I posted a question yesterday asking for some links about guilds during Shakespeare's time. I have two more questions. The first one: Are Sea Dogs basically pirates or mapmakers? Or are they both? The second question: What exactly are the "tools of trade" for the Sea Dogs? Are they the things they sell? Your answers are greatly appreciated by me. :)

Question

"The greatness that Hawkins, Drake, Frobisher, and other sea-dogs were winning for England off distant shores, along with Spanish bullion ships, Shakespeare was reaping for her language from the treasures of classical antiquity, refashioned by his venturesome imagination, turning it into what "may be the greatest symbol system the world has ever devised," as Professor Richard Mitchell, father of the Underground Grammarian, called it in an interview in Time. In our fixation upon the Stratford man we have closed our eyes to the outstanding story in our cultural history."
from (Broken Link Removed)

=)

Nikki, they were all - pirates (freebooters) , adventurers extending the English realm and making England the Queen of the Seas. They made England the dominant influence in world trade, politics for a century. It was said that as a result "the sun never set on the British Empire."

"tools of the trade" are the things you use to carry on business. For the Sea Dogs, maybe you could say ships, guns, cutlasses, maps, etc. By the way, they developed some of the fastest sailing ships ever used- clippers.