During the Golden Age of Piracy, the growing British Empire went to great lengths to prevent lawlessness on the high seas. For centuries, pirates, privateers, buccaneers, and corsairs had taken to the water to wreak havoc against fellow seafarers, taking whatever they could find of value regardless of who suffered along the way. By the 17th and 18th centuries, however, piracy threatened European empire-building, so to curb such behavior, Britain punished the marauders and put them on display. Unlike what you may see in the best pirate movies, the life of a pirate was hard - long months, even years, on a ship amid the elements made for dirty, treacherous days and nights - but doom for a pirate was even worse.