Captain Courageous and the Pirates

It’s a good thing I have red hair!

This is a joke I heard a couple of years back, involving a sea captain named Captain Courageous (not to be mistaken for Captain Outrageous who owns most of the eastern shore of Elephant Butte Lake but has never shown up for any of our regattas).

He was sailing his ship one day, when a pirate ship appeared on the horizon. “Bring me my red shirt,” he ordered his cabin boy. The boy brought the shirt, Captain Courageous put it on, and he did battle with the pirates and defeated them.

The first mate was puzzled. “Why did you have the boy bring you your red shirt?” he asked.

“Well, when I’m wearing my red shirt, if I get injured, the blood won’t show,” Captain Courageous said. “If the crew doesn’t know I’m injured, they won’t lose heart, and they will continue to fight fiercely.”

The first mate nodded at the wisdom of this reasoning.

Some months later, Captain Courageous was again out at sea, when on the horizon appeared not one, but five pirate ships.

“Cabin boy, bring me my brown pants!”