"You can't have a pirate exhibit in Tampa without talking about Gasparilla.”

Rodney Kite-Powell is the Curator of History at the Tampa Bay History Center. He is speaking about the museum’s latest exhibition, “The Art of Piracy: Pirates in Modern Culture, on display through April 26.

The show spans three centuries of pirate depictions and pays special homage to Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla. They are the original Tampa Bay pirate “Krewe,” starting the Gasparilla celebrations in 1904.

There are paintings of Krewe members, as well as renderings of floats and other Gasparilla memorabilia. It’s mixed with images of pirates – both real and mythical that sailed the high seas from the 17th century onward.

"It's our way to show how the image of pirates -- the stereotypical pirates came to be," said Kite-Powell.

The Pirate theme continued in Tampa in the 1970’s with the new professional football team the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And in 1975, artist and newspaper cartoonist Lamar Sparkman created the pirate mascot “Bucco Bruce.”

You can see all the original incarnations of this swashbuckler. One of the only bona fide, documented Gulf Coast pirates in the exhibition is Jean Lafitte. Lafitte helped the United States fight the British in the Battle of New Orleans during The War of 1812.

"Being a pirate sometimes is a matter of perception whose side are you on,” said Kite-Powell. “At that time for us Lafitte was not a pirate, he was a patriot, but certainly for the British he was a pirate through and through.”

Another treat for museum-goers—the original painting of Captain Morgan from the Captain Morgan brand of spiced rum is on display.

The company commissioned Sarasota artist Don Maitz to create the piece in the 1980’s.