tag="{http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml}a">THE "CATHERINE"
THE "FORTUNE"
THE "THREE SISTERS"
CONCLUSION

INDEX

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

THE "INVENTION," FRENCH PRIVATEER
From a drawing by Commander E.P. Statham, R.N.

WILLIAM DAMPIER, THE FAMOUS CIRCUMNAVIGATOR
From a photograph by Emery Walker after the painting by Thomas Murray in the National Portrait Gallery.

CAPTURE OF THE FRENCH EAST INDIAMEN "CARNATIC" BY THE "MENTOR" PRIVATEER
By permission of the Library Committee of the Corporation of Liverpool.

CAPTURE OF THE FRENCH ARMED SHIPS "MARQUIS D'ANTIN" AND "LOUIS ERASMÉ" BY THE "DUKE" AND "PRINCE FREDERICK" PRIVATEERS
From an engraving by Ravenet after a painting by Brooking.

ACTION BETWEEN THE SPANISH 74-GUN SHIP "GLORIOSO" AND THE "KING GEORGE" AND "PRINCE FREDERICK" OF THE "ROYAL FAMILY" PRIVATEERS
From an engraving by Ravenet after a painting by Brooking.

JEAN BART, A FAMOUS FRENCH PRIVATEER CAPTAIN
From an engraving by J. Chapman.

RENÉ DUGUAY-TROUIN, A FAMOUS FRENCH PRIVATEER CAPTAIN

CAPTURE OF THE FRENCH PRIVATEER "JEUNE RICHARD" BY THE "WINDSOR CASTLE" PACKET
From an engraving by William Ward after the painting by S. Drummond, A.R.A.

INTRODUCTORY

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTORY

The privateersman, scouring the seas in his swift, rakish craft, plundering the merchant vessels of the enemy, and occasionally engaging in a desperate encounter with an opponent of his own class, or even with a well-equipped man-of-war, has always presented a romantic and fascinating personality. Many thrilling tales, half truth, half fiction, have been written about him; and if he has not infrequently been confounded with his first cousin the pirate, it must be admitted that for such confusion there is considerable justification. The privateer is a licensed, the pirate an unlicensed, plunderer; but plunder, not patriotism, being, as a rule, the motive of the former, it is not perhaps surprising that, failing legitimate prey, he has sometimes adopted, to a great extent, the tactics of the latter.

Before proceeding to give an account of some of these licensed rovers and their adventures, let us consider for a moment or two the origin and development of privateering; this will assist us in forming an appreciation of the advantages and drawbacks of the system, and also of the difficulties which presented themselves to an honest and conscientious privateer captain—for such there have been, as we shall see, though there are not too many who merit such terms.

It is not very easy to say when privateering was first inaugurated, though it is pretty certain that the term "privateer" did not come into use until well on in the seventeenth century; licensed rovers, or private men-of-war, were known previous to this period by some other title, such as "Capers"—from a Dutch word, "Kaper"—or "letters of marque," the latter a very incorrect term, adopted through a loose manner of speech, for a "letter of marque" is, strictly speaking, a very different affair from a privateer; indeed, the application of such a term to a ship is obviously absurd: to convert a piece of paper or parchment with writing on it into a seaworthy vessel would be a considerably more marvellous piece of conjuring than turning a pumpkin into a carriage, as the good fairy did for the accommodation of Cinderella.

There is no doubt that the employment of private vessels for the purposes of war, and the granting of letters of marque, went on side by side for a great number of years. From the earliest times, before the Norman Conquest, there were hordes of sea-rovers who, entirely on their own account, and solely for the purpose of plunder, infested the seas, robbing without scruple or distinction every defenceless vessel they encountered, and in many instances wantonly slaughtering the crews; they would also, on occasion, make a descent upon the coast either of their own or some adjacent country—they were quite impartial in this respect—and sack the farms and dwellings within easy reach, retiring to their vessels before any force could be assembled to deal with them. The Danes, as we know, were particularly handy at this kind of thing, and gave us no little trouble.

Nobody appears to have made any great effort to put down this piracy; but sometimes it was convenient to enlist the services of some of these hardy and adventurous ruffians against the enemies of the sovereign. In the year 1049, for instance, that excellent monarch, Edward the Confessor, finding the Danes very troublesome on the south coast, sent a force, under Godwin, to deal with them; and we are told that it was composed of "two king's ships, and forty-two of the people's ships"; these latter being, no doubt, a collection of—let us hope—the less villainous of these sea-rovers, hardy and skilful seamen, and desperate fighters when it came to the point.

Nearly two hundred years later, in 1243, King Henry III. issued regular patents, or commissions, to certain persons, seamen by profession, "to annoy the king's enemies by sea or land wheresoever they are able," and enjoined all his faithful subjects to refrain from injuring or hindering them in this business; the condition being that half the plunder was to be given to the king, "in his wardrobe"—that is, his private purse—and it is quite probable that both the king and the recipients of his commission made a nice little profit out of it.

This is a genuine instance of what was known later as privateering; and it will be noticed that the "king's enemies" are specified as the only persons against whom the commission holds good; in other words, such a commission can have no significance, nor indeed can it be issued, in