The cards show trading ships and pirate ships, with pirates and an admiral. Players send a trading ship of value on a voyage in which it must survive a round of attacks from other player's pirate ships. You defend your traders with your own pirates and collect the spoils of your attacks elsewhere.
 
This game has 25 Trade ships worth different amounts of gold (from 2 to 8), 48 Pirate ships, 12 each in 4 colors. The Pirate ships are worth 1-4 skulls (the player with the most skulls played on a trade ship captures it if the lead is kept for one full pass around the table). There are 4 Pirate Captains (1 of each color) to help win the battles and 1 Admiral to help defend the trade ships. The game is playable with 2-5 players individually. With partners it can be played with up to 6 or 8.