Editing Letter of marque (section)

==Early history==
[[File:Drake-treasure.jpeg|thumb|left|Drake viewing treasure taken from a Spanish ship, print<ref>[http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchdetail.cfm?trg=1&strucID=714871&imageID=831578&word=drake%20treasure&s=1&notword=&d=&c=&f=&k=0&lWord=&lField=&sScope=&sLevel=&sLabel=&total=1&num=0&imgs=20&pNum=&pos=1 from the Digital Gallery], New York Public Library (Drake/treasure)</ref> courtesy [[New York Public Library]]]]

During the [[Middle Ages]], armed private vessels enjoying their sovereign's tacit consent, if not always an explicit formal commission, regularly raided shipping of other states, as in the case of the English [[Francis Drake|Sir Francis Drake]]'s attacks on Spanish shipping. [[Elizabeth I|Queen Elizabeth I]] (despite protestations of innocence) took a share of the prizes.<ref>Lord Russell, ''The French Corsairs'' p. 10 (discussing history of private plundering ventures).</ref> Dutch jurist [[Hugo Grotius]]'s 1604 seminal work on international law, ''De Iure Praedae'' (''Of The Law of Prize and Booty''), was an advocate's brief defending Dutch raids on Spanish and Portuguese shipping.<ref>Grotius, ''De Iure Praedae Commentarius (Commentary on the Law of Prize and Booty)''pp 216-182 (Carnegie endowment translation of Grotius's Commentaries; the 12th Chapter later became the basis of the noted ''Mare Liberum'' (Freedom of the Seas) principle).</ref>

[[Henry III of England|King Henry III of England]] first issued what later became known as privateering commissions in 1243.<ref>Francis R. Stark, "The Abolition of Privateering and the Declaration of Paris," in ''Studies in History, Economics and Public Law'' 221, 270–71 (Faculty of Political Sci. of Columbia Univ. eds., Columbia University, 1897).</ref> These early licences were granted to specific individuals to seize the King's enemies at sea in return for splitting the proceeds between the privateers and [[the Crown]].

The letter of marque and reprisal was documented in 1295,<ref>Stark at 272</ref> 50 years after wartime privateer licenses were first issued. According to Grotius, letters of marque and reprisal were akin to a "private war", a concept alien to modern sensibilities but related to an age when the ocean was lawless and all merchant vessels sailed armed for self-defense.<ref>Grotius, ''De Iure Praedae Commentarius (Commentary on the Law of Prize and Booty),'' pp. 62 (stating "the power to wage war privately resides in the individual, and the power to wage war publicly resides in the state").</ref> A reprisal involved seeking the sovereign's permission to exact private retribution against some foreign prince or subject. The earliest instance of a licensed reprisal recorded in England was in the year 1295 under the reign of [[Edward I of England|King Edward I]].<ref>Eastman, ''Famous Privateers of New England'' p. 1 (citing Edward I 1295 reprisal commission).</ref> The notion of reprisal, and behind it that [[Just war theory|just war]] involved avenging a wrong, was associated with the letter of marque until 1620 in England. To apply for such a letter, a shipowner had to submit to the Admiralty Court an estimate of actual losses incurred.<ref>Lord Russell, ''The French Corsairs'' p. 12(discussing early practice in England).</ref>

Licensing privateers during wartime became widespread in Europe by the 16th century,<ref>Eastman, ''Famous Privateers of New England'' p. 1 (recounting early letters of marque issued in contest between Spain and her revolted Low Countries in 1569).</ref> when most countries<ref>Lord Russell, ''The French Corsairs'' p. 11(discussing history of letters of marque: in France the first recorded use of letters of marque and reprisal was 1681).</ref> began to enact laws regulating the granting of letters of marque and reprisal.<ref>Upton's ''Maritime Warfare and Prize'' p. 176 (discussing the history of letters of marque and reprisal).</ref> Such business could be very profitable; during the eight years of the [[American Revolutionary War]], ships from the tiny island of [[Guernsey]] carrying letter of marque captured French and American vessels to the value of [[Pound sterling|£]]900,000 ({{Inflation|UK|900000|1775|fmt=eq|cursign=£}}). Privateers from Guernsey continued to operate during the [[Napoleonic Wars]].<ref name="RBduV">{{cite book |first=R.A. |last=Henry |title=The Reclamation of the Braye du Valle 1806-2006}}</ref>

