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Patriot Pirates: The Privateer War for Freedom and Fortune in the American Revolutionx$13.00
  (10 reviews)
Best Price: $26.00 $13.00
They were legalized pirates empowered by the Continental Congress to raid and plunder, at their own considerable risk, as much enemy trade as they could successfully haul back to America’s shores; they played a central role in American’s struggle for independence and later turned their seafaring talents to the slave trade; embodying the conflict between enterprise and morality central to the American psyche.
In Patriot Pirates, Robert H. Patton, grandson of the battlefield genius of World War II, writes that during America’s Revolutionary War, what began in 1775 as a New England fad--converting civilian vessels to fast-sailing warships, and defying the Royal Navy’s overwhelming firepower to snatch its merchant shipping--became a massive seaborne insurgency that ravaged the British economy and helped to win America’s independence. More than two thousand privately owned warships were commissioned by Congress to prey on enemy transports, seize them by force, and sell the cargoes for prize money to be divided among the privateer’s officers, crewmen, and owners.
Patton writes how privateering engaged all levels of Revolutionary life, from the dockyards to the assembly halls; how it gave rise to an often cutthroat network of agents who sold captured goods and sparked wild speculation in purchased shares in privateer ventures, enabling sailors to make more money in a month than they might otherwise earn in a year.
As one naval historian has observed, “The great battles of the American Revolution were fought on land, but independence was won at sea.”
Benjamin Franklin, then serving at his diplomatic post in Paris, secretly encouraged the sale of captured goods in France, a calculated violation of neutrality agreements between France and Britain, in the hopes that the two countries would come to blows and help take the pressure off American fighters.
Patton writes about those whose aggressive speculation in privateering promoted the war effort: Robert Morris--a financier of the Revolution, signer of the Declaration of Independence, member of the Continental Congress who helped to fund George Washington’s army, later tried (and acquitted) for corruption when his deals with foreign merchants and privateers came to light, and emerged from the war as one of America’s wealthiest men . . . William Bingham… John R. Livingston--scion of a well-connected New York family who made no apologies for exploiting the war for profit, calling it “a means of making my fortune.” He worried that peace would break out too soon. (“If it takes place without a proper warning,” said Livingston, “it may ruin us.”) Vast fortunes made through privateering survive to this day, among them those of the Peabodys, Cabots, and Lowell's of Massachusetts, and the Derbys and Browns of Rhode Island.
A revelation of America’s War of Independence, a sweeping tale of maritime rebel-entrepreneurs bent on personal profit as well as national freedom.
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Customer Reviews
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A book about Washington's "Gallant Little Navy"
By AS3HUBXKPE03W on 2008-05-26
In "Patriot Pirates", Robert H. Patton delivers a detailed study of the business of American Privateers during the years of 1775 through 1783. Patton's book illustrates that in most cases, these men were driven more by the lure of a quick fortune than by patriotism.
Patton's introduction lays the strategic environment under which the America's privateer industry began. Patton attributes the beginning of the enterprise to a quote from George Washington during his siege of Boston in 1775, "Finding we were not likely to do much in the land way, I fitted out several privateers, or rather armed vessels, in behalf of the Continent." Beginning as an aside to the siege of Boston, these Privateers were sanctioned by Congress and they soon affected the entire Atlantic seaboard and the Caribbean by attacking English and loyalist shipping wherever it may have been.
Patton's thorough research is apparent as he describes the efforts of the more successful businessmen like Rhode Island's John Brown; Robert Morris; Silas Deane; and Benjamin Franklin. Along with these American heroes, Patton also recounts the actions of Edward Bancroft, the most famous double-agent of the Revolution. Interspersed with this biographical information are stories of the actual ships and Captains who made life miserable for the British. "Patriot Pirates" recalls their greatest successes and the horrors of the British prison ships in Wallabout Bay, New York.
The book does an outstanding job of describing the international intrigue among England, France, Holland, Spain and the rebellious American Colonies. As neutral parties to the war, France and Holland could not accept the illicit goods captured from English ships. Patton describes the how industry bent these rules to the benefit of everyone except the British.
