Editing Alexander Godfrey

{{short description|British privateer}}
'''Alexander Godfrey''' (c.1756{{ndash}}1803) was an 18th-century British [[privateer]] during the [[War of the Second Coalition]] against France and Spain.

Godfrey was born in [[Chatham, Massachusetts]] in c.1756, and later moved to [[Nova Scotia]]. In 1791 he married Phoebe West.

By 1800, Britain was at war with France and Spain, both of which had a significant naval and commercial maritime presence in the Americas. Godfrey obtained a [[letter of marque]] to serve as a privateer for Britain, and put to sea in command of ''[[Rover (privateering ship)|Rover]]'', a 14-gun [[brig]]. In 1800, while possibly in company with other vessels, ''Rover'' encountered and defeated three Spanish warships; in recognition of which Godfrey was offered a [[Royal Navy]] commission.<ref>Conlin 1996, p.58</ref> Godfrey subsequently paid £850 to purchase one of the Spanish vessels when it was sold as a [[prize (law)|prize]], then sailed it [[Halifax, Nova Scotia]] for resale at £1000.<ref>Conlin 1996, p.76</ref>

Godfrey died of [[yellow fever]] in [[Jamaica]] in 1803. His only child Ruth, who died of burns, is buried in [[Liverpool, Nova Scotia]]'s historic [[cemetery]].

==References==
{{reflist}}

===Bibliography===
* {{cite thesis |last=Conlin |first=Dan |date=22 April 1996 |title=A Private War in the Caribbean: Nova Scotia Privateering, 1793{{ndash}}1805 |type= |publisher=National Library of Canada|isbn=061215517X}}

==External links==
*{{cite web|url=http://goodies.yi.org/~jack/genealogy/Godfrey/Godfrey_I559.html |title=Biography of Alexander Godfrey |accessdate=2004-03-11 |url-status=bot: unknown |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20041122223430/http://goodies.yi.org/~jack/genealogy/Godfrey/Godfrey_I559.html |archivedate=2004-11-22 }}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Godfrey, Alexander}}
[[Category:1750s births]]
[[Category:1803 deaths]]
[[Category:Deaths from yellow fever]]

[[Category:Privateers from the Thirteen Colonies]]
[[Category:People from Queens County, Nova Scotia]]
[[Category:People of New England Planter descent]]
[[Category:People from Chatham, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Colony of Nova Scotia people]]