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filled out example (If you're wondering by now, I own the book)
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* HellBentForLeather: Sheba.
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* HellBentForLeather: Sheba. Silk, satin, and leather, particularly thigh-high leather boots, make up her average ensemble.
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filled out example
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* GoMadFromTheIsolation: What happened to Solomon Shafto.
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* GoMadFromTheIsolation: What happened to Solomon Shafto. The only white guy left from his crew, living around a native tribe, dependent on them for survival but never really part of them, and scared to death they'll learn [[ItMakesSenseInContext he knows how to make wheels]], the pressure on his mind was just too much.
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filled out example
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* DumbMuscle: Firebeard.
to:
* DumbMuscle: Firebeard. He's massive, incredibly strong, is harder to knock over in a fight than a well-mortared brick wall, and can take some serious impacts. He's also not that bright, partially due to an untreated brain injury that occurred prior to the book. He's captain due to being very good at the "attack and plunder" part of piracy. The rest, other people do the thinking for him.
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filled out example
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* CaptainColorbeard: Firebeard
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* CaptainColorbeard: FirebeardFirebeard. He's specifically cited has having flaming red hair, and a beard to go with it. He or someone probably picked it, since he doesn't remember his birthname anyway.
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added example
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* AttemptedRape: Vanity is repeatedly threatened with rape and saved just in time.
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* AttemptedRape: AttemptedRape:
** Vanity is repeatedly threatened with rape and saved just intime.time.
** After Sheba is captured at the beginning of the book, she is threatened with rape by the fort guard until the surviving superior officer shuts that crap down.
** Vanity is repeatedly threatened with rape and saved just in
** After Sheba is captured at the beginning of the book, she is threatened with rape by the fort guard until the surviving superior officer shuts that crap down.
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* TropicalIslandAdventure: The novel has Madagascar and various islands throughout the Caribbean as settings.
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Renamed to Head Turning Beauty per TRS; this is ZCE
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* HelloNurse: Lady Vanity.
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Not to be confused with ''Literature/{{Pyrates}}''. Note the lack of "The".
----
----
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[[SimilarlyNamedWorks Not to be confused confused]] with ''Literature/{{Pyrates}}''. Note the lack of "The".
----''Literature/{{Pyrates}}'' (which lacks "The".)
----
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* RaceLift: Anne Bonney was Irish in real life (though her family moved to America as a child) but appears to be generically British in the story (in contrast to the also Irish Colonel Blood whose nationality is constantly brought up.)
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* RaceLift: Anne Bonney was Irish in real life (though her family moved to America as a child) but appears to be generically British in the story (in contrast to the also Irish Colonel Blood whose nationality is constantly brought up.)) On the other hand, there's an implication that as she's retired from piracy proper she'd begun to put on airs, including a Received Pronunciation accent.
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Five Man Band misuse
Deleted line(s) 58,63 (click to see context) :
* FiveManBand: The Brotherhood of the Coast is a decent example:
** TheBigBad: Calico Jack Rackham
** TheDragon: Black Bilbo
** TheEvilGenius: Happy Dan Pew (by default, kind of - it's implied late in the book that he's an exceptional captain when he's not completely bonkers, and he is very studious in his way.)
** TheBrute: Firebeard
** TheDarkChick: Sheba
** TheBigBad: Calico Jack Rackham
** TheDragon: Black Bilbo
** TheEvilGenius: Happy Dan Pew (by default, kind of - it's implied late in the book that he's an exceptional captain when he's not completely bonkers, and he is very studious in his way.)
** TheBrute: Firebeard
** TheDarkChick: Sheba
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* FiveBadBand: The Brotherhood of the Coast is a decent example:
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* FiveBadBand: FiveManBand: The Brotherhood of the Coast is a decent example:
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* IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace: Octopus Island, home to man-eating octopods. (Why? What were your expecting?}
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* IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace: Octopus Island, home to man-eating octopods. (Why? What were your expecting?}expecting?)
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* IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace: Octopus Island, home to man-eating octopods. (Why? What were your expecting?}
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* ChastityDagger: Anne Bonney prepares the invasion of her island by tucking a stiletto into her garter; in case some token resistance is expected before her ravishment.
