Patrick Lander stars as Blackbeard in The History Channel’s new documentary, True Carribean Pirates, © 2006.

I don’t normally cover T.V. items for review, but because this documentary happens to be film related, I decided to make an exception. By the name of the title, you should already know what films I am talking about, but for those of you who do not know, it is The Pirates of The Carribean. The entire United States can probably recite more than ten Johnny Depp lines from the 2003 hit than they can tell me ten facts about the real pirates who ruled the Carribean.

This isn’t sad to know, but the movies have also sparked great interest in the real history of the Carribean and it’s buccaneers. An interesting fact that the History Channel’s new documentary, True Carribean Pirates, informed me that buccaneer was originally a French word of totally different meaning. Originally it was boucanier, during the 17th century in the West Indies, they were free travelers who stole from the Spanish Shipping ships. The word came from boucan, which was a rack used for dry foods or making jerky. These boucan users, or boucaniers, hunted the wild boar and cattle that was brought and released into the jungles of the West Indies.

The entire documentary discusses and reenacts the events of the Golden Age for pirates in the Carribean and how their private society rose and eventually fell. It goes into great detail about the most famous pirates who plundered the Carribean and how they rose to power until their death or dissapearance. Captain Henry Morgan (1635-1688, Lance J. Holt) was a privateer, which is not a pirate, but sort of a mercenary, and fought for the English against the Spaniards in the lower Americas. Morgan was known for his overcourageous state of mind and was determined on taking out the more powerful Spanish towns and colonies with success. Morgan died peacefully and is said to have died of Tuberculosis in London.

Edward Teach, otherwise known as Blackbeard (1680-1718, Patrick Lander) was one of the most notorious and fearsome pirates during the Golden Age. He destroyed hundreds of ships during his two years of terror, and aquired the largest ship for any pirate to come into possession. He dubbed the ship Queen Anne’s Revenge, a huge ship with room for over forty cannons. When his ship was damaged in 1718, he was attacked by English and was eventually shot five times and stabbed more than twenty before he died and was decapitated and his head was used as a trophy on the bow of the Maynard. Legend says that his body swam around the ship seven times before it actually went to the bottom.

Anne Bonny (1697-?, Michelle Michaels) was a skilled fighter and disguised herself as a male in order to join the crew of Captain Calico Jack Rackham (David Joseph Boyd) on the Revenge. Once aboard the Revenge she then fought openly as a woman and made her gender known and became the most famous female pirate. She befriended another female pirate, Mary Read (Kimberly Adair), dressed as a male and the two were a fierce team aboard the ship. When the Jamaican Government attacked the ship, the male members were too drunk to fight, and the sober women held them off for a while before capture. The two were sentenced to hanging, but claimed they were both pregnant, and remained in prison until their children were born. Read died of a fever, and Anne was eventually pardoned. She dissapeared from any historical record, and no one actually knew if the two were pregnant or not.

Black Bart or Bartholomew Roberts (1682-1722) was the most successful pirate of The Golden Age. At the age of thirty-seven, he was captured on as a third mate on a slave ship by Captain Hywel Davis (Andy Simpson). When Hywel died, Bart was elected the new captain by the crew. During his career he captured 456 ships. His career as pirate captain ended abruptly on February, 1722 off Cape Lopez, Gabon, when he was killed aboard his flagship the Royal Fortune. Black Bart was killed cannon fire, which struck him in the throat, while he was battling Captain Chaloner Ogle’s company of the HMS Swallow. After the Black Bart died, the age of piracy slowly came to an end.

Tim Prokop, writer, director, and producer of True Carribean Pirates organizes many scholars and educated reenactors who tell us about what needs to be known about the real pirates of The Carribean. His reenactments are entertaining and also seriously, and realistically toned. The battles are harsh and believable, the costumes are authentic, and the warefare is as cruel as it once was. I was a little put-off by some of the shot used during the reenactments, a few scenes looked at little rushed and even modern.

I was not there to witness the actual events and personalities of the pirates of the Carribean, but the reenactors exhibit what is historically known about these pirates authentically.

Though this is not a movie or Disney’s version of the carribean pirates, it is important to know the inspiration of a such a great film and is important world history to understand. It is clarified that treasure maps are most likely a work of fiction, but the pirates discussed are not. The warfare was real, the ships were real, the pirates were real, the ruthlessness was real.

True Carribean Pirates premieres on The History Channel, Sunday July 9th at 8 p.m. eastern time.

Running time 120 minutes (including commercials).