Ship's articles

[Daniel]

Pirates' articles are so important to understanding how pirate ships worked and are so prominent in the literature on pirates, that one could easily imagine that they were unique to pirates and privateers. I had to do a lot of reading before I suddenly realized that ordinary merchant ships had articles, too. The merchant ships' articles were apparently drawn up without crew input, and new hands had to sign the articles before shipping on.

When did it become common for merchant ships to have articles? What did these articles normally say? Were articles universal among merchant ships, and if so, when did they become so? I get the impression that merchant ship articles were at least very common by the clipper ship era.

My novel (set 1716) has a scene where a merchant brig's master (who is also the owner), states that he can do pretty well whatever he likes because there are no articles aboard his brig to limit his authority. Would it be a practical possibility for a merchant brig c. 1716 not to have any articles?

[capnwilliam]

Pirates' articles are so important to understanding how pirate ships worked and are so prominent in the literature on pirates, that one could easily imagine that they were unique to pirates and privateers. I had to do a lot of reading before I suddenly realized that ordinary merchant ships had articles, too. The merchant ships' articles were apparently drawn up without crew input, and new hands had to sign the articles before shipping on.

I came to realize the same thing a few days ago myself, while re-reading THE CONFEDERATE PRIVATEERS. It helped me answer the question in my own mind WHY pirates signed articles: it wasn't any piratical innovation, it was what all seamen - whether pirates, privateers, or merchants' - were used to doing.

Capt. William