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PRIVATEERS AND PRIVATEERING
[Illustration: THE "INVENTION," FRENCH PRIVATEER]
PRIVATEERS
AND PRIVATEERING
By
COMMANDER E.P. STATHAM, R.N.
AUTHOR OF "THE STORY OF THE 'BRITANNIA,'" AND JOINT
AUTHOR OF "THE HOUSE OF HOWARD"
WITH EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS
London: HUTCHINSON & CO.
Paternoster Row 1910
PREFACE
A few words of explanation are necessary as to the pretension and scope
of this volume. It does not pretend to be a history of privateering; the
subject is an immense one, teeming with technicalities, legal and
nautical; interesting, indeed, to the student of history, and never
comprehensively treated hitherto, as far as the present author is aware,
in any single work.
The present object is not, however, to provide a work of reference, but
rather a collection of true stories of privateering incidents, and
heroes of what the French term "la course"; and as such it is hoped that
it will find favour with a large number of readers.
While the author has thus aimed at the simple and graphic narration of
such adventures, every effort has been made to ensure that the stories
shall be truly told, without embroidery, and from authentic sources; and
it has been found necessary, in some instances, to point out
inaccuracies in accounts already published; necessary, in view of the
fact that these accounts are accessible to any one, and probably
familiar to not a few possible readers of this volume, and it appears
to be only fair and just that any animadversions upon these
discrepancies should be here anticipated and dealt with.
It has not been considered necessary, save in rare instances, to give
references for statements or narratives; the book is designed to amuse
and entertain, and copious references in footnotes are not entertaining.
It will be noticed that the vast majority of the lives of privateers and
incidents are taken from the eighteenth century; for the simple reason
that full and interesting accounts during this period are available,
while earlier ones are brief and bald, and often of very doubtful
accuracy.
Some excuse must be craved for incongruities in chronological order,
which are unavoidable under the circumstances. They do not affect the
stories.
There remains to enumerate the titles and authors of modern works to
which the writer is indebted, and of which a list will be found on the
adjoining page.
LIST OF MODERN AUTHORITIES
"History of the American Privateers and Letters of Marque
in the War of 1812," etc. By George Coggleshall. 1856.
"Mann and Manners at the Court of Florence." By Dr.
Doran. 1876.
"The Naval War of 1812." By T. Roosevelt. 1882.
"Studies in Naval History." By Sir John K. Laughton. 1887.
"The Corsairs of France." By C.B. Norman. 1887.
"Life Aboard a British Privateer in the Reign of Queen Ann."
By R.C. Leslie. 1889.
"Robert Surcouf, un Corsaire Malouin." Par Robert Surcouf,
ancien Sous-prefet. 1889.
"The British Fleet." By Commander C.N. Robinson, R.N.
1894.
"The Royal Navy." By Sir W. Laird Clowes, etc. 1894.
"Old Naval Ballads," etc. The Navy Records Society. 1894.
"A History of the Administration of the Royal Navy," etc.
By M. Oppenheim. 1896.
"History of the Liverpool Privateers," etc. By G. Williams.
1897.
"Naval Yarns, Letters, and Anecdotes," etc. By W.H.
Long. 1899.
"A History of American Privateers." By E.S. Maclay. 1900.
"Sea Songs and Ballads." By C. Stone. 1906.
