Mary Read has a lot of sweetness (from the rum and the ocean-whatever) as well as salt, and maybe those particular notes play off patchouli in a way that works for me. I know I'd find Mary Read too sweet if the patchouli wasn't in there.

Makes sense; I can see how patchouli would cut through sweet notes and stop them from getting sickly (and conversely, the sweetness could help smooth out the patchouli so it doesn't go "unwashed hippies" on you).