Leaders & Notable People
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Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution
The bestselling author of Black Flags, Blue Waters reclaims the daring freelance sailors who proved essential to the winning of the Revolutionary War.
The heroic story of the founding of the U.S. Navy during the Revolution has been told many times, yet largely missing from maritime histories of America's first war is the ragtag fleet of private vessels that truly revealed the new nation's character―above all, its ambition and entrepreneurial ethos.
In Rebels at Sea, best-selling historian Eric Jay Dolin corrects that significant omission, and contends that privateers, as they were called, were in fact critical to the American victory. Privateers were privately owned vessels, mostly refitted merchant ships, that were granted permission by the new government to seize British merchantmen and men of war. As Dolin stirringly demonstrates, at a time when the young Continental Navy numbered no more than about sixty vessels all told, privateers rushed to fill the gaps. Nearly 2,000 set sail over the course of the war, with tens of thousands of Americans serving on them and capturing some 1,800 British ships. Privateers came in all shapes and sizes, from twenty-five foot long whaleboats to full-rigged ships more than 100 feet long. Bristling with cannons, swivel guns, muskets, and pikes, they tormented their foes on the broad Atlantic and in bays and harbors on both sides of the ocean.
The men who owned the ships, as well as their captains and crew, would divide the profits of a successful cruise―and suffer all the more if their ship was captured or sunk, with privateersmen facing hellish conditions on British prison hulks, where they were treated not as enemy combatants but as pirates. Some Americans viewed them similarly, as cynical opportunists whose only aim was loot. Yet Dolin shows that privateersmen were as patriotic as their fellow Americans, and moreover that they greatly contributed to the war's success: diverting critical British resources to protecting their shipping, playing a key role in bringing France into the war on the side of the United States, providing much-needed supplies at home, and bolstering the new nation's confidence that it might actually defeat the most powerful military force in the world.
Creating an entirely new pantheon of Revolutionary heroes, Dolin reclaims such forgotten privateersmen as Captain Jonathan Haraden and Offin Boardman, putting their exploits, and sacrifices, at the very center of the conflict. Abounding in tales of daring maneuvers and deadly encounters, Rebels at Sea presents this nation's first war as we have rarely seen it before.
105 black-and-white images throughout, 8-page color insert
The heroic story of the founding of the U.S. Navy during the Revolution has been told many times, yet largely missing from maritime histories of America's first war is the ragtag fleet of private vessels that truly revealed the new nation's character―above all, its ambition and entrepreneurial ethos.
In Rebels at Sea, best-selling historian Eric Jay Dolin corrects that significant omission, and contends that privateers, as they were called, were in fact critical to the American victory. Privateers were privately owned vessels, mostly refitted merchant ships, that were granted permission by the new government to seize British merchantmen and men of war. As Dolin stirringly demonstrates, at a time when the young Continental Navy numbered no more than about sixty vessels all told, privateers rushed to fill the gaps. Nearly 2,000 set sail over the course of the war, with tens of thousands of Americans serving on them and capturing some 1,800 British ships. Privateers came in all shapes and sizes, from twenty-five foot long whaleboats to full-rigged ships more than 100 feet long. Bristling with cannons, swivel guns, muskets, and pikes, they tormented their foes on the broad Atlantic and in bays and harbors on both sides of the ocean.
The men who owned the ships, as well as their captains and crew, would divide the profits of a successful cruise―and suffer all the more if their ship was captured or sunk, with privateersmen facing hellish conditions on British prison hulks, where they were treated not as enemy combatants but as pirates. Some Americans viewed them similarly, as cynical opportunists whose only aim was loot. Yet Dolin shows that privateersmen were as patriotic as their fellow Americans, and moreover that they greatly contributed to the war's success: diverting critical British resources to protecting their shipping, playing a key role in bringing France into the war on the side of the United States, providing much-needed supplies at home, and bolstering the new nation's confidence that it might actually defeat the most powerful military force in the world.
Creating an entirely new pantheon of Revolutionary heroes, Dolin reclaims such forgotten privateersmen as Captain Jonathan Haraden and Offin Boardman, putting their exploits, and sacrifices, at the very center of the conflict. Abounding in tales of daring maneuvers and deadly encounters, Rebels at Sea presents this nation's first war as we have rarely seen it before.
105 black-and-white images throughout, 8-page color insert
Editorial Reviews
"Eric Jay Dolin, the author of several books on early American seafaring, believes that these privateers have received short shrift in other histories of the Revolution. His thoroughly researched, engagingly written Rebels at Sea gives them their due . . . when a ship couldn't outsail its foes, or when a potential prize resisted, a bloody action could ensue, and Rebels at Sea vividly recounts some of these battles, as vessels with evocative names such as Vengeance, Eagle and Defiance face off against the enemy . . . Dolin convincingly contends that the underappreciated ‘militia of the sea' played a critical role in the colonies winning their independence, despite Britain's ‘peculiar and sovereign authority upon the ocean."
― Gerard Helferich, Wall Street Journal
"Rebels at Sea is sure to be another successful addition to Dolin's catalog. The narrative is fast-paced and exciting. . . . The work also has some stunning and colorful pictures, including paintings, maps and portraits. This ranks as one of the best books the Journal of the American Revolution has reviewed."
― Timothy Symington, Journal of the American Revolution
"The author makes this solid work of scholarship the sort of book that starts a young person's love of reading and interest in history. Dolin never loses the reader in his clear and concise prose."
― Robert S. Davis, New York Journal of Books
"Rebels at Sea is a worthwhile addition to Eric Jay Dolin's superb scholarly library of maritime works. . . . [it] is a broad and well-researched examination of the role of letter-of-marque vessels during the American Revolution. This new work is a very much welcome addition to Revolutionary War maritime history."
― Louis Arthur Norton, Sea History
"Dolin's valuable achievement in recognizing and honoring these sailors' oft-ignored contributions to American independence more fully fleshes out American naval history."
― Mark Knoblauch, Booklist, starred review
"Scholars and general readers will enhance their knowledge of an often-neglected yet essential a...
― Gerard Helferich, Wall Street Journal
"Rebels at Sea is sure to be another successful addition to Dolin's catalog. The narrative is fast-paced and exciting. . . . The work also has some stunning and colorful pictures, including paintings, maps and portraits. This ranks as one of the best books the Journal of the American Revolution has reviewed."
― Timothy Symington, Journal of the American Revolution
"The author makes this solid work of scholarship the sort of book that starts a young person's love of reading and interest in history. Dolin never loses the reader in his clear and concise prose."
― Robert S. Davis, New York Journal of Books
"Rebels at Sea is a worthwhile addition to Eric Jay Dolin's superb scholarly library of maritime works. . . . [it] is a broad and well-researched examination of the role of letter-of-marque vessels during the American Revolution. This new work is a very much welcome addition to Revolutionary War maritime history."
― Louis Arthur Norton, Sea History
"Dolin's valuable achievement in recognizing and honoring these sailors' oft-ignored contributions to American independence more fully fleshes out American naval history."
― Mark Knoblauch, Booklist, starred review
"Scholars and general readers will enhance their knowledge of an often-neglected yet essential a...
Readers Top Reviews
SCP RenoBethanyEmpyr
Rebels at Sea is another fascinating book by Eric Jay Dolan. If you are familiar with his other books, you recognize he has a strong interest in North American history and how the oceans and coastal regions have played significant roles in political, economic, and weather-related events. This telling of the private ships that served, in their own measure, as a rogue navy keeps your attention the way a page-turner novel or big-screen movie does. The players in these actions and the tales of their illicit, as well as legitimate, missions will answer your appetite for any interest in this topic and era.
Bill Richardson
The author did a great job on the research for this book. It had a lot of great information. It was a very good read.
Jfm
Bought for husband and he loves it! Anything this author writes is great!!
Joseph S. Smith
Great stories of many battles between American privateers and British commercial vessels, privateers and even the royal navy. Explains the importance of privateers to the American independence war effort, which truly oh pressure on Parliament to end the conflict.
Edward P. Fitzgerald
This was a eye popping book about the founding fathers means and methods to build our nation. The rational of the Privateers is certainly a method employed by our nation and relevant to this days defense of the second amendment. The sacrifices of many a sailor against the British navy and the horribly inhumane treatment of prisoner's is a reminder of what true patriots endured for our freedoms today. Its a travesty this is not taught in our schools today.
