Pirates – New Exhibition at National Maritime Museum
Ahoy Mateys! This new exhibition at National Maritime Museum dives deep into the perception of piracy in popular culture and why it still fascinates us today, while exploring the global history of piracy, including notorious pirates like Edward ‘Blackbeard’ Teach, William Kidd and Anne Bonny.
@urbanadventurerldn ‘𝕻𝖎𝖗𝖆𝖙𝖊𝖘’ 𝙚𝙭𝙝𝙞𝙗𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 – 𝙉𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙖𝙡 𝙈𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙢𝙚 𝙈𝙪𝙨𝙚𝙪𝙢 ☠️ [BLOG POST IN BIO] Ahoy Mateys! 🏴☠️ This new exhibition at National Maritime Museum dives deep into the perception of piracy in popular culture and why it still fascinates us today. It’s exploring the global history of piracy, including notorious pirates like Edward ‘Blackbeard’ Teach, William Kidd and Anne Bonny. #pirates #piratesofthecaribbean #pirate #pirateslife #blackbeard #captainkidd #tortuga #CapCut
♬ Pirates Of The Caribbean – Main Theme – He’s A Pirate – Geek Music
Pirates – Myths and Reality
Photo: Urban Adventurer
What comes into your mind when you hear the word: ‘pirate’? Skull and crossbones? Walking the plank? Eyepatch? Buried treasure?
A new exhibition opened at National Maritime Museum to explore the global history of piracy and how fiction has shaped our perception of it through the ages.
The Flying Dutchman
Photo: Urban Adventurer
‘Pirates’ exhibition follows the history of piracy around the globe from the China Sea to the Caribbean and explores the fascinating lives of pirates and their notorious deeds by exploring real-life figures, including Edward ‘Blackbeard’ Teach, Captain William Kidd, Anne Bonny and Bartholomew ‘Black Bart’ Roberts, just to name a few.
The exhibition discusses classic pirate stereotypes that actually have historical basis while delving into the world of fiction, such as novels, films and comics.
Fact or Fiction?
Photo: Urban Adventurer
The novel ‘Treasure Island’ by Robert Louis Stevenson is one of the best examples how fiction can shape people’s perception about piracy.
The novel depicts pirates as they bury their treasures and draw a map to find it later, they keep talking parrots as pets, and some of them have wooden legs or eye patches.
Walt Disney’s Technicolour launched ‘Treasure Island’ as their first live action film in 1950. In the film, Long John Silver was played by Robert Newton who had a West Country accent which has become synonymous with how British pirates talked.
18th century newspapers often wrote about pirate adventures and trials and journalists liked exaggerating the stories to make pirates appear more violent and their deeds more horrible.
As people at that time were eager to learn the grisly details of the latest pirate stories, journalists and illustrators happily served this to increase sales.
Replica of Captain James Hook’s costume
Photo: Urban Adventurer
How much, however, is true from those stories? Did pirates really bury their treasures? Did they really have Pirate Code? Did they make people walk the plank? And was the infamous skull and crossbones pirate flag real?
‘Pirates’ exhibition brings together fiction and reality with an amazing collection of over 200 remarkable objects displayed, including some from National Archives, V&A and BFI.
The Golden Age of Piracy
Photo: Urban Adventurer
The ‘golden age’ of piracy was actually a short period of time in history. It started in the 1680s and ended with the death of Bartholomew ‘Black Bart’ Roberts in 1722.
17th-century coin
Photo: Urban Adventurer
The ‘golden age’ of piracy is coincident with the expansion of British colonisation activity as the volume of merchant ships significantly increased between the European and the American continent. The ships were packed with valuable goods and treasures being an irresistible temptation for pirates.
Replica of a gibbet cage. Captain Kidd was executed for piracy in 1701 and was hanged in a cage like this at Execution Dock, London
Photo: Urban Adventurer
Although, the risk was very high of being a pirate, the potential rewards were far greater than any other forms of work at sea or land. It was not uncommon that the crew of captured ships decided to join the pirates.
Photo: Urban Adventurer
However, due to the high risk of violent punishment, most of the pirates quit after a few years.
The most successful pirate was Bartholomew Roberts ‘Black Bart’ who successfully attacked over 400 vessels during his career. He was killed by Captain Chaloner Ogle of the Royal Navy on the 10th February 1722. Black Bart’s crew reportedly celebrated capturing a ship the night before and struggled with heavy hungover when Captain Ogle attacked their ship.
Black Bart – who usually preferred to celebrate with tea over Rum or liquor – decided to fight. Captain Ogle shot Black Bart’s ship with anti-personal weapons. Some of that struck Roberts’ neck and tore out his throat killing him instantly. That marked the beginning of the end of the ‘golden age’ of piracy.
Original sentence to death against fifteen crew members of Bartholomew ‘Black Bart’ Roberts
Photo: Urban Adventurer
After that incident pirates became hunted down and faced the most violent punishments.
Execution Dock on River Thames, for example earned its name by becoming the scene where pirates were hanged or put into gibbet cages as grisly warning to the public. Gibbets and gibbet cages were lined all the way long on the river bank. Captain William Kidd was also executed there on 23rd May 1701.
Orlando Bloom’s Costume from Pirates of the Caribbean and Other Treasures
Orlando Bloom’s costume from the Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Photo: Urban Adventurer
The are over 200 objects on display, including the costume Orlando Bloom wore during the filming of ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl’.
Other highlights:
The Pirate Hunter’s Cup
Photo: Urban Adventurer
This cup is once owned by Captain Chaloner Ogle who dramatically cut short Bartholomew Roberts’ criminal career and ended the ‘golden age’ of piracy.
The cup is carved from a coconut shell, beautifully decorated, and set within a silver mount.
A General History of Pyrates
Photo: Urban Adventurer
Written by Captain Charles Johnson, ‘A General History of Pyrates’ – although its accuracy is doubtful – is a very important historical source for writers and filmmakers even today.
The book was published in 1724 and based on trial records, interviews with former pirates and newspaper reports.
Logbook Record about the Fate of Blackbeard
Photo: Urban Adventurer
Lieutenant Robert Maynard was commanding a warship, called Pearl in November 1718 when he engaged Edward ‘Blackbeard’ Teach in battle. The fight was fierce and violent. Blackbeard eventually was captured and beheaded. His head was displayed for years on a stake at Chesapeake Bay in Virginia.
Map with Tortuga Island
Photo: Urban Adventurer
The Caribbean waters were very appealing to pirates. Partly because there were many trading ships to attack, and partly because there were many hiding places away from the authorities.
During the 17th century the island of Tortuga – many of us know from Pirates of the Caribbean films – became the stronghold for pirates.
Davy Jones’s Locker
Photo: Urban Adventurer
‘Davy Jones’s Locker’ is a painting by William Lionel Wyllie. It features the ghostly outline of a wrecked ship in the distance and human remains and a big rusty anchor resting on the bed of the ocean along with jewels.
The painting perfectly describes the mysterious world of Davy Jones who – according to tales of sailors – ruled the seas and presided over all the evil spirits of the deep.
Practical Info
Photo: Urban Adventurer
Address
National Maritime Museum | Romney Rd, London SE10 9NF
Opening Times
29th March 2025 – 4th January 2026
10am – 5pm daily
Recommended Age
7+
Tickets
Adult: £15
Student: £11.25
Child: £7.50
Tickets can be booked on National Maritime Museum’s official website
Ready for your next adventure? Hoist the colours and set sail to London’s new pirate-themed bar: The Rhum Tavern. Sip cocktails from a skull or a coconut shell and eat edible gold.