Thread: Thar be Pirates

Originally Posted by ramblingboy42

ok,

PIRATE'S CREED of ETHICS

#1. Ye Captain shall have full command during the time of engagement , and shall have authority at all other times to conduct the ship accordingly.
He who disobeys him may be punished unless the majority vote against the punishment.

Very democratic!!!! What is the punishment....walking the plank.........keelhauling...........tied up to the yard arm and lashed????

It is probably impossible to gain any real idea today (probably was always the same) as to whether the pirates' "code of ethics" was ever a real document in the sense of reflecting how any crew ever operated.

Certainly, in some cases the crews operated by a set of rules, or perhaps customs, that existed because of the need to work together as a crew. But in most cases they worked together because the captain had a strong personality and a demonstrated capacity for success, and given a sufficiently strong and ruthless outlook much was overlooked if they were successful and able to navigate. Some of the captains had a documented ability to kill dissident crew members, and this probably happened more times than have been recorded.

Don't forget that very few of the pirates were literate, so few records of their real activities exist. At the end of the day you have to remember that they were nothing more than gangs of armed thugs that happen to operate at sea. The "golden age of piracy" resulted from various governments using these thugs as cheap naval forces by giving them 'Letters of Marque" on the condition that they were selective about who they attacked.

John

Originally Posted by Ausfree

Very democratic!!!! What is the punishment....walking the plank.........keelhauling...........tied up to the yard arm and lashed????

That was British Navy punishment, life on a British Navy vessel was no picnic whether Pirates did it or not is another story.

Captain Bligh was famous/infamous for it, was not a popular Governor (NSW) either.

Baz.

Sounds like a great trip!, That book will be a good read. The truth is stranger than fiction. Bob

A lot of pirate crews were former English merchantmen given free reign to attack French vessels and whoever was the enemy of the day.
When the English didnt need them anymore they had to find another way to make a living.
James

Originally Posted by ramblingboy42

ok,

PIRATE'S CREED of ETHICS

#1. Ye Captain shall have full command during the time of engagement , and shall have authority at all other times to conduct the ship accordingly.
He who disobeys him may be punished unless the majority vote against the punishment.

Sounds like the mods here , except for the last bit.

Originally Posted by Ausfree

Very democratic!!!! What is the punishment....walking the plank.........keelhauling...........tied up to the yard arm and lashed????

The Royal Navy didn't have people walk the plank, the story of the plank is said to have its origins from around 100BC , when pirates in the Med. preyed on Roman shipping. When the Romans imperiously identified them selves as subjects of the Emperor, the pirates would fall to their knees, & with great sarcasm, tell the Romans they were free to walk home, the only place they could walk was over the side into the sea. 18th century pirates did feed people to the sharks, and one of their favourite things was marooning people on a desert isle.


Keel hauling was a Dutch invention, picked up by other navies, used until about the 17th & 18th centuries, when the cat-o-nine-tails was the punishment of choice, said to be more effective. A sailor charged with mutiny could be flogged around the fleet, for his troubles. Bligh used the cat. Tough times, indeed, Bob

lots of the questions will be answered as I put up the other 13 creeds .

you have to wait.....one each day I said.

tomorrow at approx 7am creed #2 will be revealed.

aaaarrrrgh!