"Les Corsaires." Par Henri Malo. 1908.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
PAGE
INTRODUCTORY 1
TWO EARLY INCIDENTS
CHAPTER II
ANDREW BARTON 19
THE "AMITY" AND THE SPANIARDS 28
PRIVATEERING IN THE SOUTH SEAS
CHAPTER III
WILLIAM DAMPIER 35
CHAPTER IV
WOODES ROGERS 41
CHAPTER V
WOODES ROGERS--_continued_ 60
CHAPTER VI
GEORGE SHELVOCKE AND JOHN CLIPPERTON 75
SOME ODD YARNS
CHAPTER VII
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS, OF THE "ALEXANDER" 95
THE CASE OF THE "ANTIGALLICAN" 96
CHAPTER VIII
CAPTAIN DEATH, OF THE "TERRIBLE" 106
MR. PETER BAKER AND THE "MENTOR" 111
CAPTAIN EDWARD MOOR, OF THE "FAME" 115
CAPTAIN JAMES BORROWDALE, OF THE "ELLEN" 117
TWO GREAT ENGLISHMEN
CHAPTER IX
FORTUNATUS WRIGHT 123
CHAPTER X
FORTUNATUS WRIGHT--_continued_ 135
CHAPTER XI
GEORGE WALKER 149
CHAPTER XII
GEORGE WALKER--_continued_ 171
SOME FRENCHMEN
CHAPTER XIII
JEAN BART 191
CHAPTER XIV
DU GUAY TROUIN 208
CHAPTER XV
JACQUES CASSARD 229
CHAPTER XVI
ROBERT SURCOUF 240
CONCERNING THE FRONTISPIECE 263
SOME AMERICANS
CHAPTER XVII
CAPTAIN SILAS TALBOT 269
CHAPTER XVIII
CAPTAIN JOSHUA BARNEY 282
CHAPTER XIX
CAPTAINS BARNEY AND HARADEN 299
CHAPTER XX
CAPTAIN THOMAS BOYLE 307
CHAPTER XXI
THE "GENERAL ARMSTRONG" 317
SOME MORE ODD YARNS
CHAPTER XXII
THE "PRINCESS ROYAL" PACKET 329
TWO COLONIAL PRIVATEERS 333
CHAPTER XXIII
THE AFFAIR OF THE "BONAPARTE" 341
CHAPTER XXIV
THE "WINDSOR CASTLE" PACKET 354
THE "CATHERINE" 357
THE "FORTUNE" 360
THE "THREE SISTERS" 362
CONCLUSION 364
INDEX 367
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
THE "INVENTION," FRENCH PRIVATEER _Frontispiece_
From a drawing by Commander E.P. Statham, R.N.
FACING PAGE
WILLIAM DAMPIER, THE FAMOUS CIRCUMNAVIGATOR 36
From a photograph by Emery Walker after the painting by
Thomas Murray in the National Portrait Gallery.
CAPTURE OF THE FRENCH EAST INDIAMEN "CARNATIC" BY
THE "MENTOR" PRIVATEER 114
By permission of the Library Committee of the
Corporation of Liverpool.
CAPTURE OF THE FRENCH ARMED SHIPS "MARQUIS D'ANTIN"
AND "LOUIS ERASME" BY THE "DUKE" AND "PRINCE
FREDERICK" PRIVATEERS 150
From an engraving by Ravenet after a painting by Brooking.
ACTION BETWEEN THE SPANISH 74-GUN SHIP "GLORIOSO"
AND THE "KING GEORGE" AND "PRINCE FREDERICK" OF
THE "ROYAL FAMILY" PRIVATEERS 182
From an engraving by Ravenet after a painting by Brooking.
JEAN BART, A FAMOUS FRENCH PRIVATEER CAPTAIN 202
From an engraving by J. Chapman.
RENE DUGUAY-TROUIN, A FAMOUS FRENCH PRIVATEER CAPTAIN 226
CAPTURE OF THE FRENCH PRIVATEER "JEUNE RICHARD" BY
THE "WINDSOR CASTLE" PACKET 356
From an engraving by William Ward after the painting by
S. Drummond, A.R.A.
INTRODUCTORY
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTORY
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 opponent of his own class, or even with
a well-equipped man-of-war, has always presented a romantic and
fascinating personality. Many thrilling tales, half truth, half fiction,
have been written about him; and if he has not infrequently been
confounded with his first cousin the pirate, it must be admitted that
for such confusion there is considerable justification. The privateer is
a licensed, the pirate an unlicensed, plunderer; but plunder, not
patriotism, being, as a rule, the motive of the former, it is not
perhaps surprising that, failing legitimate prey, he has sometimes
adopted, to a great extent, the tactics of the latter.
