Licensed to Capture: Norway’s Legal Pirates (1807–1814)

Описание: ⚙️ English subtitles available — turn on CC (Subtitles) in the player.

Most people don’t know this: Norway once had pirates. Legal ones.

Between 1807 and 1814, during the Napoleonic Wars, Norwegian sailors were granted royal permission to attack and seize enemy merchant ships. These men were known as privateers — pirates licensed by the state.

In Licensed to Plunder: Norway’s Legal Pirates, we uncover a forgotten chapter of European history, where ordinary Norwegians became pirates to survive war, hunger, and economic collapse. From the southern coast of Norway, they challenged the British Empire at sea and captured around 450 merchant ships.

Some returned home wealthy and celebrated as heroes.
Thousands of others ended up imprisoned in England — many for years.

This is the true story of pirates in Norway — and the war that made them legal.

Original norwegian title: Med rett til å kapre

---

De færreste vet dette:
Norge hadde sjørøvere. Lovlige sjørøvere.

Mellom 1807 og 1814, under Napoleonskrigene, fikk norske sjøfolk kongelig tillatelse til å angripe og kapre fiendtlige handelsskip. Disse kaperne var statssanksjonerte sjørøvere.

Licensed to Plunder: Norway’s Legal Pirates avdekker et glemt kapittel i norsk og europeisk historie. Langs norskekysten utfordret vanlige nordmenn det britiske imperiet til sjøs, og kapret rundt 450 handelsskip.

Noen kom hjem som helter og rikfolk.
Andre endte i fangenskap i England i årevis.

Dette er den sanne historien om sjørøverne i Norge — og krigen som gjorde dem lovlige.

---

00:00 Norway’s Legal Pirates
01:12 Agder Coast, 1813 – Setting the Scene
03:49 1807: Copenhagen Bombardment & War Begins
06:24 Blockade, Hunger, and Desperation
10:17 The Turn to Privateering
19:55 How They Captured Ships – Tactics at Sea
27:06 Kristiansand: The Privateering Capital
30:08 Prize Court & Auctions – Legalizing the Loot
40:46 1812: The Winter, Riots, and the Tide Turns
52:55 Prison Ships, Peace, and the End (1814)