{"id":306,"date":"2014-06-09T12:31:19","date_gmt":"2014-06-09T16:31:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beydeckard.com\/blog\/?p=306"},"modified":"2014-06-09T12:31:19","modified_gmt":"2014-06-09T16:31:19","slug":"the-problem-with-pirates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/the-problem-with-pirates\/","title":{"rendered":"The Problem with Pirates"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Photo<\/a>
Avast!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Occasionally I feel like I should add a disclaimer to my book blurb.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer:<\/strong> If you are looking for \"ahoy matey\", peg-legged, eye-patched, hook-handed, swinging-from-ropes-with-a cutlass-between-their-teeth,\u00a0daily-battles-and-plunder kind of pirates, you will not find much of that here.<\/p>\n

When people think of pirates, they think of what Hollywood has made them out to be. It makes writing about them hard because people expect excitement and shiver-me-timbers 24\/7. It wasn't like that for most pirates.<\/p>\n

First off, being a pirate was a way of life, not an occupation. It was about being free and equal, living aboard,\u00a0taking care, and loving a ship that was home<\/em>. It was about honour and democracy. It was also about screwing\u00a0the\u00a0system... yes. But it largely wasn't done in epic gun-battles, plunder, and pillage. \u00a0Pirating<\/em> usually entailed transporting contraband\/stolen goods for crooked merchants and steering clear of the navy. Mostly it meant long bouts of little activity punctuated by high-risk jobs that paid fat wallets.<\/p>\n

When they came across merchant vessels, yes they boarded and raided... but it was done with surprisingly little bloodshed. Pirates lived mostly on reputation; they adopted scary names and wore strange clothing\u00a0to make themselves seem crazy and vicious. The end-result was that folks\u00a0surrendered to them quickly. Look at Blackbeard and his habit of lighting little wicks in his beard and hair before a battle - he looked like a living demon. Why waste cannon balls if you can simply\u00a0scare your victims into quickly emptying their holds?<\/p>\n

Some pirates were more successful than others - Bartholomew \"Black Bart\" Roberts, for instance, reportedly sacked hundreds of ships over a three year period. \u00a0Your average pirate ship? Maybe ten\u00a0a year.<\/p>\n

Life at sea could be\u00a0dangerous\u00a0- cannons bursting loose from moorings, bad storms, dumb luck from falling from the shrouds. There were a lot of injuries, and amputations were fairly common. However, not as common as movies make them out to be. Folks often\u00a0simply died from their injuries... even minor ones. They didn't live in the most sanitary of conditions.<\/p>\n

The fact of the matter is that \"pirating\" was often just a small part of being on board a pirate ship. There was a lot of down time for the men and women who became pirates, lots of time to build camaraderie and culture. It's that quiet time\u2014life surrounded by sun and sea and your fellow pirates, pledged to loyalty and respect\u2014that I set out to capture in Caged.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\"caged-cover-final-AIA\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"goodreads-badge-add-plus-d700d4d3e3c0b346066731ac07b7fe47\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Occasionally I feel like I should add a disclaimer to my book blurb. Disclaimer: If you are looking for “ahoy matey”, peg-legged, eye-patched, hook-handed, swinging-from-ropes-with-a cutlass-between-their-teeth,\u00a0daily-battles-and-plunder kind of pirates, you will not find much of that here. When people think of pirates, they think of what Hollywood has made them out to be. It makes writing about them hard because people expect excitement and shiver-me-timbers 24\/7. It wasn’t like that for most pirates. First off, being a pirate was a way of life, not an occupation. It was about being free and equal, living aboard,\u00a0taking care, and loving a ship … <\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"The Problem with Pirates","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[114,101],"class_list":["post-306","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-caged","tag-history","tag-pirates"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4sexs-4W","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1037,"url":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/interview-with-the-pirates-of-baals-heart\/","url_meta":{"origin":306,"position":0},"title":"Interview with the Pirates of Baal’s Heart","author":"Bey","date":"April 4, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Lisa from The Novel Approach sat down with Baltsaros, Tom, and Jon this week. Read what they had to say. :)","rel":"","context":"In "Caged"","block_context":{"text":"Caged","link":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/category\/book-updates\/caged\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3354,"url":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/free-pirates\/","url_meta":{"origin":306,"position":1},"title":"Free Pirates ;)","author":"Bey","date":"March 15, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"From March 15-17, Caged: Love and Treachery on the High Seas is FREE at Amazon!(pro tip: get it for free and tack on the spectacularly narrated Audible book for less!) Get it here today! https:\/\/youtu.be\/9bO8LfxKI34 lol - I should stick to writing books","rel":"","context":"In "Caged"","block_context":{"text":"Caged","link":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/category\/book-updates\/caged\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Caged-Love-and-Treachery-on-the-High-Seas-Kindle.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3921,"url":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/impatient-pirates-and-whats-coming-next\/","url_meta":{"origin":306,"position":2},"title":"Impatient Pirates and What’s Coming Next… (and a giveaway)","author":"Bey","date":"October 5, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Every time I sit down to write, it's as if I have Tom, Jon, and Baltsaros standing over my shoulder, Tom clearing his throat impatiently... because they want another book. And lord do I want to give them that... and I'm looking forward to writing it. I'm also looking forward\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Book Updates"","block_context":{"text":"Book Updates","link":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/category\/book-updates\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/notebook.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/notebook.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/notebook.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/notebook.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/notebook.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":248,"url":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/salty-dogs-spicy-language-what-else-would-you-expect-from-pirates-welcome-bey-deckard-and-a-giveaway\/","url_meta":{"origin":306,"position":3},"title":"Interview at The Novel Approach","author":"Bey","date":"May 18, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"SALTY DOGS, SPICY LANGUAGE? WHAT ELSE WOULD YOU EXPECT FROM PIRATES? WELCOME BEY DECKARD AND A GIVEAWAY! TNA:\u00a0Hi, Bey, thanks so much for being here with us today. Why don\u2019t we start with the sharing part of the interview? Would you tell us a few things about yourself: hobbies, interests,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "About"","block_context":{"text":"About","link":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/category\/about\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1455,"url":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/now-available-via-kindle-unlimited\/","url_meta":{"origin":306,"position":4},"title":"Now Available via Kindle Unlimited","author":"Bey","date":"December 5, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Alrighty... So I've taken the leap and thrown it all* into KU for the next three months. Why the hell not? :) Available at Amazon Tags: LGBT, Fantasy, Pirates Available at Amazon Tags: LGBT, Fantasy, Pirates \u00a0 Available at Amazon Tags: LGBT, Fantasy, Pirates \u00a0 Available at Amazon Tags: Gay,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Announcements"","block_context":{"text":"Announcements","link":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/category\/announcements\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"now-available-ku","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/now-available-ku.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/now-available-ku.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/now-available-ku.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2542,"url":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/careened-baals-heart-3-5-free-for-a-limited-time\/","url_meta":{"origin":306,"position":5},"title":"Careened – Baal’s Heart #3.5 – Free for a limited time","author":"Bey","date":"March 23, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"It looks like my pirates are getting a bump in readership... for the new readers and the longtime fans, did you know that there is a Baal's Heart short? It's a tiny book, holiday-themed, and follows the events in Fated. For today and tomorrow it's available for free at Amazon!\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Careened"","block_context":{"text":"Careened","link":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/category\/book-updates\/careened\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/cover-200x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=306"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":308,"href":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/306\/revisions\/308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=306"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=306"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beydeckard.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=306"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}