Before the Revolutionary War began, the Continental Congress showed little interest in creating a navy for the new nation (Nelson 62). Congress was reluctant to provide the funds necessary to buy or build ships, purchase supplies, or pay sailors to crew the ships. However, when the Revolution began, Congress realized that it was important for American ships to patrol the new nation's shores, especially because the British naval force was the strongest at the time (Frayler ). The Americans therefore turn to racing. Privateer ships were private vessels and resembled pirate ships. Unlike pirates, privateers were authorized by the government to attack ships owned by an enemy. Privateers during the Revolution financially benefited sailors and colonists and aided the Continental Army by providing supplies. American privateers, commissioned by the Continental Congress and the colonies, played an important role in the development of the United States and the outcome of the Revolutionary War. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Beginning in 1775, shortly after the start of the Revolutionary War, the Continental Congress and individual colonies began recruiting privateers (Konstam 148). In November 1775, the Massachusetts General Court approved "an act to encourage the recovery of Amed's ships" (Patton 27). This law allowed citizens to “equip any vessel to navigate the seas, attack, capture, and bring into any port of this colony all vessels offensive to or employed by the enemy” (qtd. in Patton 27). Additionally, it outlined the proper procedure for obtaining commissions and establishing prize courts to distribute captured wealth. The Continental Congress passed a law on March 23, 1776, which formalized the ordering process and established rules of conduct for privateers (Frayler). The law required owners of privateer ships to post monetary bonds to verify that they would comply with Congressional regulations. (Frayler). Commission requests required the applicant to provide a sum of money of up to $10,000 as a promise to treat the captives with “the greatest humanity and tenderness” (Patton 98). Applicants were required to pay $5,000 if the ship weighed less than 100 tons and $10,000 if it was larger (Kuhl 86). In another law, passed on April 3, 1776, Congress issued instructions to the commanders of privateer ships. The Act authorized commanders to "by force of arms, attack, subdue and take all ships and other vessels belonging to the inhabitants of Great Britain on the high seas" and "by force of arms, attack, subdue and take all ships and other vessels carrying soldiers, arms, gunpowder, ammunition, stores or other contraband goods, to any of the British armies or ships of war employed against those colonies” (quoted in the Salem Maritime National Historic Site). Massachusetts law suggested that any ship could become a privateer (Patton 27). Although this quickly increased the number of privateers on the seas, it allowed ships of all conditions to become privateer ships. When Washington, a large continental schooner, was captured by the British, the Royal Navy deemed her unfit for sea or war, suggesting that not all privateer ships were in the best condition when commissioned (Patton 32-33).The physical condition of a vessel is important, but so is its size. The largest ship was the Caesar, a 600-ton, 26-gun ship, and the smallest was the 8-ton Defense (Frayler). The most common ships were two-masted schooners and brigantines. By early 1776, ships of all sizes were sailing the Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea, and the Canadian coast (Konstam 148). In order to become a privateer, the ship's owner had to receive a letter of marque and retaliation. These documents promised that the porters would not be prosecuted as pirates by their country of origin (History Channel). If a ship attacked another ship but did not have a letter of marque, the attackers were considered pirates and could be hanged for their crimes (Kuhl 12). Letters of marque provided additional protection to the bearer as they ensured that captured privateers would be treated as prisoners of war rather than criminals by the foreign nation (History Channel). Documentation from this era is incomplete, but approximately 1,700 letters of marque were provided for each voyage to the revolutionary privateers (Frayler). Although the letters of marque were intended to protect privateers, the promises made by Congress were never fully fulfilled. because the British passed the Pirate Act in March 1777 (Patton 34). Under this law, privateers were considered pirates and were denied both due process in British courts and the ability to exchange prisoners. As a result, many captured American privateers were imprisoned and had only three options for getting out: join the Royal Navy, escape, or die. Even before the passage of the Pirate Act, the British often treated their prisoners poorly (Kuhl 43). However, it should be noted that many British citizens disagreed with the poor conditions American privateers were subjected to and many opponents described the Pirate Act as "cruel, persecuting" and "shocking to the humanity” (quoted in Patton 142). In December 1777, about a hundred Londoners got together and raised £1,300 to allocate to American prisoners so that they could purchase goods that would not otherwise be available to them (Patton 143-144). Three members of the House of Lords also contributed financially to the cause and charities and churches donated food and other supplies. The risk of being captured, imprisoned, or killed did not deter sailors and citizens from rushing to become privateers. Men continued to join privateer ships because of the promise of riches. Although privateers received no compensation for their service other than the loot they stole from British ships, many men signed up to become privateers because they could quickly earn a large sum of money (Konstam 148) . Privateering was so lucrative that it was possible for a man to earn more money in a month as a privateer than he could earn in another activity in an entire year (Patton XVII). There is at least one known example of a sailor, Joseph Peabody, who rose from simple deckhand to privateer investor by participating in just nine voyages between 1777 and 1783 (Patton 115). In August 1776, John Adams observed: “Thousands of privateer projects float in the American imagination. From these speculations many unsuccessful and some profitable projects will arise” (qtd. in Patton 113). When a ship was captured by privateers, it was usually taken to a friendly port (Kuhl 33). The crews of a privateertended to be larger than normal, as some of the