hi! you'll find lots of answers to your pirate questions here in the FAQ

• The Golden Age of Piracy, Life of a Pirate and Other Related Topics. Re flags, see particularly Why did Pirates even have flags?; re signing up, /u/DavidAOP points out useful comments in this post I am an English peasant in 1715, and I decide enough is enough. I want to join a pirate ship. How do I go about doing that?

... a bit more on flags

• Where did the idea of a 'pirate flag' come from?

• Did pirates in the Caribbean really fly the skull and crossbones flag? If not, what?

and crews

• If mass unemployment of sailors in the early 1700's lead to widespread piracy why don't we hear about pirates after every major sea-war?

• Were pirates equal opportunity employers?

Lastly, pirates were featured in a two-part AskHistorians podcast, which can be found here, episodes 16 & 17