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And So Sail We: companion playlist to “Ship of the Line” by RunekeepersHymnal
My third and final fanmix concept for this year’s reverse @ravencyclebigbang! Also known as: “Somebody give me an excuse to make my fandom listen to my favorite shanty bands.” ⛵️
Thanks to @runekeepershymnal for spinning an adventurous tale about the fabled pirate ship The Greywaren, and the young lord Gansey who recruits her fearsome and mysterious crew onto his quest to seek a legendary treasure. And thank you @shelbychild for beta-reading!
Captain: each ship had a singular captain. They were generally elected and their decisions could be overruled, especially by…
Quartermaster: the second in command. In charge of settling disputes and representing the crew against the captain, if need be.
Sailingmaster: in charge of navigation and steering the ship. Required an education, and was often filled by kidnapped hostages.
Boatswain (Bo'sun): runs the ship. In charge of general maintenance, keeping track of supplies, and other miscellaneous tasks to keep things running smoothly.
Master Gunner: in charge of the cannons and anything they might need. A large pirate ship would have dozens of cannons, so he functioned more as an overseer than someone personally firing the cannons.
Surgeon/Carpenter: often the same person, and typically more a carpenter who did amputations than a skilled surgeon. Medications were typically hard to come by, and usually were raided for.
Cooper: makes barrels. Very important, as this was the only way to store food, fresh water, or anything else and keep is fresh.
Mates: crew who might be apprenticed to or serving under the upper roles. A ship would have multiple, in charge of things like the ropes, sails, and anchors. They had a hierarchy of “first mate”, “second mate”, and so on.
Gunners: The men who aimed guns and cannons, something that took years of practice. They took orders from the Master Gunner.
Powder Monkeys: The young boys (often aged 12 to 14) who moved powder from storage to the cannons. They tended to be orphans or from poor families.
Cabin boys: young servants who did dirty work and didn’t have chance for a promotion.
Musicians: life on sea could have long stretches of boredom, where nothing happened. Musicians were oftentimes captives or hostages, but they received special privileges like less work, more time off, and increased pay.
The pirate code was a code of conduct for pirates during the Golden Age of Piracy. Termed “articles of agreement” and often based on privateer codes, they were typically drawn up by a ship’s crew after defecting to piracy. The particulars of the code varied from ship to ship, but had commonalities. A pirate would have to sign (or mark, if he couldn’t write his name) to be part of the crew. The Pirate Code was far more fair and democratic then privateer and maritime codes; many crews defected into piracy because of their unfairness of life aboard a legal ship.
One preserved example of a pirate code is that of Captain Bartholomew Roberts (active from 1719-1722). It reads as followed:
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, marooningwas 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.
Comparatively, the Articles of Captain John Phillips (set in 1724) said that:
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.
These set the standards for conduct, payment, and discipline. In almost all ways they were more fair than aboard merchant or naval ships, where a captain would receive a far larger share of money, hazard pay may not be afforded, and members of the crew often would have no vote in the direction and administration of the ship.
The distribution of justice was a common pirate practice, and allowed ships to be a limited democracy. Officers, even captains, could be put to death for mistreating those below them.
On the 12th of December, 1715, pirate Captain Francis Fernando, commander of the sloop Bennett, received his privateering commission from Jamaican Governor Lord Archibald Hamilton; one of many who had been granted the right to hunt down pirates in the area.
Pirates had been causing issues around Jamaica, as ‘privateers without licenses’ as merchants complained. In total, fourteen sloops, including Fernando’s Bennett, were commissioned to hunt down the rogues, but would later all be referred to as “…the remedy was worse than the disease.”
As for Captain Fernando, he was described as a mulatto commander of his sloop and that “this tawny Moor has an estate at Jamaica and has given good security for his navigation.” He had also sold a share of one-third of his sloop to Governor Hamilton, meaning that any profit he’d make out at sea, the Governor would stand to profit from it.
However, once at sea, Captain Fernando and the crew of the Bennett immediately turned to piracy. Rather than setting out to pursue the ‘rogue privateers’, they intercepted a Spanish sloop (a target not acceptable for his privateering commission) named the Nuestra Senora de Belen, captained by Manuel de Aramburu. She had been making her way to Havan from Veracruz, but had been severely damaged by a storm at sea, seeing her dismasted and her guns thrown overboard to keep afloat.
Fernando would go on to easily seize the vessel, which contained 250,000 pieces of eight, jewels and fine goods. He would write a letter to Hamilton, with his excuse that what he did was okay, as the sloop had originally been named the Kensington, an English sloop that had been captured by the Spaniards off of Cartagena, and that he was simply returning her to the English. When the captured and enraged Spanish captain was brought before Hamilton, Hamilton agreed with him that what Fernando had done was indeed piracy, but offered no remedy.
Before Fernando and the crew of the Bennett could be chastised for his actions, they departed for the Bahamas. Early into 1716, the crew would hit more ships, including another Spanish sloop who’s contents would be brought to the pirate haven of Nassau. By the end of the year Captain Francis Fernando would be mentioned in a letter by Captain William Howard of the HMS Shoreham off of Charles Town South Carolina, along with Henry Jennings and Benjamin Hornigold as privateers turned pirates who take refuge at Nassau, stating multiple vessels had arrived in Charles Town harbor that had been plundered by each.
(Pictured is a letter of marque being held up [from Pirates of the Caribbean], the coastline of Jamaica, and a load of gold below deck [from Black Sails])
Rogers Fund, 1928 Size: L. of each 11 in. (27.9 cm); L. of each barrel 6 5/8 in. (16.8 cm); Cal. of each .61 in. (15.5 mm); Wt. of each 1 lb. 5 oz. (600 g) Medium: Steel, gold, wood (walnut)
