Shipowners should not worry about new data showing a rise in piracy in a certain corner of the globe, but purveyors of peg legs and eye patches have reason to rejoice.
That is because it is part of Google's annual Frightgeist report ranking of the most searched-for Halloween costumes, which saw pirate disguises rise in the league table after years of decline.
Until this year, the number of searches for pirate costumes had been walking the plank as trick-or-treaters preferred to dress as witches, rabbits and clowns.
Google Trends data shows that last year online searches for pirate costumes were at their lowest volume since 2006.
That tracks broadly with the decline in piracy incidents, which have fallen in recent years, and, fortunately, continue to be following that trend line this year.
The courses diverged this year, with pirate costume jumping from 16th to 12th place in the rankings, leapfrogging pumpkins, zombies and dolls.
It was still not enough to top costumes such as witches, rabbits and dinosaurs.
A TradeWinds reporter visited two trunk or treats — increasingly popular Halloween events at which children solicit candy from the rear of decorated vehicles in school parking lots — in suburban Connecticut and spotted no pirates.
The events did feature several Spider-Man costumes and children dressed as Marshmello, a character in the video game Fortnight. There was also one TradeWinds reporter dressed in a bright yellow hazmat suit, accompanied by a grim reaper and a Day of the Dead spirit.
But it may be no surprise to find fewer kiddie corsairs in the Nutmeg State, where for some reason people preferred to dress up like bunnies.
Google data shows that the most popular place in the US for pirate costumes was Tucson, a decidedly landlubber city in Arizona.
Rounding out the top five were Greenburg and Columbia in South Carolina; Philadelphia; and Roanoke, Virginia.
But the US did not lead the online hunt for buccaneer garb. There were more searches for pirate costumes this October in the UK. Shiver me timbers!
