Grace O'Malley

Grace O'Malley (c. 1530 – c. 1603) a.k.a. Gráinne Ní Mháille, was chieftain of the Ó Máille clan in the west of Ireland, following in the footsteps of her father Eoghan Dubhdara Ó Máille. O'Malley was born in Ireland around 1530, when Henry VIII was King of England and (at least in name) Lord of Ireland. Under the policies of the English government at the time, the semi-autonomous Irish princes and lords were left mostly to their own devices. However this was to change over the course of O'Malley's life as the Tudor conquest of Ireland gathered pace.

Even as a young woman O'Malley was involved in the business of sailing ships and international trade. It is known that she wanted to join the fleets of her father's large shipping and trading business, but he always refused. When her father died, O'Malley inherited his business. From her mother she inherited land, and from her first husband, Dónal an Chogaidh (Dónal "the warlike") O'Flaherty, she inherited property and holdings, all of which allowed her to become very wealthy, reportedly owning as much as 1000 head of cattle and horses.
Around the time of her first husband's death came the initial complaints to the English Council in Dublin from Galway's city leaders that O'Flaherty and O'Malley ships were behaving like pirates. Because Galway imposed taxes on the ships that traded their goods there, the O'Flahertys, led by O'Malley, decided to extract a similar tax from ships travelling in waters off their lands. O'Malley's ships would stop and board the traders and demand either cash or a portion of the cargo in exchange for safe passage the rest of the way to Galway. Resistance was met with violence and even murder. Once they obtained their toll, the O'Flaherty ships would disappear into one of the many bays in the area.
By the early 1560s, O'Malley had left O'Flaherty territory and returned to her father's holdings on Clare Island. She recruited fighting men from both Ireland and Scotland, transporting the gallowglass mercenaries between their Scottish homes and Irish employers and plundering Scotland's outlying islands on her return trips. In an apparent effort to curry favour with the English, O'Malley went to the Lord Deputy of Ireland and offered two hundred fighting men to serve English interests in Ireland and Scotland.

When her her lover, Hugh de Lacy, the shipwrecked son of a Wexford merchant she had rescued, was murdered by the MacMahon clan, O'Malley waited for the culprits to land on the holy island of Caher for a pilgrimage. O'Malley then captured their boats, and the MacMahons themselves and killed those responsible for her lover's death. Still not satisfied with her revenge, O'Malley then sailed for Ballycroy and attacked the garrison at Doona Castle, overpowering the defenders and taking the castle for herself. Her attack against the MacMahons was not the first time she interrupted someone at their prayers. Legend tells of another chieftain who stole property from O'Malley and fled to a church for sanctuary. She was determined to wait out the thief, maintaining that he could starve or surrender. The thief dug a tunnel and escaped, however, and the hermit who took care of the church broke his vow of silence to scold her for attempting to harm someone who had sought sanctuary. Her reply is not recorded.

When her brother and two of her sons were taken captive by the English governor of Connacht, Sir Richard Bingham, O'Malley sailed to England to petition for their release. She formally presented her request to Elizabeth I at her court in Greenwich Palace.  O'Malley refused to bow before Elizabeth because she did not recognise her as the Queen of Ireland. It is also rumoured that O'Malley had a dagger concealed about her person, which guards found upon searching her. Elizabeth's courtiers were said to be very upset and worried, but O'Malley informed the queen that she carried it for her own safety. Elizabeth accepted this and seemed untroubled. Some also reported that O'Malley sneezed and was given a lace-edged handkerchief from a noblewoman. She apparently blew her nose into the handkerchief and then threw the piece of cloth into a nearby fireplace, much to the shock of the court. O'Malley informed Elizabeth and her court that, in Ireland, a used handkerchief was considered dirty and was destroyed. Their discussion was carried out in Latin, as O'Malley spoke no English and Elizabeth spoke no Irish. After much talk, the two women came to an agreement. Included in the stipulations for each party, Elizabeth was to remove Sir Bingham from his position in Ireland and O'Malley was to stop supporting the Irish lords' rebellions.
The meeting seemed to have done some good for Richard Bingham was removed from service. But several of O'Malley's other demands (including the return of the cattle and land that Bingham had stolen from her) remained unmet, and within a rather short period of time Elizabeth sent Bingham back to Ireland. Upon Bingham's return, O'Malley realised that the meeting with Elizabeth had been useless, and went back to supporting Irish insurgents during the Nine Years' War. She most likely died at Rockfleet Castle around 1603, the same year as Elizabeth, though the year and place of her death are disputed.

