Howard Pyle: Pirates!

"Pirates Used to Do That to Their Captains Now and Then"
by Howard Pyle

"Pirates and their adventurous lives held a strange attraction for Howard Pyle, and he was never more content than when he had found some half-forgotten account of a notorious buccaneer and had plenty of time to spend in an examination of it.

For fifteen or sixteen years after his marriage a part of nearly every summer was spent in Rehoboth, a little seaside town favored by his wife. Later, when he had become a recognized illustrator, he would go to Rehoboth for the entire summer with his family and John Weller, his model and general handyman, and there he would work without interruption.

To the north of Rehoboth tower were some immense sand dunes, on the top of which loomed a quaintly picturesque lighthouse built in 1763, white-washed and glistening in the sun. Legends, which are as old as the lighthouse itself, have it that these dunes were once the haunt of many a bloodthirsty old sea-dog, who used them as a safe hiding place for unmentionable booty. It was assuredly a place curiously appropriate for pirates.

From the very beginning of his weeks in Rehoboth, Howard Pyle began to collect books on the subject, and gradually his library came to include almost every book which could shed any light upon the lives and deeds of Morgan or Kidd or Teach or any of the notorious freebooters of a former age. He was steeped in pirate lore, his own vivid imagination decorating the narratives from the books with romantic lights and shadows.

He wrote and illustrated two novels, 'The Rose of Paradise,' and 'Within the Capes,' a number of articles for Harper's including 'Buccaneers and Marooners of the Spanish Maine' and 'Jamaica, New and Old,' and pirate illustrations other authors' works such as E.C. Stedman's poem 'Morgan.' Then followed a noble story, 'Jack Ballister's Fortunes,' and 'The Ghost of Captain Brand,' which met with tremendous success. The issue of 'Harper's Weekly' in which it appeared was sold out in record time, and the edition was very large.

"The Puncher" by Frederic Remington
The picture traded for Pyle's work

From the series of his pirate themed books, a most dramatic picture 'Pirates Used to Do That to Their Captains Now and Then' came to the attention of Frederic Remington, in whom Howard Pyle had found a congenial fellow artist. Remington immediately too a fancy to this picture and wanted it. An exchange of work was suggested. 'Too good - too good,' wrote Remington on January 15, 1895. 'The pirate captain dead on the sand. If I get that I will worship you, it, and once more take stock in humanity. As for what you will get - anything I have.The best thing is a big wash drawing, a bucking horse, going like the sweep of an angel's wing. But whatever you see of mine which suits your fancy, is yours. How's that?' Pyle made the trade and chose Remington's 'The Puncher.'"

To be continued

(Excerpts from "Howard Pyle, A Chronicle" by Charles D. Abbott.)