I have several questions.

How did the pirates gain their intel on the whereabouts of merchant ships?

Did they usually have a pretty good idea of what the target ships had in store for them? as far as “plunder”

What usually were the contents of said “plunder” and were they assorted goods or a lot of one specific type of goods? (Correct me if i’m wrong, but I thought most ships were owned by ship owners rather than the merchants themselves)

I have more questions if this post gains enough traction to ask them! Thank you for the time of day to whom can answer any of these questions for me!