History of the Liverpool Privateers and Letters of Marque
With an Account of the Liverpool Slave Trade

The methods, exploits and profits of privateers and slave traders who fuelled the growth of early modern Liverpool.

Gomer Williams (Author)

9781108026277, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 3 February 2011

748 pages
21.6 x 14 x 4.2 cm, 0.94 kg

This book, first published in 1897, examines two important factors in the growth of Liverpool as a major port: privateering and the slave trade. It incorporates a large amount of primary source material, including extracts from letters and newspaper reports. Privateeering developed as Britain became a global maritime power through merchant shipping and exploration, privateers being ships and individuals authorised by the government through Letters of Marque to attack and capture foreign ships for profit. Williams recounts the exploits of several notorious privateers sailing from Liverpool, and describes how the industry functioned and flourished during the French revolution, the Seven Years' War and the American wars. He provides much practical detail, including how best to capture ships while causing them minimal damage. The second part of his book is still regarded as a classic history of the Liverpool slave trade, and clearly reveals the author's anti-imperialist views.

Preface
Part I. Privateering: 1. A peep behind the scenes
2. The story of Captain Fortunatus Wright and Selim, the Armenian captive
3. Privateers of the Seven Years' War
4. Privateers of the American War of Independence
5. Liverpool privateers and letters of marque ships during the wars of the French Revolution
6. Liverpool privateers during the second war with America
Part II. The Liverpool Slave Trade: 1. The Liverpool slave trade, how it originated and thrived
2. Captain John Newton
3. The massacre at Old Calabar
4. The abolition movement
5. Horrors of the middle passage
6. Emoluments of the traffic. A millionaire's ventures
7. The corporation and the slave trade
8. Captain Hugh Crow
Appendixes
Index.

Subject Areas: Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH]