Editing Privateer (section)

====British Colonial period====
[[File:Chasseur vs St Lawrence.jpg|thumb|''[[Chasseur (1812 clipper)|Chasseur]]'', one of the most famous American privateers of the War of 1812, capturing {{HMS|St Lawrence|1813|6}}]]

During [[King George's War]], approximately 36,000 Americans served aboard privateers at one time or another.<ref name=Privateer/> During the [[Nine Years War]], the French adopted a policy of strongly encouraging privateers, including the famous [[Jean Bart]], to attack English and Dutch shipping. England lost roughly 4,000 merchant ships during the war.<ref name=Privateer>[https://web.archive.org/web/20031211221516/http://www.cato.org/pubs/journal/cj11n1/cj11n1-8.pdf Privateering and the Private Production of Naval Power], ''Gary M. Anderson and Adam Gifford Jr.''</ref> In the following [[War of Spanish Succession]], privateer attacks continued, Britain losing 3,250 merchant ships.<ref>Brewer, John. ''The Sinews of Power: War, Money, and the English State, 1688–1783.'' New York.: Alfred A. Knopf, 1989. p. 197</ref>

In the subsequent conflict, the [[War of Austrian Succession]], the Royal Navy was able to concentrate more on defending British ships. Britain lost 3,238 merchantmen, a smaller fraction of her merchant marine than the enemy losses of 3,434.<ref name=Privateer/> While French losses were proportionally severe, the smaller but better protected Spanish trade suffered the least and it was Spanish privateers who enjoyed much of the best-allied plunder of British trade, particularly in the West Indies.