PREFACE

The National Society of the Colonial Dames of America have formed the
laudable habit of illustrating the colonial period of United States
history, in which they are especially interested, by published volumes
of original historical material, previously unprinted, and relating to
that period. Thus in the course of years they have made a large
addition to the number of documentary sources available to the student
of that period. First they published, in 1906, in two handsome
volumes, the _Correspondence of William Pitt, when Secretary of State,
with Colonial Governors and Military and Naval Commanders in America_,
edited by the late Miss Gertrude Selwyn Kimball, containing material
of great importance to the history of the colonies as a whole, and of
the management of the French and Indian War. Next, in 1911 and 1914,
they published the two volumes of Professor James C. Ballagh's
valuable edition of the _Letters of Richard Henry Lee_. Then, in 1912,
they brought out, again in two volumes, the _Correspondence of
Governor William Shirley_, edited by Dr. Charles H. Lincoln, and
illustrating the history of several colonies, particularly those of
New England, during the period of what in our colonial history is
called King George's War. More recently, in 1916, the Society
published an entertaining volume of hitherto unprinted _Travels in the
American Colonies_, edited by Dr. Newton D. Mereness.

It was resolved that the next volume after these should be devoted to
documents relating to maritime history. In proportion to its
importance, that aspect of our colonial history has in general
received too little attention. In time of peace the colonists, nearly
all of whom dwelt within a hundred miles of ocean or tidewater,
maintained constantly a maritime commerce that had a large importance
to their economic life and gave employment to no small part of their
population. In time of war, their naval problems and dangers and
achievements were hardly less important than those of land warfare,
but have been far less exploited, whether in narrative histories or in
volumes of documentary materials. Accordingly the Society's Committee
on Publication readily acceded to the suggestion that a volume should
be made up of documents illustrating the history of privateering and
piracy as these stand related to the life of America during the
colonial period--for it is agreed that few aspects of our maritime
history in that period h