Such representations of male pirates are particularly thrown into relief when considered alongside Johnsons portrayals of female pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read, depictions that placed even stronger emphasis on the womens gendered identities and sexual lives. You Have Been Warned. Thats my spot!
Exquemelins own experience as a buccaneer in the Caribbean made his breathless narrative all the more authoritative. By 1681, they had been sold yet again to appear in a Spanish-language edition of the text produced by Lorenzo Struikman, a Cologne printer (located some four hundred kilometers back en route to Amsterdam from Nuremberg), who sought to take advantage of eager Spanish reading audiences willing to pay for high-quality books imported from Northern Europe. Miles Cowperthwaite: Oh, that is very kind of you, sir.. [ chuckles nervously ] As a young recruit in the army, Read fell in love with one of her officers, continually risking life and limb to be near himbehavior that her peers found mad and perplexing. Miles Cowperthwaite: Why cant he hold the arm out of the way. 16 and 17). Miss Warrington. The fact that the Dutch printer included twelve cuts in the bookfour portraits, six action scenes, a map of Panama, and a fully illustrated title pageindicates his faith in the books success, for the cost of such work would have been considerable.
They have become Venuses with muscle and an almost pugilistic readiness for action (figs. Ruth Warrington: Yes.
And therefore, I will be punished. His first-hand reports of terrifying pirate leaders and his description of their lair on the tiny island of Tortuga provided European readers with new information about criminals as well as the Caribbean. When a different London printer, Thomas Malthus, produced his own, revisionist version of Exquemelins Bucaniers in 1684a volume that described the recently knighted Henry Morgan in far more flattering terms than as the sadistic antihero of Exquemelins tellinghe hired F. H. Van Hout (possibly a Dutch migr) to copy the portraits. You will need to temporarily disable your Ad-blocker to view this page. His buccaneers are hidden by shadows, avoiding the viewers gaze (fig. In such cases, printers hired engravers to recut the plates by using a tool to carefully trace over and deepen the plates worn lines and restore their ability to produce sharp images. Are you alright? Ubiquitous as they are now, these conventions have a long history, one that is rooted as much in the history of the book trade as it is in the history of seafaring. As important as piracy was to European and American political, economic, and maritime history, early modern print media developed modes of describing and representing pirates that sparked readers imaginations and that continue to shape pirate conventions today.
Of the details of my escape from The Raging Queen, as well as my adventures subsequent thereto, the reader shall learn in my next chapter: I Am Eaten By Sharks.. Im afraid theyll have to come off. Bartholomeus de Portugees, from the original 1678 Amsterdam edition of Exquemelins Bucaniers. Turned into a really lost opportunity when you find out that, From 1978, it's the new live entertainment sensation , "The Last Voyage of the Starship 'Enterprise'". Moreover, in the cheap homophobic tradition of television writing (which was, sadly, not unique to the 1970s), they have Cowperthwaite discover that the crew dedicates so much of its time to suntanning, enforcing corporal punishments, and searching, wistfully, for pirates that they make little forward progress. 17. 4). Courtesy of the Library of Congress. Ruth Warrington: Captain Ned will be so relieved.
Even the clouds of smoke from the burning Spanish ships in the distance become darkest and most ominous near the swords tip. Now, men, I run a mans ship. It is tempting to imagine that readers might have seen them as strong rebels and volatile romantics, prototypes of a form of active female agency in matters of economics, sex, and self-protection that would contrast sharply with the passive women of domestic fiction. And yet considering that the books illustrations were partnered with a heightened interest in the pirates sex lives in the text, perhaps readers would see the images as phallic after all. I was worried that you might be.. frightened by the masty weather.. [ unbuttons the top of his pajamas ]. 1. [ indicates Tarvoxs arm resting on his leg ]. By 1704, the London printer heralded the books wondrous Actions, and daring Adventures, claiming that all but the most stupid minds could not help but admire them.
