The captain of a ship hears his first mate calling from above deck, “captain, there is a pirate ship off the starboard side!” The captain takes the looking glass, sees the ship, and tells the first mate, “ready the cannons and swords, prepare the men for battle, and bring me my red shirt”. “Aye, aye captain,” says the first mate, and carrys out the orders.
The men fight bravely, and after a long battle, defeat the pirates. The first mate asks the captain, “Well done sir, but why did you need the red shirt?” to which the captain replied “if I was wounded, I didn’t want the men to see the blood and become disheartened, and so, lose the battle”.
The next day, the captain hears his first mate calling from above deck “captain, there are ten pirate ships off the starboard side!” The captain takes the looking glass, sees the ships, and tells the first mate, “ready the cannons and swords, prepare the men for battle, and bring me my brown pants”.
