Privateers operated as government-authorized raiders for nations with weak formal navies.

Evidence

Privateers were authorized by governments to raid enemy shipping during war-time, and they were the common recourse of nations whose formal navies were weak. — John Sugden, Sir Francis Drake, 200

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — John Sugden, Sir Francis Drake, 200
• XREF: connects to: Drake raids transformed privateering into an existential conflict between nations — John Sugden, Sir Francis Drake, 1; Sixteenth-century sea warfare blurred merchant enterprise, piracy, and national conflict. — John Sugden, Sir Francis Drake, 1365; State-backed piracy carved out the colonial footholds in the Caribbean

Library Connections

• Sixteenth-century sea warfare blurred merchant enterprise, piracy, and national conflict. #exemplifies (0.90) — John Sugden, Sir Francis Drake, 1365