My timbers just shivered. Distinctly. Thank you.
P.S. Your Photographer's Comments most illuminating. It's thrilling to see how the great mind works (turns out to be much as I expected).
Not sure about the BW for this theme, pirates evoke colorful, chaotic images, this one is a bit too serene. It could work on a more abstract level, however it is not abstract enough for that. Perhaps a lone smaller boat in the middle of a giant sea would have worked better. The shadow on the right is cutoff which also distracts. Placing the subject on the first 1/3 of the picture would have improved it. The BW conversion seems OK although the black is very black and without details.