• tigeruppercut@lemmy.zip
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    2 天前

    In the early days of the USA it was a pirate nation, in many ways. There were Americans acting as privateers, basically pirates who were protected / supported by the US.

    Oh, the year was 1778
    How I wish I was in Sherbrooke now
    A letter of marque came from the king
    To the scummiest vessel I’ve ever seen

    God damn them all, I was told
    We’d cruise the seas for American gold
    We’d fire no guns, shed no tears
    Now I’m a broken man on a Halifax pier
    The last of Barrett’s privateers

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWMSnro18b0

    • merc@sh.itjust.works
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      2 天前

      Yes!

      Barrett, the Antelope and other elements of the song are fictional, but “Barrett’s Privateers” is full of authentic details of privateering during the American Revolution, which in Nova Scotia was dominated by privateer warfare.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrett's_Privateers

      At the outbreak of the American Revolution, many Nova Scotians were New England-born and were sympathetic to the American Patriots. This support slowly eroded over the first two years of the war as American privateers attacked Nova Scotian villages and shipping to try to interrupt Nova Scotian trade with the American Loyalists still in New England. During the war, American privateers captured 225 vessels either leaving or arriving at Nova Scotia ports.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_Scotia_in_the_American_Revolution