Rebels at Sea : Privateering in the American Revolution
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- $19.99
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- $19.99
Publisher Description
The heroic story of the founding of the US Navy during the Revolution has been told many times, yet largely missing from maritime histories of America's first war is the ragtag fleet of private vessels that truly revealed the new nation's character-above all, its ambition and entrepreneurial ethos.
In Rebels at Sea, Eric Jay Dolin corrects that significant omission, and contends that privateers, as they were called, were in fact critical to the American victory. Privateers were privately owned vessels that were granted permission by the new government to seize British merchantmen and men of war. As Dolin stirringly demonstrates, at a time when the young Continental Navy numbered no more than about sixty vessels, privateers rushed to fill the gaps. Nearly 2,000 set sail over the course of the war, with tens of thousands of Americans serving on them and capturing some 1,800 British ships.
Some Americans viewed these men as cynical opportunists whose only aim was loot. Yet Dolin shows that privateersmen were as patriotic as their fellow Americans, and moreover that they greatly contributed to the war's success: diverting critical British resources to protecting their shipping, providing much-needed supplies at home, and bolstering the new nation's confidence that it might actually defeat the most powerful military force in the world.
Customer Reviews
Just Not Sure
This was like listening to Alex Trebek explain the answer to an unanswered or incorrect answer on Jeopardy for hours. It was just a bunch of random facts that lead nowhere essentially. Think like this..”Their coats are blue. The coats are blue because they liked them. They also thought it was nice to have coats because it was cold. Then they went fishing. Some caught a few. Some did not. They liked fishing. Here is a fact that you don’t care about and does little to form a plot or interesting piece to the story.” If you enjoy reading a log book of mundane nonsense this is the one for you! Blahhhh blahhhhh blahhhhh