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 be suspended in the king's ship, to be forwarded without delay to Portsmouth.

"The conduct of all privateers," wrote Nelson, "is, as far as I have seen, so near piracy, that I only wonder any civilised nation can allow them." In the thirteenth century all sea warfare, whether regular or irregular, was conducted by people who were little better than "a horde of sanctioned robbers"; and one is not surprised, therefore, to discover, as one often does when studying the early history of England, that in war time ships were fitted out by individuals as well as by governments to prey upon the enemies of the country. But it does not appear that private adventurers of this sort were ever formally recognised, or that specific terms were made with them, until the reign of Henry III. The first two known English "letters of marque"—for that is what they essentially were—were granted by Henry against France in February, 1243, one being to Geoffrey Pyper, master of Le Heyte, and the other jointly to Adam Robernolt and William le Sauvage. The form was in each case the same, and was as follows:-

Although there is no direct proof of the correctness of the theory, it is probable that the earliest privateers were recruited from the large class of maritime adventurers who, in the Middle Ages, and in all seas, turned their hands against everyone who did not deem it worth while to buy their assistance, or who did not at least offer them some advantages. There were plenty of these gentlemen of the sea at the very period in question off the shores of England;