It may even have been useful to them, reducing tensions and resentment and increasing the bond between men.īut technically it was illegal in many navies. Same-sex action and the sea have long gone together.Ĭaptains on navy and merchant ships must have accepted, if not engaged in, gay sex. ‘They never engaged in combat without embracing each other’ So to celebrate Talk Like A Pirate Day (19 September) here’s our queer history of piracy. Piracy was a world apart, and one where homosexual couples may have been the norm, not the exception. The lesbian and gay pirates of the 17th century lived a strangely egalitarian life, with health insurance and even same-sex civil partnerships.