Long ago, when sailing ships ruled the
waves, a captain and his crew were in danger of being boarded by a pirate ship. As the
crew became frantic, the captain bellowed to his First Mate, "Bring me my red
shirt!"
The First Mate quickly retrieved the
captain's red shirt, which the captain put on and lead the crew to battle the pirate
boarding party. Although some casualties occurred among the crew, the pirates were
repelled.
Later that day, the lookout screamed that
there were two pirate vessels sending boarding parties. The crew cowered in fear, but the
captain calm as ever bellowed, "Bring me my red shirt!"
The battle was on, and once again the
Captain and his crew repelled both boarding parties, although this time more casualties
occurred. Weary from the battles, the men sat around on deck that night recounting the
day's occurrences when an ensign looked to the Captain and asked, "Sir, why did you
call for your red shirt before the battle?"
The Captain, giving the ensign a look that
only a captain can give, exhorted, "If I am wounded in battle, the red shirt does not
show the wound and thus, you men will continue to fight unafraid." The men sat in
silence marveling at the courage of such a man.
As dawn came the next morning, the lookout
screamed that there were pirate ships, 10 of them, all with boarding parties on their way.
The men became silent and looked to their Captain for his usual command.
The Captain, calm as ever, bellowed,
"Bring me my brown pants!"
