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Sea dog Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster

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Est. 1828

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sea dog

noun

Synonyms of sea dog

: a veteran sailor

Synonyms

gob

hearty

jack

jack-tar

mariner

navigator

sailor

salt

seafarer

seaman

shipman

swab

swabbie [slang]

swabby

tar

See all Synonyms & Antonyms in Thesaurus

Examples of sea dog in a Sentence

the tale of a grizzled old sea dog who sets out for one last voyage

Recent Examples on the Web

So often pirate narratives focus on the adventure, the treasure, or the sea dog himself.

—Hannah Fish, The Christian Science Monitor, 7 Feb. 2023

Try the East Lothian seafood chowder and NB sea dog cocktail, made with gin.

—Karen Gardiner, Washington Post, 27 May 2022

During the course of a military career that began at age 12, this indomitable sea dog had lost a leg, an eye and an arm, but gained incomparable understanding of how battles are fought and won.

—Washington Post, 10 Nov. 2021

Its rocky coves, secret anchorages and long winding creeks have historically been a haunting ground for seafaring scoundrels and salty sea dogs.

—Alexander Turner, New York Times, 23 Mar. 2020

While even the saltiest of sea dogs are prone to bouts of illness aboard cruise ships, Maryland vacationers may take comfort in knowing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention closely monitors health standards on commercial ships.

—Lillian Reed, baltimoresun.com, 13 June 2019

Delaney emerged from prison an emaciated version of the sea dog who had entered the war.

—Ray Locker, USA TODAY, 21 May 2018

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'sea dog.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1823, in the meaning defined above

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The first known use of sea dog was

in 1823

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sea dotterel

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Merriam-Webster

“Sea dog.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sea%20dog. Accessed 12 Mar. 2024.

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Kids Definition

sea dog

noun

: an experienced sailor

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Seadog - Wikipedia

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Look up seadog in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Seadog, sea dog or Sea Dogs may refer to:

Arts and entertainment[edit]

Sea Dogs (film), a 1916 U.S. silent film

Sea Dogs (video game), a 2000 videogame

Sea Dogs of Australia, a 1913 Australian silent film

"Seadogs", an episode of the television series NCIS

Sports[edit]

Portland Sea Dogs, a baseball team

Saint John Sea Dogs, an ice hockey team

Seadog, a nickname of Scarborough Athletic F.C. and the former Scarborough F.C.

People[edit]

A sailor (slang)

Elizabethan Sea Dogs, English adventurers of the Elizabethan era

Sea Dog, a pseudonym used at one point in Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471 (1963)

Places[edit]

Sea Dog Island, an uninhabited island in the Falkland Islands

Animals[edit]

A dog at sea (slang)

An antiquated term for a shark

Fictional[edit]

The fictional species of Raymond, the mascot for the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team

Transportation and vehicles[edit]

HMS Seadog, a WW2-era S-class submarine of the British Royal Navy

USS Sea Dog, a WWII-era Balao-class submarine of the U.S. Navy

Other uses[edit]

SEADOG pump, a wave-energy-based seawater pump

SEA DOG | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary

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English

Meaning of sea dog in English

sea dognoun [ C ]

literary or humorous uk

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/ˈsiː ˌdɒɡ/ us

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/ˈsiː ˌdɑːɡ/

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an old sailor with many years of experience at sea: With his white beard and blue cap he looked like an old sea dog.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

People who work on boats & ships

bargee

bargeman

boatman

cabin crew

corsair

crew

crew member

deckhand

docker

freighter

gondolier

helmsman

longshoreman

mariner

pilot

punter

run away to sea idiom

sailor

shipmate

stevedore

See more results »

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Experienced

(Definition of sea dog from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of sea dog

sea dog

Beyond the archway is a captivating world of pine woods, rugged reefs, exquisite pavilions and sea dogs.

From Wikipedia

This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.

Later experimenters also used the terminology chien de mer or sea dog.

From Wikipedia

This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.

Salty sea dogs will not be confronted by local authority officers demanding entry to their houseboats.

From the Hansard archive

Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

What is the pronunciation of sea dog?

Translations of sea dog

in Chinese (Traditional)

經驗豐富的老水手…

in Chinese (Simplified)

经验丰富的老水手…

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Sharks Were Once Called Sea Dogs, And Other Little-Known Facts | Science| Smithsonian Magazine

Sharks Were Once Called Sea Dogs, And Other Little-Known Facts | Science|

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SCIENCE

Shark Week

Sharks Were Once Called Sea Dogs, And Other Little-Known Facts

Centuries-old illustrations of sharks show just how much we’ve learned about the fish since our first sightings of them

Grace Costantino, Biodiversity Heritage Library

August 12, 2014

A 16th-century illustration of imaginary sea monsters from Cosmographia by Sebastian Mustern, based on creatures from Carta Marina by Olaus Magnus.

This article was republished from the Biodiversity Heritage Library, an open access digital library for biodiversity literature. Learn more.

If you were to ask an average person to differentiate between a tiger shark, Great White, whale shark, bull shark or mako, most could probably do so, or would at least be aware that such varieties existed. This wasn't always the case. A mere six hundred years ago, sharks were known only by the bizarre personas recounted by animated sailors. And even when more accurate depictions and accounts began to circulate, the world was completely ignorant of the vast diversity of these creatures. A shark, generally, was a shark. It took an army of people, and several hundred years, to even begin to comprehend these magnificent fish, and we've still only scraped the surface.

The Shark in Myth

Eleven hundred years ago, man was just starting to venture boldly into the open oceans. At that time, and throughout the Middle Ages, the sea was a place of mysticism and superstition, with countless tales of leviathans, monsters, and spirits plaguing the waters. Researchers believe many of these tales were actually based on real creatures, however exaggerated. Some of the beasts may have been at least partially informed by shark sightings.

The Ziphius. Conrad Gessner. 1560. Icones Animalium.

Biodiversity Heritage Library

Conrad Gessner depicted the Ziphius in his 1560 work Icones Animalium. Many researchers believe the beast with the back fin may be a Great White, due in part to the unfortunate seal in its jaws. The porcupine-fish taking a bite out of the Ziphius' side? The jury's still out on that one...

A shark? Caspar Schott. 1662. Physica Curiosa.

Biodiversity Heritage Library

Caspar Schott's 1662 beast is equally fanciful, but the teeth and jaws suggest that it may be inspired in part by a shark.

Olaus Magnus. 1539. Carta Marina.

Biodiversity Heritage Library

Despite limited contact with sharks, or perhaps because of it, artists generally portrayed the fish as ravenous man-eaters. Olaus Magnus' 1539 Carta Marina shows a hapless man besieged by a gang of sharks. Fortunately for him, a kind-hearted ray-like creature has come to the rescue.

Also in the Middle Ages, fossilized shark teeth were identified as petrified dragon tongues, called glossopetrae. If ground into a powder and consumed, these were said to be an antidote for a variety of poisons.

The Shark as a Sea Dog

By the time of the Renaissance, the existence of sharks was more generally known, though their diversity was woefully underestimated. Only those species that were clearly distinct based on color, size, and shape—such as hammerheads, blue sharks, and smaller sharks such as dogfish—were distinguished. As for the Lamnidae—Great Whites, makos, and porbeagles—these were identified as a single species.

In the 1550s, we see the Great White debut to an audience that would remain captivated by it for hundreds of years, though under a rather strange moniker.

Canis carcharias. Pierre Belon. 1553. De aquatilibus duo.

Biodiversity Heritage Library

In 1553, Pierre Belon, a French naturalist, published De aquatilibus duo, cum eiconibus ad vivam ipsorum effigiem quoad ejus fieri potuit, ad amplissimum cardinalem Castilioneum. Belon attempted the first comparative analysis of sharks, and presented 110 species of fish in a much more realistic light than previously provided. In addition to a hammerhead, Belon included a woodcut of a shark he named Canis carcharias.

Some readers may recognize that "Canis" is the genus currently assigned to dogs. Belon was not attempting to classify sharks with dogs by asserting this name. Indeed, systematic classification based on ranked hierarchies would not come onto the scene for over two hundred years. The common practice at this time was to choose descriptive names based on physical characteristics. Colloquial speech referred to sharks as "sea dogs," and carcharias comes from the Greek "Carcharos" (ragged), which Belon associated with the appearance of the shark's teeth.

