That was just too much trouble. Pirates preferred to run their enemies through with any sharp, pointy thing, --- doing it quick and dirty...
Other things they did or didn't do:
--- They usually didn't wear frock coats and shirts with lace cuffs. Fancy clothes were worn, basically, only for impressing the "natives". Pirates might dress up for a raid on a ship or shore, to inspire awe and fear. Blackbeard was known for doing this, even wearing red ribbons in his beard and putting smoldering fuses under his hat. Bartholomew Roberts, alias "Black Bart", liked to wear a crimson brocade waistcoat with pistols around his neck hung from silk slings; he also wore a long necklace with a big diamond cross pendant. For every day wear crewman often dressed in coarse linen shirts and short jackets; sometimes they wore floppy pants called petticoat breeches. Knit caps called "monmouths", were very popular and most pirates liked to wear a kerchief around their necks for ready use to wipe off sweat. Bare feet or rope sandals were worn on slippery decks for good traction. Sometimes, crewmen would even dip their plaited hair in tar to keep it from blowing in or sticking to their faces! And, another use for tar was to smear it on their jackets and pants to make them somewhat waterproof.
--- Pirates swabbed the decks with sea water everyday. This was not so much to clean them as it was to make the wooden boards swell, which would help them not to shift. Pirates did another thing every two or three months; they careened their ships. This was a scraping and re-tarring of the hull to remove barnacles and seaweed that slowed their ships down and also to get rid of the borer worm that ate the wood. A ship was run onto the sand and tipped on her side to do this maintenance.
--- Pirates usually slept on deck or in the hold. They often slept in hammocks because in the hold because space was very limited there and hammocks were up and away from the hold's messy floor.
--- Pirates really did drink lot and lots of rum and also grog, which was alcohol mixed with water. Much of the water carried on ship, in barrels, became nasty quickly, so they drank liquor to quench their thirsts. Yes, alcoholism was rampant among pirates. Many pirates would drink anything with alcohol in it, even a lady's perfume!
--- It was forbidden on many ships to smoke a pipe without a lid on it. In fact, open fires, candles and metal baskets of flammable material without glass covers were usually not allowed. A ship on fire was a disaster for all! (In "Pirates Of The Caribbean # 4 : On Stranger Tides" on Blackbeard's ship, "The Queen Anne's Revenge", you always see numerous candles, and torches. In real life, most pirates would have gone crazy over that!... Never, never, --- NEVER!
--- Pirates were very superstitious. Many believed that having a woman on ship was bad luck. In the articles of Bartholomew Robert's ships it was death to even bring a woman on board. Roberts also didn't allow gambling and he was a non-drinker.
--- Pirate booty was usually not treasure. Pirates were interested in taking anything that could be used for daily life at sea. When they raided a ship they were after food, tobacco, liquor, ammunition and weapons, clothing, sails, timber, lines and ropes, etc. Good looking, strong passengers were taken too; men were press ganged into joining pirate crews; women could be sold to brothels; wealthy passengers could be held for ransom.
--- Jack Sparrow was said to be a "pirate and a good man". That would have been very unusual in the pirating world! Most pirates were pretty ruthless. After all, when you steal on land you're just a common thief. But, when you steal at sea you're a (drum roll!) --- PIRATE!... Yo-ho-HO!!!
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