During the war, France created the front company, Hortalez and Company, to provide loans to purchase arms to the fledgling American army. Not only does Patton describe how this worked, but he also illustrates how this company was connected to the downfall of Louis XVI during the French Revolution.
The book is very well researched, and includes copious references to additional reading, but I would still recommend a map of the Caribbean to have at your side as you read this book. For readers like myself who can't tell the difference between a sloop and a frigate, it might be helpful to have a naval almanac too. "Patriot Pirates" is a fascinating look at the business of Privateering and its effects on International Relations.
Different history of part of the American Revolution
By A2B1GZIRD6W646 on 2008-05-26
This is one of the most interesting books I've read in recent years. Robert Patton, who it a descendant of the World War II general, has turned himself into a historian, and this is his first work of true history. He recounts in some detail the story of the Revolutionary War privateering industry, which caused considerable damage to the British economy. The author quotes George Washington as saying that the privateers were the "pivot on which everything turned".
Patton writes carefully of the various events and circumstances of the privateer war. He goes over in some detail the various personalities involved in the war, everyone from interesting characters like Nathaniel Greene around to more obscure characters like the Brown brothers and John Manley, the prototypical privateer who made the first and last captures of the war. He also discusses the fortunes that were made, some of which continue to enrich old families on the East Cost.
This is a fascinating account of a part of the Revolutionary War that's little-known except as a footnote. The author provides a considerable amount of information, and also analysis of the whole issue. I really enjoyed this book and felt I learned a considerable amount of information about the subject.
Engaging read
By A21NVBFIEQWDSG on 2008-05-22
When you think about the Revolutionary War and the men who won it, you might think of George Washington, John Paul Jones, and the brave militiamen who fought in hand-to-hand combat. Few people would rattle off "pirates" in their short list.
Pirates, you say? Yes, piratesâ"the privateers whose job and joy it was to take down the British ships, not only racing through the blockades, but capturing and plundering the British merchant and supply ships to disrupt and frustrate British trade. Privateers are "legal" almost like a navy. Because England didn't recognize us as a country, they wouldn't consider them privateers, but pirates. Acting against the government of England.
Who were these men that financed this lesser-known aspect of the Revolutionary War? How were they convinced to go about this unsavory task? And frankly, is there anything more American than fighting for your country while making a nice profit?
Robert H. Patton paints a vivid picture of Revolutionary privateering. He comes out of the blocks with nearly laugh-out-loud humor. You've got to respect a man who admits upfront that he was always more interested in the Civil War than the Revolutionary War. Engaging and energetic, he tells this story of history in very readable prose. And though many readers might not be familiar with the privateers, Patton does an excellent job of telling their stories while tying them back to the people and events of the Revolutionary War that are more commonly known.
Armchair Interviews says: Unique look at our country's long-ago history.
Good but not really good
By A1BVYFPZ0ZAYYV on 2008-06-18
This book is told in chronological, geographic vignettes which follow various people with quick biographical sketches as they engaged in privateering. There is little in the way of overview on privateering in general or its overall impact on the war. What is there is scattered throughout the book. Patriot Pirates would benefit from a more focused approach: a survey of privateering; or a thesis to be proved- privateering was critical to weakening the British war effort; even overview chapter. The narratives could have been better employed as highlights to these approaches. As is, it is an easy read with some good information on privateering and a solid bibliography for further reading. Much of the non-privateering information will be repetitive to even casual students of the era.
new perspective, well told
By A2RW4MQYMVMR on 2008-06-25
This was very enlightening for me. I got a totally new sense of the down-and-dirty Revolutionary world. There are ocean battles in it, but if that's all you're looking for there are probably other books to go to. This one has a much wider scope that includes business, naval strategy, politics, even the slave trade. It features an array of high and low characters, and most of them aren't household names, which I thought was a good thing but others may disagree. I think the storytelling is really artful and smooth, because in a pretty short narrative it presents all sorts of scenes from Massachusetts to the Caribbean to Paris and London, but it weaves them together well, and then it ends with a couple of teenage seamen whose adventures capture the suffering, persistence, and sheer guts of the American patriots. This book turned out to be a much more significant portrayal of history than I'd thought when I first bought it.
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