Books with a Hook: For Mateys Who Love Our Flag Means Death

How did we luck into such deeply funny, sweet and dramatic queer-pirating adventure as Our Flag Means Death (OFMD)? Pirate movies and shows are known, by and large, for being neither sweet nor queer (not a lot of matey¹-cuddling in Black Sails, alas). And yet, for all of the de rigueur tropes–leather-clad pirates, pitched battles, swordfights, swashbuckling, treasure-hunting–OFMD sails past the commonplace gritty sea tale and glides into a rainbow sunset of love and friendship, where men have a chance at gentleness and women are people too.  

The show follows Stede Bonnet, "Gentleman Pirate" (and naval newbie), and his crew aboard the Revenge. They raid (a tiny fishing boat), pillage (books and snail forks) and meet up with the infamous Blackbeard (a rather charming guy named Ed). While it sounds fantastical, it’s based on real people and real events.²

Pirate legends have captured our imaginations for hundreds of years, and A General History of the Pyrates was one of the first books to thrill readers with tales of treasure. My own introduction to the sea-faring life wasThe True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, a novel about a young girl who must learn to adapt and survive during a perilous sea voyage. Then it was on to Treasure Island, which I read eagerly, then watched the movie (and the Muppet movie as well) on repeat. Other movies and TV shows fed my love of oceanic adventures too, like Hook, Cutthroat Island andThe Pirates of Darkwater.  

I’d like to introduce you, gentle readers, to pirate lore and pirate facts, in two lists to tickle your fancy—"Our Booklist Means Pirates: Nonfiction Titles for the Discerning Reader" and "Our Booklist Means Pirates: Stede's (Mostly) Anachronistic List of Pleasure Reading". These books will help you occupy your time and lift your spirits as we wait for Season 2. Need something to listen to while you read? Let "Fancy a Fine Fiddle? Shanties, Chanties, and Piratical Tunes of All Sorts" be your soundtrack. 

Although the sea shanty TikTok trend is behind us, you can rekindle the magic with An American Sailor's Treasury: Sea Songs, Chanteys, Legends and, Lore, a collection of sailing songs and their origins. 

If gentleman pirates are your preference, Stede Bonnet wasn’t the only one. In Born to Be Hanged: The Epic Story of the Gentlemen Pirates Who Raided the South Seas, Rescued a Princess, and Stole a Fortune, gentlemen and scallywags both join forces to maraud and harass Spanish ships as they chase after treasure.  

Avast, ye! Spoilers ahead....

Stede’s bedtime reading of Pinocchio to his sleepy crew was tremendously endearing. Yet when I looked up the publication date (1883), Stede couldn't possibly have had a copy (unless he could time travel). With that in mind, I asked readers what they thought might be on Stede’s time-traveling shelves and the suggestions I got were hilarious and spicy and lovely. Among them, many suggested Shakespeare, and what better title to choose than Hamlet, the play that surely inspired Stede’s f*ckery³.

Some of the spicier suggestions included Fanny Hill, with its scandalously lusty scene between two men, Catullus’s risqué poetry, and buccaneer bodice-rippers. Several suggested The Iliad, and its modern counterpart The Song of Achilles, for the many kisses between lovers Achilles and Patroclus.

If you’re a fan of poetry, here are a few poems evoking the show's characters and mood:

Stede, making his escape:

“My young aren’t strapped in the back / flinging Cheerios into the crevices like a game of darts / but moored in the house with my patient wife / so I can seek my destiny here...” -from "Navigator" by Rachel Richardson

Blackbeard, getting to know Stede’s crew:

“There is laughter like the fountains in that face of all men feared / It stirs the forest darkness, the darkness of his beard...” -from "Lepanto" by G.K. Chesterton

And SPOILERY SPOILERS!

Ed and Stede, together at last....:

“I follow with my mouth the small wing of muscle / under your shoulder, lean over your back, breathing / into your hair and thinking of nothing. I want / to lie down with you under the sails of a wooden sloop / and drift away from all of it...” -from "Love Pirates" by Joseph Millar

¹Did you know that matey is related to matelotage—a union between two pirates? It was a way for pirates to make sure their earnings would go to family in case they died, but it may also have been sexual or romantic for some. The Black Gay History Channel has a quick introduction to the concept!

²Although pirate crews could be quite diverse, with seamen from England and the colonies, formerly enslaved people, Jewish sailors, and the like, the real Stede Bonnet, and real pirates in general, were often involved with the slave trade and other unsavory activities. While many pirate tales have been deeply romanticized, the reality was quite complex. Measures such as nods towards equality in pay and more-than-just-platonic matelotage, cannot expiate pirates of their other deeds.

³an in-show reference to "the Theater of Fear"