Guess we can blame Howard Pyle for starting the whole thing. Although HIS pirates look pretty villainous . . .
Good thing that I was never a pirate. With my warped sense of humor, I'd have the dreaded plank rigged as a powerful springboard. The poor victim gingerly edges out onto the thing, and WHANNNGGG!! He's flung over the rigging, dropping into the sea a hundred feet off of the other side of the ship.