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PRIVATEER
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PRIVATEER , an armed See also:vessel belonging to a private owner, commissioned by a belligerent See also:state to carry on operations of See also:war. The See also:commission is known as letters of marque. See also:Acceptance of such a commission by a See also:British subject is forbidden by the See also:Foreign Enlistment See also:Act 1870. Privateering is now a See also:matter of much less importance than it formerly was, owing to the terms of See also:art. 1 of the See also:Declaration of See also:Paris, See also:April 16, 1856, " Privateering is and remains abolished." The declaration binds only the See also:powers who are signatories or who afterwards assented, and those only when engaged in war with one another. The See also:United States and See also:Spain have not acceded to it, but though it did not hold as between them in the war of 1898, they both observed it. Privateers stand in a position between that of a public See also:ship of war and a See also:merchant vessel, and the raising of merchant vessels to the status of warships has in See also:recent See also:wars given rise to so much difficulty in distinguishing between volunteer war-See also:ships and privateers that the subject was made one of those for See also:settlement by the Second See also:Hague See also:Conference (1907). The rules adopted are as follows: 1. A merchant-ship converted into a war-ship cannot have the rights and duties appertaining to vessels having that status unless it is placed under the See also:direct authority, immediate See also:control and responsibility of the See also:power the See also:flag of which it flies. 2. Merchant-ships converted into war-ships must See also:bear the See also:external marks which distinguish the war-ships of their See also:nationality. 3. The See also:commander must be in the service of the state and duly commissioned by the proper authorities. His name must figure on the See also:list of the See also:officers of the fighting See also:fleet. 4. The See also:crew must be subject to military discipline. 5. Every merchant-ship converted into a war-ship is See also:bound to observe in its operations the See also:laws and customs of war. 6. A belligerent who converts a merchant-ship into a war-ship must, as soon as possible, announce such See also:conversion in the list of its war-ships. In connexion with the conversion of the " Peterburg " and " See also:Smolensk " on the high seas during the Russo-See also:Japanese War, and the ruse by which they came through the See also:Bosporus and the See also:Dardanelles, it was agreed, after a vain See also:attempt to solve the question in a way satisfactory to all parties, that the subject of whether the conversion may take See also:place upon the high seas should remain outside the See also:scope of the See also:convention. (T. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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