Ive read about 20 books on pirates (the best is probably Under the Black Flag). I told them how England had the best pirates because they were the most adept at seafaring, and about how pirates came from all nationalities. You had all of these people who were tired of living in Europe, so they banded together. One may have been an Arawak Indian. One may have been an escaped African slave. Another guy mightve come from the Orient. One or two guys couldve come from England, dishonorably discharged from the Navy. In polite society back then there really wasnt diversity, but on pirate ships there was. All you had to be was a capable hand. Captains were voted into leadership. How is it that they were they so progressive in these ways? I imagine societal mores can go out the window pretty quickly when youre fighting for your life.
There are a lot of misconceptions about pirates. Pirates varied from the soldier/sailor type hired by the Queen Elizabeth I of England to help wage war against Spain, to ruthless outlaws with no direction but their own. Some pirates were actually pretty organized businessmen. Bartholomew Roberts, for example, didnt drink. He had a whole fleet of ships. He was a really efficient planner and organizer. Another pirate, Henry Morgan, eventually became the Governor of Jamaica. At some points in time it was illegal to be a pirate, but at other points it wasnt. Sir Francis Drake was paid by the Elizabeth I to plunder and pillage the Spanish and bring as many riches back to England as his fleet could carry. If you were an Englishman during the sixteenth century, you pretty much had a green light to do anything you wanted to the Spanish.
I told the team how pirates had a workmans comp deal, where if you lost your leg, you got a certain amount of additional treasure. Then, I told the team how similar football teams are to pirate crews, guys of all kinds of ethnicities coming from all corners of society, serving a gamut of roles onboard. I explained how the pirates viewed their swords the same way football players should view their bodies.
They took great pride in their swords, sharpening them just like players do their bodies by lifting the weights and doing all of the drills we do, I said
