 Any plunder obtained from the attacks would be split between the government and the owners of the ships rented by the privateers.If the privateers stepped outside their official remit and raided a city, any resultant plunder would be retained by the privateers.Rogoziński observes that "attacks on cities were illegal piracy—but extremely profitable", although Zahedieh records that if Morgan was able to provide evidence of a potential Spanish attack, the attacks on cities were justifiable under the terms of his commission.