Articles

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Articles of Fortune's Madness[edit]

I. Every Man Shall obey civil Command; the Captain shall have two full Share of all Prizes; the Master, Carpenter, Boatswain and Gunner shall have one Share and half; Able Seamen one Share and quarter; other Seamen one full Share; Boys and Landsmen one half Share. A salary and compensation is specified for the surgeon and his medicine chest, usually 250 Pieces of Eight. The Public Stock shall Consist of two full Share of all Prizes and before any Share is paid all Provisions and Repairs are to be Funded.

II. Each 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 until the Hour of Eight O'Clock in the evening, unless a scarcity makes it necessary, for the good of all, to vote a retrenchment.

III. 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. If any Man shall steal any Thing in the Company, or game, to the Value of a Piece of Eight, he shall be marooned as before or shot.

IV. No Man to talk of Breaking up their way of Living, till each had shared one thousand Pieces of Eight. If in order to this, any man should lose a Limb, or become a Cripple in Their Service, he was to have Eight Hundred Pieces of Eight, out of the Public Stock, and for lesser hurts, proportionately.

V. No Man to Strike another on Board, but every Man's quarrels to be Ended on Shore, at Sword and Pistol. (The boatswain of the ship, or most senior officer in his absence, 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.)

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 Moses's Law (40 lashes less 1 upon the bare back).

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. No Man to Engage or to Enable the Impressment or Forced labors of another of the Company nor those Captives taken honorably in Combat. Such Persons who must be Bound while under way Shall have the same Protections from abuse as the Company and Shall be put off at the first Civilized Landing.

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.