The Pirate Code: Law and Order Beneath the Black

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Pirates are usually imagined as a lawless bunch, but the society they established aboard their ships was surprisingly quite complicated. They operated under a strict set of laws that dictated their government, their payment, and their behavior. Officers were elected, payment was equally divided, and stealing from your brothers? Punishable. The Code kept pirate crews together when nothing else would, and breaking any of its items could amount to a death sentence.
You might be familiar with The Code from Pirates of the Caribbean. A set of rules written down in a large book by the Brethren Court, which individual crews remember and abide to. Atleast when it fits them. It's a good starting point: did the Pirate Code actually exist? Yes and no. In one way, it was the other way around.
Modern sources
Buccaneers and Soldiers in the Americas - René Chartrand
The Buccaneer's Realm - Benerson Little
Piratical Schemes and Contracts - E.T Fox
Pirates in their own words - E.T Fox
Pirates of the Eastern Seas - Charles Grey
Pirates of the Americas - David F. Marley
A Nation of Pirates - Clive M. Senior
Period sources
Sea-man's Grammar - Captain John Smith
A Privateer's Voyage Round the World - George Shelvocke
The Buccaneers of America - Alexandre Exquemelin
The Memoirs of Pere Labat - Jean-Baptiste Labat
0:00 Introduction
0:42 Unwritten codes
3:36 Written laws
6:10 Division of plunder
9:15 Disciplinary items
13:42 Punishments
16:16 Outro
#pirates #history #piratesofthecaribbean #piratecode

[@Alex-cw3rz]

The code is more what you'd call guidelines

[@NathanDudani]

Thanks Cap'n Barbosa!

[@peterholst8875]

You summed up an entire 16 min video to 1 line. How few lines can you compress the bible to?

[@TheAdrian229]

​@@peterholst8875I am who I am

[@lifeofvadim]

@@peterholst8875 "Don't be an asshole."

[@PotatoeJoe69]

​@@peterholst8875 Oh that's easy, it's already been done. It's called the Ten Commandments.

[@CaptainJess]

Code is more what you call, "guidelines", than actual rules

[@jeffdauscha1436]

I feel this be callin for parlay capn

[@TheRiverPirate13]

🤣🤣🤣

[@bigblue6917]

I did read that some sailors when asked to sign the articles to become pirates would, with a nod and a wink, decline to do so on the basis that if caught they could say they were forced to become pirates. The problem here was that unless you could prove you were forced to join they were regarded as a pirate anyway.

[@carloshenriquezimmer7543]

Well, signing could be more of an "inside joke", given many of them were former sailors of royal navies and merchant fleets. The actual signing a document, even the marking an "x" part for the iliterate, was actually real in those services. Pirates could just hear the articles, agree on them, swear an oath (like the bible and cross he mentioned) and they had joined the company. Possibly a single "official copy" could be kept, as a reference.

[@bigblue6917]

@@carloshenriquezimmer7543 They were all merchant seaman. No Royal Navy ship was ever captured by pirates. In fact one thing they wanted to do was avoid tangling with a Royal Navy ship. The Royal Navy were better better armed, much better trained, they were a professional force, and because they would have to sail and fight at the same time the crew of a Royal Navy ship was always bigger. As to merchant seaman some were more willing that others. In fact some were looking for a chance to become pirates. Having read about both pirates and highwaymen there is a lot of similarities between the two. Both knew it would end in their deaths but looked on it as being a short life but a merry on.

[@FusionCoreHoarder]

"And we took what we could and we gave none back, for that's the Pirate's Code"

[@The-southern-boy]

We captured ships from Portugal England France and spain

[@FusionCoreHoarder]

@@The-southern-boy Yes. I have encountered a fellow gentleman of fortune

[@akramgimmini8165]

Time flies when you're having Rum

[@asahearts1]

This made me think of that kids cartoon where in one episode the kids dress up and sing about how pirates share and don't take other people's things or whatever. I don't know the name of the show but if someone else does pls share. 😂

[@wulfhardoftoxandria7680]

It's "Jake and the Never Land pirates"

[@TheRiverPirate13]

I'm part of a pirate krewe here in St Augustine. We are 501c3 Registered charity however we are also re-enactors that reflects the Golden Age of Piracy. We have written Articles for the krewe, and a Letter of Marque give to us by the Royal family of St Augustine. Of course, the "Articles" are effectively the by-laws of how the krewe is to act in public, or interactions with other krewes and roles of the Krewe officers and krewe. When you live the Pirate Life, you started seeing how important these articles (guidelines) are to ensure some form of discipline for your organization to be successful in their mission. Enjoyed the video as always mate!

[@yeedbottomtext7563]

Subbed

[@yourmomsass3365]

I should be working right now, but how else would I know what law and order looked like in the Golden Age of Piracy.

[@reeceemms1643]

can we get a video on what happened to the children of pirates? Because since the Pirates spent so much money on women it would be surprising that any didn't produce any off spring. So I do want to know what happened if a pirate had children.

[@reeceemms1643]

@@benjamingarrett1175 yeah I was guessing that was were they would come from.

[@nidohime6233]

Two things, or they have families in villages and stay away from them for months without seeing each other since that's how a sailor's life is like, or they just ignore any bastard they might have. In fact many pirates do and did have families, and joing piracy to sustain them. Of course that's not always the same for every pirate.

[@thedictationofallah]

I have a question(s). Being a calligrapher (In Latin script, Arabic script and the Perso-Arabic (Urdu) scripts). Did pirates always write in beautiful cursive or did they choose a special person with good handwriting. Also, what if they make an error in the code? Or what if ink splattered on it? Did they use parchment (in which, if you made a mistake, you can correct by scraping off the part of the paper you made an error on). Also, most pirates I would assume were illiterate and had never held a quill before, so how did they come up with their signs?

