Rebels at Sea

January 31, 2022
American privateers were “at the very center” of the patriotic cause during the Revolutionary War, according to this spirited account from historian Dolin (A Furious Sky). Armed ships that were “owned and outfitted by private individuals who had government permission to capture enemy ships in times of war,” privateers were “like a cost-free navy,” Dolin explains. He vividly describes a privateersman’s life at sea on a typical “cruise”; contends that American privateering in the Caribbean helped “create the situation” in which British general John Burgoyne’s surrender at the Battle of Saratoga led France to enter the war against Britain; and details horrific conditions in British prisons where captured privateersmen were held. But the book’s greatest strength are the up-close portraits of the sailors themselves, a motley crew that includes George Washington’s future dentist, John Greenwood, and Capt. Jonathan Haraden of Massachusetts, who seized hundreds of British cannons and prisoners. In Dolin’s eagerness to show that privateering “was critical to winning the war,” and to portray privateers as well-organized revolutionaries rather than lawless pirates, he occasionally veers into hagiography. Still, this is a well-researched and thoroughly entertaining tribute to men who “stepped forward and risked their lives to help make a reality.”

March 15, 2022
The bestselling maritime historian returns with a study of privateering activity during the Revolutionary War and its role in bolstering the Colonial cause. In the 1700s, privateers--armed vessels that were owned and outfitted by private contractors who had government permission to capture enemy ships in times of war--had a reputation of being both patriotic and tainted by piracy. They were essentially a cost-free navy that could inflict significant military and economic pain at no cost to the government--in this case, the Continental Congress of the 13 rebellious Colonies, which had no official navy and relied heavily on these rogue vessels to intercept British ships. 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. "American privateersmen," he writes, "took the maritime fight to the British and made them bleed. In countless daring actions...privateers caused British maritime insurance rates to precipitously rise, diverted critical British resources and naval assets...added to British weariness over the war, and played a starring role in bringing France into the war on the side of the United States." 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.

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Starred review from April 1, 2022

After distinguishing between privateers and pirates (often merely lawless, ruthless thieves), acclaimed author Dolin (A Furious Sky) deftly defends and demonstrates the crucial impact of American privateering on the Revolutionary war effort. Individual colonies and Congress awarded permission to private ship-owners, authorizing their crews (with restrictions) to seize British mercantile and naval ships. "Prize" ships and their contents were sold. Privateer ship-owners, investors, and crews split the profits. Captured crews were generally treated as prisoners of war. 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. Nonetheless, it limited the number of recruits for the Continental armed forces, prompted brutal British retaliation against coastal colonial towns, and caused thousands of captured privateersmen to languish and die on hellish British prison ships. VERDICT 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.--Margaret Kappanadze

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from March 1, 2022
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 (The Furious Sky, 2020) recounts. Taking for their model English privateers of Tudor times such as Sir Francis Drake, American privateers patrolled the east coast of the colonies and disrupted Britain's important West Indian trade routes. Massachusetts' Jonathan Haraden, the white commander of the sloop Pickering, even faced down a British warship near Bilbao, Spain. These privateers' success helped induce France's navy to come to the colonies' aid. Moreover, the goods they confiscated from captured vessels helped to sustain the colonies and their war efforts despite the British blockade. 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.

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