Stephanie Rothrock: Outside Reading: 4: Bandits at Sea and other Pirate Readings

First, let me say that I love this book along with its subject matter. I'm going off on a limb here and writing on Piracy. Don't try to make sense of it. It will just make your head hurt. I think this idea can be applied to our class given the highly supernatural religious beliefs that pirates had.

Pirates believed in a lot of myth and superstition. These spun themselves into rules that they would abide by. A great example this is the idea that women are not allowed on ships. This is one reason why pirate homosexuality is seen as a guarantee. Not only were men stranded at sea for months at a time, but women were forbidden to come aboard. Apparently, they were thought to be bad luck. This is ironic when you consider the fact that a naked woman carved at the front of the ship was considered good luck. As a result of this superstition, the few women who did become pirates often cross dressed to avoid suspicion. It also contradicts another superstition I found which states that a child born at sea is considered good luck...I suppose a dolphin flipped him on board.

Apparently a lot of bad luck is based on the bible though I do not know how true this source is. One view holds that sailing on a Friday is bad luck since that is the day of the Crucifixion. The same is true of the first Monday in April since that is when Cain slew Abel.

I really liked the idea that killing birds was bad luck, not because it was intelligent but because it made historical sense. I had always wondered how pirates would have food problems when they are surrounded by birds and over fish. In addition to these, there were a lot of death omens.

I think these ideas relate well to the class given that they are held as closely to pirates as Christianity is to most Americans. This also ties in with Big Fish and the discussion of myth. Why would people believe such things when there is not truth to them at all? People need myths and they need beliefs. I believe that to be stranded at sea for so long, one would naturally reach out to some unknown belief system for comfort, even if it was irrational.