Pirate Ship Economics: What Blackbeard and Black Bart Never Told You

What did it really cost to own a pirate ship in the Golden Age of Piracy, and what did it actually pay? In this documentary, we open the books on pirate economics from roughly 1650 to 1730 and follow the money behind famous captains like Blackbeard, Bartholomew Roberts, Henry Every and Samuel Bellamy. You’ll learn how pirates acquired ships almost for free, why the end of the War of the Spanish Succession created thousands of unemployed sailors, and how pirate crews used shares, articles and a primitive form of insurance to run a surprisingly fair payroll. We break down the hidden costs of piracy: gunpowder, careening, scurvy, food shortages and the constant need for fences and safe harbors like Port Royal and Nassau. We also run the numbers on an average pirate’s income, compare it with a merchant sailor’s wages, and show how survivorship bias made the trade look far more profitable than it was. Finally, we look at how pardons, the Royal Navy and the gallows ended the Golden Age of Piracy. If you enjoy business history, economics and true pirate stories, this video is for you. Estimates in this video are clearly marked as estimates.