Despite popular romanticized notions of pirate life, surviving as a pirate was extremely difficult due to severe health challenges including rotten food, contaminated water, and diseases like scurvy that caused teeth to loosen, gums to blacken, and legs to fail; combined with brutal medical practices during battles where surgeons used kitchen knives without anesthesia, most pirates died before age 30 without ever finding treasure.
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Why surviving as a pirate was actually impossible.Added:
Why surviving as a pirate was actually impossible. They promised [music] you treasure. They gave you a death sentence. The ship. You sleep in a hammock 6 in from a stranger. The air below deck smells like rot, sweat, and something you don't want to identify.
Rats own the floor. You rent it. Week one, the meat is already turning gray.
Week three, the biscuits are moving. Not because they're fresh, because they're full [music] of weevils. You eat them anyway. The water. It's been sitting in a barrel for 2 months. [music] It's brown. It's alive. Every sip is a gamble with dysentery. The disease. Scurvy doesn't kill you fast. It dissolves you slowly. Your teeth loosen first, then your gums blacken, then your legs stop working, [music] then you beg for the sea to take you. The battle. If you're lucky, the cannonball misses. If you're not, the ship surgeon saws your leg off with a [music] kitchen knife. No anesthesia, just rum and a leather strap to bite down on. Most pirates never found treasure. Most died diseased, broke, and [music] anonymous, rotting in the ocean before age 30.
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