Before proceeding to give an account of some of these licensed rovers
and their adventures, let us consider for a moment or two the origin and
development of privateering; this will assist us in forming an
appreciation of the advantages and drawbacks of the system, and also of
the difficulties which presented themselves to an honest and
conscientious privateer captain--for such there have been, as we shall
see, though there are not too many who merit such terms.
It is not very easy to say when privateering was first inaugurated,
though it is pretty certain that the term "privateer" did not come into
use until well on in the seventeenth century; licensed rovers, or
private men-of-war, were known previous to this period by some other
title, such as "Capers"--from a Dutch word, "Kaper"--or "letters of
marque," the latter a very incorrect term, adopted through a loose
manner of speech, for a "letter of marque" is, strictly speaking, a very
different affair from a privateer; indeed, the application of such a
term to a ship is obviously absurd: to convert a piece of paper or
parchment with writing on it into a seaworthy vessel would be a
considerably more marvellous piece of conjuring than turning a pumpkin
into a carriage, as the good fairy did for the accommodation of
Cinderella.
There is no doubt that the employment of private vessels for the
purposes of war, and the granting of letters of marque, went on side by
side for a great number of years. From the earliest times, before the
Norman Conquest, there were hordes of sea-rovers who, entirely on their
own account, and solely for the purpose of plunder, infested the seas,
robbing without scruple or distinction every defenceless vessel they
encountered, and in many instances wantonly slaughtering the crews; they
would also, on occasion, make a descent upon the coast either of their
own or some adjacent country--they were quite impartial in this
respect--and sack the farms and dwellings within easy reach, retiring to
their vessels before any force could be assembled to deal with them. The
Danes, as we know, were particularly handy at this kind of thing, and
gave us no little trouble.
Nobody appears to have made any great effort to put down this piracy;
but sometimes it was convenient to enlist the services of some of these
hardy and adventurous ruffians against the enemies of the sovereign. In
the year 1049, for instance, that excellent monarch, Edward the
Confessor, finding the Danes very troublesome on the south coast, sent a
force, under Godwin, to deal with them; and we are told that it was
composed of "two king's ships, and forty-two of the people's ships";
these latter being, no doubt, a collection of--let us hope--the less
villainous of these sea-rovers, hardy and skilful seamen, and desperate
fighters when it came to the point.
Nearly two hundred years later, in 1243, King Henry III. issued regular
patents, or commissions, to certain persons, seamen by profession, "to
annoy the king's enemies by sea or land wheresoever they are able," and
enjoined all his faithful subjects to refrain from injuring or hindering
them in this business; the condition being that half the plunder was to
be given to the king, "in his wardrobe"--that is, his private purse--and
it is quite probable that both the king and the recipients of his
commission made a nice little profit out of it.
This is a genuine instance of what was known later as privateering; and
it will be noticed that the "king's enemies" are specified as the only
persons against whom the commission holds good; in other words, such a
commission can have no significance, nor indeed can it be issued, in
time of peace or against any friendly Power. This is an essential
characteristic of privateering: it can only be carried on when a state
of war exists, and the fitting out of a privateer to attack the subjects
of any sovereign would in itself be an act of war.
Now let us see what is meant by a letter of marque; there is a good
instance on record at the end of the thirteenth century, in the reign of
Edward I.
One Bernard D'Ongressill, a merchant of Bayonne--at that time a portion
of the realm of the King of England--in the year 1295, was making a
peaceful, and, as he hoped, a profitable voyage from Barbary to England,
in his ship the _St. Mary_, with a cargo of almonds, raisins, and figs;
unfortunately he encountered heavy weather, and was compelled to run
into Lagos--a small sea-port at the south-west corner of Portugal which
affords secure shelter from westerly gales--and, while he was waiting
for the weather to moderate, there came from Lisbon some armed men, who
robbed D'Ongressill of the ship, cargo, and the private property of
himself and his crew, and took the whole of their spoil to Lisbon. The
King of Portugal very unscrupulously appropriated one-tenth of the
plunder, the remainder being divided among the robbers.
