As the title states I ran across this article and thought one of you scalawags might find it interesting as well. The author gives some insight into the era of piracy that predates our beloved 1716-1726 swashbuckling time period of Blackbeard, Calico Jack, Ann Bonnie, and the like.

Enjoy

https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2017/winter/feature/lot-what-known-about-pirates-not-true-and-lot-what-true-not-known