The surprising story of Delftware

Continuing on from the first part of this series, we shift our gaze away from the general impact on war economies of both the host and enemy nation to the roles in which privateers operate. There is a plethora of different ways in which privateers fit into the battlefield itself. As the outfitting of these ships could range from simply ten men on a whaleboat with a swivel gun all the way up to custom built vessels that British captains would recognize as frigates, privateer tactics ran the gambit from ambushes utilizing false flags to direct confrontation with naval vessels. This mix of both unconventional and conventional capabilities naturally make them a hybrid threat. Privateers can share aspects of different fighting forces with which many are familiar. They can be as business oriented as mercenaries, with money being a primary motivator in what they will do. Alongside that, these more professional privateers are seen to go after vulnerable military ships, rather than simply merchants. On the other side of the metaphorical coin, Privateers can function like guerilla fighters. They can be under-gunned and opportunistic while also being hard to tackle and deal with for a conventional force. These things make a privateer a hard thing to categorize as simply an analog to something on land, as they can often fill multiple roles at once. This section will attempt to highlight their part in hybrid warfare, while also demonstrating how these different roles a privateer could fill often clashed or melded together. Hybrid Warfare: Lion Hunters It was April 14th, 1781. Three British Naval vessels exited the Potomac River. A soft warm glow may have been seen, specifically on the Maryland side of the river. One could likely spot plumes of smoke rising out from smoldering husks of buildings. The three vessels had made their way down the river, burning plantations and homes along the way. Captain Thomas Graves of the H.M.S Savage had led the force. Graves had coincidentally encountered the Virginian plantation of George Washington, Mount Vernon, which at the time was being managed by his cousin Lund Washington. After discussing with Lund, Graves promised he would not burn down the arch-traitor’s home. Lund had been so thankful that he had sent sheep, hogs, and other things to the British sailors. When George Washington heard that his home had been spared, though, he considered it an insult. He stated in a letter to Lund that “It would have been a less painful circumstance to me, to have heard, that in consequence of your noncompliance with their request, they had burnt my House, & laid the plantation in ruins.” George Washington doubted their raiding would stop without “the arrival of a superior naval force.” While the Savage’s raid along the Potomac was quite successful, the British sloop-of-war would run into a superior naval force in September of 1781. Still, it would not be a ship from the Continental Navy or the French Navy. September 6th, 1781.  Captain Charles Sterling held fast to one of the railings near the helm of the Savage, waiting for one of his subordinates to hand him his spyglass. They were about 35 miles from Charleston and had just encountered an American vessel. As he was handed his spyglass, he attempted to appraise the vessel. With the intelligence he currently had, he believed it to be an American privateer with only 20 nine-pounders. It was barreling full sail towards them, seeming to think it could go toe-to-toe with the Savage. Likely trusting in his ship’s sixteen six-pounder guns and the fact it was purposefully built for war, he went to meet the vessel. He soon realized his catastrophic mistake as the Savage drew closer. It was the Congress, one of the Americans’ most fearsome privateer vessels. One of which bristled with over twenty twelve-pounders on its main deck alone. Her majesty’s vessel was no longer a hunting lion but rather a lion being hunted. Stirling watched as, in an instant, the Congress tore into the Savage. Within the first hour of the four-hour engagement, Stirling saw crucial components, cannons, and crew of the Savage being blasted away. The Congress would eventually capture the Savage, with the prize’s mast threatening to fall and over thirty-four of its crew, including Sterling, wounded. This first account highlights a few aspects of privateers. First, the more mercenary character of a privateer comes out. For a privateer vessel that was large enough, a British warship represented a target that was even juicier than your average merchant vessel. This was due to the American government at the time being entitled to half of the value of a captured merchant ship but letting a privateer keep the full value of any enemy naval ship they captured. With a bigger payday on the table, certain privateers were much more willing to enter direct combat with an enemy’s navy in a conventional, albeit opportune, way. It is hard to argue that there are few things more conventional than foregoing the false flag strategy that so many privateers liked to use in favor of just charging straight at a British warship in the hope of a payday. Though, unlike mercenaries, they were not paid for simply the battle, but rather their plunder after it. Unfortunately for the case of the Congress, they were unable to get their prize back to port as it was recaptured by the British. Yet, that is just at the level of a battle. At a grander strategic level, something else is revealed by this account. While the Congress had acted conventionally by charging at the Savage outside of Charleston, its home port was all the way in Pennsylvania. In terms of good cruising grounds for British merchant ships, few would think the South Carolinian port of Charleston to be a place for such clientele. Whether or not the Congress had specifically gone down to Charleston to hunt British warships is unknown, but one would wager that it is unlikely. Considering that the British warship had […]

