Matelotage

Matelotage (French for "seamanship") was an agreement amongst pairs of European sailors, in particular buccaneers, in the 17th and early 18th century.

As part of this economic partnership, "matelots" would agree to share their incomes, and inherit their partner's property in the case of their death.

[2] Though most often interpreted as a platonic form of mutual insurance, some historians have compared matelotage to same-sex marriage or domestic partnership.

"[4] At least one written matelotage agreement survives in historical records; it was between two pirates residing at Port Dolphin on Madagascar in 1699.

[6] Other potential pirate matelotage unions such as that of John Swann and Robert Culliford, who were pirates in the Indian Ocean during the late 17th century are sometimes described as romantic but are not referred to as matelotage in British records; Swann was instead referred to as "a great consort of Culliford's, who lives with him.