Eustace the Monk

Eustace Busket, better known as Eustace the Monk (c. 1170 – 24 August 1217) was a medieval outlaw, mercenary and pirate born near Boulogne circa 1170.

The Battle of Sandwich

Busket was the youngest son of Baudoin Busket, lord of Boulogne. He is reported to have studied black magic in Toledo, Spain before returning to France to become a Benedictine monk at St Samer Abbey, near Calais. It is disputed whether Busket left the church when his father was murdered to seek revenge, or if by 1202, Eustace was the seneschal and bailiff to the count of Boulogne, Renaud de Dammartin, and that in 1204, the two quarrelled and Busket was accused of mishandling his stewardship, prompting him to flee and be declared an outlaw. Renaud confiscated his lands and fields, and in retaliation Busket put two mills to the torch.Busket later became a pirate in the English Channel and the Strait of Dover, both for his own purposes and as a mercenary of France and England. King John of England employed him intermittently from 1205 to 1212, against Philip II of France, reportedly having been assigned 30 ships. This employment involved Eustace and his brothers raiding the Normandy coast and establishing bases in the Channel Islands, where he and his men held Castle Cornet in Guernsey for a considerable period. He took the island of Sark in 1205, but in 1212 turned on the English, switching sides to France, and began raiding English coastal villages after the English seized his Channel Island bases. King John briefly outlawed him, but soon afterwards issued a pardon because he needed his services. In August 1217, whilst ferrying much-needed reinforcements to Louis, Busket met an English fleet under Hubert de Burgh sailing out of Dover. In the ensuing Battle of Dover, he wrought havoc among his former allies, until the English blinded the French with powdered lime, boarded the French ships and defeated them in mêlée.Eustace was found hiding in the ship's bilges and offered huge sums for his life, which his captors refused, since he had made himself so hated by the English crews. Instead, they allowed him merely the choice between the ship's rail or the side of the trebuchet as his place of execution, but it is not recorded how he chose.

Howell Davis

Captain Howell Davis (or Hywel) (or Davies) (ca. 1690 – 19th of June 1719) was a Welsh pirate, whose career lasted only 11 months, and is perhaps best remembered as the captain who pressed Bartholomew Roberts into piracy. He is known to have captured 15 English and French ships.

Born in Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire, Davis started out in piracy on the 11th of July 1718 when the slave ship, a snow known as Cadogan, on which he was serving as a mate, was captured by the pirate Edward England. The snow was led by a Captain Skinner, who England and his men once worked for, and were owed wages. England's men tied Skinner to the mast and pelted him with glass bottles, until he was shot through the head out of mercy. Davis chose to join the pirates, and was given command of the Cadogan, to wit he was sent to Brazil on the 18th of July 1718. However, his new crew resisted the call to piracy, and mutinied. Davis was arrested and the crew sailed to Barbados instead, where they were originally headed. The crew completed their voyage, and turned Davis in. However, he was released after three months without trial, having not committed any actual piracy.

Davis made his way to New Providence, which was in the process of being taken over by Woodes Rogers. He found employment on a trading sloop called the Buck, which along with its sister ship, the Mumvil Trader, were heading for Martinique. Once landed, Davis and some conspirators rose in the night and seized the ship. The Mumvil Trader was signalled, and the majority of the men aboard both ships agreed to join with Davies, those disinclined were sent back to the Mumvil Trader to go where they pleased, after Davis had stripped her of anything of value. Davis was quickly elected captain, after which he made a short speech declaring war against the whole world. Davis formed a base in Coxon's Hole in East Cuba, a narrow secluded inlet that was easily defensible by a single ship.

Subsequently, he crossed the Atlantic to terrorize shipping in the Cape Verde Islands. Davis then engaged with a Dutch interloper of thirty guns and ninety men. A heated battle took place, that lasted 20 hours during which Davis lost nine men, before the Dutch vessel surrendered. Davis fitted the Dutch ship for his own use, named her the Rover, mounting her with 32 guns and 27 swivels. Davis sailed to Anomabu, Ghana where he found three ships lying at anchor. These he took without resistance, one of his prisoners being navigator Bartholomew Roberts.  It is said that Davis would use Welsh to communicate with Roberts, keeping it hidden from the rest of the crew.