De Lamia. Guillaume Rondelet. 1554. Libri de Piscibus Marinis.

Biodiversity Heritage Library

In 1554, French physician Guillaume Rondelet gave us another illustration of a Great White, under the name De Lamia (a child-eating demon in Greek mythology). Publishing Libri de Piscibus Marinis, Rondelet described more than 440 species of aquatic animals. Along with his illustration, Rondelet conveyed a tale of one specimen found with a full suit of armor in its belly. He also proposed that it was this fish, and not a whale, that was the culprit behind Jonah's Biblical plight. A whale, he postulated, did not have a throat wide enough to swallow a man whole and regurgitate him later.

Hammerhead and catsharks. Ippolito Salviani. 1554. Aquatilium Animalium Historiae.

Biodiversity Heritage Library

That same year, Ippolito Salviani published another book on fish, Aquatilium Animalium Historiae, replete with engravings that included the hammerhead and (most likely) catsharks.

Gessner's Lamia. Conrad Gessner. 1604. Biodiversity Heritage Library

Though Conrad Gessner may have published accounts of many mythical beasts (such as the Ziphius in 1560), his 1558 work Historia Animalium (2nd edition) was an attempt to give a factual representation of the known world of natural history. Within it, he included a much more recognizable illustration of the Great White (under both names Lamia and Canis carcharias). The study was based on a dried specimen, thus accounting for the rather desiccated appearance.

Finally, in 1569, the word "Sharke" finally finds its place in the English language, popularized by Sir John Hawkins' sailors, who brought home a shark specimen that was exhibited in London that year.

Influenced by the violent, and commonly exaggerated, stories circulated by sailors and explorers, general perception pegged sharks as ravenous beasts intent on devouring everything in sight.

Sharks and the "Modern" Era

By the 1600s, a more widespread attempt to classify fish according to form and habitat, and a fresh curiosity in shark research and diversity, found a footing in scientific research.

In 1616, Italian botanist Fabio Colonna published an article, De glossopetris dissertatio, in which he postulated that the mystical glossopetrae were actually fossilized shark teeth. The article had little impact, but in 1667, following the dissection of a Great White shark head, Danish naturalist Niels Stensen (aka Steno) published a comparative study of shark teeth, theorizing for the first time that fossils are the remains of living animals and again suggesting that glossopetrae were indeed fossilized shark teeth.

In the mid-1700s, a famous figure emerged. In 1735, Swedish botanist and physician Carl Linnaeus published his first version of Systema Naturae, at a mere 11 pages. Within this first edition, he classified sharks in the group Condropterygii, along with lampreys and sturgeon.

Squalus carcharias. Carl Linnaeus. 1758. Systema Naturae (10th ed.).

Biodiversity Heritage Library

Linnaeus continued expanding his classification system, and in 1758 he published the tenth edition of Systema Naturae—the work we consider the beginning of zoological nomenclature. Within this edition, Linnaeus introduced binomial nomenclature, a naming scheme which identifies organisms by genus and species, with an attempt to reflect ranked hierarchies. This system provides the foundation of modern biological nomenclature, which groups organisms by inferred evolutionary relatedness.

Within Systema Naturae (10th ed.), Linnaeus identified 14 shark species, all of which he placed in the genus Squalus, which today is reserved only for typical spurdogs. He also presents his binomial for the Great White: Squalus carcharias. And he, like Rondelet before him, suggests that it was indeed a Great White that swallowed Jonah whole in ancient times.

Squalus carcharias. Marcus Bloch. 1796. Allgemeine Naturgeschichte der Fische.

Biodiversity Heritage Library

By the late 1700s, we see a greater attempt to distinguish between the varieties of white sharks. From 1783-1795, Marcus Elieser Bloch published twelve volumes on fish under the title Allgemeine Naturgeschichte der Fische, with 216 illustrations. His Great White, perhaps the first in color, bears Linnaeus' name. And in 1788, French naturalist Pierre Joseph Bonnaterre gave the porbeagle shark its first scientific name, Squalus nasus, distinguishing another "white shark" as a distinct species.

Squalus. Bernard Germain de La Cepede. 1798. Histoire Naturelle des Poissons.

