Otway Burns then started recruiting a crew in New Bern and was shocked when he found that many civic leaders there considered privateers as being pirates. Some of the new recruits were convinced by Burns to borrow money from him. he then had them arrested for debt.
One time, Burns and his crew sank a boat carrying two constables who were going to board the Snap Dragon. When a local lawyer called him a "licensed robber," Otway Burns rowed to land and threw him in the river.
Burns and his 25-man crew went out on their first cruise and had to outrun a British sloop and frigate before making their first capture, a 14-gun ship.
During much of their cruise, Burns disguised the Snap Dragon as a merchant ship, putting up tattered sails and hiding his guns.
More to Come. --Brock-Perry
2012 marks the 200th anniversary of America's "Forgotten War," the War of 1812 that took place over three years, 1812 to 1815.
Battle of New Orleans.
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