Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Most of the privateers managed to remain free, but enough were caught that the owners and crew had to consider the risk seriously. The capture of the privateers Savannah and Jefferson Davis resulted in important court cases that did much to define the nature of the Civil War itself. Initial enthusiasm could not be sustained.
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.
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union [e] ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), which was formed in 1861 by states that had seceded from the Union.
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.
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]
Comet and two other privateers were contracted by the U.S. Navy to patrol and observe British movements, and Boyle accepted a warrant as sailing master in the United States Navy on 16 April 1813. His brief naval career lasted only until 8 September 1813 when he began to prepare Comet for her third voyage as a privateer.
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]