privateer, a privately owned vessel armed with guns which operated in time of war against the trade of an enemy. The name came to embrace both the ships and the men who sailed in them, with the practice, known as guerre de course, becoming accepted in international maritime law. Such vessels were commissioned by letters of marque, which licensed them to take prizes in time of war, and which served as both official letters of reprisal and bonds of good behaviour. The first letter of marque was issued in England in 1293, but only from 1589 did they provide for prizes to be condemned at an Admiralty Court and a division of their value made between the crown and the owners. The division was usually on the basis of 10% to the crown and 90% to the owner.

In English history the reign of Elizabeth I (1558–1603) was the golden age of privateering, though it continued long after that to be a profitable business. Francis Drake was essentially a privateer on his voyage round the world even though he did not have a letter of marque for the voyage, as also was John Paul Jones two centuries later before he became a regular naval officer. By the time that national navies were established on a permanent basis, the authorities often disapproved of privateering because it drained off the best seamen. But it was such an efficient method of commerce destruction that the French, notably Jean Bart and François Thurot, and the Americans, made great use of it, to such an extent that all other nations were more or less forced to follow suit. In this way privateers may perhaps be considered as the strategic predecessors of submarines, when used, as in the First and Second World Wars, in operations against the merchant shipping of an enemy state.

One of the most successful British privateers was Woodes Rogers (d. 1732). He was engaged by a syndicate of merchants during the War of the Spanish Succession (1702–13) to lead an expedition under a letter of marque to the South Seas in the ships Duke and Duchess, described in his journal as frigates of 20 and 26 guns respectively. With Rogers in the Duke was William Dampier, who served as navigator of the expedition. They sailed from Bristol in 1708, took a few prizes in the voyage south to Cape Horn, and eventually arrived at the island of Juan Fernandez where they chanced upon Alexander Selkirk, who had been marooned there four years earlier. The two ships then captured a Spanish galleon off the coast of Mexico, and took aboard its precious cargo of bullion, silk, and precious stones. Rogers, who had been wounded in the battle, then sailed his ships across the Pacific to Guam before returning for England via the Cape of Good Hope. The prize goods taken during the voyage were sold for the considerable sum of £148,000 and Rogers wrote an entertaining account of his circumnavigation in A Cruising Voyage round the World (1712). From 1718 until his death he was governor of the Bahamas with a mandate to stamp out piracy.

George Shelvocke was another successful privateer in the South Seas, though some of his activities were closer to piracy. It was, incidentally, a passage from Shelvocke's book, A Voyage round the World (1726), which almost certainly inspired Coleridge to write ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’. French privateers were most active in the century following the War of the Spanish Succession, and American privateers were far more numerous than naval ships in the War of American Independence (1775–82), and the War of 1812–14. Privateering was abolished by the Declaration of Paris in 1856. However, the USA refused to sign the declaration. As a result it suffered severely from this form of war against its trade throughout its Civil War of 1861–5 when both sides preferred to arm merchantmen as regular warships than to commission privateers.

The principles of the Declaration of Paris were reaffirmed at the Hague Convention of 1907. However, a form of guerre de course was approved there when a majority of the maritime nations endorsed the use of armed merchant cruisers, and in the two world wars waged during the 20th century, maritime attack on trade proved a major weapon.

See also corsair.

privateering former usage of war permitting privately owned and operated war vessels (privateers) under commission of a belligerent government to capture enemy shipping. Private ownership distinguished the privateer from an ordinary warship; letters of marque and reprisal (commission issued by a government) distinguished it from a pirate craft. The primary object of privateering was to harass the enemy, but it was often practiced as a retaliatory measure. Licensed privateering dates back to the 13th cent., but the great era of privateering was the period from 1589 to 1815, when privateers became auxiliaries to or substitutes for regular navies, and when weaker naval powers used privateers as an effective method of injuring a more powerful maritime rival. Privateersmen, who kept all or a part of their booty, often gained great wealth. After the defeat (1692) of the French fleet by the Dutch and English, France commissioned privateers, who preyed upon English commerce. In the American War of Independence and in the War of 1812 American privateersmen captured hundreds of prizes . The Confederate States issued letters of marque to the last privateers in history, but the Union blockade limited their effectiveness. In attempting to curb the abuses of privateering, nations required that captures be condemned in prize courts and that commissions (in restricted number) be granted only in the name of the sovereign. Privateersmen were free of naval discipline, and their desire for prize often led them to make no distinction between friendly and enemy shipping, to violate the rules of war, and to indulge in lawlessness after the conclusion of peace. These abuses led to the abolition of privateering by the Declaration of Paris (1856). This declaration does not prohibit the creation of voluntary navies consisting of private vessels under the control of a state, such as those used in World War II in the evacuation from Dunkirk.