Please give a warm welcome to Noor Hashmi, who is joining site staff as our Manchester Correspondent.  Noor Hashmi is currently pursuing an MA in Early Modern History at The University of Sheffield, where her research focuses on Caribbean slavery during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, particularly in Barbados and Jamaica. She previously completed a BA (Hons) in History at the University of Sheffield, graduating in July 2024. Following her undergraduate studies, Noor was awarded a Sheffield Postgraduate Scholarship. Her BA dissertation, titled ‘A Study of Medicine and Diseases in the Middle Passage,’ offered a comparative and chronological social and cultural analysis of how British surgeons and enslaved people treated diseases in West Africa, aboard slave ships, and in the Caribbean, as well as the motivations underpinning these practices. During her postgraduate studies, Noor’s research has expanded to examine Manchester’s historical connections to slavery. She was awarded the Dorothy Phillips Prize for Historical Research for the best funding proposal to support archival work for her MA dissertation. She also held the role of MA Social Secretary within the Department of History and Archaeology’s Postgraduate Forum, where she was responsible for organising and overseeing key events such as the PGR Colloquium, while also acting as a representative for MA students, voicing their concerns and contributing to departmental discussions. For any enquiries and projects, please contact her via email (noor.hashmi1@hotmail.com). Noor can also be found on Bluesky and Instagram.

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How do place names get made and then changed? There’s a process. But it involves people as well as bureaucracy, so it’s not simple or quick, as President Trump is about to find out.

‘Shadows on the Atlantic’ is a new gallery at Het Scheepvaartmuseum (the Dutch National Maritime Museum in Amsterdam). It explores colonial maritime history and how it has shaped people’s lives, at sea and on land, in the past and now. Why is it important to provide new perspectives on colonial maritime history? What have curators and other museum staff learnt from working on this gallery? What challenges and opportunities has the project presented? Which collections have been used and why? How has the museum involved different communities? Join a free online talk to explore the story behind the gallery’s creation, and hear from the curators as they reflect on the stories and objects featured. The gallery reveals how maritime history is inseparably linked with colonial violence and the legacy of slavery. Through this permanent gallery, the museum aims to anchor this connection for the years to come.  Dyonna Benett (guest curator) and Suze Zijlstra (research curator) have both contributed to the development of this gallery. In this talk, they will reflect on the process of how traditional European perspectives were combined with stories focused on other people, especially Indigenous peoples and African peoples, including those who had been enslaved, and their descendants.  Benett and Zijlstra will show how the gallery presents the museum’s collection in new ways, with invaluable contributions from external experts and artists. This project is part of a broader organizational development aimed at providing new perspectives on history. Benett and Zijlstra will discuss how they, and the museum, are navigating their way through this important but challenging process. This event is free and open to everyone, and will take place via Zoom on Wednesday, February, 26, from 5:15 – 6:30pm GMT. Please visit Shadows on the Atlantic: curating new perspectives on colonial maritime history | Royal Museums Greenwich (rmg.co.uk) for more information and to find the link to join the talk on the day. This event is part of RMG’s Maritime History and Culture Seminars. Find out more

From poet and philosopher David Whyte.

YouTube video by Gazely Gaze

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