Pirates & Privateers

Everyone knows what a pirate is, but privateers are a little less understood. In this case, they were officially (government) sanctioned by a letter of marque which constituted a license to fit out an armed vessel and use it in the capture of enemy merchant shipping and to commit acts which would otherwise have considered piracy. This distinction would have meant very little to the merchant captain who was going to suffer losses of his personal possessions, cargo, ship…and in some cases his life!

Both privateering and piracy were common throughout the Atlantic Ocean and down into the West Indies during the age of sail making merchant voyages that much more treacherous above and beyond the dangers associated with storms, rocks and reefs, which could end a voyage tragically.

While we associate pirates with loot such as gold, silver and other valuable goods most ships were not carrying much, if any, of such things. The most common spoils were the general cargo in the hold and whatever personal items were in the possession of the captain, crew and passengers. While privateers were able to sail their trophy into the nearest friendly port and claim their prize, real pirates did not have such rights. In this case they were looking for things that could easily be removed from the vessel and that typically didn’t include the casks and crates in the hold.

As a result, pirates were actually much more likely to focus on the private possessions of the those aboard and whatever food and drink could be had. For this reason, the captain’s private stock of pickled oysters would have been high on the list of valuable provisions confiscated. This is not to say that they would have been overly happy with this prize, in fact the lack of valuables probably would have angered them, but all the more reason to take the victim’s food. And such luxuries would help fill the stomachs of the hungry pirates who were otherwise left with the typical shipboard fare.

Coincidentally, a flurry of privateering activity by the French cruising the West Indies targeting American Merchant ships during the Quasi Ware (1797 to 1801) coincides with period when the largest number of Thomas Commeraw made it successfully to Demerara. It is not clear if their successful arrival was due to timing, luck or the possibility that a very large number of these jars were shipped to the region during that time. However, given the activities of the French it is not unreasonable to think that fair number of New York oyster jars ended up in the hands of privateers to be enjoyed by the captain and officers. Given this threat of French attack in the Windward Islands and off South America, the fledgling American Navy provided escorts to our merchant ships sailing from Demerara in April of 1800.