Piracy in The Caribbean - Privateers

Privateers

In the Caribbean the use of privateers was especially popular and was basically a term used to describe legal and state ordered piracy. The cost of maintaining a fleet to defend the colonies was beyond national governments of the 16th and 17th centuries. Private vessels would be commissioned into a 'navy' with a letter of marque, paid with a substantial share of whatever they could capture from enemy ships and settlements, the rest going to the crown. These ships would operate independently or as a fleet and if successful the rewards could be great—when Jean Fleury and his men captured Cortes' vessels in 1523, they found the incredible aztec treasure that they were allowed to keep. Later, when Francis Drake captured the Spanish Silver Train at Nombre de Dios (Panama's Caribbean port at the time) in 1573 his crews were rich for life. This was repeated by Piet Hein in 1628, who made a profit of 12 million guilders for the Dutch West India Company. This substantial profit made privateering something of a regular line of business; wealthy businessmen or nobles would be quite willing to finance this legitimized piracy in return for a share. The sale of captured goods was a boost to colonial economies as well. The main imperial countries operating at this time and in the region were French, English, Spanish, Dutch and Portuguese. Privateer’s from each countries were all ordered to attack each other countries vessels, especially Spain in which was a shared enemy among the other powers By the seventeenth century piracy and privateering became less of an acceptable behaviour, especially because many privateers turned into full blown pirates because they did not have to give part of the profit they made back to their country of employment. Corruptness lead to the remove of many officials over the years including the individuals: Governor Nicholas Trott and Governor Benjamin Fletcher. One way that government found and discarded of active pirates and corrupt privateers was through the use of “pirate hunters” whom were bribe with all or at least most of the wealth that they would find aboard pirate vessels, along with a set bounty. The most renowned pirate hunter was Captain William Kidd who hit the peak of his legal career in 1695 but later saw the benefits of illegally piracy and made that his new intent.