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Patriot Pirates: The Privateer War for Freedom and Fortune in the American Revolution Posters
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List Price: $26.00Amazon.com's Price: $17.16 You Save: $8.84 (34%)Prices subject to change.
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.35
EAN: 9780375422843
ISBN: 0375422846
Label: Pantheon
Manufacturer: Pantheon
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 320
Publication Date: May 20, 2008
Publisher: Pantheon
Release Date: May 20, 2008
Sales Rank: 84684
Studio: Pantheon
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
They were legalized pirates empowered by the Continental Congress to raid and plunder, at their own considerable risk, as much enemy trade as they could successfully haul back to America’s shores; they played a central role in American’s struggle for independence and later turned their seafaring talents to the slave trade; embodying the conflict between enterprise and morality central to the American psyche.
In Patriot Pirates, Robert H. Patton, grandson of the battlefield genius of World War II, writes that during America’s Revolutionary War, what began in 1775 as a New England fad--converting civilian vessels to fast-sailing warships, and defying the Royal Navy’s overwhelming firepower to snatch its merchant shipping--became a massive seaborne insurgency that ravaged the British economy and helped to win America’s independence. More than two thousand privately owned warships were commissioned by Congress to prey on enemy transports, seize them by force, and sell the cargoes for prize money to be divided among the privateer’s officers, crewmen, and owners.
Patton writes how privateering engaged all levels of Revolutionary life, from the dockyards to the assembly halls; how it gave rise to an often cutthroat network of agents who sold captured goods and sparked wild speculation in purchased shares in privateer ventures, enabling sailors to make more money in a month than they might otherwise earn in a year.
As one naval historian has observed, “The great battles of the American Revolution were fought on land, but independence was won at sea.”
Benjamin Franklin, then serving at his diplomatic post in Paris, secretly encouraged the sale of captured goods in France, a calculated violation of neutrality agreements between France and Britain, in the hopes that the two countries would come to blows and help take the pressure off American fighters.
Patton writes about those whose aggressive speculation in privateering promoted the war effort: Robert Morris--a financier of the Revolution, signer of the Declaration of Independence, member of the Continental Congress who helped to fund George Washington’s army, later tried (and acquitted) for corruption when his deals with foreign merchants and privateers came to light, and emerged from the war as one of America’s wealthiest men . . . William Bingham… John R. Livingston--scion of a well-connected New York family who made no apologies for exploiting the war for profit, calling it “a means of making my fortune.” He worried that peace would break out too soon. (“If it takes place without a proper warning,” said Livingston, “it may ruin us.”) Vast fortunes made through privateering survive to this day, among them those of the Peabodys, Cabots, and Lowell's of Massachusetts, and the Derbys and Browns of Rhode Island.
A revelation of America’s War of Independence, a sweeping tale of maritime rebel-entrepreneurs bent on personal profit as well as national freedom.
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
In Patriot Pirates, Robert H. Patton tells the story of the American privateers in the Revolution. The book covers the entire war from Boston to Yorktown. American merchants armed hundreds of small ships to interdict the British maritime supply lines. Patton illustrates how patriotism and business came together in the privateers.
I read this book along with two other works, George Washington's Secret Navy (James L. Nelson) and If By Sea (George Daughan). Nelson's book recounts the the ... Read More
Rating:  -
Make no mistake, the topic of this history is NOT privateering, but rather profiteering. I say this not to discourage readers from choosing this book, but to better inform them. If your interest lies in naval history or even commercial history, look elsewhere.
That said, Patton brings forth an interesting overview of the intermingling of personal, business, and patriotic motivations that made the American Revolution possible in terms of finances and supplies. To that end, this history ... Read More
Rating: -
I got this for my son and read it myself first. I learned things different from anything I have heard before. Some are slimy colonial characters but many just trying to get ahead like everyone. I liked how the stories came together and connect the characters and action together at the end. There was just enough money talk to be interesting but not boring. If I hear people talk about the revolution and not mention sea events in the Caribbean and the Atlantic Ocean then I'll know they didn't read this book.
Rating: -
This was very enlightening for me. I got a totally new sense of the down-and-dirty Revolutionary world. There are ocean battles in it, but if that's all you're looking for there are probably other books to go to. This one has a much wider scope that includes business, naval strategy, politics, even the slave trade. It features an array of high and low characters, and most of them aren't household names, which I thought was a good thing but others may disagree. I think the storytelling is really artful and ... Read More
Rating: -
I am halfway through and may not finsih it.
It is interesting to see all the conflict-of-interest and outsourcing war profiteering scams were just as prevalent in 1777 as 2007, if not more so. Some things never change.
There is way too much review of correspondance and obscure contracting issues and almost NOTHING from the point-of-view of the actual privateers. If you are looking for action, look elsewhere.
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