Events

• Thomas Moore is appointed pilot of a privateer and engaged by Guillaume Gaillard command the La-Nostre-Dame-de-Victoire in a privateering expedition "against enemies of the state" in Cape Breton
  Cape Breton Island
  Cape Breton Island is an island on the Atlantic coast of North America. It likely corresponds to the word Breton, the French demonym for Brittany....
  
  , Newfoundland
  Newfoundland and Labrador
  Newfoundland and Labrador is the easternmost province of Canada. Situated in the country's Atlantic region, it incorporates the island of Newfoundland and mainland Labrador with a combined area of . As of April 2011, the province's estimated population is 508,400...
  
  , the Great Banks and elsewhere. An experienced sea captain, he reportedly conducted merchant ships to Hudson Bay
  Hudson Bay
  Hudson Bay , sometimes called Hudson's Bay, is a large body of saltwater in northeastern Canada. It drains a very large area, about , that includes parts of Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, most of Manitoba, southeastern Nunavut, as well as parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota,...
  
   as a master or pilot under Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville
  Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville
  Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville pronounced as described in note] Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville pronounced as described in note] Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville pronounced as described in note] (16 July 1661 – 9 July 1702 (probable)was a soldier, ship captain, explorer, colonial administrator, knight of...
  
  .
• A privateer manned by Irish and Scottish Jacobites sails from France
  France
  The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
  
   to Wexford
  Wexford
  Wexford is the county town of County Wexford, Ireland. It is situated near the southeastern corner of Ireland, close to Rosslare Europort. The town is connected to Dublin via the M11/N11 National Primary Route, and the national rail network...
  
  . Once ashore, the crew led by Thady Doyle attacks the town "full of fire and vengeance". Doyle, himself a local Wexford Jacobite, points out houses belonging to Protestants and Catholics "in order that the former might be plundered and the latter spared".
• A French privateer kidnaps the work party constructing the second Eddystone
  Eddystone
  See also Eddystone Rock, Falklands Islands and Eddystone, PennsylvaniaThe Eddystone, or the Eddystone Rocks, are a seaswept group of rocks situated some 9 statute miles south west of Rame Head in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom...
  
   lighthouse in Rudyerd and taken back to France where they are imprisoned. Upon hearing news of the incident, Louis XIV set the men free and instead put their captors in prison instead. The French king then stated "though he was at war with England, he was not at war with mankind" and sent the Englishmen back to their country loaded with presents.
• The Knights of Malta
  Knights Hospitaller
  The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta , also known as the Sovereign Military Order of Malta , Order of Malta or Knights of Malta, is a Roman Catholic lay religious order, traditionally of military, chivalrous, noble nature. It is the world's...
  
   sends its naval squadron, consisting of five well-armed sailing ships, to provide support for the Spanish garrison at Oran
  Oran
  Oran is a major city on the northwestern Mediterranean coast of Algeria, and the second largest city of the country.It is the capital of the Oran Province . The city has a population of 759,645 , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately 1,500,000, making it the second largest...
  
   during an attack by Algiers
  Algiers
  ' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...
  
  . This same squadron was successful in taking a 46-gun Turkish slaver the previous year.
• The Charles, the former flagship of American colonial privateer John Halsey
  John Halsey
  John Halsey was a colonial American privateer and a later pirate who was active in the Atlantic and Indian Oceans during the early 18th century. Although much of his life and career is unknown, he is recorded in A General History of the Pyrates which states "He was brave in his Person, courteous...
  
  , is sunk in a hurricane off the coast of India
  India
  India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
  
  . After a year in the Indian Ocean
  Indian Ocean
  The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
  
  , Halsey had built up a formidable fleet and later changed his flagship to the Neptune.
• Kanhoji Angria, a pirate active between Bombay and the Malabar coast, is reported to have amassed "a fleet of considerable strength" after two years of harassing local merchantmen. Although politically distinct from the Maratha government
  Maratha
  The Maratha are an Indian caste, predominantly in the state of Maharashtra. The term Marāthā has three related usages: within the Marathi speaking region it describes the dominant Maratha caste; outside Maharashtra it can refer to the entire regional population of Marathi-speaking people;...
  
  , at least to some extent, he occupies a port city on the Maratha coast. That same year, he attacked the English frigate Bombay which exploded during a brief firefight.
• Robert Hunter, recently appointed lieutenant governor of the Colony of Virginia, is captured by a French privateer while en route to Virginia and taken to France. After a brief time in prison, he is release in a prisoner exchange
  Prisoner exchange
  A prisoner exchange or prisoner swap is a deal between opposing sides in a conflict to release prisoners. These may be prisoners of war, spies, hostages, etc...
  
  .
• March - Woodes Rogers
  Woodes Rogers
  Woodes Rogers was an English sea captain, privateer, and, later, the first Royal Governor of the Bahamas. He is known as the captain of the vessel that rescued the marooned Alexander Selkirk, whose plight is generally believed to have inspired Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe.Rogers came from an...
  
   receives a letter of marque
  Letter of marque
  In the days of fighting sail, a Letter of Marque and Reprisal was a government licence authorizing a person to attack and capture enemy vessels, and bring them before admiralty courts for condemnation and sale...
  
   to command the 100-ton Eugene Prize, a privateering ship he co-owned with Bristol merchant and fitted with eight cannon and carrying 20 men. During his first voyage, he encounters marooned privateer Alexander Selkirk
  Alexander Selkirk
  Alexander Selkirk was a Scottish sailor who spent four years as a castaway when he was marooned on an uninhabited island. It is probable that his travels provided the inspiration for Daniel Defoe's novel Robinson Crusoe....
  
   and rescues him after four years living on Juan Fernández Islands
  Juan Fernández Islands
  The Juan Fernández Islands are a sparsely inhabited island group reliant on tourism and fishing in the South Pacific Ocean, situated about off the coast of Chile, and is composed of three main volcanic islands; Robinson Crusoe Island, Alejandro Selkirk Island and Santa Clara Island, the first...
  
  . At the end of the year, he was approached by William Dampier
  William Dampier
  William Dampier was an English buccaneer, sea captain, author and scientific observer...
  
   in the hopes of bankrolling a privateering expedition against the Spanish.

Deaths

• Alexandre Esquemeling, historian and author of the 1678 book The Buccaneers of America.