A lot of pirate ships sailed under ‘the articles’ which guaranteed a full share for every crewman, a share and a half for officers and two shares for the captain.
I read an explanation for that, which was that hiccupping is the default mode for the muscles involved, and there’s a part of the brain that suppresses it. The 30-year hiccupper had damage to that part of the brain, so they started and never stopped.