Let’s not get too romantic about pirates. In the Caribbean, the most lucrative goods that ships carried were, in fact, not goods. They were people.

Every ship used a different code that the crew voted and agreed upon jointly. The code determined what benefits were given to a pirate that was maimed or disabled during the taking of a prize, the share he gained from a prize (a taken vessel), and the rights of the crew during the election of a new captain.

When it comes to dividing shares of a prize, among them were ‘rights’ of the crew to take slaves instead of money or goods. At least, on the ship of Henry Morgan.

III. A standard compensation is provided for maimed and mutilated buccaneers. "Thus they order for the loss of a right arm six hundred pieces of eight, or six slaves; for the loss of a left arm five hundred pieces of eight, or five slaves; for a right leg five hundred pieces of eight, or five slaves; for the left leg four hundred pieces of eight, or four slaves; for an eye one hundred pieces of eight, or one slave; for a finger of the hand the same reward as for the eye.

I’m no expert, but my sense from what I’ve read is that ‘the code’ could be relatively-strictly followed in some circumstances, and in others, followed or honored very little at all. Or could simply vary a lot in the rules.

Also, like all such rules, they could sometimes be adhered to in complete self-interest by various leaders or factions, and at other times, brushed off as ‘unrealistic’ (etc) by the very same groups. So a lot of it came down to the particular personnel who happened to be on a ship, I think?