Biodiversity Heritage Library

French zoologist Bernard Germain de La Cepede grouped sharks, rays, and chimaeras as "cartilaginous fish," identifying 32 types, in his 1798 work Histoire Naturelle des Poissons. He describes the "white shark" as the largest shark (a distinction truly held by the whale shark).

Selachians. Georges Cuvier. The Animal Kingdom (1837 ed.).

Biodiversity Heritage Library

In his 1817 work The Animal Kingdom, French anatomist Georges Cuvier listed sharks as "selachians," a term still in use today as the clade including sharks: Selachimorpha.

In 1838 we see the first use of the modern Great White genus name. Scottish physician and zoologist Andrew Smith proposed the generic name Carcharodon in a work by Johannes Müller and Fredrich Henle (here in Smith's later 1840s publication), pulling together the Greek "carcharos" (meaning ragged and used in the association by Belon nearly 300 years earlier) and "odon" (Greek for "tooth"). Thus, Smith was proposing a name meaning "ragged tooth."

Finally, in 1878, Smith's genus name "Carcharodon," and Linnaeus' species name "carcharias" were pulled together to form the scientific name we know the Great White by today: Carcharodon carcharias.

Thanks to the dedication and curiosity of past naturalists and contemporary taxonomists, we're now aware of the incredible diversity of sharks. There are over 470 species known today; that's quite a leap from the mere 14 species identified by Linnaeus over 250 years ago!

Want more shark content? See more than 350 shark illustrations in the BHL Flickr collection.

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SEA DOG | definition in the Cambridge English Dictionary

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Meaning of sea dog in English

sea dognoun [ C ]

literary or humorous us

Your browser doesn't support HTML5 audio

/ˈsiː ˌdɑːɡ/ uk

Your browser doesn't support HTML5 audio

/ˈsiː ˌdɒɡ/

Add to word list

an old sailor with many years of experience at sea: With his white beard and blue cap he looked like an old sea dog.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

People who work on boats & ships

bargee

bargeman

boatman

cabin crew

corsair

crew

crew member

deckhand

docker

freighter

gondolier

helmsman

longshoreman

mariner

pilot

punter

run away to sea idiom

sailor

shipmate

stevedore

See more results »

You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Experienced

(Definition of sea dog from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of sea dog

sea dog

And, according to some accounts, he had a habit of lighting fuses beneath his hat, a halo of smoke giving the bristly sea dog a decidedly demonic aspect.

From CNN

The quartermaster, a grizzled but husky old sea dog, gazed silently for a minute.

From Project Gutenberg

The perils of a life at sea are not as great as fiction writers sometimes indicate, according to this old sea dog.

From Project Gutenberg

Suddenly the hoary and languid old sea dog by his side reached out a slow, restraining hand.

From Project Gutenberg

No doubt every old sea dog was his own architect, and the houses show it from main truck to keelson.

From Project Gutenberg

The bluff old sea dog, too, true to his nature, was anxious to get out to sea again as soon as possible.

From Project Gutenberg

At this the old sea dog thrust an arm in mine and led me aft until we were out of earshot from the bridge.

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At the stage entrance the old doorman with his look of sea dog recognized her, admitting her with a nod.

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He was a burly fellow, with a look of the sea dog about him.

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Just an old sea dog that's lost his bite.

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It will follow them through the tense moments on shipboard--the days of watching and waiting like huge sea dogs tugging at the leash.

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Taking compassion on them, he dipped his tube under water, gave the sign for mullet to his sea dogs, shipped his paddle, and lit his pipe.

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SEADOG Definition & Usage Examples | Dictionary.com

GamesDaily CrosswordWord PuzzleWord FinderAll gamesFeaturedWord of the DaySynonym of the DayWord of the YearNew wordsLanguage storiesAll featuredPop cultureSlangEmojiMemesAcronymsGender and sexualityAll pop cultureWriting tipsGrammar Coach™Writing hubGrammar essentialsCommonly confusedAll writing tipsGamesFeaturedPop cultureWriting tipsseadog[ see-dawg, -dog ]show ipanounfogbow. sea dog. Origin of seadog1First recorded in 1815–25; sea + dogWords Nearby seadogsea cowsea crayfishsea cucumbersea dahliasea devilseadogSea-Dooseadromesea ducksea eaglesea-earOther definitions for sea dog (2 of 2)sea dog[ see-dawg, dog ]show ipanounInformal. a sailor, especially an old or experienced one.harbor seal. a dogfish. Informal. a pirate or privateer.See moreOrigin of sea dog2First recorded in 1590–1600Sometimes sea·dog .Dictionary.com Unabridged

Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024How to use seadog in a sentenceThe old seadog was stretched out in his berth, a look of pain and utter despair in his eyes.West Wind Drift | George Barr McCutcheonHer brow tightened, and the determination of the old seadog—her grandfather Barkeley—played over her countenance.Kennedy Square | F. Hopkinson SmithNay, the seadog of Cowes is no man to be the prey of womanish tremors; he goes gaily like a true Mariner to confront the elements.A Dream of the North Sea | James RuncimanA basket with a turbot is in the stern-sheets; that turbot will form part of the seadog's humble evening meal.A Dream of the North Sea | James RuncimanTwenty strokes more—the peril is past; and the seadog bounds on to the deck of his stout vessel.A Dream of the North Sea | James RuncimanBritish Dictionary definitions for seadog (1 of 2)seadog/ (ˈsiːˌdɒɡ) /nounanother word for fogbow, fogdogBritish Dictionary definitions for sea dog (2 of 2)sea dognounan experienced or old sailorCollins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition

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The Sea Dogs - Queen Elizabeth's Privateers - World History Encyclopedia

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The Sea Dogs - Queen Elizabeth's Privateers

Contents

Article

by Mark Cartwright

published on 03 July 2020

Available in other languages: French, Indonesian, Italian, Portuguese

The sea dogs, as they were disparagingly called by the Spanish authorities, were privateers who, with the consent and sometimes financial support of Elizabeth I of England (r. 1558-1603 CE), attacked and plundered Spanish colonial settlements and treasure ships in the second half of the 16th century CE. With only a license from their queen to distinguish them from pirates, mariners like Sir Francis Drake (c. 1540-1596 CE) and Sir Walter Raleigh (c. 1552-1618 CE) made themselves and their backers immensely rich. Elizabeth and her government, unable to trade legitimately with the colonies of the New World as Philip II of Spain (r. 1556-1598 CE) held on to his monopoly, turned instead to robbery as a means to persuade the Spanish king to change policy. As Anglo-Spanish relations deteriorated, the privateers became a useful tool in reducing the wealth of Spain and disrupting Philip's plans to build his Armada fleet with which he hoped to invade England. Although in some respects successful, especially with such captures as the great treasure ship the Madre de Deus, the privateers did not work together sufficiently to pose a serious and sustained threat to Spanish shipping, which began to use armed convoys to great effect. For a few decades, though, the fast English ships bristling with cannons and captained by audacious adventurers, caused havoc on the High Seas.

The Capture of Cacafuego by the Golden HindFriedrich van Hulsen (Public Domain)

The New World

Spain's huge empire in the Americas was a tempting source of wealth for rival European powers. The Spanish plundered gold, silver, and gemstones from the many different states they had conquered on the continent and sent these riches back to Europe on treasure ships, often in an annual fleet which was sometimes called the plate fleet (from the Spanish for silver, plata). They also had treasure ships coming from Asia - the Manilla Galleons - loaded with costly spices, fine porcelain, and other precious goods, especially when Philip II of Spain also became the king of Portugal in 1580 CE. The second attraction was the opportunity for trade both with indigenous peoples in the Americas and with Spanish colonial settlers there. As Philip wanted to keep out rival powers from this second source of wealth, so monarchs like Elizabeth I of England turned to the first as an alternative. Peaceful trade had been attempted by such mariners as John Hawkins in the 1560s CE, but the Spanish attack at San Juan D'Ulloa, the port for Vera Cruz in Mexico, which destroyed all but two of Hawkins' ships, clearly showed the Spanish would not give up their trade monopoly in the Americas to other nations even if they themselves could not meet the demand for slaves and cloth, in particular.

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For a few thousand pounds or a few old ships, the queen could reap vast profits from those expeditions which came home with holds bulging with precious goods.

