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SCMP Reporter

Around the 14th century, many pirates sailed the Caribbean Sea.  People were terrified of them.
My favourite movie is Pirates of the Caribbean.  
Jack Sparrow  is the captain of Black Pearl. He leads his crew on as hunt for lost treasures. In the process, he gets involved in all kinds of adventure.   Everything is filled with excitement. 
But in reality, pirates are very different.  Pirates from Somalia have been active in the last months, hijacking oil tankers and fighting the world's navies. They pose a threat to people and boats around Africa and other countries.   
They are far from the parrot-on-the-shoulder villains we picture them to be. They have machine guns and will do anything to get money. They are no Jack Sparrow. 
Shirley Lo Yuk-fung, Tsuen Wan Public Ho Chuen Yiu  Memorial College
From the Editor
Thank you for your letter, Shirley. Pirates not only sailed the Caribbean, but they sailed around Hong Kong too. In fact, the world's most famous female pirate, Ching Shih, sailed the South China seas.
Captain Jack Sparrow is certainly a great character and the movies are fun to watch. But in reality all pirates were criminals, even those who inspired the fictional characters like Sparrow and Peter Pan's Captain Hook. They all lived outside the law. They were all armed and dangerous. And their lives were very hard indeed. 
I'm afraid Sparrow is nothing more than a fairy-tale version of the reality. But harsh reality is the stuff legends are made of. It is time and art that softens them.
Susan, Editor



Fairy-tale versions of pirates