[@herobrinesblog]

8:10 i'd call it more an indemnity system and pension system, not even an insurance system. An insurance pressuposes that there is a regular payment by the clients for the insurance company to have funds to pay for their clients misfortunes. Here, what happens is more of a certain/guaranteed obligation of indemnity, where regardless of the guilt by any party, the person is paid from the "pirate treasury"

[@GamePlayShare]

Watching your videos makes me want to play some pirate themed game.

[@cheshirecatastrophe9089]

like sea of thieves?

[@valkaerie8715]

I wish there was more good single player pirate sims.

[@derekdreke4990]

You would think too that you would wanna keep everyone in tip top shape as well 🤔 i would imagine flogging could lead to infection. I always thought that the best crews especially the ones we hear the most about had they stuff together just like anything in life a team that works together and has each other's back is super key here ! I mean you are literally fighting for your life so watching over each other and working together would be huge especially if you wanted to be successful !

[@antoinemonks4187]

Great vid! I love it when he includes clips from "Captain Blood". Such a classic film!

[@mageillus]

I’ve been itching for this video to be re-released!!

[@jordanmagpiebullet7978]

Amazing job Captain keep them coming I’m thinking about making my on and I’m going to this as a guide

[@jasondohrman7098]

Thanks agian for another cool one! Definitely enjoyed!

[@unknowntrooper_2791]

Very good video once more. Interesting as usual. Cheers!🏴‍☠️

[@Uncle_Roadkill]

Though pirates wrote most their code in R, their true love still be the C.

[@Vicus_of_Utrecht]

😂

[@heavenly_devil91]

And java was punishable by death! 😂

[@Kamakasidingo77]

New Gold and Gunpowder vid. New Gold and Gunpowder vid. New Gold and Gunpowder vid.

[@PyroGothNerd]

Kudos for using clips from "Captain Blood"

[@Cranberrie123]

Question; If a person purchased, and thus owned, the pirate ship would they typically be considered the 'captain'? Were there cases where the owner of a pirate ship wasn't its captain?

[@GoldandGunpowder]

see this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/h3S6Z2Wkq9Z8gtE

[@nikitanavy4724]

Question: what was the pirate pracrice for capturing fellow pirates? Would they be hired, marooned? Love this channel subbed

[@GoldandGunpowder]

If you meant pirates captured from other crews, they'd never do that. It was unprofitable and unnessecarily risky to go after other pirates compared to merchants. Privateers might be employed to hunt pirates or other privateers, and then the captives would be taken to the commission port as criminals or POWs.

[@nikitanavy4724]

@@GoldandGunpowder so akin to Geneva suggestions

[@merafirewing6591]

More like guidelines then the actually rules, the pirate code definitely is flexible to a degree or some rules can be bended if it suits them. But it definitely is what keeps a crew together.

[@spirospagiatis4731]

Can you make a video about fireships?

[@fenriraldrek1022]

When they say share of the plunder how is that determined?

[@Magiciantype-0]

You should do a video on Ned Low

[@paulsteele8614]

Doing my part for the algorithm

[@MBP1918]

Barbossa

[@bookofroger]

Finally!

[@vercing1324]

Someone knows what is a jack-tar?

[@CrimsonGuard1992]

How much was one share worth?

[@ulfgard4734]

Unrelated to the video: was wondering if you've seen the 2006 miniseries Blackbeard, starring Angus MacFayden. Not looking for any in-depth analysis, just your opinion if you have one. IMO MacFayden is one of the more menacing portrayals of the character I've seen.

[@kaynhuros2050]

AYYYYYY

[@piraticvs]

The code is the law!

[@shirayukineps-l5956]

It was a guidelines

[@LawrenceTimme]

Seems pretty reasonable.

[@vercing1324]

6:46 Who is this captain?

[@vercing1324]

Hello! ( almost forgot)

[@oufannamedbrandon6715]

Im going to make an assumption, (ya ya... Makes an @$$ and all... I know) That said, The phrase 'Ring Leader' must stem from the unique way of pirates signing their pledge? Makes sense right? Whos got brains for thinkin'? 😁 ☝️This Guy!

[@Whurlpuul]

Yarr

[@andreykuzmin4317]

"We tske from the rich and give to the poor! We happen to be poor, as well as tavern owners and sex workers on Tortuga"

[@patrickrichards2577]

✨🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿✨🥰✨👍✨♥️✨🤗✨.

[@patrickrichards2577]

✨🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿✨😳✨🏴‍☠️✨😱✨.

[@CosplayZine]

The part about them signing with an x always seemed a bit odd. I understand you having witnesses but what if the witnesses leave or die then the x would still be technically legit but it makes the witnesses seem kind of useless and the articles carrying less weight sort of. It makes more sense that if the person was illiterate that they might sign an X next to someone who wrote their name for them who that was literate, kind of like a co-signer in a sense. Since there is really only evidence of one set of pirate articles in existence (or that we know of currently) I feel it's difficult to say for sure if everyone had a written code but my guess is much of what we adapt from the navy at the time ends up being our equal assumption for the rules for "privateers" aka pirates. Never the less interesting topic.

[@cferrarini]

You should make a Freemason episode. In the Yorkrite ritual pirates and bucaneers are mentioned among brethren.

[@raa6504]

Bro, I guarantee everyone will still watch if you just post it normally.. This is more annoying.

[@Captain_Cinnamon]

Actually, it isnt. He doesnt post same time same day every time, so i like the heads up