La correspondance transatlantique des Prize Papers (1744-1763) : famille, commerce et communications en temps de guerre
Between 1744 and 1763, two major wars shook the Atlantic world. France and her colonies struggled against the British empire. Both belligerents made considerable use of privateers. Beyond its obvious commercial and military consequences, this form of maritime warfare disrupted transatlantic communications. The letters carried by a prize were often lost or, at best, were confiscated, interrupting postal communications. The Prize Papers archives, which contain letters and other documents confiscated by British privateers, embody this reality. The collection includes numerous intercepted French letters. Many of them will be analyzed here, by way of showing the potential of this collection for the study of the French transatlantic communications system and its main actors in wartime. The constitution of this very special archive is presented first. Correspondents’ transatlantic communications practices as they evolved in wartime are analyzed next. Finally, the types of information transmitted in this difficult context are the subject of the last part of the thesis.
Commerce Prize Papers French Atlantic Colonial trade Transatlantic communications Epistolarity Family Privateering Prize Papers