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* TeamworkSeduction: This is pretty much the ending of the novel, with the ChasteHero being approached by all of his potential love interests. It ends without showing the resolution.
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* ConvenientEscapeBoat: The absence of one of these is a source of profound shock. As Colonel Blood says:
-->'''Colonel Blood:''' Whoever heard o' pirate ship without a small boat moored 'neath the stern an' provisioned wi' all necessities, so that fugitives can light out unseen!
-->'''Colonel Blood:''' Whoever heard o' pirate ship without a small boat moored 'neath the stern an' provisioned wi' all necessities, so that fugitives can light out unseen!
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[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_pyrates.jpg]]
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* FakeNationality:
to:
* FakeNationality: FakeNationality (InUniverse):
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off topic.
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* AmazonChaser: Black Sheba is this trope poured into a leopardskin tracksuit.
-->Born a Barbados slave, she had clawed her way to power in the Coast fraternity by a piratical genius and ruthless ferocity that had made her the toast of women's liberationists all along the Main. Her fellow sea-wolves respected her, had astonishing fantasies about her, and went in terror of her, and she despised them all.
-->Born a Barbados slave, she had clawed her way to power in the Coast fraternity by a piratical genius and ruthless ferocity that had made her the toast of women's liberationists all along the Main. Her fellow sea-wolves respected her, had astonishing fantasies about her, and went in terror of her, and she despised them all.
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* AmazonChaser: Black Sheba is this trope poured into a leopardskin tracksuit.
described thusly
-->Born a Barbados slave, she had clawed her way to power in the Coast fraternity by a piratical genius and ruthless ferocity that had made her the toast of women's liberationists all along the Main. Her fellow sea-wolves respected her, had astonishing fantasies about her, and went in terror ofher, and she despised them all.her.....
-->Born a Barbados slave, she had clawed her way to power in the Coast fraternity by a piratical genius and ruthless ferocity that had made her the toast of women's liberationists all along the Main. Her fellow sea-wolves respected her, had astonishing fantasies about her, and went in terror of
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** All of the pirates, even those with about three lines, are apparently based more or less on real pirates, with the exception of Bilbo who is any character BasilRathbone ever played.
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** All of the pirates, even those with about three lines, are apparently based more or less on real pirates, with the exception of Bilbo who is any character BasilRathbone Creator/BasilRathbone ever played.
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-->Six gorgeous feet she was, from the heels of her tight-fitting Italian thigh boots (from Gucci, undoubtedly) to the curling plume of her [[NiceHat picture hat]], breeched and shirted in crimson silk [[{{Stripperiffic}} that clung to her like a skin]], lithe and sleek and dangerous as a panther -- Sheba, the black pirate queen, looking like something out of [[MarvelComics Marvel Comic]] with her lovely vicious face and voluptuous shape, her dark eyes flashing against her ebony skin, smouldering silently as she unsheathed her dainty rapier with its [[ProductPlacement Cartier]] hilt, and posed with the contemptuous grace of a burlesque star, indifferent to the ecstatic sighs and groans of her besotted followers.
to:
-->Six gorgeous feet she was, from the heels of her tight-fitting Italian thigh boots (from Gucci, undoubtedly) to the curling plume of her [[NiceHat picture hat]], breeched and shirted in crimson silk [[{{Stripperiffic}} that clung to her like a skin]], lithe and sleek and dangerous as a panther -- Sheba, the black pirate queen, looking like something out of [[MarvelComics [[Creator/MarvelComics Marvel Comic]] with her lovely vicious face and voluptuous shape, her dark eyes flashing against her ebony skin, smouldering silently as she unsheathed her dainty rapier with its [[ProductPlacement Cartier]] hilt, and posed with the contemptuous grace of a burlesque star, indifferent to the ecstatic sighs and groans of her besotted followers.
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* ShoutOut: To TreasureIsland
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* ShoutOut: To TreasureIsland''Literature/TreasureIsland''
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Not to be confused with ''[[Literature/{{Pyrates}}]]''. Note the lack of "The".
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Not to be confused with ''[[Literature/{{Pyrates}}]]''.''Literature/{{Pyrates}}''. Note the lack of "The".
