Entertainment

Off watch, pirate crews made their own entertainment: fiddle music, singing, dice and cards in the lamplight below deck. Ship's articles could limit it. The articles of Bartholomew Roberts's crew banned gaming at cards or dice for money, ordered lights and candles out at eight o'clock at night, and let the musicians rest only on the Sabbath.

Off watch, a pirate crew had to make its own fun. Below deck, in the light of a lamp, men played cards and dice, sang, danced and listened to fiddlers, drummers and trumpeters, some of them musicians taken from captured ships. The ship's articles, the written rules every man swore to, could limit it. The articles of Bartholomew Roberts's crew, printed by Captain Charles Johnson in 1724, said that no one should game for money with dice or cards, that lights and candles must be put out at eight o'clock at night (anyone who wanted to keep drinking had to do it on the open deck), and that the musicians could rest on the Sabbath but on other days only by special favor.

The rules kept quarrels and fire, two great dangers on a wooden ship, under control.

Parts & Labels

Note
The most common instrument at sea.
Title
Fiddle
Note
Popular games, often banned for money.
Title
Dice and cards
Note
The written agreement of the crew.
Title
Articles

Historical Overview

Note
Gambling debts led to fights, and a candle knocked over below deck could burn the ship. Articles kept order without a navy's harsh discipline.
Title
Why rules?
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Johnson tells how the crew of Thomas Anstis played at holding a court, one man acting the judge and others the prisoners, mocking the trials that might one day hang them.
Title
Mock trials

Timeline

1719–1722Roberts's cruisesHe took hundreds of ships.

1722Roberts killed off West AfricaHis crew tried at Cape Coast Castle.

1724Johnson's General HistoryPrints Roberts's articles.

Comparison Panel

Note
Navy crews were ruled by officers and the Articles of War; pirate crews voted on their own articles.
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Pirate ship and navy ship
Note
Both kinds of ship feared fire and put out lights at night.
Title
Lights out

Interesting Facts

Note
Pirate musicians sometimes played drums and trumpets during an attack to frighten the enemy and keep up the crew's spirit.
Title
Music in battle
Note
Sailors sang to keep time while hauling ropes or turning the capstan.
Title
Work songs
Note
With little work to do between prizes, boredom was a real problem on pirate ships.
Title
Long days

Sources

Note
Bartholomew Roberts's articles and accounts of pirate crews.
Title
Captain Charles Johnson, A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the Most Notorious Pyrates (London, 1724)
Note
Pirate culture and articles.
Title
Marcus Rediker, Villains of All Nations: Atlantic Pirates in the Golden Age (Beacon Press, 2004)
Note
Daily life on pirate ships.
Title
David Cordingly, Under the Black Flag (Random House, 1995)