Paul Beakley why did you to post this while I was traveling? I can’t rant endlessly about the debased nature of scifi’s obsession with 18th century pirate romance. As Ralph points out, it’s all Age of Sail nostalgia because that is seemingly the only analogue we have and pirates were so sexy. As you point out, it’s witheringly boring. As soon as I read “you have a non-relativistic gun ship with cargo capacity, air breathing crew and guns…” I’m already staring off into space wondering where sf has run off to.