A lost piece of American history may have been uncovered deep in the sea a shipwreck thought to have belonged to a fleet of American privateers. In the late 18th century, the Irish Sea was a cauldron of kidnapping, thievery and unrepentant skullduggery. Governments, including the nascent U.S., hired sea raiders, or privateers, to pillage and steal from merchant vessels. Is it possible that this ship was on a mission from Benjamin Franklin?