Pirates Of Penzance On a rocky seashore on the coast of Cornwall the pirates of Penzance are holding a sherry party to celebrate the apprentice Frederic's promotion to the status of full-blown pirate on the expiry of his indentures. For today is the 29th of February, 1897, and it is his twenty-first birthday. His health is duly drunk, and in a speech of thanks Frederic startles the pirates by telling them of his intention to leave them for good. It seems that he was apprenticed to them in error. Ruth, the pirates' maid-of-all-work, takes up the tale. She tells how, when she was formerly Frederic's nursery-maid, his parents instructed her to have the boy apprenticed to a pilot. Being hard of hearing she misheard, and in error Frederic was apprenticed to a pirate.