Course:History 344 Nasty Families/Calamities/Piracy vs privateering

Privateering vs Piracy

In the 16th and 17th century the profession of pirates and privateers became extremely popular, however it is very important for one to be familiar with the differences between the two professions. The confusion first occurred during the Elizabethan era since the word “privateer” was not coined until many decades after her reign. This does not suggest that privateers did not exist but rather they were referred to under a different context. The focal problem occurred when writers and authors of this time began writing historical documents and often confused privateers with pirates. Pirates were a much more independent group of people, who were characterized as people who robbed and plundered at sea without a commission from a recognized sovereign nation. “Privateers” on the other hand worked for the crown and carried “letters of reprisal” or “letters of marque” which gave specific instructions from their nation to apprehend all goods and cargo they encountered on their voyage.

Privateers and other seamen along with traders would be cautious and apprehensive towards pirates who did not abide by the customary laws of man. In some cases a privateer would convert to becoming a pirate, which makes documentation of events in history extremely difficult to decipher. Privateer and pirate crews were paid by means of shares in the ships and cargoes they captured, if any, and privateering often turned into piracy.Although many privateers would later become pirates by choice, given the strategic value of piracy, the state decided to classify both groups as independent from one another. If one attacked ships of a hostile nation for supposedly private purposes but with a mandate from one’s government, one counted as a “privateer”, authorized and fully justified by the state and pressing needs. Without such a mandate, one remained a pirate, even though the attacks carried out might be directed at the same ships, in the same manner and with the same concrete results. In a journal published in 1911, Violet Barbour explains that privateers sailing in the West Indies flourished openly, and almost respectably. She describes that enemies of Spain sailed under letters of marquee or reprisal which legally authorized them to seize Spanish ships, and goods. However different countries had different opinions about privateers than others. In Spain privateers were regarded as pirates, as in act they were; captured privateers were treated no more leniently then the robbers who could show no papers.If a privateer was caught by the Spanish, the Spanish were not interested in discovering if they were acting on their own accord or if they were instructed by the crown. Therefore any documents written by the Spanish during this era would have confused the two words/professions which ultimately leads to inaccurate historical data.