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Not to be confused with ''[[Literature/{{Pyrates}}]]''. Note the lack of "The".
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* TailorMadePrison: Sheba is held for two weeks in a cage suspended above a pond full of ravenous octopuses[[note:*: Not octopi; it's Greek, not Latin. Octopods or octopodes, take your pick]], and three hundred feet below the main building, but after two weeks on a starvation diet, she manages to climb up the chain and escape.
to:
* TailorMadePrison: Sheba is held for two weeks in a cage suspended above a pond full of ravenous octopuses[[note:*: Not octopods (not octopi; it's as Our Hero notes, the word is Greek, not Latin. Octopods or octopodes, take your pick]], pick), and three hundred feet below the main building, but after two weeks on a starvation diet, she manages to climb up the chain and escape.
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* TailorMadePrison: Sheba is held for two weeks in a cage suspended above a pond full of ravenous octopuses[[hottip:*: Not octopi; it's Greek, not Latin. Octopods or octopodes, take your pick]], and three hundred feet below the main building, but after two weeks on a starvation diet, she manages to climb up the chain and escape.
to:
* TailorMadePrison: Sheba is held for two weeks in a cage suspended above a pond full of ravenous octopuses[[hottip:*: octopuses[[note:*: Not octopi; it's Greek, not Latin. Octopods or octopodes, take your pick]], and three hundred feet below the main building, but after two weeks on a starvation diet, she manages to climb up the chain and escape.
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* GoMadFromIsolation: What happened to Solomon Shafto.
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* GoMadFromIsolation: GoMadFromTheIsolation: What happened to Solomon Shafto.
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* GoMadFromIsolation: What happened to Solomon Shafto.
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[[redirect:ThePyrates]]
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In brief, Captain Benjamin Avery, a classic hero, is commissioned to deliver the immensely valuable [[MacGuffin Madagascar Crown]], but by sheer mischance, the ship is also carrying the notorious Colonel Blood and Sheba, the pirate queen. Pretty soon, Sheba's five fellow pirate captains rescue her, and discover the Madagascar Crown, which conveniently is easily split into six jewelled crosses, one for each captain. Avery and Blood are left marooned, facing certain death.
After their inevitable escape, Avery announces he will single-handedly wipe out all the pirates, and recover the stolen crown, but ends up accidentally abducting a noble Spanish lady, on her way to marry the loathsome Don Lardo. Much excitement later, Avery ends up leading the pirates in a climactic battle against the Spanish. The Crown is recovered, the pirates escape with a boat full of Spanish gold, and Avery gets the girl. Admittedly, the other two women intent on claiming him might prove a problem, but he is a hero and a gentleman.
----
!!The novel features notable examples of:
* TheAce: Avery, whose initial description in the novel is to the effect that he's good at everything.
* AdjectiveAnimalAlehouse: The Foundered Squid.
* AffectionateParody: Very much this toward the pirate fiction/historical fiction genre.
* AgentPeacock: Bilbo, who is on the cutting edge of fashion, and is the best swordsman the Coast Brotherhood has.
* AmazonChaser: Black Sheba is this trope poured into a leopardskin tracksuit.
-->Born a Barbados slave, she had clawed her way to power in the Coast fraternity by a piratical genius and ruthless ferocity that had made her the toast of women's liberationists all along the Main. Her fellow sea-wolves respected her, had astonishing fantasies about her, and went in terror of her, and she despised them all.
* AmazonianBeauty: Sheba.
-->Six gorgeous feet she was, from the heels of her tight-fitting Italian thigh boots (from Gucci, undoubtedly) to the curling plume of her [[NiceHat picture hat]], breeched and shirted in crimson silk [[{{Stripperiffic}} that clung to her like a skin]], lithe and sleek and dangerous as a panther -- Sheba, the black pirate queen, looking like something out of [[MarvelComics Marvel Comic]] with her lovely vicious face and voluptuous shape, her dark eyes flashing against her ebony skin, smouldering silently as she unsheathed her dainty rapier with its [[ProductPlacement Cartier]] hilt, and posed with the contemptuous grace of a burlesque star, indifferent to the ecstatic sighs and groans of her besotted followers.
