Privateering in the Civil War

Privateering in the Civil War

Not all privateer crews made their fortune.
Some were captured and ended up in French prisons

by A C Saunders

Jean Chevalier diary

We would know very little of the activities of Sir George Carteret’s privateers had it not been for the diary which Jean Chevalier left behind him.

Jean Chevalier was our Jersey Pepys, and in his diary he gives us a wonderful detailed account of life in Jersey, and the struggles between the Royalists and Parliamentarians. We learn it was from Elizabeth Castle that Sir George Carteret organised his famous fleet of privateers, which did so much damage to English trading vessels, causing the owners to await convoys before they dared to sail from English ports.

We have to thank La Société Jersiaise for the publication of this diary in 1906, under the Editorship of J A Messervy, an authority on Jersey history, for it allows us to get an insight into the manners and customs of our ancestors who lived in those days.

Of Chevalier himself little is known, except that he was born in 1589 and died in 1675, at the age of 86. During his long life he seemes to have taken an active interest in the affairs of the Island. He did not rise to high rank, being only a Vingtenier of St Helier, but living in the Royal Square, then the market place, he was able to watch at close quarters the activities of his fellow Islanders, and listen to their gossip, much of which he detailed in his diary, sometimes at great length.

He had many relations in the Island, and was connected with the families de la Cloche and de Carteret. This probably explains how he obtained access to so many sources of information, which enabled him to give such a detailed and accurate account of the times in which he lived. He was an ardent Royalist and his diary covers the period from 1643 to 1651.

It tells us the story of the final struggle between Sir Philip de Carteret, and Lempriere and his party, the two visits of Charles afterwards Charles II, and the capture of the Island and the surrender of Elizabeth Castle after Admiral Blake and the Parliamentarian army arrived in the Island.

Fleet organised

After Sir George arrived in Jersey and took over the government of the Island in the name of his King, one of his first duties was to organise a fleet of privateers with Captain George Bowden as his Commodore. Bowden was a clever and daring sailor, with few scruples to interfere with his personal activities.

He was always very careful of his own interests, and avoided unnecessary danger, but when he had to fight he could do so as bravely as anyone. At first he was a Parliamentarian, and was employed in blockading Mont Orgueil Castle. He volunteered to capture the castle if provided with sufficient men, and granted a sufficient reward. But either they had no men to spare or the Parliament did not believe that Bowden would succeed, so he was not granted the assistance required.

Disgusted at their short-sightedness, he collected what was due to him, and sailed for England, where he left the Parliamentary party, and obtained a letter of Marque from the King and, so armed, returned to Guernsey.

The people of Guernsey did not know of his change of sides, and pretending sickness he sent a note ashore addressed to the Parliamentarian Commissioners, inviting them to come to his ship, as he had very important information to give them. The Commissioners, thinking that the matter was urgent, made haste to go to his ship, only to be arrested by Captain Bowden's men and sent by boat to the Governor of Castle Cornet, who immediately imprisoned them in one of the darkest dungeons of the Castle.

Later on they were better quartered, and one Sunday morning they managed to escape through a window on to the rocks below, and from there into the town and church, where the congregation was surprised by seeing the lost found, and there were great rejoicings.

Soon Sir George had a fleet of ten or twelve vessels which he used in capturing English ships, and harrying the English coast. His fleet captured many vessels, but his ventures were not always successful. Sometimes a well known vessel arrived in Jersey waters, which had left as a friend, but returned as a well armed Parliamentarian frigate, to the annoyance of those who had ventured too near and had been welcomed by a warm if unfriendly reception.

First adventure

Bowden's first adventure under his new commander was an attempt to capture some of the Guernsey ships. So he set out one fine morning in his patache, well armed and with a crew of 30 men and sailed towards Guernsey. But the Guernseymen were on the look out and when they saw the Jersey vessel nearing the coast, two Guernsey vessels suddenly appeared about Herm and decided to force a battle. Bowden, however, was a cautious sailor and seeing the odds against him, he turned his vessel round and made for home, with the Guernsey vessels close behind.

Chevalier points out:

"Not that he was in the least afraid of them, for he knew that his ship was both faster and slighter than theirs. Had there only been one ship he would, of course, have stopped to fight but really he could not be expected to fight two at once."

Bowden then sailed for the English coast where, with another vessel, he made five prizes in a very short time, all English vessels loaded with coal and other useful commodities. When he returned to Jersey he had a grand reception and with a Captain Baudains he arranged to go and meet some English vessels which were about to leave St Malo for England. These ships consisted of a frigate of 24 guns and three or four armed barques.

They met them at the Minquiers and when Bowden saw how powerful they were, he decided that home was best place. So leaving Baudains to deal with the enemy, he returned to Jersey. Baudains, however, was a different man and he put up a brave fight and only left off after his vessel had been badly damaged, his sails and rigging shot away by cannon balls, two men killed and seven or eight wounded.

He struggled back to Jersey without making any capture, but determined to get an explanation from his former ally. He went about the Island seeking his friend with determination to kill on sight, but Bowden was a cautious man and had left the Island before the return of the man he had left behind.

He returned from a cruise off Dover where he had captured a newly-built and fast vessel which had practically fallen into his hands. He had been anchored off Dover when this vessel, returning from the Bay of Biscay with a cargo of corn, and little expecting they were in the neighbourhood of a noted privateer, lowered her sails and was drifting gently towards the harbour, when Bowden suddenly fired his gun at the unsuspecting vessel. The crew were terrified and rushed to the cabin for protection while Bowden and his men easily boarded the vessel, captured her and sailed away for Jersey, where Sir George added her to his fleet of privateers.

