Explore the myth & discover the truth for a major new exhibition coming to the National Maritime Museum in March 2025.
Heroic rascals or violent criminals? Discover the truth behind pirate life in a major new exhibition at the National Maritime Museum. Pirates, opening in Greenwich in March 2025, traces the changing depictions of pirates through the ages and reveals the brutal reality behind the fiction. While sometimes portrayed as tricksters or scoundrels, pirates are primarily swashbuckling adventurers associated with lush islands, flamboyant dress and buried treasure. Pirates will deconstruct these myths and illuminate the realities of pirate life, including those of the pirates Edward ‘Blackbeard’ Teach, William Kidd, Anne Bonny and Mary Read.
In Britain today, we think of pirates from the Caribbean seas, but historic piratical activity was far reaching, taking different forms throughout the world. The exhibition will cover piracy across the globe looking at the South China Sea, Indian Ocean and Barbary pirates who operated off the coast of North Africa.
Covering theatre, film and fashion the exhibition brings together material from early literature on piracy in the eighteenth century to 1980s fashion. The exhibition will show nearly 200 objects including loans from the National Archives, V&A and BFI.
The exhibition explores the perception of piracy in popular culture – from comical characters like Captain Pugwash and Captain Hook to anti-heroes like Long John Silver and Captain Jack Sparrow – and examines why the idea of a pirate’s life still fascinates us today.
Listings
Venue: National Maritime Museum, London
Dates: 29 March 2025 – 04 January 2026
Tickets: Adult (16+) £15; Child (4-15) £7.50; Student £11.25
Further Information: Pirates exhibition at National Maritime Museum