Editing War of 1812 (section)

==== Privateering ====
[[File:Clipper Built Privateer Schooner.gif|thumb|[[Baltimore Clipper]]s were a series of schooners used by American [[privateers]] during the war.]]
The operations of American [[privateer]]s proved a more significant threat to British trade than the United States Navy. They operated throughout the Atlantic until the close of the war, most notably from Baltimore. American privateers reported taking 1300 British merchant vessels, compared to 254 taken by the United States Navy,{{sfn|American Merchant Marine}}{{sfn|Franklin}}{{sfn|Brewer|2004}} although the insurer [[Lloyd's of London]] reported that only 1,175 British ships were taken, 373 of which were recaptured, for a total loss of 802.{{sfn|Latimer|2007|p=242}} Canadian historian Carl Benn wrote that American privateers took 1,344 British ships, of which 750 were retaken by the British.{{sfn|Benn|2002|p=55}} The British tried to limit privateering losses by the strict enforcement of [[convoy]] by the Royal Navy{{sfn|Kert|2015|p=146}} and directly by blockading coastal waterways and capturing 278 American privateers. Due to the massive size of the British merchant fleet, American captures only affected 7.5% of the fleet, resulting in no supply shortages or lack of reinforcements for British forces in North America.{{sfn|Lambert|2012|pp=394–395}} Of 526 American privateers, 148 were captured by the Royal Navy and only 207 ever took a prize.{{sfn|Benn|2002|p=55}}

Due to the large size of their navy, the British did not rely as much on privateering. The majority of the 1,407 captured American merchant ships were taken by the Royal Navy. The war was the last time the British allowed privateering, since the practice was coming to be seen as politically inexpedient and of diminishing value in maintaining its naval supremacy. However, privateering remained popular in British colonies. It was the last hurrah for privateers in the insular [[British North America]]n colony of Bermuda who vigorously returned to the practice with experience gained in previous wars.<ref>{{Cite magazine |magazine=The Bermudian |title=Bermuda in the Privateering Business |first=Lieutenant-Colonel A. Gavin |last=Shorto |date=2018-04-05 |access-date=2023-11-26 |url=https://www.thebermudian.com/heritage/heritage-heritage/bermuda-in-the-privateering-business |location=City of Hamilton, Pembroke Parish, Bermuda |publisher=The Bermudian |archive-date=17 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231217122822/https://www.thebermudian.com/heritage/heritage-heritage/bermuda-in-the-privateering-business/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite book |title=In the Eye of All Trade: Bermuda, Bermudians, and the Maritime Atlantic World, 1680–1783 |first=Michael |last=Jarvis |publisher=University of North Carolina Press |location=Chapel Hill |date=2010}}{{page needed|date=October 2022}}</ref><ref>{{citation |title=Bermuda's Sailors of Fortune |first=Sister Jean de Chantal |last=Kennedy |publisher=Bermuda Historical Society |date=1963 |asin=B0007J8WMW}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Tidewater Triumph: The Development and Worldwide Success of the Chesapeake Bay Pilot Schooner |first=Geoffrey |last=Footner |publisher=Schiffer Publishing |date=1998 |isbn=978-0870335112}}</ref> The nimble [[Bermuda sloop]]s captured 298 American ships.{{sfn|Stranack|1990|p=23}} Privateer schooners based in continental British North America, especially from [[Nova Scotia]], took 250 American ships and proved especially effective in crippling American coastal trade and capturing American ships closer to shore than the Royal Navy's cruisers.{{sfn|Faye|1997|p=171}}