The Privateers of Liverpool

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 218, 3 December 1927, Page 24 (Supplement)

The Privateers of Liverpool

.»KPSfjl HE reign of Elizabeth was the golden age of maritime adventure in which the great Queen was regarded by AS3 sailors as their special friend, and hailed as the restorer of the glory of shipping. Her navy, with the assistance of wealthy merchants who built ships of war, was able to muster 20,000 fighting men for sea service.

No less than 100 armed merchantmen joined the 20 ships of the Royal Navy, and did their bit to harass and defeat the Spanish Armada. Such public-spirited patriotism on the part of private individuals merited recognition and reward, which generally took the practical, remunerative and romantic form of “letters of marque” being granted to the proud owners, whereby their ships became privateers.

In 1563 a vessel belonging to Sir Thomas Stanley, sou of the Earl of Derby, brought a prize into the River Mersey amidst great rejoicings. This is the first mention of privateering in the annals of Liverpool. About the same time another privateer, which had been fitted out by the licensed victuallers of Chester, captured a French merchantman and brought her into port, whereupon, we are told, the shipping “shot off so noble a peal of guns, so quick and fast one upon another, that the like was never heard in these parts of England and Wales.” It was not, however, until the 18th century that privateering in Liverpool reached any considerable growth, writes C. Wye Kendall, in “The Blue Peter.”

In 1744 there were four of these ships, the Old Noll, the Terrible, the Thurloe and the Admiral Blake, all of which did good work and captured several valuable prizes from the French.

It was at this period that Captain Fortunatus Wright came into prominence as the most famous British privateersman of his day and the idol of Liverpool. When in command of the brigantine Fame, in the short space of a month he captured 16 French ships in the Levant, said to be worth £400,000. History does not relate how much of this large sum fell to the lot of the privateersman. In 1747 this successful commander entered into partnership with a distinguished colleague, Captain William Hutchinson, founder of the Liverpool Marine Society, principal water-bailiff and dockmaster of the port, author, inventor, and generally a most enterprising and public-spirited citizen. The two raised privateering and seamanship to a tine art at a time when the high seas were infested with everv sort of predatory craft imaginable. " Wright’s most dramatic exploits took place upon the renewal of war with France in 1756, when in command of the St. George, a little privateer of 12 guns and SO men, which he built and equipped at his own expense. His first encounter was with a French ship of 16 guns and 280 men, which had been specially commissioned to bring his activities to an end by any means possible, fair or foul. In the event of success the French captain was to receive a sum of money double the value of the Englishman's ship, a pension of 3,000 livres per