A Short Life and Merry: Pirates of New England
Tuesday, April 01, 2008 to Friday, October 31, 2008
A Short Life and Merry: Pirates of New England explores how pirates were transformed from welcomed mariners bringing in rare goods and hard currency, to criminals of Puritan execution sermons and perennially reprinted compilations of their exploits, to the fictional characters of literature, plays and swashbuckling movies. The reality of New England’s historical pirates will be explored through paintings and objects like a swivel gun, ship models and items used in the courtroom during the prosecution of pirates. Visitors will also be able to experience what it was like to live on a pirate ship, smell some goods that pirates seized (like sandalwood and nutmeg), listen to songs about pirates, watch some old pirate movie clips and touch a genuine “piece of eight” coin. True stories of New England pirates like Captain Ned Low, a vicious man who despite his cruelty never forgot a daughter left behind in Boston, or William Mayes who was hunted by Captain Kidd in the Indian Ocean but managed to take over the family business of operating a tavern in Newport—still open for business-will be told. It’s the lasting fascination with pirates, from seventeenth-century Boston to today’s casual appearance of the once-feared Jolly Roger on clothing, toys, and party kits that’s the subject of this year’s exhibit, A Short Life and Merry: Pirates of New England.