* AnachronismStew. Governed entirely by RuleOfFunny. As in:
-->To cap it all, the pirates had taken over the ship's intercom, and instead of the normal hymns and rousing sea shanties, the muzak now consisted entirely of dirty drinking songs illegally taped from Radio Tortuga.
* AntiHero: Colonel Thomas Blood. To a lesser extent, Calico Jack Rackham, but the text makes a point of describing Blood as the antihero.
* ArentYouGoingToRavishMe: Once Donna Melliflua Etcetera realises Avery doesn't intend to subject her to a fate worse than death she is momentarily baffled given that he is a stranger with a sword who's burst into her cabin and she is a beautiful young Spanish noblewoman.
* ArsonMurderAndJaywalking: The long list of charges Black Sheba is convicted of (by Judge Jeffries, no less) ends in '...murthers, slaughters, robberies, putting in fear and operating without a Board of Trade Certificate!'
** And when the pirates raid a ship, the order is subverted: "...smashing bottles, knocking on doors and then running away, and, of course, slaughtering everybody on board."
* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Employed shamelessly with the dreaded maguay plant, and the man-eating octopods of Octopus Island:
--> ...creatures extinct except in the pages of sensational literature.
* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign:
** Donna [sic] Meliflua Etcetera, daughter of Don Miguel Alonzo Bonanza Verandah Etcetera, is betrothed to Don Lardo Baluna del Lobby y Corridor.
** Meanwhile, there's Happy Dan Pew, an Englishman who labours under the delusion that he's a French pirate, despite not actually speaking very much French. This has a somewhat... interesting effect on his dialogue.
* AttemptedRape: Vanity is repeatedly threatened with rape and saved just in time.
* {{Awesome McCoolname}}: Colonel Thomas Blood.
* BigBeautifulWoman: Anne Bonney, who is described as having become "exquisitely languid" through a diet of marshmallows and younger men. When her top button is undone, Avery fears overspill, and yet:
-->"This lady was slightly older, with more... what was the word? Proportion? Generosity? What had that cad Blood called it... baaarroomph? Anyway, she was undoubtedly attractive, and most appreciative..."
* BoisterousBruiser: Firebeard.
-->His idea of living was to hit people with anything handy, grab any valuables in sight, and blue the lot on wenches and drink. He was a pirate for these reasons, and also because he enjoyed bellowing those hearty songs which Creator/JohnMasefield would write in course of time.
* BunnyEarsLawyer: Dan Pew communicates exclusively in PoirotSpeak, but is such a competent pirate, that it's overlooked.
* CaptainColorbeard: Firebeard
* TheCavalierYears: The setting. The introduction makes it clear that this is the ''good'' Cavalier Years, the romanticized Cavalier Years, before historians came along and ruined it by loudly announcing that it was TheDungAges.
* ColonelBadass: Colonel Thomas Blood (cashiered). He's a coward, lecher and poltroon, but also an extremely capable fighter.
* ContrivedCoincidence: Used without shame. Look, do you want to be entertained or don't you?
--> [Avery showing up in just the right place] must strike a discriminating reader as one beezer of a coincidence, and it is, the author's only excuse being that if Avery were to turn up in Reykjavik or Darwin, Australia, it would cause fearsome logistical problems and play absolute havoc with our plot.
* CutlassBetweenTheTeeth: Most of the characters are too GenreSavvy to actually try it, except for [[TheBrute Firebeard]]. Fortunately for him, he gets distracted trying to remember whether the sharp edge is supposed to face in or out.
* DressedToPlunder: Between all the characters, it hits all the major variations of the standard pirate outfit.
* DumbMuscle: Firebeard.
* EasilyForgiven: Blood is a master at achieving this. Note that this was true of the real Col. Tom Blood, as well.
* {{Expy}}: Blood definitely calls to mind Fraser's famous Literature/{{Flashman}}, although Blood is much more likable in his rogueishness.
* EverythingsEvenWorseWithSharks: At one point the pirates interrogate Avery by dangling him head-down over the side of a ship while offal is tipped into the water. He decides to bite the first shark to come at him.
