What can drive someone to piracy?

One of the definitive works on real-life pirates was written by Daniel Defoe (he of Robinson Crusoe and Moll Flanders fame) and is entitled: A General History of the Pyrates. It was written under the pen-name of 'Captain Charles Johnson' in 1724. With a journalist's eye, Defoe took existing published accounts (pamphlets, broadsheets, trial records, shipping letters, and a host of contemporary accounts including interviews) to create the most accurate picture of the pirates - or pyrates - of that time.

If you can get past the spelling and Capitalization conventions of that Era, you will find a well-crafted book that, although non-fiction, is entertaining and filled with adventure. Here are the opening lines to his discussion of one famed pirate, Major Stede Bonnet, and how he began his life of piracy:

"The Major was a Gentleman of good Reputation in the Island of Barbadoes, was Master of a plentiful Fortune, and had the Advantage of a liberal Education. He had the least Temptation of any Man to follow such a Course of Life, from the Condition of his Circumstances. It was very surprizing to every one, to hear of the Major's Enterprize, in the Island where he liv'd; and as he was generally esteem'd and honoured, before he broke out into open Acts of Pyracy, so was afterward rather pity'd than condemned, by those that were acquainted with him, believing that this Humour of going a Pyrating, proceeded from a Disorder in his Mind, which had been but too visible in him, some Time before this wicked Undertaking; and which is said to have been occasioned by some Discomforts he found in a married State..."

Each of the pirates - or pyrates - Defoe reported upon all had equally interesting beginnings and Defoe's skills at creative word-play helps to sharpen - and humanize, even - the lives of these piratical seafarers.

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Defoe, Daniel, and Manuel Schonhorn. A General History of the Pyrates. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 1999. Print.