By Ward Clark During the Revolutionary War and before, war at sea was fought with some very different presumptions. The crews of warships were often as not paid in part by prize money, money earned from the ships and cargoes they captured. This process was handled by something called a maritime prize court. These courts would adjudicate the legality of any ship and cargo seizures under existing maritime law; they could also order the sale of ships and cargoes, with the proceeds going to the ship's company. The recipients of prize money weren't always regular navy forces, either. Governments, including the newly formed United States government, would, in those times, issue something called a letter of marque, authorizing privately owned warships to hunt enemy ships on the high seas; these ships and their companies were called privateers. And, yes, the unfortunate side effect of that was that some of the privateers, when the war they were authorized to help fight ended, turne...