April 12th, 2014 by Piper Smith
Pirates were sometimes paid 1.7 million in modern values by their captain. In stark contrast, officers and seamen of the Royal Navy were paid a mere 19 shillings per month. Sometimes, they wouldn’t even get that. Corrupt English officers would tax their crewmen to increase their own wages and the Royal Navy was always very reluctant to pay wages. The English government would even withhold pay to discourage desertion. Half of the Royal Navy crews were press-ganged and received wages that were much lower than volunteers. Yikes!
Picture caption: How would you like trying to get your chunk of change from these guys?