The unhappy victim at once applied for redress to the king's
representative, Sir John of Brittany, Lieutenant of Gascony,
representing that he had lost some L700, and requesting that he might be
granted letters of marque against the Portuguese, to take whatever he
could from them, until he had made up his loss. This was conceded, and
authority bestowed to "seize by right of marque,[1] retain, and
appropriate the people of Portugal, and especially those of Lisbon and
their goods, wheresoever they might be found," for five years, or until
he had obtained restitution. This was dated in June: but the king's
ratification was necessary, and this caused some delay, as Edward was at
that time shut up in a Welsh castle; however, he was able in October to
confirm the licence; but he added the proviso that if D'Ongressill took
more than L700 worth from the Portuguese, he would be held answerable
for the balance.
This is an excellent example of the form and import of a letter of
marque; and it will be noticed that England was not at war with
Portugal, nor did the issue of this letter of marque constitute an act
of war; it was, in fact, a licence to a private individual to recover by
force from the subjects of another sovereign the goods of which he had
been despoiled; the practice dates back, certainly, to the early part of
the twelfth century, and probably further; and it was in use in England
until the time of Charles II., or later. The one condition, not
mentioned in the case of D'Ongressill, was that letters of marque should
not be granted until every effort had been made to obtain a peaceful
settlement; representations may, however, have been made to the King of
Portugal; but if, as stated by D'Ongressill, he had pocketed a tithe of
the spoil, one can imagine that there might be some difficulty in the
matter; the possession of one-tenth would naturally appear, in the eyes
of his Majesty of Portugal, to constitute nine points of the law!
The application of the term letter of marque to vessels which were in
reality privateers has caused a good deal of confusion; some naval
historians of great repute have fallen into error over it, one of them,
for instance, alluding to the commissions granted by Henry III., in
1243, as the "first recorded instance of the issue of letters of
marque"; rather an inexcusable mistake, from which the present reader is
happily exempt.
While guarding, in this explanation, against such confusion of terms, we
must, notwithstanding, accept the ultimate adoption of it; and so we
shall find included among our privateers and their commanders some who
were quite improperly described as letters of marque, and one, at least,
who may correctly be thus designated, but who, as an interesting example
of a sort of privateering at an early period, appears to deserve
mention.
The bearer of a letter of marque--or "mart," as it was constantly termed
by writers and others of that class of persons who never will take the
trouble to pronounce an unusual word properly--came to be adopted as the
type of a sort of swashbuckler--a reckless, bullying individual, armed
with doubtful credentials in the pursuit of some more or less
discreditable object: allusion of this nature is made more than once by
Beaumont and Fletcher in their plays, as well as by other writers.
The immense value of a fleet of privateers, more especially to a country
opposed to another possessing a large mercantile marine, is obvious, and
their use developed very rapidly.
By the middle of the sixteenth century the fitting out of vessels by
corporations and individuals, for their own protection and the "annoying
of the king's enemies" with the further advantage of substantial gains
by plunder, was clearly recognised, for we find King Henry VIII., in the
year 1544, remonstrating with the Mayor and burgesses of Newcastle,
Scarborough, and Hull for their remissness in this respect. He points
out what has been done elsewhere, especially in the west parts, "where
there are twelve or sixteen ships of war abroad, who have gotten among
them not so little as L10,000"; and adds: "It were over-burdensome that
the king should set ships to defend all parts of the realm, and keep the
narrow seas withal."
In the American and French wars of the eighteenth and early part of the
nineteenth centuries there were literally thousands of privateers
engaged. It would appear as though almost every skipper and shipowner
incontinently applied, upon declaration of war, for a commission, or
warrant, or letter of marque--no matter what it was called; the main
thing was to get afloat, and have a share in what was going.
