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The 14-gun privateer brig Grand Turk of Salem saluting Marseilles in 18 12, a painting by Ant Roux au Marseille in 1815. (Courtesy of The Peabody Museum of Salem)
which succeeded in taking a total of 1,344 prizes. At a time when the regular American Navy was reduced to only a few
At a time when the regular American Navy was reduced to only a few vessels, no British shipping was safe from privateers. vessels, no British shipping was safe from privateers. The low , fast schooners, known as " Baltimore clippers," were particularly successful. The most famous of these was the Chasseur, which captured 20 vessels in the English Channel. Although he commanded only a single vessel, the Chasseur's captain Thomas Boyle, sent a paroled pri soner ashore with a proclamation to be posted on the bulletin at Lloyd 's of London stating: "I do, therefore, by virtue of the power and authority in me vested (possessing sufficient force), decl are all the ports, harbors, bays, creeks, rivers, inlets, outlets, islands, and seacoast of the United Kingdom of Great Brita in and Ire land in a state of strict and rigorous blockade." When seven warships were sent to chase it off, the Chasseur outran six of them and outfought the seventh . Throughout the war, the Chasseur took 30 pri zes including the 15-gun naval schooner St. Lawrence. Other famous raiders of the War of 18 12 included the 14gun , I 15-man Yankee of Bristol , Rhode Island , which took 40 prizes valued at between three and fi ve million dollars; the 13gun , 120-man Rossie from Baltimore, which in one ninety day period took four ships, eight brigs, three schooners, and three sloops, with a total value of approximately $ 1,500,000; and the 4-gun , 90-man schooner General Armstrong of New York, famed for its attack on a powerful British naval squadron in the SEA HISTORY 59, AUTUMN 199 1
harbor of Fayal in the Azores . By 18 14, American privateers had captured so many British vessels that merchants in three English ports and in the West Indies were petitioning the ir government to negoti ate. As Lord Eldon pointed out, the Americans could keep thi s up forever since, unlike most war efforts, it was turning a profit. A multitude of changes which occurred throughout the nineteenth century eventually rendered the practice of issuing Letters of Marque and Reprisal obsolete. The Declaration of Paris of 1856, ending the Crimean War, abolished privateering as a lawful means of warfare among its signatory nati ons. The United States, however, declined to join in the agreementthe then Secretary of State, William L. Marcy, explaining that to do so wo uld place the United States, with its small navy and large merchant marine, at a serious disadvantage in a war with a great power. Despite thi s stance, by the 1860's the practice of priv ateering had effectively come to an end . During the American Civil War, earl y Southern efforts at pri vateering proved for the most part to be unprofitable. The European powers had already closed their ports to privateers and the ir prizes, and the Union blockade made it impossible for them to send pri zes into Confederate ports. As a result, privateering was soon abandoned in favor of the more lucrative business of blockade-running. When the Spanish American War broke out a half century later, both Spain and the United States quick ly announced that they wo uld not authorize privateering. Although merchant ships and seamen would continue to play an important role in America 's defense efforts, their participation would never again occur under the legal auspices of Letters of Marque and Reprisal. D 27