The distribution of the booty

After boarding a ship, the victorious pirate captain authorized his crew to retrieve not only money, jewels, slaves, travelers, maps, but also the ship itself.

The distribution of the stolen goods was well organized. All crew members signed a contract before setting sail acknowledging from the beginning what was going to correspond to them. The amount varied according to rank, the captain and the officers received double that the rest of the crew. However, any act of  heroism during an attack, such as saving a crew members life, was also generously rewarded.

Hisstorically many true fortunes were made.  Bellow, just a list of the bounties made by real pirates translated into modern day amounts: 

1.- Black Sam (Samuel Bellemy) $ 120 million 

2.- Sir Francis Drake$ 115 million 

3.- Black Bart (Bartholomew Roberts)$ 40 million 

4.- Captain Morgan (Harry Morgan) $ 13 million

5.- Blackbeard (Edward Teach)$ 12.5 million 

Comparatively few pirates reached such dizzying heights of success and one must remember that 1 million dollars at that time was worth more than it is today. Yo ho, a pirate´s life indeed.