USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -privateer, privately owned armed vessel commissioned by a belligerent state to attack enemy ships, usually vessels of commerce. Privateering was carried on by all nations from the earliest times until the 19th century.

Detailed explanation-2: -Privateers. A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Because of the high level of piracy and impressment, merchant ships where armed. A sovereign or delegated authority issued commissions, also referred to as a letter of marque, during wartime.

Detailed explanation-3: -A privateer was a pirate with papers. As the name suggests, privateers were private individuals commissioned by governments to carry out quasi-military activities. They would sail in privately owned armed ships, robbing merchant vessels and pillaging settlements belonging to a rival country.

Detailed explanation-4: -Crews ranged from a few men in a whaleboat to more than 200 aboard a large, fully equipped privateer. Two-masted schooners and brigantines were most often used in privateering, reflecting the kind of vessels available to American seamen.

Detailed explanation-5: -A privateer is just like a pirate, except legal. Privateers are privately or company-owned ships that are hired, or at least encouraged by one government to prey upon another nation’s ships during times of war. Privateers must carry legal documents testifying that they’re operating within the rules of legal warfare.