Welcome toCommonplace,a destination for exploring and exchanging ideas about early American history and culture. I guarantee you wont know which one is missing. The pirates they depicted radiated a hyper masculinity, at once morally ambiguous and socially transgressive. As Bucaniers of America circulated through Europe, one engraver after the next embroidered on the same themes of ominous danger and masculine bravado that originated with the 1678 illustrations. The book appeared in the libraries of Robert King Carter of Virginia and other wealthy American colonists as well as in the Social Library of Salem, Massachusetts, indicating that it had appeal far beyond the confines of England and northern Europe. Fig. I ask only that whatever you do, please dont put me in a tight-fitting Lassie costume and make me eat from a monogrammed dog dish. Somebody else get up here and look! Escapism was different: reading these tales might have helped men imagine escaping from their social, economic, and sexual responsibilities to live far more freewheeling lives and express their basest instincts. Captain Ned: Stop! In fact, its surprising we hear so little about their devastating effects on European trade; one eighteenth-century commentator estimated that England lost as much to pirates during the early eighteenth century as it did to Spain and France during the catastrophic War of the Spanish Succession fought between 1701 and 1714. 1) is an iconoclastic figure, encompassing everything from menace to heroism. Chase may not have looked anything like Ford, but he overplayed the mannerisms and goofiness so well that Ford could never shake the klutz image in, Topped by the parodying of the Ford-Carter debates (with Akyroyd playing Carter) where Ford would get confused and think he was playing on the, "Samurai Hotel", the first Samurai Sketch, featuring. For the main index, see here. Why didnt these printers do the same?
The move to Nuremberg did not mark the end of the plates travels. Courtesy of the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University. Well, thats very kind of you, but Im not frightened! For more information on cookies including how to manage your consent visit our. Fig. Make me wear nipple-pinching clothespins, sir! We havent been harmed at all.
8. I imagine that the crew is quite used to it, for in all my rounds with the ship surgeon, Dr. Pierce, I never once heard a man complain.. Miles Cowperthwaite: [ worried ] What?! No votes so far! Oh, my God, I dont know.. oh, it might be land, maybe its another boat.. Oh, daft, it might me a cloud! 12 and 13). (This was a stretch, for these men were so thoroughly non-national figures that one of them, Rock. Johnson allows the sexual confusion of the scene to play out for his readers enjoyment, delaying its resolution. Shortly after the books 1678 appearance in Amsterdam, the text was translated into German and issued by a Nuremberg press in 1679. Madeline Warrington: Yes. Armed with swords, hatchets, and pistols, and angry facial scowls, Bonny and Read bear little resemblance to the women commonly idealized in contemporary English culture and literature. Its a place to find insightful analysis of early American history as it is discussed in scholarly literature, as it manifests on the evening news, as it is curated in museums, big and small; as it is performed in documentary and dramatic films and as it shows up in everyday life. And I have promised his guardian to teach him the mans life at sea! And so my term of service at sea had come to an end. Indeed, the image even hints at a smile on his face, although the viewer senses that ones eyes might be fooled by the turn of his tidy mustache.
Captain Ned took a warm, personal interest in my welfare, and if a night was stormy, or even mildy choppy, he would ocme to my cabin to comfort me., Captain Ned: [ grinning ] Hello, Miles. Transport overland between Frankfurt and Nuremberg, for exampleless than half the distance from Amsterdamballooned a books cost by an average of about 25 percent. For recent histories of real-life pirates, see Marcus Redikers Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: Merchant Seamen, Pirates, and the Anglo-American Maritime World, 1700-1750 (Cambridge, 1987) and hisVillains of All Nations: Pirates in the Golden Age (Boston, 2004), as well as Virginia Lunsfords Piracy and Privateering in the Golden Age Netherlands (New York, 2005). Oh, maybe its a cloud, Im not sure, oh dear! This pirate story isnt over yet. The original 1678 Amsterdam edition presented dark, vivid portraits and action images of fights, battles, and torture. First thing.
That new narrative may be coming. Even more risqu was the moment when Bonny and Read met aboard a pirate ship, each in full disguise. Even without the puffery, the book was an easy sell. I will tolerate no men under my command who act in such a way so as to discredit their manhood and manliness! [R]everence for the document is key to how people today think of the Constitution.. He glowers at the viewer as if annoyed, distracted from his real purpose of watching his crew destroy a harbor full of Spanish ships. Pirates who inflict hideous punishment to those who fall into their hands! Tell me.. are there any males with you? The fact that Bouttals had them lay their riches at the feet of the symbolic figure of America, the Indian princess, rendered these men even more dangerously capricious by suggesting that they robbed Europe to give to no one in particularor worse, to savages. She was so distracted by her love that she neglected her duty: it seems Mars and Venus could not be served at the same time, Johnson comments philosophically. Already photographs have appeared depicting them with machine guns held erect; visual representations featuring cocky poses and dramatic clothing will not be far behind, inviting newly enticing tales to captivate readers. One night, however, as I lay in bed writing a letter to Lord Pinckley, I heard an unfamilair knock at my door.. I was afraid that the excitement of the last several months at sea, combined with the change of seasons might have alarmed you.
