Editing Piracy (section)

===Rewards===
{{see also|No purchase, no pay}}
Pirates had a system of hierarchy on board their ships determining how captured money was distributed. However, pirates were more [[egalitarian]] than any other area of employment at the time. In fact, pirate [[quartermaster]]s were a counterbalance to the captain and had the power to veto his orders. The majority of plunder was in the form of cargo and ship's equipment, with medicines the most highly prized. A vessel's doctor's chest would be worth anywhere from £300 to £400, or around $470,000 in today's values. Jewels were common plunder but not popular, as they were hard to sell, and pirates, unlike the public of today, had little concept of their value. There is one case recorded where a pirate was given a large diamond worth a great deal more than the value of the handful of small diamonds given to his crewmates as a share. He felt cheated and had it broken up to match what they received.<ref name="Vallar">{{cite web|url=http://www.cindyvallar.com/treasure.html|title=Treasure|access-date=April 21, 2009|archive-date=December 21, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191221213656/http://www.cindyvallar.com/treasure.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[File:Morgan,Henry.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Henry Morgan]] who sacked and burned the city of [[Panama City|Panama]] in 1671 – the second most important city in the Spanish New World at the time; engraving from 1681 Spanish edition of [[Alexandre Exquemelin]]'s ''The Buccaneers of America'']]

[[Spanish dollar|Spanish pieces of eight]] minted in Mexico or Seville were the standard trade currency in the American colonies. However, every colony still used the monetary units of pounds, shillings, and pence for bookkeeping while Spanish, German, French, and Portuguese money were all standard mediums of exchange as British law prohibited the export of British silver coinage. Until the exchange rates were standardised in the late 18th century each colony legislated its own different exchange rates. In England, 1 piece of eight was worth 4s 3d while it was worth 8s in New York, 7s 6d in [[Pennsylvania]] and 6s 8d in [[Virginia]]. One 18th-century English shilling was worth around $58 in modern currency, so a piece of eight could be worth anywhere from $246 to $465. As such, the value of pirate plunder could vary considerably, depending on who recorded it and where.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hudsonrivervalley.net/AMERICANBOOK/18.html|title=The Hudson River Valley Institute|access-date=April 20, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090302075626/http://www.hudsonrivervalley.net/AMERICANBOOK/18.html|archive-date=March 2, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.coins.nd.edu/ColCurrency/CurrencyIntros/IntroValue.html|title=University of Notre Dame|access-date=October 23, 2014|archive-date=May 23, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200523063918/https://coins.nd.edu/ColCurrency/CurrencyIntros/IntroValue.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Ordinary seamen received a part of the plunder at the captain's discretion but usually a single share. On average, a pirate could expect the equivalent of a year's wages as his share from each ship captured while the crew of the most successful pirates would often each receive a share valued at around £1,000 ($1.17&nbsp;million) at least once in their career.<ref name="Vallar"/> One of the larger amounts taken from a single ship was that by captain [[Thomas Tew]] from an Indian merchantman in 1692. Each ordinary seaman on his ship received a share worth £3,000 ($3.5&nbsp;million), with officers receiving proportionally larger amounts as per the agreed shares, with Tew himself receiving 2½ shares. It is known there were actions with multiple ships captured where a single share was worth almost double this.<ref name="Vallar"/><ref name="Gosse">{{Cite book |last= Gosse|first= Philip |title= The Pirates' Who's Who|publisher=BiblioBazaar, LLC|year=2007 |isbn=978-1-4346-3302-6}} p. 251.</ref>

By contrast, an ordinary seamen in the Royal Navy received 19s per month to be paid in a lump sum at the end of a tour of duty, which was around half the rate paid in the [[Merchant Navy]]. However, corrupt officers would often "tax" their crews' wage to supplement their own, and the Royal Navy of the day was infamous for its reluctance to pay. From this wage, 6d per month was deducted for the maintenance of [[Greenwich Hospital (London)|Greenwich Hospital]], with similar amounts deducted for the [[Chatham Chest]], the chaplain and surgeon. Six months' pay was withheld to discourage desertion. That this was insufficient incentive is revealed in a report on proposed changes to the RN [[Admiral Nelson]] wrote in 1803; he noted that since 1793 more than 42,000 sailors had deserted. Roughly half of all RN crews were [[Impressment|pressganged]] and these not only received lower wages than volunteers but were shackled while the vessel was docked and were never permitted to go ashore until released from service.<ref name="Hill">{{Cite book |last= Hill|first= J. R. |title= The Oxford Illustrated History of the Royal Navy|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2002 |isbn=0-19-860527-7}} p. 157.</ref>

Although the Royal Navy suffered from many morale issues, it answered the question of prize money via the [[Cruizers and Convoys Act 1708]] which handed over the share previously gained by the Crown to the captors of the ship. Technically it was still possible for the Crown to get the money or a portion of it but this rarely happened. The process of condemnation of a captured vessel and its cargo and men was given to the High Court of the Admiralty and this was the process which remained in force with minor changes throughout the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary]] and [[Napoleonic War]]s.

