War of 1812 Privateer’s Instructions, and Copy of the Act Authorizing Privateers, Issued for a Ship Captained by Future Navy Secretary Benjamin Crowninshield, and Signed by Secretary of State James Monroe

We obtained these instructions and copy of the Act directly from the Crowninshield descendants and they have never before been offered for sale

On June 18, 1812, Madison signed the Declaration of War, marking the beginning of the War of 1812. On June 26, Congress passed and President Madison signed an Act authorizing privateers and the issuance of Letters of Marque, and instructions relating to Prizes and Prize Goods. Privateers were privately owned and operated ships, commissioned by the U.S. government to attack enemy ships during wartime. There were 17 sections to the Act, and it set up rules and regulations for obtaining license to be a privateer, what ships could and could not be captured, how prizes are to be taken, dealt with and adjudicated. One example was how to sell prize goods: “That before breaking bulk of any vessel which shall be captured as aforesaid, or other disposal or conversion thereof, or of any articles which shall be found on board the same, such captured vessel, goods or effects, shall be brought into some port of the United States, of into some port of a nation in amity with the United States, and shall be proceeded against, before a competent tribunal, and after condemnation and forfeiture thereof, shall belong to the owners and captors thereof, and be distributed as aforesaid.”

During that war, American privateers played a significant role in disrupting British maritime commerce and bolstering the American economy. Privateers often used fast-sailing schooners and sloops, well-suited for raiding and capturing merchant vessels. They captured a substantial number of British merchant vessels, far exceeding the U.S. Navy’s captures, and brought home valuable prizes.

The Crowninshield family was historically prominent in shipbuilding and merchant shipping, and political and military leadership. George Crowninshield was a captain and merchant, and he had a son Benjamin, who was a captain, merchant, ship builder, and Secretary of the Navy between 1815 and 1818, during the administrations of Presidents James Madison and James Monroe. During the war, the Crowninshields were important figures in privateering and offered three vessels of their own to the U.S. government for service as privateers. These were the ship John, the sloop Jefferson, and the ship America. They were also involved with other privateers where they had an ownership interest, such as the Ship Alexander, which had 19 owners, including George Crowninshield. Benjamin Crowninshield was for a time Captain of the Alexander.

Ship captains like Crowninshield were issued copies of the Privateer Act and instructions “For the Private Armed Vessels of the United States”. These contained four provisions, such as this: “You are to pay the strictest regard to the rights of neutral powers, and the usages of civilized nations; and in all your proceedings towards neutral vessels, you are to give them as little molestation or interruption as will consist with the right of ascertaining their neutral character, and of detaining and bringing them in for regular adjudication, in the proper cases. You are particularly to avoid even the appearance of using force or seduction, with a view to deprive such vessels of their crews, or of their passengers, other than persons in the military service of the enemy. Towards enemy vessels and their crews, you are to proceed, in exercising the rights of war, with all the justice and humanity which characterize the nation of which you are members. The master and one or more of the principal persons belonging to captured vessels, are to be sent, as soon. after the capture as may be, to the judge or judges of the proper court in the United States…”

Document signed, Washington, June 26, 1812, being the instructions provided to “Capt. Benjamin Crowninshield, commander of the private armed Ship called the Alexander”, which instructions are signed by James Monroe as Secretary of State. Crowninshield also received a copy of the Act, which is still present.

According to the postwar book, “Royal Navy Biographies”, “The Alexander is a remarkably fine ship…and was considered the fastest sailing privateer out of the United States.” The Alexander was returning from a 10-week privateering cruise in 1813, having captured four prizes and recaptured three others. Captain Benjamin Crowninshield had assigned more than half of his crew to sail his prizes into Salem. The Alexander then had just 40 crew members, 16 Frenchmen from the twice recaptured French privateer Invincible Napoleon, and 110 British prisoners onboard, when the British ship Rattler, in company with the small schooner the Bream, ran her onto the beach.

The Evening Post of Boston reported May 24, 1813, “We learn by a gentleman who came in the last eastern stage, that two seamen belonging to the privateer ship Alexander…, Captain Crowninshield, of Salem, came as passengers in the stage from Portsmouth to that town. They informed that on Wednesday, between 10 and 11 o’clock, that ship was chased on shore in Wells Bay, by a British sloop of war. The Alexander had endeavored to reach Portsmouth but the wind favored the enemy, who were so close in pursuit that but 20 of the crew escaped, and about 20 more including the officers, remained on board when she was taken possession of.” Captain Crowninshield agreed to relinquish his privateer and all his prisoners and cargo in exchange for the parole of his crew. Captain Alexander Gordon, commander of the British sloop-of-war, sent a flag of truce and a message for the militia men onshore. Convinced that resistance would be unwise, the militia watched as the Alexander was floated off at the next high tide and sailed for St Johns, N.B. Crowninshield and other Americans were released.

We obtained these instructions and copy of the Act directly from the Crowninshield descendants and they have never before been offered for sale.