# What the difference between a pirate and a privateer? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 17, 2006, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-difference-between-a-pirate-and-a-privateer/357137 "2006-05-17T18:06:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![solkoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@solkoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solkoe)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-difference-between-a-pirate-and-a-privateer/357137/1 "2006-05-17T18:06:32Z")
What the difference between a pirate and a privateer? ---
**Author:** ![drachillix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/48db29/32.png) [@drachillix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drachillix)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-difference-between-a-pirate-and-a-privateer/357137/2 "2006-05-17T18:08:37Z")
> [@solkoe](#): > > What the difference between a pirate and a privateer? IIRC privateers were more akin to mercenaries or other forms of hired security whereas pirates robbed and pillaged for their income. ---
**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-difference-between-a-pirate-and-a-privateer/357137/3 "2006-05-17T18:12:14Z")
A privateer would have a “letter of marque”, an authorization from a government to carry out its activities against that country’s enemies. A pirate was just a freebooter. In practice, the distinction could get kind of iffy, of course. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-difference-between-a-pirate-and-a-privateer/357137/4 "2006-05-17T18:23:45Z")
A privateer was a licensed pirate, in other words. Ha! ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-difference-between-a-pirate-and-a-privateer/357137/5 "2006-05-17T18:28:29Z")
It could make a big difference, as pirates could be hanged out of hand but privateers had some quasi-legal status as “hired ships” of the Navy. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-difference-between-a-pirate-and-a-privateer/357137/6 "2006-05-17T18:29:07Z")
As stated, a privateer is licensed to prey upon an enemy and in return is not punished as a pirate by the country that grants him permission. The use of privateers is now outlawed (but which treaty said so escapes me). Oddly, contractors are allowed. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-difference-between-a-pirate-and-a-privateer/357137/7 "2006-05-17T18:38:05Z")
> [@Sal Ammoniac](#): > > A privateer was a licensed pirate, in other words. Ha! But licensed by one country, ONLY against that countries enemy. Thus a privateer with a letter of marque from England, at the time when England and Spain were fighting, could attack Spanish ships. But they were not authorized to attack, say French or Dutch ships – doing so would be piracy. Of course, privateer captains stretched this a bit. They’d claim that the French ship was under contract to Spain, hauling goods for Spain, so a valid ship to attack. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-difference-between-a-pirate-and-a-privateer/357137/8 "2006-05-17T18:46:53Z")
> [@Huerta88](#): > > It could make a big difference, as pirates could be hanged out of hand but privateers had some quasi-legal status as “hired ships” of the Navy. A hell of a big difference: Captain William Kidd was hanged because he couldn’t substantiate his claim he was a privateer. ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-difference-between-a-pirate-and-a-privateer/357137/9 "2006-05-17T19:14:24Z")
Were there ever privateers under contract by several governments at once? ---
**Author:** ![Huerta88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/82dd89/32.png) [@Huerta88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Huerta88)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-difference-between-a-pirate-and-a-privateer/357137/10 "2006-05-17T19:20:45Z")
Very interesting: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter\_of\_marque](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Letter_of_marque) So the U.S. has not formally abandoned the practice because it did not sign the Paris Treaty. The distinction between “marque” and “reprisal” is edifying too. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-difference-between-a-pirate-and-a-privateer/357137/11 "2006-05-17T19:24:48Z")
> [@Paul in Saudi](#): > > The use of privateers is now outlawed (but which treaty said so escapes me). [Declaration Respecting Maritime Law, Paris, 16 April 1856](http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Garden/5213/depa1856.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Clam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3bc359/32.png) [@Happy\_Clam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Clam)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-difference-between-a-pirate-and-a-privateer/357137/12 "2006-05-17T19:46:20Z")
Also, note that the enemy country was highly unlikely to respect a letter of marque from their opponent, and would probably just hang the “pirates”. Basically, the difference between a Freedom Fighter and an Insurgent. ---
**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-difference-between-a-pirate-and-a-privateer/357137/13 "2006-05-17T19:59:57Z")
> [@Happy Clam](#): > > Also, note that the enemy country was highly unlikely to respect a letter of marque from their opponent, and would probably just hang the “pirates”. Basically, the difference between a Freedom Fighter and an Insurgent. Do you have a cite for that? I’m no expert, but I’d always understood that respecting an opponent’s letters of marque was part of how the game was played, in those days when it was important to play by the rules. ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-difference-between-a-pirate-and-a-privateer/357137/14 "2006-05-17T20:32:19Z")
