All About Pirates Last update 22nd May 2001
The world of the early 1700's was an unpleasant place to live for the normal person on the street. Excessive American television, inane humor, canned laughter, inept, unsympathetic and unrepresentative political leadership, blatant prejudice, extreme justice, biased newspapers, over crowding, poor town planning, lack of education about the world, social collapse and excessive greed were hallmarks of the times.
It was no wonder people not born into money would prefer to risk their life in the world's third oldest profession rather than face the hardships of life in a place where there was no possibility for personal dignity and even petty indiscretions could see you deported to obscure places. The majority of captured pirates had a background in the west of England and Wales and were poor.
Describing the tough choice of taking up piracy or not, Bartholomew Roberts said, "In an honest service there is thin rations, low wages and hard labour; in this, plenty and satiety, pleasure and ease, liberty and power; and who would not balance creditor on this side, when all the hazard that is run for it, at worst, is only a sour look or two at choking. No, a merry life and a short one shall be my motto."
Charles Bellamy summed up one of the reasons men turned pirate. Berating a merchant captain who would not turn to pirating, he is reported to have said, "Damn ye, you are a sneaking puppy, and so are all those who will submit to be governed by laws which rich men have made for their own security, for the cowardly whelps have not the courage otherwise to defend what they get by their knavery. But damn ye altogether. Damn them for a pack of rascals, and you, who serve them, for a parcel of hen-hearted numbskulls. They vilify us, the scoundrels do, and then there is only this difference, they rob the poor under the cover of law, forsooth, and we plunder the rich under the protection of our own courage: had ye not better make one of us, then sneak after the arses of those villains for employment."
In the wilds of the Caribbean, a new way of life developed over the period of the 1600's, which for the most part was not possible any where else in the world. Taking the best of the Dutch, English, French & Spanish ways of life, and the ideals of all free people, the lifestyle of piracy evolved into a romantic notion of freedom, liberty & riches that would inspire many of the underclasses of Europe who would watch their exploits with growing interest.
Contrary to the general notion of pirates as 'noble' men from the middle class, an image often spread by the newspapers portraying them as misunderstood & well intentioned men only wishing to overcome the injustices of the ruling class to become a richman themselves and play the romantic lead in the latest blush piece, for the most part the pirates in this game are low class men & women, those kicked and beaten by the landed class of their homeland, those fleeced of their money by unscrupulous merchants, and those oppressed and misled by the machinations of the church, people more inclined to be philosophical about the ways of life, and therefore more inclined to realise the social constraints on them can easily be overlooked and ignored.
And so, pirates as a whole are an odd mob compared to the nations of the Caribbean. Pirates act as a democracy, they choose their captains, they choose where they sail to, they have almost union rates of pay, they choose when they want to fight, they make no distinction and hold no prejudices against each other, have workers compensation schemes, and care neither whether they fight man, woman, English, Spanish, French, Dutch or American traders. They recycle extensively, reusing ships, cannons, enemy crews, ensure all captured goods are sold where there is the greatest demand, and redistribute the wealth as much as possible - usually to the poorest and shadiest members of society where it will do the most good. The impacts of piracy on the economies of the Caribbean, America & Europe is often under rated.
Regrettably, this 'bohemian' lifestyle was frowned upon by the monarchs and nobility of the Caribbean nations, who did everything possible to stamp out this impudent lifestyle. For the best part of the 1600's these nations attentions were elsewhere, in the homelands of Europe where they were waging war upon each other, and so for the most part pirates were left in peace to plunder the Spanish treasure fleets, and even enjoyed support from the crowns of other European countries who at the time had small and ineffectual navies.
By the early 1700's the Nations of the Caribbean were becoming used to their overseas colonies supplying them imports & revenues, and the wars in Europe had degenerated into minor skirmishes and games of political chess. The constant raiding of merchant ships by the pirates and the loss of revenue from trade & taxes going to the crown was becoming noticed by the bean counters and as the navies of Europe slowly increased in size, Man'O'Wars were being sent to the Caribbean and were slowly sweeping the crystal blue waters of the pirate scourge. By the mid 1750's most pirates were cleaned from the Caribbean and the only piracy going on was done by the tax collectors & merchants of Europe.
The Jamaican governor complained in 1695 when he wrote the king of England that so many men were involved in piracy that crews were unable to be found for merchant vessels. The Treaty of Ryswich that ended war between Britain and France meant all those sailors were also unemployed, and they turned to the other side of the law for employment. In 1713 the Spanish War of Succession was ended, meaning another host of seamen was unemployed and eager to turn to piracy. It is quite plausable that many of these men were privateers during the wars, simply turning pirate when the law was no longer on their side. Dutch pirates were less common as their government was paying them well as sailors in the Atlantic herring fleets.
By 1717 the governor of Pennsylvania was writing that over 1500 pirates were lurking about waiting to intercept shipping.
Pirate captains could enjoy spectacular, but usually short careers. Some disappeared into obscurity without notice. Those few that survived in riches were rare, especially by the time of these rules. Many ended up at the end of the gibbet. Early buccaneers in the 1500's made spectacular profits, and earned great glory, such as Francis Drake. In the time of these rules great stories and a lot of public interest was shown in the activities of pirates, though governments and officials were fast becoming tired of their impacts on revenues and were already moving to stop piracy as far as practical .
This game is set in the early 1700's when Man'O'Wars were slowly being sent to the Caribbean and pirates could still make a quick piece of eight if they were smart. For a list of real pirate captains.
The English called these men buccaneers after a French history of pirates was translated into English. The French called them filibusters, the Dutch zee rovers and the Spanish corsairs.
Pirate Command & Control
Pirate ships & crews are ruled democratically. Usually they start small, a ring leader and a few close friends & aquaintances, and they increase in size as they plunder ships and earn a reputation. Should the captain prove to be a poor leader, it is a time honoured tradition amongst the pirates that they elect a new captain to lead them in their merry adventures. Particularly successful captains are able to split their plunder several times and still attract new crews for their continued adventures.
The pirates were a particularly enlightened mob of people, and had devised their own set of shipboard rules. These were basically agreed upon rules of conduct which the ship would operate under.
Pay Rates
The pirates were a particularly enlightened mob of people, and had devised their own set of standard pay rates and compensation for war wounds. Maybe they were the pre cursors for modern unions, for certainly they act as pirates in these days. These pay rates were fairly universal as pirates were casual and seasonal workers and tended to work on many ships until they were captured and sentenced.
A pirate did not receive weekly wages like the general working populace. They were speculators, and gambled their labour on good leadership and blind luck. Unfortunately they also squandered their sometimes tremendous earnings on carousing, drinking and gambling, usually in the space of a few weeks, and hence were terminably poor. Piracy was also addictive, and it was rumoured several Caribbean governors in the early 1700's were sponsors of Piracy Anonymous, a group of men and women attached to the Mormon Chruch who aided pirates kick their habit. They had branches all over the Caribbean.
Pirates pay rates were based on a share of the booty taken by plunder and sale of goods. Pirates did not actually get paid from the booty until it was decided by the crew to end their adventuring and split the plunder.
'Splitting the plunder' entailed valueing all plunder and dividing it amongst the crew in shares. Generally each member of the crew has one share of the plunder. Some crewmen have higher or lower shares depending upon the nature of their job, and special circumstances, which is listed below in the 'Plunder Shares' table. The value of the shares was summed up and the total value of plunder was divided by this number to get the amount of plunder each man had per share he had. After splitting the plunder all men were released from service aboard the ship and could go about their business as they saw fit. As mentioned before, usually this money was gone in no time and the pirate was soon at sea again chasing money. By the time of these rules, the pay of officers and captains had diminished in relation to the rest of the crew, so that by this time the captain might rate only twice a normal sailors share.
Crewmans Job Share Captain Bosun (Master) Bosuns Mate (Masters Mates) Ships Master (navigator) Master Gunner Purser (book keeper) Head Rigger Surgeon Ships Pilot Riggers, Cannoneers, Musketeers, Cook,
Carpenter Steward Quarter Master Cabin boy
Pirate Reputations With Prisoners
Pirates could be quite vengeful men, as may of course any captain, politician, policeman, or pleb in life. Due to their past association with naval vessels and merchantmen, they could be quite sadistic when it came to prisoners. Captain Phillip Lyne (1726) boasted when captured that he had killed 39 ships masters while a pirate. One of the worst historical English pirates was Captain Edward Low. The captain of a Portugese merchantman he captured threw his money overboard rather than let the pirates have it. Low had the mans lips cut off and broiled in front of him, and then forced the man to eat them before butchering the whole crew. On capturing a French ship, he had the cook tied to the mast and then burned the captured vessel. He claimed that because the cook was so greasy he would fry well. This is also the man, who early in his pirate career argued on behalf of a prisoner "That, though we are pirates, yet we are men, and though we are deemed by some dishonest, yet let us not wholly divest ourselves of humanity, and make ourselves more savage than brutes." The worst Frenchman was the fanatic Huegunot who, when capturing the portuguese galleon Santiago in 1553, ordered the Jesuit priest and followers on board to be martyred. They had their arms cut off and were then thrown alive overboard. Refer also to the treatment of prisoners under the Sea Law section.
Some pirates took there reputations to the extreme, their theory being if they showed they were nice men no one would surrender to them without a fight.
Home Ports
The Virgin Islands hosted pirates of all nations. New Providence in the Bahamas was a port of British and American pirates. Spanish pirates (now who ever mentions those...) operated out of Cuba, Puerto Rico and St. Augustine. French pirates operated out of Martinique.