Re: Re: Letters of marque

There's a big difference between pirates and privateers.  Privateers are
supposed to return the captured ship and cargo to a prize court (there
are a
few legal exceptions), where it is awarded according to marinetine law.
Typically, the state that issued the Letter of Marque took a sizeable
percentage if it was found that the prize was taken in accordance to
marinetine law.  The whole process often took months or even years and
involved the captain of the ship that took the prize, the owner's of
that
ship, the owner's of the prize ship, and the owner's of the prize cargo.

For a good little book on this subject, try "The Prize Game" by Donald
A.
Petrie, published by Naval Institute Press.

ias

----- Original Message -----
From: <laserlight@quixnet.net>
To: <gzg-l@csua.berkeley.edu>
Sent: Friday, January 11, 2002 8:42 AM
Subject: RE: Re: Letters of marque

> Karl said:
> >I have a bit of problem with pirates, letters of marques and
privateers
in
> space. Historically, pirates and privateers financed their business by
> selling their booty and prizes. This requires that you capture them
> reasonably intact. You either get your victim to surrender at the
first
shot
> or you have to use boarding actions. The chances in space for either
of
> these to happen successfully seem a bit slim to me.
>
> a) surrender doesn't seem that unreasonable.	If you took the position
"you give me your cargo (which is covered by insurance) and you keep
your
ship--and your life", I think it would be quite persuasive.
> b) your cost of goods is zero, so you don't have to capture *all* of
them
intact--if you lose 50% of the shipment during the acquisition process,
you
can still make a profit.
> c) needle beams may be useful in the negotiations
> d) what is does require is a market.	Historically the Spanish
colonies
were legally required to buy goods from Spain only (other nations had
the
same kind of laws), which meant the homeland merchants could and did
jack up
their prices.  Consequently smugglers (including pirates) could find
customers who were more interested in the price than the legality.
>   I can easily see that happening again in the GZGverse.
>
>
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