What is a Privateer ?


A privateer was a private ship (or its captain) authorized by a country's government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping. Strictly, a privateer was only entitled to attack enemy vessels during wartime. However, states often encouraged attacks on opposing powers while at peace, or on neutral vessels during time of war, blurring the line between privateering and piracy.

Privateers were an accepted part of naval warfare from the 16th to the 19th centuries, authorised by all significant naval powers. The costs of commissioning privateers was borne by investors hoping to gain a significant return from prize money earned from enemy merchants.



Law, discipline, and the edge of piracy !!


Being privately owned and run, privateers did not take orders from the naval command. Often privateers were required to limit their activity to an agreed area or the ships of an agreed nation by their letter of marque. Often the owners or captain would be required to post a bond against breaching these conditions, or they might be liable to pay damages to an injured party. The French, in the Napoleonic Wars, destroyed letters of marque belonging to returning captains. In the United Kingdom, letters of marque were revoked for offences like piracy, or firing on a warship's boat.

Conditions on board privateers varied widely. Some crews were treated as harshly as naval crews of the time, while others followed the comparatively relaxed rules of merchant ships. Some crews were made up of professional merchant seamen, others of pirates, debtors and convicts.

Some privateers ended up becoming pirates, not just in the eyes of their enemies but also of their own nations. William Kidd, for instance, began as a legitimate British privateer but was later hanged for piracy.
















Wikipedia / Privateer

The Pirate King / Definition