Looking for primary sources on privateers, preferably english,

>>2397374
google.com

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http://lmgtfy.com/?q=how+does+a+captain+become+a+privateer

>>2397374
Go to the request board for sources.

As for how a captain becomes a privateer, well, he gets on contract with a crown to harass and plunder another nation's navy/colonies.

Captain Morgan, for instance, was on contract with the British crown to do as much damage as possible and collect as much treasure as possible in the Spanish colonies of the Caribbean, particularly Panama.

Morgan ended sacking Panama City and burning it to the ground with a small bunch of half-naked, half-starved, and entirely drunken sailors, many of them French or African freed slaves.

He got shipwrecked three times, made it back to England, was knighted, and died far and rich in his bed as governor of Jamaica.