Bicorne

When he was a privateer, Hector Barbossa wore a black and gold bicorne hat.

"Jack, our sands be all but run. Where's the harm in joining the winning side? Shorter hours, better pay. You meet a nicer class of person. And, it's clean."
"But, Hector, the hat."

―Hector Barbossa and Jack Sparrow

The bicorne hat, or simply bicorne, was a style of hat adopted by the early 1700s during the Age of Piracy as an item of uniform by European militaries and naval officers. Descended from the tricorne, the bicorne had a broad brim, with the front and the rear halves turned up and pinned together forming a semi-circular fan shape; there was usually a cockade in the national colours at the front.

History

Captain Edward Teague, the Pirate Lord of Madagascar and Keeper of the Code, had a bicorne hat adorned with pheasant feathers to symbolize his role as pirate captain, which he began wearing at some point prior to the quest for the Shadow Gold, and continued wearing it throughout the Age of Piracy, notably during the fourth meeting of the Brethren Court. At some point, Commander John Evenrude of the British Royal Navy wore a bicorne as part of his uniform while he chased the notorious pirate Captain Jack Sparrow across the Seven Seas.

Following an encounter with Blackbeard, Hector Barbossa traded black and silver for the grand blue and gold uniform, including a black and gold naval officer's bicorne hat, when he served as a privateer of His Majesty King George II's Royal Navy. Barbossa wore the bicorne as captain of the HMS Providence and throughout the quest for the Fountain of Youth, where he got his revenge by defeating Blackbeard, though briefly changed into his old pirate regalia while taking possession of the Queen Anne's Revenge. By the following year, as he settled into a growing and prosperous pirate empire, Captain Barbossa went on to wear another, even more richly decorated bicorne hat, notably wearing it during the search for the Trident of Poseidon.

Behind the scenes

Bicornes first appeared, albeit unnamed, through Captain Teague in the video game adaption for the 2007 film Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. It was first identified as a "bicorne hat" in Teague's introduction in the 2009 book Legends of the Brethren Court: Wild Waters by Rob Kidd. In the reference book Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides: The Visual Guide, covering the 2011 film Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, the term "bicorne hat" was used to identify Hector Barbossa's hat, while "bicorne" was listed in the "Index" pages. Following the release of On Stranger Tides in 2011, Captain Barbossa's clothing was switched from pirate to his privateer in the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World's version of Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean. The skeleton Commander John Evenrude wore a bicorne in the Magic Kingdom's interactive attraction A Pirate's Adventure: Treasures of the Seven Seas.

Bicornes appearing in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise is anachronistic, as they were adopted by European militaries in the 1790s, whereas the Pirates series takes place in 1751 at the latest in Dead Men Tell No Tales/Salazar's Revenge.

Appearances

• Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean (Magic Kingdom version only)
• A Pirate's Adventure: Treasures of the Seven Seas
• Legends of the Brethren Court: Wild Waters (First identified as bicorne hat)
• Pirates of the Caribbean Online
• Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
  • Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (video game) (First appearance)
• Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales
• LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game (Non-canonical appearance)

Sources

• Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides: The Visual Guide (First identified as bicorne)

External links

• Bicorne on Wikipedia