Taking an enemy ship did not usually mean accepting the surrender of everyone aboard. Captured crewmen were commonly thrown into the sea once the deck was secured. A fighter might survive by joining the captor or by possessing enough status and wealth to make ransom profitable. The policy joined the violence of boarding warfare to the economic hierarchy of medieval combat. The fate of captured crews gives necessary human context to accounts that otherwise measure victory only in captured hulls.
Notable Point · 40:54-41:19
Ransom value determined who survived capture
Captured crews were commonly thrown overboard unless they could change sides or promised enough wealth to justify keeping them alive for ransom.