PAST PRIVATEERING

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 73, 23 September 1914, Page 2

PAST PRIVATEERING

A LUCRATIVE INDUSTRY. " A century ago such a situation as the present would have set merchants all agog to secure letters of marque for their vessels," remarked a London Chronicle contributor when Europe went to war. "It was a license from the Crown authorising a private ship to wage war against and to capture any of the enemy's vessels. In those days of wooden walls a well-armed clipper or East Indiaman was almost a match for a frigate, but the aim of the privateer was to ravage the enemy's commerce. A lucrative pursuit it was, too. In one year Captain Fortunatus Wright captured sixteen ships worth £400,(300, while from one cruise in the Spanish Main the privateer Prince Frederick returned to Bristol with £750,000 in bar silver alone, and other valuable cargo. "The cost of fitting out a privateer ranged from £2000 to £10,000. The Crown chai-ged £41 17s 4d for the letter of marque, and paid £5 to every man on board during a successful action. Twenty per cent, of the value of the prizes went to the Treasury, and the remainder was divided in shares between the owners and the crew. A successful cruise meant wealth for all concerned, so that the ventures attracted the most „ hardbitten, dare-devil sailois to man the ship and hard-headed, calculating merchants to supply it." x