Dr. Pierce: Well, Miles, I suspect youll be strong enough to go under the knife in a couple of days, huh? Each of the books subsequent portraits, including those of Rock. 3. [ runs to address his crew ] Men! Fig. Courtesy of the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University. Sign up for email updates and announcements, the American Antiquarian Society and Omohundro Institute, Portrait of a Commander in Armor, With a Red Scarf, The Story the Torn Gown Told: Forensic Evidence and Lanah Sawyers Prosecution of Henry Bedlow for Rape, New York, 1793, A Very Curious Religious Game: Spiritual Maps and Material Culture in Early America, Sullivan Ballous Body: Battlefield Relic Hunting and the Fate of Soldiers Remains, We left all on the ground but the head: J. J. Audubons Human Skulls, Benedict Arnolds House: The Making and Unmaking of an American, Blogging Moby-Dick: An artist illustrates every page of The Whale, Images of Want: How poverty was, and was not, pictured before the Civil War, Striking Scenes: Robert Koehler, The Strike (1886), and competing visions of labor-capital conflict in the Gilded Age, Object Lesson: Pompe Stevens, Enslaved Artisan, Acquisition, Interrupted: Charles Willson Peales Stewart Children and the labor of conscience, The Art of Condescension: Postbellum Caricature and Woman Suffrage, Print Culture and Popular History in the Era of the U.S.-Mexican War, Land that Could Become Water: Dreams of Central America in the Era of the Erie Canal, http://commonplace.online/article/trading-looks-race-religion-dress-french-america/, Just Teach One: Early African American Print. Fighting on deck is a serious breach on my articles of strict discipline!
Of course, if they had truly worn such outfits, they would have fooled no one as to their sex; the costumes help readers imagine the womens disguise while confirming their sex. Now, before I introduce Captain Ned, theres some quiche over here, some salad, and some banana bread in the bowl, and there should be a brie around, if someone hasnt eaten it. Cartoonists manipulated the meaning of the revolution metaphor for their own mischievous designs. Madeline Warrington: They were contemptible animals, who subjected our ships crew to the most unspeakable torture! 7. Now, of course, I cant possibly introduce everybody, so youre just going to have to wear your little name tags.
Surely we might have admired the audacity of men who used tiny boats, limited manpower, and very big guns to capture and ransom off ships belonging to the most powerful nations in the world. Captain Ned: Alright! If you are using an Ad-Blocker, it might have mistakenly blocked our content. He portrayed them in breeches, heavily armed, and striking jaunty and mildly threatening poses. No, I cant tell, this damn thing is torturing me. Ive heard enough! I want a boiling oil rub.. By midcentury and later, dozens of cheap woodcut-illustrated editions almost identical to the London original emerged from presses in Glasgow, Birmingham, Worcester, and elsewhere (fig 15). Your manly admission of guilt is most manful. Captain Ned: Just so.. with the stormy weather weve been having lately, I was afraid this.. sudden calm might alarm you. Some illustrations and pages from the original edition of Alexandre Exquemelins Bucaniers of America (Amsterdam, 1678) are available online by the Library of Congress; meanwhile, Captain Charles Johnsons General History of the Robberies & Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates (originally published London, 1724) is still in print. 6) that copied the Dutch version but eliminated the background view of a dramatic sea battle in order to festoon Morgans bust with elaborate curlicues and a heavy oval frame. Miles Cowperthwaite V/O: From the moment I learned that Dr. Pierce has designs on my legs, I decided to repeat my attempt at escape whatever the risk involved. Which, upon closer inspection, was found to contain two remarkable passengers.. Just my sister and I. Ruth Warrington: Yes. It isfor all sorts of people to read about all sorts of things relating to early American lifefrom architecture to literature, from politics to parlor manners.