By plundering Philip's treasure ships and colonial settlements, England could get richer, rival Spain would get poorer, and the Spanish king might then permit free trade in the western Atlantic. To this end, Elizabeth not only turned a blind eye to acts of piracy by her subjects but actively encouraged them. This encouragement came in many different forms such as secret orders, official licenses to sail armed privateer ships (letters of marque), money to buy ships and stores, the use of royal naval ships, and recognition such as titles and estates in the case of success. The queen often invested in the joint-stock companies which were created to fund specific privateering expeditions. Some voyages also included exploration of new territories or new trade routes like the Northwest Passage that was hoped might connect North America to Asia. It is debatable, though, if Elizabeth ever really wished to create new colonies, especially when she could immediately grab resources produced by those of a rival monarch.

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There was not much to lose, either. For a few thousand pounds or a few old ships, the queen could reap vast profits from those expeditions which came home with holds bulging with precious goods. Certainly, this type of economic warfare was cheaper than funding large land armies, and although what she called the 'chested treasure' might be irregular, it did lessen the tax burden on her subjects. Some years the profits from privateering even exceeded the mid-16th century CE annual income of England. Yet another advantage was that privateers gained experience at sea and kept their ships occupied with both being then available for use in a national emergency like the Spanish Armada invasion of 1588 CE. At the same time, Philip's own fleet would be made correspondingly weaker.

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Elizabeth I Pelican PortraitNicholas Hilliard (Public Domain)

Philip might get upset, of course, at this robbery, but he was occupied with keeping his empire in Europe intact and unlikely to go to war over a few privateers. As it turned out, Philip did launch an assault on England with the Spanish Armada, but this was due to many factors of which the sea dogs were but one. By the mid-1580s CE there was an average of 150 English annual privateering expeditions, most of them small-scale affairs. As the Anglo-Spanish war dragged on, legitimate trade was increasingly disrupted and merchants turned to the profits they could make from backing financially the privateers.

The Captains

Curiously, many of Elizabeth's sea dogs were from Devon and many, too, were related either by blood or marriage. The family histories and local seafaring culture must have inspired youngsters to follow in their father's wakes and captain privateering vessels. These captains were sometimes great servants of their sovereign, at other times complete liabilities, as the historian S. Brigden explains:

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Out of sight of land, captains might choose to be traders, pirates or explorers, or each in turn. Who could bind them once at sea? In the tiny world of a ship, captains had monarchical, even tyrannical, powers, if they could prevent their crew from mutiny. (278)

The captains had few qualms about the risks involved in privateering or being held to account by the authorities. As Walter Raleigh once stated, "Did you ever know of any that were pirates for millions?" (Williams, 225). In other words, given the huge quantities of treasure involved, the privateers were obviously a part of a state mechanism and not common thieves.

Francis Drake by HilliardNicholas Hilliard (Public Domain)

Elizabeth's sea dogs were nothing if not audacious, indeed they were often reckless to the point of folly. Their bravado perhaps had roots in Philip's general negligence of his treasure. Spanish ships were designed for transport not fighting, and many were easy targets for the well-armed and nimble English ships (and those of other nations such as France and the Netherlands). Some important Spanish ships were armed and several important ports in the New World had fortresses and shore batteries but travelling the High Seas was a dangerous business where there were many opportunities for privateers and outright pirates to ply their own illegitimate trade.

Francis Drake

The most famous of all the sea dog captains was Sir Francis Drake who not only believed that privateering was a sound political and economic strategy but that it was also a means to wage a religious war between Protestant England and Catholic Spain. Roaming the Atlantic and Caribbean capturing their treasure ships, the Spanish called Drake 'El Draque' ('the Dragon'). Drake infamously attacked the Spanish settlement of Nombre de Dios and captured a caravan of silver in Panama in 1573 CE. Then, illustrating the crossover between exploration and privateering, Drake completed the circumnavigation of the globe between 1577 and 1580 CE.

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It took six days to empty the Cacafuego of its cargo of gold & silver.

In an epic voyage in his 150-ton Golden Hind, Drake attacked ships in the Cape Verde Islands, sailed down the coast of South America, and then up into the Pacific Ocean where raids were made on Spanish colonial settlements such as Valparaiso and yet more treasure ships were looted. Charts were made of the coastlines encountered, and in March 1579 CE, the voyage's richest prize was taken off the coast of Peru, the Nuestra Senora de la Concepćion (aka Cacafuego). It took six days to empty the Cacafuego of its cargo of gold and silver.

