- Bloody obvious really - as royals have been handing out "Letters of Marque" to pirates and Privateers - licenses to rob & kill on commission ("a royalty") since the 13th Century.
Elizabeth II is reckoned to be worth some 415 Million Pounds with an income of around 82 Million every year. - She obviously needs to use Appleby's off-shore tax shelters to keep the pennies from the British Treasury.
Sixteenth Century Sir Francis Drake (English hero that played bowls on Plymouth Hoe - then said to have used fire ships to smash the Spanish Armada) - was not much more than a pirate licensed by Elizabeth I to plunder all comers in return for a rake-off. - Same bloke is supposed to have introduced the Brits to potatoes and tobacco ... but more likely it was Italian Cristoforo Colombo.
Appleby's tax-haven bases in Bermuda, British Virgin Islands & The Caymens - along with the Bahamas were the centers for counting & banking the treasure chests of Privateers and other Pirates & Buccaneers activities for centuries.
Bermuda Sloops Were Developed Precisely For Pirating Caribbean & Central American Waters.
Only occasionally did it go wrong .. Captain Kidd was presented with a letter of marque, signed personally by King William III of England. This letter reserved 10% of the loot for the Crown, and Henry Gilbert's The Book of Pirates suggests that the king may have fronted some of the money for the voyage himself .. but Captain William Kidd got hung and gibbeted in 1710 in political "confusion" - by mistake?
- For 'Privateer' you can now read 'off-shore legal services provider'.
Marty K.
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