
180 Yo Ho Ho & a Bottle of Rum
Click image to view full size or download poster for gallery-quality printing & framing.
This is a high-resolution pdf & may take a few minutes to download.
Find printing tips & framing ideas here.
Arrrr!
AmperArt #180 was inspired by International Talk Like a Pirate Day, celebrated Sept. 19 of every year since 2002. Scroll way down to read about the founders & their website, starting with their video on how to talk like a pirate. (Not the video directly below — that’s about the song that this AmperArt piece be titled.)
AmperArrrr #180
Yo Ho Ho & a Bottle of Rum (aka Dead Man’s Chest)
Each sailor was given a cutlass & a bottle of rum. Teach’s hope was that the pirates would kill each other, but when he returned after a month he found 15 men had survived. This would explain the lyrics in the very first stanza & throughout the song:
Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest—
…Yo-ho-ho, & a bottle of rum!
Background
Robert Lewis Stevenson, author of Treasure Island (1883), found the name “Dead Man’s Chest” [the actual name of the song, aka “Fifteen Men on the Dead Man’s Chest” & “Yo, Ho, Ho (And a Bottle of Rum)”] among a list of Virgin Island names in a book by Charles Kingsley. As Stevenson once said, “Treasure Island came out of Kingsley’s At Last: A Christmas in the West Indies (1871); where I got the ‘Dead Man’s Chest’ — that was the seed.” —Wikipedia
Original song
In Treasure Island, Stevenson only wrote the chorus, leaving the remainder of the song unwritten, & to the reader’s imagination. It was expanded in a poem, titled “Derelict” by Young E. Allison, published in the Louisville Courier-Journal in 1891.
Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest—
…Yo-ho-ho, & a bottle of rum!
Drink & the devil had done for the rest—
…Yo-ho-ho, & a bottle of rum!
Another lyric in the novel, near its end:
But one man of her crew alive,
What put to sea with seventy-five.
—Wikipedia
Lyrics & performance of the poem “Derelict”
StreetDirectory.com provides the popular full lyrics version, from the poem based on “Dead Man’s Chest” & titled “Derelict” by Young Ewing Allison for this song with a live performance by the Rambling Sailors.
AllPoetry.com shows probably the most accurate typographic treatment for the poem “Derelict.” It is a beautiful website of poetry, about poetry & for poets.
Blackbeard & Female Pirates
HolidaysCalendar.com offers these bits of history about pirates:
- Blackbeard’s name was Edward Teach, sometimes spelled Edward Thatch.
- Blackbeard would weave hemp into his beard & set it on fire before he captured a ship. That must’ve been a terrifying sight indeed!
- Some famous female pirates include Anne Bonny, Ching Shih, & Mary Read.
International Talk Like a Pirate Day, September 19
Cap’n Slappy & Ol’ Chumbucket discuss the importance of finding yer inner pirate:
Plunder the seas & sail over to the official Talk Like a Pirate Day website. “How it all started” is a fun story, way back in 1995 while playing racquetball. As be told, whoever let out the first “Arrr!” started something. One thing led to another & it became a national holiday in 2002. For their 20th anniversary, the party was live-streamed September 19, 2022 on Facebook from Kells Brewery in Portland, Oregon. [I tuned in and enjoyed the whole swashbucklin’ party. The musicians were fantastic & there was even a real dancing parrot on a wench’s shoulder. —Chaz]
Pirate Terms & Phrases
This page at YourDictionary.com provides a boatload of pirate greetings, exclamations, insults, threats, & slang so you don’t have to go around saying “Aarrr!” to all your mates on Talk Like a Pirate Day.
How to celebrate Talk Like a Pirate Day besides walking the plank
NationalDayCalendar.com offers unique ways to enjoy Talk Like a Pirate Day:
✠ While ordering your coffee in the drive-thru, ask if they have change for gold bullion. Try testing your pirate language out at the library when asking for the location of Moby Dick. The pirate language always fairs well in rough seas. Settle a debate with “I’m right or I’ll walk the plank!”
✠ When the boss gives you a new project, “Aye, aye, Capt’n,” is the correct response. However, beware calling the boss any frothy names. The goal of the day is not to lose your job.
✠ To polish your persona, practice a swagger, limp or squint. Long days at sea give pirates unique qualities.

Concept & design
I’ve never been good at imitating dialects, so I’m not one to talk like a pirate (although I’ve been told I cuss & swear like one). Among my hearties is Mardy DeSanto, who invited me to an elaborate pirate party several years ago, & it was a swashbuckling fun time. Mardy added to the atmosphere, as he does incredible impersonations, including authentic pirate speak just like an old salt on the sea. Ever since then I’ve enjoyed pirate stories, scenery, & “pirates” themselves (I have a few friends who really do think they were pirates in another lifetime). So thanks, Mardy, for introducing me to the skullduggery of those who swagger & shout “yo ho ho & a bottle of rum.”

The design for this issue is all clip-art, pieced together & modified to get an ampersand into it. That’s fun, “frankensteining” a design, rather than always creating from scratch. I was very pleased to find a carefree style of illustration & a font to match. (I altered the type, though. Note there are no two letters that match exactly. If a typestyle is to look like hand-lettering, it’s a good idea to modify every repeating letter so that it’s just a little different than the others.) I found this excellent, stylish vector art at DepositPhotos.com.
Yo ho ho — this one’s done, so I think me deserves a bottle of rum…or maybe just a shot. Or better yet, just a healthy protein drink.
Production notes for #180 Yo Ho Ho & a Bottle of Rum:
Original size: 20x30 inches
Program: Adobe Illustrator
Font: Professor Minty (with alternates), some glyphs modified
Ampersand: hand-bump only, please
Credits:
Illustrations: depositphotos.com (modifed)
Amperskull & Crossbones flag: Chaz DeSimone (typestyle Benguiat Charisma)
Inspiration & most of the text:
Mardy DeSanto, for inviting me to a swashbuckling pirate party
talklikeapirate.com—founders of Talk Like a Pirate Day
nationaldaycalendar.com
HolidaysCalendar.com
YourDictionary.com
AllPoetry.com
Note: “&” replaces “and” in most or all text, including quotations, headlines & titles.
You may repost the image & article. Please credit AmperArt.com.
To download a full-size high-resolution 11x17-inch poster suitable for printing & framing, click on the image.

Chaz DeSimone is the creator of AmperArt & owner of Desimone Design. He was adding serifs to letters when he was just a little brat scribbling on walls. Now he’s a big brat & his entire career is design for clients who desire the most sophisticated, logical, captivating creative. Contact him at chaz@desimonedesign.com to discuss your project, pick his brain, or just talk shop.

Aarrr!
Wouldn’t it be intriguing to see today’s wars being fought with ships & pirates rather than missiles & tanks? Better yet, forget fighting and just enjoy the rum.
This is just one of my opinions on the chaz sez blog.
Rants & raves mostly about design, sometimes about the universe.
An occasional bit of useful advice.
Read the blog:
desimonedesign.com/chaz-sez