Working his way along the coasts of Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Mexico, Drake captured yet more ships and booty. The mariner explored the possible existence of the Northwest Passage to Asia and then turned south again to arrive near what is today San Francisco, where he claimed the land for his queen, naming it 'New Albion' (a claim never subsequently pursued). The intrepid mariner then crossed the Pacific and arrived in the East Indies (Indonesia and Philippines) and took on board valuable spices. He got away with grounding his ship on a reef, crossed the Indian Ocean, rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and made it back to Plymouth after a voyage of 2 years and 9 months. The estimated value of the loot taken was perhaps £600,000, that is more than double the entire annual revenue of England. Elizabeth was delighted with her favourite sea dog and knighted him on board the Golden Hind. Such formal recognition was a clear message to Philip that her sea dogs were representatives of their monarch and quite different from the pirates of all nationalities (English included) who roamed the seas. Drake had also made himself the richest man in England in terms of ready cash, an inspiration to all other privateers, and an enduring national hero. The Golden Hind was still on public display a century after its most famous voyage.

A Model of the Golden HindAlex Butterfield (CC BY)

Through the 1580s CE, Drake sailed far and wide, making often audacious raids on Spanish wealth in the Cape Verde Islands, San Domingo, Cuba, Colombia, Florida, and Hispaniola (Haiti). In 1587 CE Drake illustrated the usefulness of privateers in national defence when his raid on Cadiz destroyed 31 Spanish ships, captured another six and destroyed valuable supplies destined for Philip's planned Armada.

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Walter Raleigh

Raleigh was a privateer captain who was also something of a colonist. He organised three expeditions to form a colony on the coast of North America in the 1580s CE. It was hoped this could serve as a useful base to attack Spanish ships in the Caribbean. The Roanoke colony in 'Virginia' was abandoned but the expeditions were notable for introducing tobacco and the potato to England. Raleigh went on two failed expeditions to find the fabled city of gold El Dorado in South America in 1595 CE and 1617 CE. The courtier-mariner was involved in the (second) raid on Cadiz of 1596 CE which destroyed 50 Spanish ships, but he would spend most of his later years in the Tower of London after upsetting James I of England (r. 1603-1625 CE). It was there he wrote his celebrated History of the World.

Raleigh's greatest contribution to Elizabeth's scrapbook of sea dog memories was his fleet's capture of the Portuguese treasure ship Madre de Deus (aka Madre de Dios), in the Azores in 1592 CE. This was the single greatest prize ever taken by Elizabeth's privateers. Raleigh funded the expedition (but was not there in person) which captured the ship which was carrying goods from the East Indies for Philip of Spain. The carrack had 32 cannons and a crew of 700 but was eventually overwhelmed by the English ships working in unison. The 500-ton cargo consisted of gold, silver, pearls, jewels, bales of fine cloth and rolls of silk, exotic animal hides, crystalware, Chinese porcelain, spices, unworked ivory and ebony, and perfumes. The queen alone received some £80,000 worth of goods, not at all bad for her original investment of £3,000. The capture inspired the sea dogs to continue their raids, even if the Madre de Deus would never be matched.

Madre de Deus ModelMarco2000 (CC BY)

The Crews

In the poorly ventilated, cramped, and not always clean ships of the period, a sailor was far more likely to die from disease than a Spanish cannon shot. Indeed, casualties were often so high that a ship had to be abandoned for want of sufficient crew to sail it. The big attraction, of course, and the reason sailors faced the hazards of sea, disease, and warfare, was the possibility of acquiring loot. Sailors on privateering expeditions were permitted to take whatever they liked that was not from the cargo of a captured ship (that was divided between the captain, officers, and investors, with a tiny sum leftover then shared amongst the ordinary seamen). In reality, it was very difficult to control who grabbed what after a capture, and a quick handful of gold coins or even jewels would have ended a sailor's financial worries for the rest of their lives. Consequently, manning a privateering expedition was not as difficult as finding a crew for a naval vessel where there was no chance of booty. Indeed, so popular was the lure of treasure that there was often a shortage of crews for ordinary fishing vessels in English ports.

