Never had this set, but I had (and have) two copies of a Chinese bootleg version of this, with bizarrely proportioned figures and blocks.

@MCLegoboy said:
"He'll not be visiting Davy Jones' Locker for years yet to come."
But he might of liked the Monkees......

I have this set! Unfortunately no blue bandana. Unfortunately I wasn't around to experience the era of Classic Lego, although thankfully I have a small number of Classic Pirates and a couple of Castle minifigs.

Yay! That's my set! My 2nd one! Of course, I wanted a pirate ship, but my parents had money only for a raft xD.

I spent so much time with this pirate and these yellow cylinder-pieces.

The only thing which bothered me is a color of his pants.

I’m sure I have memories of pretending this was a magic carpet not a raft; the yellow round bricks reminded me more of tassels than logs I guess

@LordDunsany said:
"I think the earlier raft 6234 is a much better set."

Economy class vs business class

@PurpleDave
8633 agrees with you

I had this as a kid and picked up a couple more in bulk lots over the years. I think this was the first time I got the black n red pirate!

@Brickchap said:
"Sorry for the spam, for some reason it wouldn't post and now I see it has spammed the comments"

Don’t worry, it’s always exciting when you own a RSOTD!

I hadn't realized part 2654 2x2 skid was around in 1994, turns out it was only three years old for this set having been launched in 1991 with the likes of 6353

Always be proud to be a pirate until the very end.

I liked this so much, I've just built one from my parts collection to go with PoBB.

@CliveyB:
Albatross soup?

@HOBBES @PurpleDave, The reason he’s flying the Jolly Roger, looking away from land and smiling is that he has spotted a friendly pirate ship (6289 perhaps) and is expecting to be rescued and recruited by them. From the rescuing ship’s point of view, a trustworthy (as much as any pirate can be) and experienced deckhand is a useful addition to the crew.

I really wish Lego would just breakdown and give us a new Pirate line...

@Zander:
Or he’s developed a taste for long pork, and sees a buffet approaching.

I have impression that many adults would buy old sets if Lego had them again in the shop.

At least I am in this group and most probably would buy ALL old sets if I saw them in their offer :)

@TKBrick:

ca2001:
10000
10001
10002

ca2002:
10036
10037
10039
10040

ca2003:
10021
10041

ca2004:
10151

And then they gave up because nobody was buying them. The next time they did something like this was Taj Mahal, which they did so they could go after Lepin.

@PurpleDave said:
"ca2001:
10000
10001
etc

And then they gave up because nobody was buying them."

Don't blame me, I bought 7 of those, and it was fantastic to get them. And I bought some of the classic reissues like 6472 that weren't branded Legends. Some sets were questionable choices for re-releases (10021, 6290). But back in 2001, pretty much the only things worth buying in Lego's entire catalog were from Lego Direct's nascent efforts to market to AFOLs. My Lego purchases would have been near zero back then had it not been for them. I'll always wonder how much impact they had on our hobby by giving us reasons to stick with it in the darkest hour. Maybe the answer is "not much," but I know it gave me hope and confidence.

True, re-releases aren't the way to create a market. But I also think the product line was so much more cohesive in the 1980s–1990s. With long-lived themes like Town/Space/Castle/Pirate and open-ended play structures, children had more hope of making a long-term system investment instead of a flash-in-the-pan theme that's going to be gone in 6 months. For kids who dump all their Lego in one big bin, this is no big deal. For kids who like to play with sets, it's harder today.

I always thought that to be "shipwrecked", you'd have to be on land. This seems more like he's adrift. Maybe I've just misunderstood the word.

You guys have it all wrong. Clearly 7290 is the masterpiece a Pirates set should be.

@Spidermanager said:
"You guys have it all wrong. Clearly 7290 is the masterpiece a Pirates set should be."

That really reminds me of 60126: Tire Escape

My sister got this the same day I got my first set, 1464 Pirate lookout. Many years later I acquired it off of her. Then I sold it to a younger brother. Then a few years ago, I reacquired it off of him. that pirate traveled around a lot in that little raft.

And a very Blacktron looking raft it is. Black, and yellow. Hmmm. Perhaps that isn't a shipwrecked pirate, but a shipwrecked Blacktron? The blue pants and hat are the leftovers of a Classic Space uniform our man stole from the Classic Space ship that shot down our poor Blacktron. The patch eye is an obvious injury from the crash.

If I already didn't have a character made for this guy, I think I just found a brilliant idea.

Ahh, I good ol' days. I sure everyone views their LEGO 'best years' with the nostalgic feeling of being a kid, but I will always being a kid in the 80's and remember the rush of going down the LEGO aisle at the local TRU and Child World and seeing all of those yellow boxes! I miss toy stores. I love getting discounts on sets at retailers, but nothing will take the place of seeing all of your favorite toy lines in one giant place and that you could actually pick them up and look at them, instead of seeing a pic on Amazon.

Of course, speaking of Legends, I also miss getting more of those Legends 10001 Metroliners for only 75 dollars when LEGO was trying to move the rest of them out of their warehouse back in the day.