300: American Privateers w/ Eric Jay Dolin

Happy Independence Day to all of my American listeners, as we finally reach episode 300!

A slight deviation this week from the typical true crime tragedy and disaster content - my guest is best-selling historian Eric Jay Dolin, author of "Rebels at Sea: Privateering in the American Revolution".

America's new government, in an effort to stand up against Britain's formidable navy, issued letters of marque to privately owned ships, allowing them to seize British merchant vessels and men of war. Eric Jay Dolin explains the importance of privateering to the American cause and shares stories of some of the men who served on these privateers, including Captain Jonathan Haradan, whose heroic exploits helped shape the war's outcome, and free-born African-American sailor James Forten, who would become a British prisoner of war and later in life a wealthy businessman and abolitionist.

The author's website: https://www.ericjaydolin.com/

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