Privateer

The privateer was a pirate with paperwork. Armed with a letter of marque from a sovereign government, he could plunder enemy shipping across every ocean and return to port to sell his prizes — legally. England's Francis Drake, commissioned by Elizabeth I, circumnavigated the globe raiding Spanish treasure ships and returned with enough plunder to pay off the entire English national debt and still leave a profit. The Dutch Sea Beggars used letters of marque to keep Spanish supply fleets under constant pressure during the Eighty Years' War. The privateers operated fast, lightly built vessels — speed and surprise were their armament. A privateer rarely fought a warship when he could avoid it; his prey was the heavily laden merchantman caught alone on an ocean trade route. In the game he is a fast, hard-hitting raider who excels at disrupting enemy supply lines and ambushing isolated vessels, but avoids fleet battles where his light hull is quickly overwhelmed.