Although privateering commissions and letters of marque were originally distinct legal concepts, such distinctions became purely technical by the 18th century.<ref>David J. Starkey, ''British Privateering Enterprise in the Eighteenth Century'' 20, 81 (1990).</ref> [[Article One of the United States Constitution|Article I]] of the [[United States Constitution]], for instance, states that "The [[United States Congress|Congress]] shall have Power To ... grant Letters of marque and reprisal ...",<ref>[[Enumerated powers|"The Constitution of the United States", Article 1, Section 8, Clause 11.]]</ref> without separately addressing privateer commissions.

During the American War of Independence, the Napoleonic Wars, and the [[War of 1812]], it was common to distinguish verbally between privateers (also known as private ships of war) on the one hand, and armed merchantmen, which were referred to as "letters of marque", on the other, though both received the same commission. The [[Sir John Sherbrooke (Halifax)|''Sir John Sherbrooke'' (Halifax)]] was a privateer; the [[Sir John Sherbrooke (Saint John)|''Sir John Sherbrooke'' (Saint John)]] was an armed merchantman. The [[East India Company]] arranged for letters of marque for its [[East Indiaman|East Indiamen]] ships, such as the [[Lord Nelson (East Indiaman)|''Lord Nelson'']]. They did not need permission to carry cannons to fend off warships, privateers, and pirates on their voyages to India and China but, the letters of marque provided that, should they have the opportunity to take a prize, they could do so without being guilty of piracy. Similarly, the [[Earl of Mornington (1799 ship)|''Earl of Mornington'']], an East India Company [[Packet boat|packet ship]] of only six guns, also carried a letter of marque.

Letters of marque and privateers are largely credited for the [[Age of Discovery|age of Elizabethan exploration]], because privateers were used to explore the seas. Under the Crown, [[Sir Francis Drake]], [[Walter Raleigh|Sir Walter Raleigh]], and [[Martin Frobisher|Sir Martin Frobisher]] sailed the seas as privateers; their expedition reports helped shape the age of Elizabethan exploration.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Rise, Fall, and Rise Again of Privateers {{!}} Alexander T. Tabarrok|url=https://www.independent.org/publications/tir/article.asp?id=631|access-date=2021-03-24|website=The Independent Institute}}</ref>

In July 1793, the East Indiamen {{ship||Royal Charlotte|1789 EIC ship|2}}, ''[[Triton (1787 EIC ship)|Triton]]'', and [[HMS Calcutta (1795)|''Warley'']] participated in the capture of [[Puducherry (union territory)|Pondichéry]] by maintaining a [[blockade]] of the port. Afterwards, while sailing to China, the same three East Indiamen participated in an action in the [[Straits of Malacca]]. They came upon a French [[Sailing frigate|frigate]], with some six or seven British{{clarify|What nation did these vessels belong to?  The term "retake" suggests they were British.|date=March 2018}} prizes, with a crew replenishing her water casks ashore. The three British vessels immediately gave chase. The frigate fled towards the [[Sunda Strait]]. The Indiamen were able to catch up with a number of the prizes, and, after a few cannon shots, were able to retake them. Had they not carried letters of marque, such behaviour might well have qualified as piracy. Similarly, on 10 November 1800, the East Indiaman [[Phoenix (1785)|''Phoenix'']] captured the French privateer ''General Malartic'',<ref>{{London Gazette|page=1006|issue=15397|date=15 August 1801}}</ref> under [[Jean-Marie Dutertre]], an action made legal by a letter of marque. Additionally, vessels with a letter of marque were exempt from having to sail in [[Naval convoy|convoy]], and nominally their crew members were exempt, during a voyage, from [[impressment]].<ref>"Answers" (1911) ''Mariner's Mirror'', Vol. 1, №9 (September), pp.255-6.</ref>

During the Napoleonic Wars, the [[Dart (1806 ship)|''Dart'']] and [[Kitty (1810 ship)|''Kitty'']], British privateers, spent some months off the coast of [[Sierra Leone]] hunting slave-trading vessels.