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.