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Privateers were also authorized to attack an enemy's navy warships and then apply to the sponsoring government for direct monetary reward, usually gold or gold specie (coins). In the early days of the war, enthusiasm for The Confederacy was high, and many ship owners responded to the appeal by applying for letters of marque .
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.
Privateers were implicated in piracy for a number of complex reasons. For colonial authorities, successful privateers were skilled seafarers who brought in much-needed revenue, especially in newly settled colonial outposts. [5] These skills and benefits often caused local authorities to overlook a privateer's shift into piracy when a war ended.
During the American Civil War, the Confederate Navy operated a fleet of commissioned Confederate States Navy commerce raiders. These differed from privateers as they were state-owned ships with orders to destroy enemy commerce rather than privately owned ships with letters of marque.
John Yates Beall (January 1, 1835 – February 24, 1865) was a Confederate privateer in the American Civil War who was arrested as a spy in New York and executed at Fort Columbus on Governors Island. Early life and education
The U.S. Navy purchased the Beauregard from the prize court for $1,810 on February 24, 1862 [2] and began fitting the schooner for service with the blockading squadrons. To replace the 24 pound rifled gun that the privateer's crew had spiked, [2] the navy armed the Beauregard with a single 30 pound rifle and two 12 pound howitzers. [3]
The Sinking of Petrel occurred in July 1861 during the American Civil War. While cruising off the coast of South Carolina the United States Navy warship USS St. Lawrence encountered a Confederate privateer named Petrel. The engagement ended in a Union victory and the surviving Confederates were arrested for piracy. [1]
The British blockade of the Chesapeake Bay during the War of 1812 impeded her merchant career. The Royal Navy had placed Chesapeake Bay under a strict blockade in March 1813, though that declaration became known as a "paper blockade" as some 50 to 60 American privateers were rather freely cruising the coast and the waters of the West Indies. [6]