The Real Pirate Code, From Elected Captains to Injury Pay

Tonight we slowly explore the real pirate code, the written articles that let crews of outlaws elect their captains, share their plunder and govern themselves at sea. We begin quietly, with buccaneer hunters on the coast of Hispaniola sharing a fire, and move gently through the rules they wrote down, one article at a time. You'll drift through Alexandre Exquemelin's account of the buccaneers' chasse-partie, with its rule of no prey, no pay and its careful price list for a lost arm or eye. Then on to the articles of Bartholomew Roberts, printed by Captain Charles Johnson in 1724, with votes on every matter of importance, gaming banned and lights and candles out at eight. You'll meet the elected captain, absolute only in a chase or a fight, and the quartermaster who kept the plunder in trust for everyone. We sail with John Phillips of the Revenge out of Petty Harbour, Newfoundland, where five men swore their articles on a hatchet, and follow George Lowther and Edward Low as one crew's rules were copied almost word for word by another. Along the way we compare it all with merchant and Royal Navy discipline, and look at how historians like Marcus Rediker and Peter Leeson explain why outlaws chose to write their own laws. If you drift off somewhere along the way, that's perfectly fine. The story will still be here. Sleep well. Chapters are intentionally left out so nothing pulls you back awake. This is a relaxing history documentary made for sleep, background listening, and calm focus.