![]() ![]() Generally at least one enemy crewmember was sent in to give testimony to a prize commissioner to verify that the capture was legal. Enemy vessels, or enemy goods on neutral vessels, could be seized and sent to an American or allied port for sale. Privateers could board vessels on the high seas but not in neutral waters. During the War of 1812, the State Department sent printed commissions signed by the president to local customs collectors for issue to captains, who posted performance bonds. To distinguish privateering from piracy, strict rules were devised through the centuries. A mixture of veteran privateersmen and aggressive young captains hoped to be equally effective during this second British war. Privateers-private vessels armed specifically to capture the enemy’s merchant ships-and trading vessels carrying letters-of marque and reprisal authorizing them to capture enemy vessels during their regular trading voyages, had played a large role during the Revolutionary War at sea. By 1400, letters of reprisal permitted preying on enemy vessels in one’s territorial waters, and letters of marque licensed attacks in foreign waters. ![]() The concept of privately owned armed vessels waging war went back at least as far as the 1100s among the Italian city states. President James Madison did not intend to employ merchant mariners as maritime warriors in the impending new war with Great Britain, but only eight days after voting to declare war, Congress passed the Act Concerning Letters of Marque, which authorized the secretary of state to license private armed vessels. ![]() In her configuration (and her extreme-weather situation) the PORTER resembles the New London privateer MARS, as well as other extreme privateers built on the Baltimore schooner model. ![]() Named for the captain of the USS Essex, the PORTER carried a letter of marque and took prizes during her trading voyage. This engraving from George Coggeshall’s 1856 "History of the American Privateers" depicts his Milford-built schooner DAVID PORTER hove to in a gale in the Bay of Biscay in 1814. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |