The feared Pirate Hayreddin Barbarossa became a famous Admiral

In the good old days, they always offered amnesty when you became a big shot.

Hayreddin Barbarossa, or Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha (Turkish: Barbaros Hayreddin (Hayrettin) Paşa or Hızır Hayreddin (Hayrettin) Paşa; also Hızır Reis before being promoted to the rank of Pasha and becoming the Kapudan Pasha), born Khizr or Khidr (Turkish: Hızır; c. 1478 – 4 July 1546), was an Ottoman admiral of the fleet who was born in the island of Midilli (Lesbos) and died in Constantinople (Istanbul), the Ottoman capital. Barbarossa's naval victories secured Ottoman dominance over the Mediterranean during the mid 16th century, from the Battle of Preveza in 1538 until the Battle of Lepanto in 1571.

Hayreddin (Arabic: Khayr ad-Din خيرالدين, which literally means "goodness" or "best of the religion" of Islam) was an honorary name given to him by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent. He became known as "Barbarossa" ("Redbeard" in Italian) in Europe, a name he inherited from his elder brother Oruç Reis after Oruç was killed in a battle with the Spanish in Algeria. Oruç was also known as "Baba Oruç", which sounded like "Barbarossa" (Italian for "Redbeard") to the Europeans, and since Oruç did have a red beard, the nickname stuck. In a process of linguistic reborrowing, the nickname then stuck back to Hayreddin's native Turkish name, in the form Barbaros.

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a reply to: PanPiper
Interesting, any relation to Piri Reis?

In the "City of God," St. Augustine tells the story of a pirate captured by Alexander the Great. The Emperor angrily demanded of him, "How dare you molest the seas?" To which the pirate replied, "How dare you molest the whole world? Because I do it with a small boat, I am called a pirate and a thief. You, with a great navy, molest the world and are called an emperor." St. Augustine thought the pirate's answer was "elegant and excellent."
Pirates and Emperors - Noam Chomsky

Maybe the pirate was also promoted as an admiral or executed on site for having the balls to answer Alexander the Great?

Also, I heard from my Uncle that J.P. Morgan's ancestor was a pirate?

a reply to: PanPiper

Whether a particular captain was a pirate or a patriot depended a lot on what nationality you were.

Sir Francis Drake was a great explorer and navigator to the English. To the Spanish he was a vicious pirate who preyed upon their treasure-ships. Sir Henry Morgan is credited by some (very legit) historians as one of the founders of the British Empire — by sacking and seizing Spanish possessions in the Caribbean. Likewise Barbarossa. One country’s admiral was another country’s pirate.

Sir Henry was not, incidentally, the ancestor of J.P. Morgan, nor of anyone else; he died childless.

a reply to: Astyanax
That's disappointing, any chance Sir Henry was a long lost brother, uncle or great grandfather to J.P. Morgan?

a reply to: MaxTamesSiva

He had kin in America, but they were not direct descendants.

Henry's nephew, Edward Morgan, was great-grandfather of Revolutionary War General Daniel Morgan,[20] and Daniel's own descendant was Confederate General John Hunt Morgan. Wikipedia

He'd make a wonderful Dread Pirate Roberts