List of privateers

privateer A privateer is a private person or ship that engages in maritime warfare under a commission of war. Since robbery under arms was a common aspect of seaborne trade, until the early 19th century all merchant ships carried arms. A sovereign or deleg ...

was a private person authorized by a country's

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is ...

by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping. Privateering was an accepted part of naval warfare from the 16th to the 19th centuries, authorised by all significant naval powers. Notable privateers included: *

Victual Brothers , native_name_lang = , named_after = french: vitailleurs (provisioners, Hundred Years' War) , image = Vitalienbrueder, Wandmalerei in d, Kirche zu Bunge auf Gotland, gemalt ca. 1405.JPG , image_size = 250px ...

or Vitalians or Likedeelers 1360–1401 *

Gödeke Michels Gödeke Michels (Low Saxon; died 1402), also known as Gottfried Michaelsen in High German, was a German pirate and one of the leaders of the Likedeeler, a combination of former Vitalienbrüder. Early life Career Together with Klaus Störtebe ...

(leader of the Likedeelers) 1360–1401 *

Klaus Störtebeker "Nikolaus" Storzenbecher or "Klaus" Störtebeker (1360 – supposed 20 October 1401) was reputed to be leader of a group of privateers known as the Victual Brothers (german: Vitalienbrüder). The Victual Brothers ( la, victualia) were ...

Wismar Wismar (; Low German: ''Wismer''), officially the Hanseatic City of Wismar (''Hansestadt Wismar'') is, with around 43,000 inhabitants, the sixth-largest city of the northeastern German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and the fourth-largest city ...

, (leader of the Likedeelers), 1360–1401 *

Didrik Pining Didrik Pining ( 1430 – 1491) was a German privateer, nobleman and governor of Iceland and Vardøhus. In 1925, researcher Sofus Larson proposed that Pining may have landed in North America in the 1470s, almost twenty years before Columbus' vo ...

, German, c. 1428–1491 *

Paul Beneke Paul Beneke, also Paul Benecke, (early 1400s (decade) – c. 1480) was a German town councillor of Danzig and a privateer. Life During the Anglo-Hanseatic War, Beneke overpowered an English fleet at Zween in 1468. When Beneke was commissioned by L ...

, German, born in

Hanse The Hanseatic League (; gml, Hanse, , ; german: label= Modern German, Deutsche Hanse) was a medieval commercial and defensive confederation of merchant guilds and market towns in Central and Northern Europe. Growing from a few North German ...

atic City of Danzig,

Pomerelia Pomerelia,, la, Pomerellia, Pomerania, pl, Pomerelia (rarely used) also known as Eastern Pomerania,, csb, Pòrénkòwô Pòmòrskô Vistula Pomerania, prior to World War II also known as Polish Pomerania, is a historical sub-region of Pome ...

c. 1440s–1490s *

Kemal Reis Kemal Reis (c. 1451 – 1511) was an Ottoman and Turkish privateer and admiral. He was also the paternal uncle of the famous Ottoman admiral and cartographer Piri Reis, who accompanied him in most of his important naval expeditions. Backgrou ...

, Turkish, c. 1451–1511 * Oruç Reis (Barbarossa), Turkish, c. 1474–1518 *

Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha Hayreddin Barbarossa ( ar, خير الدين بربروس, Khayr al-Din Barbarus, original name: Khiḍr; tr, Barbaros Hayrettin Paşa), also known as Hızır Hayrettin Pasha, and simply Hızır Reis (c. 1466/1478 – 4 July 1546), was an O ...

, Turkish, 1478–1546 * Turgut Reis (Dragut), Turkish, c. 1485–1565 *

Timoji Timoji (also referred to as Timoja or Timmayya) was a privateer who served the Vijayanagara Empire and the Portuguese Empire during the first decade of the 16th century. He claimed to have been born in Goa and to have escaped the city after its c ...

