Privateers & Volunteers PDF Download

Author: Reuben Elmore Stivers
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 546

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Author: Faye Kert
Publisher: JHU Press
ISBN: 1421417472
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
The first book to tell the tale of the War of 1812 from the privateers’ perspective. Winner of the John Lyman Book Award of the North American Society for Oceanic History During the War of 1812, most clashes on the high seas involved privately owned merchant ships, not official naval vessels. Licensed by their home governments and considered key weapons of maritime warfare, these ships were authorized to attack and seize enemy traders. Once the prizes were legally condemned by a prize court, the privateers could sell off ships and cargo and pocket the proceeds. Because only a handful of ship-to-ship engagements occurred between the Royal Navy and the United States Navy, it was really the privateers who fought—and won—the war at sea. In Privateering, Faye M. Kert introduces readers to U.S. and Atlantic Canadian privateers who sailed those skirmishing ships, describing both the rare captains who made money and the more common ones who lost it. Some privateers survived numerous engagements and returned to their pre-war lives; others perished under violent circumstances. Kert demonstrates how the romantic image of pirates and privateers came to obscure the dangerous and bloody reality of private armed warfare. Building on two decades of research, Privateering places the story of private armed warfare within the overall context of the War of 1812. Kert highlights the economic, strategic, social, and political impact of privateering on both sides and explains why its toll on normal shipping helped convince the British that the war had grown too costly. Fascinating, unfamiliar, and full of surprises, this book will appeal to historians and general readers alike.

Author: Angus Konstam
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472836324
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 49

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During the American War of Independence (1775–83), Congress issued almost 800 letters of marque, as a way of combating Britain's overwhelming naval and mercantile superiority. At first, it was only fishermen and the skippers of small merchant ships who turned to privateering, with mixed results. Eventually though, American shipyards began to turn out specially-converted ships, while later still, the first purpose-built privateers entered the fray. These American privateers seized more than 600 British merchant ships over the course of the war, capturing thousands of British seamen. Indeed, Jeremiah O'Brien's privateer Unity fought the first sea engagement of the Revolutionary War in the Battle of Machias of 1775, managing to capture a British armed schooner with just 40 men, their guns, axes and pitchforks, and the words 'Surrender to America'. By the end of the war, some of the largest American privateers could venture as far as the British Isles, and were more powerful than most contemporary warships in the fledgling US Navy. A small number of Loyalist privateers also put to sea during the war, and preyed on the shipping of their rebel countrymen. Packed with fascinating insights into the age of privateers, this book traces the development of these remarkable ships, and explains how they made such a significant contribution to the American Revolutionary War.

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Caricatures and cartoons
Languages : en
Pages : 434

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A periodical in part famous for the cartoon portraits of politicians and public figures. These were mainly by "Spy" (i.e. Sir Leslie Ward) and "Ape" (i.e. Carlo Pellegrini).

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Arbitration (International law)
Languages : en
Pages : 1276

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Author: Chris Clearman
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 1435750764
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 392

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Historical Fiction Nautical

Author: Massachusetts Historical Society
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Massachusetts
Languages : en
Pages : 542

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Author: James Brown Scott
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Arbitration (International law)
Languages : en
Pages : 1306

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Author: Charles Francis Adams
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 72

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Book Description

Author: William C. Davis
Publisher: HMH
ISBN: 0547350759
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 735

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Book Description
An “engrossing and exciting” account of legendary New Orleans privateers Pierre and Jean Laffite and their adventures along the Gulf Coast (Booklist, starred review). At large during the most colorful period in New Orleans’ history, from just after the Louisiana Purchase through the War of 1812, privateers Jean and Pierre Laffite made life hell for Spanish merchants on the Gulf. Pirates to the US Navy officers who chased them, heroes to the private citizens who shopped for contraband at their well-publicized auctions, the brothers became important members of a filibustering syndicate that included lawyers, bankers, merchants, and corrupt US officials. But this allegiance didn’t stop the Laffites from becoming paid Spanish spies, disappearing into the fog of history after selling out their own associates. William C. Davis uncovers the truth about two men who made their names synonymous with piracy and intrigue on the Gulf.