Two months later, Davis hoisted English colours and sailed to the Portuguese island of Principe, and posing as an English captain, invited the Governor for lunch aboard his ship, intending to hold him hostage. However, the governor knew that Davis was really a pirate, and invited him for a glass of wine at the fortress first. Davis and a small party were making their way from the harbour to the fortress when they were ambushed and shot dead on the 19th of June, 1719. 

Woodes Rogers

Woodes Rogers (ca. 1679 – 15th July 1732) was an English sea captain and privateer, best remembered for leading the royal naval campaign to stamp out piracy in the Caribbean. 

Rogers was probably born in Poole, Dorset, and came from an affluent seafaring family. His father owned shares in many ships, and died in the first years of the 18th century, leaving Rogers control of the family shipping business. During the War of the Spanish Succession, Rogers was approached by Captain William Dampier, who sought backing for a privateering voyage. Rogers led the expedition, which consisted of two well-armed ships, the Duke and the Duchess, and captained the Duke himself. Rogers spent three years travelling the world, raiding Spanish towns and capturing vessels in the Pacific. On the 1st of February, 1709, the Duke rescued the marooned Alexander Selkirk from Juan Fernandez Island, who became the inspiration for Robinson Crusoe.  When the expedition returned to England in October 1711, Rogers had circumnavigated the globe, while retaining his original ships and most of his men, and the investors in the expedition doubled their money.

Rogers was wounded and his brother killed in combat in the Pacific, and on his return was sued by his crew, who protested that they had not received a fair share of the profits, bankrupting him and his business. In 1713, Rogers attempted to rebuild his finances by leading an expedition against pirates. He sailed to Madagascar, ostensibly to buy slaves to sell in the Dutch East Indies, but used the voyage to gather intelligence about pirates in the area. Finding many of the pirates had gone native, Rogers persuaded many of them to sign a petition asking Queen Anne for clemency. On his profitable return to London in 1715, the British East India Company vetoed Rogers' appeal to lead a colonial expedition to Madagascar, believing a colony there would pose a greater threat to its monopoly than the pirates and tribes that currently inhabited the island.
Therefore, Rogers turned his attention to the West Indies, and negotiated an agreement for a company to manage the Bahamas, which was famous for being "without face or form of government" as well as being a pirate haven. In 1718, Rogers was officially appointed governor of the Bahamas, and the King's Pardon was announced, promising clemency for all pirates who surrendered within eight months. Rogers spent several months preparing the expedition, amassing a force of seven ships, 100 soldiers, 130 colonists, and a vast range of supplies including religious pamphlets to give to the pirates, whom Rogers believed would respond to spiritual teachings. On the 22nd of April 1718, the expedition, accompanied by three Royal Navy vessels, sailed out of the Thames.

The expedition arrived exactly three months later in Nassau, surprising the town's de facto ruler, Charles Vane as he was returning from sea. When negotiations failed, Vane launched a fireship at the British vessels, forcing them out of the harbour. This gave Vane time to land and gather supplies and organise their escape. Vane and his men slipped out of the harbour on a small sloop, evading Rogers' trap but surrendering the island to his control. At the time, the island's population consisted of about two hundred former pirates and several hundred fugitives who had escaped from nearby Spanish colonies. Rogers organised a local government, granted the King's Pardon to those former pirates on the island who had not yet accepted it, and started to rebuild the island's fortifications, which had fallen into ruin under the pirates.

However, Rogers didn't have time to get comfortable, and suffered a myriad of setbacks. Within a month Vane had written to him, threatening to join forces with Blackbeard to retake the island. To make matters worse, the Spanish were also mounting a force to drive the British from the Bahamas. Disease ravaged his expedition team, an unknown sickness killed almost one hundred of those who had come with him from England, but the long-standing residents of the island appeared to be almost completely immune. The three royal navy vessels, having completed their escort and having no orders to remain, eventually left the island. An envoy ship sent to conciliate with the Spanish governor of Havana failed to arrive, its crew rebelling and turning pirate mid-voyage. Renovation of the islands fortifications proved slow going, as the local residents were disinclined to work for him.

