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American Privateers: an Introduction

© Cindy Vallar

When the colonies declared their independence from Britain, their navy consisted of only thirty-four ships. Since that number was insufficient to mount a war against a more powerful enemy, the fledgling nation issued letters of marque to more than four hundred privateers whose attacks on British shipping crippled that country's trade. The cost to insure British ships increased six-fold if those vessels sailed without protection.

Many American privateers sailed from Philadelphia, the largest colonial port of the day. The Dispatch was so eager to capture an enemy ship she sailed from port unarmed in 1776. Within a few days she succeeded in her venture and sailed her prize to France. Other privateers sailed from Baltimore, where shipbuilders converted merchant ships to meet the needs of the privateers. Before long, however, builders designed a vessel expressly built for privateering - the schooner. Although fairly small, she was very fast. Her foremast was shorter than the mainmast, but when she sailed with a tail wind, the square-rigged topsail of the foremast boosted her speed. These heavy schooners had crews of over 150 men and carried enough armament to engage British frigates. Baltimore became the premier port for privateers.

Like pirates, privateers preferred not to fight. They could be equally brazen. Jonathan Haroden (1745-1803) came alongside an English ship and demanded her surrender within five minutes. He stood beside a cannon with a lighted wick and waited. The ship struck her colors and Haroden captured her. Unbeknownst to the English, his threat was a bluff. Had he fired the cannon, it would have been his one and only shot because he had no ordnance with which to reload the gun.

Privateers of the American Revolution took over three thousand British vessels. They captured much-needed muskets and gunpowder, which they delivered to the Continental Army. The men who served aboard privateers sailed under the rule of no prey no pay. They only received shares of whatever plunder they acquired. For some, like those aboard the Rattlesnake, they returned home wealthy men after capturing prizes worth over $1,000,000 on a single voyage. The America (which weighed 350 tons, carried twenty guns and 120 crewmembers) took forty prizes, netting her owners a profit of over $600,000. The most successful privateer, a brig called Yankee out of Boston, captured forty prizes worth more than $3,000,000.

Not all privateers were so successful. The Dash sank during a storm off the coast of Maine, yet residents still remember her because her ghost continues to sail their coastal waters. During World War II, a couple making love on the beach saw the ship loom out of the fog.