Dr. Pierce: Well, to get the leg. When William Crooke produced his own edition (translated from one of Struikmans Spanish copies), he too decided that the original engravings were so superior that he purchased them. This browser is not supported by Wikiwand :( Wikiwand requires a browser with modern capabilities in order to provide you with the best reading experience.Please download and use one of the following browsers: An extension you use may be preventing Wikiwand articles from loading properly. To show him mans ports, such as Key West and San Fransisco! The themes of manly adventure, gender transgression, erotic violence, and moral ambivalence have recurred with such regularity over these centuries by successive writers and illustrators that we cant help but see how early modern print culture came to rely on such conventions for selling books. Carolyn Eastman is assistant professor of history at the University of Texas, Austin, and the author of A Nation of Speechifiers: Making an American Public after the Revolution (2009) as well as essays in the William and Mary Quarterly, Gender and History, and American Nineteenth-Century History. The image conveyed the extent to which they had stepped outside the norms of European manhood. Fig. If Exquemelins Bucaniers of America had been less popular, we might be skeptical of its role in establishing lasting conventions for representing pirates. When we pulled you out of the water, your legs were.. soaking wet. By the 1720s Parliament began to enact harsh new laws against piracy and to conduct well-publicized criminal trials to hang pirates for their misdeeds, seeking with this display of juridical force to discourage what had clearly become a highly lucrative line of work. Look. The fact that they hailed from one of the poorest and least powerful nations on earth might only have elicited more wonder. Captain Ned: Is this how men act on a mans ship? Miles Cowperthwaite: Sir? Courtesy of the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University. Although Exquemelin never paused to describe his antiheroes, he liked to include extensive depictions of the grisly tortures they inflicted on unlucky victims.
First Mate Spunk: Alright, please, everybody, please! [ peers through telescope ], Miles Cowperthwaite V/O: What Mr. Spunk had sighted was not land at all, but a small, open boat. Exquemelin used a breezy narrative style and light humor to describe his subjects. The heroic frontispiece of Thomas Malthuss revisionist 1684 edition of Bucaniers of America. Impulsive and volatile, brave and rapacious, the pirates who came to life on the pages of Bucaniers of Americaserved up an alternative model of manliness. Still, Johnson focuses not on the material benefits of cross-dressing but on titillating (and almost Shakespearean) moments of sexual confusion. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson Confirmation Cold Open, Weekend Update: Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson Confirmed, Obama's Return to the White House, Weekend Update: Trend Forecasters on Today's Most Popular Trends, Weekend Update ft. Aidy Bryant and Bowen Yang, Jake Gyllenhaal, Camila Cabello and Bowen Yang Are Excited for Spring, Fox & Friends Cold Open: Supreme Court Confirmation Hearings, Weekend Update: Will Smith and Chris Rock, Weekend Update: Senator Marsha Blackburn on Judge Jacksons Confirmation Hearings, Weekend Update: O.J.
Once again, I found myself quite alone in the world, with little capitol and few prospects. 16. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.
First Mate Spunk: Dont you give me any back-sass, you tan tease! Contemporary military portraiture often featured armed men but virtually never men whose swords were drawn and erect. In both images, the womens male attire contrasts with their exposed breasts; their flowing hair contrasts with their excessive armament. And so at length we put into port at Key West, where we took on a supply of omelet pans and did the costumes for a production of Take Her, Shes Mine.
We were crossing the West Indies, when pirates seized our ship. Im ready to accept my punishment.. First Mate Spunk: Captain! No, not really. Johnny Depp and Amber Heard Trial Cold Open, Weekend Update: Cryptocurrency Crashes, Mitch McConnell Visits Ukraine, Weekend Update: Field Correspondent Sarah Sherman Gives an SNL Studio Tour, Weekend Update: Ukraine Wins Eurovision, 7,000 NYC Rat Sightings Reported, Weekend Update: Baby Yoda on His Spiritual Awakening, Weekend Update ft. Kyle Mooney and Sarah Sherman. We were worried that the cool sea air, combined with the saltiness of the spray, and the closeness of ships in the harbor might have alarmed you. But Exquemelin also supplied a narrative of action and adventure that went far beyond the more sober descriptions of travel common in the era. Don Roy King has directed fourteen seasons of Saturday Night Live. Its rather in the way, see? 2. Uh..
