Captain Pugwash Captain Pugwash Captain Pugwash is a fictional pirate in a series of British children's comic strips and books created by John Ryan. The character's adventures were adapted into a TV series, using cardboard cut-outs filmed in live-action (the first series was performed and broadcast live), also called "Captain Pugwash", first shown on the BBC in 1957, a later colour series, first shown in 1974–75, and a traditional animation series, "The Adventures of Captain Pugwash", first aired in 1998. The eponymous hero – Captain Horatio Pugwash – sails the high seas in his ship called the "Black Pig", ably assisted by
Captain Pugwash on painted backgrounds and moved with levers. The characters' voices were provided by Peter Hawkins. The last series of Pugwash shorts by Ryan was produced in 1975. Although there are many anachronisms in the series, the book "The Battle of Bunkum Bay" gives some useful clues as to the era in which the stories are set. In this book, the King of Great Britain strongly resembles George I and the King of France resembles Louis XIV, suggesting that this story took place in 1714–15. However, one of the few direct references to a date is in the original TV series