Privateers and Privateering

One of the most brilliant instances of the defence of a packet is that of the encounter of the _Windsor Castle_ with the French privateer _Jeune Richard_. The packet was outward...

Like his famous relative, he was intended for the Church; but he speedily manifested a militant spirit by no means of an ecclesiastical quality--he was, in fact, an awful pickle...

In the year 1745 some merchants of London fitted out three privateers--the _Prince Frederick_, 28 guns, 244 men, commanded by Captain James Talbot, who was in chief command; the...

Another hero, privateer first and naval officer later, was Du Guay Trouin--this being the name by which he was eventually known, and which has been bestowed upon more than one v...

His father was a Bristol man, a sea-captain, and subsequently resided at Poole; Woodes Rogers the younger was probably born at Bristol, about the year 1678. Of his early life we...

About seven years after Captain Woodes Rogers returned from his cruise another privateering expedition to the South Seas was started by some London merchants; but, as England wa...

It was towards the end of this year--1745--after a visit to Madeira--where some of the crew got into trouble over a very foolish practical joke, putting a handful of soot in the...

Among the earlier privateersmen in the War of Secession was Joshua Barney, a naval officer, who, after having been a prisoner of war for five months, was released by exchange, a...

Privateering was very much resorted to in France, from the middle of the seventeenth century onwards; it was greatly encouraged by the State, and frequently men-of-war were lent...

Rogers and his companions made no long stay at Juan Fernandez. Having now arrived upon their cruising ground, all were eager to be at work, and on February 14th they were once m...

The _Terrible_ carried 26 guns, with a crew of 200 men, and was commanded by Captain Death. She was cruising off the mouth of the Channel at the end of the year 1756, and had ha...

In 1755 it became apparent that a renewal of hostilities between France and England could not be long delayed; and the staunch little _Fame_ not being again available, Wright ha...

There was living at the commencement of the sixteenth century a Scotsman, named Andrew Barton, who acquired considerable notoriety by reason of his exploits at sea; and indeed,...

The privateersman, scouring the seas in his swift, rakish craft, plundering the merchant vessels of the enemy, and occasionally engaging in a desperate encounter with an opponen...

In the year 1804 there was a very formidable French privateer cruising in the West Indies, by name the _Bonaparte_, carrying 18 guns and a crew of over 200. This vessel encounte...

During the American War of Secession in the eighteenth century, as well as in that of 1812, American seamen took very kindly to privateering. There were many smart vessels afloa...

In the days of sailing-vessels the mails were regularly carried by fast-sailing brigs, which were known as packets. They were virtually men-of-war, but were not heavily armed, n...

Surely the fairies must have been busy with suggestions at the birth and naming of this fighting seaman--great seaman and determined fighter, and withal a smack of romantic hero...

He was born in 1672, and so was a contemporary of Du Guay Trouin. The son of a seafarer, young Jacques was predestined to a similar life, but there is very little known of his e...

Less than two years later the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty called before them a certain Captain Phillips, master mariner, commanding the _Alexander_ privateer; and the f...

War was declared on June 18th, and by the end of the month two privateers had put out from Salem, and a dozen more were almost ready for sea; while New York had sent out, by the...

The last action in which she was engaged was of a most desperate nature, against the boats of a British squadron. The privateer was lying, on September 26th, 1814, at Fayal, in...

In April of the following year, 1782, Barney was again afloat in command of a privateer, the _Hyder Ali_ (spelt _HydeA lly_ in Mr. Maclay's book), fitted out, by merchants of Ph...

The title of this section requires, perhaps, some explanation; and first as to the phrase "South Seas." In the sixteenth and two following centuries this term was applied to tha...