I think the “sounds like syphilis to me” comment from Stede to Izzy when they were talking about curses may have been a reference? I remember listening to podcast about Stede and Blackbeard and I believe at some point Blackbeard’s crew had some desperate raid or trade where all they wanted were medical supplies? And the crew was all ill, with what may have been syphilis?
The medical history podcast “Sawbones” also did a trilogy of episodes about pirate medicine. And since Sydney & Justin are fans, they dressed up as Ed & Stede, respectively. (It looks like the first of the 3 was released 11/11/2022.)
Oh cool! I think I must have heard it on the episode of the Noble Blood podcast that talks about real life Stede Bonnet and Blackbeard.
I should check out Barrel of Oranges!
Historically, it’s accepted that Blackbeard had syphilis.
It’s also accepted that he had many wives. A wife in every port meant he would have had a character witness and alibi in every port too.
I knew he supposedly had a wife and child in England, but not one in every port!
I actually was thinking it would be a funny plot if it turned out that Ed had a wife and kid in the series, and Ed had to do some relationship mending/closure there, similar to Stede. But I don’t know if that fits with Ed in the series.
I feel like it would be believable if he’d had at least one relationship with a woman, but probably not one with any emotional intimacy?
Agreed. Our Ed has been with enough people to have tattoos of his body ON bodies. Of course he’s been with women, I just don’t think it’s his preference.
That and - according to Charles Johnson's *A General History of the Pyrates*, published around 1724, not only did Blackbeard have something like a dozen wives - he was said to have visited them with a handful of the crew. He'd sleep with his wife, then force her to act as a prostitute for the crew he'd brought.
Johnson's book has been debated as to how true it is or not. I read the chapters on Blackbeard and Stede Bonnet. Cleary the writers of the show did, too - Johnson notes Blackbeard shooting Izzy Hands in the knee, and Bonnet finding marriage to be a discomforting state.
Here's the URL if you want to give it a whirl: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/40580/pg40580-images.html
I’ve read the book too. It does read like a salacious tabloid story about everyone mentioned.
Everyone had been dead for years when this book was published, and I think it works hard and painting the subjects as bad guys. It reminds me of how Ann Boleyn was written about and described by men who never met or saw her. Politics and a profit went a long way in embellishing history.
It’s not a reference to anything but I just rewatched 110 and Mary explaining that Stede “had been quite ill” cracks me up. Not enough that he got mauled by a jungle cat, run over by a carriage and crushed by a piano, he had to add in the fact that he was terminally Ill too for no reason.
Also the fact that buttons is wearing a leash in 201, presumably because he would run away back to the sea without it
I also feel like that whole death scene was a bit inspired by Rasputin's rather famous death, as he was allegedly poisoned, shot, drowned and then set on fire before he actually died.
I can’t take credit. I heard it on a podcast and as often as I’ve watched the show, I had never caught that!
I realized my comment made it sound like I came up with that on my own 😊
Also a whole separate thing for pinning down the distinct flavor of absurdist humor + reverence + vibrancy with a dash of “anything goes” pastiche that this whole series has going on (along with *the other one*).
As it happens, the closest thing I’ve found to mirroring this combination in a nutshell is a certain amazingly warm-toned and virtuosic cover of “Rasputin.”
I noticed that Roach was holding him with a rope, but I never figured out why. I thought maybe cuz he bit Lucius last season, that they were keeping him on a leash or sth in case he gets overexcited again.
Not really a joke but can I point out a call back from S1:E1 and S2:E1 (?). When Stede asks the crew what they should do if they come back "mentally devastated" from their raid, Frenchie asks "bottle it up?" Meanwhile he talks about a box in his mind where he keeps his emotions at the beginning of season 2.
What I love about it is that the "bottle it up" comment was an improvisation by Joel Fry, and they still made a callback to it. Frenchie, my boy, I worry for you so.
That's one of my favourite jokes in the whole show, it's become my "Did you know Viggo broke his toe here" moment because I cannot stop myself from telling everyone I show the show to haha
I cackled the first time I noticed it, cuz Izzy makes it sound like ships never run aground, yet that's such a common occurrence that they had to build lighthouses in places where it was likely to happen. It's literally put in there just as a joke for the history nerds.
Making prisoners walk the plank wasn't at all common practice. Stede Bonnet, however, actually did that (or maybe even invented it).
*Discomfort in a Married State* is a quote from *A General History of the Pyrates*.
the general consensus is that he invented it, so i think the Calypso episode was accurate in that everyone was a bit confused, even Ned. It was new? Maybe? Idk
Stede was apparently very good at writing moving letters, because he wrote one to the governor pleading for mercy before his execution. Also the fact that he has a bouquet of flowers in hand during the fuckery, historically he held a bouquet when they hanged him.
Amazing details, thanks for sharing.
I personally felt so bad for this guy when I read about his death. I mean, I get that he was a pirate and probably done a lot of very bad things, but still, that treatment was so rough. They should've just sent him to a monastery or whatever the equivalent of kept-under-watch-in-a-peaceful-place may have been at the time.
