This book explores the idea of privacy at sea from early sixteenthcentury maritime expansions to nineteenthcentury naval developments. In this period the sea became a focal pointampampnbspof political and economic ambition as technological and cultural shifts enabled a more extensiveampampnbspexploration of maritime spaces and global coexistence at sea.ampampnbspThe exploration of the sea and the conflicts arising from establishing control over maritime routes demanded a more nuanced distinction and negotiation between State and private efforts. Privateering for example became a bridge between the private enterprises and the States warfares or trade struggles demonstrating that the sea required public control at the same time as it enabled private endeavours.