Some 



By HENRY SYMONDS. 



(Read Dec. 14th, 1909.) 



ports of Weymouth, Poole, and Lyme Regis 

 were the homes of many adventurous 

 spirits who hazarded both life and substance 

 on " private men of war " at various 

 periods when the Royal Navy was unable 

 to afford complete protection to the 

 mercantile flag. 



It may be well at the outset to define 

 the legal theory which supported these 

 commissions to make war, and to describe the preliminary 

 formalities laid down by the Court of Admiralty, who exer- 

 cised supreme control. Letters of Reprisal had originally 

 a more limited scope than Letters of Marque, which latter 

 authorised the holders to make seizures at sea outside the 

 marche, or boundary of jurisdiction, of the Sovereign who 

 granted the commissions. In course of time, however, the 

 two terms became interchangeable, and a vessel holding a 

 joint form of licence was known as a privateer. Reprisals 



