Members of a women's club, the Parkham Women's Institute in North Devon, England, knew they were going to hear a talk about piracy at their meeting. So they wore pirate costumes, complete with eye patches and even a fake parrot. They were quite embarrassed when they arrived at the meeting and realized the speaker was Captain Colin Darch, who spoke of his experience as a hostage of a band of Somali pirates in 2008.
Captain Darch said he found the whole thing amusing and more like a scene from the Pirates of Penzance than anything like he had experienced while he being held hostage.
He said: “Of course I didn’t take offence or mind. It was more like the Pirates of Penzance.
“I must admit I quite enjoy giving talks to groups such as WIs. I am doing quite a few of them and it is a good way to flog my book.
“They were lovely ladies. They made me judge who was the best dressed which was a difficult choice. In the end I decided to choose the one with who had a fluffy parrot on her shoulder. Of course there weren’t any parrots near the real pirates.”