Privateers

Both sides of the conflict commissioned privateers to attack the trade of the other nation and to distract their navies. These numbered over a thousand, all nationalities combined.   Privateers were privately-owned vessels used to harass and capture British trade vessels and, in some cases, military ones, as well. In order to do this, privateers needed to be issued a Letter of Marque and Reprisal, which made their actions legal by international standards. For American privateers on the rebellious side, their actions were still rather risky. This is because, at the time, Britain did not consider the United States to be its own country, but to be a rebellious part of the British empire. That meant they did not need to consider American letters of marque to be legitimate. In fact, England considered American privateers to be pirates and subject to the same laws and punishments (hanging) as pirates. For the most part, however, captured American privateers were considered enemy prisoners and not pirates, and placed in prisons and on prison ships, where they could be exchanged for British prisoners in time. Many still died in the unsanitary and inhumane conditions in these places, however.