Be a Pirate Companions Guide: How to Recruit Crewmates and What They Do

Quick answer

You get companions in Be a Pirate by recruiting crewmates: the tutorial has you sign some crew early on, and from then on new companions come from the recruit a crewmate interaction. The crew interface shows a capacity of four slots, and your recruits come aboard your ship and sail with you.

• An open can return gear, like a sword, instead of a crewmate.
• Four is the crew capacity shown in the crew interface.
• Recruited crewmates board your ship and travel with you.

How to recruit a crewmate

Be a Pirate introduces crew recruiting itself: during the tutorial, right around the time you get your first boat, it tells you to sign some crew. After that, new companions come from the recruit a crewmate interaction you find in the world:

1. Open the recruit interaction. Walk up to the recruit a crewmate option and open it.
2. Check what you got. An open can return gear instead of a crewmate — one open produced a purple sword — so check each result before counting it as crew.
3. Bring your recruit aboard. When a crewmate comes up, they join your crew. In one play session, the new recruit was already climbing aboard the ship as the interaction wrapped up.

How many companions you can have

Four. Your crew interface lists your current crew, and that's where you check your capacity: one player checked mid-session, saw the limit of four with two slots already filled, and immediately went to recruit two more to complete the crew. Four is the capacity the crew interface showed, so build your crew around those four slots.

What companions do for you

Your recruits are your ship's crew. Once a crewmate joins, they come aboard and sail with you — you go from crossing the sea alone to running a crewed ship. In one play session, a crewmate came along simply by being picked up when the player crossed paths with him.

Before you fill all four slots, make sure your ship deserves a crew. Our how to get ships guide covers moving up from your starter boat, the ship upgrades guide covers improving the vessel you have, and the Be a Pirate sailing guide covers everything else about life on the water with your crew.