> [@](#): > > Treaties of varying duration have been made, and some of them by the United States, with France, Holland, Sweden, Prussia, Great Britain, Spain, and Colombia, which forbid the citizens or subjects of either contracting state, while they are at peace, to accept letters of marque from a third state, at war with the other contracting state. Municipal laws often prohibit the citizens or subjects over whom they are set from taking privateering commissions from a foreign state. Thus, the laws of both Great Britain and the United States impose severe penalties on citizens or residents who accept commissions, equip privateers or enlist men for service in any foreign war. [http://www.econlib.org/LIBRARY/YPDBooks/Lalor/llCy862.html](http://www.econlib.org/LIBRARY/YPDBooks/Lalor/llCy862.html) BTW, while the U.S. did not sign the Paris treaty, it has signed other treaties on privateering. Moreover, the rule against privateering is probably _jus cogens_ by now.\* E.g.\* , [http://www.iccnow.org/documents/WritingColombiaEng.pdf](http://www.iccnow.org/documents/WritingColombiaEng.pdf) (pdf page 16). ---
**Author:** ![solkoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@solkoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solkoe)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-difference-between-a-pirate-and-a-privateer/357137/15 "2006-05-17T20:35:59Z")
So did the British hire privateers to pillage American ships during the revolutionary war? How does one become a privateer by the way? ---
**Author:** ![caveman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caveman/32/7242_2.png) [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-difference-between-a-pirate-and-a-privateer/357137/16 "2006-05-17T20:52:22Z")
A license to pirate? The RIAA’s heads are gonna asplode! Yarr, be there a written test at the DMV? ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-difference-between-a-pirate-and-a-privateer/357137/17 "2006-05-17T21:03:22Z")
> [@solkoe](#): > > So did the British hire privateers to pillage American ships during the revolutionary war? The British had the better navy, and so would have had less of a need for privateers. I don’t know if they used any in this case. We used privateers to match the British navy. They did a lot of damage, too. [http://hnn.us/articles/915.html;](http://hnn.us/articles/915.html;) [http://www.nps.gov/revwar/about\_the\_revolution/privateers.html;](http://www.nps.gov/revwar/about_the_revolution/privateers.html;) [Privateers or Merchant Mariners help win the Revolutionary War](http://www.usmm.org/revolution.html) > [@](#): > > How does one become a privateer by the way? Get yourself some Letters Marque. [Fortune Favors the Brave - The Story of the Texas Navy - Texas Privateers | TSLAC](http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/exhibits/navy/privateers.html) ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-difference-between-a-pirate-and-a-privateer/357137/18 "2006-05-17T21:08:43Z")
> [@caveman](#): > > A license to pirate? The RIAA’s heads are gonna asplode! > > Yarr, be there a written test at the DMV? That would be the D **S** V – Dept. of Sailing Vessels! 😛 Jean Lafitte was a classic privateer – captaining a ship out of New Orleans against the British during the War of 1812 ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-difference-between-a-pirate-and-a-privateer/357137/19 "2006-05-17T21:49:31Z")
Another difference between privateers and pirates is that privateers weren’t supposed to sail off to Barbados with their plunder, but take it to a [prize court](http://www.lectlaw.com/def2/p167.htm) to gain legal title. > [@Happy Clam](#): > > Also, note that the enemy country was highly unlikely to respect a letter of marque from their opponent, and would probably just hang the “pirates”. Executing captured privateers is equivalent to executing prisoners of war. Both happen, but they shouldn’t in the civilized world. This caused tremendous controversy during the Civil War, when the Lincoln administration [tried Confederate privateers for piracy](http://ehistory.osu.edu/uscw/features/articles/0005/privateers.cfm), on the grounds that the Confederacy wasn’t a nation. Federal courts eventually threw out the cases, finding the Confederates to be lawful belligerents even though not a recognized nation. Even without this ruling, executing privateers would have invited the South to retaliate by executing Union prisoners, and might not have happened. > [@](#): > > On 22 July off Hatteras Inlet the ENCHANTRESS was recaptured by the United States Steamer ALBATROSS and taken to the Navy Yard in Philadelphia. . . . On 22 October 1861, in the United States Circuit Court in Pennsylvania, Smith was tried for piracy. > > During his trial Smith’s lawyer, Mr. N. Harrison, introduced as part of the defense the Constitution of the Confederate States of America as well as the Confederate acts authorizing the President to issue letters of marque and reprisal. Not swayed by the arguments that Smith was engaged in a legal act of war, the jury on 25 October 1861 found Smith guilty. > > On 9 November the Confederate Secretary of War, J. P. Benjamin, directed that the highest ranking Union prisoner of war then confined in Richmond would be held for execution in the same manner as adopted by the United States for the execution of “prisoner of war” Smith condemned to death in Philadelphia. An additional thirteen other Union prisoners of high rank were subsequently directed held as long as other Confederate sailors were slated for trial as pirates. . . . > > In the interim, the presiding judge of the United States Court in Philadelphia overruled the verdict of the Smith trial stating in part that Confederate sailors could not be treated any different than Confederate soldiers. With that action he refused to try any more privacy cases. On February 15, 1862 Smith and all other prisoners were transferred to the custody of the United Secretary of War as prisoners of war. “The fact that the war was a civil war afforded no reason for a distinction between combatants at sea and combatants on land… naval warfare is no more criminal than land warfare…” (Soley, The Blockade and the Cruisers, p. 171) ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-difference-between-a-pirate-and-a-privateer/357137/20 "2006-05-17T21:54:14Z")
> [@caveman](#): > > A license to pirate? The RIAA’s heads are gonna asplode! > > Yarr, be there a written test at the DMV? You mean the _arrrr_IAA. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-difference-between-a-pirate-and-a-privateer/357137.md?page=2)