WORLD 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: -Two-masted schooners and brigantines were most often used in privateering, reflecting the kind of vessels available to American seamen.