ABSTRACT
The“Spacious days of great Elizabeth “were the golden age of privateering, in the sense that the profession was carried on by men cast in the heroic mould, who disdained to draw too nice a distinction between privateering and piracy. Elizabeth was the sailor’s friend, “the restorer of the glory of shipping, and the Queen of the North Sea.” Camden tells us that “the wealthier inhabitants of the sea-coast, in imitation of their princess, built ships of war, striving who should exceed, insomuch that the Queen’s navy, joined with her subjects’ shipping, was, in short time, so puissant that it was able to bring forth 20,000 fighting men for sea service.” The ships so benevolently provided by the wealthier inhabitants of the sea coast were, of course, privateers, but Liverpool was at that time too insignificant and poor a place to indulge in the romantic and fashionable patriotism of the age.
