Pirate code

Pirate articles, or articles of agreement, were a code of conduct for governing ships of pirates, notably between the 17th and 18th centuries, during the so-called "Golden Age of Piracy".

The typical pirate crew was an unorthodox mixture of former sailors, escaped convicts, disillusioned men, and possibly former or escaped slaves, among others, looking for wealth at any cost; once aboard a seafaring vessel, the group would draw-up their own ship- and crew-specific code (or articles), which listed and described the crew's policies governing pirate behavior (such as drunkenness, fighting, and interaction with women) and the associated disciplinary action, should a code be violated.

Failing to honor the Articles could get a pirate marooned, whipped, beaten, or even executed (such as one article described, for merely allowing a woman aboard their ship). Primarily, these articles were designed to keep order aboard the ship, avoid dissension or mutinies, and ensure the crews' loyalty, all of which was crucial to the group's mutual survival.

History

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, the first formal recorded set belonged to George Cusack who was active from 1668 to 1675. These early buccaneer articles were based on earlier maritime law and privateer codes such as the 12th century Rolls of Oléron. They were later used by buccaneers and pirates such as John Phillips, Edward Low and Bartholomew Roberts.

Buccaneers 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.