Bully Hayes Pirate Shirt

Bully Hayes Pirate Shirt

A relaxed shirt with eyelets & drawstring on sleeves for varied sleeve tightness. Front design has eyelets & drawstring for easy & comfortable wearing.

William Henry "Bully" Hayes (1827 or 1829 – 1877) has been described as a South Sea pirate and "the last of the Buccaneers", who together with Ben Pease, engaged in blackbirding in the 1860s and 1870s. Hayes operated across the breadth of the Pacific in the 1850s until his murder on 31 March 1877 by his cook Peter Radeck, or "Dutch Pete". James A. Michener & A. Grove Day, in their account of his life, warn that it is almost impossible to separate fact from legend in his life; they described Hayes as "a cheap swindler, a bully, a minor confidence man, a thief, a ready bigamist" and comment there is no evidence that Hayes ever took a ship by force in the tradition of a pirate or privateer.
There are two stories as to how he earned his nickname "Bully": one explanation is that "Bulli" is Samoan for "elusive" or "evasive", the second explanation is that he was called "Bully" because of his behaviour towards his crew. He was a large man who used intimidation against his crew, although he could be very charming if he chose to be, as well as being capable of generosity to Pacific Islanders in need. However Bully Hayes developed a reputation of a notorious blackbirder, whose arrival on any Pacific Island would cause islanders to hide in fear of being kidnapped and shipped off to be a labourer on some distant plantation.


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Pirate costumes.