Picture Book of the Revolution's Privateers

Picture Book of the Revolution's Privateers PDF Author: C. Keith Wilbur
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 104

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Book Description
Examines the privateers who, in the absence of a real U.S. Navy, crippled British shipping to America during the Revolution.

Picture Book of the Revolution's Privateers

Picture Book of the Revolution's Privateers PDF Author: C. Keith Wilbur
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 104

Get Book Here

Book Description
Examines the privateers who, in the absence of a real U.S. Navy, crippled British shipping to America during the Revolution.

Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution

Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution PDF Author: Eric Jay Dolin
Publisher: Liveright Publishing
ISBN: 1631498266
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 432

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Book Description
Winner of the Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Naval Literature Winner of the Fraunces Tavern Museum Book Award A Massachusetts Center for the Book "Must-Read" Finalist for the New England Society Book Award Finalist for the Boston Authors Club Julia Ward Howe Book Award The bestselling author of Black Flags, Blue Waters reclaims the daring freelance sailors who proved essential to the winning of the Revolutionary War. The heroic story of the founding of the U.S. Navy during the Revolution has been told many times, yet largely missing from maritime histories of America’s first war is the ragtag fleet of private vessels that truly revealed the new nation’s character—above all, its ambition and entrepreneurial ethos. In Rebels at Sea, best-selling historian Eric Jay Dolin corrects that significant omission, and contends that privateers, as they were called, were in fact critical to the American victory. Privateers were privately owned vessels, mostly refitted merchant ships, that were granted permission by the new government to seize British merchantmen and men of war. As Dolin stirringly demonstrates, at a time when the young Continental Navy numbered no more than about sixty vessels all told, privateers rushed to fill the gaps. Nearly 2,000 set sail over the course of the war, with tens of thousands of Americans serving on them and capturing some 1,800 British ships. Privateers came in all shapes and sizes, from twenty-five foot long whaleboats to full-rigged ships more than 100 feet long. Bristling with cannons, swivel guns, muskets, and pikes, they tormented their foes on the broad Atlantic and in bays and harbors on both sides of the ocean. The men who owned the ships, as well as their captains and crew, would divide the profits of a successful cruise—and suffer all the more if their ship was captured or sunk, with privateersmen facing hellish conditions on British prison hulks, where they were treated not as enemy combatants but as pirates. Some Americans viewed them similarly, as cynical opportunists whose only aim was loot. Yet Dolin shows that privateersmen were as patriotic as their fellow Americans, and moreover that they greatly contributed to the war’s success: diverting critical British resources to protecting their shipping, playing a key role in bringing France into the war on the side of the United States, providing much-needed supplies at home, and bolstering the new nation’s confidence that it might actually defeat the most powerful military force in the world. Creating an entirely new pantheon of Revolutionary heroes, Dolin reclaims such forgotten privateersmen as Captain Jonathan Haraden and Offin Boardman, putting their exploits, and sacrifices, at the very center of the conflict. Abounding in tales of daring maneuvers and deadly encounters, Rebels at Sea presents this nation’s first war as we have rarely seen it before.

American Privateers of the Revolutionary War

American Privateers of the Revolutionary War PDF Author: Angus Konstam
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472836332
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 49

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Book Description
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.

Privateers of the Revolution

Privateers of the Revolution PDF Author: Donald Grady Shomette
Publisher: Schiffer + ORM
ISBN: 150730031X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 549

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Book Description
A narrative of the forgotten privateering war on the Jersey coast during the American Revolution Addresses the maritime conflict period 1775-1783 from both Patriot and Loyalist perspectives Reveals the hitherto untold account of the British “Death Ships” on which 11,000 died

Patriot Pirates

Patriot Pirates PDF Author: Robert H. Patton
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307390551
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
In this lively narrative history, Robert H. Patton, grandson of the World War II battlefield legend, tells a sweeping tale of courage, capitalism, naval warfare, and international political intrigue set on the high seas during the American Revolution. Patriot Pirates highlights the obscure but pivotal role played by colonial privateers in defeating Britain in the American Revolution. American privateering-essentially legalized piracy-began with a ragtag squadron of New England schooners in 1775. It quickly erupted into a massive seaborne insurgency involving thousands of money-mad patriots plundering Britain's maritime trade throughout Atlantic. Patton's extensive research brings to life the extraordinary adventures of privateers as they hammered the British economy, infuriated the Royal Navy, and humiliated the crown.

Hannah Pritchard

Hannah Pritchard PDF Author: Bonnie Pryor
Publisher: Enslow Publishers, Inc.
ISBN: 0766028518
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 162

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Book Description
After her parents and brother are killed by Loyalists, fourteen-year-old Hannah leaves their farm and eventually, disguised as a boy, joins a pirate ship that preys on other ships to get supplies for the American Revolution.

Privateers & Pirates 1730–1830

Privateers & Pirates 1730–1830 PDF Author: Angus Konstam
Publisher: Osprey Publishing
ISBN: 9781841760162
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Following the pirate scourge of the early 18th century, many sea captains took to privateering as a means of making money. A form of nationally sponsored piracy, it reached its peak during the American Revolution (1763-1776), when the fledgling American navy had to rely on privateers to disrupt British shipping between England and the rebellious colonies. Following peace in 1815, many former privateers turned to piracy, spawning the last great piratical wave, which would last for a decade. The world of these privateers and latter-day pirates comes vividly to life in this detailed exploration of their ships, crews, ports and battle tactics.

Cape May Navy, The: Delaware Bay Privateers in the American Revolution

Cape May Navy, The: Delaware Bay Privateers in the American Revolution PDF Author: J.P. Hand & Daniel P. Stites
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 1467137960
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
The Delaware Bay area was a pivotal battleground during the Revolutionary War. Follow along with this history of the Cape May Navy and its part in the War for Independence. The Delaware Bay during the Revolutionary War was vital for trade and home to a host of armed conflicts between British vessels and American privateers. Cape May County captains in their light, fast vessels captured dozens of British merchant ships off the Atlantic coast. At the Battle of Delaware Bay, Lieutenant Joshua Barney aboard the Hyder Ally overcame massive odds and defeated the British warship General Monk. Colonel Elijah Hand, local hero of the skirmish at Quinton's Bridge, took his military talents to the seas, where he dueled with Tory privateers. Still in his twenties, Yelverton Taylor captured the Triton with hundreds of Hessian soldiers on board. Authors James P. Hand and Daniel P. Stites chart the exciting history of the Cape May Navy in the War for Independence.

Chesapeake Bay Privateers in the Revolution

Chesapeake Bay Privateers in the Revolution PDF Author: Leonard Szaltis
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
ISBN: 146714178X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 1

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Book Description
During the American Revolution, the Eastern Shore was filled with both Patriots and Loyalists. Both sides attacked the other using privateers - pirates to their enemies. These enterprising locals plundered and pillaged, and motivated by profit, some even fought for both sides. The Chesapeake Bay was the site of one of the last and bloodiest naval battles of the Revolution, and privateers were instrumental in the eventual American victory in the war. Author Leonard Szaltis uses local records to bring these legendary Eastern Shoremen and their exploits to life.

Revolutions in the Atlantic World, New Edition

Revolutions in the Atlantic World, New Edition PDF Author: Wim Klooster
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 1479875953
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 261

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Book Description
Introduction: Empires at war -- Civil war in the British Empire : the American Revolution -- The war on privilege and dissension : the French Revolution -- From prize colony to black independence : the revolution in Haiti -- Multiple routes to sovereignty : the Spanish American revolutions -- The revolutions compared : causes, patterns, legacies