(Heritage Daily) – Despite the common stereotype depicting pirates as swashbuckling marauders and bloodthirsty predators of the high seas, pirates applied a construed form of democratic constitutional rule to minimise conflict and create piratical law and order amongst a ship’s crew. Each sailor was expected to sign or make his mark on the articles, inducting them into the ship’s crew and entitling them to vote, bear arms, be due compensation for injury and share in the ship’s plunder. Read More