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Mythbusters

Image result for walking the plankThrough years of inaccurate portrayals, many false beliefs about pirates have become commonplace. The general public's views about pirates are most greatly influenced by TV shows, movies, and other media, such as the famous movie series, "Pirate of the Caribbean". These inaccurate portrayals of pirates in popular media have created false expectations of what pirates are truly like. Over time, these misunderstandings about pirates have turned into myths: widely held but false beliefs or ideas. The novel "Under the Black Flag", strives to clear misconceptions about pirates and show which popular pirate myths are true, and which are nothing more than myths.
During the Golden Age of Piracy, people were suppressed from writing about pirates. However, this suppression caused people's curiosity about pirates to grow even larger, and people began writing anything they could imagine about pirates. One of the most famous and most-believed myths is that pirates made their victims "walk the plank", or walk off of the ship on a plank of wood to drown in the fierce ocean. This myth is false. The reasoning behind why many individuals have correlated pirates with walking the plank is because popular media often depicts pirates punishing their captured victims in this manner. Popular pirate-themed films such as the "Pirates of the Caribbean" often show pirates forcing their captured enemies to walk the plank into the unruly waters of the sea. 
Even though many myths about pirates have proven to be false, several "myths" have turned out to actually be facts. For example, another widely held belief is that pirates sailed the seas with a black flag engraved with a skull and cross-bones waving on their ship. This myth is true. Pirates truly did travel around flaunting around a flag with such design. However, not all pirates chose to don the infamous black flag and opted for flags of other designs. By going through all different kinds of myths, "Under the Black Flag" uncovers the truth behind myths of our favorite sea thieves: the pirates.

Golden Age of Piracy - History of Piracy - The Way of the Pirates. http://www.thewayofthepirates.com/piracy-history/golden-age-of-piracy/. Accessed 15 Jan. 2020.



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