a privately owned vessel armed with guns which operated in time of war against the trading vessels of an enemy nation Each privateer was given a a 'letter of marque' which was regarded as a commission to seize any enemy shipping as a 'prize' The name 'privateer' has come to refer to both the ship and the men who sailed in her
Privately owned vessel commissioned by a state at war to attack enemy ships, usually merchant vessels. All nations engaged in privateering from the earliest times until the 19th century. Crews were not paid by the government but were entitled to receive portions of the value of any cargo they seized. Limiting privateers to the activities laid down in their commissions was difficult, and the line between privateering and piracy was often blurred. In 1856, by the Declaration of Paris, Britain and other major European countries (except Spain) declared privateering illegal; the U.S. finally repudiated it at the end of the 19th century, and Spain agreed to the ban in 1908. See also buccaneer, Francis Drake, William Kidd, Jean Laffite
A person who owns a ship and has a licence from the ruler of a country to attack the ships of other countries In peacetime, it is a form of legal piracy
a sailor with a letter of marque from the government granting him permission to raid the ships of enemy countries Often, the difference between pirate and privateer was merely a question of who had signed the letter of marque