Quite often, the British ships were pirate ships that would loot any vessel they could.
NEW RESPONDENT
When in 1803 the Anglo-French war resumed, Great Britain had stepped up enforcement of a British maritime doctrine, known as the Rule of 1756, towards the neutral trade.
For what it regarded the United States, the Rule aimed to prevent American merchants from transporting goods between France and her West Indian colonies when French ships could not sail. But the Americans succeeded in circumventing the rule by making a call in an American port. In so doing they transformed the direct trade between France and her colonies into a triangular one.
The British reacted modifying their policy by adopting in 1805 the so called "Essex" decision, which stated:
- that landing the goods and paying the duties in the USA could no longer be considered a proof of good faith's importation;
-that henceforth additional proof (though unspecified) had to be provided by the American merchants to demonstrate that the call in the USA ports actually broke their voyages.
So the Royal Navy began seizing American ships playing in the reexport trade, with devastating outcome for American trade.
Furthermore, as the American trade grew so rapidly in the early national period that there was a shortage of experienced seamen in the merchants fleet, British tars were recruited into American service.
As a consequence the British started to apply the impressment, that is the practice of taking seamen from American ships on the high seas.
Hence press gangs from British warships boarded American vessels to reclaim British subjects, sometimes catching also American seamen.
An other reason of stopping and boarding American vessels was that of searching and confiscating contraband goods, which as per British interpretation might include: war materials, food, naval stores and money.
The French Revolution caused the American public to take sides between Great Britain and France, when war broke out between those two nations. The official government policy was to remain neutral. The British enforced their navigation laws which hindered American merchants from trading with French colonies in the West Indies and other areas. During the early 1790s, the British seized 600 American vessels claiming they were in violation of British maritime laws. Impressment by the British Navy caused much concern in the US. Americans often were taken off American ships and forced to serve in the British Navy. The British claimed many were British deserters. In the Northwest Territories, and other western lands, Americans were demanding protection from the Indians. Many Americans desired to move west and the need for protection and a national roadway became evident. MrV
The United States paid a total of $985,000 in tribute to the Barbary states between 1789 and 1801. This was in exchange for protection of American ships from piracy in the Mediterranean Sea.
slave ships could be at sea for more than a few months.
The situation you’re referring to involved the Barbary pirates, specifically from the North African states of Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, who began capturing American merchant ships and imprisoning their crews in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. After the United States gained independence, it lacked a strong navy to protect its shipping interests in the Mediterranean. This led to increased attacks by the Barbary pirates, prompting the U.S. government to eventually respond with military action, notably the First Barbary War from 1801 to 1805.
American industry itself
the British blockade
American Ships
Impressment
The War Hawks wanted the British out of Canada. They also wanted British to stop helping the Native Americans. NEW RESPONDENT They also wanted to put an end to: the British practice of taking seamen from American ships on the high sea, the British violation of American territorial waters, the British use of naval blockades, the British nonacceptance of American reexport trade.
The French, Spanish, and really stupid pirates.
The War Hawks wanted the British out of Canada. They also wanted British to stop helping the Native Americans. NEW RESPONDENT They also wanted to put an end to: the British practice of taking seamen from American ships on the high sea, the British violation of American territorial waters, the British use of naval blockades, the British nonacceptance of American reexport trade.
ships were important as if the enemy is by the sea they can attack with the element of surprise.
During the American Revolutionary War, British ships were often attacked along the Jersey shore by American privateers and militia forces. These attacks were part of a broader strategy to disrupt British supply lines and assert colonial resistance. Notably, the actions of local privateer groups and the Continental Navy contributed to the conflict at sea, targeting British vessels to gain resources and weaken British naval presence.
Mostly all, except for coral sea and several others, which could be considered a stalemate. Plus American ships were not of high quality. They had no armoured decks compared to their British counterparts who had excellent ships, so the American navy suffered more from kamikaze attacks at Okinawa then the British Pacific Fleet.
A Sea Blockade/ Union Blockade
John Paul Jones
The Suez Canal, which linked the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea, meaning that British ships did not have to sail around Africa to reach India, a hugely important route for British (and French trading).