The small privateers

Anything and everything about sailing vessels, be they warships, merchantmen or something completely different
Post Reply
Oldsalt
Ships Boy
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Mar 29, 2023 12:10 pm

The small privateers

Post by Oldsalt »

The ships of the privateers.
This is a question about the small ships used by privateers, but first the history.

In the Napoleonic War, Norway was ruled by Denmark, So the Navy was Danish/Norwegian. After the The Battle of Copenhagen where the British took most of the Danish Norwegian navy fleet , the Norwegians had to rebuild a navy to protect the coast. They dont have time or money to build bigger warships, so instead they buildt a lot of smaller gunnboats. therefore the time between 1807 - 1814 is called "The gunboat war" This was also a time for privateers. In the years from 1807 to 1814 there was given letters of marque ( right to go privateering ) to a total of 322 Norwegian vessel.

The ships varied in size from brigs armed with 10-15 canons and a crew of 40-60 men, but the majority was small ships like for example small converted Pilot cutters of 33 to 35 feet armed with only a swivel gun or one or two cannons and a crew of 10-12 men.

When people talk about or make models of "Men of war" they usually focus on the big and impresive ships with a large crew and a lot of cannons. But like I said, most of the privateer ships was small like for for example sloops or cutters.

I have information that the pilotcutters of 30 to 35 feet was a popular choise. and that they had a crew of 10-15 men.

The question is: Do somebody out there know something about such small privateer or pirate ships ?. How do they lived onboard ? Does anyone have pictures of the interior of simmilar ships that are floating today? Anything and any information about such small privateers or pirateships ( anywhere in the world) are of great interest for me.
andreu_wargames
Petty Officer
Posts: 20
Joined: Sun Oct 08, 2023 11:42 am

Re: The small privateers

Post by andreu_wargames »

Hi,

What exactly is your question about privateers? Because the answer still gives for 100 books.

Best regards,
Andreu Nuevo
Post Reply