I send some pirates out on an exploration mission, then I start recruiting to fill my tavern and raid while the others are off exploring. This worked a couple times for me. But tonight, I'm doing the same, close the app to do something, come back 10 minutes later, and I have no pirates to raid with. What gives?
Just to be clear, you are queuing a set of pirates in the Tavern and closing down the app (is that minimised or fully closed?). And when you come back to the game there are no pirates in your Tavern queue and none standing outside?
I have the exact same issue. This has happened to me about 3 times already. I don't "Close" the app, I just press the home button.