This title explores the ships and history of the enterprising American
patriots who fought the Royal Navy as privateers, and played a major
part in winning the Revolutionary War at sea.
During the American War of Independence (1775-83), Congress issued
almost 800 letters of marque as a way of combating Britain's
overwhelming naval and mercantile superiority. At first, it was only
fishermen and the skippers of small merchant ships who turned to
privateering, with mixed results. Eventually though, American shipyards
began to turn out specially-converted ships, while later still, the
first purpose-built privateers entered the fray.
These American privateers seized more than 600 British merchant ships
over the course of the war, capturing thousands of British seamen.
Indeed, Jeremiah O'Brien's privateer Unity successfully fought the
first sea engagement of the Revolutionary War in the Battle of Machias
of 1775. With just 40 men, their guns, axes, and pitchforks and the
words "Surrender to America", he managed to capture a British armed
schooner. By the end of the war, some of the largest American privateers
could venture as far as the British Isles, and were more powerful than
most contemporary warships in the fledgling US Navy. A small number of
Loyalist privateers also put to sea during the war, and preyed on the
shipping of their rebel countrymen.
Packed with fascinating insights into the age of privateers, this book
traces the development of these remarkable ships, and explains how they
made such a significant contribution to the American Revolutionary War.