{| class="wikitable" style="float: right; margin:0 0 1em 1em; vertical-align: top;"
|+ Ship prize shares
|-
! scope="col" | Rank !! scope="col" | Pre 1808 !! scope="col" | Post 1808
|-
| [[Captain (naval)|Captain]]||3/8||2/8
|-
| [[Admiral]] of fleet||1/8||1/8
|-
| [[Sailing Master]]<br />& Lieutenants<br />& [[Captain (OF-2)|Captain]] of [[Royal Marines|Marine]]s||1/8||1/8
|-
| [[Warrant Officers]]||1/8||1/8
|-
| Wardroom Warrant officers<br />& Petty Officers||1/8||1/8
|-
| [[Sailor|Gunner]]s, Sailors||1/8||2/8
|}
[[File:BartRobCrew.jpg|thumb|upright|right|[[Bartholomew Roberts]]' crew carousing at the [[Calabar River]]; illustration from ''The Pirates Own Book'' (1837). Roberts is estimated to have captured over 470 vessels.]]
Even the flag officer's share was not quite straightforward; he would only get the full one-eighth if he had no junior flag officer beneath him. If this was the case then he would get a third share. If he had more than one then he would take one-half while the rest was shared out equally.

There was a great deal of money to be made in this way. The record breaker was the capture of the [[Spanish frigate Hermione|Spanish frigate ''Hermione'']], which was carrying treasure in 1762. The value of this was so great that each individual seaman netted £485 ($1.4&nbsp;million in 2008 dollars).<ref>[http://www.measuringworth.com/ukcompare/ Current value] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171218073541/https://www.measuringworth.com/ukcompare/ |date=December 18, 2017 }} is based on the average annual income for the respective years.</ref> The two captains responsible, Evans and Pownall, received £65,000 each ($188.4&nbsp;million). In January 1807 the frigate ''Caroline'' took the Spanish ''San Rafael'', which brought in £52,000 for her captain, Peter Rainier (who had been only a midshipman some thirteen months before). All through the wars there are examples of this kind of luck falling on captains. Another famous 'capture' was that of the Spanish frigates ''Thetis'' and ''Santa Brigada'', which were loaded with gold [[Coin|specie]]. They were taken by four British frigates who shared the money, each captain receiving £40,730. Each lieutenant got £5,091, the Warrant Officer group, £2,468, the midshipmen £791 and the individual seamen £182.

It should also be noted that it was usually only the frigates which took prizes; the ships of the line were far too ponderous to be able to chase and capture the smaller ships which generally carried treasure. Nelson always bemoaned that he had done badly out of prize money and even as a flag officer received little. This was not that he had a bad command of captains but rather that British mastery of the seas was so complete that few enemy ships dared to sail.<ref>[http://www.hms.org.uk/nelsonsnavyprize.htm Nelson and His Navy – Prize Money] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080621024038/http://www.hms.org.uk/nelsonsnavyprize.htm |date=June 21, 2008 }} Historical Maritime Society.</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="vertical-align: top;"
|+ Comparison chart using the share distribution known for three pirates against the shares for a Privateer and wages as paid by the Royal Navy.
|-
! scope="col" | Rank
! scope="col" | Bartholomew Roberts
! scope="col" | [[George Lowther (pirate)|George Lowther]]
! scope="col" | William Phillips
! scope="col" | Privateer<br />([[William Monson (Royal Navy officer)|Sir William Monson]])
! scope="col" | Royal Navy<br />(per month)
|-
| [[Captain (naval)|Captain]]
| 2 shares
| 2 shares
| 1.5 shares
| 10 shares
| £8, 8s
|-
| [[Master-at-arms|Master]]
| 1.5 shares
| 1.5 shares
| 1.25 shares
| 7 or 8 shares
| £4
|-
| [[Boatswain]]
| 1.5 shares
| 1.25 shares
| 1.25 shares
| 5 shares
| £2
|-
| [[Sailor|Gunner]]
| 1.5 shares
| 1.25 shares
| 1.25 shares
| 5 shares
| £2
|-
| [[Quartermaster]]
| 2 shares
|
|
| 4 shares
| £1, 6s
|-
| Carpenter
|
|
| 1.25 shares
| 5 shares
| £2
|-
| [[Sub-Lieutenant|Mate]]
|
| 1.25 shares
|
| 5 shares
| £2, 2s
|-
| Doctor
|
| 1.25 shares
|
| 5 shares
| £5 +2d per man aboard
|-
| "Other Officers"
| 1.25 shares
|
|
| various rates
| various rates
|-
| [[Able Seamen]] (2 yrs experience)<br />[[Ordinary seaman|Ordinary Seamen]] (some exp)<br />[[Landman (rank)|Landsmen]] ([[Impressment|pressganged]])
|<br />1 share
|<br />1 share
|<br />1 share
|
| 22s<br />19s<br />11s
|}