The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1898-06-02
FIRST MENTION
OF PRIVATEERING

bly, in this case piracy was in connection
| with Liverpool in 1863. when a ship
| belonging to Sir Thomas Stanley, son of
| the Earl of Derby. brought prize into
the Mersey amid great rejoicings." 1t
was in the reign of George II, however.
that privateering was taken up as bus
| mess enterprise by the Liverpool mer-
chants. In 1T4, Liverpool possessed four
privateers. which, during the French and
Spanish war, captured about dozen
ships-a small set-off, however, to the
| round hundred sailing to and taken from
Liverpool by the enemy.
The breaking out of the seven years
war. in 1885, came as a blow to Liverpool.
whose trade in ''black ivory had been
| making prodlgous strides. Swarms OF
| French privateers found their way into
| the Irish sea and at one time actually
blockaded the town for. several weeks. In
| surance rates went up enormously, and
trade was practically at a standstill. The
| merchants, however, did not wait for ruin
with folded hands. Taking the hint from
| the enemy, they not only fitted. out their
| useless ships as privateers, but built new
| vessels for the service. These they let
| loose on the enemy's commerce, and the re-
! suit was remarkable. One of the first pri-
| vateers to leave the port returned in
| few weeks with a French West Indiaman
| worth 10000 pounds; other equally yalua-
BILE prizes followed in quick succession.
/ The whole country became mad after
| privateering," and the mania even spread
| to the colonies. The Liverool privateers-
| men, second to none in courage and sea-
| manship, made many prizes, but, on the
| whole, the result of the war to the mer--
| chants was disastrous In the first four
years alone 143 vessels belonging to the
were captured by the French, and this
more than counterbalanced the gains of
| the privateers
The experiences of the seven years war
| were repeated during the American war for
| independence. The AMERICANS at the out
| set sent forth a fleet of privaters, and
| soon the trade of Liverpool sank to small
| dimensions Yet it was only when the
| French and SpanardS joined in the war
that Liverpool entered with it's old ener-
| gy into the privateering business But,
| once started, great was the zeal dis
played that between August, 177S, and
| April, 1779, 120. private cruisers were fitted
| out. An entire stop put to the COM
| mercial progress of the port, however, and,
| beyond the occasional hustle of numerous
| sales by auction of the cargoes of prizes
taken from the enemy. there little
| business transacted" 1t was indeed, only
the activity and success of the privateers
chants from ruin.
The greatest of Liverpools privateering
| heroes was parsonage famous in his day
and not yet utterly forgotten-namely.
Capt. Fortunatus Wright. Soon after the
| outbreak of the war with France In 1744
he, conformity with some English mer-
chants in Leghorn, fitted out the FAME
| privateer to cruise against the French. The
Gentlemen's Magazine for Decembr 1746
stated that the Fame Capt. Wright had
captured sixteen French ships in the Le-
| want, worth 100000 pounds. Capt. Wrights
most rmarkable achievement, however,
was in 1856, when the renewal of the war
with France became imminent In that
| year he built a small vessel at Leghorn,
called the st. George, to cruise against the
| enemy. His project becoming known, a
| French xebec of sixteen guns and two hun
| dred and eighty men bore down upon
| Leghorn and lowered outside the harbor
| in order to capture him when he came
out. So much injury had Wright done to
| French commerce during the last war
that the French king had promised the
honor of knighthood, a pension of 5000
| liveries per annum for life and the COM
mand of sloop-of-war to whoever should
bring him into France, alive or dead The
candidate for knighthood, therefore, i'm
patiently waited for him. The Tuscan gov
eminent being at this time in close SYM
pathy with the French would not allow
Wright to leave port with more than four
guns and twenty fve men. With this arm
| ament he left the harbor on July 25 hay-
ing three other small vessels under con-
voy. No sooner was he clear of the harbor
however, than he took on board eight
other guns, which had been secretly stow
ed by the convoy for his use. He also pre-
vailed upon fifty-five of their men, COM
posed of Slavonians, venetians. Italians,
Swiss and few Englishmen, to enter on
| board his ship. Next morning the French
man bore down upon him, and at -
o'clock the engagement began. in sight of
| about three thousand well-wishers of the
French. In three-quarters of an hour the
Xebec was maltreated that she was hors
| du combat, with the loss of her captain,
lieutenant and lightweight men killed,
seventy more being wounded. There being
| no wind, she escaped with the aid of her
sweeps, else she would have fallen prey
to the victor. Wright had only lost his
lieutenant and four men killed and eight
wounded. The Disguised Tuscan author
tiles Immediately seized the st. George and
refusd to give her up, but the appearance
at Leghorn of Admiral Hawke with two
line-of battle ships speedily induced them
| to more compasant frame of mind.
Afterwards the brave Captain Fortunatus
Wright was lost with his ship in storm
in March, 1857, while on voyage from
Malta to Leghorn.
Privateering was not profession calcu-
lated to instill love of law and order
among it's votaries. The privateersmen.
when they came into port, were the terror
of the town, and committed many excuses
So outrageous did their conduct become
| that in 1778 the mayor of Liverpool issued
a proclamation cautioning these lawless
| persons that he would in the future call in
the aid of the military for the protection
of the lives and property of the peaceable
inhabitants. This had the desired effect.
The service was popular; the men ship
ped on board privateers being safe from
impressrrent. the most dashing and dar-
Ing of the sailors came out of their
hiding holes to enter on board them
These doughty old sons of Liverpool are
thus described by one who wrote from
personal observation: "They were
reckless, dread-naught, daredevil collec-
ton of human beings, half disciplined, but
yet ready to obey every order. Your true
privateersman was sort OF half horse.