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That is "usually" never the definition of a pirate, you are describing privateers. Piracy is not limited to times of war nor is it dependent on a sovereign nation.

Wow, this clears up a lot. Logistically, it wouldn't have made sense that the parent was implying most of the thread had gone to Buckingham Palace to receive wartime repreive in order to simply read this article. I was super confused.

Thanks for putting this into context for me and in context this makes more sense.

I guess I just had the wrong definition of pirate.

Bad attempt at humor. Very low hanging.

I thought that was a privateer.

Well privateers and pirates are pretty much the same thing in practice, the only difference being that pirates operate on their own, while privateers are blessed by a particular State. But they both follow the same course of action.