, Hindu, 1496–1513 *

Murat Reis the Older Murat Reis the Elder ( tr, Koca Murat Reis; sq, Murat Reis Plaku 1534 – 1609) was an Ottoman privateer and admiral, who served in the Ottoman Navy. He is regarded as one of the most important Barbary corsairs. Early career Born into a ...

, Turkish, c. 1506–1609 *

Sir Francis Drake Sir Francis Drake ( – 28 January 1596) was an English explorer, sea captain, privateer, slave trader, naval officer, and politician. Drake is best known for his circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition, from 1577 to 1580 ( ...

, English, c. 1540–1596 *

Sir George Somers Sir George Somers (before 24 April 1554 – 9 November 1610) was an English privateer and naval hero, knighted for his achievements and the Admiral of the Virginia Company of London. He achieved renown as part of an expedition led by ...

, English 1554–1610 *

Captain Christopher Newport Christopher Newport (1561–1617) was an English seaman and privateer. He is best known as the captain of the ''Susan Constant'', the largest of three ships which carried settlers for the Virginia Company in 1607 on the way to found the settle ...

, English, c. 1561–1617 *

Magnus Heinason Magnus Heinason (Mogens Heinesøn) (1548 – 18 January 1589) was a Faroese naval hero, trader and privateer. Magnus Heinason served William the Silent and his son Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange for 10 years as a privateer, fighting t ...

, Faroese, c. 1568–1578 privateer in Dutch service under the Dutch revolt and 1580s, and privateer and merchant in Danish service on the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

c. 1578–1589 * Piet Hein, Dutch, 1577–1629 * Alonso de Contreras, Spanish, 1582–1641, privateer against the Turks under the banner of the

Order of Malta The Sovereign Military Order of Malta (SMOM), officially the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta ( it, Sovrano Militare Ordine Ospedaliero di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme, di Rodi e di Malta; ...

and later commanded

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

ships * James Erisey, English, 1585–1590s *

Peter Easton Peter Easton ( – 1620 or after) was a pirate in the early 17th century. The 'most famous English pirate of the day', his piracies ranged from Ireland and Guinea to Newfoundland. He is best known today for his involvement in the early En ...

, England/Newfoundland, c. 1611–1614 * Sir

Henry Morgan Sir Henry Morgan ( cy, Harri Morgan; – 25 August 1688) was a privateer, plantation owner, and, later, Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica. From his base in Port Royal, Jamaica, he raided settlements and shipping on the Spanish Main, becoming we ...

, Welsh, 1635–1688 *

Jean Bart Jean Bart (; ; 21 October 1650 – 27 April 1702) was a French naval commander and privateer. Early life Jean Bart was born in Dunkirk in 1650 to a seafaring family, the son of Jean-Cornil Bart (c. 1619-1668) who has been described variously a ...

, French, 1651–1702 *

William Dampier William Dampier (baptised 5 September 1651; died March 1715) was an English explorer, pirate, privateer, navigator, and naturalist who became the first Englishman to explore parts of what is today Australia, and the first person to circumnav ...

, English, 1652–1715 *

William Kidd William Kidd, also known as Captain William Kidd or simply Captain Kidd ( – 23 May 1701), was a Scottish sea captain who was commissioned as a privateer and had experience as a pirate. He was tried and executed in London in 1701 for murder a ...

, Scottish, c. 1654–1701 * Nicolas Baeteman, Dunkirker 1659–1720 * Alexander Dalzeel, Scotland, c. 1662–1715 *

René Duguay-Trouin René Trouin, Sieur du Gué, also known as René Duguay-Trouin, (10 June 1673 – 1736) was a French naval officer, nobleman, slave trader, and privateer best known for his career during the War of the Spanish Succession. He had a brilliant ...

, French, 1673–1736 *

Kanhoji Angre Kanhoji Angre (Marathi: कान्होजी आंग्रे, anʱod͡ʒiː aːŋɡɾe, also known as Conajee Angria or Sarkhel Angré (August 1669 – 4 July 1729) was a chief of the Maratha Navy in present-day India. Kanhoji became k ...

Maratha The Marathi people ( Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as ...