Bibliography: See E. S. Maclay, History of American Privateers (1924, repr. 1968); W. B. Johnson, Wolves of the Channel (1931); C. W. Kendall, Private Men-of-War (1932); J. P. Cranwell and W. B. Crane, Men of Marque (1940); D. Woodward, The Secret Raiders (1955); D. B. Chidsey, The American Privateers (1962); C. L. Alderman, The Privateersmen (1965).

PRIVATEER

A privately owned vessel that is commissioned by one power to attack merchant ships from a hostile power. The term also refers to the commander or a crew member of such a vessel.

A privateer was commissioned by the issuance of a letter of marque and reprisal to commit hostile acts at sea, generally in accordance with the rules of war. Letters of marque and reprisal were issued by a state to its own subjects as well as to the subjects of neutral states. The owner of a vessel who accepted letters of marque from both belligerents was, however, deemed a pirate.

Privateering was abolished on an international scale with the ratification of the Declaration of Paris in 1856, which was signed by Great Britain, France, Turkey, Sardinia, Austria, Prussia, and Russia. The United States, Spain, Mexico, and Venezuela, however, did not consent to the declaration. The United States refused to join the treaty because the U.S. Constitution, which gives Congress the power to issue letters of marque, does not authorize it to participate in a permanent treaty abolishing privateering. Regardless, the act of privateering is considered a federal offense punishable by fine or imprisonment (18 U.S.C.A. § 1654 [2003]).

further readings

Woodruff, James J. 2002. "Merchants, Traders, and Pirates: The Birth of the Admiralty Clause." Tulane Maritime Law Journal 563.

privateering was a device for commerce raiding in time of war whereby a privately owned, manned, and armed ship could operate on the high seas as a conventional warship, yet, in the event of making captures, was entitled to a very substantial share of their adjudicated value. The share was always capable of variation as between the sanctioning authority, usually the crown, and the proposer, prior to a voyage; and in every instance the agreement was encapsulated in the ‘letter of marque’, carried by the privateer as her warrant. In England privateering can be dated back to the late 13th cent., but the late 17th cent. and the whole of the 18th witnessed the apogee of the practice, pursued with especial vehemence by the French and the Dutch, and also by the seaboard colonies of North America during the American War of Independence. Privateering was abolished by the convention of Paris (1856).

David Denis Aldridge

pri·va·teer / ˌprīvəˈtir/ • n. chiefly hist. an armed ship owned and officered by private individuals holding a government commission and authorized for use in war, esp. in the capture of enemy merchant shipping. ∎  (also privateersman) a commander or crew member of such a ship, often regarded as a pirate. • v. [intr.] engage in the activities of a privateer. DERIVATIVES: pri·va·teer·ing n.

privateer Privately owned vessel with a government commission to capture enemy shipping. Government licences, called ‘letters of marque’, distinguished privateers from pirates. Crews were unpaid but were allowed to keep the booty. Privateering was at its height from the 16th to the 18th century. It was outlawed by most European powers in the Declaration of Paris (1856) and abolished by the Hague Conference of 1907.

privateer n.
1. an armed ship owned and officered by private individuals holding a government commission and authorized for use in war, especially in the capture of enemy merchant shipping.

2. (also privateersman) a commander or crew member of such a ship, often regarded as a pirate.
v. engage in the activities of a privateer.
privateering n.

privateer between the 17th and 19th centuries, an armed ship owned and officered by private individuals holding a government commission and authorized for use in war, especially in the capture of merchant shipping. The word is recorded from the mid 17th century, and is formed from private, on the pattern of volunteer.

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privateering •handspring • hamstring • herring •headspring • wellspring •airing, ballbearing, bearing, Behring, Bering, caring, daring, fairing, hardwearing, pairing, paring, raring, sparing, Waring, wearing •talebearing • childbearing •wayfaring • seafaring • cheeseparing •time-sharing • mainspring • keyring •gee-string • watch spring • offspring •boring, flooring, Goring, riproaring, roaring, scoring, shoring •drawstring • goalscoring •outpouring • bowstring • shoestring •bullring •auctioneering, clearing, earring, electioneering, engineering, gearing, orienteering, privateering, shearing •God-fearing • puppeteering •firing, retiring, uninspiring, untiring, wiring •during, mooring, reassuring, Turing •posturing • restructuring •meandering • rendering •pondering, wandering •ordering • maundering •plundering, thundering, wondering •offering • suffering • fingering •scaremongering • hankering •flickering, Pickering •tinkering • hammering • glimmering •unmurmuring • tampering •whimpering • whispering •smattering, unflattering •earthshattering • schoolmastering •Kettering • self-catering • wittering •quartering, watering •faltering • roistering • muttering •gathering • woolgathering •blithering •flavouring (US flavoring), unwavering •quivering •manoeuvring (US maneuvering) •covering • wallcovering •Goering, stirring, unerring