Captain Pugwash


Captain Pugwash is a fictional pirate who appears in a series of British children's comic strips, books and television shows created by John Ryan.
The eponymous hero – Captain Horatio Pugwash – sails the high seas in his ship called the Black Pig, assisted by cabin boy Tom, pirates Willy and Barnabas, and Master Mate. His mortal enemy is Cut-Throat Jake, captain of the Flying Dustman.

History

At John Ryan’s wedding in 1950, he was introduced by a friend to Marcus Morris, who was launching Eagle, and asked the artist to create a strip for it. When John returned home, he claimed that Captain Pugwash appeared without explanation. It ran for the first nineteen issues of Eagle, but was dropped due to being considered too childish, and John replaced it with Harris Tweed.
The first Captain Pugwash picture book, subtitled A Pirate Story and featuring Tom’s debut, was rejected by twelve publishers until The Bodley Head picked it up in 1957. The book became successful, and was translated around the world. That same year, the BBC commissioned it to be adapted into an animated short film, made using "captions". This was a form of cutout animation that involved levers attached to the back of characters.
All the voices were provided by Peter Hawkins, who had to be hidden behind a monitor due to his facial expressions made while recording being too distracting for the animators. What this did mean was that he could write notes in his script about incidental characters and be reminded of them as they appeared onscreen. Further short films would be produced and broadcast until 1966, and in 1960 a popular and regularly released Radio Times strip was launched to promote the series, running until 1965. In 1974 a new colour series was commissioned, with Peter Hawkins reprising his roles, and wider-reaching than its sporadically produced predecessor. Four of its 30 episodes were remakes of black-and-white shorts.
In 1997, Gullane Entertainment purchased the rights to the character, with the intention of producing a revival series. The new series of 26 episodes, animated traditionally, aired in 1998.
A related book by John Ryan is Admiral Fatso Fitzpugwash, in which it is revealed that Pugwash had a medieval ancestor who was First Sea Lord but was terrified of water.

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. Nevertheless, he usually wins the day – either with the help of Tom the Cabin Boy or by sheer luck. Despite being a pirate, he is rarely seen committing any acts of piracy.

The Mate/Master Mate/Mr. 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. Pugwash's adenoidal pronunciation of Master Mate's name appears to be the main source of the urban legend about characters' sexually suggestive names.

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 1998 series.

Willy

A simple sailor from Wigan. He appears to be the youngest crew member. He is against using violence, and has been the crew's saviour on occasion.

Tom the Cabin Boy

Tom 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. The rest of the crew also found they were unable to operate without Tom, after he left with the captain when the crew mutinied. Tom is an expert concertina player, and part of his repertoire is "The Trumpet Hornpipe".
He was portrayed with a Home Counties accent in the first television adaptation, and with an Irish accent in the 1998 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.

Characters added in the 1998 series

  • Jonah
This character replaced pirate Barnabas, who was in the earlier series. His catchphrase is "No good will come of this, mark my words!" Jonah appears to be of Jamaican origin. He is the tallest of the crew so he often hits his head on the ceiling of the ship's lower deck. He is also one of the strongest of the crew as he is the Black Pig's carpenter.
This character lives at the top of the island in a mansion covered in vines. He talks very quietly and his head of guard, Lt. Scratchwood, usually acts as a megaphone. He is deeply in love with Donna Bonanza and attends to her every need.
  • Donna Bonanza
An infamous opera singer who is the love of the Governor of Portobello and has her own group of security guards. She owns a cat named Franco.
  • Toni
Tom the Cabin Boy’s best friend, who works for barber Betty, and has dreams of becoming a member of the Black Pig.
  • Dook
A member of Jake’s crew who somewhat resembles Barnabas, but is less aggressive in the 1998 series. This character appeared in the original series, but was never named.
  • Swine
An Australian pirate who works for Jake. He almost always has a mug of grog in his hand. Like Dook, he appeared in the original series but was unnamed.
  • Stinka
A Mexican who works for Jake, who sometimes finds him annoying. Again, this character was unnamed in the earlier series.
  • Jake’s Mum
The mother of Cut-Throat Jake, who serves as the Flying Dustman’s cook.
  • Lieutenant Scratchwood Toddington
The voice for the governor and the law for the town of Portobello. In charge of the guard and collecting taxes, he also spends his time chasing thieves.
  • Rook
Portobello’s merchant, who sometimes works for Cut-Throat Jake.

Libel case regarding ''double entendres''

In 1991 the Pugwash cartoonist John Ryan won retractions and settlements from The Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian; the newspapers inaccurately claimed that the BBC took the series off the air owing to some character names being double entendres.

Pugwashisms

Captain Pugwash is renowned for his exclamations, owing something to the style of Captain Haddock in The Adventures of Tintin:
  • "Dolloping doubloons/dolphins!"
  • "Coddling catfish!"
  • "Lolloping landlubbers!"
  • "Suffering seagulls!"
  • "Staggering stalactites!"
  • "Nautical nitwits!"
  • "Plundering porpoises!"
  • "Kipper me capstans!"
  • "Tottering turtles!"
  • "Dithering dogfish!"
  • "Scuttling cuttlefish!"
  • "Stuttering starfish!"
  • "Blistering barnacles!"
  • "Shuddering sharks!"
Cut-Throat Jake has occasionally been known to utter the similar exclamation, "Scupper me skull-and-crossbones!"

Theme music

The series' signature tune was the "Trumpet Hornpipe", a folk dance that dates to at least the early nineteenth century. Some early versions of the tune refer to it as "Lascelles Hornpipe" and "Baloon Hornpipe". The composer and country of origin are unknown.
The original black-and-white episodes of Captain Pugwash used a solo rendition by the accordionist Tom Edmondson, who had learned the tune from watching Jimmy Shand's band in Northumberland as a teenager. Edmondson's version was recorded in the front room of his home in Harbottle, Northumberland, on 12 July 1954. The recording was made by the folklorist Peter Kennedy as part of the BBC's Folk Music and Dialect Recording Scheme and Edmondson was paid £1.50 for his efforts. The track was transferred to disc for the BBC Sound Library and, according to John Ryan, it was later chosen as the Captain Pugwash theme by producer Gordon Murray.
For the colour Captain Pugwash episodes, a new recording of the same tune was commissioned from Johnny Pearson in 1973. This version used accordion, bass and acoustic guitar, and the finished piece was retitled "Shipshape". The recording was published by KPM and was later added to the KPM Recorded Music Library which gave Pearson the composer credit. Pearson’s arrangement of the theme has also been used as the goal theme for Fleetwood Town F.C.
For the 1998 series, a new arrangement of the theme was created by Philip Lane. Another arrangement appears in the audiobook versions.
The "Trumpet Hornpipe" itself is in the code of BBC Micro computer game Frak! and Acorn Electron game Zalaga, intended to be played when a pirated version of the game was loaded, a reference to Captain Pugwash.

Captain Pugwash books

Original Series

  • Captain Pugwash: A Pirate Story
  • Pugwash Aloft
  • Pugwash and the Ghost Ship
  • Pugwash in the Pacific
  • Pugwash the Smuggler
  • Pugwash and the Sea Monster
  • ''Pugwash and the Buried Treasure''

    Colins Cub series

  • Captain Pugwash and the Ruby
  • Captain Pugwash and the Treasure Chest
  • Captain Pugwash and the New Ship
  • ''Captain Pugwash and the Elephant''

    Strip cartoon series

  • The Captain Pugwash Cartoon Book
  • The Quest of the Golden Handshake
  • The Battle of Bunkum Bay
  • ''The Secret of San Fiasco''