is not very long-winded, and every speech,
would be by one half shorter if the oaths were
absent. There is a captain to be elected, and
a quartermaster. The captain is the military
chief. The law concerning him is, that he is
to be guided by the will of the majority, every
man having a vote; but that in action,
chasing, or being chased, his power is absolute
and his will not to be disputed, without
penalty of death. At other times, his cabin
is not sacred and his dinner is not safe; he
can maintain ascendancy only by superior
strength. Blackbeard fired under the table
at the legs of comrades dining with him, to
remind them who he was. The quarter-
master is the civil functionary. All plunder is
laid before him when a prize is taken, and he
only may divide it. Any man who keeps
back plunder of more value than a single
dollar, is to be marooned. We will explain
marooning presently. Every man has a vote
in all affairs of moment, and has equal title to
provisions and strong drink, which he may
use at pleasure, unless a scarcity induce the
whole community to vote retrenchment. This
scarcity was very common, as may be supposed.
When there was plenty, it was squandered, and
want, for a season, often followed.
The first man who sees a prize, has the
best pair of pistols in it added to his share of
spoil. This was the most honourable reward
our pirates could imagine. They took great
pride in their arms, and would give fancy
prices—thirty pounds or forty pounds—for
such pistols as they thought desirable. Each
man, in action, wore several pair slung before
him upon coloured ribbons, after pirate
fashion, and there was never need to urge
them to the observance of that law of theirs,
which enjoined the keeping of guns, pistols,
and cutlass, clean and fit for service. No
gambling is allowed on board. No blows to
pass on board, but quarrels are to be decided,
at the first convenient place ashore, by sword
and pistol. The captain and quartermaster
are to have each two shares of a prize, other
officers each a share and a half or a share and
a quarter. He who loses a limb in action, is
to receive a sum of money, generally about
one hundred and fifty pounds. These generally
formed the staple of the pirate's articles,
which were then sworn to by each man upon
a bible, the only one on board, and kept
precisely for that purpose; for want of a bible
they were sworn to, in one case, upon a
hatchet.

Cowardice, desertion, or some other crimes,
were capital among the pirates, and their
equivalent to what we ashore should call
transportation for life, was the punishment
called Marooning. This meant that the
offender should be put ashore on any desert
coast, with a bottle of water and a little
biscuit, there to have a tenth chance of escape
against nine chances of starvation. Thus,
for example, near an uninhabited island,
Richard Turnley, and some other men having
been robbed and beaten with cutlasses, by
pirates, under Captain Rackham, " were
stripped naked, and tumbled over the vessel's
side into a boat which lay alongside; the oars
were all taken out, and they left them nothing
to work themselves ashore with, but an old
paddle." The next day the pirates came
ashore to the shivering men, and called them
back, promising clothes. They returned in
hope, but only returned to be beaten and
tormented, with a view " to discover where
some things lay, which they (the pirates)
could not readily find, as particularly Mr.
Carr's watch and silver snuff-box. Some
time after, fancying the pirates to be in
better humour, they begged for something to
eat, for they had none of them had any
nourishment that day or the night before;
but all the answer that they received, was,
'that such dogs should not ask such questions.'
So they were turned ashore, together
with a Captain Greenway, whose sloop had
been dismantled, and after suffering more
cruelty at the good pleasure of the pirates,
saw their tormentors sail away. They found
in the sloop an old hatchet, with which they
cut themselves some wooden tools, made little
rafts, and were busied about the ruin of the
sloop, when to their dismay, they saw the
pirates standing in again. They made all
haste ashore, were fired at, but escaped into
the wood, and saved themselves upon the
tops of trees. The pirates sought them for
a short time, towed the deserted sloop into
deep water, where they sunk her, and once
more sailed away. In the mean time the
poor fugitives were in despair; for seeing
their vessel sunk, they had scarce any hopes
left of escaping the danger of perishing upon
that uninhabited island; there they lived
eight days, feeding upon berries and shell-fish,
such as cockles and periwinkles, sometimes
catching a stingrey, which coming into
shoal water, they could wade near them, and
by the help of a stick sharpened at the end,
which they did by rubbing it against the
rock, (for they had not a knife left amongst
them), they stuck them as if it had been with
a spear. It must be observed that they had
no means of striking a fire, and therefore
their way of dressing this fish, was by dipping
it often in salt water; then laying it in the
sun till it became both hard and dry, and
then they eat it. After eight days the pirates
returned, and the poor fellows again fled to
the woods; but the pirates had a qualm of
generosity, and shouted to them promises of
food and drink if they would come on board.
Accordingly they went on board, and were
fed by the pirates while they stayed, although
at their departure they would not give them
a bit to carry on shore; they also gave them
three or four blankets amongst them, to
cover their nakedness, (for, as we observed,
they were quite naked), and let them have
some needles and thread, to make them into
some form. There was, however, also an