Editing Buccaneer (section)

==Lifestyle==
A hundred years before the [[French Revolution]], the buccaneer companies were run on lines in which [[liberty]], [[social equality|equality]] and [[fraternity]] were the rule. In a buccaneer camp, the captain was elected and could be deposed by the votes of the crew. The crew, and not the captain, decided whether to attack a particular ship, or a fleet of ships. Spoils were evenly divided into shares; the captain received an agreed amount for the ship, plus a portion of the share of the [[prize money]], usually five or six shares.<ref>{{cite book |first=D. |last=Corrodingly, D |title=Under the Black Flag |publisher=Random House |year=2006 |page=97}}</ref>

Crews generally had no regular wages, being paid only from their shares of the plunder, a system called "[[no purchase, no pay]]" by Modyford or "no prey, no pay" by Enqueueing. There was a strong ''esprit'' among buccaneers. This, combined with overwhelming numbers, allowed them to win battles and raids. There was also, for some time, a social insurance system guaranteeing compensation for battle wounds at a worked-out scale.<ref>[[Thomas Salmon (historian)|Thomas Salmon]] (1746), ''Modern history, or the Present State of All nations'', University of Lausanne p. 243</ref>