Valuable as have been the services of privateers, at various periods, as
auxiliaries to the Navy, there is an obvious danger in letting loose
upon the seas a vast number of men who have never had any disciplinary
training, and whose principal motive is the acquisition of wealth--is,
in fact, officially recognised as such; and although there existed
pretty stringent regulations, amended at various times as occasion
demanded, covering the mode of procedure to be adopted before the
prize-money could be paid, these laws were constantly evaded in the most
flagrant manner. Even the most honourable and well-disposed privateer
captain was liable at any moment to find himself confronted by the
alternatives of yielding to the demands of his rapacious crew for
immediate and unlawful division of the spoil, or yet more lawless
capture of an ineligible vessel, and personal violence, perhaps death,
to himself; and the ease with which an unarmed vessel, overhauled within
the silent circle of the horizon, unbroken by the sails of a solitary
witness, could be compelled, whatever her nationality, upon some flimsy
excuse to pay toll, frequently proved too strong a temptation to be
resisted.
There is abundant evidence of the notoriety of such unlawful doings; Sir
Leoline Jenkins, Judge of the High Court of Admiralty in the reign of
Charles II., says, in a letter to Secretary Williamson: "I see that your
embarrass hath been much greater about our Scotch privateers. The truth
is, I am much scandalised at them in a time of war; they are, in my poor
judgment, great instruments to irritate the king's friends, to undo his
subjects, and none at all to profit upon the enemy; but it will not be
remedied. The privateers in our wars are like the _mathematici_ in old
Rome: a sort of people that will always be found fault with, but still
made use of."
Von Martens, a great authority upon maritime law, is equally
plain-spoken: "Pirates have always been considered the enemies of
mankind, and proscribed and punished accordingly. On the contrary,
privateers are encouraged to this day (1801), notwithstanding all the
complaints of neutral Powers, of which they are the scourge; and
notwithstanding all their excesses, which it has been in vain attempted
to suppress by ill-observed laws."
Admiral Vernon, in 1745, while acknowledging the services of privateers
in distressing the enemy's trade and bringing an addition of wealth into
the country, deprecates their employment on the ground of the general
tendency to debauch the morals of our seamen, by substituting greed of
gain for patriotism[2]; and Lord Nelson, in 1804, says: "The conduct of
all privateers is, as far as I have seen, so near piracy that I only
wonder any civilised nation can allow them."
This is a sorry story of the privateer, and tends to discount sadly the
romantic element so commonly associated with him. This is not a romance,
however, and, having thus cleared the ground, we must be content to take
the privateer, like Kipling's "Absent-minded Beggar," as we find him;
and, by way of consolation and reward for our ingenuousness, we shall
come across privateersmen whose skill, gallantry, and absolute integrity
of conduct would do credit to many a hero of the Royal Navy.
The almost universal practice which prevailed in former times, of arming
merchant vessels, particularly in certain trades, as a protection
against pirates and privateers, has led to a considerable amount of
misunderstanding. There are many instances upon record of spirited and
successful defence, even against a very superior force, on the part of
these armed traders, which have frequently been cited as privateer
actions. These vessels, however, carried no warlike commission, and must
not therefore be included in this category. Captain Hugh Crow, of
Liverpool, who was engaged for many years in the West African slave
trade, is a case in point. He fought some severe actions, upon one
occasion with two British sloops-of-war, which he mistook in the dark
for French privateers; the error being reciprocal, they pounded away at
each other in the darkness, and it was not until Crow, after a desperate
and most creditable resistance, was compelled at length to surrender,
that victors and vanquished discovered their error: a very remarkable
incident. Captain Crow was a shining light, in those unhappy slaving
times, by reason of his humanity and integrity, and was beloved by the
negroes from Bonny to Jamaica, where he landed so many cargoes.
