Promotional Information

Privateering during the War of 1812 has long needed a modern historical perspective. Canadian historian Faye Kert has done an admirable job in documenting how the United States and Britain mobilized and regulated privateering during the War of 1812. She demonstrates concisely how it worked as both a risky business venture and as a means of waging war on the high seas. -- William Sheldon Dudley, author of Maritime Maryland: A History

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction. "A Ruinous and Unnecessary War"
1. In Flagrante Bello
An Unwelcome War
Managing Private Armed Warfare
Annoying the Enemy
Underwriting the Cost of War
Stratagems of War
Keeping the Prize
Strict and Rigorous Blockade
Long-range Privateering
The "Mud-Clipper" Trade
Compulsory Convoy
Win, Lose, or Draw?
2. "True, Publick and Notorious"
The Origins of Privateering
The Rise of Prize Law
International Law and Neutral Rights
Colonial Vice-Admiralty Courts
The Marquis de Somerueles
A Southern Prize Court
The Admiralty Court Process
3. No Prey, No Pay
The Cost of War
Commercial Warfare
Economic Options
Atlantic Canada's Privateers
American Privateers
Eyes on the Prize
Privateering out of New York
The Balance Sheet
4. The Misfortunes of War
Taking the Risk
The Perils of Privateering
Drink, Discipline, and Duty
Combat, Capture, and Recapture
Prisoners of War
Death and Destruction
Conclusion
5. The Prizewinners
Liverpool Packet
Yankee
Comet
America
Saucy Jack
True Blooded Yankee
Surprise
Fox
Retaliation
Sir John Sherbrooke
General Armstrong
Conclusion. The Final Tally
Appendix. Prize Makers and Prizes
Notes
Essay on Sources
Index

About the Author

Faye M. Kert is an independent historian who earned her PhD from the University of Leiden. She is the author of Trimming Yankee Sails: Pirates and Privateers of New Brunswick and Prize and Prejudice: Privateering and Naval Prize in Atlantic Canada in the War of 1812.

Reviews

Kert has accomplished a great deal in a short space. Her notes, tables, and charts are jewels in themselves...[her] book points the way forward, providing a wealth of information that will guide future scholars navigating privateer waters. H-Net Reviews ...a fine study... Journal of America's Military Past A prodigious body of empirical research is distilled into a concise and pointed account that will appeal to scholars, military professionals, and educated laymen alike. Canadian Military History Kert noted that there hasve been more than 400 books published on the maritime War of 1812. Do we need yet another?... The answer is yes. Kert's work, Privateering: Patriots and Profits in the War of 1912, capably fills the gap and adds a valuable chapter to the literature of the war. Maritime Archaeological and Historical Society News Kert's work has opened an invaluable window into the lives of the entrepreneurial warriors who played a critical, yet poorly understood, role during the War of 1812. Solidifying the importance of her work, Kert added a valuable essay on the archival and secondary sources of privateering during the War of 1812 and has published her database of ships and individuals involved in privateering on the website of her publisher, allowing future scholars to build upon her scholarship. New England Quarterly