Prize money

Prize money is a reward that used to be made to sailors who captured an enemy ship, in wartime.

In the United Kingdom captured ships were supposed to sailed to Britain, and handed over to a prize court. The prize court would first determine if the ship was a legitimate capture. When captures were made of ships, before war was declared, or after a peace settlement was signed, they would not be legitimate captures. However, if the captured ship was a legitimate prize, the prize court would handle the sale of the ship, and its cargo.

In the United Kingdom, by longstanding practice, Royal Navy crews split the funds taken in through selling the captured vessel, with the officers taking the lion's share of the Prize money.

If a privateer captured an enemy ship the privateer's owners would split the prize money with their crew, according to the contract they had with the crew.