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<i>'''How did you become a privateer? Is there a strong legal basis for privateering?'''</i>

Becoming a privateer was easy – becoming a successful privateer was not. The key to privateering was the letter of marque. A ship did not dare leave port without it. Most privateers carried several copies of their commission so that the prize master of a captured ship could prove that the prize was a legitimate capture if it were recaptured by the Royal Navy. As a rule, privateers were exempted from being pressed into the British navy and that was a very valuable protection. Because privateers were privately owned, crews tended to be local men and boys who were known to the ship owner or the captain. Many were related or had sailed together on merchant voyages before the war. Captains or ships with a good reputation as prize takers never had any problem finding a crew. Others might place an ad in a couple of local newspapers announcing a ‘rendez-vous’ for a given date and place, attracting crews with promises of making their fortune. There might even be a fife and drum on site to march the recruits down to the dock where the ship lay waiting. By the end of the war, when the British blockade sealed up port after port and the number of prizes was declining, men were less likely to join a privateer and captains might have to stop at a couple of ports to get a large enough crew.