Okay mate, gathering a solid pirate crew ain’t easy – tried before and it turned messy real quick. But this time? Different story. Needed speed without chaos, so decided to wing it with a simple framework after my last crew mutinied over loot splits. Here’s how we nailed it.
The Messed-Up Start
First, I just grabbed whoever looked salty enough near the dock – big mistake. Ended up with a lazy cook who couldn’t boil water and two gunners arguing nonstop. Didn’t even have a ship picked! Lost a week chasing rumors while the crew grumbled about grog rations. Total shambles.
Switching Gears
Sat down with my flask one night, scribbled three rules:
- Steal a ship FIRST – even a leaky sloop gives everyone a home base.
- Roles BEFORE recruits – cook, navigator, fighter… list what you NEED, not who’s available.
- Test loyalty fast – toss ’em a rusty cutlass, watch if they clean it without being told.
The Actual Doing Part
Next morning, dragged my sorry self back to port. Ignored the shady ones waving treasure maps. Found Maggie the Mumbler – she’d lost her schooner to barnacles but knew every cove from here to Nassau. Ship: check. Then hired One-Eyed Lou because that crusty old geezer could navigate drunk and blindfolded. Navigator: checked. Picked fighters by making ’em arm-wrestle near the tavern dung heap – winners got extra rum rations. Messy? Yeah. Effective? Hell yes.
Smooth Sailing (Mostly)
Took three days total. Crew knew their jobs ’cause we spelled it out upfront: cook cooks, fighters fight, nobody touches the grog barrel ’til sunset. Hit our first merchant ship within a week. Split loot same day – none of that “I’ll hold it for safekeeping” nonsense. Had a scrap when Big Tom tried skimming silks, but since roles were clear? Rest of the crew tackled him overboard before I blinked.
Truth? Forcing ourselves to get a ship and iron out roles right away killed most arguments before they started. Saved weeks of bellyaching. Still got barnacles on the hull though… priorities.
