[Tallguy]

Historians differ on whether Kidd was actually a pirate or a privateer — someone who captured pirates.

Whah??? I thought a "privateer" was an officially sanctioned private operating with a "Letter of Marque" to prey on enemy shipping. Capturing pirates has nothing to do with it.

[Tallguy]

private = pirate

[AFreeBird]

Damn, you beat me by about 30 seconds.

[ryan71]

“Whah??? I thought a “privateer” was an officially sanctioned private operating with a “Letter of Marque” to prey on enemy shipping. Capturing pirates has nothing to do with it.”

Right.

The way I remember it, several prominent English politicians put Kidd up to it, gave his “letter” and sent him on his way. Kidd was not a very good pirate. He didn’t do much plundering.

When he was put on trial, the politicians left him hung out to dry - LITERALLY!

[centurion316]

Whah??? I thought a "privateer" was an officially sanctioned private operating with a "Letter of Marque" to prey on enemy shipping. Capturing pirates has nothing to do with it.

Silly rabbit. This article is from Yahoo, written by "the Live Science Staff". You don't expect them to actually know something about their subject, or to do a little fact checking. Such things have fallen out of fashion. Privateer nows means whatever you want it to mean, according to your own reality.

[bruin66]

Right you arrrrrrrrrr...

[colorado tanker]

Whah??? I thought a "privateer" was an officially sanctioned private operating with a "Letter of Marque" to prey on enemy shipping. Capturing pirates has nothing to do with it.

Right you aaarrrrrrgggggghhhhh, matey.

The two are sometimes confused, though, because many of the ships that turned pirate had been privateers unleashed in the Caribbean by the English against the Spanish and French.