‘Signals,’ said Sol.
I asked, ‘To who?’
‘To our other ships, of course.’
We signalled instructions all day. I don’t even know what we said.
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Quite a lot of historical pirates were just as mental as Sol.
Captain Low and his men were just as dangerous in a good mood as in a bad one. They “almost as often murdered a man from the excess of good humour, as out of passion and resentment. . . danger lurked in their very smiles.” (“A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pirates” by Captain Johnson).
A navy captain called Graves was unusually lucky (if you can call it that). His ship was taken, and the pirates were in fabulous spirits. They toasted Captain Graves, and offered him a drink – which, under the circumstances, he refused. Somehow, he wasn’t in the mood.
So they pulled a gun and said he’d drink to the pirate’s victory or die. Not surprisingly, he drank – about a quart. And that kept him alive.
Louise, you should check out Karen Chace’s blog. She’s put up a bunch of information there about pirates and pirate history in honour of ‘Talk like a Pirate Day’! I think you’ll love it.
The link is: http://karenchace.blogspot.com/
Jai
Fabulous resource, thank you!