* FakeNationality:
** The pirate captain Happy Dan Pew labours under the delusion that he is French, despite not speaking much of the language. His crew and peers alike tolerate this curious foible because he's otherwise as close to competent as they've got.
** Cockney pawnbroker Validimir Mackintosh-Groonbaum is not Russian, Scottish, Jewish - or Cockney - but By God he knows what a buccaneer expects a pawnbroker to be.
** Golden Vanity gets stranded on an island full of ruffians. Her pocket-sized survival guide for beautiful girls in peril advises her give herself an all-over dye job, dress in skins and pretend to be a native.
* FashionHurts: At least, Black Bilbo's boots do.
* FatBastard: Don Lardo, and to a lesser extent (in both weight and bastardry) Enchillada.
* FiveBadBand: The Brotherhood of the Coast is a decent example:
** TheBigBad: Calico Jack Rackham
** TheDragon: Black Bilbo
** TheEvilGenius: Happy Dan Pew (by default, kind of - it's implied late in the book that he's an exceptional captain when he's not completely bonkers, and he is very studious in his way.)
** TheBrute: Firebeard
** TheDarkChick: Sheba
* {{Foil}}: Blood to Avery, explicitly.
* FunetikAksent: Weeth thee Spaneesh, an' wif Vladimir Mackintosh-Groonbaum.
* GRatedDrug: The JunglePrincess has a chocolate addiction. Let's be clear on this: She has snorted it, injected it, and rubbed it behind her ears. The one thing she ''hasn't'' done is drink it.
* GeniusBruiser: Calico Jack Rackham.
-->First among equals was Calico Jack, by reason of being literate and smart and able to navigate and do all things shipshape and Bristol fashion, look'ee, as his admiring associates often agreed. Also he was strong enough to break a penny between his fingers, which helps...
* GenreSavvy: Everyone knows the rules. Especially Blood.
-->"There's no boat! Jayzus, trust the French! Whoever heard o' pirate ship without a small boat moored 'neath the stern an' provisioned wi' all necessities, so that fugitives can light out unseen!"
* GoGoEnslavement: Sheba's plan for getting her romantic rival, Vanity, out of the picture involves selling Vanity into this.
* TheGoodCaptain: Capt. Benjamin Avery, the hero.
* GoodIsDumb: Played with. Ben Avery is by all accounts an ingenious young man possessed of a shining intellect, but he's got a gullible streak a mile wide.
* GottaCatchThemAll: The six crosses of the Madagascar Crown.
* HellBentForLeather: Sheba.
* HelloNurse: Lady Vanity.
* HiddenDepths: Lady Vanity shows a surprising amount of courage and composure after being captured by the pirates and taunted by Sheba.
* HighDiveEscape: Blood attempts one (and fails).
* HistoricalDomainCharacter: Several.
** Samuel Pepys, the royal family and others appear briefly in the London scenes.
** Colonel Thomas Blood really did steal the English Crown Jewels, and then talk the King into pardoning him.
** [[UsefulNotes/AnneBonny Anne Bonney]] is a genuine female pirate. Calico Jack is loosely based on her partner, Jack Rackham, while Firebeard has a tenuous connection with Blackbeard, and Dan Pew was inspired by two French pirates.
** All of the pirates, even those with about three lines, are apparently based more or less on real pirates, with the exception of Bilbo who is any character BasilRathbone ever played.
* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: According to the endnotes, Long Ben Avery existed. Also known as Henry Avery, he got away with one of the biggest treasure hauls of all time. Everything else is upgrade. Colonel Blood might also be considered one of these, except that in real life he was far more of a charming ([[CrazyAwesome and eccentric]]) badass rogue than the novel lets him be.
* HollywoodTactics: Parodied by Don Lardo's cunning martial strategies:
-->"Why don't you overwhelm them, you cowardly rabble? You're not doing it properly! Disarm them by letting them stab you, and roll away with their swords! Collapse on them, you filth!"
* IHaveYouNowMyPretty:
** The sole purpose of Don Lardo. And Donna Meliflua.
** Sheba also gets pretty touchy-feely with Vanity after taking her prisoner.
* IncorruptiblePurePureness: Captain Avery.
