Reading The Pirates of Panama; The Buccaneers of America by Alexandre Exquemelin. The author was a pirate until 1672 and writes his experience first hand, one of the few rare books with direct exposure. At one part he talks about how they would decide together on how much they would split before - starting with the captain, the carpenter, surgeon, common stock allocation on food and medical supplies, and split equally for the rest. Those who lose limbs or impacted health wise will be compensated (amount discussed before hand). Everybody gets a say. The book also talks about how civil and helpful they are towards each other. Way more democracy going on there compared to governments these days.
Discussion
Most people these days can’t recognize a democracy when they see it. Too brainwashed
I can't remember the name of this theory, but the idea is that any government system can work if the group is small enough. He may have even pegged a number as the limit.
Either way, most people believe Hollywood's version of a pirate captain running the ship as a dictator without knowing that it's one of the best examples of a true democracy aside from some states in ancient Greece.
The captain was sometimes voted on for each voyage/sortee. The person chosen was often the person that knew navigation the best.
Not Dunbar’s number?
Is there an underlying factor where if you weren’t polite you got dropped off in the middle of the Atlantic with no flotation?