Frederick Marryat

The Privateersman (Book Fourteen of the Marryat Cycle) Frederick Marryat

The Privateersman, written in 1846, was the last of Frederick Marryat's nautically oriented novels, although one of his best non-nautical works, Children of the New Forest, still lay ahead of him. Privateers were essentially legalized pirates. They functioned like the illegal variety; but they carried a document from their government authorizing them to prey on the merchant ships of a specific enemy country. This document is what kept them from being hung as pirates should they be caught. After capturing a ship, they would bring it into an approved port where the ship's goods, along with the ship itself, would be sold. The government got a cut, the ship's officers and crew got a cut, and the investors got a return on their money which allowed them to send the privateer out again. The Privateersman is set in the early 1700s and gives us a keen insight into the world of privateering. Combine that insight with nonstop action and Marryat's unique dry wit, and you have a tremendously entertaining read.