Many of the men who chose piracy regarded themselves as true Robin Hoods, robbing from the rich to give to the poor, and standing in open defiance of all those in authority. Unless they were privateers, acting in the employ of a government, what they were doing was illegal, and they knew that if they were caught, they wold end their days swinging from a rope. But it was a life that most chose happily. "In an honest [occupation]," declared pirate Captain Bartholomew Roberts, "there is thin rations, low wages and hard labor; in [piracy, there is] plenty...pleasure and ease, liberty and power....A merry life and a short one shall be my motto."
from the book The Whydah by Martin W. Sandler page 49
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