BASQUES CORSAIRES

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aukepalmhof
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BASQUES CORSAIRES

Post by aukepalmhof » Wed Nov 13, 2019 8:18 pm

Nest of vipers": this is how the English called the Bay of Biscay and including the ports of Bayonne and Saint-Jean-de-Luz from where from the Basque privateers sailed. This nickname was well worth the "nests of hornets" of Dieppe, Dunkirk, or Saint-Malo who forged the myth of the corsair.
Originally, the word "corsair" a synonym for privateer which carried a “letter of marque”. Making it a "legal" activity, which distinguished the corsair from piracy, or individuals procuring loot by looting and acting on their own behalf.
The corsair, he is marauding with approval of the king. In the supplements "La Royale",of the French High Seas Navy, which became almost non-existent as a result of defeats. Anyone who can’t provide a corsair with a so-called "Letter of Marque" obtained from the French Admiralty must pay a heavy bond.
It also requires a large capital to arm the privateer and refit her for the voyage, buy the provisions for the voyage and the equipment, and recruit sailors.
For the year 1757 alone, the peak of the Basque privateer activity, Bayonne put 31 ships equipped with 5125 men and 460 guns into action. Saint-Jean-de-Luz, his neighbour, send to sea 22 ships with 117 guns and crewed by 1800 sailors. To finance these very expensive but very lucrative businesses, joint stock companies were created. Upon return from the expedition, the shareholders were paid according to the shares subscribed. The state, meanwhile, provided guns (up to 20 for larger ships). The captains were almost all recruited in the Basque ports of the Basque coast and in the hinterland, the recruiting zone of the crew was much larger: the Basque country of course, but also Bordeaux, Angouleme, Mende, Ile-de-France, Spain.
A 400-ton vessel could carry 400 men, sailors and soldiers alike. This overcrowding engendered an inevitable promiscuity. But the lure of gain took precedence over moods. Because privateering is not just an act of war. It is also a commercial act. It is a question of recovering the enemy ship, or seizing its cargo and taking as many sailors as possible, "goods" of exchange against the French sailors who were languishing on the English pontoons.
The most effective assault technique was seamanship, boarding with two boats. Privileged victims were the Spanish and Portuguese galleons who, from South America or Africa, returned to the country, the holds filled with gold. On the return of the expedition, the cargo was sold and the product divided between the Bureau of the Maritime Registration, the Admiral of France, the King, the ship-owner and the crew.
The Treaty of Paris of 1856 puts an end to the privateering. It remains today the memory of these illustrious Basque privateers who, like Renau of Elissagaray or Albarade, became minister of the Navy in 1794, contributed to write the maritime history of France.

https://www.laposte.fr/toutsurletimbre/ ... sques-3103
France 1997 3.00F sg 344, scott 2607
Attachments
1997 corsaires-basques-3103.jpg

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