Some celebrities of the sea have also been erroneously styled
privateers; among others, the notorious Paul Jones, and Captain Semmes,
of _Alabama_ fame. Jones was a renegade, being a Scotsman by birth, and
his proper name John Paul; but he fought under a regular commission from
the United States, and was subsequently accorded the rank of
Rear-Admiral in the Russian service. It must be admitted, however, that
his conduct afforded some grounds for the appellation of "Paul Jones the
Pirate," by which he was sometimes known; but he was a consummate
seaman, and a man of infinite courage and resource.
Semmes was also employed as a commissioned naval officer by the
Confederate States, in the Civil War of 1860; and though he was classed
at first as a "rebel" by the Northerners, and threatened with a pirate's
fate if captured, the recognition of the Confederates as a belligerent
State by foreign Powers had already rendered such views untenable.
It appears desirable to allude to these instances, in order to
anticipate a possible question as to the exclusion of such famous seamen
from these pages.
There is also considerable confusion among authors as to the distinction
between a pirate and a privateer, some of them being apparently under
the impression that the terms are synonymous, while others, through
imperfect knowledge of the details and ignorance of international law,
have classed as pirates men who did not merit that opprobrious title,
and, on the other hand, have placed the "buccaneers"--who were sheer
pirates--in the same category as legitimate privateers.
For instance, Captain Woodes Rogers, of whom we shall have a good deal
to say later on, is alluded to by one writer as "little more than a
pious pirate," and by another simply as a pirate, bent upon "undisguised
robbery"; whereas he was, in fact, more than once in serious conflict
with his crew, upon the occasion of their demanding the capture and
plunder of a ship which he was not entitled to seize--and, moreover, he
had his own way.
There have been, no doubt, and with equal certainty there will be,
incidents in warfare which afford very unpleasant reading, and in which
the aggressors appear to have been unduly harsh and exacting, not to say
cruel, towards defenceless or vanquished people; but that does not prove
that they were not within their rights, and to impugn the conduct of an
individual from a hastily and perhaps ignorantly adopted moral
standpoint, at the expense of the legal aspect of the matter, must
obviously involve the risk of gross injustice. War is a very terrible
thing, and is full of terrible incidents which are quite inevitable, and
the rough must be taken with the smooth--if you can find any smooth!
It is an axiom of international law that, when two nations are at war,
every subject of each is at war with every subject of the other; and, in
view of this fact, it appears extremely doubtful whether any merchant
vessel is not at liberty to capture one of the other side, if she be
strong enough. It is, in fact, laid down by Sir Travers Twiss, a high
authority, that if a merchant vessel, attacked by one of the enemy's
men-of-war, should be strong enough to turn the tables, she would be
entitled to make a prize of her: an unlikely incident, of course.
It is unnecessary, however, to enter upon further discussion of this
subject, which would involve us in very knotty problems, upon some of
which the most accomplished authorities are still at variance, and which
would afford very indifferent entertainment for the reader, who will now
turn over the page and follow the fortunes of our privateers--which will
be found by no means devoid of interest, in spite of strict adherence to
the plain unvarnished truth.
[Footnote 1: Sir Harris Nicolas, in his "History of the Royal Navy,"
interprets the Latin word _marcare_ (or _marchare_) "to mark," and, in
referring to this incident, says that Bernard was accorded the right of
"_marking_ the men and subjects of the King of Portugal," etc. It is
curious that so diligent and accomplished a chronicler should have
fallen into this error. The verb _marcare_, as he would have discovered
by reference to the "Glossarium" of Du Cange, the learned French
archaeologist, was in fact a bit of "law Latin," coined for a purpose;
that is, to express in one word the rights conceded by a letter of
marque; it will not be found in any ordinary Latin dictionary. The grant
of a licence to "mark" the subjects of some monarch, and their goods,
is, indeed somewhat of an absurdity--clearly, the "marker" would first
have to catch the men and their possessions!]
[Footnote 2: In an original letter formerly in the possession of the
late Sir William Laird Clowes, quoted by him in "The Royal Navy."]
TWO EARLY INCIDENTS