Privateers - NOT!

The news is filled with talk of pirates today because a ship (coincidentally named "The Maersk Alabama"...the Maersk Company names their ships after U.S. States. They also own a Maersk Alaska etc...) was taken over by pirates off Somalia. One story gives the history of the U.S. and pirates, and concludes with a line about there being Confederate "privateers" during the U.S. Civil War. Uh, I think not. Raphael Semmes and his peers who fought the North via commerce raiding sailed on military ships representing the Confederate States of America. The CSA did authorize "letters of marque" for privateers to operate, but there's no evidence any actually did. Sorry to get my adopted confederate hackles up, but as you may know, I spent a lot of time researching Semmes and his CSS Alabama for a documentary that was, alas, shelved when my job, and Bob Corley's (that's us in the picture), were eliminated at APT.