, 1698–1729 *

Lars Gathenhielm Lars Gathenhielm (originally Lars Andersson Gathe; 1689–1718) was a Swedish sea captain, commander, shipowner merchant, and privateer. Biography Lars Gathenhielm was born on the Gatan estate in Onsala Parish in Halland. His parents were th ...

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

, 1710–1718 *

Ingela Gathenhielm Ingela Olofsdotter Gathenhielm née ''Hammar'' (11 September 1692 – 29 April 1729), was a Swedish shipowner and privateer in service of King Charles XII of Sweden during the Great Northern War.Larsson, Lisbeth, Hundrade och en Göteborgskvin ...

, 1710/18–1721 *

Fortunatus Wright Fortunatus Wright (c.1712–1757) was a British merchant and privateer, notable for his activities in the Mediterranean Sea during the War of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years' War. Early life Wright was apparently a native of Wallas ...

, English of Liverpool, 1712–1757 *

David Hawley David Hawley (1741–1807) was a captain in the Continental Navy and a privateer during the American Revolutionary War. He commanded in the 1776 Battle of Valcour Island, which is generally regarded as one of the first naval battles of the Am ...

, colonial United States, 1741–1807 *

Jonathan Haraden Jonathan Haradan (November 11, 1744 – November 23, 1803) was a privateer during the American Revolution. Biography Haradan was born in 1744 in Gloucester, Massachusetts. As a boy he worked in Salem for the prominent merchant and future Senat ...

, colonial United States, 1744–1803 * William Death, English, 1756 * Alexander Godfrey, colonial Nova Scotia, 1756–1803 * Jose Campuzano-Polanco, colonial Santo Domingo, 1689-1760 * Etienne Pellot, aka "the Basque Fox", French, 1765–1856 * Noah Stoddard, United States, 1755-1850 *

Robert Surcouf Robert Surcouf (12 December 1773 – 8 July 1827) was a French privateer and slave trader who operated in the Indian Ocean between 1789 and 1801, and again from 1807 to 1808, capturing over 40 prizes. He later amassed a large fortune as a ...

, French, 1773–1827 * John Goodrich (1722-1785), Loyalist privateer in the American Revolution * David McCullough, colonial United States, 1777-1778 * Jean Gaspard Vence, French, –1783 *

Joseph Barss Joseph Barss (21 February 1776 – 3 August 1824) was a sea Captain (nautical), captain of the schooner ''Liverpool Packet'' and was one of the most successful privateers on the North American Atlantic coast during the War of 1812. Backg ...

, Colonial Nova Scotia, 1776–1824 *

Jean Lafitte Jean Lafitte ( – ) was a French pirate and privateer who operated in the Gulf of Mexico in the early 19th century. He and his older brother Pierre spelled their last name Laffite, but English language documents of the time used "Lafitte". Th ...

1776–1854, French

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

hero in the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...

* John Ordronaux (privateer), United States, 1778–1841 * Ephraim Sturdivant, United States, 1782–1868 * Hipólito Bouchard, Argentina, 1783–1843 *

Otway Burns Otway Burns (c. 1775 – August 25, 1850) was an American privateer during the War of 1812 and later, a North Carolina State Senator. Early life Burns was born at Queen's Creek, near Swansboro, North Carolina. He became a seaman after lear ...

, North Carolina, United States 1775–1850 *

Wetheman Wetheman or Vedeman (died c. 1170) was a Danish nobleman who in 1151 or 1152 founded a lay confraternity in Roskilde to help fight the pagan Wends. A layman, he was its first commander and led the defence of the coast from Wendish pirates. He also ...

(active 1151/52 – c.1170), Danish,

Wendish Crusade The Wendish Crusade (german: Wendenkreuzzug) was a military campaign in 1147, one of the Northern Crusades and a part of the Second Crusade, led primarily by the Kingdom of Germany within the Holy Roman Empire and directed against the Polabian Sl ...

{{Pirates Privateers *List Naval warfare of the Middle Ages Naval warfare of the Early Modern period