What do you do when you possess only a small, fledgling navy, and have a formidable imperial maritime power to overcome?...You muster whichever available ships, captains, and crews are eager to fight, and you send them out with full state authority to harass, capture, or sink opponents...That’s just what the American colonies did at the start of the Revolutionary War, as maritime historian Dolin recounts...Dolin tells the story of James Forten, a Black Philadelphian who served on a privateer ship and returned home to amass a fortune as a sailmaker...Dolin’s valuable achievement in recognizing and honoring these sailors’ oft-ignored contributions to American independence more fully fleshes out American naval history.
After distinguishing between privateers and pirates (often merely lawless, ruthless thieves), acclaimed author Dolin deftly defends and demonstrates the crucial impact of American privateering on the Revolutionary war effort...Primary and secondary sources support Dolin’s detailed description of the vicissitudes of this controversial, prevalent, extremely risky, yet lucrative practice...Privateering filled gaps in American military efforts, inspiring hope and perseverance; boosted local economies; secured vital military and commercial supplies and hard currency; impaired British trade and strained the British navy; increased, with French cooperation, enmity between France and Britain, drawing France into the war...Scholars and general readers will enhance their knowledge of an often-neglected yet essential aspect of Revolutionary War history with Dolin’s cogent, absorbing, thoroughly researched account.
In this exciting narrative, Dolin, a 2020 Kirkus Prize finalist for A Furious Sky, demonstrates how privateering was a key element in America’s ability to secure independence...The author digs deep into the whole enterprise, strongly promoted by Benjamin Franklin, and he vividly delineates the exploits of individual battles won by Jonathan Haraden, Offin Boardman, James Forten, David Ropes, and Andrew Sherburne, among numerous others...In this characteristically well-researched history, Dolin describes the vital activities of two main types of privateers: vessels heavily armed with a large crew to man the cannons, with the sole intent to capture British prey; and merchant vessels traveling between ports with permission to attack enemy ships...The author also explores in fascinating detail the desperate circumstances of captured Americans aboard British prison ships, where they experienced 'conditions so horrific that they beggar belief'...A thrilling, unique contribution to the literature on the American Revolution.
