On Thursday, February 13, 2003, at 05:45 PM, R. A. Hettinga wrote:
How would you distinguish the actions of the Royal Navy from those of ordinary pirates? Just prettier uniforms, better weaponry, and a bitch back in London with a crown on her head, or what?Heck, go read some Patrick O'Brien Jack Aubrey Books. The Royal Navy earned its own keep with prizes, etc., until long after the Napoleonic wars...Come to think of it, the rise of book-entry settlement cooincides nicely with the end of war for profit.
-- Patrick
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