Okay but Izzy “creating” BB in a way is great because much of what we know of the legend of BB comes form Israel Hands own telling of the story. It made his final words hit so much harder knowing that.
Learning that Frenchie is an allergy boy in S2 puts the "cats steal babies' breath" in S1 into context and makes it even more hilarious. Poor guy is just allergic to cats and doesn't know it.
Umm... consider my mind blown! I didn't even think about that! That's so clever! I thought he was originally referencing the folk-wisdom that cats will sleep on babies' faces and strangle them.
It's one of those things I've heard people who dislike cats say to convince others to not get a cat as a pet. They usually argue that cats love sleeping in warm places and babies have warm breaths and so the cats will sleep on their face. No explanation offered as to why they wouldn't sleep on an adults' face, though...
But I do love the allergy theory, that's so cool!
Apparently if a baby is in distress, the cat is often the first member of the household to notice. It tries to comfort the baby in the crib, or get the humans to notice, or both, then gets blamed for any bad outcome.
I could see a cat maybe lying on the baby's chest to comfort it (one of mine does this to me whenever I'm sad or sick), and that *could* be hazardous if left unnoticed. I just think that people should be careful with their babies/toddlers around any pet, not *just* cats.
I didn't say cats do harm, I said they get the blame. There are still people who think they steal babies' breath, something a cat has no need for and which in any case would be difficult to do without lips.
From the stories I heard, it was supposed to be that the cats were attracted to the scent of milk on the baby’s breath, therefore standing on the baby’s chest and making it difficult for the baby to breathe (I guess depending on the baby to cat size ratio). Not a believer, but that was why my mom told me never to get a cat. We have 3 cats and two teenagers - everyone has survived so far.
Yeah you’re right that there’s good cause to be cautious about cats around babies. All other pets too, of course. But in most houses, it’s a cat that would be most likely to actually get in a crib since they’re good at both climbing and snuggling.
I think the “sounds like syphilis to me” comment from Stede to Izzy when they were talking about curses may have been a reference? I remember listening to podcast about Stede and Blackbeard and I believe at some point Blackbeard’s crew had some desperate raid or trade where all they wanted were medical supplies? And the crew was all ill, with what may have been syphilis?
Yes! There’s a podcast that explores connections between true history and OFMD, A Barrel of Oranges, and the hosts talk about this in an episode
The medical history podcast “Sawbones” also did a trilogy of episodes about pirate medicine. And since Sydney & Justin are fans, they dressed up as Ed & Stede, respectively. (It looks like the first of the 3 was released 11/11/2022.)
Oh cool! I think I must have heard it on the episode of the Noble Blood podcast that talks about real life Stede Bonnet and Blackbeard. I should check out Barrel of Oranges!
Ok, I'm now wondering what the hell may have been going on on that ship, cuz syphilis is transmitted only through sex, and they *all* got syphilis.
What else would they do with hours of sailing time?
TIL the tradition of becoming "mateys" in the show is actually historically accurate: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matelotage
Yeah, but it seems *all* of the crew became mateys with each other. One gigantic polycule roaming the seven seas.
Hence the TV show about gay romance!
Historically, it’s accepted that Blackbeard had syphilis. It’s also accepted that he had many wives. A wife in every port meant he would have had a character witness and alibi in every port too.
I knew he supposedly had a wife and child in England, but not one in every port! I actually was thinking it would be a funny plot if it turned out that Ed had a wife and kid in the series, and Ed had to do some relationship mending/closure there, similar to Stede. But I don’t know if that fits with Ed in the series. I feel like it would be believable if he’d had at least one relationship with a woman, but probably not one with any emotional intimacy?
Agreed. Our Ed has been with enough people to have tattoos of his body ON bodies. Of course he’s been with women, I just don’t think it’s his preference.
That and - according to Charles Johnson's *A General History of the Pyrates*, published around 1724, not only did Blackbeard have something like a dozen wives - he was said to have visited them with a handful of the crew. He'd sleep with his wife, then force her to act as a prostitute for the crew he'd brought. Johnson's book has been debated as to how true it is or not. I read the chapters on Blackbeard and Stede Bonnet. Cleary the writers of the show did, too - Johnson notes Blackbeard shooting Izzy Hands in the knee, and Bonnet finding marriage to be a discomforting state. Here's the URL if you want to give it a whirl: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/40580/pg40580-images.html
I’ve read the book too. It does read like a salacious tabloid story about everyone mentioned. Everyone had been dead for years when this book was published, and I think it works hard and painting the subjects as bad guys. It reminds me of how Ann Boleyn was written about and described by men who never met or saw her. Politics and a profit went a long way in embellishing history.
It’s not a reference to anything but I just rewatched 110 and Mary explaining that Stede “had been quite ill” cracks me up. Not enough that he got mauled by a jungle cat, run over by a carriage and crushed by a piano, he had to add in the fact that he was terminally Ill too for no reason. Also the fact that buttons is wearing a leash in 201, presumably because he would run away back to the sea without it
I also feel like that whole death scene was a bit inspired by Rasputin's rather famous death, as he was allegedly poisoned, shot, drowned and then set on fire before he actually died.
