Historical Details The 'Pirates of the Caribbean' Franchise Actually Got Completely Right

The Pirates of the Caribbean movies make it clear that while Jack Sparrow is plenty capable as a fighter, he still avoids combat as much as possible because he doesn't like it. This isn't just a character quirk; it was a common mindset among pirates of his time. 

Pirate movies wouldn't be pirate movies without sword fights and ship-to-ship combat, but in reality, most pirates preferred not to fight. In addition to risking injury and demise for themselves and their crew, a pirate captain who chose to fight also risked destroying the cargo they were trying to take. Forcing the target to surrender peacefully was usually the best outcome. 

This may also be one reason why Blackbeard wanted that fearsome reputation. According to the book Villains of All Nations, pirates often used intimidation tactics to scare the enemy into surrendering without resistance.

Several Pirates of the Caribbean movies involve ship fight scenes, and many of these use approximations of real tactics used in ship-to-ship combat. 

In the first film, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Elizabeth orders The Interceptor to lower the anchor on the right side so it can quickly turn on a dime and get a good visual of The Black Pearl, which Captain Hector Barbossa has taken control of. This was based on a real technique called "club hauling." Ships would lower their anchor and grab hold of the seafloor, then quickly rotate to bring their weapons into position to fire. However, because this required the anchor to be cut off and released, it wasn't a decision captains made frequently.

At the beginning of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, the East India Trading Company cracks down on piracy, which forces the various Pirate Lords of the world to convene a pirate governing council to decide on the response. It's called the Brethren Court, and it includes Jack, Elizabeth, and Barbossa.

The Brethren Court is based on a real-life pirate organization called the Brethren of the Coast, but it's a loose adaptation of it. The Brethren Court was founded in 1618 by English, French, and Dutch buccaneers who banded together against the most powerful nation in the region, the Spanish Empire. The pirate organization had no true leader or central location, operating from Tortuga, Nassau, and Port Royal. 

The third film, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, introduces the idea of the pirates creating laws for themselves. When the East India Trading Company cracks down on piracy, Elizabeth and Jack gather the Pirate Lords and try to declare conflict on the Company. But that's actually not within their power. According to the Pirata Codex, a law book passed down by earlier pirates, only the "Pirate King" can declare war. 

Real pirates didn't have anything like a universal Pirata Codex. The closest thing to the Pirata Codex was an informal system called "the pirate code." This was a set of rules outlining on-ship behavior, the distribution of spoils, and customs of the ship. Captain Bartholomew Roberts is credited with developing it. In practice, individual ships would often vote on their own versions of the code, including rules like no lights at night, shares of the loot or booty, and no fighting between pirates on board the ship.