Resources on American privateering

[DBorgens]

Hello,

Number two son (25) asked if I have any nautical history books about American privateering. Since I don’t have any, and MSW is such a great resource, I’m asking for him.

 

So please, what good books are out there?

 

Thanks,

Dave B

[jwvolz]

The Search for Speed Under Sail and The Baltimore Clipper, It's Origin and Development both by Howard Chapelle have a good bit about American Privateer craft. 

 

Not a book, but the April issue of Naval History has a focus on War of 1812 privateers. 

[flying_dutchman2]

Dave;

 

There is so much out there on that particular subject. I am giving you 2 sites where you can see where the interest lies.

 

My first site on what I research is https://archive.org This is a site where all the books are FREE, there is no copyright infringement. The books are 100 or more years old. As my field is Dutch ships I have found a slew of information/books on Dutch ship building. I looked up privateering and below is the page.

https://archive.org/search.php?query=american%20privateering

 

http://www.archives.gov/

http://search.archives.gov/query.html?qt=privateering&submit=GO&col=1arch&col=social&qc=1arch&qc=social

 

Marc

[MEDDO]

The Search for Speed Under Sail and The Baltimore Clipper, It's Origin and Development both by Howard Chapelle have a good bit about American Privateer craft. 

 

Not a book, but the April issue of Naval History has a focus on War of 1812 privateers. 

 

 

I just received my copy of The Baltimore Clipper today from amazon.  So far it looks very interesting.  Will look up the Search for Speed when I get a chance.

[DBorgens]

Joe,

Thank you very much for the Chapelle titles and article.

 

Marc, thank you for the links. At a glance, they lead to some good reading.

 

I will pass both along to Michael.

 

Dave B

[russ]

I did a very quick search and one title seemed to stand out.

 

Patriot Pirates: the privateer war for freedom and fortune in the American Revolution by Robert H. Patton, published in 2008.

 

There are surely many more titles out there, but this is one that seems to catch the search engines.

 

Russ

[DBorgens]

Thank you Russ. I appreciate your recommendation as I think he is interested in the history more than the pure nautical research.

 

Dave B

[russ]

Dave:

Although only loosely associated with American privateering, the book Ben Franklin's Privateers by William Bell Clark is a good read and a well researched book. It covers privateers supervised by Franklin while he was our minister to the court of France during the Revolution. I have read this book and I can personally recommend it.

 

Russ

[trippwj]

For more academic reading, there is Carl E. Swanson - Privateering in Early America International Journal of Maritime History December 1989 1: 253-278, http://ijh.sagepub.com/content/1/2/253.citation

 

Dan Conlin - Privateer Entrepot: Commercial Militarization in Liverpool, Nova Scotia, 1793-1805 The Northern Mariner/Le Marin du nord, VIII, No. 2 (April 1998), 21-38. http://www.cnrs-scrn.org/northern_mariner/indices/index_vol_8_e.html

 

 

[uss frolick]

Also the following:

 

"The Republics Private Navy: The American Privateering Business as Practiced by Baltimore during the War of 1812" by Jerome R. Garitee, Mystic Seaport, Wesleyan University Press, 1977.

 

"Tidewater Triumph: The Development and Worldwide Success of the Chesapeake Bay Pilot Schooner." by Goeffrey M. Footner. Tidewater Press Centerville, MD, 1998.

 

As far as plans are concerned, Chapelle's "The Search for Speed Under Sail" is the best.

Edited April 26, 2014 by uss frolick

[Stevinne]

I found A history of American privateers by Edgar Maclay to be a really comprehensive, and readable, look at the exploits of privateers from the revolution and the War of 1812. I think it's an old book, so you can probably find it for free somewhere if you have an ereader.

[uss frolick]

Edgar Stanton Maclay's book is very good, but hard to find, it being Victorian. Very readable.

[michaelpsutton2]

Maybe not "American" but definitely "the Americas" : Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean: "How a generation of swashbuckling Jews carved out an empire in the New World" by Kritzler.

 

It was a good read and something that I knew nothing about.

 

[Guest Tim I.]

Not a book, but also a good place to start. They cite a great deal of original sources as well as having copies of them.

 

http://www.1812privateers.org/United%20States/EmmonsPQR.htm 

 

- Tim