Kiwi Jo
Writin' and Fightin'
WHOOPs You appear to have unlocked one of my Special Interests™, But I'll try and condense my absolute undying love for pirates into a few paragraphs without boring people who don't care too much.
Pirates, as a rule, were all from the gutters of society. Piss-poor working class fishermen, merchantmen, and ex-navy who wanted to make a better life for themselves without the horrifically oppressive laws of the time (1780s-1860s, generally) binding them to a life of poverty. Merchant and Royal Navy ships were notoriously cruel and unfair, with flogging and caning for minor offenses, awful pay, and terrible food (a pound of meat and bread a week) being the norm. So these people who have been victimized by this awful system just said "No. No more of this." and went off to start or join pirate crews.
Pirate ships were pretty great compared to the rest of the world at that time, actually. There was a contract on most ships that had to be signed by all members of the crew stating that they agreed to the conditions outlined. They had very fair pay, with each man getting an equal share of the loot, plus higher-ranking officers and the captain never getting more than twice the amount of any other member of the crew. The captains were democratically elected and could be removed from their position at any time if they weren't properly performing their duty. If any of the crew was seriously injured, they were compensated, plus if anyone wanted out of the life of piracy, they were given a sort of "retirement fund" of x amount of money and dropped off at a location of their choosing. They actually didn't do too much fighting and raping and murdering, that was an image created by the English government to demonize them and make people more likely to turn them in.
SO ANYWAY what I'm trying to say is, Pirates all the way. They were just average people trying to live free from unfair rules and make lives for themselves. thank you for your time
p.s. the whole "ninjas wearing black" thing came from the Kabuki Theatre! People dressed in all-black were used to move props around, and the audience mostly tuned them out in favor of focusing on the actual characters in the play, so it came as a shock when one of them slipped up behind the main character to assassinate them! Kind of like some early 4th wall breaking shit, if you ask me.
Pirates, as a rule, were all from the gutters of society. Piss-poor working class fishermen, merchantmen, and ex-navy who wanted to make a better life for themselves without the horrifically oppressive laws of the time (1780s-1860s, generally) binding them to a life of poverty. Merchant and Royal Navy ships were notoriously cruel and unfair, with flogging and caning for minor offenses, awful pay, and terrible food (a pound of meat and bread a week) being the norm. So these people who have been victimized by this awful system just said "No. No more of this." and went off to start or join pirate crews.
Pirate ships were pretty great compared to the rest of the world at that time, actually. There was a contract on most ships that had to be signed by all members of the crew stating that they agreed to the conditions outlined. They had very fair pay, with each man getting an equal share of the loot, plus higher-ranking officers and the captain never getting more than twice the amount of any other member of the crew. The captains were democratically elected and could be removed from their position at any time if they weren't properly performing their duty. If any of the crew was seriously injured, they were compensated, plus if anyone wanted out of the life of piracy, they were given a sort of "retirement fund" of x amount of money and dropped off at a location of their choosing. They actually didn't do too much fighting and raping and murdering, that was an image created by the English government to demonize them and make people more likely to turn them in.
SO ANYWAY what I'm trying to say is, Pirates all the way. They were just average people trying to live free from unfair rules and make lives for themselves. thank you for your time
p.s. the whole "ninjas wearing black" thing came from the Kabuki Theatre! People dressed in all-black were used to move props around, and the audience mostly tuned them out in favor of focusing on the actual characters in the play, so it came as a shock when one of them slipped up behind the main character to assassinate them! Kind of like some early 4th wall breaking shit, if you ask me.
