Well if you want to get techinically, being a true pirate meant hard work usually doing the hempen jig in the end. The lifespan for the average pirate was only about 3-4 years. Sure you got to plunder and kill people, but you were also hunted and hung.
No women were allowed on board a ship (there are exceptions), you had to fear getting flogged or marrooned, when you did have pieces of eight you blew them on booze or a hot meal. Scurvy was a big problem on ships.
Blackbeard was one of the most feared pirates. Do a search for his flag. His flag meant "even if you surrender your death will come." He speared women in very grusome fashion, think Vlad the Impaler style. The people he captured he not only killed, he tortured, including his crewmates.
Henry Morgan was one of the most successful pirates. Plundered more ships then any other pirate out there.
Black Bart AKA Bartholmew Roberts. He was the gentlemen pirate which historians believe it was his acts that got him caught in the end. His code of conduct meant no women or children were to be harmed. He let more people go then he killed and in the end it didnt get him much. He was still successful as a pirate though.
Crap I am soooooo
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