Swashbuckling sailors have an odd sex appeal, Johnny Depp or no. From Peter Pan’s Captain Hook to Captain Jack Sparrow and the kick-ass Elizabeth Swann from Disney’s blockbuster trilogy, these wild outlaws of the sea hold us captive. Which is exactly why I found myself spending an afternoon at the Science Center’s Real Pirates exhibit – the perfect air-conditioned respite from an unforgiving hot summer’s day.
Real Pirates educates visitors about the “golden age of piracy” – the 1560s to the 1720s – with a 16,000-square-foot exhibition that challenges popular culture and romantic depictions of pirates with a truth that is perhaps just as fascinating. More than 200 artifacts including gold doubloons, jewelry and enough weapons to please boys young and not-so-young alike help tell the story of the Whydah through its early life transporting slaves and into its outlaw days as a pirate ship. What makes these artifacts particularly interesting is that they were all taken from the Whydah itself, which hit a storm in April of 1717 off of Cape Cod, taking the ship to the depths of Davy Jones’ locker and most of the crews’ lives along with it.
To tell too much about visitors’ introduction to the exhibit would be to ruin it so I’ll just say that it is dramatic, and would make even the crankiest museum-goer excited to explore more. The artifacts from the Whydah are undoubtedly the highlight of the exhibit but come with a lot of reading to get the background. I didn’t mind but can easily imagine it getting tiresome for younger pirate enthusiasts. That is, until they come across the life-size replica of the Whydah.
My only real criticism of the exhibit (unless you count not enough Johnny Depp look-alikes) is that some of the information was pretty much word-for-word repetitive. I was surprised to learn that pirate ships were run much more fairly and more democratically than any legit shipping venture of the time – all races were treated equally and welcomed on board (there are even records of some women pirates!) and tasks and loot were fairly divided. In fact, the exhibit made the pirates look like the good guys and the law-abiding citizens trying them at court look like close-minded villains, which may have been true in some aspects.
So if pirates or history or even recovering artifacts from the ocean floor tickles your fancy, shake off your landlubber ways and experience “real” pirates. I will still enjoy the romanticized version of the adventuring outlaws, but its nice to know a little truth, too. --Stephanie Rapp
Real Pirates runs through September 6; Entertainers from St. Louis Pirate Festival will visit the Real Pirates exhibit on Saturday, July 31 and Saturday, August 21 from 12-4pm. Go to slsc.org for times, prices and more information.
