Recording 2023-11-6-25-12-6-25

During the American Revolution, privateers played a significant role in disrupting British trade and capturing rival ships. John Paul Jones was a famous privateer known for his victories over the British. Privateers risked their lives for financial gain, as it provided them with food and equipment. However, being a privateer had its downsides, including capture, interrogation, and execution, as well as dealing with poor weather and seasickness. Despite the risks, many privateers fought for the American colonies and used ports like Massachusetts, New London, and Boston to repair their ships and rest. Hello, nerdies. Welcome back to Nerdlers. I'm Charlie. I'm Quinny. Johnny. And today we are going to have a little history lesson on privateering during the American Revolution. More like pirateering. Quinny, it's actually... Most people have heard of what happened on land during the American Revolution, but not what happened on water. Yes, that's right. The water. So we, your nerdy host, are going to tell you all about the pirateers. Privateers. So what even are pirateers anyway? Privateers are like the Navy, but a long time ago. Around the American Revolution, they engaged in war and, as Quinny likes to say, were like pirates and sold goods. So, like John Paul Jones? Yes, actually. John Paul Jones was a very famous man among the privateers. He was very well known for his victories over the British armies on the east coast of England. So they fight in the army. What did they do while they were there? They disrupted enemy shipped goods and stopped trading that involved the British. What do you mean disrupted? Did they take the goods for themselves? Oh, yes. They usually targeted unarmed or lightly armed commercial ships that were on the seas. They attacked anyone that crossed their path. This was so common that they destroyed over 600 rival ships. Well, there must be some downsides to being a pirateer since nothing is just all adventure and no discipline. A ton of bad things happened to them. They were captured, interrogated, and then hung. They also struggled with common things like poor weather and seasickness. I bet they wanted to get away from the seas. Well, they did that quite a lot. There were actually a ton of ports for ships. Some were in Massachusetts, New London, and Boston. They used these ports to repair their ships after a battle, collect rations or supplies, and rest up. You've stayed a lot of places from the colonies, so they only fought for them? Why? Most pirateers were from the American colonies and were encouraged to fight. They also did this for financial gain by usually risking their lives. Privateers, Quinny. Don't you find it weird that privateers risk their lives for financial gain? No. Although it is a little weird for the privateers. Pirateers? Again, it's privateers, Quinny. But as I was saying, it's a little odd that the privateers would risk their lives just for financial gain, but not all of them did, though. It was only around one-tenth of them that would risk their lives for financial gain. Why was financial gain most important to the privateers? The financial gain was important because that's how they would get their food and their equipment for their ships and themselves. Well, that's all we have time for in today's podcast. We hope you enjoyed it, and make sure to check out our other episodes. We post twice a week. We hope you enjoyed our episodes on the pirateers. Oh my god, it's privateers! I'm so done with you, Quinny! No, no! That was amazing. Yeah, for real.