* InventingTheWheel: The {{Mayincatec}} residents of the Lost City of Cohacgzln are waiting for a Great White God to arrive and teach them how to make wheels. Their massive step-pyramids are explained as piles of discarded wheel prototypes.
* JunglePrincess: With golden skin and a grass skirt, worshiped by the adoring natives at their temple in the jungle, chosen for her million dollar legs and her ability to dance.
* LetsJustBeFriends: Calico Jack and Anne Bonney.
* MasterSwordsman: Bilbo.
-->The long black rapier on his hip was reckoned the deadliest from St Kitts to Coromandel, with stoccata and imbroccata and punta rinversa, sa-ha! and he had a nice showy trick of spinning up finger-rings and impaling them on his flourished blade, like the Duke of Monmouth. Not easy
* {{Mayincatec}}: The lost city of Cohaclgzln.
* MeaningfulName: [[FatBastard Don Lardo]].
* MediumAwareness: On page 115, Avery say "I'm the hero. [[SpoiledByTheFormat You don't suppose you can stab me in the back on page 115]], surely?"'
* MundaneLuxury: Solomon Shafto is obsessed with bread and dripping.
* NobleDemon: Most of the Coast Brotherhood.
* ObviouslyEvil: Don Lardo, in spades.
* OfficerAndAGentleman: Captain Avery, much to the disappointment of pretty much every woman who crosses his path.
* OnlySaneMan: Calico Jack, among the pirate captains. Colonel Blood rapidly comes to consider himself this as well.
* PirateBooty: Blood finds a treasure hoard in the ''Frantic Frog'', much to the surprise of its captain.
* PirateGirl: Black Sheba
* ProductPlacement: Helena Rubinstein beauty products and Gucci leather goods (and rapiers). Governed almost entirely by RuleOfFunny (much like the rest of the novel)
* ProfessionalButtKisser: Enchillada, and to a lesser extent Goliath the Dwarf.
* RaceLift: Anne Bonney was Irish in real life (though her family moved to America as a child) but appears to be generically British in the story (in contrast to the also Irish Colonel Blood whose nationality is constantly brought up.)
* SatelliteLoveInterest: Lady Vanity. No, the name is not a coincidence.
* ShoutOut: To TreasureIsland
* StalkerWithACrush: Sheba.
* TailorMadePrison: Sheba is held for two weeks in a cage suspended above a pond full of ravenous octopuses[[hottip:*: Not octopi; it's Greek, not Latin. Octopods or octopodes, take your pick]], and three hundred feet below the main building, but after two weeks on a starvation diet, she manages to climb up the chain and escape.
* TalkativeLoon: Solomon Shafto, with a hey-diddle-die-hey-diddle-fol-derol-do.
* TalkLikeAPirate: With much o' the narration being written in a suitably nautical fashion.
** And the dialog is frequently TurnedUpToEleven, and usually [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]], as in the very first dialog in the book:
-->"Aaargh!" cried the burly captain, twice for emphasis. "Aaargh! Easy, handsomely, I say, wi' they chests, rot 'ee! 'Tis ten thousand pound you'm carryin', ye lubbers!" This was his normal habit of speech, since anything else would have been incomprehensible to his crew. "A pesky parlous cargo it be, an' all, an' glad I am to be rid on't, burn me for a backstay else."
* TreasureMap: Anne Bonney draws one of her own bedroom, after coming into possession of part of the Madagascar Crown.
* UnwantedHarem: Everywhere he goes, Captain Avery finds beautiful women hurling themselves at him.
* WalkThePlank
* WeHardlyKnewYe: [[spoiler: Akbar the Damned]] bites it pretty early on in the story.
* WeirdTradeUnion: For the pirates, though the main characters don't take much notice of the shop steward.
* WorthyOpponent: The reason Black Bilbo spares Avery's life.
* YeGoodeOldeDays: The opening paragraph is a description of the idealized picture of the setting, which exists in countless novels and films, which is then followed by a description of what "stuffy historians" say the era was actually like. The novel chooses to go with the former.
* YouGotSpunk: The pirates think this about Vanity after seeing her stand up to Sheba.
----
