Privateer

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A group of privateers in Batavia

A privateer is a private individual who engages in naval warfare on behalf of a government who issues them a permit called a letter of marque.

Description

As mercenaries of the sea, privateers are given legal permission to attack and plunder the naval vessels designated as enemies to the government that they serve. Commonly, these enemies are warships of states at war with the government or pirates, but the commission may also allow the privateers to target merchant vessels of the belligerent nation. In the eyes of their enemy, the actions of privateers may be indistinct from piracy in itself and have no legality.

The line between privateering and piracy can blur. The former is effectively piracy which is legally sanctioned by one government, and privateers who continue to operate after the letter of marque has expired or who attacks ships belonging to the client government immediately become pirates to all. The criminal lives of hundreds of Caribbean pirates during the Golden Age of Piracy originated in privateering.

History

Golden Age of Piracy

Before turning to piracy, the Welsh farmer Edward Kenway spent his days dreaming about an exciting life not as a pirate but as a privateer to his wife Caroline Scott. In particular, he dabbled in the idea of sailing against Spanish ships in the War of Spanish Succession, assuring Caroline that he would only be away for at most two years before returning with riches. When she wondered why he would not simply enlist with the Royal Navy, Edward asserted that the low wages of enlisted sailors were unfair and unsatisfactory to him, thus offering an insight into the motivations of privateers. After she left him in 1712 out of impatience for his idle fantasies, Edward travelled to the West Indies to seriously pursue his wish, determined to prove his worth.

Edward Thatch, Edward Kenway, and Benjaming Hornigold, three privateers-turned-pirates

Edward joined with other privateers like Benjamin Hornigold and Edward Thatch, the latter of whom would one day earn infamy as the pirate captain Blackbeard. When the 1713 Peace of Utrecht ended the war and with it, their commissions, the three suddenly found themselves unemployed. Their stories were echoed by hundreds of other privateers, like the notorious Charles Vane, who were left wanting for a livelihood and quickly returned to the only vocation that they knew. At Nassau, these men banded together and established a community that they dubbed the "Pirate Republic".

In response to the increased pirate activity in the West Indies, many governments elected to hire pirate hunters to bring the outlaws to justice. These privateers patrolled the Caribbean Sea in their distinctive black-and-red ships with crimson sails and would attack any pirate that had garnered enough notoriety.

Privateers were not active solely in the West Indies. In 1725, a group of privateers from Batavia, Dutch East Indies, were recruited by Jan van Aert, the Dutch East India Company's chief navigator, and Zhang to rescue the members of the Zhang Wei Union from an ambush by the East India Company and Admiral Zheng's fleet. Edward Kenway later recruited additional pirates and privateers from Batavia, who joined the Union's fleet and accompanied them to Indochina. There, they successfully defeated both the East India Company's and Zheng's fleets, which had formed a blockade around the peninsula to prevent the Union from reaching the mainland and finding the Forgotten Temple.

Seven Years' War

The Colonial Templars aboard the HMS Pembroke during the Siege of Louisbourg

During the Seven Years' War, many Assassins and Templars operated as privateers on behalf of the French and Royal Navies, respectively. Most notably, the Templar Shay Cormac participated in a number battles alongside the Royal Navy, including the Siege of Louisbourg and the Battle of Quiberon Bay, where his ship, the Morrigan, played a crucial role in securing British victories.

American Revolution

During the American Revolutionary War, the Assassin Ratonhnhaké:ton undertook numerous privateer contracts on behalf of the Continental Navy, making significant contributions to the American war effort.

Gallery

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  A privateer soldier
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  A privateer grenadier
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  A privateer gunner
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  A privateer scout
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  A privateer captain
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  A Man O' War used by pirate hunters

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed III (first appearance)
• Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
• Assassin's Creed: Black Flag
• Assassin's Creed IV Black Flag: Blackbeard – The Lost Journal
• Assassin's Creed: Rogue
• Assassin's Creed: Unity (mentioned in Database entry only)
• Echoes of History (mentioned only)
• Assassin's Creed: Forgotten Temple