Produced by K Nordquist, Sam W. and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) Famous Privateersmen AND ADVENTURERS OF THE SEA Their rovings, cruises, escapades, and fierce battling upon the ocean for patriotism and for treasure By CHARLES H. L. JOHNSTON Author of "Famous Cavalry Leaders," "Famous Indian Chiefs," "Famous Scouts," etc. Illustrated [Decoration] BOSTON THE PAGE COMPANY PUBLISHERS FAMOUS LEADERS SERIES BY CHARLES H. L. JOHNSTON Each one volume, large 12mo, illustrated, $1.50 [Decoration] FAMOUS CAVALRY LEADERS FAMOUS INDIAN CHIEFS FAMOUS SCOUTS FAMOUS PRIVATEERSMEN FAMOUS FRONTIERSMEN [Decoration] THE PAGE COMPANY 53 Beacon Street, Boston, Mass. [Illustration: From "The Army and Navy of the United States." "AGAIN THE CANNON MADE THE SPLINTERS FLY." (_See page 273._)] _Copyright, 1911,_ BY L. C. PAGE & COMPANY (INCORPORATED) _All rights reserved_ First Impression, November, 1911 Second Impression, November, 1914 THE COLONIAL PRESS C. H. SIMONDS CO., BOSTON, U. S. A. I DEDICATE THIS BOOK TO THE HAPPY MEMORY OF George Alfred Henty THE MOST STIMULATING AUTHOR OF BOOKS FOR BOYS THAT THE PAST HALF CENTURY HAS PRODUCED, AND A WRITER WHO HAS KEPT ALIVE THE SPIRIT OF MANLY SPORT AND ADVENTURE WHICH HAS MADE THE ANGLO-SAXON PEOPLE A RACE OF WORLD CONQUERORS. MAY THEY NEVER RETROGRADE! _Thanks are due the Librarian of Congress, and particularly to Mr. Roberts of the Department of Prints, for numerous courtesies extended to the author during the compilation of this volume._ PREFACE MY DEAR BOYS:--The sea stretches away from the land,--a vast sheet of unknown possibilities. Now gray, now blue, now slate colored, whipped into a thousand windrows by the storm, churned into a seething mass of frothing spume and careening bubbles, it pleases, lulls, then terrorizes and dismays. Perpetually intervening as a barrier between peoples and their countries, the wild, sobbing ocean rises, falls and roars in agony. It is a stoppage to progress and contact between races of men and warring nations.