![]() They may often be called pirates, but this ignores both history and the law. Privateers were private vessels of war commissioned by a state or nation. The nature of privateering is often misunderstood. By comparison, the Continental Navy never numbered more than 70 vessels and captured fewer than 200 British ships. Over the course of the war, about 1,700 Letters of Marque and Reprisal, which is to say, privateering commissions, were granted to nearly 800 privateering vessels, which captured or destroyed about 600 British ships. Likewise, General Washington began chartering schooners to act as commerce raiders to help supply his army surrounding Boston. A year earlier, in the spring of 1775, the colony of Massachusetts had begun commissioning privateers. The legislation was in many respects simply catching up with what was already going on in New England and elsewhere along the coast. It was still three months before the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain. Two hundred and forty years ago today, the Continental Congress authorized the commissioning of privateers to attack British ships.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |