Pirate rules

Have been reading about pirates. If you follow the blog, you know I like lists of rules. George Washington’s. Fred Harvey. My own.

John Phillips was one of the lesser-known pirates operating out of New England. He was originally from London, was captured by pirates, and began operating as a pirate himself around 1723. In 1723, he captured a schooner, which he renamed the Revenge, and began operating in the Caribbean. He took a number of ships and prisoners, forcing them into a life of piracy as well. Phillips was a brutal man, killing and torturing many of his victims.

Eventually the escaped prisoners killed Phillips and captured the rest of his crew, and sailed them to Boston, where they were tried and executed. Cotton Mather preached a famous sermon on their execution, which you can read in my book Cotton Mather and the Pirates.

Still, the pirates had their own kind of honor, in many cases. Rules, in fact. Here’s the list of Captain John Philips.

thehawaiiproject.com

Cotton Mather & the Pirates

Cotton Mather

Step into the turbulent waters of early 18th-century New England and the Golden Age of Piracy, where the line between piety and piracy was drawn at the gallows. Cotton Mather and the Pirates brings together the fire-and-brimstone pirate execution sermons of Puritan minister Cotton Mather, and the …

Articles aboard Capt. John Phillips’ Revenge, 1723:

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1. Every Man shall obey civil Command; the Captain shall have
   one full Share and a half in all Prizes; the Master, Carpenter,
   Boatswain and Gunner shall have one Share and quarter.
2. If any Man shall offer to run away, or keep any Secret from
   the Company, he shall be maroon’d, with one Bottle of Powder, one
   Bottle of Water, one small Arm and Shot.
3. If any Man shall steal any Thing in the Company, or game to
   the Value of a Piece of Eight, he shall be maroon’d or shot.
4. If at any Time we should meet another Marrooner [that is,
   pyrate], that Man that shall sign his Articles without the Consent of
   our Company, shall suffer such Punishment as the Captain and
   Company shall think fit.
5. That Man that shall strike another whilst these Articles are in
   force, shall receive Moses’s Law (that is, 40 Stripes lacking one) on
   the bare Back.
6. That Man that shall snap his Arms, or smoak 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.
7. That Man that 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.
8. If any Man shall lose a Joint in Time of an Engagement, he
   shall have 400 Pieces of Eight, if a Limb, 800.
9. If at any Time we meet with a prudent Woman, that Man that
   offers to meddle with her, without her Consent, shall suffer present
   Death.