Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from A History of American Privateers
The history of the United States navy is so intimately connected with that of our privateers that the story of one would be incomplete without a full record of the other. In each of our wars with Great Britain many of the captains in the navy assumed command of privateers, in which they frequently rendered services of national importance, while the privateersmen furnished the navy with a large number of officers, many of whom became famous. In our struggle for independence more than sixty American craft armed by private enterprise were commanded by men who had been, or soon became, officers in the regular service; and in more than one instance, notably that of the officers and men of the Ranger - Captain John Paul Jones' famous ship, then commanded by Captain William Simpson - almost the entire ship's company of a Continental cruiser turned to privateering. Many of our most distinguished naval officers have pointed with pride to their probationary career in privateers. The mere mention of such names as Truxtun, Porter, Biddle, Decatur, Barney, Talbot, Barry, Perry, Murray, Rodgers, Cassin, Little, Robinson, Smith, and Hopkins will show how closely related were the two arms of our maritime service.
In his History of the United States Navy the author endeavored to show that our maritime forces were a powerful factor not only in attaining American independence, but in maintaining it.
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