"“Avast, Y’all!” — Confederate Pirates of the Civil War" Topic

"WHEN THE Confederacy went to war in April, 1861, the 11 secession states had virtually no navy to speak of. The Union on the other hand had 42 vessels with Yankee shipyards up and down the eastern seaboard gearing up to churn out even more.

The Confederate president Jefferson Davis and his navy secretary Stephen R. Mallory realized the rebellion needed ships and needed them fast. The Union fleet would soon be putting a stranglehold on southern shipping; it was up to the two men to plan the Confederacy's response. Both knew that even a rapid ship-building program wouldn't be able to provide vessels fast enough to challenge the Yankee blockade, so the southern leadership dusted off a tried and tested strategy Americans had used to in both the Revolution and the War of 1812 to stand up to the Royal Navy. They turned to privateers.

Privateers were privately outfitted and operated warships licensed by a nation to take vessels, particularly merchant ships, belonging to an enemy power. Privateer crews, like their illegal pirate brethren, are paid out according to the value of the ships and cargoes they seize. The more prizes taken, the higher the pay for a privateer crew – and by extension, the greater the damage to enemy commerce…"
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Amicalement
Armand

Now privateering had a long history. The major European and most South American powers agreed to outlaw the process with the Paris Declaration Respecting Maritime Law (1856).

The United States specifically did not want to give up the right use privateers. They refused to sign the declaration.

With the establishment of the Confederate States, they as successors to US government, did not feel the need to follow the Declaration. The complete lack of a navy would not have helped.