Legal Definitions - privateering

Privateering refers to the historical practice where a government would authorize private individuals or companies to arm their ships, typically merchant vessels, and use them to attack and capture enemy commercial ships during wartime. These authorized private vessels, known as privateers, operated under a special government license called a "letter of marque," which distinguished them from pirates. The primary goal was to disrupt enemy trade and seize valuable cargo, with a portion of the spoils often going to the privateer and the rest to the commissioning government. This practice was officially outlawed by international agreement in 1856 and is no longer recognized as a legitimate form of warfare.

• Example 1: During the American Revolutionary War, a wealthy merchant in Philadelphia, Captain Samuel Jones, received a letter of marque from the Continental Congress. He then outfitted his fast sailing ship, the "Patriot's Fury," with cannons and a crew trained for combat. Captain Jones subsequently sailed into the Atlantic, intercepting British merchant vessels carrying goods to loyalist colonies. He would capture these ships, seize their cargo, and bring them back to American ports to be sold, sharing the profits with the government.

  This illustrates privateering because Captain Jones, a private citizen, was authorized by the American government to arm his privately owned ship and attack enemy (British) commercial vessels for profit and strategic advantage during wartime.

• Example 2: In the early 19th century, during the Napoleonic Wars, a French shipping company, facing economic hardship due to British blockades, petitioned the French government for a letter of marque. They were granted permission to arm one of their larger cargo ships, the "Le Vengeur," and recruit a crew with naval experience. Le Vengeur then patrolled the English Channel, successfully capturing several British merchant ships laden with textiles and colonial goods. The captured ships and their contents were brought to French ports, condemned as prizes of war, and sold, providing revenue for both the shipping company and the French state.

  This demonstrates privateering as a state-sanctioned private naval operation against enemy trade, where a private entity was empowered by the government to engage in acts of war for economic and strategic gain.

• Example 3: Imagine a small, newly independent Caribbean nation in the early 19th century, lacking a large navy but engaged in conflict with a powerful colonial empire. To bolster its naval power and disrupt the enemy's supply lines, its government issues letters of marque to several local fishing and trading vessel owners. One such vessel, the "Sea Hawk," a sturdy fishing schooner, is armed with a few small cannons and a larger crew. It then targets the colonial empire's unarmed supply ships sailing between islands, seizing their provisions and disrupting their military logistics.

  This scenario exemplifies privateering as a cost-effective way for a less powerful state to wage naval warfare through private enterprise, using privately owned ships to attack enemy commerce and logistics under government authorization.