Quote Originally Posted by davedove
Well, throughout history many merchants did supplement their cargoes with a bit of piracy. Maybe he was a pirate in British eyes. And of course the difference between a pirate and a privateer is whose court you happen to be in.
But we're talking BEFORE the Revolution, Dave -- not during. Jones fled to America in 1773 after killing a "mutinous" crewman aboard his ship "Betsy" -- he also added the name "Jones" then as well.

I'll have to see what Evan Thomas's biography of JPJ has to say about piracy. It's considered to be the best work on JPJ at present.

T.