Y'know, although I could use a longer summer break and have been enjoying life at the salt mine, I'm looking forward to my last year at Pirate School.
Here are the courses I've signed up for in the fall semester:
SHIP ORGANIZATIONS: There are many different choices in organizational structure with a ship. My ideal is the democracy of a pirate ship with every pirate taking their fair share of the booty. But when you're battling merchantmen and government ships, you'll want to know how they're run. My favourite way of capturing a tyrannical merchantman is to offer all the downtrodden sailors the life of a pirate and an even share of the proceeds. You'd be surprised how many ships give up without a single cannon being fired when that offer is made.
PIRATES AND THE FAMILY: A pirate's life is hard on a family. What do you do when the spouse wants out? How do you divide the treasure? Are there options to duelling a man to take his bride?
CHILDREN AND LIFE AT SEA: Is it okay for the young ones to be working aboard ship? Should they be kept below decks during a battle? What share of the loot should they get?
PIRATES AND SOCIETY Selected Issues in Feminist Piracy: Should we male pirates be cleaning up our language? What can be done to increase the number of female captains? And flogging - is it a women's issue only? What about the violence of a pirate's life - does it encourage the abuse of women?
PRIVATEER PRACTICUM: This is going to be the best. I'll get one day a week of privateer life. Sure it's government work, but it's just like real piracy with better hours and the law on your side.
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I recall an interesting female pirate who commanded my seas for a while:
Ching Shih, originally a prostitute, she married in 1801, to one Cheng I who commanded a pirate fleet. They adopted a son named Chang Pao. By the time her husband died in a gale in 1807, he had united a pirate coalition numbering 400 ships and over 70,000 sailors.
Manipulating the situation, Ching Shih took over the fleet. She shortly after fell into an affair with her adopted son, having already made him her lieutenant, and married him, cementing the family's hold on the fleet.
She developed a code of laws that were strictly enforced. If a village regularly helped the pirates, it was a capital offense to steal from them. It was a capital offense to steal from the treasury. Raping female captives was a capital offense. Even if there was fornication with a female captive at her supposed consent, the sailor was beheaded and the female cast overboard with a weight tied to her legs.
(Wikipedia)
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