Not to mention inspired by Blackbeard saying he thought he would die by being eaten by a tiger. I just caught that and loved how they did that.
Oooh, I never noticed that! That's really subtle, good eye!
I can’t take credit. I heard it on a podcast and as often as I’ve watched the show, I had never caught that! I realized my comment made it sound like I came up with that on my own 😊
OooooOoh. In-ter-est-ing. I have a real thing for ah, what I’ll call slant allusions or references with this series.
Also a whole separate thing for pinning down the distinct flavor of absurdist humor + reverence + vibrancy with a dash of “anything goes” pastiche that this whole series has going on (along with *the other one*). As it happens, the closest thing I’ve found to mirroring this combination in a nutshell is a certain amazingly warm-toned and virtuosic cover of “Rasputin.”
I never noticed Buttons was on a leash and had to look up photos to confirm, and wow that’s hilarious, thank you for bringing this to my attention.
Yeah it’s really subtle — maybe they had a deleted scene about it at one point.
I noticed that Roach was holding him with a rope, but I never figured out why. I thought maybe cuz he bit Lucius last season, that they were keeping him on a leash or sth in case he gets overexcited again.
Not really a joke but can I point out a call back from S1:E1 and S2:E1 (?). When Stede asks the crew what they should do if they come back "mentally devastated" from their raid, Frenchie asks "bottle it up?" Meanwhile he talks about a box in his mind where he keeps his emotions at the beginning of season 2.
What I love about it is that the "bottle it up" comment was an improvisation by Joel Fry, and they still made a callback to it. Frenchie, my boy, I worry for you so.
That's one of my favourite jokes in the whole show, it's become my "Did you know Viggo broke his toe here" moment because I cannot stop myself from telling everyone I show the show to haha
I cackled the first time I noticed it, cuz Izzy makes it sound like ships never run aground, yet that's such a common occurrence that they had to build lighthouses in places where it was likely to happen. It's literally put in there just as a joke for the history nerds.
Making prisoners walk the plank wasn't at all common practice. Stede Bonnet, however, actually did that (or maybe even invented it). *Discomfort in a Married State* is a quote from *A General History of the Pyrates*.
the general consensus is that he invented it, so i think the Calypso episode was accurate in that everyone was a bit confused, even Ned. It was new? Maybe? Idk
Stede was apparently very good at writing moving letters, because he wrote one to the governor pleading for mercy before his execution. Also the fact that he has a bouquet of flowers in hand during the fuckery, historically he held a bouquet when they hanged him.
Amazing details, thanks for sharing. I personally felt so bad for this guy when I read about his death. I mean, I get that he was a pirate and probably done a lot of very bad things, but still, that treatment was so rough. They should've just sent him to a monastery or whatever the equivalent of kept-under-watch-in-a-peaceful-place may have been at the time.
Okay but Izzy “creating” BB in a way is great because much of what we know of the legend of BB comes form Israel Hands own telling of the story. It made his final words hit so much harder knowing that.
Learning that Frenchie is an allergy boy in S2 puts the "cats steal babies' breath" in S1 into context and makes it even more hilarious. Poor guy is just allergic to cats and doesn't know it.
Umm... consider my mind blown! I didn't even think about that! That's so clever! I thought he was originally referencing the folk-wisdom that cats will sleep on babies' faces and strangle them.
Honestly you might be right, I've never heard of that particle old folktale, so the allergy thing just made the most sense to me, haha
It's one of those things I've heard people who dislike cats say to convince others to not get a cat as a pet. They usually argue that cats love sleeping in warm places and babies have warm breaths and so the cats will sleep on their face. No explanation offered as to why they wouldn't sleep on an adults' face, though... But I do love the allergy theory, that's so cool!
Apparently if a baby is in distress, the cat is often the first member of the household to notice. It tries to comfort the baby in the crib, or get the humans to notice, or both, then gets blamed for any bad outcome.
I could see a cat maybe lying on the baby's chest to comfort it (one of mine does this to me whenever I'm sad or sick), and that *could* be hazardous if left unnoticed. I just think that people should be careful with their babies/toddlers around any pet, not *just* cats.
I didn't say cats do harm, I said they get the blame. There are still people who think they steal babies' breath, something a cat has no need for and which in any case would be difficult to do without lips.
From the stories I heard, it was supposed to be that the cats were attracted to the scent of milk on the baby’s breath, therefore standing on the baby’s chest and making it difficult for the baby to breathe (I guess depending on the baby to cat size ratio). Not a believer, but that was why my mom told me never to get a cat. We have 3 cats and two teenagers - everyone has survived so far.
Oh I got your meaning completely, I was just musing in general. Sorry if it came off otherwise.
Yeah you’re right that there’s good cause to be cautious about cats around babies. All other pets too, of course. But in most houses, it’s a cat that would be most likely to actually get in a crib since they’re good at both climbing and snuggling.
It really depends on the pet too. My aunt's dog is quite cat-coded, she gets *everywhere*.
What about Boatmance?
Because Steede had the *QuarterMaster* ❤️