The "Skeleton Crew" were the skeletons of humans, reanimated to work as oil pirates. They wore spacesuit-like armour and used laser-swords.

In the 40th century, some humans on Boukon were robbed of their bodies by Oil Corp. Oil Corp promised to give them new bodies if they helped bring down pirates, such as Kaliko. A crew lead by Swabb served under her on the Black Gold, but they planned to betray her. When the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones came on-board, Swabb mistook them for Oil Corp spies and planned to save them. He used the Oil Corp Oil Rigs to destroy the ship. The crew were destroyed when the ship crashed; the only survivor was Swabb. (TV: The Infinite Quest)