crew had to board the captured ship and sail it. Goods captured by privateers, called prizes, were usually subject to judgment by an admiralty court (Kuhl 12). The admiralty court decided whether the captors were eligible for payment and whether they had followed the correct protocols (Kuhl 87). In order to receive payment, the prize had to arrive at the port with the correct documents and the entire cargo; he must have been captured from an enemy; and prisoners could not be harmed and their personal belongings could not be confiscated. However, in some cases of extreme necessity, supplies could be sent to the army without being charged (Patton 120). In the case of the cargo ship Lively, the shipment of clothing and blankets was sent directly to American troops, and the kidnappers did not receive payment for the supplies, which were estimated to be worth £25,000. When the admiralty court decided that the crew had followed the correct protocols, the prize would then be auctioned and the crew would be paid (Patton 121). Once paid, privateers tended to split the payment equally between crew and owners (Kuhl 51). In some cases, when the military bid for supplies, the public sometimes refrained from bidding (Patton 121). Although this saved the government money, it reduced the payment the crew would receive. Once the auction ended, the winning bidder was usually required to immediately pay five percent of the purchase price (Patton 118). In its early days, the revolutionary race was a disaster. The first privateer ship, the Hannah, would cause many problems for Congress (Nelson 87). The captain of the Hannah was reluctant to sail far from port and so he frequently seized merchant ships belonging to his fellow Americans (Patton 30). The first ship Hannah captured was Unity, a continental transport owned by a congressman. Although the Unity was captured by the British, Hannah's crew received no payment for retaking the transport ship. As a result, thirty-six angry crew members mutinied and were punished when the mutiny was finally brought under control (Patton 31). The next seven ships captured by Hannah were also American-owned, and damages were to be paid from continental funds for goods stolen by the crew members. Another early privateer ship, the Washington, captured only one legitimate prize (a load of hay) before being captured by the British after only eight days of service (Patton 32). Despite discouraging beginnings, not all privateering ventures were disastrous. Lee, a small schooner with a crew of 50 men, managed to capture Nancy, a transport ship four times the size of Lee (Patton 35). Despite the Nancy's size, Lee managed to capture the transport ship because the Nancy's crew was disoriented after riding out a storm and mistook the Lee for a Royal Navy ship. The British ship was loaded with valuable supplies: tons of ammunition, thousands of weapons, and a three-thousand-pound mortar were all seized for use by the Continental Army. The value of the cargo was estimated at between £10,000 and £30,000. In 1776, the continental schooner Franklin intercepted the three-hundred-ton British transport Hope (Patton 44). Hope carried numerous cannons and muskets as well as seventy-five tons of powder, making it the most valuable prize captured during the Revolution. When Hope and the cargo wereultimately sold at auction, they would sell for over $1.5 million (Patton 118). A Salem privateer ship named Rattlesnake captured over a million dollars in prizes in a single cruise (Konstam 148). The Connecticut Privateer Defense managed to capture two British transports, George and Annabella, as well as a third ship within a few days (Kuhl 41-42). Captured ships carried necessary equipment, including tent supplies, blankets, cooking utensils, clothing, as well as small arms and bayonets (Kuhl 44). Washington immediately demanded that these supplies be sent to the Continental Army stationed in New York. Sailors were not the only ones to profit from government-backed piracy against British fleets. Many ports, notably those of Salem, Baltimore, and particularly Boston, benefited from the privateers who operated off their coasts (Konstam 148). General Washington congratulated the Bostonians on "the valuable prizes which have recently been brought into your port." We need all your activity to increase our supplies by these means” (qtd. in Patton 107). Rhode Island also benefited, and approximately £300,000 worth of prizes were brought into Providence between April and November 1776 (Patton 91). Sailors on privateer ships often promised their future earnings to creditors as a means of settling their debts (Patton 79-80). ). If the sailor's income exceeded the amount of the debt, the agreement allowed the creditor to keep the difference. Investors made money by owning and trading shares of privateers (Patton 80). The value of these actions depended on the quality of the ship and the skill of the crew. A sixteenth of a share in a small privateer ship cost £56 during the war (Patton 91). Manufacturing companies in the colonies also benefited. A cannon company owned by the Brown family in Providence, Rhode Island, sold their cannons for £35 per ton (Patton 88). Congress ordered sixty twelve- and eighteen-pound cannons for their privateer ships and a former congressman ordered twenty-six cannons (Patton 89). However, because many of the guns manufactured by the Brown Company were restricted to private vessels who would pay up front and pay extra for the guns, customers like Congress had to wait a long time for their guns to be produced (Patton 90) . Although privateers aided the American cause by providing goods and weapons to the Continental Army, privateers had a drawback: privateers were privately owned, rather than owned by the navy or government, so they were not not required to fight enemy ships (Nelson 285). Although this helped maximize privateers' profits, it limited their usefulness in war. However, targeting merchant ships aided the revolutionary cause by putting financial pressure on English merchants (Kuhl 51). The Americans knew that if they harassed British merchants enough, they would in turn pressure Parliament and the king to end the war. The popularity of privateering also decreased the number of men fighting in the Continental Army (Patton 124). Navy sailors were particularly attracted to privateering and frequently deserted the Navy. While the Continental Navy offered many of the same benefits as privateering (such as a double prize share for the first sailor to spot an enemy ship and a triple share for the first sailor to board an enemy ship), the privateers had no regulations prohibiting curses and.