Privateer - Wikipedia Privateers were a large part of the total military force at sea during the 17th and 18th centuries In the first Anglo-Dutch War, English privateers attacked the trade on which the United Provinces entirely depended, capturing over 1,000 Dutch merchant ships
Pirates, Privateers, Corsairs, Buccaneers: What’s the . . . A privateer was a pirate with papers As the name suggests, privateers were private individuals commissioned by governments to carry out quasi-military activities They would sail in privately owned armed ships, robbing merchant vessels and pillaging settlements belonging to a rival country
The Militia of the Sea - American Battlefield Trust In general, the term privateer refers to a privately-owned ship or sailor commissioned by a government to raid an enemy’s military and merchant shipping Although controversial, there is a long history of privateering that dates back to the seventeenth century
Privateers in the American Revolution - Legends of America A Privateer Commission was issued to vessels, called privateers or cruisers, whose primary objective was to disrupt enemy shipping The ideal target was an unarmed or lightly armed commercial ship
What is a Privateer? - schoonerfame. com What is a Privateer? A ‘privateer’ was just a privately-owned vessel — sometimes built expressly for privateering, but more often converted from fishing or trading — which received a government license in wartime to go out and capture enemy merchant ships
Privateers and Privateering - Encyclopedia. com PRIVATEERS AND PRIVATEERING The term "privateer" refers to a privately owned and armed vessel that operates under the terms of a letter of marque, a document that allows the vessel to attack the enemies of its sovereign nation without the danger of being branded a pirate
Privateers - NHHC Privateering allowed sovereigns to raise revenue for war by mobilizing privately owned armed ships and sailors to subsidize state power For participants, privateering provided the potential
List of privateers - Wikipedia A privateer was a private person authorized by a country's government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping Privateering was an accepted part of naval warfare from the 16th to the 19th centuries, authorised by all significant naval powers Notable privateers included: