Actually, thanks to your explanation and the on going conversation over in Captain Twill about Surgeons I think it would be more fitting for my character to be literally a doctor-turned-pirate.
Without being too lengthy in an explanation of my thought, I'm thinking along the lines that my character was a doctor who killed a colleague in moment of fury discussing debts owed. Fearing the noose, my character got in contact with a merchant-friend who helped him get on board a ship. My character had to leave behind his well established reputation and soon-to-come wealth for a chance a life, albeit not exactly the life he had hoped for.
That's just preliminary, as I have a lot of research to do on the subjects at hand, not to mention that there are at least a few loopholes in my story that need to be ironed out.