Major difference between a pirate, a privateer, and a member of a  
uniformed navy. A pirate is operating entirely on his, or her, own. A  
privateer has been granted a letter of marque and reprisal, and by law  
is acting as a naval auxiliary. While technically a captured  
privateer's crew were supposed to be treated a POWs, they were often  
hung as pirates.

Privateers fight for a country and, at least in theory, only attack  
ships (and sometimes towns) belonging to their country's enemies. The  
lines did become blurred at times. A number of pirates, like Morgan,  
went straight. Some privateers decided there was not enough loot to be  
had only attacking the enemy, and attacked pretty much everything,  
thus becoming pirates. After all you could literally get away with  
murder as long as no one found out. Sir Francis Drake and "The  
Seahawks" are a bit more difficult to pin down. While Spain and  
Britain were not at war, Queen Elizabeth was a willing (albeit often  
silent) partner in numerous expeditions that resulted in the sacking  
of Spanish towns and capture of Spanish ships.

Prior to and during what is called the Quasi War with France  
(1798-1800), vessels in the French Navy and "privateers" seized  
hundreds of American ships, primarily in the Caribbean. This was an  
extra-legal proceeding as we were not at was with France. The French  
took umbrage at the US not siding with them against the British during  
the French Rev and Napoleonic era. The US sent warships and revenue  
cutters to halt the attacks. And the French suffered a number of  
defeats including the loss of warships. A treaty was signed 30 Sept.  
1800.

While the British probably considered John Paul Jones a pirate, one  
needs to be careful about accepting their statements. After all we  
were in rebellion and thus could not have either a legal navy nor  
issue letters of marque and reprisal. At lest that was the British  
view. The French, Spanish, Americans, and others felt differently. And  
"American" ships were allowed to freely enter a number of ports in  
Europe and around the world. At the time of his famous battle JP Jones  
was sailing legally, at least as far as the Continental Congress was  
concerned, as a member of the "US" Navy and in a ship provided by the  
French.

On Nov 2, 2008, at 4:49 PM, Sharon Peery wrote:

> This strikes me as anachronistic.  Sir Francis Drake was
> a pirate too, you know.  One of the ways early govern-
> ments dealt with insufficient funds to create an adequate
> navy was to issue letters of marque and to set the whole
> thing up as a free enterprise.  ( With all of the private  
> contractors presently operating in Iraq, we seem to be returning to  
> that era.)
>
> As for Nat Turner, Gabriel etc., just how were slaves
> who objected to slavery supposed to respond?  There
> were certainly no legal routes for them to pursue, and
> they sometimes responded with what seems to us
> "mindless violence," in the great tradition of the European peasant  
> uprisings.  I too am a fan of Douglas
> Egerton's book on Gabriel's rebellion, and it should be
> noted that Mr. Egerton contends that Gabriel was very
> much influenced by the rhetoric of the Jeffersonian
> party around the 1800 elections.
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Anne Pemberton" <[log in to unmask] 
> >
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Sunday, November 02, 2008 1:28 PM
> Subject: Re: [VA-HIST] Nat Turner Rebellion

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