Not everyone who attacked other ships was called a pirate. When at war with another country, the government paid sailors to attack trading ships from the country with which they were at war. These sailors were called privateers. Each ship carried a license stating that these attacks were under orders from the government.
並不是每個會攻擊船隻的人都被稱為「海盜」。在過去與他國交戰時，有的國家政府會付錢給水手去攻擊屬於交戰國的貿易船。這些水手稱為「私掠船員」（privateer）。每艘船都會有執照聲明這些攻擊是政府下令的。

Buccaneers were similar to privateers. They focused their attacks on ships from an enemy country, but unlike privateers, buccaneers didn't have official permission from their government. Pirates, on the other hand, simply attacked any ship that they thought carried something valuable. That means if you were sailing the seas in the 17th century and your country was at war, you had to watch out for privateers, buccaneers, and pirates.
西印度海盜（buccaneer）和私掠船員相似，專門攻擊敵對國家的船，但他們和私掠船員的不同處在於他們並沒有得到本國政府許可。另一方面，普通的海盜（pirate）會攻擊任何船隻，只要他們認為上面的貨物有價值。這表示如果你身處十七世紀、在海上航行，而祖國又正在和別人交戰，你就得同時提防私掠船員、西印度海盜還有一般海盜囉！

Pirates in Taiwan 台灣的海盜

Taiwan has a very checkered past. For hundreds of years, it was a hideout for Japanese and Chinese pirates. They would sail over to the Chinese coast and raid the coastal towns. Then they would take their stolen goods back to Penghu Island and Taiwan. This practice was very successful until 1603, when a Chinese general finally managed to drive the pirates off of Taiwan.
台灣過去的歷史非常複雜。在幾百年間，台灣曾是日本及中國海盜的藏身之處。他們會渡海航向中國海岸、劫掠沿岸的城鎮，然後他們會帶著偷來的貨物回到澎湖群島和台灣。這樣的行動非常成功，直到1603年一位中國將軍終於成功將海盜逐出台灣為止。