I see nothing unmanly in that. For this crew is an unsavory lot! In addition, the pressure imposed by a copperplate press was so extreme that plates wore out; depending on the quality of the copper and the particular pressure of the press, this could occur as quickly as after only 125 impressions. Okay, well take the.. the.. Dr. Pierce: ..leg.. off on Thursday, okay? What kind of narrative would have enabled us to incorporate the Somalis into the pirate stories we have inherited? After capturing Maracaibo, they stole twenty thousand Peices of Eight, several Mules laden with Houshold-goods and Merchandize, and twenty Prisoners, between men, women, and children. And probably the arm, as well. Im afraid the guilty party is in for a very severe punishment! But occasionally, there would be time for activities such as steering the ship, and trying to make the sails fill up with wind.
Fig.
SNLFan By making pirate stories dramatic and exciting, Ellms transformed pirates from news objects and historical actors to distinctly literary characters.
4. The European who looks hopelessly to the viewer for help in Bouttalss version is about to suffer more than death, for the pirate appears prepared to level a far more serious kick to the groin than did his counterpart in the Dutch title page. Were these men admirable and manly rogues or cowardly, vicious villains?
If I say its land, and we make for it and its not, Ill get yelled for it! Invariably outmanned and outgunned, his pirates managed to take Spanish ships and entire towns; they escaped from custody no matter how tight the security. Sales of the initial edition were so strong that the book shortly thereafter appeared in German (Nuremberg, 1679), Spanish (two editions printed in Cologne, 1681 and 1682), English (at least eight London editions between 1682 and 1704), and French (at least six Paris and Brussels editions between 1686 and 1713), as well as a second Dutch edition in 1700; it would be revived in the 1740s for publication through the end of the eighteenth century and into the nineteenth by presses on both sides of the Atlantic. The first sports star ever to host the show; Tarkenton was a football player for the Minnesota Vikings and the New York Giants, This was the second time they'd run captions over Buck's monologue. In none of these ways did pirates conform to prescribed models of European manliness of the time (and particularly of the middling and wealthy men who likely purchased the book)ideals of masculinity that tended to stress fiscal responsibility, sexual control, and judicious understanding of ones social place. Davis's dance for the talent portion must be seen to be believed. But whatever readers decided, their conclusions rested on texts, images, and the interplay between the two. Miles Cowperthwaite: Oh, its alright for me! Although erect swords and angled hatchets might appear phallic to twenty-first century viewers, not all eighteenth-century readers would have granted the images such connotations. They took our entire crew prisoners. Here the editor finessed the question of the pirates sexual license and propensity for rape, conceding half-heartedly that these men lacked the Justness and Regularity that marked a Christian man and even the tolerable morals of more run-of-the-mill citizens. Considering that the Dutch plates were ultimately used to produce nine separate editions of a consistently popular book, we might conservatively guess that at least five thousand copies of the book appeared with these images insideand, more liberally, perhaps as many as thirteen thousandradically testing the ability of copper plates to produce legible images. Clearly, the investment of time and money was rewarded: by any standard for the day, Bucaniers was a bestseller. Take the Paris printer, Jacques Le Febvre, who produced four editions of Exquemelin between 1686 and 1705. 5) and display the shadow of the rubbed-out Dutch caption even more clearly. It was my understanding that there would be no math. Miles Cowperthwaite: But, Captain Ned, sir, it is perfectly calm tonight! Dr. Pierce: Miles, my boy, you have much to learn.
These were pleasant times.
Do I make myself clear? In recommending it, he stressed most of all that the book informeth us (with huge novelty), of as great and bold attempts, in point of Military conduct and valour, as ever were performed by mankind; without excepting, here, either Alexander the Great, or Julius Caesar, or the rest of the Nine Worthys of Fame. He went so far as to describe Exquemelins pirates as English national heroes because they so frequently outwitted the Spanish, who were cast as heavies in the London edition. Johnson introduced the women dramatically: before informing his readers of the existence of female pirates, he described a scene in the Court of Admiralty that was trying and convicting a large number of men for piracy in Jamaica in 1721. Anne Bonny, from the 1725 Amsterdam edition of Johnsons Pyrates. Im afraid they may yet be very close.. Captain Ned: I see. Exquemelin explained that when the sadistic Henry Morgan and his men refrained from putting men to the rack, they liked to stretch their limbs with Cords, and at the same time beat them with Sticks and other Instruments. The painting suggests a work environment so deplorable that even the skilled, sober-minded, American-born workers have walked out. Captain Ned: [ thinking ] Hmm.. Im afraid well have to take it off. One of the crew saw you fall overboard. Likewise, his version of Bartholomew Portugues (fig. Where is your manliness? Several cartoons from the presidential campaign of 1848 show Salt River as a foreboding obstacle for all who seek the nations highest office. Whether we think of Johnny Depps gender-bending Jack Sparrow or the courtship antics of The Pirates of Penzance, gender and sexuality play primary roles in popular portrayals of piracy.
