According to Pirates, Explained, pirates weren’t nearly as roguish as a lot of pop culture makes them out to be. When piracy happened in the late 17th-early 18th century, a lot of them were slave traders that robbed other trade ships for cargo they could sell for a profit -- some hired & subsequently knighted by Queen Elizabeth -- during a time when international trading was taking off.
so, yanno.
Yeah, some *were* the outcast heroes of the seas. But figures like Captain Morgan (yep, THAT Captain Morgan), Captain Kidd, Sir Francis Drake, Sir Walter Raleigh, to name a few, very much were not.
Also, they never buried their treasure (they SPENT that gold, goddamn), and didn’t have treasure maps. A lot of the pop culture versions can be traced back to “A General History of Pyrates” published in 1724, which embellished a lot.
Cheng I Sao, of the early 15th century China, though? She’s cool.