In September, Rogers sent ex-pirate Benjamin Hornigold, who had secretly accepted the King's Pardon to gather intelligence on Vane and if possible bring him to battle. Rogers also declared martial law and set all islanders to work rebuilding the fortifications. Hornigold failed to learn anything about Vane, and in December was sent to recover the ship that had turned pirate en route to Havana, and returned with ten prisoners and three corpses. Eight of the men were hanged, and one of the condemned, Thomas Morris, said as he climbed the gallows, "we have a good governor, but a harsh one." Shortly after Christmas, a conspiracy to overthrow Rogers and restore piracy brewed, but it met with little support. The conspirators were flogged and released.

Rogers ordered many supplies on credit and accrued large debts, hoping the gamble would pay off in the long term for his creditors. He redoubled the efforts to fortify the island which proved invaluable when in February of 1720, the Spanish invaded. Being wary of the fortifications Rogers had built, they landed on nearby Paradise Island, only to be driven off by Rogers' troops. Vane never returned, having been deposed by his crew, he was later recognised and captured aboard another vessel, and was hanged in Jamaica the following year. Troubled by the lack of support and communication from London, Rogers set sail for Britain in March 1721. He arrived three months later to find that a new governor had been appointed, and his company had been liquidated. Personally liable for the obligations he had contracted at Nassau, he was imprisoned for debt. Rogers spent up to two years in prison, but at some point his creditors took pity on him and absolved his debt. Rogers was reappointed governor of the Bahamas in 1728, died in Nassau on the 15th of July, 1732. "Piracy expelled, commerce restored" remained the official motto of the Bahamas until its independence in 1973.

Samuel Bellamy

Captain Samuel Bellamy (c. February 23, 1689 – April 26, 1717), aka Black Sam, the Prince of Pirates, was an English pirate who operated in the early 18th century. Bellamy and his crew captured 53 ships in a pirate career that lasted little more than a year, but in this time established Bellamy as the richest pirate in recorded history. Bellamy and his crew called themselves 'Robin Hood's Men'. Bellamy became known for his mercy, his most widely used monicker Black Sam came from his choice to not wear a powdered wig, as was fashionable, instead simply tying his long black hair back with a band. Bellamy was well-known to his contemporaries and chroniclers as a distinctive figure, a tall, strong, well mannered and very tidy man. He liked expensive clothes, especially black coats. His favourite weapons were four duelling pistols that he always carried in his sash. Bellamy's Jolly Roger, the Death's head and bones across, is the most famous pirate flag in history.

Bellamy was the youngest of six known children born to Stephen and Elizabeth Bellamy in the parish of Hittisleigh in Devonshire, England, in 1689. his mother died soon after, and was buried on 23rd of February, 1689, three weeks before Samuel's baptism on 18th of March. In his late teens, Bellamy joined the Royal Navy, and fought in several battles in the early 18th Century. Leaving a wife and child in England, Bellamy moved to Cape Cod, Massachusetts, where he allegedly took up with a  beautiful 15 year old named Maria Hallett. A short time later Bellamy left on a salvage voyage, hoping to recover treasure from the Spanish plate fleet sunk off the coast of Florida, accompanied by his friend and financier Palgraves Williams. While Bellamy was at sea, Hallett gave birth to his child, who survived only a short time. The scandal eventually led to Hallett being jailed, her sentence was relatively short, but Hallett was exiled from the town. The salvage voyage apparently met with little success, as they soon turned to piracy in the crew of pirate captain Benjamin Hornigold, who commanded the Mary Anne with his first mate, a then-unknown Edward Teach. In the summer of 1716, there was unrest within the crew surrounding Hornigold's reluctance to attack English ships, and by a majority vote of the crew, Hornigold was deposed as captain of the Mary Anne and Bellamy replaced him. Hornigold left the vessel with those loyal to him, including Teach. 

Once embarked upon his pirate career, Bellamy soon captured a second ship, the Sultana, which was converted into a galley, and with approval of the crew, Bellamy assigned his friend Palsgrave Williams as its commander. In the spring of 1717, Bellamy captured his greatest prize in the form of the Whydah Gally in the strait known as the Windward Passage. Captained by Dutch buccaneer Laurens Prins, the 300-ton, 18 gun Whydah Gally was a slave ship on its maiden voyage from England, having recently sold 312 slaves and was loaded with gold, ivory, medicine, dyes and other precious goods.
Bellamy chased the Whydah Gally for three days before coming within range. After a single shot, Captain Prins surrendered the Whydah Gally by lowering her flag. True to his reputation for generosity, Bellamy allowed Prins and his crew to take the Sultana in exchange. Removing the captain's quarters and upgrading the ship to 28 guns, Bellamy turned his new flagship northwards along the eastern coast of the Carolinas and on to New England.
Bellamy was known for being an ideologue, and believing strongly in what piracy stood for. He is reported to have said to the captain of a sloop he captured:

