order strung up for fifty. So, often when his merchant ship was overtaken by a pirate and was overrun the pirates often gave the crew a chance to join the pirate, To become Brethen of the Coast. They did. They knew if caught they would be hung if they didn't die in combat or any of accidents and deseases around. This was accepted because they were at sea, the food was better, the women more available and life generaly better.

Answer 5

The impact of "Treasure Island" on perceptions of pirates can not be overestimated. Stevenson linked pirates forever with maps, black schooners, tropical islands, and one-legged seamen with parrots on their shoulders. The treasure map with an X marking the location of the buried treasure is one of the most familiar pirate props, yet it is entirely a fictional invention which owes its origin to Stevenson's original map. The term "Treasure Island" has passed into the language as a common phrase, and is often used as a title for games, rides, places, etc.

The pirate with the hook for a hand came from J. M. Barrie's Captain Hook in "Peter Pan" and it is hypothesized that Captain Hook was modeled after the famous English captain Christopher Newport. Both were dark-haired captains of dubious pasts, and both were missing their right hands which were replaced by metal hooks. Newport commanded the ships that landed the settlers at Jamestown in Virginia. He also seems to have a distinctive similarity to Bartholomew Roberts, especially regarding his choice of clothes and his impeccable manners, although Barrie specifically associates his dress and hairstyle with that of King Charles II of England.

Answer 6

I'm not sure but that may not be a bad guess. Of course pirating was not all about wooden legs, talking parrots, etc. It was more of procuring treasure and sometimes doing it for a certain government.

Answer 7

Well, after browsing through the other answers, I definately learned a lot about pirates, but kinda lost interest with that too long, too selfish, too boring, too self important answer by that child named Loreric (whatever that means). I for one remember pirates and loot from Robinson Crusoe, written by Defoe sometime in the 16 or 1700's, so these ledgends were around even then. Good ques. Rat

Answer 8

Piracy goes back to the 13th century BC. Stevenson's book was fiction based on fact, and went a long way to popularize the imagery of pirates for those of his time and we who followed. Google pirates and find out all you need to know.

M

Answer 9

I would think it was the real pirates that got things started, but the imagery certainly could have come from Treasure Island. It probably comes from a mix of historical fact and literature.

Answer 10

the images of the pirate was started by the author of the book robinson crusoe. his name was danial danfoe. he wrote 4 books about the golden age of pirates. he steched the truth and this is how the pirates came to be big. Robert Louis Stevenson did play a big role in adding details to the image. but some are based on fact capt england was a unkown pirate who died poor. but when we think of a pirate we think of the flag he had with the skull andcross bones.