Rebels at Sea by Eric Jay Dolin

Author:Eric Jay Dolin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Liveright
Published: 2022-04-27T00:00:00+00:00

Despair was not the only, or even the primary, British response, however. Initially shocked by the courageousness, resolve, and success of America’s privateers, Britain soon began fighting back, using its navy, army, and privateers to retaliate.

While the Royal Navy was the world’s largest naval force at the outset of the Revolution, it was in poor shape, with fewer than 100 of its 270 ships ready for immediate service. By war’s end, it had been revitalized and greatly expanded, ballooning to 468 vessels, including 174 ships of the line and 110,000 men. Of those vessels, more than 300 were in fighting form. Of course, all of that firepower was not trained on American privateers. The Royal Navy’s primary tasks included supporting land forces in America, battling France and Spain in a world war that stretched from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean, and attacking Continental navy ships. Privateers, however, were a serious concern, and the Royal Navy confronted the threat in three ways. First, reacting to the angry chorus of merchants demanding protection, it diverted a considerable number of ships to convoy duty. The presence of one or more naval ships was usually enough to scare off any privateer, but convoys were not always effective. Privateers sometimes picked off laggards that had drifted too far away from their protectors.

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