"Why did men go a-pirating, or 'on the account' as the pirates called it? The sailors said it was few ships and many men, hard work and small pay, long voyages, bad food and cruel commanders." -- Introduction
Whatever their reasons, large numbers of pirates plied the waters off the coast of New England on the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, plundering merchant vessels and often inflicting grievous injuries on captains, passengers, and crews.
Now...