THE FRENCH ASSAULT ON AMERICAN SHIPPING, 1793—1813

This publication has been initially planned to serve as a comprehensive accounting of the losses that were sustained by the merchant marine fleet of the United States at the hands of French privateers as well as the public vessels, officials and administrators in the course if the Revolutionary and Napoleonic eras in France.

The original reports of the ships losses were received from the owners and masters of the ships, plus from the insurers who were dealing with filing the claims and protests. American consuls were filing the reports and naval officers were writing the reports and filing the claims for salvage every time they recaptured a seized ship from the French captor.

Obviously, it is nearly impossible to know the correct number of the ships, and have the accurate information about their value or the value of the transported cargoes that have been either confiscated or destroyed, both legally and illegally. In some cases portions of the cargo on board the vessel were taken in a port or even at sea and then the vessel was release, and it was not every time when they paid for it. In other cases the crew members of the vessels were removed, robbed or even killed... That is why it is very difficult to get the exact numbers and the author of the volume had to work with the approximate estimated figures...