against other ships. At the same time, it was common for pirates to turn away from piracy and join crews aboard merchant vessels. Regular, lawful trade frequently interacted in the same markets as stolen goods being exchanged for a profit.14 Who became a pirate? What motivated them to adopt such a dangerous lifestyle? Did they do it because of greed or the taste for adventure? In reality, the reasons why seafarers turned to criminal behaviour are varied and often complex. Piracy tended to be the product of poverty, the need to ensure or increase resources for survival, or simple economic opportunism. All three of these factors played a greater or lesser role, depending on individual situations.15 Tradition, rebellion against the traditional mores and conventions of society, the lure of adventure, and the need to belong were also significant motivations for people to become sea thieves. To become a pirate was to defy the restraints of common societal norms and gain, in some respects, a sense of freedom that could not otherwise be achieved within the boundaries of a typical lifestyle at the time.16 Many of piracy’s recruits were men who had been displaced from their usual trades as merchant seamen, fishermen, or privateer sailors. They were drawn from the poor, disenfranchised, and restless adventurers of all classes, including those of noble birth who seemingly had everything to either lose or gain.17 There was indeed no set profile for a pirate; it was a lifestyle that anyone could choose. However, in general, pirates held either lawlessness, unemployment, a history of brutal abuse by their parents or guardians, or poverty as their common denominator. Whatever the reason for an individual’s desire to turn to piracy or privateering, it was a given that under the right conditions, a minority of people, regardless of the ethics of their society, would take by force when the opportunity presented itself. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, especially, piracy became even more common because deterrents and consequences that confronted criminals at sea were often minimal, and early modern culture established an understanding that arming oneself and inflicting violence upon others was the only sure way to achieve material wealth.18 Pirates acting for their own benefit were not the only thieves on the sea. A major threat to Spanish colonies were privateering rovers who acted in the name of and with the permission of their government through the brandishing of what were known as letters of marque.19 In other words, privateers, at least in the view of the Spanish, were nothing more than pirates whom their home countries turned a blind eye to. From the onset of exploration and settlement in the Americas, Spanish superiority was fiercely challenged by other European nations. The ongoing feuds that took place between the Spanish and the English is perhaps the most well-known, especially considering that it was England who not only defeated the infamous Spanish Armada of 1588 but also produced one of the most notorious privateers of all time, Francis Drake. Drake, as many mariners of the time were, was granted permission by Elizabeth I of England to plunder Spanish shipping without fear of legal repercussions. In England he was viewed as a courageous adventurer and explorer, but to the Spanish he was a horrible nuisance, as all English privateers were. Privateers such as Drake were inevitable obstacles to Spanish colonization, and their ferocity was not only due to sheer greed. Particularly in the case of privateers, attacks against the Spanish were motivated primarily by the potential for material profit, but they were also driven by political tension and brutal religious division. English, Dutch, and French sovereigns, all seeking to overthrow Spain’s dominance on the global stage, had no qualms about commissioning privateers to do their dirty work for them. “Lawful piracy,” after all, would allow them to attack Spain directly
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