* FairForItsDay: Nowadays, much of the book's humor is cringeworthy. But back when the book was written, being gay was literally illegal in much of the real world, and women and non-white cultures were still fighting to be treated equally, even though the Title Acts and other legislation had declared them equal legally. For Fraser to have a gay man (using the now-offensive term "fairy") as the surviving superior officer of the pirates' raid on the fort, and have him protect Sheba from assault from the fort guard, for the black female Sheba herself to be regarded as an equal among the other pirate captains, and for Avery's "white men are superior" conditioning to be shown up as wrong time and again (among other things addressed), were seriously bucking against the culture into which it was published.