Existing comment:
Privateers:
At the outset of the war, Congress authorized the owners of fishing and other commercial vessels to install guns on their ships and "to cruise on the enemies of these United Colonies." Privateers were licensed predators, allowed to sell at auction the ships they captured and to keep the resulting "prize."
At times there were as many men abroad privateers as there were in the Continental army ashore. And because many privateers were inadequately armed, many more sailors than soldiers were taken prisoner by the British. |