"Though you are a sneaking puppy, and so are all those who will submit to be governed by laws which rich men have made for their own security; for the cowardly whelps have not the courage otherwise to defend what they get by knavery; but damn ye altogether: damn them for a pack of crafty rascals, and you, who serve them, for a parcel of hen-hearted numbskulls. They vilify us, the scoundrels do, when there is only this difference, they rob the poor under the cover of law, forsooth, and we plunder the rich under the protection of our own courage. Had you not better make then one of us, than sneak after these villains for employment?"

Just two months after acquiring the Whydah Gally, as she and the Mary Anne approached Cape Cod, Williams told Bellamy that he wished to visit his family in Rhode Island, and the two agreed to meet up again near Maine. If Bellamy intended to return to his lover Maria Hallett, he failed. The Whydah Gally was swept up in a violent storm off Cape Cod at midnight, and was driven onto the sand bar shoals in 16 feet of water some 500 feet from the coast of what is now Wellfleet, Massachusetts. At 15 minutes past midnight, the masts snapped and drew the heavily-loaded ship into 30 feet of water where she capsized and quickly sank, taking Bellamy and 143 men with her, only two survived.
The same storm wrecked the Mary Anne that night several miles south of the Whydah Gally, leaving seven survivors. All nine survivors from the two ships were captured and prosecuted for piracy in Boston, and six were hanged in October of 1717 for piracy, two were acquitted, the court believing their testimony that they had been forced into piracy. The last, a Native American from the Miskito tribe in Central America, John Julian, is believed to have been sold into slavery to John Quincy, the grandfather of U.S. President John Quincy Adams.

In July 1984, the wreck of the Whydah Gally was found, making it the first authenticated pirate shipwreck discovered in North America. At the time of its sinking, Bellamy's ship was the largest pirate prize ever captured, and the treasure in its hold amassed roughly 4.5 to 5 tons, including huge quantities of indigo, ivory, gold, and 20,000 to 30,000 pounds sterling, divided into 180 sacks of 50-pound (23 kg) each.

Pirate Rules

Contrary to popular belief, most pirate crews abided by a code of conduct known as the Articles of Agreement. All sailors when joining the crew (either by choice or by force) would agree to the articles and would suffer the penalties listed for breaking them. There are five surviving pirate codes, and I shall detail them below.

Henry Morgan's Code:

The oldest and most used code was written by Henry Morgan, documented by Exquemelin, the ship's physician:

I. The fund of all payments under the articles is the stock of what is gotten by the expedition, following the same law as other pirates, that is, No prey, no pay.

II. Compensation is provided the Captain for the use of his ship, and the salary of the carpenter, or shipwright, who mended, careened, and rigged the vessel (the latter usually about 150 pieces of eight). A sum for provisions and victuals is specified, usually 200 pieces of eight. A salary and compensation is specified for the surgeon and his medicine chest, usually 250 pieces of eight.

III. A standard compensation is provided for maimed and mutilated buccaneers. "Thus they order for the loss of a right arm six hundred pieces of eight, or six slaves ; for the loss of a left arm five hundred pieces of eight, or five slaves ; for a right leg five hundred pieces of eight, or five slaves ; for the left leg four hundred pieces of eight, or four slaves ; for an eye one hundred pieces of eight, or one slave ; for a finger of the hand the same reward as for the eye.

IV. Shares of booty are provided as follows: "the Captain, or chief Commander, is allotted five or six portions to what the ordinary seamen have ; the Master's Mate only two ; and Officers proportionate to their employment. After whom they draw equal parts from the highest even to the lowest mariner, the boys not being omitted. For even these draw half a share, by reason that, when they happen to take a better vessel than their own, it is the duty of the boys to set fire to the ship or boat wherein they are, and then retire to the prize which they have taken."

V. "In the prizes they take, it is severely prohibited to every one to usurp anything, in particular to themselves. . . . Yea, they make a solemn oath to each other not to abscond, or conceal the least thing they find amongst the prey. If afterwards any one is found unfaithful, who has contravened the said oath, immediately he is separated and turned out of the society."

