He woke at six a.m. and found himself drifting offshore in his boat, the bottle he'd been clutching the other night still in his hand. And the village burned. Other ships floated past him, burned down to the waterline. Wreckage of spar and sail. He looked at the bottle in his hand with a bleary respect. Strong stuff, to let him sleep through a sea battle. He didn't care about the town, he'd only settled there because they needed a tailor, and he’d picked up the knack of sewing well enough aboard ship that he could makeshift in a small village. They hadn't had anything worth pillaging, though, much less the massive sea battle he saw evidence of around him. He squinted. A person bobbed through the waves toward him. He grabbed their hair and pulled up their head. "What happened?" he demanded. The corpse didn't answer.

Inspiration: "The Pirate" by Hayne Hukkelberg
Story Potential: High-ish?
Notes: And they came there looking for him, but he doesn't know it? And he rescues someone, but they don't know he's the reason the town burned? Mostly, I just like the nonchalant way this character deals with things.

The raised ships sailed on sacrifices of blood and rum. Every mast was a crossroads. Every anchor was a tombstone. Live crews shipped on them, but the ghosts and gods were thick around them, enough that to a person with the sight, it looked like the ghosts were covering the entire ships in a heavy cloak. They did serve, sort of, against the invaders. Soon enough the slavetakers learned to fear the sight of tattered sails and ships with holes in their hulls. If the slaveships sank, the ghosts of those chained in the hull flew up and filled the sails of the raised ships, and they sailed on.

Inspiration: "Death Before the Mast" by Alestorm, and an Escape Pod short story about possession by the spirits of pirates resurrected by bone rum, Pirate Solutions (http://escapepod.org/2009/11/26/ep226-pirate-solutions/) by Katherine Sparrow (a really, really excellent short story that my description does not do justice to).
Story Potential: High-ish? I am confused by this story.
Notes: Say voodoo powers raise up dead ships and escaped slaves crew them and they destroy the slave trade. This story could be really lovely historical wish-fulfillment. Lots of historical research required.

The pirates were coming the soundtrack warned her that. Or maybe it was ninjas. Sometimes it was hard to tell, the creeping and sneaking parts sounded the same. Of course, the pirates involved more swashbuckling. There was just a limited amount of swashbuckling involved with ninjas, though of course they had sashes to tuck their swords into and a ninja here or there might occasionally swashbuckle a little, on a dark overcast night when nobody would see him on the rooftop. Heaven forbid that a ninja should become--or want to become--pirate, or vice versa. She sighed and switched on the infrared sensors, just in case it was ninjas. Pirates always gave good footage--

Inspiration: Pirate metal concert tonight! And "Whacked Out Conspiracy" by James Dooley.
Story Potential: Low.
Notes: Ninja--pirate--reality TV? I'm unsure what my mind cooked up here, but it's not good.

"Homemade marmalade is a wonderful thing," Pirate Winston mused, lifting up the jar of golden goodness and turning it idly over in the sunshine. "Why, when a man gets a craving as has been far away from the land of his home for many fortnights, the very sight of it is enough to make him go a mite sun-crazy." "You bastard!" shouted the man tied to the mast. "My own mother made that with her two hands, and I don't even want to think about what she may have had to sell to arrange for it to reach me! If you take it away from me I'll--I'll--" he stuttered to a halt, even in his panicked--

Inspiration: A picture of marmalade. Dreadful stuff.
Story Potential: Low.
Notes: Heh. Kinda funny, and its true that food cravings do be like that, but....

It was the black sails on the horizon that made the crows-nest watch shut his telescope, lean over the side, and shout down to the captain, "Pirates on the horizon!"

The captain swore. "Which way?"

"Starboard, about five knots away!"

"What flag do they be flying?"

"Black sails, no flag."

"What?" the captain demanded, startled. "No flag? Black sails? Do they not know that they are required to fly the flag for fair pursuit?"

The man on watch shrugged his shoulders. "Belike they're new to the planet?" he asked. "Do not understand the rules of piracy proper-like?"

The captain hissed through his teeth.

Inspiration: Talk Like a Pirate Day, which seems to have become Celebrate All Things Piratic Day!
Story Potential: Low.
Notes: Do I know anything nautical? No, I do not. About the story...well, could be Planet of the Newbie Pirates, could actually be moderately interesting in someone coming to mess with their lifestyle.