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Captain Pugwash

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Captain Pugwash is a fictional pirate character in a series of British children's comic strips, books and animated films created by John Ryan.

He famously appeared in a British animated TV series, first shown on the BBC in 1957.

The eponymous hero - Captain Horatio Pugwash - sails the high seas in his ship the Black Pig, ably assisted by cabin boy Tom, pirates Willy and Barnabas, and Master Mate. His mortal enemy is Cut-Throat Jake, captain of the Flying Dustman.

Captain Horatio Pugwash made his debut appearance in a comic strip format in the first issue of The Eagle in 1950, then appeared regularly as a strip in Radio Times. In 1957 the BBC commissioned a series of short cartoon films. Ryan produced a total of 86 five-minute-long episodes for the BBC, shot in black-and-white film, but later transferring to colour. The characters' voices were provided by Peter Hawkins. The series had a memorable signature tune "The Trumpet Hornpipe". The last series of Pugwash shorts by Ryan was produced in 1975.

A number of spin-off books were written by John Ryan, and in the 1980s he drew three new Pugwash comic strip storybooks: The Secret of the San Fiasco, The Battle of Bunkum Bay and The Quest for the Golden Handshake. 

The rights to Captain Pugwash were purchased by Hit Entertainment, who from 1997 have issued a number of digital and part computer-animated cartoon films based on the Pugwash character, set on the island of "Montebuffo", "somewhere in the Spanish Main".





Contents





Characters



Captain Pugwash

The pompous but likeable captain of the Black Pig. Although he boasts of being the "bravest buccaneer", he is actually quite cowardly and stupid. His greed often gets him into trouble. Despite all this, he usually wins the day - either with the help of Tom the Cabin Boy or through sheer luck. Strangely enough, despite being a pirate, he is rarely seen committing any acts of piracy.



The Mate

A somewhat dopey character, who has a tendency to use malapropisms and to mispronounce common words. He has a teddy bear in his bunk and is quite mild-mannered. It is not entirely clear why he is the mate, as he does not appear to have any authority over the rest of the crew. He was present in the first ever Pugwash story, in which he was depicted as being constantly sleepy.



Pirate Barnabas

The most aggressive of the pirates, but in reality just as harmless. He is quite rebellious and grumpy, and is perhaps marginally more intelligent than Willy, the Mate or the Captain. He was not present in the 1997 series.



Pirate Willy

A simple sailor from Wigan. He appears to be the youngest crew member (apart from Tom). He is a gentle soul, and is against using violence. He does, however, have the occasional brainwave and has been the crew's saviour (admittedly sometimes more by luck than by design).



Tom the Cabin Boy

It might be argued that without Tom, Pugwash would have been sunk long ago. He is the most intelligent and resourceful member of the crew, the only one who can cook and the only one who can actually sail a ship. Although Pugwash would never admit it, Tom's ability to think up schemes is probably the only thing that prevents him from being a total failure as a pirate. Tom is an expert concertina player, and part of his repertoire is the Captain Pugwash theme.


He was portrayed with a Home Counties accent in the first television adaptation, and with an Irish accent in the 1997 series.



Cut-Throat Jake

Captain Pugwash's fearsome arch-enemy, captain of the Flying Dustman. When he is not scheming to bring about Pugwash's downfall, he is a rather more competent pirate than his enemy, and always seems to have plenty of treasure. He speaks with a stereotypical West Country accent, and is easily recognisable by his eye patch and enormous black beard.



Additional characters post-1997



Pugwashisms

Captain Pugwash is renowned for his exclamations, owing something to the style of Captain Haddock in The Adventures of Tintin: 




Cut-Throat Jake has occasionally been known to utter the similar exclamation, "Scupper me skull-and-crossbones!



Captain Pugwash books



Urban myth


There is a persistent urban legend, originating in the now-defunct UK newspaper the Sunday Correspondent,  which ascribes sexually suggestive names - such as Master Bates, Seaman Staines, and Roger the Cabin Boy - to Captain Pugwash 's characters.  John Ryan successfully sued both the Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian newspapers in 1991 for printing this legend as fact.  According to one version of the legend, the character was referred to as "Bates, the ship's master" to avoid making this too obvious.  According to another version, "Pugwash" also had sexual connotations e.g. it could be a term for oral sex, but there is no evidence for this.


This legend may have been subconsciously reinforced in some people's minds by the fact that there actually were fictional nautical characters with names a bit like these suggestive names.  Swallows and Amazons, a very well-known British children's novel, really did have a male character called "Roger the ship's boy" and a female character called "Titty".  In The Onedin Line, a very popular BBC television programme in the 1970s, the ship's mate was called "Mister Baines".  In some people's minds this could become merged with "Master Mate" to become "Master Bates".  It has also been suggested that the pronunciation of "Master Mate" was slurred at times thanks to Pugwash's rather nasal voice, and some people could mishear it.


Nevertheless, it should be stressed that the characters' names were Master Mate, Tom the cabin boy, and pirates Barnabas and Willy.



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