Crime Stories - Brethren of the Coast: the Caribbean privateer syndicate

During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a loose alliance known as the Brethren of the Coast operated across the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico. Centred mainly on Tortuga and Jamaica's Port Royal, this coalition brought together captains holding letters of marque and reprisal. These mariners, mostly of English and French Protestant origin, created their own system to regulate privateering alongside outside benefactors, forming an organized maritime syndicate that challenged traditional authority across the region.

Source: Wikipedia