Editing Bermuda sloop (section)

==Merchant and privateering use==
The Bermuda sloop became the predominant type of sailing vessel both in the Bermudian colony and among [[sloop|sloop rigs]] worldwide as Bermudian traders visited foreign nations. Soon, shipbuilding became one of the primary trades on the island and ships were exported throughout the English colonies on the American seaboard, in the [[West Indies]], and eventually to [[Europe]]. In service of the burgeoning shipbuilding industry, many Bermudian colonists began to cultivate [[Bermuda cedar]] instead of lucrative trade crops such as tobacco. The archipelago’s ruling [[Somers Isles Company]], which favored tobacco agriculture, attempted to limit Bermudian shipbuilding, inciting demonstrations, appeals, and unrest. This unrest led to violence, the eventual dissolution of the Somers Isles Company and the archipelago’s transition to [[royal colony]] status in 1684.<ref>Jarvis, M. (2022). Isle of devils, isle of saints: An atlantic history of bermuda, 1609-1684. Johns Hopkins University Press.</ref> 

Bermudians, largely slaves, built roughly a thousand ships during the 18th century. Although many of these were sold abroad, the colony maintained its own large merchant fleet which, thanks partly to the domination of trade in many American seaboard ports by branches of wealthy Bermudian families and partly to the suitability and availability of Bermudian vessels, carried much of the produce exported from the American south to Bermuda and to the West Indies aboard Bermudian mostly slave-manned vessels sailed southwest (more-or-less upwind) to the [[Turks and Caicos Islands|Turk Islands]], where salt was harvested. This salt was carried to North American ports and sold at high profits. Bermudian vessels also developed a trade in moving goods such as grain, cocoa, brandy, wine and more from the [[East Coast of the United States|Atlantic seaboard]] colonies to the [[West Indies]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://www.thebermudian.com/heritage/heritage-heritage/bermuda-in-the-privateering-business/|title=Bermuda in the Privateering Business|last=Shorto|first=Gavin|date=2018-04-05|work=The Bermudian Magazine|access-date=2018-05-12|language=en-US}}</ref>

The threat of [[pirate|piracy]] and [[privateering]] was a large problem for mariners of all nations during the 17th and 18th centuries, but it was also as widely popular an enterprise. During wartime, much of Bermuda's merchant fleet turned to more lucrative labors: privateering. The evasive capabilities highly prized by merchantmen also made Bermuda sloops the ship of choice for the pirates themselves, earlier in the 18th century, as well as for smugglers.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-03-06|title=His Majesty's Warships in Charleston Harbor|url=https://www.ccpl.org/charleston-time-machine/his-majestys-warships-charleston-harbor|access-date=2021-03-26|website=Charleston County Public Library|language=en}}</ref> They often carried sufficient crew out to return with several prizes, and these extra crew were useful both as movable ballast and in handling the labor-intensive sloops. The shape of the ship enabled Bermudian mariners to excel. The same abilities allowed Bermuda sloops to escape from better-armed privateers and even larger [[man-of-war]] British naval ships which, with their [[square rig]]s, could not sail as closely to windward. The ability of the sloop rig in general to sail upwind meant a Bermuda sloop could outrun most other sailing ships by simply turning upwind and leaving its pursuers floundering in its wake.<ref name=":0" />

Despite Bermudian privateers preying heavily on American shipping during the [[American War of Independence]], some historians credit the large number of Bermuda sloops (reckoned at well over a thousand) built in Bermuda as privateers and sold illegally to the Americans as enabling the rebellious colonies to win their independence.<ref name=":0" />