Most pirates were single men less than thirty years old; twenty five being the median age. Yes, defintinely, --- yes! It took agility and strength to climb the slippery rat lines to the yardarms in an often tossing sea, and a fall from those lines to the deck of the ship forty feet below meant death. Sailors needed to be vigorously healthy too for many times they remained wet for days on end. They needed to be persistent. Did you know it took 5 minutes and about 5 men to load and fire a big cannon?
Lots of pirates went to sea as common sailors, or deckhands or even cabin boys at a young age, preferring to take their chances with the adventurous and sometimes dangerous life of seafaring and pirating, yet with maybe the promise of riches or at least sustanance, than to sicken or starve to death in the wretched stews of a major city like London. In fact, at one time, poor children of London were even rounded up and put on ships to be sold as slaves in the West Indies! Some pirates were, more than you might think, actually, were press ganged or rounded up on shore and forced on ships or, while at sea on a merchant ship, for instance, forced into piracy when boarded by pirates. Some sailors were shanghaied, dragged on a pirate ship while drunk or even unconscious while in some port tavern or brothel.
Sailors who had lost a leg were sometimes made cooks because with a leg gone fighting with agility might be quite difficult, but a pirate who had a way with making good vittles out of almost anything edible was always highly valued. Also very highly valued were crewmen called sea artists, that is, for instance, the ship's carpenter. It was he who repaired the ships after a battle and he headed the careening of the ship, when her hull was scraped of goopey hoo-ha and barnacles and re-tarred. A ship's doctor was an extreme prize and doctors were actively sought in ports, but most of the time doctoring was done, --- amputations (UGH!), --- of course, by the ship's carpenter. Coopers, or barrel makers, were valuable men too because many things on board, --- water, food stuffs, etc., were stored in barrels. The boatswain or the bo'sun, was the important crewman who handled and maintained the lines and ropes. The quartermaster, who was often the first mate too, was responsible for discipline on board ship. He acted as a mediator between the captain and the crew and could even veto his decisions, making major decisions, just like the captain. However, the captain's orders were absolute, unquestioned law in the midst of a battle.
Most pirates were English, many were Irish or Scottish, from port cities like London or Bristol, England, or Dublin, Ireland. The pirate accent, or the infamous and delightful piratespeak, in movies (I love the way Hector Barbossa talks!) and in books, is like a low English accent, the way English people from those port cities spoke, but flavored by being in the tropics, the orient or in the southern hemisphere for years and years. Pirates really got around and that affected their speech.
Quite a few pirates were former West African slaves, or of mixed races. Pirate democracy was a matter of course and, basically, all pirates were considered equals, even some pirates who were found to be women might considered equals, especially if they were excellent fighters and could drink like a man! (This was a big, big draw to piracy. Yet, some strong prejudice against women on board ships TRULY DID exist. Pirates were very superstitious! ) Even the captain could be demoted to crewman by vote of the majority, or of course, by mutiny. Women pirates,dressed like boys, often kept their gender secret. Although, with the limited privacy on board ship this must have been difficult! Surely, many cabin boys were actually little girls. The articles of Bartholomew Roberts stated that it was death to any man who brought a woman on board for sexual purposes, --- death! But, then Roberts was an unusually straight-laced pirate captain.
Even though fiction would have us believe that pirate treasure maps abounded most pirates couldn't read and to sign the articles of a ship they boldly made their mark, a "X" by their name, written, hopefully, by someone literate.
Beatings on ship were fairly standard, for almost any infraction, and some sailors had a rendition of Jesus hanging on the cross tattooed on their backs, thinking that a flogger wouldn't hit it. That probably didn't work too well...
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