So was he a pirate or was he a privateer, the answer really depends on who you ask.

他到底是海盗还是皇家海盗，答案取决于你问谁。

A privateer was basically a legal British mercenary pirate.

私掠船船员是合法的英国雇佣军海盗。

Maybe the most famous example comes from an English privateer named Sir Francis Drake.

也许最著名的例子来自一位名叫弗朗西斯·德雷克爵士的英国海盗。

We should mention at this point that, although nowadays we use terms like pirate, privateer and buccaneer.

在这一点上我们应该提到，尽管现在我们使用像pirate, privateer和buccaneer这样的词。

Their privateers wrapped up their raids on English merchant ships in the region.

他们的私掠船结束了该地区对英国商船的袭击。

A privateer was usually limited to tracking down one particular ship for a certain period of time.

私掠船船员通常只在一段时间内追踪一艘特定的船舶。

In 1619, the English privateer ship, white lion landed at Point Comfort in Virginia.

- 1619 年，英国私掠船 white lion 在弗吉尼亚州的 Point Comfort 登陆。

The privateers spent a few weeks in the city time, during which they took everything of value that was left behind.

海盗们在城里呆了几个星期，在此期间，他们带走了遗留下来的一切有价值的东西。

He was an English privateer who collected endless loot before the  beginning of the Golden Age of Piracy.

他是一名英国海盗，在海盗黄金时代开始之前收集了无尽的战利品。

He also became a heavy drinker, particularly fond of the local rum which he enjoyed, while swapping old war stories with other former privateers and buccaneers.

他还成了一个酒鬼，尤其喜欢喝当地的朗姆酒，他喜欢这种酒，同时还和其他前海盗和海盗们分享古老的战争故事。

The Zhengs were unlike many other historically-known privateers, such as Henry Morgan or Barbarossa, who acted on behalf of various naval powers.

郑家不像许多其他历史上著名的私掠船，例如亨利·摩根或巴巴罗萨，他们代表不同的海军强国行事。

The long oversea voyages were uncertain at best and doubly so when the warships of France joined the American privateers in preying on supply boats.

漫长的海外航行充其量是不确定的，当法国的军舰与美国的私掠船一起捕食补给船时，情况就更加不确定了。

Terms like " corsair, " " buccaneer, " " privateer, " and others  were bandied around as synonyms for " pirate." However, they are not the same.

“corsair”、“buccaneer”、“privateer”等术语被广泛用作“海盗”的同义词。但是，它们并不相同。

Less spectacular, and more distinctive, were the deeds of the hundreds of privateers and minor captains who overhauled British supply ships and kept British merchantmen in constant anxiety.

数百名私掠船和未成年船长检修英国补给船并让英国商船一直处于焦虑之中，他们的事迹不那么引人注目，但更加与众不同。

American ships bound for Great Britain were liable to be captured by French privateers which, in spite of the disasters of the Nile and Trafalgar, ranged the seas.

开往英国的美国船只很容易被法国私掠船俘虏，尽管尼罗河和特拉法加河发生了灾难， 但这些私掠船仍在海上航行。

Coming to terms with the fact that the prospects of peace were increasingly remote, Jay turned to military matters and supported the use of privateers to attack British shipping.

认识到和平前景越来越渺茫的事实后，杰伊转向军事问题， 支持使用私掠船攻击英国航运。

Serving their Vietnamese patrons turned the Zhengs and other pirates from ragtag gangs aboard single vessels into professional privateer fleets with dozens of ships able to hold their own at sea.

为他们的越南主顾服务使郑家和其他海盗从单船上的乌合之众变成了专业的私掠船队，拥有数十艘船，能够在海上保持自己的地位。

The confusion  becomes even more prominent when the terms overlap, as certain people involved with maritime  activities would shift from, for instance, being a privateer to being a pirate and vice  versa.

当术语重叠时，混淆会变得更加突出，因为参与海上活动的某些人会从海盗转变为海盗，反之亦然。

It was nearly three thousand miles from the main base of supplies and, though the British navy kept the channel open, transports were constantly falling prey to daring privateers and fleet American war vessels.

它距离主要补给基地近三千英里，尽管英国海军保持航道畅通， 但运输不断成为大胆的私掠船和美国舰队的牺牲品。