Heroic rascals or violent criminals? The National Maritime Museum's Pirates exhibition traced the changing depictions of pirates through the ages and revealed the brutal reality behind the fiction.
The exhibition explored the perception of piracy in popular culture – from comical characters like Captain Pugwash and Captain Hook to anti-heroes like Long John Silver and Captain Jack Sparrow – and examined why the idea of a pirate’s life still fascinates us today.
While often portrayed as swashbuckling scoundrels, the real history of pirates is far more complex.
Pirates followed the global history of piracy from the South China Sea to the coast of North Africa and explored the issues of modern piracy facing seafarers today. The exhibition illuminated real-life figures, including Edward 'Blackbeard' Teach, William Kidd, Anne Bonny and Mary Read, and reflected on how perceptions of pirates, both past and present, are shifting.
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"Truly this was a timber that shivered"
The Times
"A rollicking and sometimes surprising overview of the legends and lives of the most villainous cut-throats ever to sail the seven seas"
Time Out
"The National Maritime Museum's latest exhibition sails at ramming speed into the pop-cultural side of pirates, before navigating into something altogether more interesting"
Londonist
Pirates: fact and fiction
From flags to fresh perspectives, there's still plenty to enjoy online inspired by the 2025 exhibition
Pirates: fact or fiction?
From buried treasure to walking the plank, how much of what we think we know about pirates is really true?
Pirate flags decoded
Learn more about pirate flags, including where they came from, how they were used, and the designs of some famous Jolly Rogers
The art of piracy: imagining the world of Zheng Yi Sao
A series of illustrations by Livia Giorgina Carpineto brings the world of notorious pirate queen Zheng Yi Sao to life
The pirate hunter's cup
What does a carved coconut shell have to do with one of the most deadly pirates in history?
Pirates exhibition highlights
Look inside the major new exhibition at the National Maritime Museum, and learn more about some of the objects on display
The art of piracy: a fresh perspective on Bonny and Read
A new artwork by Linnea Maertens questions what we think we know about notorious female pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read. See it on display in Pirates at the National Maritime Museum
Who was Blackbeard?
Blackbeard is one of the most infamous pirates who ever lived, but can we separate the facts from the myth?
Shop the Pirates collection
Ahoy there, landlubber!
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This exhibition was dedicated to the memory of our friend and colleague Dr Robert Blyth, who had a gift for storytelling and shared his knowledge generously with all who knew him.