Капитан Пугуош: Теңіз торының әзілкеш қаһарманы

Fictional pirate created by cartoonist John Ryan

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.

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. All the voices were provided by Peter Hawkins, who had to be hidden behind a monitor due to his facial expressions made while recording being too distracting for the animators. What this did mean was that he could write notes in his script about incidental characters and be reminded of them as they appeared onscreen. Further short films would be produced and broadcast until 1966, and in 1960 a popular and regularly released Radio Times strip was launched to promote the series, running until 1965. In 1974 a new colour series was commissioned, with Peter Hawkins reprising his roles, and wider reaching than its sporadically produced predecessor. In 1997, John Ryan licensed the franchise to John Cary Films, The new series of 26 episodes, animated traditionally, aired in 1998. A related book by John Ryan is Admiral Fatso Fitzpugwash, in which it is revealed that Pugwash had a medieval ancestor who was First Sea Lord but was terrified of water.

The pompous but likeable captain of the Black Pig. Although he boasts of being the "bravest buccaneer", he is actually quite cowardly and stupid. His greed often gets him into trouble. Nevertheless, he usually wins the day – either with the help of Tom the Cabin Boy or by sheer luck. Despite being a pirate, he is rarely seen committing any acts of piracy.

A somewhat dopey character, who has a tendency to use malapropisms and to mispronounce common words. He has a teddy bear in his bunk and is quite mild mannered. It is not entirely clear why he is the mate, as he does not appear to have any authority over the rest of the crew. He was present in the first ever Pugwash story, in which he was depicted as being constantly sleepy. Pugwash's adenoidal pronunciation of Master Mate's name appears to be the main source of the urban legend about characters' sexually suggestive names.

The most aggressive of the pirates, but in reality just as harmless. He is quite rebellious and grumpy, and is perhaps marginally more intelligent than Willy, the Mate or the Captain. He was not present in the 1998 series.

A simple sailor from Wigan. He appears to be the youngest crew member (apart from Tom). He is against using violence, and has been the crew's saviour on occasion (more by luck than by design).

It might be argued that without Tom, Pugwash would have been sunk long ago. He is the most intelligent and resourceful member of the crew, the only one who can cook and the only one who can actually sail a ship. Although Pugwash never admits it, Tom's ability to think up schemes is probably the only thing that prevents him from being a total failure as a pirate, though Tom is never angry at him stealing the spotlight. The rest of the crew also found they were unable to operate without Tom, after he left with the captain when the crew mutinied. Tom is an expert concertina player, despite this being a 19th century anachronism for an 18th century pirate, and part of his repertoire is "The Trumpet Hornpipe" (the Captain Pugwash theme). He was portrayed with a Home Counties accent in the first television adaptation, and with an Irish accent in the 1998 series.

Captain Pugwash's fearsome arch enemy, captain of the Flying Dustman (a pun on the Flying Dutchman combined with a reference to the occupation of dustman). When he is not scheming to bring about Pugwash's downfall, he is a rather more competent pirate than his enemy, and always seems to have plenty of treasure. He speaks with a stereotypical West Country accent, and is easily recognisable by his eye patch and enormous black beard.

In 1991, the Pugwash cartoonist John Ryan successfully sued the Sunday Correspondent and The Guardian newspapers for inaccurately claiming that some Pugwash character names were double entendres.

The series' signature tune was the "Trumpet Hornpipe", a folk dance that dates to at least the early nineteenth century. Some early versions of the tune refer to it as "Lascelles Hornpipe" and "Baloon Hornpipe". The composer and country of origin are unknown. The original black and white episodes of Captain Pugwash used a solo rendition by the accordionist Tom Edmondson, who had learned the tune from watching Jimmy Shand's band in Northumberland as a teenager. The recording was made by the folklorist Peter Kennedy as part of the BBC's Folk Music and Dialect Recording Scheme and Edmondson was paid £1.50 (30s) for his efforts. The track was transferred to disc for the BBC Sound Library and, according to John Ryan, it was later chosen as the Captain Pugwash theme by "a genius at the BBC", whose name he could not remember. Pearson’s arrangement of the theme is also used as the goal theme for Fleetwood Town FC. For the 1998 series, a new arrangement of the theme was created by Philip Lane. Another arrangement appears in the audiobook versions. The Trumpet Hornpipe itself is in the code of BBC Micro computer game Frak! and Acorn Electron game Zalaga, intended to be played when a pirated version of the game was loaded, a reference to Captain Pugwash.

In 1987, BBC Cover to Cover released various stories published in the 1980s on one cassette, read by the voice of Pugwash in the television series, Peter Hawkins. In 2012, the original picture book series was released on CD, with Jim Broadbent narrating.

In May 2017, a live action film adaptation was announced, to be directed by John Hay, produced by Atticus Films and starring Nick Frost as Captain Pugwash and Jason Flemyng in an unknown role. Production was set to begin in 2018, with the plot following Captain Pugwash travelling to Botany Bay, where he eventually finds himself at the helm of The Black Pig on a mission to rescue Tom the Cabin Boy's father, who is marooned on a volcanic island. In March 2021, Frost said that he believes the film will be unlikely to be produced because of budget issues, however the following year Isabel Ryan, daughter of creator John, said she wants the film to have the involvement of Rye.

On 17 December 1973, a theatre show, Captain Pugwash, written by Ryan and John Kennett, opened at the King's Road Theatre in Chelsea, London. Directed by John Ingram and designed by John Marsh, the entertainment for children played twelve performances a week (twice daily, Monday to Saturday) until 12 January 1974. Edward Philips as Pugwash headed a cast of live actors playing characters including Tom and Cut Throat Jake. The following year a second play was performed, entitled Captain Pugwash and the Inca Treasure, from 19 December 1974 to 18 January 1975. In 2008 a new show was performed with Richard Alan in the title role.

In a 1990 episode of The 8.15 from Manchester, Captain Pugwash was a special guest. In a 2002 issue of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Pugwash and Tom the Cabin Boy attended The Pirates’ Conference, alongside Captain Clegg of Doctor Syn, Long John Silver and Captain Hook. Ed Hartwell’s 2005 short film Time Looters was made using a similar “caption” style of cutouts. All the voices were provided by Joe Grossi, in a similar way to Peter Hawkins. In a 2006 That Mitchell and Webb Look sketch, Robert Webb criticises the 1974 1975 series, however he finds he is sitting next to the cardboard cutout who played Pugwash. In a 2007 Dead Ringers sketch parodying BBC Two’s loss of The Simpsons, a ripoff entitled The Stimpsons was created, however the characters were quickly revealed to be Captain Pugwash, Mr. Benn, Charley the Cat and Bagpuss. The Norwegian band Kaptein Kaliber, founded in 1996, was named after the Norwegian name for the character. Their first album in 1999 featured Pugwash on the cover, limited to twenty copies.

According to Isabel Ryan, her father John did not partake in merchandising unless somebody had created something for him. Waves of merchandise were first produced with the 1974 series, including badges, T shirts, and jigsaw puzzles. In 1981, Corgi Toys produced a model of the Black Pig, complete with stand up figures of Pugwash and Tom the Cabin Boy. John himself remarked that the franchise did not sell well in the United States due to the titular character being “too innocuous”. For the 1998 series, Vivid Imaginations created many more toys, including miniatures and plushies, both in eight inches and fourteen inches. Six inch Happy Meal plushies were also available as part of the Children’s Favourites line.