thanks to @outie I have now written up a document detailing some basic ideas for three members of a pirate crew. The seven foot tall, absolute unit of a captain who uses a ship's broadside cannon she's ripped off its moorings as her "pistol", like a bazooka, loading and firing it with her free hand (shot, powder and all), the first mate/butler/navigator who is extremely long suffering but clearly the brains of the operation and very loyal to the captain, and the ship's cook who is a shark dude.
@outie (the ship's cook is called "Potts" because lol puns lol. also he does not understand this "human food" thing all that well, so while he is absolutely brilliant at making sure the crew gets the right nutrition... they sometimes uh... would rather not. He's getting there tho!