Pirate Crew

The Blackbird is everything your captain warned you about. She is a small, beaten up, and only has a few cannon. She’s still all yours and you throw yourself into the task of fixing her up and training her crew. In only a few weeks you’ve made a big change in both her and them. She’ll never be pretty but you have her looking and running much better. Your crew is inexperienced but courageous and ready to follow you wherever you want to take them.

Just a few days before you are due to set out on your first raiding cruise you are sitting on a pile of rope talking to other captains on the dock.

“It’s not fair, it’s not civilized I tell you,” says one old salt complete with peg leg.

“I agree Jackie, it’s not fair at all, seems like it’s cheating to me,” another old pirate chimes in. This one has a hook for a hand.

“What’s cheating?” you ask trying to catch up on a conversation you walking into the middle of.

“I’ll tell you.” Jackie replies. “There’s a new British frigate patrolling this section of the sea. She’s a braw fighter with a hothead of a commander, not one you’d want to cross. What that sneak has done is dress her up like a merchant prize, a big fat one, just limping along like she don’t know where she is. When pirates try to take her they show their colors and take our brother and sister pirates prisoner and sink their ship. We lost Bluesteel Betty that way not a week ago. When you head out there youngster you be sure of your targets.”

You try to keep his advice in mind as you sail out looking for prey. A week goes by, then another, and you sight nothing at all. Finally one morning there on the horizon you sight the sweetest looking prize you have ever seen. It is a fat merchant ship just lolling along in the water, She’s only got about half her sails up and even from a distance you can see that the ship is a sloppy one with a lazy crew. She looks perfect to try your luck on. All the same, Jackie’s warning rings in your ear. This tub could never be a British warship could it?

• Do you try and take the merchant?
• Do you go looking for less suspicious pickings?