Agreement by which a Revolutionary privateer seaman sold his share of the booty in advance of his cruise
“Article 7th. If any officer or Seaman shall at the time of an Engagement loose a leg or an arm he shall be entitled to Four Thousand Dollars; if any officer or Seaman shall loose an Eye in time of an Engagement, he shall receive the Sum of Two thousand Dollars; if any officer shall loose a joint he shall be entitled to one thousand Dollars, the same to be paid from the whole amount of prizes taken by said Ship.
“Article 8th. That no Prize master or man, that shall be put on board any Prize whatever and arrive at any port whatever, Shall be entitled to his share or shares, except he remain to discharge the Prize, or he or they are discharged by the agent of said Ship, except the Privateer is arrived before the Prize.
“Article 9th. That for the Preservation of Good order on board said Ship, no man to quit or go out of her, on board of any other Vessell without having obtained leave from the commanding officer on board.
“Article 10th. That if any person Shall count to his own use any part of the Prize or Prizes or be found pilfering any money or goods, and be convicted thereof, he shall forfeit his Share of Prize money to the Ship and Company.
“That if any person shall be found a Ringleader of a meeting or cause any disturbance on board, refuse to obey the command of the Captain, or any officer or behave with Cowardice, or get drunk in time of action, he shall forfeit his or their Share of or Shares to the rest of the Ship’s Company.”
So immensely popular was the privateering service among the men and youth of Salem and nearby ports that the naval vessels of the regular service were hard put to enlist their crews. When the fifes and drums sounded through the narrow streets with a strapping privateersman in the van as a recruiting officer, he had no trouble in collecting a crowd ready to listen to his persuasive arguments whose burden was prize money and glory. More than once a ship’s company a hundred strong was enrolled and ready to go on board by sunset of the day the call for volunteers was made. Trembling mothers and weeping wives could not hold back these sailors of theirs, and as for the sweethearts they could only sit at home and hope that Seth or Jack would come home a hero with his pockets lined with gold instead of finding his fate in a burial at sea, or behind the walls of a British prison.
It was customary for the owners of the privateer to pay the cost of the “rendezvous,” which assembling of the ship’s company before sailing was held in the “Blue Anchor,” or some other sailors’ tavern down by the busy harbor. That the “rendezvous” was not a scene of sadness and that the privateersmen were wont to put to sea with no dust in their throats may be gathered from the following tavern bill of 1781:
Dr.
Captain George Williams, Agent Privateer Brig Sturdy Beggar to Jonathan Archer, Jr.