When we read about the pyrates of old, we think of men who were nothing but thieves and had no honour. Well, in recent years, the research has proven that they were not barbarians as we first thought. Yes, they were thieves but they lived by a code. Many ships had their own codes that have been discovered through the years and have shown that pyrates living on a ship lived by a democracy. They elected captians and men to do the jobs carried out by warrant officers and petty officers on merchant ships and naval vessels. In addition to the quartermaster, most pyrate ships had a boatswain, a gunner, a carpenter, and a cook; there was usually also a first mate and a second mate.
Several examples of the articles drawn up by the crews of different ships have been preserved. The following list was adopted by the men of Barthlomew Roberts and they are the most comprehensive and they provide a revealing slant on a pyrate's way of life. These are taken from Captain Johnson's General History of the Pirates.
ARTICLE I: Every man has a vote in affairs of moment; has equal title to the fresh provisions, or strong liquors, at any time seized, and may use them at pleasure, unless a scarcity makes it necessary, for the good of all, to vote a retrenchment.
ARTICLE II: Every man to be called fairly in turn, by list, on board of prozes because, (over and above there proper share) they were on these occasions allowed a shift of clothes; but if they defruaded the compnay to the value of a dollar in plate, jewels, or money, marooning was their punishment. If the robbery was only betwixt one another, they contented themselves with slitting the ears and nose of him that was guilty, and set him on shore, not in an uninhabited place, but somewhere, where he was sure to encounter hardships.
ARTICLE III: No person to game at cards or dice for money.
ARTICLE IV: The lights and candles to be put out at eight o'clock at night: if any of the crew, after that hour still remained inclined for drinking, they were to do it on the open deck.
ARTICLE V: To keep their piece, pistols, and cutlass clean and fit for service.
ARTICLE VI: No boy or woman to be allowed amongst them. If any man were to be found seducing any of the latter sex, and carried her to see, disguised, he was to suffer death.
ARTICLE VII: To desert the ship or their quarters in battle, was punished with death or marooning.
ARTICLE VIII: No striking one another on board, but every man's quarrels to be ended on shore, at sword and pistol.
ARTICLE IX: No man to talk of breaking up their way of living, till each had shared £1,000. If in order to this, any man should lose a limb, or become a cripple in their service, he has to have 800 dollars, out of the public stock, or for lesser hurts, proportionately.
ARTICLE X: The captain and quartermaster to receive two shares of a prize; the master, the boatswain, and gunner, one share and a half, and other officers one and a quarter.
ARTICLE XI: The musicians to have rest on the Sabbath Day, but the other six days and nights, none without special favour.
Source:
Cordingly, David; Under the Black Flag: The Romance and The Reality of Life Among the Pirates; pps:98-100; Random House, NY, 1995