He sometimes made a mistake and he found to his cost that other seamen were as wily as himself. On one occasion he boarded what he thought an easy capture, but when he got on board he found a large and well armed crew, who had been hidden away down below awaiting him. He was only able to return to his own ship after five of his crew had been wounded.

Dangerous life

The life of a privateers in those days was never free from danger. He had to face the open sea in all kinds of weather, in small boats, with bad charts, no lighthouses, and very bad harbour accommodation.

It was a wonderful period when we recognise that Sir George, with his ten or twelve small vessels, faced the whole naval and mercantile fleets of Great Britain, and did so successfully for so many years.

There were always plenty of volunteers to man the boats. They were well aware of the dangers they had to face and the discomforts they had to put up with. Very often there was little room for the number of men carried, and the food supplied consisted of biscuits, salt pork and dried fish with occasional dried peas washed down with cider or cheap wine.

They sometimes sailed away and did not return, and Chevalier tells us that "Sir George's brother sent out his three-ton boat as a corsair with a crew of men armed with muskets. Failing to capture any prizes off the French coast, they crossed the channel, but were wrecked off Dover in a gale. The men were taken prisoners and nothing further was heard of them."

Nowadays rowing from Jersey to France, along the French coast and across the channel to the Downs would be considered quite a wonderful event, but in those days it was thought little of and only as part of the day's work. But they were all animated with adventurous spirit and cared little for the dangers they had to face, and these were many, for the Jersey privateers were well hated and a Jersey capture would have been welcomed in any English port.

Another of Carteret's captains was named Jelf. He had command of a galley, armed with six cannons and carrying a crew of 40. Once when off the French coast he came across the Dieppe mackerel fleet. Being short of provisions and anxious for a little fresh fish, Jelf steered his vessel towards the fishing fleet in order to buy some.

But the Frenchmen did not like the cut of Jelf's vessel and mistook him for a notorious Dunkirk pirate. They surrounded the Jersey vessel, took Jelf and his crew prisoners and, notwithstanding their protests, took them to France, where they were put into prison and kept there for two months, until they could prove to the French authorities that they were friendly Jerseymen, when the court set them free, and made their captors pay them compensation. He was not a very successful privateer.

Many complaints

The number of vessels captured by Sir George's fleet was very considerable, for there are many complaints, given by Whitlock, from merchants and shipowners to the English Government that ‘Jersey Pyrates were very bold upon the Western coast’ and that Jersey sailors would board vessels supposed to be in safe anchorage and sail them away as prizes before those on shore could take any action.

So bold did these privateers become that in 1646 the French authorities began to get anxious and forbade them to capture any prizes in the neighbourhood of their ports. This regulation they applied to English vessels as well, and we hear of a Parliamentary vessel being arrested and the crew imprisoned for having attacked a Jersey vessel off St Malo.

Chevalier tells us that between 1649 and 165179 prizes were captured by Jersey vessels and, apart from those captured and sold at foreign ports, Sir George's fleet managed to make no fewer than 125 prizes - a very creditable record. English shipping during Sir George's Governorship in Jersey had a very bad time. What with the Dunkirk pirates at the east end of the channel, and the Jersey privateers at the west, the Parliamentarian vessels were afraid to leave port except under convoy

Sometimes the vessels from Guernsey made reprisals on our fishing vessels but they were not always successful.

Frequently the English owner would buy back his vessel from the captors, risking the journey to Jersey for the purpose, but Jersey captains were very smart men and one captain hit upon the following plan to save the expense of going through the Admiralty Court. He would lie off the English coast, and when he captured a vessel would send the master ashore to get money to buy back the vessel, keeping the rest of the crew as hostages until the sale was completed. Thus many sales were effected without the knowledge of those in Jersey, for the spoil thus obtained was divided in proper shares among the crew and it paid them well to keep their mouths shut.

In 1646 there was a check on Jersey privateering and all the letters of marque were withdrawn as the King of France refused entry of ships of either party into his ports, or the sale there of any prizes or prize goods on pain of confiscation. It was a great blow to Jersey privateers, for their exciting and remunerative occupation was gone, and we hear of Captain Smith and three other captains of Sir George's fleet taking out Spanish letters of marque and going to fight their former friends the French.

But after the execution of Charles I the privateers came to their own again, and one of the largest of the Parliamentarian vessels The Heart joined Sir George's fleet as the crew were furious at the cruel treatment of the King they had sworn to obey. Charles II sent them the necessary letters of marque and, although many sailors had left the Island, many of the royalists took to manning the vessels. They knew little about the sea but could fight well when it came to taking a prize.

Frigates sent to Newfoundland

But the parliamentarian party was getting more settled and they were able to give more attention to the affairs of Jersey. In September 1650 they sent out two well-armed frigates to Newfoundland, where they captured the entire fishing fleet of ten ships. To add to their misfortunes, the fishermen were directed to fish for their captors. After having filled the vessels with a plentiful cargo, all the crews of the vessels were placed on board the smallest ship and sent back to Jersey, to tell the tale, facing the journey in a vessel ill provided with provisions and stores. When they arrived in Jersey they had a very bad reception from the owners of the vessels, who took away from the men what little had been left them by the parliamentarians, to recoup themselves for the loss of their vessel.

Several privateers were captured by the English and the fleet of Sir George had by September 1651 dwindled to four in number, and we hear little more of the success of Jersey privateers of this period.

But when we consider this small Island fighting against English shipping for nearly eight years with such continuous success that English vessels dared not leave port without convoy, it says much for the skill and daring of those gallant sea dogs, who loved a fight and did not fear a big opponent. No wonder that Cromwell and his friends determined to put down this Sir George and his party, whom they pretended to treat with contempt. And so we come to 20 October 1651, when Admiral Blake and his ships were seen to arrive off the coast of Jersey, and the days of Sir George's privateers were over.