Piracy In 1492

After the 18th century the Royal Navy of the British Empire would become the world’s most prominent and dominating naval power but this was not always the case for the small empire. The Royal Navy can draw their ties and beginnings to the power of the privateer and the pirate of the 17th and 18th century. With Christopher Columbus discovery of the new world in 1492 and its un tapped wealth, a race would begin to see which nation could control this new-found power in the world. This new era of piracy in the Caribbean would begin in 1604 and with the ending of the Anglo-Spanish War that would cause a great significance and cause a shift in power on the open seas. With European expansion in the Caribbean and trading routes opening the nations
Queen Elizabeth I (1533 - 1603) of England relied heavily on the privateers to fill out her naval forces during the war and when the war ended most thought that this would end the raiding on Spanish ships. This was not the case as England still needed the privateers till she could rebuild her navy and have a substantial income. The British would officially denounce piracy against their former enemies but they would never make a move to actually stop the raiding since it brought in good amount of capital. In the 17th century, keeping and maintaining a naval force was expensive and with Britain being an island they needed the navy to protect their merchant fleets and trade routes. The problem with this was they could not afford three of the important roles needed. A homeland defensive force, a merchant protection force, and a raiding force to harass their enemies. This is where the Queen issued out letters of marque to allow the privateers to raid any ship that was not of English origin as if they were still at war. Privateers took the letter and begin raiding upon trading vessels flying any flag except those of the English trade fleet. By having these privateers do all the “heavy” lifting in terms of fighting and raiding the English were able to focus on the part the sought to be the most important with their fleet, homeland defense. The letters of marque were an old system at the time the Queen issued them but never before have they been used so largely by a nation as what she did. By having the private sector of naval forces take on the role of what a navy would, allowed the English advantage in terms of naval power. Another big difference in British privateers and other nations privateers was England allowed her ships to prey on all neutral ships while say France, for example, did not allow this. As stated before running and maintaining a navy that