Captain Pugwash was a fictional pirate who appeared in a series of British children’s comic strips, books and television shows created by John Ryan. The eponymous hero – Captain Horatio Pugwash – sailed the high seas in his ship called the Black Pig, assisted by cabin boy Tom, pirates Willy and Barnabas, and Master Mate. His mortal enemy was Cut-Throat Jake, captain of the Flying 

Dustman. At John Ryan’s wedding in 1950, he was introduced by a friend to Marcus Morris, who was launching Eagle, and asked the artist to create a strip for it. When John returned home, he claimed that Captain Pugwash appeared without explanation. The book became successful and the BBC commissioned it to be adapted into an animated short film, made using "captions". This was a form of cutout animation that involved levers attached to the back of characters. All the voices were provided by Peter Hawkins, who had to be hidden behind a monitor due to his facial expressions made while recording being too distracting for the animators.