Benerson Little

Article in issue 13 of Pirates Magazine, on pirate language real and imagined: "The Language of Pirates."

A supplementary note in advance of the article: regarding Isla de Muerto in the Bay of Guayaquil, an island more commonly known in the 17th century as Santa Clara, the name derives from its shape. Some of the Hacke copies of the famous captured Spanish derrotero or chart book note that the island "at a distance apears like a corps in a shroud” and "like the corps of a man in a shroud." Buccaneer adventurer William Dampier also noted that "it appears like a dead Man stretched out in a Shroud." From this would derive not only the island’s nickname, but also the myth that buccaneers massacred some of a Spanish treasure ship's crew there. In fact, the buccaneers never saw the ship. See the August 12, 2010 "Pieces of Eight" entry on the Commentary & News page for more information about the treasure ship.

And another supplementary note: "Shiver my timbers" dates to at least 1795 where it is used in a play entitled Opposition. See The Tomahawk! or, Censor General, January 6, 1795.

Article, "The Origin of the Dread Pirate Banner, the Jolly Roger," in Pirates Magazine, available in bookstores and on newsstands. Ever wonder what the real origin of the Jolly Roger might be, beyond the usual, mostly incorrect, theories? Just a hint: "Roger" had more meanings than just the usual ones given...

The fact is, "joli rouge" had nothing to do with the origin of "jolly roger"--there are no historical references to the use of "joli rouge" for the French red banner correctly known as the "sans-quartier" or "pavillon rouge." Nor for that matter do any of several other popular theories have any support for their claims. A discussion of the origin of the "jolly roger" can also be found in Pirate Hunting. How History's Greatest Pirates... also has a brief discussion of pirate flags in the introduction, and also in the chapter on Ned Low.

Regarding a brief note in the article, in which I suggested that the skull and bones may have a Barbary corsair origin, I ran across an early seventeenth century account, posted on the Internet, that noted the death's head among Barbary rovers. It cites White Gold: The Extraordinary Story of Thomas Pellow and Islam's One Million White Slaves by Giles Milton as the source.

Here's an online article from the British Telegraph about the restoration of a real pirate flag. Here's another link to the same flag, with a good photo of the actual flag, in the Daily Mail.

While working on chapters on Bartholomew Roberts and Edward Low for How History's Greatest Pirates..., I took a more detailed look at their flags. Low, Spriggs, and Harris flew identical flags, perhaps because they had sailed together (and I suspect Russel flew the same flag as well), and one of Roberts's flags seems to have been the foundation. We know that Spriggs and Roberts referred to their flags as the Jolly Roger, and Harris as "Old Roger." However, I am beginning to think that "Roger" was the common name for the "death"--the full figure of a skeleton--used on the flags, and thus for the flags themselves. It's easy to see a pirate telling a captured seamen or even his own captors that his flag is "Old Roger" or "Jolly Roger," for reasons I explain in the article. Hopefully soon I'll have depictions, based on actual descriptions, of many of these flags on the Pirate Hunting and How History's Greatest Pirates... pages.

Gale Cengage Learning/Greehaven Press, January 2010: an article comparing and, especially, contrasting piracy and terrorism, in Piracy on the High Seas (At Issue Series), edited by Noah Berlatsky. Table of contents link.

Spoke on November 19 in Huntsville, Alabama at J H Partners, an architecture firm with the excellent, even Renaissance, habit of inviting speakers not in any way associated with the firm's business or purpose. My thanks to Kathleen Maker and the entire staff of J H Partners.

Lectured on piracy and pirate hunting at the National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum, Ft. Pierce, Florida on September 17. Both the audience and museum staff and volunteers were extraordinarily receptive, and have my utmost gratitude. The museum now houses the Maersk Alabama lifeboat, complete with bullet holes, in which Capt. Richard Philips was held hostage. Formal unveiling was September 14. A link to the museum is located in the right column.

Short article previewing the lecture, in the Vero Beach Press-Journal and TCPALM (Florida's Treasure Coast and Palm Beaches). Online video of the lecture available via St. Lucie County television.

Author signed books at the Southern Kentucky (SOKY) Book Festival, April 19, 2008, and appeared on the "Murderous Queens, A Lost Continent, & Swashbuckling Pirates: Truth & Fiction in History" panel with authors David King, Robert A. Prather, and Robert McCammon. Mr. King is the author of Finding Atlantis and Vienna 1814, Mr. Prather of The Strange Case of Jonathan Swift and the Real Long John Silver, and Mr. McCammon of horror novels including Boy's Life, as well as the recent historical mysteries Speaks the Nightbird and The Queen of Bedlam.

Author discusses pirate tactics in The History Channel's "Pirates: Terror on the Mediterranean" episode of Digging for the Truth. The episode, originally intended as a two hour season opener, was moved to a slot later in the season, apparently due to the dropping of one of the hosts, which in turn required some footage to be re-shot. Unfortunately, this resulted in the episode being cut in half, leaving most of the Denmark footage, which included detailed demonstrations of swordplay, a swivel cannon, and incendiary firepots, on the floor.