Boatswain:
The boatswain (or bosun) was one of the most important men aboard any sailing vessel. He was responsible for "...all the ropes in general belonging to the ship: with all her cables, anchors, and sails; her flags, colours and pendants...". He was also responsible for making sure every man was correctly on watch and at his station. During battle it was a small group of the best seamen under the command of the boatswain and his mates (if he had any) who saw to the sailing of the ship while most of the crew worked the cannons. On many ships the boatswain was also responsible for discipline. In some ships the boatswain also took on the duties of master gunner.
Boatswains are listed as pirate officers in both proclamations of 1717 and 1718, and are listed in the articles of Roberts, Lowther and Phillips, in each case receiving one share and a quarter. There are several references to pirate boatswains in various sources of the period, and in Johnson's General History there are at least two mentions of boatswain's whistles, their method of communicating orders to men aloft as well as being a badge of office. It is unlikely that many pirate vessels had boatswain's mates aboard (in the Royal Navy only sixth rates and larger carried boatswain's mates), but we do know that Benjamin Jeffreys was boatswain's mate aboard Roberts' ship.
Quartermaster:
More incorrect information has been written about quartermasters than any other rank on pirate ships. Countless websites and books state quite clearly that the quartermaster was the second in command of pirate ships, answerable only to the captain. We have seen that there were a number of officers who ranked between the captain and quartermaster in terms of command, and this false idea seems to come principally from information in Johnson's General History about the quartermaster of Roberts' crew.
" For the Punishment of small Offences, which are not provided for by the Articles, and which are not of Consequence enough to be left to a Jury, there is a principal Officer among the Pyrates, called the Quarter-Master, of the Mens own chusing, who claims all Authority this Way, (excepting in Time of Battle:) If they disobey his Command, are quarrelsome and mutinous with one another, misuse Prisoners, plunder beyond his Order, and in particular, if they be negligent of their Arms, which he musters at Discretion, he punishes at his own Arbitrement, with drubbing or whipping, which no one else dare do without incurring the Lash from all the Ships Company: In short, this Officer is Trustee for the whole, is the first on Board any Prize, separating for the Company's Use, what he pleases, and returning what he thinks fit to the Owners, excepting Gold and Silver, which they have voted not returnable."
In this paragraph, and in Roberts' articles (in which the quartermaster receives the same share of spoils as the captain) it is shown that the quartermaster of a pirate ship held more importance than a quartermaster of any other ship, wherein he was a low ranking petty officer - well below the boatswain, gunner, mates and carpenter. However, most of the evidence for the quartermasters of pirate ships being more important than other officers comes from the descriptions of Roberts' crew, and I believe that Roberts' crew was exceptional in this respect - possibly because of the sheer number of men serving under him.
First, let us look at the normal duties of quartermasters on merchant and naval ships. According to Monson writing in the 17th century the quartermasters "are four, and every one has his mate; they have the charge of the hold for stowage, rumaging and trimming the ship in hold. They have their squadron in the watch, and see that every one do his office both by day and night: they have a care to look to the steerage and the traverse board." Butler adds that the quartermasters are also to "accompany and overlook the steward when he delivers out the victuals to the cook and when he serves and pumps the beer". Monson asserts that there were four quartermasters, while Butler says it depends on the size of the ship, in a sense both are correct; in Monson's time only the smallest ships carried fewer than four quartermasters, by 1686 though this had changed and ships carried between 1 and 8 depending on their size. The smallest vessels, yachts and sloops (which equate to the kind of ship most commonly used by pirates) carried either one or none at all.
There is plenty of evidence to suggest that aboard most pirate vessels the quartermaster was similarly ranked to his namesake on naval vessels. For example, at Rackham's trial only 3 officers are listed, and the last of these is Richard Corner, the quartermaster. No special reward is offered in the 1717 proclamation for the capture of quartermasters unless they are considered "inferior officers", certainly no mention of them is made specifically. In the list of officers killed with Blackbeard the quartermaster is the last mentioned
Neither Lowther's nor Phillips' articles make any mention of giving extra shares to the quartermaster, though other officers receive extra. Lowther's articles mention the quartermaster elsewhere, assigning him extra duties, so we know that there was one, but that he was not important enough to warrant extra spoil. According to Phillip Ashton's account Low had at least two quartermasters, so we must assume that they occupied the normal quartermaster's position, since there cannot have been two seconds in command.
By far the majority of the evidence concerning the quartermaster's abnormal position on a pirate ship relates to the crew of Bart Roberts, so as I have stated I believe that his quartermaster held a unique position. However, even on Roberts' ship the evidence suggests that the quartermaster had extra duties of a civil nature, with regard to discipline and the division of spoils etc., rather than actual command. There is a certain amount of evidence (almost all of it from Johnson) that some quartermasters held a brief as a kind of representative of the crew, acting on their behalf in negotiations, speaking for them and suchlike. This translated into a certain amount of power, because without the assent of the crew the captain could do nothing, but this power was not the quartermaster's own to wield as he pleased, and nor did it exist unless the crew had a dispute with the captain.
Pirate quartermasters often had more duties than their counterparts in merchant or naval vessels, and perhaps enjoyed more popularity with the crew. Where there is evidence of quartermasters having more power than one would expect it is in the nature of their being a representative of the will of the crew - it is not the quartermaster with the extra power, it is the crew themselves with the quartermaster speaking on their behalf. However, in general they did not out rank any other officers, nor did they have any real power or importance except under a very weak captain. They certainly were not second in command.
Battle class(oni ninja Steel lord) - which are primary fighting classes
Sub class (alchemist Pirate Corpse) -which are secondary skills and styles outside of melee combat
Blood class (specter dark machinist forgemaster)-which have no direct input on battle situations and are grouped by themselves in ranking systems
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