Privateers

[davejack]

Is there anyone out there who knows whether there are any registers of Privateers who operated out of the UK.
I was told by a relative some 40 years ago that there had been a Privateer in the family but all of his paperwork was thrown away after he died.
The only possible connection that I have come across is a Thomas Godfordson who was a native of Wales and was a Mariner;he would have been born in the late 1700's.He was living in Sunderland when his children were born between 1806 and 1814.
Any help would be gratefully received
Dave

[stanmapstone]

Youy could search the National Archives http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/

There are many hits for privateer
Also http://www.nmm.ac.uk/server/show/conWebDoc.632
Stan

[Christopher]

Hang on a minute I haven't yet looked into British Privateers ... I've just spotted that mariners of the United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland (who were involved in a War with America in 1812) had to cope with American Privateers appearing in the English Channel and Irish Sea. The situation in many of the British seaports was chaotic to say the least. Frank Pierce Young has written a great article about "Privateering during the War of 1812" http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~haas/learningcenter/privateers.html

[gules]

If he served in the war of 1812 you might find some info at www.1812privateers.org

[Christopher]

The link I quoted in February doesn't work now.

Here's a link to a list of pirates, privateers, and buccaneers

http://pirateshold.buccaneersoft.com/pirates.php

[greenvalley]

Hi,

what exactly is the difference between a privateer, a pirate and a buccaneer?

I came across an ancestor who was a privateer from Nova Scotia who sailed between there and Jamaica in the Caribbean about 1780 and 1800 or there abouts. So what would he have been up to then?

Greenvalley

[Christopher]

Buccaneers were pirates who attacked Spanish and French shipping in the Caribbean Islands during the late 17th century. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bucaneer

Pirates are guys who commit a robbery at sea, or sometimes on the shore, without a commission from a sovereign nation (robbery with sovereign commission is privateering, and distinct from piracy). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate

Privateers had the backing of a sovereign naton. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privateer

[greenvalley]

Hi Christopher

thanks for the links.

Greenvalley