Understanding matelotage, same-sex civil unions during the golden age of piracy

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Originally published at: Understanding matelotage, same-sex civil unions during the golden age of piracy | Boing Boing

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In one of Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey/Maturin novels (The Nutmeg of Consolation?) a crew member is killed trying to defend his friend from pirates. Another crew member says matter-of-factly that the seaman’s action was fitting, since he was " a quean" (gay).

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Anyone up for some “matelotage” :wink: :wink:

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I like the swash of your buckle :wink:

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I like the cut of your jib.

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Certainly gives new meaning to “walk the plank”.

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Before accepting the job of First Mate, check the job description.

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day talk GIF

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Guess who was growing the sugar and making the rum.

I’ll wait.

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And a lot of seamen on the decks.

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See also the possibly mythical “pirate state” of Libertatia

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Blockquote Taika touched on this in an interview and even offered up the pirate word for it, metalotage

That would make a great name for a Pirate metal album.

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Rum Sodomy & the Lash II: Metalotage.

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“It’s all right, Captain. We always knew you were a whoopsie.”

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Seems like a lot of history goes through a lot of effort to explain away queerness.

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There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold;
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge
I cremated Sam McGee.

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Oh, baby, I’m on fire!

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Note to self: Time to re-watch.

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“The plot follows a nonlinear course through time and space. It imagines an alternate history in which Captain James Misson’s Libertatia lives on. His way of life is based on The Articles , a general freedom to live as one chooses, without prejudice. The novel is narrated from two different standpoints; one set in the 18th century which follows a group of pirate boys led by Noah Blake, who land in Panama to liberate it. The other is set in the late 20th century, and follows a detective tracing the disappearance of an adolescent boy.”

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