By the year 1640, the term and true society of the bretheren of the coast or brotherhood of the coast (both titles seemed to interchange) came into buccaneer lexicon. Principally, it denoted the strong bond these men had for each other and their united purpose. The partnership and camaraderie first forged as hunters of hides and meat easily transitions into their lives at sea.

It was an unusually democratic bond. The men who joined felt it high time they took control of their own lives. Unless mutually agreed up on, no man had say over another man's actions, except for the captain whom almost always acted with the majority in issues. They believed the in the old seafaring superstition to hold true. All had one time or another crossed the tropic of Cancer, and during that crossing , their former identities were drowned. New customs and rules formed. Now each man was free to be whatever or whomever he chose to be. Considering the rigid social order in which they lived, this was bordering on anarchy. For many a buccaneer, the first change was the acquisition of a new name or nickname. It mentally freed the individual from his past, and the hope that his past would no longer follow him.