How Pirates of old were Modern

Captain Jack Ward

You probably think of pirates who belong to the modern age of piracy as blood thirsty thieves who could only live off the sweat of others. Rapists, drug abusers and people who could only live in a society with no rules to govern whatsoever, the pirates paint a grim picture of themselves. Pirates were however ahead of their times and held practices that were modern even in civilized societies.

Pirates had Medical Cover

Considering that by the 17^th century there wasn’t much of medicine to write about, you would consider pirates to have lacked medical benefits. Gangrene back then was treated using a woodcutter's ax, hot tar and bamboo wood to sink your teeth on; just in case the pain became unbearable. Medical cover in these types of conditions wouldn’t seem to be considerable.

The truth however is that the crew of world famous pirate Henry Morgan had health cover.  Before his assault on Panama, the sea-going legend drew up a charter that insured certain interests for any crew that got injured in battle. For the loss of a hand a pirate would get 600 pieces of eight, the first global currency. 1,800 pieces insured you against loss of both legs, 200 pieces for one eye while total blindness gave you 2000 pieces.

Religion was tolerated by Pirates

Pirate crews and their captains tolerated the religion of others. It would seem that only world leaders have problems with liberty of worship at any point in time. At a time when Muslims were persecuted by the Christians if they chose to settle in Jerusalem, pirates didn’t care who you worshiped as long as you possessed gold or other valuables.

Piracy tolerated Gay marriage

Locked out at sea with no female company many pirates turned to their fellow men for companionship. Research shows that the original Pirates of the Caribbean might have practiced homosexuality in their societies. Pirates even had a form of civil union where they would share all their loot known as matelotage. Each pirate would name the other as his sole inheritor. In Tortuga (Piratesof the Caribbean) pirates practiced homosexuality and only introduced prostitutes to curb it as government reaction to things would endanger their trade.

Pirates were Equal Opportunity Employers

Back in the dark ages of human history, being a woman relegated you to second rate citizen status. If you weren’t a wife, servant or sex slave to someone, you would be paid less than a man for the same job. Pirates however did not give a care to what your gender was so long as you could fight tooth and nail for the success of your ship against a target. History is awash with stories of brave women who were part of pirate crews and their activities.

Elections were Democratic

You would think that any bloodthirsty thief would stick to power by all means right? As for pirates, you would be very wrong.  Many a captain was elected democratically by their crews.  A good example is Jack Ward who deserted the Royal Navy. This is in stark difference in what happened in his country England or even civilizations of his time where less than 3per cent of the population could vote.

Some of these happenings go a long way to show that pirates may have been indeed more modern than the mainstream society.