Probably the whole number engaged was about six hundred.
Of the four hundred British prizes captured in the second year of the war, four-fifths were taken by privateers.

A favorite cruising ground was the West Indies, but some of the vessels ventured across the ocean and displayed a degree of boldness that recalled the days of Paul Jones.
Among the most famous were the _Reindeer_, _Avon_ and _Blakeley_, built in a few weeks, near Boston, in 1814.

They were so large and well equipped that more than once they attacked and defeated British warships.
Some of the privateers which left Charleston, Bristol and Plymouth were nothing but pilot boats, carrying twenty or thirty men each, who gave their attention to the West Indies.

They were often obliged to deplete their crews to that extent in order to man their prizes that barely enough were left to manage their own ships.

In those days all, of course, were sailing vessels, and they carried nothing in the shape of armor.