The article below briefly talks about real pirate life but if you want something a little more fun like a Pirates of the Caribbean Novel then be sure to check out Mad Kestrel by Misty Massey.
Pirate is now the established and accepted word throughout the world for an individual that perpetrates an assortment of unlawful acts on the seas. At various points in history they were given specialized names helping to identify them either by region or nationality.
A privateer was legally commissioned by a body, typically a government, to help them harass or attack another government. A buccaneer would have been French or English around the 17th century, living on the island of Hispaniola, attacking the Spanish. A French buccaneer may also have been called a freebooter.
A Barbary corsair was a name given by the French to Muslim pirates that sailed along the North African and Mediterranean coasts.
In the Mediterranean area where sea trading was extremely active was where pirates really came to grow and be very dynamic. The governments and countries fighting with each other often used pirates against their enemies. The city-states of Greece even used pirates at one time as tax collectors because they new the locals were so afraid of the pirates that the people would pay up.
Pirate activity was sometime made legal by a country, when this happened the pirates became known as privateers. Warring countries like England, France and Spain would direct their privateers to attack enemy ships and disrupt trade. Privateers were often more successful than the navies at fighting and the theft of merchants and government treasure could badly hinder a country.
When trade would become too disrupted by pirates some governments would join together in a concentrated effort to purge the pirates from trade routes.
Pirates are known for creating the first true individual democracy in which every man had a vote or say. The buccaneers established this code in rebellion against their harsh treatment from former countries. Breaking agreed upon rules was dealt with harshly as a means to enforcing their own laws or code.
Pirates took care of their own like no other governing body had done before. Around the time in the early to mid 1600's pirates begin to establish various payments as compensation for body parts lost in the line of duty.
Piracy could be a hard life, dangerous and deadly but it was often preferable to the navy of the day. You could potentially get better pay, better food be treated better and have a say in decisions.
A pirate could be paid large sums of money following a victorious raid. The treasure would be divided and the goods sold for money and then split appropriately. This of course was always done in a port city that gave the pirate opportunity to turn around and spend all his money in a few nights of drink, women and gambling.
