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.
The small privateers
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- Petty Officer
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Re: The small privateers
Hi,
What exactly is your question about privateers? Because the answer still gives for 100 books.
Best regards,
Andreu Nuevo
What exactly is your question about privateers? Because the answer still gives for 100 books.
Best regards,
Andreu Nuevo