The Code

“The code is more what you'd call 'guidelines' than actual rules."

— Hector Barbossa - Pirates of the Caribbean

The Code

We are bound as a brotherhood by the code

The Captain is of the majority voice

Injuries of our trade are funded first

Shares, no more, no less

The ship first

Provisions second

Crew third

Captain is doubled

Specialty is one and half again

The rest are of equal shares

He who falls behind shall be left behind

Penalties against the code are marooned or death

Every pirate that sails the black knows the code, or at least the code of their ship and captain. The Code varies from ship to ship or captain to captain, but is usually similar enough that a new crew member will catch on quickly.

Any captain that has drastically different versions of the code is expected to make this known early on and it is considered bad form to do otherwise. A crew does not look favorably on stepping into a "gotcha" situation.