Bartholomew Robert's Code:

I. Every man has a vote in affairs of moment; has equal title to the fresh provisions, or strong liquors, at any time seized, and may use them at pleasure, unless a scarcity (not an uncommon thing among them) makes it necessary, for the good of all, to vote a retrenchment.

II. Every man to be called fairly in turn, by list, on board of prizes because, (over and above their proper share) they were on these occasions allowed a shift of clothes: but if they defrauded the company to the value of a dollar in plate, jewels, or money, marooning was their punishment. If the robbery was only betwixt one another, they contented themselves with slitting the ears and nose of him that was guilty, and set him on shore, not in an uninhabited place, but somewhere, where he was sure to encounter hardships.

III. No person to game at cards or dice for money.

IV. The lights and candles to be put out at eight o'clock at night: if any of the crew, after that hour still remained inclined for drinking, they were to do it on the open deck.

V. To keep their piece, pistols, and cutlass clean and fit for service.

VI. No boy or woman to be allowed amongst them. If any man were to be found seducing any of the latter sex, and carried her to sea, disguised, he was to suffer death; (so that when any fell into their hands, as it chanced in the Onslow, they put a sentinel immediately over her to prevent ill consequences from so dangerous an instrument of division and quarrel; but then here lies the roguery; they contend who shall be sentinel, which happens generally to one of the greatest bullies, who, to secure the lady's virtue, will let none lie with her but himself.)

VII. To desert the ship or their quarters in battle, was punished with death or marooning.

VIII. No striking one another on board, but every man's quarrels to be ended on shore, at sword and pistol. (The quarter-master of the ship, when the parties will not come to any reconciliation, accompanies them on shore with what assistance he thinks proper, and turns the disputant back to back, at so many paces distance; at the word of command, they turn and fire immediately, (or else the piece is knocked out of their hands). If both miss, they come to their cutlasses, and then he is declared the victor who draws the first blood.)

IX. No man to talk of breaking up their way of living, till each had shared one thousand pounds. If in order to this, any man should lose a limb, or become a cripple in their service, he was to have eight hundred dollars, out of the public stock, and for lesser hurts, proportionately.

X. The Captain and Quartermaster to receive two shares of a prize: the master, boatswain, and gunner, one share and a half, and other officers one and quarter.

XI. The musicians to have rest on the Sabbath Day, but the other six days and nights, none without special favour.

John Phillips's Code

Captain John Phillips, captain of the Revenge, also set a code for his men in 1724:

I. Every Man Shall obey civil Command; the Captain shall have one full Share and a half of all Prizes; the Master, Carpenter, Boatswain and Gunner shall have one Share and quarter.

II. If any Man shall offer to run away, or keep any Secret from the Company, he shall be marooned with one Bottle of Powder, one Bottle of Water, one small Arm, and Shot.

III. If any Man shall steal any Thing in the Company, or game, to the Value of a Piece of Eight, he shall be marooned or shot.

IV. If any time we shall meet another Marooner that Man shall sign his Articles without the Consent of our Company, shall suffer such Punishment as the Captain and Company shall think fit.

V. That Man that shall strike another whilst these Articles are in force, shall receive Moses’ Law (that is, 40 Stripes lacking one) on the bare Back.

VI. That Man that shall snap his Arms, or smoke Tobacco in the Hold, without a Cap to his Pipe, or carry a Candle lighted without a Lanthorn, shall suffer the same Punishment as in the former Article.

VII. That Man shall not keep his Arms clean, fit for an Engagement, or neglect his Business, shall be cut off from his Share, and suffer such other Punishment as the Captain and the Company shall think fit.

VIII. If any Man shall lose a Joint in time of an Engagement, shall have 400 Pieces of Eight ; if a Limb, 800.

IX. If at any time you meet with a prudent Woman, that Man that offers to meddle with her, without her Consent, shall suffer present Death.

Edward Low's Code

The articles listed below are attributed by the Boston News-Letter, the continent's only newspaper, to Captain Edward Low. They were also used by Captain George Lowther.

I. The Captain is to have two full Shares; the Quartermaster is to have one Share and one Half; The Doctor, Mate, Gunner and Boatswain, one Share and one Quarter.

II. He that shall be found guilty of taking up any Unlawful Weapon on Board the Privateer or any other prize by us taken, so as to Strike or Abuse one another in any regard, shall suffer what Punishment the Captain and the Majority of the Company shall see fit.

