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Women’s Institute members wore joke eye patches, wigs and wooden legs to greet an old sea dog giving a talk on pirates.

They thought Colin Darch, 75, would regale them with tales of buccaneers such as Blackbeard and Captain Kidd.

But they got a sinking feeling when they realised the retired sea captain was there to tell of his 47-day ordeal at the hands of brutal Somali pirates.

Stephanie George, of the 21-member Parkham WI in Devon, said: “We didn’t know much about him but the notes said he was Captain Darch and he was talking about piracy.

“I thought he was from a local fundraising group who dress up as pirates to raise money for charity.

"Naturally everyone was aghast when we realised our mistake.

“There he was delivering this harrowing story about how he was held hostage and feared for his life, and we were all sitting there dressed as Captain Hook.

“We apologised profusely but Mr Darch was a great sport and it didn’t seem to phase him at all.

“He was so funny and such a nice man. He carried on with his talk, which was wonderfully entertaining, and a few of the ladies bought copies of his book afterwards.”

(Image: Getty)

Colin, from Appledore, Devon, was taken hostage by 20 gun-toting pirates who hijacked his 120-foot ship off the coast of Somalia in 2008.

He and an engineer were ordered to sail the Danish-registered Svitzer Korsakov and warned they would be shot if they disobeyed their captors.

The crew were only freed after a rumoured £350,000 ransom was paid.

Married granddad-of-12 Colin went to the WI meeting to read extracts from his book Capture By Somali Pirates & Other Events At Sea.

Thankfully he saw the funny side. He said: “They seemed to be a little embarrassed but it didn’t offend me in the slightest.

“It’s been five years now and sometimes I have to remind myself just how terrifying and frightening it was.

“In any event, the ladies didn’t look the slightest bit like Somali pirates - more like the Pirates of Penzance.

“In the end they asked me to select the best costume. I gave them all marks out of ten. It was just a bit of fun.”

One WI member wrote an official notice about the talk saying: “Embarrassingly, the WI all dressed up as pirates for the event, not realising that Captain Darch was going to be talking about his experience of being held hostage by Somali pirates rather than piracy in general.

“However once this had been gotten over everyone sat down to listen to Captain Darch’s story, and what a story it was. Absolutely fascinating and gripping.”