During the war of 1812, as in that of the Revolution, the government of the United States issued “letters of marque,” giving authority to private individuals to build, arm, and man vessels, for the purpose of making reprisals upon and destroying the enemy’s commerce. While these “privateers,” as they were called, were entirely outside of and unconnected with the regular naval force of the country, they became one of the most potent weapons wielded on the high seas in behalf of the government. Their destructiveness to English commerce made them the dread of the ocean, for the daring men who engaged in privateering enterprises were the best shipmasters and seamen of their day, perfectly familiar with all coast ports and the highways of the sea, so they knew where to strike most effectively for their own advantage. A vessel captured under the English flag, became, with her cargo, the lawful prize of her captors, and the proceeds of sale were divided under established rules among the owners, officers and men of the privateer, the business in many instances being very profitable. The English commercial vessels likewise armed for defence, and quite often there were spirited engagements before the English Jack would be lowered to the Stars and Stripes flown by some saucy, fast sailing Yankee brig, or long, low, rakish schooner of the Baltimore clipper type. France being friendly to the United States, her ports were open to our privateers and their prizes, so the English channel itself, right under the nose, of Great Britain, was a tempting cruising ground where our letters of marque made many a successful venture and some of them came to grief in capture by the English men-of-war. As has been previously said in this series of reminiscences, Plymouth had her full number of adventurous spirits, and her “men of the sea” on board the many privateers, sailing from southern and northern ports. On two vessels, however, the “Leo” and the “George Little,” fitted at Boston, the crews were largely made up of Plymouth men, so they may be regarded as the “Plymouth privateers” of 1812. Of the “Leo’s” career we have no detailed knowledge, but it has been told us that Captain Harvey Weston, Captain Robert Hutchinson, Captain John Chase, Captain Nat Bartlett and others from this town whose names are not known, were members of her company, and that she took several prizes before she herself was forced to surrender over on the English coast. Her men were imprisoned for the rest of the war period, some of them being sent to the horrible Dartmoor prison of England, of which history says that the dreadful tales of suffering and death in the “black hole” and massacre by the guards are all too truthful, but the “Leo’s” men were not there when the prison was at its very worst.