The Golden Age Of Piracy: Myths vs Reality

The Golden Age Of Piracy: Myths vs Reality

July 2, 2026 · 52 min

About this episode

Matt Lewis and Dr Rebecca Simon debunk common myths about pirates and explore their historical realities.

Did pirates really bury treasure, fly the Jolly Roger and walk the plank? Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced avoids many of the clichés of pirate fiction. Yet staying true to history still includes tropes of pop culture pirates - there may be no talking parrots, but they still drink a lot of rum. Matt Lewis rejoins Dr Rebecca Simon to debunk pirate myths! Chapters 00:00 - Introduction 06:08 - Did Pirates Use Black Flags? 12:30 - What does "Jolly Roger" mean? 13:24 - Peg Legs & Eye Patches 18:47 - Pets! 20:59 - Pirate Bling 23:54 - Did Pirates force folk to Walk the Plank? 25:07 - Did Pirates Maroon Enemies? 26:32 - The Pirate Code 32:32 - Did Pirates Bury Their Treasure? 37:16 - X Marks The Spot? 38:24 - Where Is The Rum? 41:10 - What's Your Favourite Pirate Myth? 42:15 - Why do Pirate Myths persist? 48:52 - Enter the Animus: which myth do you want to prove? Echoes of History is a Ubisoft podcast, brought to you by History Hit. Watch this episode on YouTube . Hosted by: Matt Lewis Edited by: Robin McConnell Produced by: Matt Lewis, Robin McConnell Senior Producer: Anne-Marie Luff Production Manager: Beth Donaldson Executive Producers: Etienne Bouvier, Julien Fabre, Steve…

People in this episode

Host: Matt Lewis

Guest: Dr Rebecca Simon

Topics covered

Keywords

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Assassin’s Creed, History Hit

Books & works: Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced, The Buccaneers, Confrontation, Fare Thee Well

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