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The Failures

There were many failures to match the successes. The privateer John Oxenham (c. 1535-1580 CE) tried to take control of Panama through which Spanish silver looted from South America passed in mule trains. Landing on the isthmus in 1576 CE and holding it for a year, Oxenham's fleet was then destroyed by a Spanish fleet, and the Englishmen were captured. Most of the crew were either hanged there and then or sent to work as galley slaves in Spanish ships. Oxenham, meanwhile, was imprisoned in Lima, tortured to ascertain what England's plans were in the Pacific, and then executed in 1580 CE.

Another disaster was the loss of the Revenge, then captained by Sir Richard Grenville (1542-1591 CE). Grenville, typical of the sea dogs, was a man of all-sorts: Member of Parliament, soldier, plantation owner, and mariner. He is best remembered, though, for his courageous if pointless defence of his ship the Revenge when attacked by 56 Spanish ships in the Azores in 1591 CE. Grenville had been lurking in these islands hoping to catch Spanish treasure ships but was surprised by the arrival of a large enemy fleet. The other English ships retreated, and Grenville was left isolated. Valiantly fighting for over 15 hours, the Revenge did much damage but finally succumbed, gaining legendary status in English maritime-lore.

The Fight of the RevengeCharles Dixon (Public Domain)

When privateers mixed with state military operations, success was often elusive. Two of the biggest failures were the Drake-Norris Expedition of 1589 CE and Drake's last expedition in the Caribbean in 1595 CE. The former saw a huge fleet of up to 150 ships attempt to capture Lisbon but ended in a rout and next to no treasure taken. The latter debacle witnessed the death of Drake as he tried one last time to 'singe the king's beard'. Meeting strong Spanish resistance at Porto Rico, Drake made little headway against other well-armed settlements and ships, and he died of dysentery mid-voyage. There would be more privateers but it was the end of an era.

Limitations & Decline

Privateering as a policy of state, then, had some serious flaws. The first was that there was very little coordination between privateering expeditions and captains. Even in the same fleet, there were conflicting objectives as once a captain had acquired the wealth he and his investors had hoped for, he would often return home. Another problem was the lack of any lasting strategic value to such a policy, making profit one year had no effect on the chances of making a profit the next year. There was, too, competition for prizes from French and Dutch privateers and pirates. In addition, the Spanish knew full well the English had few scruples when it came to rich prizes, as the ambassador Guzman de Silva noted, "they have good ships and are greedy folk with more liberty than is good for them" (Williams, 43). Accordingly, the Spanish reacted to the threat posed by privateers and took measures to minimise their damage. Colonial settlements received ever-more impressive fortifications and shore batteries. Although Philip was reduced to sailing his plate fleets at inopportune times of year (resulting in more ships sinking in storms), over time, the use of more powerfully armed escorts and putting new, faster ships together in convoys for better protection was very effective from the early 1590s CE, and by 1595 CE Philip once again had a full navy with which to patrol the seas.

Finally, peaceful and enduring trade was much more lucrative than robbing ships at sea and so the privateers went into decline, even if all-out piracy would reach its heyday in the mid-17th to early 18th century CE when the emergence of the European colonial empires brought new temptations for adventurous mariners eager for easy pickings. The real wealth, though, was to be found in international trade and so the great trading companies arrived such as that colonial giant the East India Company, founded in 1600 CE.

It was the sea dogs, though, who had laid the foundations and shown that England, now withdrawn from the rest of Europe, could steadily build a world empire linked by its fleet of ships. English mariners were now armed with a hugely improved knowledge of winds and tides combined with much more accurate charts and reliable navigational instruments. So, too, the sea dogs had brought social changes. Those who gained wealth from privateering moved up the social ladder, bought estates, and invested in trading ventures and businesses which would become household names. Not only riches had been gained but so, too, new products were introduced and adopted by English people of all classes, notably tobacco, sugar, pepper, and cloves. It is perhaps no coincidence, then, that an Elizabethan galleon appeared on the queen's coinage and remained on English coins of one sort or another until 1971 CE.

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Bibliography

sea dog noun - Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage notes | Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary at OxfordLearnersDictionaries.com

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Definition of sea dog noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

sea dog noun /ˈsiː dɒɡ/ /ˈsiː dɔːɡ/ (informal)

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a sailor who is old or who has a lot of experienceTopics Transport by waterc2

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