The Pirate Crew

Source:

Kallen, Stuart A. Life among the Pirates. San Diego: Lucent Books, 1995. Print.

Quote:

“Pirates generally came from the lowest social classes. They were, as one official put, “desperate rogues  who could have little hope in life on shore” These men owed allegiance to no one and were not bound to land by home and family.”

“Pirates took great joy in turning the rigid structure of the navy upside down. The pirate. The quarter master was second in charge after the captain, and his job was just important. The quartermaster was in charge of distributing food and stolen loot equally among the men”

“Other crew members aboard the buccaneer ship paralleled those on a naval man-of-war. The lieutenant had no particular function except to replace the captian if he was killed.”

“The most popular men aboard ships were musicians. Usually kidnapped from other ships, the musicians were spared torture because of their ability to entertian the often bored pirate crew”

Paraphrase:

Pirates were usually lower class people

They were said to be desperate and had no life on land

They listen to no one

The pirate was the Captain of the ship

The quarter master was second in charge on the boat

His job was important

He distributed food and treasure equally among the rest of the crew

The crew on a pirate ship was similar to a navy ship

There was a lieutenant who filled in if the captain was killed

Musicians were popular on pirate ships

They were usually kidnapped from other ships

Musicians were not tortured because they could make music for the bored pirate crew

My Ideas:

I notice that most pirates were from the lower classes. I wonder if there ever were upper class pirates. I think that maybe there were some upper class pirate captains that were rich before they became pirates. I think this because some pirates were privateers before they became pirates so they could of got rich from being a privateer. Also a small percentage of the crew could of been upper class because they could of gotten captured by pirates and they could of been forced into piracy because they would of died if they didn’t become a pirate. I can agree with these pirates about being bored while on a boat, I used to have a boat and we would sail it around. When we go for long distances it was pretty boring. I had TV so it was ok but the pirates only had people singing for them. That must of been horrible. I notice that the treasure gets split up evenly in the crew. Did the captain get more then the crew or was it all the same. I can infer that the pirate captain probably got more then everyone on the crew because they were captain. Captain is ranked higher up in the hierarchy on a pirate ship. I notice that there was a backup captain if the captain died. Was this person powerful in any way if the captain didn’t die?