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A letter of marque and reprisal (French: lettre de marque; lettre de course) was a government license in the Age of Sail that authorized a private person, known as a privateer or corsair, to attack and capture vessels of a foreign state at war with the issuer, licensing international military operations against a specified enemy as reprisal for a previous attack or injury.
A privateer was a private person authorized by a country's government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping. Privateering was an accepted part of naval warfare from the 16th to the 19th centuries, authorised by all significant naval powers. Notable privateers included:
Triton was launched at Calcutta in 1815 and sold shortly thereafter to Spanish owners. She was sailing from Bengal to Cadiz when an American-built and outfitted privateer with a letter of marque from the patriotic forces in Buenos Aires captured her in January 1817 in a sanguinary single-ship action during the Argentine War of Independence.
A privateer is a private person or vessel which engages in commerce raiding under a commission of war. [1] Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or delegated authority issued commissions, also referred to as letters of marque, during wartime. The ...
A captured American privateer captain, 20-year-old Gideon Olmsted, shipped aboard the British sloop Active in Jamaica as an ordinary hand in an effort to get home. Olmsted organized a mutiny and commandeered the sloop. But as Olmsted's mutineers sailed their prize to America, a Pennsylvania privateer took the Active. [14]
Charming Sally was a privateer in service with the Continental Navy in 1779, during the American Revolutionary War.. Previously a merchant ship, Charming Sally entered Continental Navy service when her master, Alexander Holmes, master, received a letter of marque on 27 January 1779.
1781, January 9 – The sloop USS Saratoga captures the letter-of-marque Tonyn; 1781, March 7 – Liverpool privateer Woolton captures French merchantman Sartine; 1781, March 23 – British privateer Tarleton, of 14 guns, captures American letter of marque Tom Lee, of 12 guns. 1781, May 1 – HMS Canada captures the Spanish frigate Santa Leocadia.
William Kidd (c. 1645 – 23 May 1701), also known as Captain William Kidd or simply Captain Kidd, was a Scottish privateer.Conflicting accounts exist regarding his early life, but he was likely born in Dundee and later settled in New York City.