There's actually a pop-culture reference to this early on in Assassin's Creed: Black Flag. One of the characters replies to another that he did "two years befor

There's actually a pop-culture reference to this early on in Assassin's Creed: Black Flag. One of the characters replies to another that he did "two years before the mast" during one of the early cut-scenes. I assume they read it while researching for the game, and decided to reference it as an easter egg.