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The commission was the proof the privateer was not a pirate. It usually limited activity to one particular ship, and specified officers, for a specified period of time. Typically, the owners or captain would be required to post a performance bond. The commission also dictated the expected nationality of potential prize ships under the terms of ...
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.
By acting on behalf of the French Crown, if captured by the enemy, they could in principle claim treatment as prisoners of war, instead of being considered pirates. Because corsairs gained a swashbuckling reputation, the word "corsair" is also used generically as a more romantic or flamboyant way of referring to privateers, or even to pirates.
A pirate and privateer operating in the North Sea. Often partnered with Hans Pothorst. Hans Pothorst: c. 1440–1490: Germany: A pirate and privateer operating in the North Sea. Often partnered with Didrik Pining. Salih Reis: c. 1488–1568: Ottoman Empire: A Turkish privateer and Ottoman admiral. Turgut Reis: 1485–1565 Ottoman Empire
Sometimes the buccaneers held more or less regular commissions as privateers, and they always preyed upon the Spaniards; but often they became mere pirates and plundered any nation. [2] As a rule, the buccaneers called themselves privateers, and many sailed under the protection of a letter of marque granted by British, French or Dutch authorities.
The nucleus of the pirate force was a group of English ex-privateers, all of whom were soon to be enshrined in infamy: Henry Jennings, Charles Vane, Samuel Bellamy of Whydah Gally fame, Benjamin Hornigold, and Edward England. The attack was successful, but contrary to their expectations, the governor of Jamaica refused to allow Jennings and his ...
According to the code, the pirates ran their ships democratically, sharing plunder equally and selecting and deposing their captains by popular vote. [14] Many of the pirates were privateers out of work since the end of the Queen Anne's War and ex-sailors who had revolted against the conditions on merchant and naval ships.
The Barbary corsairs, Barbary pirates, Ottoman corsairs, [1] or naval mujahideen (in Muslim sources) [2] were mainly Muslim corsairs and privateers who operated from the largely independent Barbary states. This area was known in Europe as the Barbary Coast, in reference to the Berbers. [3]