The first League of Armed Neutrality was an alliance of European naval powers between 1780 and 1783 which was intended to protect neutral shipping against the Royal Navy's wartime policy of unlimited search of neutral shipping for French contraband during the American Revolutionary War and Anglo-French War. British naval commanders followed their instructions with care, ordered away boarding parties and made seizures with impunity. According to one estimate, 1 in 5 merchant vessels did not make it to port safely due to this policy. By September 1778, at least 59 ships were taken prize – 8 Danish (and Norwegian), 16 Swedish and 35 Dutch, not mentioning others from Prussia. Protests were enormous by every side involved.