distress, even lack of food, because these intrepid seamen could
not be driven away from her own coasts and continued to snatch their
prizes from under the guns of British forts and fleets. The plight of
the West India Colonies was even worse, as witness this letter from a
merchant of Grenada: "We are happy if we can get anything for money by
reason of the quantity of vessels taken by the Americans. A fleet
of vessels came from Ireland a few days ago. From sixty vessels
that departed from Ireland not above twenty-five arrived in this and
neighboring islands, the others, it is thought, being all taken by
American privateers. God knows, if this American war continues much
longer, we shall all die of hunger."

On both sides, by far the greater number of captures was made during the
earlier period of the war which cleared the seas of the smaller, slower,
and unarmed vessels. As the war progressed and the profits flowed
in, swifter and larger ships were built for the special business of
privateering until the game resembled actual naval warfare. Whereas,
at first, craft of ten guns with forty or fifty men had been considered
adequate for the service, three or four years later ships were afloat
with a score of heavy cannon and a trained crew of a hundred and fifty
or two hundred men, ready to engage a sloop of war or to stand up to
the enemy's largest privateers. In those days single ship actions, now
almost forgotten in naval tactics, were fought with illustrious skill
and courage, and commanders won victories worthy of comparison with
deeds distinguished in the annals of the American Navy.

CHAPTER III. OUT CUTLASES AND BOARD

Salem was the foremost privateering port of the Revolution, and from
this pleasant harbor, long since deserted by ships and sailormen, there
filled away past Cape Ann one hundred and fifty-eight vessels of all
sizes to scan the horizon for British topsails. They accounted for four
hundred prizes, or half the whole number to the credit of American arms
afloat. This preeminence was due partly to freedom from a close blockade
and partly to a seafaring population which was born and bred to its
trade and knew no other. Besides the crews of Salem merchantmen,
privateering enlisted the idle fishermen of ports nearby and the
mariners of Boston whose commerce had been snuffed out by the British
occupation. Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Charleston sent some splendid
armed ships to sea but not with the imp