Walking the Plank
If we are to believe Peter Pan then the most
typical pirate punishment was walking the plank. Of course, if we believe Peter
Pan then boys can fly.
Actually there is very little evidence of pirates
making their victims walk the plank. There are a couple of recorded incidents
from the 1820s, but this is much later than the Golden Age of piracy. Nobody
has yet found a bone fide example of plank walking from 1680-1730, or indeed
any earlier than 1822.
This is the earliest depiction of plank walking I
have been able to find, and comes from Charles Ellms' Pirate's Own Book
of 1837. Although the book makes no written mention of walking the plank the
illustration makes it clear that by that time the punishment was associated
with pirates. In 1887 Howard Pyle wrote an article "Buccaneers and
Marooners of the Spanish Main" for Harper's Weekly which he
illustrated with the painting "Walking the Plank" and in which he
states that Blackbeard often forced his victims to walk the plank. There is no
evidence that Blackbeard ever used this form of punishment, and much of what
Pyle wrote must be considered fanciful at best. When JM Barrie staged Peter Pan
in the early 20th century walking the plank was forever fused in popular
culture to pirates.
