# The pirate code and shares **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 29, 2019, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pirate-code-and-shares/828622 "2019-01-29T14:45:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2019, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pirate-code-and-shares/828622/21 "2019-01-30T23:24:51Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > Not in most ships. A captain of a ship can be considered middle management if you think of a ship that’s part of a connected fleet; an independent captain is God while the ship is afloat. Actually, scratch that: God would need the captain’s permission to come aboard. By “independent” I don’t just mean one who’s ship-owner: I mean in any ship that’s not part of a coordinated group. Yea, bad choice of analogy. I was simply trying to equate the number of employees under his direct charge. I figured a middle manager would have about a dozen or so employees working for him/her. I wasn’t trying to equate the pirate to a boss who also has a higher boss. But, in reality, I know less about corporate organizational structure than I do about pirates… ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2019, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pirate-code-and-shares/828622/22 "2019-01-30T23:49:58Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > I’m asking because it seems crazy to me that a pirate captain would take only twice as much as a no-name seaman, but the average American CEO makes about 300 times more than his worker bee. Why are you using the pirate comparison? A better comparison would be the [Royal Navy’s prize money system](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prize_money), given that pirates operated outside the law and companies and the Royal Navy operate inside the law. > [@](#): > > Two eighths of the prize money went to the captain or commander, generally propelling him upwards in political and financial circles… The final two eighths were divided among the crew, with able and specialist seamen receiving larger shares than ordinary seamen, landsmen, and boys.[1][2] The pool for the seamen was divided into shares, with each able seaman getting two shares in the pool (referred to as a fifth-class share), an ordinary seaman received a share and a half (referred to as a sixth-class share), landsmen received a share each (a seventh-class share), and boys received a half share each (referred to as an eighth-class share). > [@](#): > > The prize money from the capture of the Spanish frigates Thetis and Santa Brigada in October 1799, £652,000, was split up among the crews of four British frigates, with each captain being awarded £40,730 and the Seamen each receiving £182 4s 9¾d or the equivalent of 10 years’ pay.[2] That’s about 220:1 for Captain to Seaman, 330:1 to Landsman, and 660:1 for Captain to Boy. So 200 years later it’s really still pretty much the same. ---
**Author:** ![Littleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ccd318/32.png) [@Littleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Littleman)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pirate-code-and-shares/828622/23 "2019-01-31T00:06:32Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Why are you using the pirate comparison? A better comparison would be the [Royal Navy’s prize money system](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prize_money), given that pirates operated outside the law and companies and the Royal Navy operate inside the law. > > That’s about 220:1 for Captain to Seaman, 330:1 to Landsman, and 660:1 for Captain to Boy. > > So 200 years later it’s really still pretty much the same. Yep, same old pyramid. Unless you’re a dirty rotten no good outlaw scoundrel, then you get paid roughly proportional to your workload and responsibility. I suspect this irony is the reason for the choice of pie rats. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pirate-code-and-shares/828622/24 "2019-01-31T00:43:40Z")
> [@Littleman](#): > > I suspect this irony is the reason for the choice of pie rats. Arrrr… gh! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pirate-code-and-shares/828622/25 "2019-01-31T01:22:53Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Why are you using the pirate comparison? A better comparison would be the [Royal Navy’s prize money system](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prize_money), given that pirates operated outside the law and companies and the Royal Navy operate inside the law. Because I was unaware such a thing existed. ETA: and as noted before, some pirates were operating inside the law of the nation that sponsored them. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pirate-code-and-shares/828622/26 "2019-01-31T01:44:12Z")
Though I highly doubt that any of the laws concerning privateers set out how prizes were to be divided: That would have been between a captain and his crew. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pirate-code-and-shares/828622/27 "2019-01-31T02:16:50Z")
actually if you want a some what realistic version of piracy get any of the 3 sid meier pirates! games … although they do tack on an easily ignored melodrama and a rather unfortunate sequence with the governors daughters……. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pirate-code-and-shares/828622/28 "2019-01-31T13:43:58Z")
Then there was the paedophile pirate. Arrrrrrrrr Kelly ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pirate-code-and-shares/828622/29 "2019-01-31T13:53:21Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > actually if you want a some what realistic version of piracy get any of the 3 sid meier pirates! games … although they do tack on an easily ignored melodrama and a rather unfortunate sequence with the governors daughters……. Pro tip: the cutlass is too slow. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pirate-code-and-shares/828622/30 "2019-01-31T14:04:44Z")
> [@Littleman](#): > > Yep, same old pyramid. > > Unless you’re a dirty rotten no good outlaw scoundrel, then you get paid roughly proportional to your workload and responsibility. > > I suspect this irony is the reason for the choice of pie rats. > [@Quartz](#): > > Arrrr… gh! 🙂 > [@kayaker](#): > > Then there was the paedophile pirate. > > Arrrrrrrrr Kelly These pirate puns are like a ship’s wheel sticking out from the front of me trousers. They be drivin’ me nuts! ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pirate-code-and-shares/828622/31 "2019-01-31T15:15:24Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Why are you using the pirate comparison? A better comparison would be the [Royal Navy’s prize money system](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prize_money), given that pirates operated outside the law and companies and the Royal Navy operate inside the law. > > That’s about 220:1 for Captain to Seaman, 330:1 to Landsman, and 660:1 for Captain to Boy. > > So 200 years later it’s really still pretty much the same. It’s amazing how well the system works when you don’t have to worry about the bottom of the pyramid being able to express an opinion about the distribution of spoils. I don’t think the Royal Navy was too concerned about whether the average seaman got a decent share. They had ways of dealing with complaints. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pirate-code-and-shares/828622/32 "2019-01-31T15:20:40Z")
Three ways, in fact, if I remember my history correctly. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pirate-code-and-shares/828622/33 "2019-01-31T17:15:00Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > I don’t think the Royal Navy was too concerned about whether the average seaman got a decent share. You’re wrong. The chance of prize money was a major incentive for recruitment. Check the link I provided. The ordinary sailor got 10 years’ pay in one fell swoop. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pirate-code-and-shares/828622/34 "2019-01-31T18:30:44Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > You’re wrong. The chance of prize money was a major incentive for recruitment. Check the link I provided. The ordinary sailor got 10 years’ pay in one fell swoop. Just says something about a year’s pay. Was it worth it? “Good God, man. This ship we caught is going to be a nightmare to maintain in England. All the ropes and sails are metric!” 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-pirate-code-and-shares/828622.md?page=1)