AUGUST 2019 • NAT GEO KIDS (^23)
MYTH: All pirates made their captives walk the plank.
BUSTED! Pirates did force captives out on the water—they just didn’t use
planks. According to the 1724 book A General History of the Pyrates, ancient
Mediterranean pirates ran a ship’s ladder over the water and informed
captives they were free to go ... if they were up for a long swim. Eventually,
fiction authors turned the ladder into a plank, which was likely the
inspiration for a handful of late 18th-century pirates making their
captives walk the plank in real life.
Enough about
the villains.
Check out
these books to
discover some
of history’s
greatest
guys and girls.
“SHIVER ME TIMBERS!” said pirates ... or did they?
(They didn’t.) It turns out a lot of pirate legends were just
that: legends. Get the lowdown on three pirate myths.
MYTH: Pirates said
“arr” and “matey”
all the time.
BUSTED! You can
blame Hollywood for
this myth too. English
actors in 1950s pirate
films overdid it a bit
on their pirate slang,
and their exaggerated
take on “pirate speak”
stuck. No evidence
proves that real
pirates said “arr” or
“matey” very much.
MYTH: Pirates made trea-
sure maps showing where
they buried their loot.
BUSTED! No pirate trea-
sure maps have ever been
found. And since each crew
member expected to get
paid after an expedition,
they usually split up their
loot instead of burying it.
Old Hollywood movies such
as Treasure Island have
been blamed for starting
this myth.
Why
are pirates
called “pirates”?
because they
arr!
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