It’s Talk Like a Pirate Day: 10 famous pirates (and free doughnuts)

Ahoy, land lubbers! Dust off yer eye patch and shiver ye timbers! Talk Like a Pirate Day is Friday. Arrrr!

There’s no need to pillage to celebrate: sail into Krispy Kreme and order like a pirate – you’ll get an original glazed doughnut free. But if you dress like one? You get a free dozen of glazed doughnuts.

All you have to do is wear any three of these items in yer pirate get-up: eye patch, pirate hat, bandana, peg leg, parrot on shoulder, pirate shirt or loose white shirt, knickers, leather belt, silver or gold necklaces and earrings, pirate hook, or black boots or ragged sandals. Remember, no weapons allowed, or ye walk the plank.

This linguistic “holiday” catapulted from a few friends flinging pirate slang to an international phenomenon with the help of Dave Barry’s newspaper column. Creators John Baur and Mark Summers picked a date for their self-proclaimed holiday in 1995 and have encouraged other sea dogs to join in ever since.

If you miss out, don’t weigh anchor on pirate-hood just yet. The Great Plains Renaissance Festival, which goes from Sept. 27 to 28, is having some pirate-themed weekend events including a pirate costume contest and entertainment including The Musical Blades, the Bawdy Buccaneers and Pirates Inc.

To get you in the mood to talk pirate, here are 10 famous pirates:

▪ Anne Bonny: One of the most prominent female pirates in the 1700s, she divorced her husband and joined a pirate gang in Jamaica. She fought alongside the men and held her own when capturing other vessels.

▪ Sir Henry Morgan: This pirate raided a slew of Spanish settlements in the mid-17th century, while earning his reputation for being ruthless. He’s also the poster child of Jamaican rum.

▪ William Kidd or “Captain Kidd”: Rumor has it he left behind buried treasure at the end of his pirate reign in the late 1600s. No one knows what happened, but the legend inspired works by Edgar Allan Poe and Robert Louis Stevenson.

▪ Henry Every: Instead of being apprehended or killed, he allegedly retired with his wealth in the mid-1690s.

▪ Bartholomew Roberts aka “Black Bart”: He was the most successful pirate during the Golden Age of Piracy in the 1720s, with over 400 captured vessels in his career.

▪ Cheung Po Tsai: Legend claims that this 19th century Chinese pirate commanded over 600 vessels in his fleet, complete with a hidden treasure. No one knows where, though: Cheung Po Tsai gave up his pirate life to become a government official in charge of eradicating piracy.

▪ Edward Teach aka “Blackbeard”: Blackbeard was said to light fuses under his hat to scare off enemies while he sailed the seas in the early 1700s. He rarely used force: he relied on his image to do his dirty work and asked before commanding another’s ship.

▪ Jack Sparrow: This pirate flew onto screens in 2003 as captain of the Black Pearl from “Pirates of the Caribbean.” His resume includes four, almost five, other pirate films and turtle-whispering.

▪ Captain Hook: This clock-fearing villain, from J. M. Barrie’s 1904 play, is more afraid of alligators than flying children who refuse adulthood.

▪ Long John Silver: He’s the peg-legged antagonist from Stevenson’s 1883 novel “Treasure Island,” complete with a be-parroted shoulder. He’s better known as the namesake of the seafood restaurant chain.

This story was originally published September 19, 2014 at 6:42 AM with the headline "It’s Talk Like a Pirate Day: 10 famous pirates (and free doughnuts)."