instances they were chartered for the service of individuals or
companies on shore. The first stipulation, therefore, on arranging for a
voyage, regarded the compensation to be received by the owner or owners
of the ship, being ordinarily one third of the products of the cruise.
If the boat or vessel in which an enterprise was first undertaken was
the common property of the crew, the first vessel captured was allotted
to the captain, with one share of the booty obtained. In cases where the
captain owned and fitted out the original vessel, the first ship taken
belonged to him, with a double share of the plunder. The surgeon was
allowed two hundred crowns for his medicine chest, and a single share of
the prizes; and whoever had the good fortune to descry a ship that was
captured, received a reward of a hundred crowns. A tariff of
compensation for the wounded was also adjusted according to the greater
or less severity of the wounds they might receive. For example, the
compensation for the loss of a right arm was six hundred pieces of
eight, or six slaves as an equivalent; for a left arm, five hundred
pieces of eight, or five slaves; for the loss of a right leg, five
hundred pieces, or five slaves; for an eye, one hundred pieces, or one
slave; for the loss of a finger, the same. Claims of this character were
first paid at the close of a voyage, from the common stock of the prize
money. The commander of an expedition was allotted five portions of a
common seaman; and the subordinate officers shared in proportion to
their rank. The residue of the booty was then divided with exact
equality among the crews, from the highest to the lowest mariner, not
excepting the boys. Some of the duties of these latter were peculiar.
For instance, when the pirates had captured a vessel better than their
own, they transferred themselves to it, leaving the boys to escape from
the deserted vessel last, after having set it on fire. Favor never had
any influence in the distribution of the booty, which was rigidly
decided by lot--lots being drawn for the dead as well as for the living.
The portions for the dead were given to their surviving companion; or if
the companion had also been killed, the allotment was sent to the family
of the deceased. If they had no families, then the money or plate or
other goods that would have belonged to them was distributed to the
poor, or piously bestowed on churches, which were to pray for the souls
of those in whos