How Did The Seven Years War Influence The Bermudian Privateers

It was six years later, during the Seven Years’ War that Bermudian privateers found themselves again trying to bolster Britain’s naval forces. As previously mentioned, the relations between France and Britain after the War of Austrian Succession were far from affable and shifting loyalties amidst the nations of Europe eventually sparked the powder keg of war. The Seven Years War in particular was hugely important in terms of British Maritime power. “Control of the sea was instrumental to the decisive victories secured in North America, the West Indies and the Indian sub-continent. (13)” Which made the weakening of the enemy’s fleet that much more important. The French understood what a threat the Bermudian privateers could be and took action …show more content…
In years leading up to the war French and Martinique privateers commandeered sloops from Bermudians and incorporated them into their fleets. So when the war began French privateers moved to Bermudian waters and for weeks they overtook British and Bermudian Ships alike. It wasn’t until the government sent out two heavily fortified vessels that the French broke rank and ran away. Towards the end of the war you start to see British privateering diminishing, probably due to the increasing power of the Royal Navy as a whole. There were fifteen Bermudian privateers that were licensed through the war and none found the successful that they had in the previous war with France and Spain. At the end of the war the colonies had been reshaped and France, for the most part, had been pushed out of the Americas, leaving Spain and Britain with the lions share. The French however maintained their possession of Guadeloupe and Martinique. Even though the war had come to an end, as in the past, Bermudian privateers continued to take liberties with Spanish …show more content…
Also known as the American Revolutionary War, this war involved the British colonies in the Americas and their mother country Britain, but the French and Spain both supported the colonies at different times during the conflict. Officially, the war began 1775 when British Parliament declared Massachusetts to be in a state of rebellion. However, unrest and resentment over taxes in the colonies had steadily been developing for years. Bermuda was never really influenced by the revolutionary rhetoric coming out of America or France or Haiti for that matter. However, as with Britain herself, there were those that sympathized with colonies and supported their cause. “During the course of the American Revolution, the supplied more ships and seamen/privateers to the rebel cause than the Crown. The British government viewed the island as little more than an extension of the American Rebellion.” It seems however, that the Bermudian Privateers were playing both sides of the conflict. The seized American ships with full support of the crown and often they carried letters from the British king as well as letters from the Continental congress demonstrating that their loyalty was first and foremost to