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u Ottawa L'Universite canadienne Canada's university FACULTE DES ETUDES SUPERIEURES 1^=1 FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND ET POSTOCTORALES u Ottawa POSDOCTORAL STUDIES L'University eanadicnno Canada's university Lisa Perrella "AUtWRDElATHESETAUTHORWTHESIS"" M.A. (History) GRADETDEGREE Department of History FACULTE, ECOLE, DEPARTEMENT / FACULTY, SCHOOL, DEPARTMENT Born of Pillage and Plunder: English Privateers and the Birth of the Royal Navy, 1585-1642 TITRE DE LA THESE / TITLE OF THESIS Richard Connors DIRECTEUR (DIRECTRICE) DE LA THESE / THESIS SUPERVISOR CO-DIRECTEUR (CO-DIRECTRICE) DE LA THESE /THESIS CO-SUPERVISOR Nicole St-Onge Jan Grabowski Gary W. Slater Le Doyen de la Faculte des etudes superieures et postdoctorales / Dean of the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies Born of Pillage and Plunder: English Privateers and the Birth of the Royal Navy, 1585-1642 By Lisa Perrella Thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the MA degree in History University of Ottawa ©Lisa Perrella, Ottawa, Canada, 2010 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington OttawaONK1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-65962-5 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-65962-5 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non­ support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. •+• Canada Abstract Born of Pillage and Plunder: English Privateers and the Birth of the Royal Navy, 1585-1642 By: Lisa Perrella Supervisor: Dr. Richard Connors This thesis seeks to examine where and how privateers fit into the composition and development of the Royal Navy, beginning with the outbreak of the Spanish War in 1585 and ending with the beginning of the English civil wars in 1642. A chapter each will be dedicated to Elizabeth I, James VI and I, and Charles I and these will examine the role and use of privateers and compare this against the changes taking place in the Royal Navy at the time Elizabeth I utilized an effective mix of private and public interests in her Royal Navy, which saw a return under Charles, although it was not fully realized until Parliament took control of the fleets in 1642. In the interim, James I's decision to outlaw privateering, and his reliance on the advice of his unqualified and inexperienced gentleman favourites led to the Royal Navy becoming a highly corrupted and inert force. The potential that James had inherited from Elizabeth in regards to English seapower was unrealized as naval officials motivated by personal avarice both literally and figuratively stripped the Royal Fleet of its power. Charles, with his understanding of the importance of skilled seamen to the English Navy, took the steps needed to reverse this decline albeit through dubious and unconventional means. During the Caroline era privateers again rose to prominence, and their exploits aided in the redevelopment of the navy as an effective arm of government. However, the time of Charles's rule was different than those of both Elizabeth and James, and the King's attempts to return of the Royal Navy to its former power failed to take into account the demands of a population whose cries for a navy to protect shipping went unheeded. These demands would not be fully realized until Parliament took control of the navy, but the foundation for the immensely successful and remarkably powerful Royal Navy of Horatio Nelson was laid in the early modern period under the rule of such monarchs as Queen Elizabeth I and King Charles I. a Acknowledgements First I would like to acknowledge the financial support of the University of Ottawa for providing me with both an entrance scholarship and Teaching Assistantships. I would also like to thank the Estate of Gaston Heon for graciously providing me with a Research Travel Award, which presented me with an incredible opportunity to spend time consulting manuscripts at The National Archives and National Maritime Museum of the United Kingdom. I must thank Dr. Galen Perras especially for going above and beyond to respond to any and all of my requests for assistance regarding both my research and the appropriation of travel funds. I owe Dr. Richard Connors an immense amount of gratitude for his stellar performance as my thesis supervisor. His patience, direction and advice made this work possible, as did his willingness to enforce deadlines with an iron fist when necessary. More personally, I would like to thank Asa McKercher, editor extraordinaire, whose patience and willingness to engage in thrilling conversations about capitalization never ceased to amaze me. To Jonathan Heggie, who has never been anything less than an extraordinarily understanding and supportive friend, thank you for absolutely everything. To Carina McDowell and Sophie Chevalier-Forget, thank you for enduring cancelled plans and many a wine-induced rant with smiles and supportive words. Most importantly, I would like to thank my family for their constant love and support. Special thanks go to my brother, for showing me early on that stress relief is never more than a video game away. To the engineer and biologist especially, thank you for always being willing to spend countless hours in every museum within sight, and for your unwavering support of all of my endeavours, even those which you may not have fully comprehended. m Table of Contents Introduction 1 Chapter One - A "glorious and wonderfull victory vpon the Seas" 17 Chapter Two - "I have no intention of obeying the orders of one king when I am, in a way, a king myself 44 Chapter Three - "Irregular and almost incorrigible scum of rascals, whom the land hath ejected for their wicked lives and ungodly behaviour" 76 Conclusion 117 Bibliography 124 IV Introduction Pirates dominate the imagination. Ever present as the subjects of books and films, the popular image of the 'British' pirate stems from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, when men such as Captain William Kidd and Captain Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard, terrorized the open seas. Their exploits, shrouded in intrigue and romance quickly became the subject of lore, and have remained so ever since. The reality of their experiences, like so many other things, is far from this romanticized and idealized image. It is true that pirates were rogue seamen who existed and acted outside and beyond the confines of government sanctions, and generally had little or no ties or loyalty to any given nation or crown. They would attack ships and men from their own country just as soon as they would prey on the shipping of their country's enemies. This disloyalty, and the predation that went with it, are the very reasons that pirates were, and still are, seen as such a threat to governments who have historically been willing to pool resources and manpower into trying to crush piracy. As Daniel Defoe wrote in his 1724 seminal work A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates, it could be extremely "dangerous.. .to Governments to be negligent, and not take an early Care in suppressing these Sea Banditti, before they gather strength."1 The damage and havoc pirates were capable of causing was immense in and of itself, while the threat of dissatisfied seamen deserting royal or commercial shipping in order to join the ranks of such lawless outlaws was an additional concern to public and private 1 Daniel Defoe, A General History of the Pyrates, ed. Manuel Schonhorn (Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, Inc, 1999), pg 30. 1 officials. Yet, what of those pirates who served various states and who acted as tools of statecraft? In the later sixteenth century, which this thesis takes as its starting point, although it had yet to reach its golden age, piracy was hardly a new phenomenon. In fact, as the historian David Loades states, "piracy was as old as shipping." Privateering, however, was a relatively new strategic development. Essentially, privateers were those seamen who were given royal authority to carry out acts of piracy. The first letter of marque, the document granting a pirate permission to become a privateer, was granted by the English King Henry VIII on 20 December 1544.4 Historically, various merchants had received what were called letters of reprisal, which permitted them to "recover their losses by direct action when other methods had failed".

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