The following set [of pirate articles] appears to have survived intact and is reprinted from the 1726 edition of Captain Charles Johnson’s A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates. These articles were drawn up by Captain John Phillips and his crew of pirates at the beginning of their 1723 voyage in the schooner Revenge…. Their ship was taken by surprise and they didn’t have a chance to destroy their articles.
The Articles on Board the Revenge:
- 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 [a] quarter.
- 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 [usually just enough shot and powder to commit suicide with]. - 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.
- If at any Time we should meet another Marooner (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.
- 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.
- 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 [lantern], shall suffer the same Punishment as in the former Article.
- 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.
- If any Man shall lose a Joint in Time of an Engagement, he shall have 400 Pieces of Eight, if a Limb, 800.
- 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.
— John Richard Stephens, from his book Weird History 101: Tales of Intrigue, Mayhem, and Outrageous Behavior
