Privateer Rhodes

The privateer Rhodes carried a crew of 90. Large crews helped privateers intimidate and overpower their prey, and provided crew for any ships captured. The Rhodes was built for speed and was heavily armed with 20 cannon. Still, it was captured on a cruise in the West Indies, sailed to England, renamed Barbadoes, and used against the American colonies until the end of the American Revolution.

Recruiting Broadside, 1776

This early advertisement was designed to recruit crewmen for the American privateer Washington. It was posted in Beverly, Massachusetts, in 1776. The Washington captured eight enemy vessels in the first year of the Revolution, but was captured itself by a British warship the following year.

Courtesy of the Beverly Historical Society & Museum

Privateer Commission, 1813

Signed by President James Madison in 1813, this form authorized the New Hampshire schooner Dart to “subdue, seize and take any armed or unarmed British vessel.” The U.S. Constitution gives Congress the authority to grant these commissions to private armed ships like the Dart. Privateers without proper authorization were often treated as pirates and hanged.

Press Warrant, 1794

This British Admiralty document authorized Capt. John Thomas Duckworth of HMS Orion to seize, or impress, as many men as he needed to man his vessel or “any other of His Majesty’s Ships.” Each man recruited this way was to receive one shilling as “Prest Money.”

Privateer Prince de Neufchatel

The Prince de Neufchatel was one of the most successful American privateers of the War of 1812. Its mostly American crew was augmented by 18 sailors from 11 different countries. In early 1814, the brig captured nine British vessels in the English Channel. In October, it survived a battle off New England with a much larger British frigate. Three British frigates finally captured the Prince in December 1814 and promptly sailed it back to England to have shipwrights copy the lines of the speedy vessel.

Articles of Agreement, 1814

This manuscript laid out terms between the owners and crew for a cruise of the privateer Prince de Neufchatel. The owners paid for all the initial armaments and provisions. The privateer was expected to replenish its needs from captured vessels. The owners received half of the proceeds from any vessels taken. The crew divided the other half by rank. The first two men to board an enemy ship earned six extra shares, while the loss of an arm or leg earned double the money.

The Warrior Captures the Hope, 1814

About 1814, Philadelphia artist Thomas Birch painted this action between the American privateer brig Warrior, right, and the British armed schooner Hope. The Hope was transporting a cargo of manufactured goods from Glasgow, Scotland, to Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Catalog of Prize Goods, 1814

Goods from captured ships—called “prizes”—were auctioned off by the local U.S. Marshal’s office. A one-page handbill was usually enough to list a ship’s goods. A printed catalog of auction items like this was rare.

Courtesy of the American Antiquarian Society

Catch Me Who Can

In this watercolor, an American privateer has mistaken the British warship Pylades as a potential prize. After the British sloop fired a shot, the American schooner fled, taunting the enemy with a flag that says, “Catch me who can.”

Courtesy of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich

English pistols, late 1700s

Gift of Dr. Richard Rathbun

Fells Point, early 1800s

The War of 1812 kept Baltimore shipyards busy. Since the early 1800s, the city had been building small, fast schooners such as pilot boats, which carried pilots familiar with local waters out to guide larger vessels in Chesapeake Bay. When war broke out, an area of Baltimore’s waterfront known as Fells Point began building slightly bigger schooners that could raid enemy shipping and outrun enemy blockades.

Courtesy of The Maryland Historical Society

Letter of Marque Schooner Lynx

Built at Baltimore by Peter Kemp, the Lynx carried six guns and a 40-man crew. In 1812, the owners received a letter of marque—the official authorization for a merchant vessel to take prizes as a privateer. The Lynx served less than a year before being captured. It was renamed the Mosquidobit, and joined the British blockade of Chesapeake Bay.