The following is an excerpt from the current issue of Family Chronicle...

Legal Pirates in the Family Tree

David A. Norris helps you find your privateer ancestors

Suppose you could sail the seven seas and capture any richly-laden ships that fell into your path. Suppose you could become wealthy on your share of the vessels and their cargoes. And, suppose it was not only legal, but respectable and patriotic as well. Such was the job of a privateer, a sailor with a “license for piracy”.

For centuries, privateering was considered to be a legitimate form of warfare. Often, countries with small navies facing large enemy fleets, such as the United States against the Royal Navy in the War of 1812, or the Confederate States against the Union Navy during the Civil War, relied on privateering. However, even the world’s major maritime powers, such as Great Britain and France, also found privateering as a useful method of waging war. Not only did the merchant fleets of the enemy take a pounding, but perhaps best of all, privateers were volunteers who needed no government pay or funding. They went to sea with the expectation that they would profit from their captures of enemy ships.

Captured vessels, ideally, were taken to a friendly port for eventual sale, but this did not always happen. Some prizes were old ships in poor condition that carried no cargo. In such cases, the prize might be burned. Alternately, some prizes were freed on the condition that they take the prisoners off the privateer, freeing up space and lessening the pressure on food and drinking water. Another tactic was ransoming the vessel and releasing it on the condition that its owners pledge to pay a percentage of its value.

Like naval vessels, privateers carried more men than merchant ships of comparable size. They needed the extra hands to work the guns in battle. Privateers also needed lots of men for prize crews to take captured ships to friendly ports. When not needed in battle, there were more than enough men to handle the day-to-day work on the ship, lightening their burden of the sailors’ daily work. Between the great need for crewmen and the chance to acquire riches with prize money, it was often easier to recruit hands for a privateer vessel than a naval warship.

Although they served in wartime, most privateer crewmen were civilians and were considered part of the Merchant Marine, not the Navy. Still, these legal corsairs are well-documented enough to make them much easier to trace than pirates.
Medieval English monarchs granted licences for private ship owners to attack vessels belonging to the kingdom’s enemies. The ships split the proceeds of their
raids with the Crown. By the 17th century, privateers sailed from several European countries. Among those allied with England was the famous “pirate” William Kidd, better known to history as Captain Kidd.

Governments issued documents called “letters of marque and reprisal”, which granted the right of attacking enemy ships during wartime. Sometimes the ships licensed in this way were called “letter of marque vessels”. Possession of a letter of marque was very important. Under international and maritime law, civilian vessels that attacked other ships were considered pirate ships. Piracy was a capital crime, but a letter of marque legally protected the crew. If they were captured, they were to be treated as prisoners of war rather than pirates.

During the French and Indian Wars, British-sponsored privateers sailed from ports in the New World colonies, and Spain and France granted letters of marque for their own vessels to attack Britain’s North American possessions. Privateering can be a considerable asset, or a serious loss, to a war effort. Great Britain
lost over 3,000 merchant vessels to the French during the French and Indian War...

Like what you see? To read the rest of this article, call
1-888-326-2476 to subscribe ($27.95/year) and request to start with the current issue, or purchase a copy of the current issue* ($7.95 incl. shipping) of Family Chronicle. Want to buy it now? Click on one of the following links to enter our secure shopping cart:
(All prices include shipping, taxes extra for Canadian orders. Please note the use of the GST or HST option depending on province of residency.)

One Year Subscription
1 Year Subscription (six issues) USA Start with Current Issue
1 Year Subscription (six issues) CDN Start with Current Issue w/GST
1 Year Subscription (six issues) CDN Start with Current Issue w/HST

Current Issue* Single Copy
Current Issue of Family Chronicle USA
Current Issue of Family Chronicle CDN w/GST
Current Issue of Family Chronicle CDN w/HST Includes NB, NL, NS & ON (incl. PST)