Sunday, January 6, 2013

Pirate Codes, Laws, Rules, and Guidelines by Teresa Knudsen April 10, 2009 Republished January 06, 2013



Pirate Codes, Laws, Rules, and Guidelines

From Treasure Island "Israel Hands" attacking Jim Hawkins  Painting by N. C. Wyeth 1911

Lawless Pirates Actually Made Rules for their Ships
Apr 10, 2009
Teresa Knudsen

Illustration from Treasure Island - N.C. Wyeth

Pirates are seen as outcasts, lawlessly sailing seas. Yet, research shows pirates made a code, rules, laws, or articles. These guidelines are shown in pirate films.



One of the most famous scenes from Hollywood is from Pirates of the Caribbean, Curse of the Black Pearl.. Confronted with desperate pirates ready to kidnap her, Elizabeth Swann, played by Keira Knightly, fights back, with words and a pirate code being her only weapons.

"Parlay! I invoke the right of parlay! According to the Code of the Brethren, set down by the pirates Morgan and Bartholomew, you must take me to your Captain!"

The Pirate Code of the Brethren

Did the real-life pirates Morgan and Bartholomew create a pirates' code together?
According to the article "The Pirates' Code," by Ed Foxe, "No, they did not, but the era of buccaneering in the late 17th century did see the beginning of pirate codes. Pirate codes did exist, but there was no single code which all pirates recognized and subscribed to."

The Rules of a Pirate's Code

Pirate codes often contained similar rules, no matter which captain and crew developed them.
  • Fighting between crew members could be punished by death or marooning both men.
  • Pirates who brought women disguised as men aboard ship were threatened with death.
  • Sexual assault was punished with death.
  • Drinking during watch was punished by death.
  • Gambling for money was forbidden.
  • Musicians had to play every day, with rest only on Sundays.
Pirate Codes Provided Insurance Plans

Pirate ships often sailed under the guidelines of codes that provided better insurance coverage than many modern people have today. There was compensation to a crew-member for injuries suffered during the work of sailing and plundering. Here is an example from Morgan's articles,

"Lastly they stipulate in writing what recompense or reward each one ought to have, that is either wounded or maimed in his body, suffering the loss of any limb, by that voyage."

Some of the payments included six hundred pieces of eight, or six slaves, for the loss of a right arm. There was discrimination against the left-handed pirates, though, who would only receive five hundred pieces of eight or slaves for the loss of a left arm.
It appears that the freedom and laws on pirate ships arrived on land. Pirates who retired from the sea to farm or to go into business often used the pirate codes as guidelines in their new lives. Thus, the lawless pirates and their rules, or guidelines drifted into society and culture.

Captain Blood with Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland

An example of the pirate code in action is also shown in the film Captain Blood, starring Errol Flynn as Dr. Peter Blood and Olivia de Havilland as Arabella Bishop.
A physician unjustly arrested with rebels in England, Dr. Blood and his friends are sold into slavery in Port Royal. Arabella saves the proud physician from the worst slavery on the island, and instead helps him become the governor's physician.

Longing for freedom, Dr. Blood and his friends take over a Spanish ship, where he becomes Captain Blood. His first order of business is to write articles, a code of conduct to sail under. Later, when Blood returns to society, he brings the ethics of the code to land.

References

Pirates of the Caribbean. Walt Disney Pictures Directed by: Gore Verbinski Written by: Tedd Elliott &Terry Rossio from a story by Ted Elliott & Terry Rossio and Stuart Beattie and Jay Wolpert based on Walt Disney's `Pirates of the Caribbean' Cast: Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom Screened at: Beekman, NYC, 7/9/03.

“The Pirates’ Code.” Pirate Mythtory. Ed Foxe. 2004.

Surowiecki, James. “The Pirates’ Code.” The New Yorker. July 9, 2007.

Wyeth, N.C. Preparing for the Mutiny. Oil on Canvas, From Robert Lewis Stevenson's Treasure Island. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1911.

Copyright Teresa Knudsen. Contact the author to obtain permission for republication.
Teresa's writing appears in the British Library, Harvard, Yale, and Princeton. Online she has written for USA Today and E How.
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11 Comments

Comments

Feb 6, 2010 11:53 AM

Guest :

Hmmm...interestng, I presume.

Feb 9, 2010 4:46 AM

Guest :

is it true

Feb 13, 2010 4:27 PM

Guest :

just what i needed for my projet thx #:o)

Feb 24, 2010 12:58 PM

Guest :

wat about pirate code of conduct...where no light is on at night, and drinking only on the deck?

Apr 27, 2010 1:44 AM

Guest :

Pirates lived by the rules of their Captain, who could be deemed unworthy by the crew anyway.
Few laws were kept to as a "code", but as mentioned before, there were many "Pirate Codes" per ship that were vaugely similar (remembering that a pirate often jumped ship to follow the swag).
Good Article.

Jun 3, 2010 7:15 AM

Guest :

I'm doing a hmwk project, do u recur mend this site?

Oct 19, 2010 10:55 AM

Guest :

no you spelled recomend wrong

Nov 30, 2010 11:54 AM

Guest :

cool

Nov 30, 2010 11:55 AM

Guest :

this is cool.

Dec 2, 2010 5:23 AM

Guest :

not very good

Feb 10, 2011 10:52 AM

Guest :

hoping this is true, cause im using it on a project ( ; Pirates FTW!!! i still prefer ninjas though...

11 Comments

Pirate Codes, Laws, Rules, and Guidelines by Teresa Knudsen April 10, 2009 Republished January 06, 2013

Errol Flynn, Captain Blood, and the Pirate Code by Teresa Knudsen April 10, 2009 Republished January 06, 2013


Errol Flynn, Captain Blood, and the Pirate Code

Captain Blood, Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland - fanpix.net
Hollywood Pirates Sail under Rules, Guidelines, and Articles
Apr 10, 2009 by Teresa Knudsen

The Pirates of the Caribbean films show that lawless pirates felt a need for laws. One such film from Hollywood's Golden years is Captain Blood with Errol Flynn.

Thanks to the Pirates of the Caribbean films, people across the globe know that even lawless pirates developed laws, rules, and guidelines. Hollywood has a tradition of pirate films. One of the most famous is Captain Blood, adapted from Rafael Sabatini's novel.
Doctor Peter Blood, Gardener, Pacifist and the Christian Code

The film begins with a 1686 revolt against the tyrranical Britsh King James II. Dr. Blood, a mercenary in the past, had sickened of war, and retired to the English countryside to practice medicine and raise geraniums. He refuses to participate in the rebellion against the king, but believes it is his duty to help the wounded.

When the king's men arrive to arrest the rebels, Dr. Blood explains he took an oath to help all mankind, no matter who they are.

Dr. Blood appeals to the Christian code. "This is a Christian county. Christian men don't make war on the wounded or those who shelter them."

But the Christian code as Dr. Blood interprets it is not operating. Unimpressed with the philosophy of helping all people, the king's men arrest Dr. Blood.

Peter Blood and the Code of Sacred Duty and the Law

Blood is tried with the others in an unfair court system. When the harsh chief justice asks why he was offering aid to a rebel, Blood answers that he took the physician's oath to help all mankind, saying "My business was with his wounds, not his politics." Blood insists that as a doctor, he must follow his sacred duty.

The judge counters that Dr. Blood's duty is to obey the king first. The judge cites God's will for King James's absolute power to arrest, detain, torture, and kill. The judge places the king above British common law, including habeas corpus, the rules of evidence, and other rights of the Magna Carta.

Though Peter Blood and the others are sentenced to death, King James decides that selling the "rebels" into slavery instead of just killing them is good economics.

Dr. Blood becomes a Pirate Captain, and Author of Articles for the Ship

In Port Royal, Dr. Blood proves insubordinate and is slated for the worst of all the slave work. He is saved by the intervention of Arabella Bishop (Olivia de Havilland), the governor's niece, with whom he forms a romantic attachment held in check by their different social status. Blood then escapes with his friends by commandeering a Spanish ship. With Blood elected captain, he develops articles, a pirate code by which to run the ship.

The articles forbid assaults upon "unwilling" women, and offer plans for wounded crew-members.

A financial plan has any plunder first being used to keep the ship in provisions and seaworthy.

And there is even a plan for compensating pirates hurt in the line of pirating duty.

Captain Blood Breaks the Pirate Code and his Articles

In Tortuga, Captain Blood meets Captain Levasseur (Basil Rathbone). The two agree to join forces, with Blood being the brains of the operation, and Levasseur adding muscle. At Blood's insistance, Levasseur reluctantly agrees to sail under the Articles.

Yet when Blood and his crew meet Levasseur on an island to divide the latest loot, Blood finds Arabella prisoner of Levasseur. In one of the most thrilling pirate swordfights ever filmed, Blood and Levasseur duel on the beach, amongst the surf and rocks, where Blood kills Levasseur.

Later, with Araballa safely on the ship Blood named for her, he tries to give her jewels and gowns that he has stolen from other ships. When she refuses his advances, Blood becomes angry and tells her, "You're mine, to do with as I like."

Immediately disgusted with himself for breaking his own articles and rules, he then decides to return Arabella to Port Royal, where he and his crew face certain hanging. His reluctant crew stage a small mutiny before agreeing to return to Port Royal, where they save the town from enemy gun boats.

The Code is Restored

In the end, order is restored. The British people rid themselves of King James II the tyrant. Captain Blood and his crew are rewarded for loyalty. With Peter Blood declared the new Governor of Port Royal, and husband of Arabella, the codes are back in force, with peace, prosperity, freedom.

References
Captain Blood. Directed by Michael Curtiz. Screenplay by Casey Robinson. Cast: Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Basil Rathbone. 1935


Copyright Teresa Knudsen. Contact the author to obtain permission for republication.
Teresa's writing appears in the British Library, Harvard, Yale, and Princeton.
Online she has written for USA Today and E How.