The ships and sailors of old Salem

LISTS OF THE PRIVATE ARMED SHIPS OF SALEM IN THE
REVOLUTION AND THE WAR OF 1812

The following list of the armed ships of Salem from 1776 to 1783 includes both privateers and letters-of-marque. As defined in international law “letters-of-marque” as issued by a Government are privateering commissions, but in practice a distinction was made between the two classes of ships. A privateer cruised in pursuit of the enemy’s commerce and went to sea for no other purpose, while a letter-of-marque vessel carried a cargo to a destined port or ports, taking prizes if they came in her way and defending herself against the enemy as a regularly commissioned private ship of war under heavy bonds to her government to obey the rules of warfare.

The Naval Records of the Revolution, as compiled and published by the Library of Congress, contains a list of the letters-of-marque issued by the Government, and includes no fewer than one hundred and ninety of these commissions granted to Salem shipowners, and commanders, designating them all as “private armed ships of war.” The most accurate catalogues of this kind that were compiled many years ago by local historians and shipmasters agree upon one hundred and fifty-eight as the total number of vessels of all kinds which actually engaged in privateering out of the port of Salem during the Revolution. The Government records show, however, that this reckoning falls far short of the total number of craft commissioned by means of letters-of-marque to prey upon England’s commerce as private ships of war. Even these Government records are not complete, however, the names of several well-known privateers being absent from the list, while on the other hand the name of one vessel may be recorded two, three, or four times, a new commission being granted and a new bond demanded when the ship, schooner, or brig changed commanders or owners. The bond required in all cases was in the sum of $20,000.

From the Naval Records of the Revolution, and from all lists made and preserved in Salem archives and from other sources the following catalogue has been compiled, as the most nearly complete record of the private armed ships of Salem during the Revolution that has been published:

PRIVATE ARMED SHIPS OF SALEM IN THE WAR OF 1812