But Bartholomeuss facial expression is radically different from that of either Titians or Rembrandts figures, granting new meaning to the posture. Successful the sketch was not. Miles Cowperthwaite V/O: Despite six months spent in the endevour, our search for the pirates proved unsuccessful.
Have you spied land? Now, run along, you are blocking my sun. Buccaneers rise from obscurity and the lowest social orders to possess terrific riches, their strict loyalty to one another, and the rough equality they cultivated depended on the fact that they targeted the wealthiest ships and cities for attack. Uh.. Well, Miles, have you anything to say? Dr. Pierce: Yes.
[ removing clothes ] Hey, Miles, it is terribly hot in here!
The Stewart Children instances passionately held ideas about the common welfare structuring a painting that sought to have a moral and social impact on viewers.
Funny moments from years 1975-1979 of Saturday Night Live. Fig. Narratives of both men and women cast pirates as outsiders who reject gender conventions and flout sexual propriety. After lunch, there was more punishment til dinner. Fig. 6. First Mate Spunk: Thats my tanning spot! Captain Ned: Very well. You can help our automatic cover photo selection by reporting an unsuitable photo. In fact, when another London printer issued a cheap reprint of the book the following year, he replaced the three copperplate engravings with ten woodcuts depicting each of the pirates in successively more provocative poses displaying their manly bravado and cocky virility (fig. It signaled that not all men needed to follow the same path. It having been determined by my benefactor that a term of service at sea would make a man, I accordingly left Pinckley Hall in the company of Captain Ned, and put out from Bristol aboard his ship The Raging Queen. In the original 1724 edition they are portrayed with flowing hair crowned with feminine caps and dressed in improbable loose-fitting culottes that suggest wide hips and possibly even the big bellies that saved these women from the gallows (fig. His posture is reminiscent of Titians influential Man With a Blue Sleeve(ca.
Madeline Warrington: Youre back on board The Raging Queen, Miles. See also Roger Gaskells Printing House and Engraving Shop: A Mysterious Collaboration, in The Book Collector 53 (Summer 2004): 221-24; Sheila OConnells Popular Print in England (London, 1999); and Joseph Monteynes The Printed Image in Early Modern London (London, 2007). Selena Gomez Is Hosting SNL for the First Time! My name is Ruth Warrington. Pirates had become synonymous with ferocity, weaponry, action, and, more obliquely, sexual danger. 7) removed Portugues from the midst of battle. If you are looking for a specific Commonplace article from the back catalog and do not see it, or if have any other questions, please contact us directly. Editors made sure to underscore the pirates manliness and bravery when they composed prefaces advertising the books pleasures. 12. Youll be fine.. [ walks off to have a drink ], Miles Cowperthwaite V/O: Perhaps this isnt the routine of an ordinary sailor: floggings, stockings, key haulings, kneeling on our knuckles, having things dropped on our heads, being pushed down stairs, and so on. Exquemelins descriptions of pirates propensity to steal and then lose vast riches signaled their separation from the ideal of financial moderation as well as manly self-control.
Fig. Ruth Warrington: Well.. these past six months at sea aboard The Raging Queen have been somewhat frightening. Courtesy of the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University. Miles Cowperthwaite: Begging your pardon, maam.. but have any of the men on board.. well.. tried to take liberties with you. Both had been born illegitimately and had found, throughout their lives, a degree of economic freedom in an array of male disguises. Perhaps we can all comfort Miles! Indeed, Exquemelins descriptions of somatic cruelty veered close to a certain vein of late seventeenth-century pornographic writing that emphasized the erotic nature of flogging and the brutal ravishing of women, among other perversions. Sketches include "Mother's Day Monologue," Familiar representations of pirates, in particular, were born during the golden age of piracy (from roughly 1670 to 1730) and were reworked and codified in numerous illustrated books published in Europe and circulated throughout the Atlantic. Miles Cowperthwaite: Oh, thats very kind of you, Captain.. Ruth Warrington: Excuse me, Captain, but we were comforting Miles.