Rules Pirates Live by
Penalties for violating the pirate code were always swift and rarely without exception, an attitude repeated from their previous time aboard a sailboat. The quartermaster would pronounce the punishment, which is determined by the captain or the voice of the crew, which may be iron legs, whipping or keel towing. More serious crimes were answered with marronage or death. Captain John Phillips of the Revenge laid down these items for his ship and crew in 1724. His items were mainly recovered because his crew of conscripted pirates mutinied against him and made the rest of the pirates loyal to the authorities with the ship and evidence. This means that articles on pirates survived long enough to be included in Charles Johnson`s A General History of Pyrates, published in 1724. Once you`ve decided on some rules, write them down carefully on a thick sheet of A4 paper (or thin card) with a brown marker or a thin felt tip. Captains like Bartholomew Roberts and Edward “Blackbeard” Teach were true leaders among men, inspiring hundreds of pirates to follow their example until their death among pirate hunters. These captains commanded fleets of ships competing with any royal equivalent and commanded hundreds of men. If these two had been able to work together, they would have been completely unstoppable.
Bartholomew Roberts` articles were similar (but not identical) to those of his former captain Howell Davis. Roberts` articles, in turn, influenced those of pirates like Thomas Anstis, who served under him and later went their own way. NOTE: The eight were not just for pirates. These Spanish coins once enjoyed widespread international use and were even accepted as legal tender in the United States until 1857. The Pirate Brethren Code, also known as the Order of Brethren Code and commonly referred to as the Pirate Code or simply the Code, was a code of conduct used by pirates. This revered collection of rules was recorded in the sacred Pirata Codex, which was kept at Shipwreck Cove. Each crew member was asked to sign or mark the articles and then take an oath of allegiance or honour. The oath was sometimes taken on a Bible, but John Phillips` men, who did not have a Bible, swore with an axe.
[1] Legend has it that other pirates swore by crossed pistols, swords, a human skull or a cannon. This law officially introduced the signatory to pirate occupation and generally gave him the right to vote for officers and other “affairs of the moment”, to bear arms and to have his share of the plunder. Once the items were signed, they were then placed in a conspicuous place, often on the door of the captain`s cabin. [2] The Code was established in the classical era of piracy[1] by Morgan and Bartholomew[2][3] at the second session of the Brethren Tribunal. [4] [5] It was recorded in a ledger, the Codex Pirata, which was preserved at Shipwreck Cove and protected by the codekeeper. [6] One of the prerequisites for becoming a pirate king was that the applicant had to swear by the code. [3] According to the Second Court, the Pirate Code was used as a code of conduct among pirates. [2] After the start of a pirate voyage, new recruits from captured ships sometimes signed the articles, in some cases voluntarily, in others under threat of torture or death. Valuable seafarers such as carpenters and seafarers were particularly likely to sign articles under duress and were rarely released, whether they wanted to or not.In some cases, even volunteer recruits asked the pirates to pretend to force them to sign so they could claim they would be forced if captured by the law. [3] In general, men who did not sign the statutes were much more likely to be acquitted by the court if they were covered by the law. The Pirate Code of Conduct consisted of a series of agreements between the captain and the pirate crew, called articles. The Pirate Code of Conduct was necessary because pirates were not governed by other rules such as naval regulations. Pirate captains have been elected and could lose their positions due to abuse of power. The captain enjoyed few privileges: the following is an example of a pirate code established by Captain Bartholomew Roberts. Black Bart`s code is given because he is probably one of the most successful pirates and has captured over 400 ships in the span of 3 years. This code probably allowed many of his successes by keeping everything right and avoiding mutiny and problems with the crew. Sometimes, when pirates captured a ship, the crew decided to join the pirates.