Captain Pugwash

History

Captain Horatio Pugwash made his debut 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 produced by Gordon Murray. Ryan produced a total of 86 five-minute-long episodes for the BBC, shot in black-and-white film, but later transferring to colour. Ryan used a real-time technique of animation in which cardboard cutouts of the characters were laid on painted backgrounds and moved with levers. The characters' voices were provided by Peter Hawkins. The last series of Pugwash shorts by Ryan was produced in 1975.

Although there are many anachronisms in the series, the book The Battle of Bunkum Bay gives some useful clues as to the era in which the stories are set. In this book, the King of Great Britain strongly resembles George I and the King of France resembles Louis XIV, suggesting that this story took place in 1714–15. However, one of the few direct references to a date is in the original TV series is the episode 'Pirate of the Year' where Pugwash enters the "Pirate of the Year contest 1775"

A number of spin-off books were written by John Ryan, who in the 1980s 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.

A related book by John Ryan was Admiral Fatso Fitzpugwash, in which it is revealed that Pugwash had a medieval ancestor who was First Sea Lord, but who was terrified of water.

Episodes

Prior to the 1974–1975 series, the first generation of Captain Pugwash episodes were filmed in black and white and were first shown on British TV, between 1957 and 1966. These early episodes, numbering a total of 87 episodes, with the producers using the production codes of CP001 to CP087. These earlier episodes are in addition to the later 30 episodes, from the second generation of the series, which was produced in colour, between 16 September 1974 and 11 July 1975. Captain Pugwash also sold overseas, to various TV stations, including Australia's ABC Television. There the show was screened during weekday afternoons, in the 1970s and '80s.

The rights to Captain Pugwash were purchased by The Britt Allcroft Company, who since 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". Peter Hawkins did not provide the voices, HIT Entertainment instead employing character actor James Saxon.

A DVD containing, 'All 30 heroic high sea adventures from the second-generation colour 1974–1975, series, (156 minutes running time) was given away with the Sunday Times on 20 January 2008.

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.

Master 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 this character'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 1997 series.

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). "Just you wait till we get back to Wigan – we won't half have a 'tail' to tell!"

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. 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, despite this being a 19th-century anachronism for an 18th-century pirate, and part of his repertoire is The Trumpet Hornpipe (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 (a pun on the Flying Dutchman combined with a reference to the occupation of 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 later series

This character replaced pirate Barnabas, who featured in the earlier series. His catchphrase is "No good will come of this, mark my words!" Jonah appears to be of a Jamaican origin. He is the tallest of the crew as 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 serves as 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.

This pirate queen appeared in the second series when she hijacked the captain's ship to escape from the authorities.

An Australian pirate who works for Jake. He almost always has a mug of grog in his hand. This character appeared in the original series, but never spoke, nor was he named.

A Mexican who works for Jake who speaks little English. He repeats everything that Jake says, annoying him greatly. Again, this character was an unnamed, unspeaking character in the earlier series.

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.

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!"

Theme

The series had a memorable signature tune The Trumpet Hornpipe which was played by accordionist Tom Edmundson and arranged by Philip Lane. He had learned the tune from Jimmy Shand. The tune appears to have been popular from the mid-19th century, but its composer and country of origin are unknown. In the United States it is known as the Thunder Hornpipe. Other background music was provided by BBC music arranger and pianist Johnny Pearson.

Captain Pugwash books

1974–75 series

1. Down The Hatch
2. Cannon Ball
3. Monster Ahoy
4. Mouse Amidships
5. Showboat
6. Flood Tide
7. Pirate Picnic
8. Fishmeal
9. Mutiny On The Black Pig
10. The Great Bank Robbery
11. A Shot Across The Bows
12. Wedding Bells
13. Stung!
14. The Golden Trail
15. Diamonds On Ice
16. Birthday Cake
17. Witches Brew
18. Six Foot Deep
19. Riddle Of The Rubies
20. Pirate Of The Year
21. Easy Money
22. The Plank
23. A Fair Exchange
24. Voyage Of Discovery
25. Smugglers Cove
26. The Flying Buccaneer
27. Island Of The Dodos
28. Caught In The Act
29. A Tell Tale Tail
30. Off With His Head

1997 series

1. The Stowaway Sheep
2. The Portobello Plague
3. The Doubledealing Duchess
4. The Emperor's New Clothes
5. The Boat Race
6. The Dingly Dangly Crab
7. Chest Of Drawers
8. The Vanishing Ship
9. Hot Chocolate
10. The Fat Cat
11. The Pandemonium Parrot
12. The Brush With Art
13. A Hair-Raising Day
14. Fiddle De Diamonds
15. The Melodious Mermaid
16. The Titanic Teapot
17. The New Cabin Boy
18. Treasure Trail
19. Peppercorn Pistols
20. Sticky Moments
21. Muddling Monsters
22. The Megamango Monkeys
23. King Pugwash
24. The Devil's Dog
25. Perfumes Of Arabia
26. The Admiral's Fireworks

Libel case regarding double entendres

There is a persistent urban legend, repeated by the now defunct UK newspaper the Sunday Correspondent, that ascribes sexually suggestive names – such as Master Bates, Seaman Staines, and Roger (meaning "have sex with") the Cabin Boy – to Captain Pugwash's characters, and indicating that the captain's name was a slang Australian term for oral sex. The origin of this myth is likely due to student rag mags from the 1970sand the character Master Mate, whose name when spoken by Pugwash occasionally sounded something like "Master Bate". However none of the other characters ever featured in the show. Interestingly, although there was a real character called Willy, which is an inoffensive British slang term for penis, this character is never cited as an example of the double entendres.

John Ryan successfully sued both the Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian newspapers in 1991 for printing this legend as fact.