A group of women in Devon, England, thought it would be fun to dress up like pirates for a talk about piracy being given by sea captain Colin Darch. Unfortunately, some of the fun wore off when the realized that, rather than discussing piracy in general, Darch would instead be recounting the time he was held hostage for days by a band of armed Somali pirates.

"They were more embarrassed than me," said the 75-year-old captain, who thought the women were rehearsing for The Pirates of Penzance.

For their part, the women, members of the local Women's Institutes chapter, apologized for the mix-up, but did end up making Darch pick the best dressed pirate among them.

"In the end I decided to choose the one with who had a fluffy parrot on her shoulder," he said. "Of course there weren’t any parrots near the real pirates."

[screengrab via BBC, image via Owen Jones]