[Irish Wolf]

Originally Posted by Icelander

Considering Limehouse and Wapping's population of sailors, I'm pretty sure that was fairly common.

According to Patrick O'Brien's historical fiction, even the Malay and Chinese sailors in a British man of war tended to develop a strong Limehouse accent from learning English from their fellow sailors.

As pirates were often sailors who had mutinied or deserted, I imagine most of the English-speaking ones spoke with a decided tinge of the London docks (overlaid on native Irish for many of them, of course).

But the stereotype is that ridiculous accent from Treasure Island - an exaggerated form of British West Country, I've read, although not having been there I couldn't say for sure.