If you can manage to catch the Mythbusters special on pirate myths, by all means do check it out. It’s a little late for it to help you write a pirate story for Shimmer’s special pirate issue, but learning things about pirates is fun pretty much any time. Here’s some of what the show will teach you:

• Pirates wore eyepatches to preserve night vision in one eye at all times. That way if they get attacked at night, and they come out on deck from a candle lit cabin or hold, they won’t be at a disadavntage while their eyes adjust.
• It is not true that more pirates died as a result of wood shrapnel caused by cannon balls rather than the cannon balls themselves. The cannon balls do create a stupendous number of splinters, but they don’t travel at sufficient velocity to embed in the flesh to cause mortal injuries.
  
• If you try to jump down to the deck from the mast, using your dagger or cutlass to slow yourself down by slitting the sail open won’t help you. If your weapon is sharp enough to cut through the sail seams, it won’t slow you down enough to keep you from breaking your legs (and perhaps worse). If your weapon is dull enough to slow you down sufficiently, it won’t cut through the sail seams, which would also be bad because hitting the seam would “kick” you off of the sail, leaving you to free fall the rest of the way to the deck.