The Pirates' Code Rebecca Simon
Event details
Pirates have long captured the imagination with images of cutlass-wielding swashbucklers, eye patches and buried treasure. But what was life really like aboard a pirate ship? Piracy was a risky, sometimes deadly occupation, and strict orders were essential for everyone’s survival.
These ‘Laws’ were sets of rules that determined everything from how much each pirate earned from their plunder to compensation for injuries, punishments and even the entertainment allowed on ships. These rules became known as the ‘Pirates’ Code’, which all pirates had to publicly swear by.
Join historian Rebecca Simon, author of The Pirates’ Code, as she draws on eyewitness accounts, trial proceedings and maritime logs to explain how these codes were the key to pirates’ success in battle, both on sea and on land.
This event will take place live on Zoom Webinar. You will receive a link to join a couple of days before the event and a reminder an hour before. During the event, you can ask questions via a Q&A function, but audience cameras and microphones will remain muted throughout.
Book sales
You can buy copies of many of our speakers’ books from Fox Lane Books, a local independent bookseller and Festival partner. In some cases, author signed bookplates are available too.
About the speaker
Rebecca Simon is Professor of History at Santa Monica College. Her books include Why We Love Pirates: The Hunt for Captain Kidd and How He Changed Piracy Forever (2020); Pirate Queens: The Lives of Anne Bonny and Mary Read (2022) and The Pirates’ Code: Laws and Life Aboard Ship (2023).
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