CivilCivil WarWar PrizePrize CourtCourt MailMail Profits and Bounty on the High Seas Led to Philatelic Treasures BY PATRICIA A. KAUFMANN Blockade-running and Prize Law Officers and crew of the capturing ship divide the spoils Civil War blockade-running could be a highly profitable after adjudication by a Prize Court, which can order the sale enterprise. Outbound ships carried compact, high-value car- or destruction of the seized vessel and distribution of any go, while inbound vessels brought necessities and luxuries, proceeds to the captain and crew of the seizing ship, usually such as shown in a painting of Confederate blockade runners at auction. (c. 1864) at St. George’s Harbor, Bermuda [Figure 1]. Prize courts derive jurisdiction from the belligerent states that establish them. Jurisdiction varies by country. In the United States, pursuant to Title 10 of the United States Code, U.S. district courts have jurisdiction. In the U.S., the National Archives and Records Administration maintains Prize Court records dating from 1701 to present. In England, the Admi- ralty Court has jurisdiction. Prize Courts were common in the 17th through 19th cen- turies during times of American and European naval war- fare. Due to changes in naval warfare, no prize cases have been heard since the statutes were adopted in 1956. But that doesn’t mean Prize Courts and governing laws have been to- Figure 1. A painting of Confederate blockade runners at St. George’s Harbor, Bermuda, 1864. (Courtesy of St. George’s Historical Society.) tally forgotten. Letters of Marque and It is estimated that two round trips a month, which in- curred $80,000 in wages and expenses, generated $250,000 Reprisal in revenue. More importantly to postal historians, they often A letter of marque and reprisal carried mail. is a government license authoriz- The definition of “prize” is property taken at sea from an ing a person, known as a privateer, enemy. “In admiralty law, the term prize is used to signify to attack and capture enemy ves- any goods, the subject of marine capture; property taken at sels and take them before Prize sea from an enemy, jure belli; a technical term expressing a Courts for condemnation and sale. legal capture; maritime capture effected by maritime force Cruising for prizes with a letter of only, ships and cargoes taken by ships. Recaptures are em- marque was considered an honor- phatically cases of prize.” able profession, in contrast to uni- Figure 2. U.S. Representa- versally reviled unlicensed piracy. tive Ron Paul (R-Texas). 326 AMERICAN PHILATELIST / APRIL 2018 April Section 05 KAUFMANN.indd 326 3/9/2018 12:11:17 PM WHAT IS ADMIRALTY LAW? Admiralty, or maritime law, is a body of law that governs questions or offenses that take place on navigable waters. Admiralty law is distinguished from the Law of the Sea, which is a body of public international law dealing with navigational rights, mineral rights, jurisdiction over coastal waters and international law governing relationships between nations. In April 2009, former U.S. Representative Ron Paul (R- operate the Resolute, an L-class Goodyear Blimp used to pa- Texas) [Figure 2] and numerous national security experts trol the ocean for enemy submarines. But the issuance isn’t called on Congress to consider using letters of marque and apparent in the Congressional Record. reprisal, a power written into the Constitution that allows The surrender of Fort Sumter on April 13, 1861, was the the United States to hire private citizens to keep international initial act of the War Between the States. On April 15, 1861, waters safe. This proposal was prompted by the hijacking of President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation, calling MV Maersk Alabama [Figure out 75,000 troops. Two days 3] by Somali pirates, made later, Confederate President famous by news broadcasts, Jefferson Davis published a books and the 2013 film Cap- counter-proclamation, invit- tain Phillips, which starred ing applications for letters Tom Hanks in the title role of of marque and reprisal to be the ship’s captain. granted under the seal of the Paul suggested lawmak- Confederate States, against ers consider issuing letters of ships and property of the marque and reprisal, which Figure 3. The MV Maersk Alabama, April 2009. United States and its citizens. could relieve American naval Davis determined not to ships from being the nation’s primary pirate responders — commission privateers until duly authorized by the Confed- a free-market solution to make the high seas safer for cargo erate Provisional Congress. That body assembled in special ships. session on April 29, in obedience to a proclamation of the “I think if every potential pirate knew this would be the president, in which he advised legislation for the employ- case, they would have second thoughts because they could ment of privateers. On May 6, 1861, Congress passed an act, probably be blown out of the water rather easily if those were