Piratania

Where did we pick up The Pirate Accent from, as if Piracy were a nation?

Wikipedia has this to say on the topic:

Stereotypical pirate accents tend to resemble accents either from Cornwall or Bristol in South West England, though they can also be based on Elizabethan era English or other parts of the world. Pirates in film, television and theatre are generally depicted as speaking English in a particular accent and speech pattern that sounds like a cross between a West country accent and an old English accent, patterned on that of Robert Newton’s performance as Long John Silver in 1950 film Treasure Island.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVX5ZfTcGNU]

I ask as I’ve recently been piratically spoiled, by a true master of the pirate tongue, Captain Ignatius Pigheart:

Gaargh, as I sit here with a pot o’ crude coral rum and me peg leg restin’ on the table behind me, I’m minded to recall a day most dear to me black and twisted heart. – more