III. He that shall be found Guilty of Cowardice in the time of engagements, shall suffer what Punishment the Captain and the Majority of the Company shall think fit.

IV. If any Gold, Jewels, Silver, &c. be found on Board of any Prize or Prizes to the value of a Piece of Eight, & the finder do not deliver it to the Quarter Master in the space of 24 hours he shall suffer what Punishment the Captain and the Majority of the Company shall think fit.

V. He that is found Guilty of Gaming, or Defrauding one another to the value of a Royal of Plate, shall suffer what Punishment the Captain and the Majority of the Company shall think fit.

VI. He that shall have the Misfortune to lose a Limb in time of Engagement, shall have the Sum of Six hundred pieces of Eight, and remain aboard as long as he shall think fit.

VII. Good Quarters to be given when Craved.

VIII. He that sees a Sail first, shall have the best Pistol or Small Arm aboard of her.

IX. He that shall be guilty of Drunkenness in time of Engagement shall suffer what Punishment the Captain and Majority of the Company shall think fit.

X. No snapping of Guns in the Hold.

John Gow's Code

I. That every man shall obey his commander in all respects, as if the ship was his own, and as if he received monthly wages.

II. That no man shall give, or dispose of, the ship's provisions; but every one shall have an equal share.

III. That no man shall open, or declare to any person or persons, who they are, or what designs they are upon; and any persons so offending shall be punished with immediate death.

IV. That no man shall go on shore till the ship is off the ground, and in readiness to put to sea.

V. That every man shall keep his watch night and day; and at the hour of eight in the evening every one shall retire from gaming and drinking, in order to attend his respective station.

VI. Every person who shall offend against any of these articles shall be punished with death, or in such other manner as the ship's company shall think proper.

Pirate Myths

This week I will be doing a run down of popular pirate myths that have been been widely held thanks to media. The majority of popular pirate myths come from Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island, which like all classic adventure novels is part truth and part fiction.

Pirate Prosthesis: The classic depiction of a buccaneer shows him with some sort of dismemberment, be it a hand, an eye or a leg. Some say that pirates wore eyepatches to keep one eye accustomed to the dark, for fighting in the gloom of the lower decks of a ship. While plausible, there is no historical evidence of this. There is also no evidence that any pirate ever had a hook for a hand, this comes from Peter Pan. As for wooden legs, there is one singular account of a one-legged pirate in the crew of Captain Edward England. The report comes from the captain of East India Company ship called the Cassandra, by the name of Captain Macrae. He wrote, "a fellow with a terrible pair of whiskers (mutton-chops) and a wooden leg, being suck round with pistols, swearing and vapouring upon the Quarter-Deck, and asks, in a damning manner, which was Captain Macrae". This unknown person was likely the inspiration for Long John Silver in Treasure Island, who made popular the wooden leg trope.

Treasure Maps: It would be wrong to state that pirates never buried their treasure, but it was much rarer than media would have us believe. William Kidd definitely buried some of his treasure around Madagascar and Gardiners Island, hoping to use his knowledge of its location as a bargaining tool. However, there is no historical evidence that Kidd ever made a map, and the idea of a treasure map and "X marks the spot" are both inventions from Treasure Island.

Pirates enjoyed a life of crime: While there were some notable career pirates, including Charles Vane and Blackbeard, who refused the king's pardon and stayed devoted to piracy, the vast majority of pirates were ex fleet personnel who found themselves either unemployed or working under insufferable conditions. They were desperate men, runaway slaves or the offshoots of religious wars and colonial hostility. During the War of the Spanish Succession, the frequency of piratical attacks dropped significantly, as the pirates could use their skills to find legitimate work in the European navies.

The pirate voice: The "ooh arr Jim lad" voice that we all associate with pirates is the invention of Robert Newton, in the 1950 film adaptation of Treasure Island. The beginning of the story is set in Bristol, which was indeed a thriving port and many notable pirates including Blackbeard came from there. Newton affected a strong West Country accent for the role and it has become synonymous with all pirates and used in hundreds of films ever since.

Exotic pets: This once again is solely invented by Treasure Island, and no historical record of any pirate owning parrots or monkeys can be found. Ships would occasionally have cats to catch rats, but the logistics of taming and domesticating a parrot or monkey would be far more effort than any pirate would have been prepared to go to.