Scottish Pirates?

[Omar Zaragoza]

I'm very pasionate with some topics, the use of swords, pirates legends, movies, etc. But I know you are the experts on Scottish traditions, legends and stories, thats why I will ask you

Do you know the name or a legend about a Scottish pirate? does any pirate used kilts? do you think is correct the use of a Kilt in a ship?

Scots ever drink Rum?

Thanks in advance!

[ThistleDown]

Capt William Kidd was Scottish. The kilt is a very inconvenient garment aboard ship. Rum was issued to enlisted men in Highland regiments in the 18C and 19C, as it was to sailors.

[Panache]

Capt William Kidd was Scottish. The kilt is a very inconvenient garment aboard ship. Rum was issued to enlisted men in Highland regiments in the 18C and 19C, as it was to sailors.

There was "Calico Jack Rackham" who wore plaid I believe, also "Captain Gow" who was Scottish. I can't imagine anyone wearing a kilt as a sailor though. As Rex points out it would be a very inconvenient garment aboard ship. Sailing, like riding, is an activity far better suited for trousers.

Cheers

Jamie

[Woodsheal]

Thousands of 17th and 18th C. Scottish seamen, many of whom found their way into pirate crews. But, kilts did NOT form any part of seaman's garb of that period (or any other)....

[Piper]

I believe Edward Teach, aka Blackbeard, was a Scot as well. I seem to remember a reference to a Pirate Captain who had a piper aboard, but have never seen a mention of kilts (although slops are somewhat kilt-like)

[Woodsheal]

I believe Edward Teach, aka Blackbeard, was a Scot as well. I seem to remember a reference to a Pirate Captain who had a piper aboard, but have never seen a mention of kilts (although slops are somewhat kilt-like)

There is a period source or two that maintains that Teach's true name was Drummond, but most state he was a Bristol man. Petticoat breeches ("slops") have a wide kilt-like appearance, but were bifurcated. Some on-deck workers (not topmen!) wore canvas aprons to protect their breeches from tar and other grime, and these, too, looked a bit like kilts (from the front!)....

[Grizzly]

As a born and bred Bristolian I have always understood that Edward Teach was indeed from the same city.

[Zardoz]

There was "Red Legs" Greaves, a Scottish buccaneer active in the Caribbean during the 1670s. Folks are always saying his nickname came from getting sunburned legs from wearing a kilt, but it's more likely based the slur 'redlegs' sometimes used to refer to poor whites that lived on colonial Barbados.

[Cygnus]

If you haven't read it already, the book The Republic of Pirates is a great read and, though it doesn't delve deeply into the subject of Scottish pirates, discusses the deep-running Jacobite sympathies of many of the pirate crew members.

[Riverkilt]

Could one call Somerled and the Vikings that became Clan Donald early pirates of a sort?