entitled, “An act recognizing the existence of war between the the conditions,” Paul said. None of the Congressional bills United States and the Confederate States, and concerning let- Paul introduced were enacted into law. ters of marque, prizes, and prize goods.” According to Senate historians, Congress hasn’t issued a The act lay down, in detail, regulations as to the condi- letter of marque since the War of 1812, but the Confederate tions on which letters of marque should be granted to private States of America (CSA) issued them during the Civil War to vessels, as well as the conduct and behavior of the officers deliver goods and supplies behind enemy lines. and crews of such vessels, the disposal of such prizes made There are also some indications that a letter was granted by them, and so forth. It was patterned after the regulations to a flying band of armed civilians during World War II to which had been ordinarily prescribed and enforced with re- APRIL 2018 / AMERICAN PHILATELIST 327 April Section 05 KAUFMANN.indd 327 3/9/2018 12:11:25 PM spect to privateers in the United States, and by the maritime powers of Europe. A further act regulating the sale of prizes and distribution thereof, was also passed by the Congress of the Confederate States on May 14, 1861. Paris Declaration Respecting Maritime Law On April 16, 1856, the Paris Declaration Respecting Mar- itime Law, was issued to abolish privateering. It regulated the relationship between neutral and belligerent and shipping on the high seas, introducing new prize rules. The major points in the declaration were: “Privateering is, and remains, abolished; The neutral flag covers enemy’s goods, with the exception of contraband of war; Neutral goods, with the exception of contraband of war, are not liable to capture under enemy’s flag; Blockades, in order to be binding, must be effective, that is to say, maintained by a force sufficient really to prevent ac- cess to the coast of the enemy.” The declaration was not binding except between those powers that acceded to it. The declaration did not, as such, make privateers into a new category of international crimi- nals, but rather made it a treaty obligation of states that they refrain from commissioning privateers in the first place. Most normally treated foreign privateers as pirates in any case. The United States, which aimed at a complete exemp- tion of non-contraband private property from capture at sea, withheld its formal adherence in 1857 when its “Marcy” amendment was not accepted by all powers, chiefly because of British influence. The U.S. also was keen on maintaining privateers. It ar- gued that, not possessing a great navy, it would be obliged in time of war to rely largely upon merchant ships commis- sioned as war vessels, and therefore the abolition of priva- teering would be entirely in favor of European powers, whose large navies rendered them practically independent of such Figure 4. President Lincoln’s Blockade Order (top) & Proclamation. aid. The rules contained in this declaration later came to be considered as part of the general principles of international seal was affixed to the blockade proclamation, which was an- law and the United States too, though not formally a party, nounced that day. It was a de facto declaration of war by the abides by the provisions. Union against the Confederacy. The blockade limited both the import of military and U.S. Blockade of Southern Ports other needed supplies and the export of income-producing A week after the attack on Fort Sumter, on April 19, 1861, cotton. It reduced the South’s seaborne trade to less than a President Abraham Lincoln ordered a blockade of ports of third of normal. The Confederacy’s need for supplies was seven southern states [Figure 4]. In the proclamation, Lin- much greater than the peacetime norm. The blockade was coln added that any vessels found interfering with United one of the causes of the ruinous inflation that reduced the States merchant shipping would be treated like pirates under Confederate dollar to 1 percent of its original value by the international law. This was a critical component. end of the war. The blockade proclamation provided that “a competent Independent of Lincoln’s proclamations, the Anaconda force will be posted so as to prevent entrance and exit of ves- Plan, or Scott’s Great Snake [Figure 5], was proposed by sels” from the ports of the states in rebellion. Then, to make General Winfield Scott (1786-1866) as a similar strategy for the proclamation official, he signed the document, April 27, subduing the seceding states. Scott, known as “Old Fuss and 1861, authorizing “the Secretary of State to affix the Seal of Feathers” for his insistence on proper military bearing, cour- the United States to a Proclamation setting on foot a Block- tesy, appearance and discipline, served on active duty as a ade of the ports of the States of South Carolina, Georgia, general longer than any person in American history.