Pirate code: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 17:15, 7 July 2025

Revision as of 07:45, 9 July 2025

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==History==

[[File:Pyle pirate marooned.jpg|thumb|300px|A painting depicting a [[Marooning|marooned]] pirate, according to [[Howard Pyle]].]]

While legend has it that the first set of the pirate codes were written by the Portuguese buccaneer [[Bartolomeu Português]] sometime in the early 1660s,<ref>{{Cite web|last=Piracy|first=Golden Age of|title=Buccaneers {{!}} Bartholomew Portugues|url=https://goldenageofpiracy.org/buccaneers/bartholomew-portugues.php|access-date=2022-01-22|website=Golden Age of Piracy|language=en}}</ref>, the first formal recorded set belonged to [[George Cusack]] who was active from 1668 to 1675.<ref name="Fox Dissertation" /> These early buccaneer articles were based on earlier [[maritime law]] and privateer codes such as the 12th century [[Rolls of Oléron]].<ref name="Berger">{{cite web |last1=Berger |first1=Klaus Peter |title=The Lex Mercatoria (Old and New) and the TransLex-Principles |url=https://www.trans-lex.org/the-lex-mercatoria-and-the-translex-principles_ID8 |website=www.trans-lex.org |access-date=21 October 2021 |language=de}}</ref> They were later used by buccaneers and pirates such as [[John Phillips (pirate)|John Phillips]], [[Edward Low]] and [[Bartholomew Roberts]].

[[Buccaneer]]s operated under a [[ship's articles]] that, among other things, governed conduct of the crew. These "articles of agreement" became authority independent of any nation, and were variously called the ''Chasse-Partie'', [[Charterparty]], [[Custom of the sea]], or Jamaica Discipline. These retroactively became known (in the modern era) as the Pirate's Code as well. Pirate articles varied from one captain to another, and sometimes even from one voyage to another, but they were generally alike in including provisions for [[discipline]], specifications for each crewmate's share of treasure, and compensation for the injured.